MrScottiep's Xanga

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:20:52 GMT

“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.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:03:10 GMT

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!

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:07:43 GMT

“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.

After re-reading my last entry about putting down roots, I have since come to some conclusions. I have decided to settle in here into Korea for awhile. Granted, I try not to place myself or God in a box, and remain open, but I can honestly see myself staying here for a number of years. I realize that’s kind of hypocritical following my last paragraph, so like I said, I am trying to be open right now. But around that time last year I had decided that I need to settle in here, and in order to that I need to do some work on my language skills. So last Spring I started taking a Korean class 3 times a week for the remainder of the school year. The guy was my classmate and the girl was one of my teachers.

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.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:01:26 GMT

"Some of us laugh, even in our darkest hour. Never leave lonely alone." ~ Ben Harper

Ok, so I am aware that I promised to update after big adventures, and I fully intend to make good on that promise, but all too often I need to be inspired to write down my thoughts, and inspiration is not always conducive to the up-beat adventure of my life blogs that people want to read. I am in the mood to write now though, but I can't promise it will be entertaining. I'll do my best, I'll probably be brief.

Over Christmas break I went to three different countries, Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia in that order with Eric, a fellow RA out here in Korea. To start I'll do my best to describe Singapore. There is a scene in the movie the Last Emperor where the young emperor is playing a game where people would push there faces into a hanging sheet and the boy would try to guess who it was. I feel like this is the best way to describe Singapore. At the core of it there is an Asian culture, but basically a big western sheet has been thrown over top so all you can see is a western city with the imprint of an Asian culture.
In Singapore:
-first we went to China town
- we visited a giant statue of a half fish half lion creature called the Merlion (like mermaid, but lion)
- while walking around I saw my first ever Islamic street evangelist, it was kinda cool
-we went on the Ducktour. It was a half boat half car vehicle.
-on the tour we saw the world's largest floating stage, and as always the wold's "-est" anything is really cool.
-we enjoyed the Christmas lights on Orchard St.
-we spent an afternoon at the zoo and watched them feed the white tigers...awesome.
-met up with a past student in Singapore for coffee
- returned to the zoo for the night safari, man, I love animals, they are so cool.
-my first Hard Rock Cafe experience ever was in Singapore

In Malaysia:
Eric and I then went to Malaysia to meet up with a bunch of other staff for the Boarding Conference. We did not do as much touristy stuff, but we did have fun hanging out on the beach. I wouldn't say a had a fair glimpse of Malaysia as far as cultural observations go, so I'll refrain for the time being.
- I ate poo, literally. Ok, so technically there's a Thai dish called poo and it's basically just a crab omelet, but I did order it just so I could say, "I ate poo"
- There may or may not be another body of water that I can say I have been naked in. At 11am one sunny morning the Straights of Melaka I graced the water with my, ahem, presence.
- One night we did hit up the night market, and ate dinner there
- don't ask me how I know this, but I am pretty sure our hotel had a gay Indian dance club in it.
- on the last night of the conference we went to this Indian restaurant where we saw an AMAZING magic show, and by AMAZING, I mean awful...awfully amazing.

In Cambodia:
We spent our time in Siem Reap while we there, and we met up with a friend of mine and some of her friends that are working for an organization called Sustainable Cambodia. It was really stellar to meet people doing great work in the thick of it as well as seeing the incredible remains of a gorgeous civilization.
- We saw the ruins Ankor Wat, Ankor Tom
- They set you up with a driver and tour guide (for a fee of course), and lets just say it was interesting to say the least. At one point we watched as our taxi driver bribed a police officer to get out of a ticket, and by the end of the tour I gave up even trying to understand a word our guide said because his English was so hard to follow.
- we did not feed the wild monkeys at Ankor Wat, that will only encourage them.
- We watched the sunset on Ankor from Bakaeng Mt.
- We went to River of a 1000 Lingas, which was nice just to be out in the woods and hiking again. I miss the woods.
- We went to the Land mine museum. Very somber.

