Hiking in Yongmun

A couple of weekend ago, we went hiking at a local mountain near our school. Yongmun means Dragon's Gate. It was a huge touristy thing. It was just down the road and we had no idea! I wasn't expecting to take so many pictures so I wore my frumpy sweatshirt which I now regret looking back at the pictures, but one can't always wear heels :) (like I ever wear heels)

The dragon gate.

One of the most treasured aspects of Yongmun mountain is it's Ginkgo tree. They have the largest in Asia. It didn't look so spectacularly grandiose to me, but maybe they just don't get very large in general. The way you can tell a ginkgo tree from any other tree is the shape of their leaves look like fans. Very Asian. The stereotypical image I get in my head when thinking of Asians are geishas fanning themselves. How ironic that this tree choose to imitate my stereotypical, and ignorant image of them.

The boys walking up to the temple.

On this hike was also a Buddhist temple. I had no idea! But look at these guys enthusiasm. They are ecstatic about the discovery of a Buddhist temple!

One of the most popular snacks in Korea are something they call rice cakes. Everything in Korea, (and my guess is that this is true of all of Asia), everything stems from rice. Rice is life. Seriously, I had no clue that rice was so easily melded into other treats. Not that I particularly love any of them but in case you don't have enough rice with rice being the main portion of every meal, feel free to also add the rice noodles, rice cakes etc.
Rice cake? Cake made from rice? "Chincha" (translation: really) They are often vibrant colors and adorned with nuts and other sprinkles that look delicious. When I was first introduced, I thought they looked like an Asian crumpet of sorts. My mouth watered as I inspected this Korean delicacy. However my taste buds were in for an unpleasant surprise. The rice cake tasted like rice and air. Really, the taste of nothingness, which seems to be a common complaint of mine in Korea. On occasion, you can find a sweet rice cake, but they are rare.
The picture above is an example of how it is made. It was incredibly sticky, and very fun to bang.

It took me about 15 tries to get a picture of this tree. Sometimes using a SLR camera is incredibly frustrating. The camera absolutely refuses to read my mind. No matter how many telepathy classes we attend, that camera is just dense.

There seem to always be statues to pose with in Korea.

Don't be deceived by these rock piles. They are built my aliens, just like the mammoth rocks at Easter Island, and the Pyramids in Egypt. These rock mounds take just as much patience to construct as the Eiffel tower. Or maybe I just have depleted my patience so thoroughly that I don't even have the patience to finish this sente...

But these rock piles were everywhere. I think they have something to do with meditation and/or prayer in Buddhism, but I don't know for sure because there were no markers near them. Even if for some reason, Korea decided to pay money to place markers near them, it wouldn't be in my language. So I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. If you do know, my ears are wide open.

Did you know that there are Fall flowers? Because I come from a city lacking in seasons other than Severely Hot/ and moderately hot, I have never really experienced true seasons. The fall colors are a sight, but for me, the red leaves signify a warning. "Beware, cold weather awaits. Begin hibernation procedures." So I have a little more difficulty enjoying fall being a paranoid mongoose always on the look out for its archenemy.

Look, a bee. I'm so easily amused!

We found a bridge to play on. It didn't really go anywhere though.
We love taking pictures of the dragonflies. They are our friends. They eat mosquitoes!

Where did fall go?

Remember that post not to long ago named paranoia? It was about my irrational fear of winter in Korea. Well, it turns out I wasn't so irrational after all. The day we came back from the Philippines, someday at the end of September, summer faded away into a fog of wintery icicle land! So there isn't really ice, but the temperatures did drop a good 30 degrees. It went from mid 80's one day to 50 degrees the next. I busted out those moldy winter clothes and currently shiver anytime I see a picture of myself where skimpy clothing.

It's true last weekend was nothing short of fabulous in terms of temperature. At one point, I even wore a skirt WITHOUT leggings, but alas, it looks like those warm days are gone. Gone, gone gone. They vanished into the night and now can be seen among the stars in the twinkling sky. My summer clothes packed in bags, I have accepted the oncoming cold months as a reality.

