Currently Ben Folds Presents: University a Cappella! By Ben Folds see related

“Everybody knows it hurts to grow up, and everybody does.  So weird to be back here.  And let me tell you what, the years go on, and we’re still fighting it.  We’re still fighting it.” ~Ben Folds

If you want to see photos from my summer, check out my facebook.

Well, I realize it’s been far too long since m last update, and I know I promised to update after my adventures.  Well this is the story of my summer adventure.  There was a trip last spring to Ireland that was epic as well, but unfortunately I didn’t write about.  I usually write as a form of catharsis, which is tricky since after my trips I don’t feel quite the need to write, but I want to so that those few still reading can be hear about the travels. 

Well this summer I returned to the USA for the first time in 2 years.  It was harder and easier than I thought it would be, if can be any more vague, let me know.  I set  out with 2 of my college buddies, Stauffer and Ondeck, on trip across country.  We drove about 9000 miles crossing into 23 states.  Coupled with a trip to see my Grandparents and to Hawaii that made a total of 27 states in 1 summer, and now I have been to every state except for Alaska, but who would want to go there anyways? 

Anyways, we called our trip affectionately The Price is Road Trip, as 1 of our goals was to get onto or into The Price is Right.  To kick off the trip we made a stop with the legend Mike Ford, and enjoyed ice tea out on his back porch until Stauffer unceremoniously  broke one of the Ford’s glasses while trying to restrain Ondeck, so we respectfully excused ourselves, but it was a great evening none the less.  We knew from there the trip was going to be epic and so these are some the highlights.

- On the first full day of driving I was pulled over by a narcotics officer for speeding, and surprisingly enough that was the only incident with cops we had (I was let off with a warning)

- One of the trip rules was if we saw a worlds “-est” anything we had to stop at it, so I first stop was at Meremac caverns in Missouri, “Worlds oldest tourist attraction on Route 66”, I realize that’s pretty specific.  If you ever go there don’t do the “best deal”  of panning for goal and dino dig.  It’s a lie, the dino dig is literally just playing in dirt with plastic shovel.

- Another one of our trip rules was that in every place we visited we had to make a new friend, and they had to actually admit to being our friends, so in Meremac we made our first friend, Annette, a middle aged woman traveling with her dad and 17 year old niece.  She then told us about our next stop…

- We stopped at the Worlds Largest Rocking Chair, then went to Lambert’s Café for dinner, then I got to see an old high school friend.

-  From there we headed to New Orleans, Burbon St., and the French quarter.  In New Orleans we met our next friend Ryan who informed us that we are all on a cyclical journey, it all comes full circle.  We, of course, went to café DuMonde and ate their donutish dish, called beignet

-  We then stopped at The Worlds Largest Cross in the western hemisphere, in Texas.  It was pretty over the top, but I know you were all wondering, yes, they do have a large gift shop, fear not.

- From there we headed to Woodland Park, Colorado where I use to work.  It was great seeing my old friends.  We spent the 4^th of July at a small town celebration doing all sorts of ridiculous things, like running through the park shirtless during a hailstorm.  I also won a couple of goldfish. 

- We stopped in Vegas for a couple of hours to visit the Worlds Largest Gift Shop, the Ballagio fountain, and grab some lunch.

- On our way out to L.A., we stopped at the worlds largest thermometer

- In Hollywood we went to 2 days of filming of The Price is Right, watch the show October 8^th and 13^th to see me in the audience.  The 8^th is more likely that you’ll see me.  We made tons of friends while we were waiting in line, it was pretty cool, because waiting in line is basically all you do that day.

- We also went Hollywood Blvd. and saw all the stars and I was interviewed next to Michael Jacksons star on the day of his funeral; all the questions were based on Michael Jackson song titles.  

- That same day we ate lunch at Philleppe’s, home of the French dip…so good.  And then headed to Venice beach for the afternoon.  We stopped by muscle beach, but I didn’t want to make sure off and make all those other guys self conscious.

- From L.A. we headed north to San Francisco  and went to Fisherman’s wharf, I was able to navigate the area by remembering the map from Tony Hawk 4, a game I played back in college.

-We camped out a night out in Redwood, and we drove through a tree, and we stopped at a roadside attraction called Confusion Hill, it had The Worlds Largest Redwood Carving

-In Portland, we staying at the White Eagle Inn, and stayed in a haunted room, so that was cool.

- In Seattle we saw a Mariners game, went to Pike’s Place, and most importantly went to the original Utilikilt shop, where I bought a 2^nd Utilikilt…like you can put a price on freedom.