So that's my Christmas break in short. It was a great time, and it was really wild all that I saw in just a couple of weeks.

It's interesting to do some reflection on life sometimes, especially after everything I just wrote. Something I have been thinking about a lot lately is roots. The idea of planting roots somewhere and making it my home. Seeing as I moved every couple of years growing up, I don't really have that. By the end of next year I'll have lived in Korea longer than I have lived anywhere in my life. I don't know, it just seems like this place is a bit of stretch to say this is the closest I have ever had to having roots, and I was wondering why. I think it has something to with the fact that it's always changing here. People leave as quickly as the come, and obviously the students always leave and change as well. So the closest thing I have to foundation/roots in my life is constantly shifting. Isn't that the way of it sometimes? I feel like too often there's nothing solid, nothing to reach for, nothing to hold on to. I was recently discussing with a friend my current state in life and as we looked at it, I am really back to ground zero. There's a lot of freedom in that, but there's also a dangerous amount of hopelessness attached. What do you do when God literally cuts all the strings attached to you? Do I fall crumple into a heap like a marionette or do a fly away like a kite? Obviously there are some big changes in my life on the horizon, but I have no idea what they are...I just hope I am ready for it when it hits...then again, maybe it's all just speculation. All that to say- What should I do with my life, I am currently taking suggestions? (We have until next Oct. to figure it out). I don't think I mind putting my heart on my sleeve so much this post because I don't think I have that many readers left anyways, and that's ok.

Thanks for the prayers, Keep it real.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:52:17 GMT

"Standing in front of the black wall, lots of names carved in
Trying to make a little bit of sense of it all, where do I begin" ~Bill Mallonee

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Vietnam. It was Chusok here, Korean Thanksgiving, and so we had a week off of school, and a group of 6 decided to head off. There were 4 teachers and 2 dorm staff on the trip. Me and Eric proudly represented the dorm staff, while Brian, Julie, Angela, and Liz were the teachers. Brian and Julie did an incredible job of planning the trip with handful of touristy sites and what not, and also we had some time to chill out.
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city late Saturday night to stay at a 5 star hotel called the Omni, let me just say it was ridiculously nice, and yet affordable. It was the type of place where I felt awkward walking through the lobby, because I was under dressed. Not my typical style of travel, but considering I'll probably never afford to travel like that any where else in the world, I didn't mind at all. Everything was super cheap in Vietnam by the way. Ho Chi Minh is more commonly known to westerners as Saigon, and when talking to our tour guide about it he said that the people of Saigon prefer to call it Saigon, so that's how I'll refer to it from now on.

You can't visit Vietnam with out visiting the effects of the Vietnam war. I won't dignify the word war with a capital W. So it's about 50 years, and man, I wish I had paid more attention in high school history class, because seeing the impact you can't help but be moved. I wish I could explain how I was moved, or what emotions I felt, but it was all so jumbled, it's hard to express, but I'll do my best. That first day we visited the War Remnants Museum, which basically just a small museum with photos from the war and facts about it.
From there we took these funny little bike rickshaws that seat one person, but of course they had us put 2 people on it, to the market. Where of course the drivers tried to scam me out of money right away. The market was pretty standard as far as South East Asia goes, lot's of shops all selling the same touristy things, and lots of people trying to call you into their shop to buy whatever it is they have; and once your in, the game of negotiation begins. It's funny though, because of the exchange rate, once you're in that situation you find yourself negotiating for a few cents, it's all kind of frustrating actually. After that we went back to the hotel to go swimming and celebrate being in Saigon.
The next day 2 days we had a tour guide named Binh (pronounced Ben), which mean Peace in Vietnamese. He was a really cool guy. First thing he did was take us to a factory where handicapped people would make "paintings" out of egg shell, which they oddly had painted on all the signs for the place.
From there Binh took us to the CuChi tunnels. This part of the trip was crazy, actually seeing the tunnels, seeing the craters in the ground from bombs dropped. There was a point early on in the tour where they let us crawl through an actual tunnel (they also had a tourist tunnel later on in the tour). So Brian, Julie, and myself squeezed through the small hole to get into the tunnel, I came out on the other side covered in mud, and I had been smacked in the head numerous times by bats, lots of bats. It was awesome.

