Hello everyone! I hope this finds you well and enjoying the fall weather. We’re right in the midst of it here in Korea – cooler temps, a multitude of colors, and early sunsets. And 
of course, the pages on the calendar are flying by on hyperspeed – I can’t believe it’s already the middle of October. Here’s a little taste of what I’ve been enjoying from my desk window (my desk got moved next to the window.) Korea is so beautiful in the fall.
of course, the pages on the calendar are flying by on hyperspeed – I can’t believe it’s already the middle of October. Here’s a little taste of what I’ve been enjoying from my desk window (my desk got moved next to the window.) Korea is so beautiful in the fall.
I’ve settled down a bit now, after a whirlwind of trips that I can’t even remember all of right now. My students just finished taking their midterm tests last week, which means that Gina Teacher only has 9 weeks left with her third (ninth) grade students – yikes. I’m going to be so sad when they leave. In the meantime, I’ve returned to my weekly routine, for the most part, which consists of studying Korean, seeing friends, going to the gym, coffee shopping, (remember, I made that into a verb?) and going to book club during the week. In addition, I’ve thrown in some extra running workouts – I went ahead and signed up for my first 10K run on the 5th of November.
But before I tell you more about my fall I want to backtrack to last month, when two of my friends and I made a last minute getaway to a spectacular beach vacation on Boracay Island, Philippines. We knew we had five days off, (for the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok) and we knew we wanted a beach. After eliminating Jeju Island for the mad dash of people who were apparently heading there, we settled on Busan, but then discovered some great flight deals to Manila. We grabbed the flights, found a package hotel deal, and booked it within three weeks of flying out.
Okay, so now imagine you are hot, tired, and exhausted from 27 hours of travel. After getting jerked around on a little zip bus, you are now following a fast walking Filipino down a narrow sandy path to get to your hotel. Palm trees emerge. You see a little hut selling freshly bl
ended fruit smoothies directly in front of you. You look a little to the left of the fruit hut and see…the most beautiful beach you’ve ever seen in your life.
Is your jaw dropping? Because mine definitely was – all of ours were. What hit me immediately were all of the different hues of beautiful blue in the water – it was unbelievable. We had no idea what we were in for when we booked this trip – we just thought it would be a nice beach, the perfect place to relax. Well, after booking the tickets we did a little more research and discovered it had been named the second best beach in the world by TripAdvisor. This was not just a beach.
I didn’t even know places lik
e Boracay existed, except in postcards. Needless to say, we were beyond excited when we saw the beach, and then even more than beyond (which is…what?) excited when we saw the Nigi Nigi, (fondly known as the Nig or the Nigster to us - please don't take offense.) Not only was it right on the beach, but also it was actually a compilation of Polynesian style beach huts instead of a standard hotel. Yup, that’s right, beach huts.
We were definitely awake
at this point. After a quick check in, a change of clothes, and a delicious lunch at the Nigi Nigi beachfront restaurant, (complete with our complimentary welcome drinks) we were ready to hit the beach! The water was amazing, crystal clear for hundreds of meters, and the perfect temperature. The sun was shining, the waves were crashing, and we had three beach chairs with our names on them. We were definitely on vacation.
Though the return trip was just as grueling as the first one (overnight in Manila, all day layover in Beijing, late night arrival in Seoul, four hour bus to Gwangju, then about three hours of sleep before waking up and teaching that Friday) we survived and came through as better people for it. We even rallied and met up in Wando for the annual September Wando beach party that Friday evening, after, as Sara put it, "not sleeping for three days." Our night in Manila proved to be more interesting than we thought it would be - we were all bracing for a restless night in a sketchy Manila airport with our safety caps on high alert - but on Boracay we ended up meeting an American who was living in Manila and recommended a shopping mall complex for us to kill time and hang out at until we had to head over to the airport. He reassured us it was safe - we figured we could check it out and return to the airport as soon as we felt uncomfortable. Well, we ended up not wanting to leave. The Green Belt, as the complex was called, ended up being an incredibly modern, huge, classy, fancy shopping complex complete with brand name stores, fantastic restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and even a few dance
clubs. We were amazed, and spent a happy night eating Southeast Asian cuisine, wandering around until shops closed, and drinking coffee (or napping in the coffee shop's cozy chairs) until 2 AM. Clearly we hadn't done our research on modern-day Manila and we had just been relying on our previous perceptions based off media reports and stories to assume it was dangerous all over. It was a good lesson to learn - you can't judge a book by its cover until you open it and dive in.