-From there we headed to Preston, Idaho, where the movie Napoleon Dynomite was filmed.  After a serious of awkward conversations we found ourselves knocking on the front door of Dale.  He was the guy that shot the cow, and preformed the wedding ceremony.  He invited us in, cleaned off his couch for us, proceeded to tell us “old man stories” in a barely audible slur for about half an hour, it was pretty incredible.

-from there we went to the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, then St. Louis for an evening with Fenter (miss ya bro!), after that we stopped into Hannibal for a family reunion, where I had 1 cousin I never met before encourage me to “check-out” another cousin I have never met before.  I, awkwardly, had to remind him, she was our cousin.

- From there it was a straight/long drive to PA

After the road trip I spent my last week in the states visiting friends, then I met up with a couple of friends from work in Hawaii and we spent about 5 days there just enjoying the beach.  On the flight out there I scratched my cornea pretty badly (it’s still healing), so that meant to water or sun…that’s right, in Hawaii, and no water or sun.  It was a bit of a bummer to say the least.  But all in all it was good trip/ summer.

So here’s the thing, this is the part where I get reflective.  Coming back to the states is always so hard, and what makes it harder is that people who don’t understand it, can’t understand no matter how hard I try to explain, in fact I usually get teased for having a hard time going back.  So I have decided to not even attempt to explain it here, just know that there’s something difficult about going back to the states after being away for a couple of years.  I feel like Ben Folds quote at the beginning sums it up pretty well.  So here’s the point I want to make here I came back to Korea to discover something…I love Korea, I mean I really really love the country.  It could be that I have lived here longer than anywhere else I have lived my entire life and it’s growing on me, but here is home, that’s for sure.  I spent my summer doing all of the most American things I could possibly do, wanting to embrace my roots, and it was great, and it was fun, but it just wasn’t enough.  So then this obviously raises tons of questions, where do I go from here?  What does this mean for me?  The only thing keeping me from really just settling in here for the long haul is the language thing, I miss being able to meet random people, that was my favorite part of the road trip, just meeting people where ever we went.  I know for now I plan on being here for awhile, at least until I set sail.  

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real.

Currently A Good Day By Priscilla Ahn see related

"Who in their right might, if had a choice between living and pancakes would choose pancakes?"
"Harold, if you'd pause to think, I believe you would realize that that answer would be strictly contingent between the type of life being led, and of course the quality of the pancakes." ~Stranger than Fiction

The more I think about my life the more I realize how truly blessed I am.  This update is about a recent call for adventure and my willingness to answer.  Ok, admittedly, it’s nothing quite so dramatic, it’s basically the summation of my Christmas vacation and 3 weeks spent in New Zealand and Australia, but in fairness, it was a pretty sweet adventure and I am not even sure where to start.  

It was Emily, Jen, Chris Fenter and myself.  Chris was meeting up with us from the states in the Korea airport to fly south.  Our first stop was in Auckland, New Zealand, where we were met coming out of the gate by an old friend from my time in Croatia, Charan.  She was putting us up for the night at her dad’s house out in the country side.  It was really the perfect way to start the trip, a straight up home-stay with a kiwi family.  Here dad was a riot, and very hospitable, staying at their house was like walking into a house in the states with wall to wall carpeting, light colors, and large kitchens.  It was a great opportunity to get a glimpse into the kiwi life and mind frame.  That night we had a traditional fish and chips dinner, and lets just say it did me in for fried food for the rest of the trip.  We tried a dish called paua, which is a type of shellfish and is also to be said is aphrodisiac.  It tasted like black seafood with a thick mushy consistency, it’s tough to describe.  Another kiwi dish we ate was pavlova.  The next day we took our rental car and headed to Hot Water Beach, which is basically a beach that if you dig holes in the sand the heat from the rocks below will heat up the water that washes in from the sea, it was pretty cool.  After that we went to Cathedral Cove, which was another beach with gorgeous rock formations. 