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.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 06:05:29 GMT

"When you pursue your personal legend, all the universe conspires in your favor." ~Paulo Coelho [paraphrased]

I realize that I have been truant in regards to my xanga .   I should let you know I will be continuing in this pattern, but if you can handle the long delays between posts when ever something exciting or interesting happens I will be sure to update you on it. This post will be dedicated to my summer, which was busy, but awesome.

I returned from my last semester in Korea to North East Pennsylvania on July 1st. I spent a week at home and during that time I met up with my friend Jeremy for some taco bell action. Going to the States for the summer is officially a weird experience. It's always a time for processing of the past year, and reflection, but also a time to form personal goals for the coming year. I bring this up now, because dinner with Jeremy was the beginning of this process for me through out the summer, and let me just say it was a magnificent summer for reflection.

After that first week with my family, I returned to the first summer camp I ever worked at, to spend a week as a counselor again. Dude, it was so amazing! It had been 5 years since I had last worked there, and just getting out there and doing camp again was so much fun. The staff was great as well, it so refreshing to see Camp Hebron still producing quality staff. To wrap up the week that last weekend there was the 50th reunion of all the summer staff, where there some serious legends coming out of the wood work. Revisiting that period of my life was really rejuvenating for me. I was fortunate enough to have to of my closest camp friends ever be working there, Ben and Rodney, and that was definitely one of the highlights of my summer. I miss how much we tease each other, laugh with each other, challenge each other, and encourage each other. Those are good people

From there a group of us [Stauffer, Curt, Phil, and Ondeck] from Ship met at Hebron and headed to New York City for one of the greatest concerts I have ever been to in my life...DISPATCH!!! We weren't able to sit with each other so we all got meet new friends. From there, I went to Brooklyn and spent the weekend with Griffis. We went to see Mama Mia on Broadway and then went to dinner and the Brooklyn Bridge, it was a great time.

Ok, so here's another interesting thing about coming back to the states for the summer, I feel like a tourist. I am not returning home, but i am visiting the USA! With that in mind, I decided that no matter what the circumstances I was going to go see some things in the US that I hadn't seen yet, so I borrowed my mom's van and went to Maine, alone. I went to Acadia National Park and watched the sunrise on the US. Let me just say that place is gorgeous, I really miss the majesty of the nature the states while i am out here in Korea. While in Maine, i toured the park, and ate lobster. The morning I watched sunrise was gorgeous, but then it started to rain and didn't stop for the entire time I was on my road trip, the thing was, it was still amazing. From there I went to Vermont and saw the Ben and Jerry's factory, and then from there I went to New Hampshire and had dinner with my friend Jimbo from Camp California, so great to see him again, a walk down memory lane for sure.

After my New England road trip, I went to Stauffer's house for the night where we started planning out our sailing world tour. We also went for ice cream and apparently some girls there at the ice cream shop thought we were so good looking that we were gay. The next day we went to a pig roast back at Camp Hebron; they roasted their pet pig for the summer, it was hilarious. The day after that I drove to Ship and had lunch with the Kosers and the Keenes.

The next few days were with the folks, but I had dinner with the Skinkers, from there we flew out to Kansas City for a family reunion. The first of it's kind...ever! Some of the cousins there I had never met before and the others it had been maybe 10 years since I had seen them, it was wild. Unfortunately I was sick the whole so spent the first half of the reunion in bed, but the last day I was well enough to attempt to be social. I loved seeing my brothers! Then I packed up and a day later, on August 1st, I departed for another year in Taejon, South Korea!
[I tried to upload some photos of this but it wouldn't let me, sorry about that]