Until next time, I hope you all enjoy the remainder of fall and enjoy the Halloween holiday before October is gone! Oh, and someone please drink a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte for me - apparently Korean Starbucks haven't caught on to the best fall drink in the world yet. I'll have to write them a letter. Take care, love you and miss you all.
But before I tell you more about my fall I want to backtrack to last month, when two of my friends and I made a last minute getaway to a spectacular beach vacation on Boracay Island, Philippines. We knew we had five days off, (for the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok) and we knew we wanted a beach. After eliminating Jeju Island for the mad dash of people who were apparently heading there, we settled on Busan, but then discovered some great flight deals to Manila. We grabbed the flights, found a package hotel deal, and booked it within three weeks of flying out.
Well, it turned out that one of the stipulations of the low price was a rough travel itinerary – we left Gwangju Saturday morning, hung out at the Incheon Airport til about 4 PM, flew out then transferred in Beijing, and slept at the Manila airport to wait for the earliest flight out to Kalibo Airport the next morning. From Kalibo it was an hour bus ride to Caticlan Ferry Port, then a short ferry to Boracay, followed by another little bus trip to our hotel. Twenty seven hours after leaving Gwangju, we were at our destination: The Nigi Nigi Nu Noos resort. No, I’m not kidding. Part of the reason we chose this hotel was because of the name.
Okay, so now imagine you are hot, tired, and exhausted from 27 hours of travel. After getting jerked around on a little zip bus, you are now following a fast walking Filipino down a narrow sandy path to get to your hotel. Palm trees emerge. You see a little hut selling freshly bl
ended fruit smoothies directly in front of you. You look a little to the left of the fruit hut and see…the most beautiful beach you’ve ever seen in your life.Is your jaw dropping? Because mine definitely was – all of ours were. What hit me immediately were all of the different hues of beautiful blue in the water – it was unbelievable. We had no idea what we were in for when we booked this trip – we just thought it would be a nice beach, the perfect place to relax. Well, after booking the tickets we did a little more research and discovered it had been named the second best beach in the world by TripAdvisor. This was not just a beach.
I didn’t even know places lik
e Boracay existed, except in postcards. Needless to say, we were beyond excited when we saw the beach, and then even more than beyond (which is…what?) excited when we saw the Nigi Nigi, (fondly known as the Nig or the Nigster to us - please don't take offense.) Not only was it right on the beach, but also it was actually a compilation of Polynesian style beach huts instead of a standard hotel. Yup, that’s right, beach huts. We were definitely awake
at this point. After a quick check in, a change of clothes, and a delicious lunch at the Nigi Nigi beachfront restaurant, (complete with our complimentary welcome drinks) we were ready to hit the beach! The water was amazing, crystal clear for hundreds of meters, and the perfect temperature. The sun was shining, the waves were crashing, and we had three beach chairs with our names on them. We were definitely on vacation.
Honestly, the next three days were a combination of laying out in the sun, eating at some fantastic restaurants, (our dinner at the Greek restaurant was complete with a flaming papaya for dessert) doing lots of souvenier shopping, swimming in the ocean, eating fresh fruit and shakes, and relaxing. I wish I could tell you more exciting stories...but aside from our nightly ro
unds to check out the Boracay nightlife (one of the highlights was the Full Moon Beach Party...but I'm not going to get into that) we didn't really do much else. We came for the beach, and we soaked up as much beach as we could. Our hotel deal included a complimentary pizza dinner, beachfront of course, and free breakfast every day, so aside from that we were pretty well taken care of! Mostly we just marveled at our luck for being there and having the opportunity to travel to so many wonderful places in Asia. Our heated travel discussions were pretty intense, as we all tried to figure out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do after Korea.
unds to check out the Boracay nightlife (one of the highlights was the Full Moon Beach Party...but I'm not going to get into that) we didn't really do much else. We came for the beach, and we soaked up as much beach as we could. Our hotel deal included a complimentary pizza dinner, beachfront of course, and free breakfast every day, so aside from that we were pretty well taken care of! Mostly we just marveled at our luck for being there and having the opportunity to travel to so many wonderful places in Asia. Our heated travel discussions were pretty intense, as we all tried to figure out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do after Korea.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was when I woke up early one morning, put on my training suit and swim cap, and went out for a morning swim. The water was calm and still, and I did a mix of swim
ming laps and diving down to check out all the fish that were swimming around on the coral reefs. I saw hundreds of tiny, bright colored fish, some sea urchins, and even a starfish during my morning expedition! To contrast completely, my other favorite was my Starbucks afternoon, when I gleefully discovered a two floor Starbucks - a classic sign of tourism - but hey, it combined two of my favorite things in life: coffee and a beach. The one regret that I have is not spending much 
time soaking up Filipino culture or even cuisine, since we were so isolated in tourist-ville, but that just makes another excuse to have to return. One cultural item we did pick up on right away, however, is how incredibly warm, friendly, and welcoming the Filipino people are - we met some truly genuine people who were happy to help us and really pleasant to talk to - it was nice being around people who speak English again as well.