The one benefit of fall are the bright colors embellishing the trees, but even that is just a sign of death (or hibernation).

Here are some Korea fall pictures.

What's happened this week

- I was REALLY REALLY good and starting writing again on my "project." I haven't written since my computer died and I was nervous I wouldn't remember anything without my notes, but I did. REally it was just an excuse.

- I worked overtime in the evening.

- We made Salmon corn chowder and it was DELICIOUS!!

- I didn't blog. I just forgot.

- Didn't work out enough and my stomach is showing it after this weekend of gluttony.

- Found an outlet mall in Korea. We felt like we were walking into America except for the excessive amount of Asians walking around. It was surreal. I felt like we could just get in the car and drive back home. It was a little sad when reality hit that we would have to drive over an ocean or two to get home home.

- Didn't make our traditional Saturday breakfast of either breakfast tacos or pancakes. I love BREAKFAST! We were in too much of a rush.

- Went to Seoul and celebrated our friends birthday. It was lots of fun.

- Made a birthday cake. It turned out OKAY, not great, but man it was nice to have cake!

-Came home and watched an old episode of the Daily Show because they are off air preparing for the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear".

-Checked my bank account and realized that the money I sent home hadn't reached my bank a week and a half later. I had a little freak out. It was a lot of money.

- Kyle called the bank and figured out, that there was sometime of number error. The money hasn't disappeared into someone else's account. Thank GOD!

-It was a good week. Saturday and Sunday were warm and beautiful. Today is sweater weather, and tomorrow will freeze. Have I mentioned that I hate winter?

My scuba experience (by Vanessa)

about to go down

My first thoughts about our entrance into the scuba world was worry that Kyle would have ear problems again. He has had ear issues not only snorkeling but in at least one airplane ride when he felt he had busted his ear drum, the pain was so overpowering and intense. As for me, I wasn't too worried. I had always kinda thought that I might have the opposite fear of claustrophobia, but the fear of wide open spaces such as space or the ocean, where the space seemingly never ended. But I wasn't actually worried, just excited.

The initial foreboding doggy-paddled it's way into my subconscious as we watched the informational video required for the introduction dive. "Sudden lung expansion, ear drum bursting and drowning can occur during scuba diving." "Deep breaths" I told myself. "Plenty of people scuba dive and don't kill themselves. You can too. Nothing is going to happen."

My motivational speech going on within my head seemed to calm my nerves. Kyle was the star pupil in our sessions. I fumbled through some practices such as the removing water from our masks and replacing the oxygen hose if it were to fall out of my mouth. Kyle shined. I glared.

Nerves mounted as we rode on our boat out to our location. Butterflies, frogs, what-have-you hopped, fluttered and jousted in my stomach as we slowed over our dive point.

Mask defogged and fitted- check
weightbelt on- check
huge, bulky oxygen tank secured- check
insanity- check

They instructed us to fall backwards into the water. Insanity- yep. This method is easier than climbing down a ladder, but like Kyle said, "heavy=sink and sink=drowning." Falling backwards wasn't too bad, but once I landed, my flippered feet flailed helpless around in the air as I mimicked a flipped over junebug getting off it's back, or at least vertical in the water. It was probably a laughable affair. Good thing Kyle was on the other side of the boat so he couldn't laugh at my silliness.

Next step... going down.
"Put your face in the water" we were told, as our buoyancy vests were deflated so that we would sink slowly to the ocean floor.
"Here we go!" I thought anxiously.
We were led down on an old rope that looked like it had been pulled from a shipwreck, it had so much algae covering it. Surprisingly however, the moss gave it a soft, smooth feel that I actually enjoyed our descent. Our speed was slower than turtle speed, probably sloth speed so that we could properly equalize our eardrums every meter.
No problems there.
The problems began once we hit the ocean floor and I looked up. It was kind of like how people at tall heights say not to look down, but instead this time, I probably shouldn't have looked up. We weren't actually very far from the surface, 12 meters or 30 ft, but my immediate thought was, "If something were to happen, I couldn't just rush to the surface without expanding and thus destroying my lungs." And suddenly, I couldn't remember how to breath. Breathing through a tank is like having a cold and loosing complete access to your nostrils. It is uncomfortable and takes some getting used to. My breaths became shallow and unfulfilled. My heart pounded uncontrollably in my chest. I felt out of control, uncomfortable and completely out of my element. I wasn't a fish, what was I trying to do, breath underwater?