So it was a profound summer of reflection. It's interesting to think about how people view you in different places, and how well that person is accepted. Once you made a reputation for yourself, it's pretty tough to shake it, that's for sure. One thing I realized this summer is that I am stepping further and further away from religion with each passing day, and this is something that's not easy for some people to grasp. In contrast, each step away from religion is one step closer to spirituality, but even still some people will not see this as a good thing, and will not understand why I wish the same for them. I have also realized that by taking these steps that my life and faith must be exponentially more proactive. I need to be a living example of love, above and beyond. I have seen what happens when you step away from religion and closer to spirituality with out being proactive, and let me just say it has an appearance of hopelessness and depravity. But if I am going to be displeased with the world, I had better be prepared to change it, or at least try to. I think your faith is defined by how proactive you are in it. I know that was kind of a heavy shift from the rest of the post and if you have questions please feel free to ask, but there it is. Those are my reflections and goals that arose from the summer

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:49:05 GMT

"Father forgive me, for I have not believed, like Mother India. I have groaned and grieved. Father forgive me, I forgot your grace, your spirit falls on India and captured me in your embrace" ~Caedmon's Call

Last Sunday evening, I returned to my home in Korea, from spending spring break in India at an orphanage out side of Bangalore. Monday I thought I was miserably sick, I will spare you the gory details of the symptoms, but lets just say if I wasn't in the bathroom, I was in bed for about 30 hours straight until the fever broke. It's the Wednesday after the trip and even though re-entry was a little rough, I wouldn't change it for the world, and would go back in a heart beat...here's the story...

Things that seem important quickly become trivial when you are faced with the reality that others live and thrive in daily. India is the meeting point of 2 of the world's major religions, neither of which is Christianity. A country that, in theory, feels like it's ready to burst out in violence, but has taken a route of peaceful resolution to their conflicts, thanks to Ghandi. It's really something I think Christians can learn from. The average income of a high end computer engineer is about $1000 a month, the average income for a blue collar laborer is about $50 a month. Our plane arrived late at night into a bustling city of Bangalore, where we ate dinner at 11pm an Indian buffet and spent the night. The next day in 90 degree heat, we took a 2 hour bus ride with out AC out into the country side. It was like something out of National Geographic.

We arrived at the orphanage to rows of 120 beautiful children sitting quietly until the moment we walked in where there was a chorus of "WELCOME AUNTIES, WELCOME UNCLES" in unison...From there it took a turn from good to simply amazing!

After we set our luggage down, the children sucked us in! Even if I had wanted to be shy they wouldn't have let me, one girl grabbed me by the wrist and said, "Come on, we are going to teach you how to play." Frankly, that was an understatement. These children had little to nothing and yet they knew how to play. They would invent their own games, on the spot. We had brought them jacks, but none of us knew how to play, so the children invented their own game using the jacks as a sort of spinning top, it was ingenious and hilarious. It had been over a year since they had seen any rain, the earth was dry there, very dry. They never knew when they would have running water or electricity for that matter, but they never seemed to care.

Ok, here are some highlights from the trip, in no particular order:
- the name of the orphanage was Beulah home
-the students that joined the trip were UH-mazing!!! I loved those girls, they all have huge hearts and were great!!! I really feel like a protective big brother now for them.
- I got to wear sandals everyday!
-When we awoke the first morning, I went out onto the roof and heard the chorus of Indian children singing, it was perhaps the most beautiful thing I have ever heard, and we had it going every morning.
- That first night during craft I got to be a paper salesman, selling it for the low low price of FREE!
- call: "I am going to brush my teeth" response: "Good idea"
- It wasn't uncommon for us to loose electricity in the evening, so often we would do crafts by candlelight hoster by C.Barr and crew. Until the candles were distributed the children would bust out in song. The first night I was in awe with a rendition of "Open the Eyes of my Heart", try to hold back the tears if you can.
-One night to unwind as a team we played Broccoli Broccoli, if you don't know this game your loss. Minji is a threat, be wary.
- One day we brought the children a suit case full of books, over 120. The director of Beulah home almost started and crying, and the children just dove right into them, they were so excited!
- One night Sally taught the electric slide then we got to see the different kids do a dance presentation. The little ones did one and let me just say absolutely hysterical and beautiful! If i can figure out how to add video, I'll post it for you guys.
-They taught us a new game they invented called Lagori. It's kind of like dodge ball, but there is a stack of rocks involved as well. It's hard to explain, so we'll have to play some time.
- You could watch the trees and see wild parrots every where, it was cool.
- "As Singles, we need to hug each other more." uh...ok, if you insist.
- as some of you might know, I am not much of kids person. I love teens and working with them, but younger kids are not my cup of tea so to speak. That being said in my notebook I have written down these simple words "Wednesday I fell in love." And by that, I mean the children. Spend any time with these children and it was impossible not to fall in love with them. I have too many stories that I could share about the individual children to write down, maybe someday in my memoirs.
- the last day we where there, I went to the roof with some of the boys and they showed me their home made kites. As weird as this may sound, for me, it was a symbol of their unbridled optimism and hope for their futures. They refused to be held down! If you closely at their kites, you can see why they are so beautiful. If you don't see it, that's ok, you just need to go to India