ming laps and diving down to check out all the fish that were swimming around on the coral reefs. I saw hundreds of tiny, bright colored fish, some sea urchins, and even a starfish during my morning expedition! To contrast completely, my other favorite was my Starbucks afternoon, when I gleefully discovered a two floor Starbucks - a classic sign of tourism - but hey, it combined two of my favorite things in life: coffee and a beach. The one regret that I have is not spending much 
time soaking up Filipino culture or even cuisine, since we were so isolated in tourist-ville, but that just makes another excuse to have to return. One cultural item we did pick up on right away, however, is how incredibly warm, friendly, and welcoming the Filipino people are - we met some truly genuine people who were happy to help us and really pleasant to talk to - it was nice being around people who speak English again as well. Though the return trip was just as grueling as the first one (overnight in Manila, all day layover in Beijing, late night arrival in Seoul, four hour bus to Gwangju, then about three hours of sleep before waking up and teaching that Friday) we survived and came through as better people for it. We even rallied and met up in Wando for the annual September Wando beach party that Friday evening, after, as Sara put it, "not sleeping for three days." Our night in Manila proved to be more interesting than we thought it would be - we were all bracing for a restless night in a sketchy Manila airport with our safety caps on high alert - but on Boracay we ended up meeting an American who was living in Manila and recommended a shopping mall complex for us to kill time and hang out at until we had to head over to the airport. He reassured us it was safe - we figured we could check it out and return to the airport as soon as we felt uncomfortable. Well, we ended up not wanting to leave. The Green Belt, as the complex was called, ended up being an incredibly modern, huge, classy, fancy shopping complex complete with brand name stores, fantastic restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and even a few dance
clubs. We were amazed, and spent a happy night eating Southeast Asian cuisine, wandering around until shops closed, and drinking coffee (or napping in the coffee shop's cozy chairs) until 2 AM. Clearly we hadn't done our research on modern-day Manila and we had just been relying on our previous perceptions based off media reports and stories to assume it was dangerous all over. It was a good lesson to learn - you can't judge a book by its cover until you open it and dive in.
Now, with November fast approaching, Boracay seems like a dream away, but it was definitely the best beach vacation I've ever had. I'm looking forward to exploring more of Southeast Asia's beaches next February when I take off for my winter vacation, but more on that later. After Boracay, my weekends have consisted of teaching and judging at an English camp, participating in Gwangju's festival parade and experiencing a Korean traditional game, seeing my favorite K-Pop group in conce
rt, visitin
g Steve and Mary up in Seoul, relaxing and enjoying the fall weather in Gwangju, and most recently celebrating Sara's birthday in Jangheung with a few of our closest friend
s. See if you can guess which picture 
corresponds to what. This weekend I'm heading off to Mokpo for a 'hash run,' then next weekend I'm attending my secretary's wedding (my first Korean wedding) before going back to Mokpo to celebrate Halloween. I can barely keep up with myself, but rest assured I'm enjoying every minute of everything in between teaching and hanging out with my wonderful kids.
rt, visitin
g Steve and Mary up in Seoul, relaxing and enjoying the fall weather in Gwangju, and most recently celebrating Sara's birthday in Jangheung with a few of our closest friend
s. See if you can guess which picture 
corresponds to what. This weekend I'm heading off to Mokpo for a 'hash run,' then next weekend I'm attending my secretary's wedding (my first Korean wedding) before going back to Mokpo to celebrate Halloween. I can barely keep up with myself, but rest assured I'm enjoying every minute of everything in between teaching and hanging out with my wonderful kids. Until next time, I hope you all enjoy the remainder of fall and enjoy the Halloween holiday before October is gone! Oh, and someone please drink a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte for me - apparently Korean Starbucks haven't caught on to the best fall drink in the world yet. I'll have to write them a letter. Take care, love you and miss you all.