I didn't want to be a nuisance but we had learned the sign for pounding heart. When he was teaching us the scuba sign language, I laughed at the heart beating sign in class, thinking why would someone really use that? And of course that was the first sign I used once under water. My instructor was wonderful. Really wonderful. He rushed to me, pressed some type of valve, I don't really know what he was doing, but it allowed me to take my first deep breath since the panic attack began. Breathing deeply helped. It's amazing what a little oxygen can do for someones nerves. Immediately my heart took a chillax pill and drummed to a more even tempered tune. Oxygen rushed through my body and I sighed relief. Kyle took my hand as soon as Peter, our instructor made sure I was better, and didn't let go of it the entire rest of the time we were under water. And that hand, I am pretty positive is what got me through the remainder of our time underwater.

The panic attack, although quickly alleviated, threw my whole attitude off kilter and set the mood for the rest of our swim down under. Nerves, all though significantly more calm than at the beginning never really stopped squirming. My wetsuit which was cut at the sleeves and legs to be less oppressive didn't fit perfectly and although the water was truly the perfect temperature for swimming, my body temperature continued to drop, until my lips had had adopted a blue lipstick fashion and I began shivering. For someone with my size and frame, spending thirty minutes underwater of any temperature, unless it's in a Jacuzzi, needs a warmer wetsuit.

Our first plan of action, besides intercepting a panic attack was to feed fish. They like stale bread it turns out. Who would have thought that fish of all sizes and shapes would herd like begging pups. I swear if they had the ability to make facial expressions, they would have given the sad puppy dog eyes. We didn't need to reach out and touch them, they brushed every part of our body crowding the food. It was amazing being surrounded by so many fish. Surreal really.

feeding the fishies

We were then pushed by our instructor, as we hadn't been taught the proper procedures for swimming with tanks, through reefs and other underwater cathedrals to view other life forms. We didn't see anything too spectacular and what I mean by spectacular is relative. I am referring to creatures such as whales, dolphins, manta-rays, sharks, mermaids etc. What we saw was breathtakingly stunning and magical in it's own right and perfect for beginners such as ourselves, but wasn't anything too out of the ordinary in ocean terms. I had a hard time appreciating it however as all I kept thinking was, "Is this almost over? We're going close to the boat. Why are we passing the boat? We aren't finished yet? When can I breath like humans were intended?"

Before we re-surfaced we posed for a photo-shoot. We took some pictures looking at the camera and then they told us to kiss. "KISS!" I thought horrified, "I have to take out my mouth piece and put it back in!" This was one of the first skills we had learned, but I didn't like it. I was scared. I didn't want to kiss Kyle. I didn't care about a stupid photo. (probably the first time I have ever said that) but of course you can't speak under water, they counted, I did as they said and kissed my husband unwillingly.Another kiss

Once we finally surfaced, I was beyond thrilled to be above again, but Kyle was asking "When can we go down again?"

He did go down the next day, while I sat out. My stomach was upset from something I ate the night before. I took pictures from the boat.

The warmer wetsuit I wore on the second dive

The next time we went down together, I was much more comfortable, smiling even. My wetsuit fit, I wasn't shivering, and I was figuring out to take deep controlled breaths. I continued to struggle with controlling my body. If someone wasn't holding me up, I just fell to the floor like a toddler first learning to walk. It is a skill you learn with time, but probably small people are more prone to currents than the larger people. And I found holding the mouth piece in my mouth tiring, but at the end of it, I was thrilled that I got back on the wagon.