- On a personal note, as to why India is amazing, if you're a man with out a mustache you are in a large minority. Mustaches are EVERYWHERE!!!!! Frankly, it's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen (next to the children at the Beulah home)
- We had a day and half to tour Bangalore, where we went shopping, visited a palace, and ate a lot of food. The waiters at restaurants are notoriously rude there, it's hilarious. "What do ya want! c'mon hurry up!"
-At the Palace we got to see the King's son, yeah so that was cool.
- We went shopping on our last day, and we got there by a train of rickshaws. So much fun!

- On the shopping day I bought a few souvenirs relatively quickly, and then I hung out at a coffee shop, drinking Snapple, eating samosas (not to be confused with smores), and people watching.
- The last night there, Brian and I were in a room with literally hundreds of mosquitoes. We were both eaten alive that night, Brian got the worst of it. It was super hot, so we couldn't cover ourselves in blankets, so we basically just had to take. I eventually had everything but my mouth covered up in protection from the bugs of death and they bit me on the lips. Hands down, the worst night there.

All in all, the trip was phenomenal, and as always these kind of trips give you a greater appreciation for what you have. I wish my students could all go on something like this. I wish I could wrap this up more eloquently or thoughtfully, but words really don't do it justice. Enjoy the photos.

Thanks for the prayers. Keep it real.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:36:09 GMT

"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

Well it's another Lunar Break here in South Korea. I am not really sure what to write about, but I feel like writing so I am going to grace my few remaining readers with some words. Some highlights since my trip to Thailand over Christmas...I bought my first new pair of glasses in almost 10 years. I have joined a fantasy NASCAR league. We got a handful of new students in our dorm this semester. A cool crew, I can tell they are going to be an adventure to say the least. I have a new group of 8th graders for my 8th grade Bible class, oh yeah, I am a teacher now apparently. The weather is warming up, and as we all know, I am a big sissy when it comes to cold weather, so that's been huge. Basketball season is finally over, so now we can use the gym for floor hockey, it's my chance to trick my peers into thinking i have some semblance of athletic ability...suckers.

As for Lunar, I have basically gone to great lengths to make sure I spent everyday in some form of physical pain. Granted, I have only myself and poor exercising habits to blame for it, so I figure the masochism is probably good for me. We've played indoor soccer, outdoor soccer, multiple games of floor hockey, multiple nights of airsoft, and on top of all that Tuesday night I had one of my wisdom teeth pulled. But folks fear not, I have balanced the physical pain with a healthy dose of mustache. That's right, I have managed to sport a ridiculously hideous mustache the entire break.