The night we stayed at Charan’s house and Jen met Charan’s cat named “Fart”.    Ok, so that’s not what it’s name was, but it was pretty funny to hear Jen calling , “come here Fart, here Fart!”  The next day we went to Ruakuri Cave and saw glow worms, and that night was Christmas eve, so we spent in a hostel in Aukland, and we went to a local Korean norae bong, it was pretty hilarious and fun.  To celebrate we sat around our hostel room and made t-shirts.  For Christmas we were in Christchurch and we saw a chapel in the square that was amazing.  Interesting thing about the chapel there was a swastika on the  wall of it that dated before the war (1885) and they said at the time it was a symbol of prosperity.  I think it was interesting, not sure how I feel about it, although I wonder if the symbol no longer means that that maybe they should remove it.   The same day in Christchurch there was the bubble guy, ask me someday about him, it was another fascinating thing.  For dinner that guy we ate at this English pub called The Bard, and it seriously looked and felt like something out of Lord of The Rings.  One thing we did a lot of on the trip was play Poker Bull, I think that would make all you college folks proud, we played it a lot, right Emily?  “Pair of Aces, pair of Kings, Ace high”  After that we headed to the Chistchurch modern art museum.

From there we hit the road for some serious road tripping.  The New Zealand country side is just amazing, and we were able to all really bond during that time.  “Data, Spock, Cpt. Picard” “OMG, They’re all turning me on”.  We found ourselves in Queenstown, and let me just say about the place quickly…IT”S A LIE!  There I said it, they try to make themselves out to be this chilled hippie town, that’s all laid-back and happy to have you there, but it’s a lie.  It’s all about the money, that’s all anyone there really cares about, and how to get your money.  Also, I felt bad for being an American there, so that kinda sucked.  Apart from that though, the town was pretty cool, any extreme activity you wanted to do you could do there.  While there we bungee jumped off of Kawarau Bridge, the site of the first commercial bungee jump, then Fenter and I went Rockclimbing, hiking, and luging.

Ok, now I know some of you wondering if we went on a Lord of the Rings tour, well we did not, but while skydiving from 12,000 feet my jump guide pointed out numerous sites that the movies was filmed while we were floating dow, so it was practically the same. 

So we arrived in Sydney, Australia on New Years Eve, and after a bit of struggle to find our villa, we headed “The Rocks”  for New Years festivities.  Let me just say it was BRILLIANT!  It was quite the party and watching fireworks come up from behind Opera House and then looking around to see fireworks in every direction coming off of every building is just beautiful!  After that people just spend the night dancing in the street, it was pretty fun!  After that we met up with one of Emily’s friends and she gave us a walking tour of Sydney- Darling Harbor, Opera House, Town Hall, Kings Cross, Potts Point, and Royal Botanical Gardens.  In the Gardens we saw these HUGE bats hanging from the trees in the middle of the day.  The next day was overcast so instead of hitting the beach we went to the Modern Art Museum and Taronga Zoo and that night we went to a luxury movie theatre with these awesome reclining seats and you own arm rests etc. for $18 a ticket!

The next day we flew north to the coastal town of Cairns.  This was probably my favorite town and stop of the whole trip.  For the majority of the trip we had rain/overcast, but here it was mostly sunny, on top of that it was a legit chilled hippie town, the people were friendly, our hostel was dirty, smelly, and all around awesome, there was a rarely inhabited hammock in the common room that I liked to occupy while the ladies were getting ready.  The first day there I was able to use my long dormant SCUBA certification and Fenter and I did 3 dives on the Great Barrier Reef.  It was mind blowing!  We saw clown fish, stingrays and amazing fish; I even got so close to a sea turtle that I could probably have touched it!  The feeling of diving alone is so exhilarating; it feels like you are flying above a tiny little world below.  Emily did an intro dive and then went snorkeling with Jen during that time.  The next day we went on Uncle Brian’s rainforest tour, ok so I know at the sound of it might sound lame, but it was actually quite awesome, and we were able to meet some really cool people through.  Basically at the crack of dawn we hop in a mini-bus filled with a bunch of other tourists and sing songs and play silly games while they drive us around to different water falls in the area.  It was hilarious and beautiful, at one point we went on this natural waterslide made out of rocks where people would do stunts on them like it was some kind sport.  To wrap up the night we drove back singing at the top of our lungs, going pretty nuts, and then a bunch of us went out afterwards and hung out for the night.  The next morning we were catching our flight back but took in an early movie at 10:10am for only 15 bucks.

All in all, I could not have imagined a more amazing trip.  I often feel like I have to pinch myself to remind myself that my life isn’t just a dream.  I have been so lucky/blessed to experience the things I have done.  Being down under was an opportunity for me to really embrace life for all its worth, and get the most out of it.  It’s gotten me thinking a lot lately about people’s goals in life and what they hope to accomplish, and who they want to be.  I’ve realized that my life will never be dull; I always want to be trying to get the most of life.  In answer to my quote at the beginning from Stranger Than Fiction, which by the way is an amazing movie and you should watch it; I don’t want pancakes, it doesn’t matter how good they are, my life is worth the living.  I feel like as often as I avoid being preachy or “Christianese” in my xanga, I need to give credit where credit is due, and God has been good to me, and He deserves my gratitude.