One last interesting note on scuba diving before I bore you to death is everything is magnified underwater. We came across some other divers, and my first reaction was fear. They literally were like gigantic monsters. Their distorted dimensions were completely thrown off by the water giving the illusion of a truly massive creature. No wonder we are frightening to other animals.

We didn't get certified, but plan on doing that some time in the near future. Marine life, here we come.

Another type of star fish

Scuba Rocks! by Kyle

I LOVE the ocean. I love the color of the water, the feel of sand under my feet, I love the incredible organisms that live in it and the sheer vastness of the deep blue but from the get go, I was apprehensive about scuba diving. I am definitely an adventurous person but when it comes to "thrill seeking" activities, I'm a bit of a wuss. I wouldn't call Scuba diving a thrilling activity Per Se but there is a certain level of risk involved and for the inexperienced, it can certainly be dangerous. Knowing this, Vanessa and I decided that our trip to the Philippines was a perfect time to "test the waters" and see if we took to being Under the Sea.

Our hotel in Boracay, the Blue Mango Inn has a dive shop owned and operated by the sons of the owner and they give some of the best rates on the beach. Couple that with a very knowledgeable and super friendly staff and you've got a fantastic place to not only get your first dive in but your 10th, 50th and so on. We were both very glad to have a staff we could understand well and liked.

Dante was our first instructor. After watching the mandatory "Discover Diving" PADI video, Dante talked us through each part of our Scuba gear describing in detail what it does and how to use it. He even explained the parts that beginners don't really need to know about, just to give us a bit more peace of mind. I really appreciated that. Once he had quizzed us on what the parts do and how to use them, it was into the water we went!

We started off in very shallow water, just about chest height so we could get familiar with actually using the equipment. This gave me a bit of a false sense of security. It's one thing to be a foot below the water, knowing that if anything were to go wrong you can just stand up and breath. It's a totally different thing to be 40 feet below and have that fear of not being able to get to the surface to get the air you need. To be honest, it hadn't even crossed my mind at that point. I was too busy thinking about how cool it was going to be swimming around the amazing reefs not having to worry about resurfacing. The only thing I was honestly feeling timid about was my ears. For my senior year of highschool my parents paid for me to do a cruise with a bunch of my friends to Cozumel. While snorkeling, I made the mistake of diving down a bit too deep without equalizing my ear pressure and busted an eardrum. Hands down one of the most painful and scary experiences of my life. Needless to say, I've been a bit apprehensive about going too deep underwater since then. However, Dante showed us several different ways to equalize and insisted that as we went down the dive line, if we couldn't feel that release, we should go up a bit and try again. This helped me feel quite a bit more confident and as we got on the boat, my nerves were in far less of a mess than normal. We had a few other newbies going down with us that day and 3 instructors that would be diving with us. Our guide for the first actual dive was Peter, a very short, dark and cool as a cucumber Philippino who we both liked alot from the get go. He was very friendly, very helpful and very, very patient. As we reached our sight, the butterflies started fluttering and as we geared up I kept thinking to myself, "you know what to do. Ain't nothin to it but to do it!" Now I've seen the "roll out" scuba entry a thousand times on TV, but nothing quite prepares you for that first free fall plunge. First of all, it's only maybe 6 feet from the edge of the boat to the water but from where you sit it looks like 20. Second of all, you've got a 10 pound weight belt on, a 30 pound Scuba tank and a general knowledge of physics that tells you heavy things sink fast in water. I'd say it's quite logical to want to poop your pants a little. But as all Scuba divers will tell you, weight doesn't count nearly as much in water as buoyancy. And a functioning flotation vest is really all you need to keep your head above water no matter how weighed down you are. So I made sure Van went first in case I wet my pants and then sucked it up, squeezed the butt cheeks and "rolled out."

Once I hit the water, a mild wave of panic passed for just a split second and then up I bobbed to the surface without any effort. A few flip of the fins and I was holding on to the slimy yet soft dive line, ready to start our decent.