This makes me think of something cool about Korea. One thing I love about this place is I can wear anything I want or have my hair however I want as well. They are very open minded here about personal fashion, the more ridiculous you look the more it's generally excepted, so a hideous crustache (combination of 'crust' and mustache') is not only excepted but probably extolled. Unfortunately and unexpectedly I had a bout of self-consciousness when I left the safety of South Korea and entered onto the US military base on Wednesday for some delicious Taco Bell (thanks to the Adams for the highlight of my break). Let's all take a moment to be thankful for the fashion freedom we can encounter in this country, many countries are not nearly as fortunate as I am to have the freedoms that Asians have fought so hard to preserve. To think, there are some countries where people make fun of other people because of the cloths they wear, but I have a flannel from the 90's that says grudge rock never died, and a pair of fake leather pants that says even a short, skinny guy can be sexy, and a white see-thru shirt that says "men can wear women's clothing as long as they say its from Thailand". So to those of you who are not as fortunate to live in a country with fashion freedom, I can only hope that someday we can invade you and "liberate" you of your fascist fashion (pun intended, I know , it's bad).

[please play Collide by Howie Day as you read this next part, because I was playing it as I wrote it and it sounded cool in my head]
On an unrelated note, you ever feel like you're in way over your head? That seems to be a common theme in my life, but perhaps that's where I need to be- in over my head. Sometimes it feels so hard to be human, like because I say I am a Christian, I am not allowed to be human, that I need to be "above that". It's come to my attention that no matter how hard I try I am still a top notch tool, I mean there's nothing I can do about it. I try to "do" the right things, I try to "be" the right things, I try to "say" the right things, but I can't no matter how hard I try. I was lying in bed the other night just pondering the mysteries of the universe as usual, and it came to me, some great epiphany..."Life is hard." Yes, pretty revolutionary eh? (note sarcasm) As I was lying there though, I realized that life was hard, no matter what. It's not like life is hard for me, but easy for him or her. Life is hard for everyone, whether you're rich or poor, alone or loved, successful or a failure...life is going to be hard. I have been blessed beyond my imagination, I would never have imagined 10 years ago how sweet my life would be by the time I was 25 but even still, there are going to be ups and downs. It makes me think about in Genesis when man is cursed to "toil in his work", translate "Dude, life's gonna be hard". I was watching Scrubs today, and Dr. Kelso says "Nothing worth having comes easy." Sometimes I feel like nothing comes easy, nothing at all. In those moments, I just want to leave it all behind, just get up and run away. I don't though. I just started to write that "in those moments I know I am there for a reason", and I realized that's not true, I don't always feel that, I wish I could be so sure and confidant, but I can't, I am human. What I do know is that "nothing worth having comes easy", and I remind myself: life is hard...for everyone. I am not alone, even when I am.

[edit: the people have spoken]

glasses

mustache

thanks for the prayers. keep it real.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 06:06:14 GMT

"You can't stop your soul. JUST DANCE!" ~Thai Elvis

Well friends, I am back from Christmas break in Thailand, and let me just say, it was phenomenal! We spent about 2 weeks in Phuket, and then we spent a few days at a resort in Lanta. At the resort we stayed right on the beach, but the resort was a little bit dodgy, oh well, you take the good with the bad. There were 5 of us traveling together, Craig, Dan, Virginia, Lanney, and myself. Along the way we met up with some friends. Kirsten and here sister joined us for a few nights, Brian joined us for a couple of nights as well, and then Mat, Amy, and Nikole joined us for a week or so. So here are some of the interesting things that happened on the trip and memories from it and some photos too...

- We left Korea early in the morning and arrived in Bangkok for a short layover, where I noticed something pretty interesting, in the airport there were Muslim prayer rooms. I just thought that was unique.
-In Thailand they drive on the left side of the road
-On our way to the hotel the first night we were welcomed to Phuket, in a manner of speaking, by a truck full of locals cruising down the road playing guitar and singing
-One of our first nights we ate at a restaurant called Joe Kool's "The Worst Restaurant in the World". It was definately a funny experience. There was a live band there, that was just awful. Bad outfits, bad dancing, cheezy smiles...it was so awful it was amazing! Although there were probably only 10 people in the restaurant the band really worked the crowd and ultimately got Lanney, Virginia, and Dan to get up there and dance. At the restaurant there was a rude general manager from Austria, but he came over and talked to us and encouraged us to come to their Christmas Eve Luau, because "there would be women there with coconut braziers". I know you are thinking, "how could they possibly miss that???", but we did, suprisingly easily.