As usual thanks for the prayers, Keep it real!

Currently Listening Way to Normal By Ben Folds see related

“Les temps sont durs pour les rêveurs.” ~Amelie

So I am a bit over due for an update, but life has been lacking inspiration.  I know that may sound crazy once I tell you all that I have been up to, but I just haven’t much motivation to write.  I wonder why that has been?  Any ideas?

Since last February I have been pretty busy, mostly just with life as an RA, although there have been some major changes in my life these past few months, so I figured I would update you all on these changes.  I am going to try my best to keep things chronological. 

Last Spring Break I returned to the orphanage that I went to the previous year, check out my facebook for photos.  It was, a expected, a pretty amazing trip.  I realized soon after that I have a truly blessed and freakin sweet life when a trip to India doesn’t suck out of me a xanga post of it’s own.  If you want a full update on it, check out the update from the previous year, that about sums it up.  The children there were amazing though, and it was so great just to see them again.  There’s really so much I can learn from them, even reflecting on them now I think about all the things I “need” and how little I really need them.  When is it time to say good bye to the comfortable life for something more ascetic?  When will the lessons of a 10 year old Indian orphan with only 1 set of clothes and no shoes finally sink in? Below are some of the boys. 

I got to see the Blue Man Group in Korea as well in the spring, and that was fun.                                                            

 Also this past Spring I started dating a girl named Christine, we were dating casually for about a month before I had to beg her to be my girlfriend, but I turned up the charm and she came around.  So we’ve been together for about 5 months now and things have been going well.  Below is Christine and I as chaperons for the high school prom.

So that brings me to this past summer, I decided to spend the summer in Korea, and take an intensive Korean language course.  I figured if I was going to put roots here I needed to continue my language studies.  My typical day was pretty cool actually; I would wake up, go to class for 5 hours, go back to my apartment and watch a movie or play video game, and then study for a few hours before going to bed early.  It was really nice and relaxing, although lacking in adventure. I enjoyed staying here so much it got me thinking about why I return stateside at all during the summer.  It’s an opportunity to either learn a new skill or travel somewhere totally awesome, or both! To wrap up the summer I went to Seoul and saw Jason Mraz

(This was my pizza box stack at my old apartment.)

This fall has been really busy so far and a huge adjustment.  There have been a lot of changes in the dorm program.  These past couple of years I have been working at the off-campus dorm and living at an apartment about a block from the dorm.  A plus was that I had the largest RA apartment; the downside was I feel like I lost of connections with the students while not living in the same building as them.  So we decided to give our students the opportunity to live on campus which then meant a full on dorm split up.  So I ended up moving over to a new set of students and dorm parents and co-RA.  There are 8 of my old students in this new dorm though, and it’s been an awesome transition.  I have been enjoying the new facilities, and although I miss my old dorm and co-workers, I have really enjoyed my new students and co-workers.  It’s been really great, and a fun change.  I have been enjoying the new challenges that come with the change as well.  Shoot, I have even enjoyed now living in the smallest RA apartment.  

Apart from the transitions, this fall has been really busy.  I have been on 2 retreats, one for all the staff and one for just dorm staff, also there’s been plenty of random awesomeness.  This past week I went to Everland, which is basically a deformed version of Disney World.  It was pretty hilarious and awesome, the highlight was Styrofoam swords and dip n dots, I mean, besides the awesome people I went with.  The very next day I headed south to Jinju and I went to a lantern festival on the river, it was gorgeous. Below is a group of at Everland.

So that’s my life update.  It’s been a good few months full of blessings and trials, but that’s the way it always goes.  For now, I guess, I am just asking, “what’s next?”  I have been thinking about a lot lately, trying to be as open as possible, while answering the calls.  I have about a month before contract resigns come out, and although I am currently planning on resigning for another year here in Korea I want to at least consider the possibilities and what God wants for my life. Couple that with the insatiable desire for art, beauty, and adventure that haunts me this time of year it leaves me asking the usual question of ,”why” over and over again (usually never finding an answer to it).  I do have a trip to Australia and New Zealand planned for Christmas break that I am looking forward to, and I already have people asking what I am doing this next summer.  That, as previously mentioned, is still way up in the air.  I don’t feel incredibly drawn to the states, but who knows, it may be time for me stop back in.