Down we went, one meter at a time, pinching our noses and popping our ears. At first, I couldn't get them to go for the life of me. Then I tried one of the other techniques they showed us, kept pushing air into my closed nose and eventually, Viola! So further and further down we went till finally we were on the sea floor. My first thought was "huh, it's warmer down here than I thought it would be. Then I looked at Van and realized she was having a bit of a hard time. I held her hand while Peter got her focused and helped her breath. I really have no idea why I took to it so well so quickly. I guess for me, knowing that there were plenty of other airtanks around gave me enough confidence that I could get air if I needed it to feel comfortable. There is certainly a level of trust in the equipment needed to know that it works and you don't need to be at the surface to breath. Once you get that and you get used to taking deep breaths in and out of your mouth, then you can enjoy the world around you.

We fed tons of beautiful but pesky fish and Peter dragged us along on a tour of the reef. We saw starfish,
blowfish, parrotfish, a HUGE sea cucumber, a ton of sea urchins which kinda freaked me out a bit and some giant clams. In a word, it was WONDERFUL!

Maybe not for V so much, who later said she kept thinking, "I can see all this on TV where I'm safe on my couch." although I think she really liked it, but it was definitely a dream come true for me!

Egg drop madness again!

About a year ago, I posted about our camp project, egg drop madness.

The project goal: protect your egg, aka: what I tell the kids " your baby, don't let your baby break" (Sometimes they crack the egg before it even gets up in the air)

Protect the egg from what? gravity. We dropped the eggs from three stories high to their possible doom.

How to protect the eggs? designated materials.

Really when we started this project, no one really knew what they were doing. We were kind of like ostriches trying to teach chickens how to fly.

To begin with, we split the students into groups of four or five. We gave them designated materials. Originally we weren't set on what the materials should be so we began with ziplock bags. Turns out, ziplock bags don't make awesome parachutes. So the next time you are jumping out of a plane for skydiving, right before you make the plunge, you should double check that your parachute isn't a flimsy ziplock bag.

After multiple bullet-like eggs, screaming obscenities at the stupidness of their instructors on their way down to their inevitable doom, smashed into what can only be referred to as scramble smithereens, we came up with a new idea; Trash bags.

Really great idea, except that we gave each group their own trash bag. It worked a little too well in fact. NO EGGS died in this experiment. Now, it isn't like I wanted my kids to fail. But who feels good after they aced a test by cheating. Not many people. Well... not many people with self respect. And basically they couldn't fail.

So we moved on to newspaper. Newspaper was really a perfect alternative. It works well when used correctly, but allows for more of a challenge.

Other materials we provided:

straw

strings

balloons (for confusion)

paper cups

tape

paper clips

Balloons can actually help but they don't cause air resistance like the kids think it will.

It was really a great class. We did a little bit of teaching and a LOT of observing the kids try and make their contraptions to protect their egg. I like the observing part. My voice especially is extremely grateful. Dropping the eggs off the roof was a blast and everyone enjoyed it regardless of whether their egg lived through the traumatic ordeal or not.

So when we were given the chance to give suggestions for this years camp at my newest school, I of course offered up the option of egg drop, but with added challenges. We offer a larger selection of goods to make their egg drop, except this time, they can only pick ten things.

The materials we use now:

paper cup

string

straw

rubber bands

tape (4-5 inches per piece)

paper plates

trash bag (cut into 8ths)

balloon

paper clips

chopsticks

I have even toyed with the idea of giving them monopoly money and making them pay for each item, making the better materials more expensive. Either way, they have to think harder about the design before making it, and they are never allowed to exchange. The best inventions are made out of resourcefulness.

Its a super class and any teachers and/or esl teachers out there, I recommend this to everyone.

Here is the video I made for the kids to see some examples of egg drops. It isn't great filming, but it does the job and is a little entertaining. Enjoy!