- I went skinny dipping in the Andaman sea! Ok, so it's not as cool as it sounds, but me and another person (name removed until they say otherwise) swam out in the afternoon and took our suits off and then put them back on, just so we could say we went skinny dipping
-As it turns out some people on our trip, "Freaking Love Onions!"
- So one day we all sat out in the sun too long and we all got really bad sunburns, and then we went to a restaurant called Wildfire for dinner, A restaurant with live music and torches set up everywhere, it's pretty cool.
-Christmas was great! Virginia did a great job of pulling a festive time together for all of us. She got us "stockings" and we all did a secret Santa thing with eachother

- One day we played Dino-gulf...mini-golf with plaster dinosaurs = awesomeness!

- Apparently our clumsyness spawned a game...I lost with 6 trips witnessed.
- One night we went out to dinner at this Italian restaurant, but right as we sat down the entire block shut down in electricity. The ovens still worked so we had dinner by candle light, it couldn't have been planned better.
- So Dan has a tendency to talk in his sleep, and on one particular night he was pretty talkative. At one point I hear, "uh, uh huh, ok...TIECE!!!" uh...sorry Ted.
- "As long as I don't puke or fart, I am ok." ~Lanney
- Craig, Nikole, Dan, and Myself all did a 50 meter bunjy jump...so cool.

- One night we helped an elderly swedish couple find a room to stay late at night. Ask Virginia to tell the story she does a great impression. Oh yeah, also the couple was drunk out of their minds
- For New Years Eve we spent it at O'Tools, a local Irish restaurant, and then we hung out on the beach
- Then we ate restaurant called The Green Man, where they had a live band, but the night soon turned into Green Man Karaoke, as the restaurant invited us to join them on stage, and we became all too eager to assit them

- The next day we went on a sea kayak tour which was really sweet. It started out with a decked out van that had karaoke for us. Then we started the tour and found ourselves floating through a cave with bats. So at that point Craig, me, and our guide, went to the back of the cave, and there was a small opening towards the back. We both laid flat and the roof of the cave skimmed our bellys, but on the other side was lagoon type area. And the were trees growing right out of the water filled with wild monkeys wrestling eachother. One even tried to jump in our kayak, but our guide kept him away. From there we went to "James Bond Island", basically an Island that was used in one of the Bond films. After that we stopped at another island where we jumped off the roof of a boat with eachother. Climbing back into the boat I got a pretty nasty scrape on the leg. I felt so hard core. So while jumping we met this French guy that was totally crazy, but an absolute riot, and very enthusiastic about everything, he was very energizing. To wrap up the tour they gave us coconut drinks.
- One night we went and had dinner while watching a Thai Elvis impersonator. It was funny at first but got old kind of quickly.
-ok here's some big news...I got my first tattoo. It's a Franscican Cross. I got it for a number of reasons, but here's what it means. St. Fransis is the patron saint of Croatia. So I got it so would never forget my time in Croatia and the things I learned there, but also because St. Fransis believed in simplistic living, and I want to remember the importance and freedom that comes with living simply. Ok, so you know how you hear people say it hurts to get a tattoo, but you think, how bad can it be? those people are totally covered in them?...well let me just say this...dude, it hurts; they aren't joking. It really really hurts.

-I did get to do my elephant trek, and although it's highly over rated, I am glad I did it just so I can say I totally rode and elephant. Craig, Lanney, and I went.

-Although it may sound like we did alot, the majority of the trip was just relaxing, sleeping, eating, and reading. It was really a great trip!
-Last but not least I want to point out that those that were there with me would confirm that we were all...CHAM-PEE-ONS!!!!

Well, it's good to be back, I miss the students and I am stoked for a new semester. Thanks for the prayers and keep it real!

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:40:58 GMT

"And all the colors mix together, to grey..." ~Dave Matthews

Sometimes pictures can tell the story better than words...

thanks for the prayers, keep it real.