Well I hope this satisfies the few remaining readers for a while.  I will try to update slightly more frequently, but only slightly. I went ahead and posted some photos below from the past few months.

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real.

Currently Listening Welcome to Struggleville By Vigilantes of Love Vet see related

Then they showed us just how the Viet Cong (VC) had survived during the war, and just what their lives looked like.  These people, they new their business.  They showed us some the crazy traps they would set up, how they would make the tunnels and traps, and even clothing.  They had sandals made from old car tires, which you can still buy.  So when we reached the tourist tunnels I was following a guard who was leading us through, and this guy was a good 6 inches taller than me, and he was running through the tunnels like they were nothing, I was thoroughly impressed.  Ok, as some of you may know, I had never fired a gun, ever.  I am not a fan of anything designed for the sole purpose of killing (I realize I just made a controversial statement).  I have a confession; I can no longer say I have never fired a gun.  At the end of the tour they have guns that you can pay to fire.  So it's true I have fired a gun, but in my defense it was AK47, I mean, how many times ever would I get a chance to fire one?  I also fired an M16.  Now that brings into question the morbidity of going on a tour about war, and then firing an assault rifle at the end.  Well I don't have answer except I like to try new things. 

So on the way back to our hotel from the tunnels we stopped at a rest stopped. So everywhere you go, you see these bottles with a yellow liquid, and a dead cobra inside, also sometimes other snakes and scorpions.  I thought it was just for show, so I made a joke with the lady at the counter, "you drink it right?"  Thinking I was being funny, and she says, "would you like to try some?"  Keeping in mind what I have just written about trying new things, it was pretty much a must do.  So Brian and I drank a small bit of Cobra Juice straight out of the bottle on the counter, and now I am pretty sure I have super powers.  Either I can read minds or I am hearing voices, either way, it's awesome!

The next day Binh took us on a boat tour of the Saigon delta, one of our first stops was at a Chinese temple for Taoism.  Talk about interesting, so the burn TONS of incense there, and they believe the smoke brings their prayers to God.  Then they will pray as they shake a box of sticks with numbers on them and then when a stick falls out they take 2 blocks and throw them on the ground, if the blocks match up, they know they have the right stick.  They take their stick to the front desk where there a bunch of numbered pieces of paper with fortunes on them, and that's how they find out what's going to happen to them.  Wild eh?
After that he took us to some small islands and villages where I got to hold a python and where we took a canoe ride through the jungle wearing those cool hats you see in Vietnam so often.  At one point we reached a bridge, but we could get under it because the tide was in and there was another boat stuck on the other side, so we all got out of our boat and jumped into the other one in order to get it to sink low enough to pass under the bridge, but alas, I am just not big enough. 

The next day we caught a small plane to the Island of Phu Quoc.  We stayed at a pretty nice resort while we were there, in beach side bungalows.  So it was kind of weird though, it was a lot like a ghost town.  The resort was kind of worn down, and empty.  It could be that it was the off season, but it was still kind of creepy, like the town was dying or something.  On the upside, we basically had the beach to ourselves for a few days.  I of course, got a sunburn the very first day.  I also can now say that I have been naked in the China Sea!  After a couple of days we grabbed a plane back to Saigon and then flew home to Korea.  It was an amazing trip!

I want to write a little bit about an observation I made while I was there about the people.  They were amazing, the service was above and beyond, and the people were so nice and kind especially to tourists.  For example, the traffic in Saigon is INSANE, there are no lights or traffic signals you just go and there are thousands of scooters everywhere, and if you want to cross the street, you just walk across slowly as cars and bikes driving around you.  If a police man sees a tourist though, he will run and stop traffic so they can cross the street.  Granted that’s a small thing, but in so many other areas the people are so nice, waiters will just be really friendly, people will let you go first in line, etc etc.  It’s all kind of unnerving actually, because in theory these people should hate Americans.  I asked Binh about it, and he tells us that the people in Vietnam have learned from the destruction of war and don’t want to repeat it.  Bitterness doesn’t help.  They don’t want the world to think of the Vietnamese as the people from war time, but see them as the loving and welcoming people they are.  He explained to me that his people were really just “chess pieces” during that time; their homes were ripped apart for a game of chess between communism and democracy.  I don’t know how to feel.  It wasn’t my generation, but it all defined a generation.  I guess I just hope to learn from them, learn to forgive and love, even when people don’t deserve it.

While thinking of wars that defined a generation, please throw up prayer for Kristy Grant, she’s headed off to Iraq.

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real.