About the Philippines

Interesting Facts:

• The Philippine islands are an archipelago of over 7,000 islands lying about 500 mi (805 km) off the southeast coast of Asia. The overall land area is comparable to that of Arizona. Only about 7% of the islands are larger than one square mile, and only one-third have names. (It is debated by some that the Philippines has more islands than any other country in the world)

• Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, explored the Philippines in 1521. Twenty-one years later, a Spanish exploration party named the group of islands in honor of Prince Philip, who was later to become Philip II of Spain. Spain retained possession of the islands for the next 350 years.
• The Philippines were ceded to the U.S. in 1899 by the Treaty of Paris after the Spanish-American War.
• On Dec. 8, 1941, the islands were invaded by Japanese troops. Following the fall of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's forces at Bataan .
• It was the first Southeast Asian country to gain independence in 1946, following World War II.
• About 80% people of the country’s total population are Roman Catholics (because of the Spanish influence)
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• Philippine culture is a combination of Eastern and Western cultures. Traditional festivities known as barrio fiestas (district festivals) to commemorate the feast days of patron saints are common due to it's Spanish and American influences.

• The Philippines' rainforests and its extensive coastlines make it home to a diverse range of birds, plants, animals, and sea creatures.^[76] It is one of the ten most biologically mega-diverse countries .
• Around 1,100 land vertebrate species can be found in the Philippines including over 100 mammal species and 170 bird species not thought to exist elsewhere.

Money eating Eagle

Tarsier, a nocturnal bug eater

The elusive mouse deer

• Due to the volcanic nature of the islands, mineral deposits are abundant. The country is estimated to have the second-largest gold deposits after South Africa and one of the largest copper deposits in the world.
• The Philippines is the world's second-biggest geothermal producer behind the United States, with 18% of the country's electricity needs being met by geothermal power.

• After World War II, the country was for a time regarded as the second wealthiest in East Asia, next only to Japan.
• The economy stagnated under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos
• The two official languages of the Philippines are English and Tagalog, recently renamed Filipino. Most people however don't speak one or the other but a mixture of the two nicknamed Tag-lish. Here is an example of taglish in the "Philippines got talent" Taglish video.

More Facts & Trivia About the Philippines

• There are more than 10 million Filipinos living overseas, of this, about 8 million are OFWs or Overseas Filipino Workers. Their remittances account for 10.8% of the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

• Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines can read and write at the age of 2. He grew up speaking 20 foreign languages including French, Greek, Chinese, Latin and German.

• The karaoke is a Filipino invention, not Japanese. Karaoke meaning "singing without accompaniment" in Japanese was invented by Roberto del Rosario. He called his invention "Sing-Along-System", which was later called karaoke.
• The Philippine flag is the only flag in the world that is displayed upside-down when the country is in war (red on top and blue at the bottom when in war).

• The Philippines is considered the "text capital of the world". They text more than the total daily text messages sent in the U.S. and Europe combined.
• However, China has overtaken the Philippines by sheer volume of users. Even though the Chinese sent more text messages in total, they send an average of only 3 text messages per cell phone per day, while Filipinos sends on average 20 text messages per cell phone user per day.

In case I didn't understand it in English

I recently got an apology email from Kodak. They don't usually send me mail unless it is a promotion telling me to buy more of their products. I am starting to realize however, that I don't like their prices in comparison to other places but that is besides the point. What is the point then?

This is the message they sent. Nothing too unusual.

Dear Vanessa,

Due to technical problems over the weekend, we accidentally sent out an expired offer by email. This was not a spam email, but an old KODAK Gallery email sent out in error. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Starting this Friday, the 8th of October we have a new promotional offer for you. Again our apologies.

Sincerely,

KODAK Gallery

I hadn't even noticed the "spam email" as I had deleted it before reading it.

What was unusual however was the length of the email considering it's lack of photos. The next paragraph down was the same message but in French, and the next in German. In total there were 6 paragraphs all in a different language just in case the apology wasn't understood in English. They have never sent me anything but in English. I'm not sure why they are covering their bases so thoroughly NOW, but at the very least I got a good laugh out of it.

Who can name all 6 languages?

her/Chère Vanessa,

En raison de problèmes techniques survenus pendant le week-end, nous avons envoyé par erreur le 3 octobre une offre ayant déjà expiré. Il ne s'agissait pas d'un spam, mais d'un ancien courrier KODAK Gallery envoyé par erreur. Nous vous prions de nous excuser pour la gêne occasionnée.

Dès le vendredi 8 octobre prochain, nous vous ferons parvenir une nouvelle offre promotionnelle. Encore une fois nos excuses.

Cordialement,

KODAK Gallery

Sehr geehrte(r) Vanessa,

wegen am Wochenende aufgetretener technischer Probleme haben wir Ihnen am 3. Oktober versehentlich ein abgelaufenes Angebot per E-Mail geschickt. Dabei handelte es sich nicht um eine Spam-E-Mail, sondern um eine versehentlich gesendete alte Kodak Gallery-E-Mail. Wir möchten uns für dadurch eventuell entstehende Unannehmlichkeiten entschuldigen.

Ab diesem Freitag, dem 8. Oktober haben wir ein neues Promotion-Angebot für Sie. Nochmals unsere Entschuldigung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

KODAK Gallery

Beste Vanessa,

Door technische problemen tijdens het weekeinde, hebben we 3 oktober per ongeluk een e-mail verzonden met een verlopen aanbieding. Het was geen spambericht, maar een oud KODAK Gallery-bericht dat per ongeluk is verzonden. We bieden onze excuses aan voor het eventuele ongemak dat hierdoor is veroorzaakt.

Vanaf aanstaande vrijdag 8 oktober hebben we een nieuwe aanbieding voor je. Nogmaals onze excuses.

Met vriendelijke groet,

KODAK Gallery

Estimado/a Vanessa,

debido a problemas técnicos durante el fin de semana, el 3 de octubre se envió accidentalmente por correo electrónico una oferta ya expirada. No se trató de spam si no de un antiguo mensaje de KODAK Gallery enviado por error. Deseamos pedir disculpas por cualquier inconveniente que esto pueda haber causado.

A partir de este viernes, 8 de octubre, pondremos a su disposición una nueva oferta promocional. Una vez más, nuestras disculpas

Atentamente,

KODAK Gallery

Gentile Vanessa,

a causa di problemi tecnici verificatisi durante il fine settimana, il 3 ottobre abbiamo involontariamente inviato tramite e-mail un'offerta scaduta. Non si è trattato di un messaggio spam ma di un vecchio messaggio e-mail di Kodak Gallery inviato per errore. Desideriamo scusarci per eventuali inconvenienti causati da tale messaggio.

A partire da venerdì 8 ottobre sarà disponibile una nuova offerta promozionale. Ancora una volta, le nostre scuse.

Cordiali saluti,

KODAK Gallery

We're being featured

I know, I know, we aren't exactly newlyweds anymore, but the author of the blog has been married about the same amount of time as us, and they still consider themselves newlyweds. The hostess, Jenna, has a personal blog along with a cool feature where she interviews newlywed couples. It's a neat site and I urge you to read some of the other posts on their as well as ours. So head on over and read our story- that is, if you don't know it by heart already :)

One word China, EFFICIENCY! Part 2

Heading back to Gwangzou:
Back through the Health check stand, up to the deceivingly fancy Immigration counter:

Officer: Passport and Boarding Pass please.

Me: Our flight leaves at 9am tomorrow in nearly 12 hours. (It's 10pm) We only have an itinerary. (hands itinerary to officer.)

Officer: No boarding pass?

Me: No, just itinerary. (points to itinerary in officer's hands)
Officer: You must have boarding pass first.
Me: Ok, where do we get it?(Officer points to a single empty check in counter across the way.)

Me:...There's no one there.

Officer: Just go wait, they come.

Me: Ok thank you.(we go and wait in line at the empty counter.

Meanwhile, other people from our flight and a few other flights start lining up in the immigration lines. Vanessa and I inform them that our officer told us we needed boarding passes first. After 5 minutes or so, most of the foreigners have formed a line at the single empty check in counter. A girl in purple then walks to where we are and asks the couple at the front of the line;

Purple girl: What are you doing?

Couple: We were told we need boarding passes first.
Purple girl: Did you go through immigration check?
Couple: No, they told us to get boarding passes first.

Purple girl: No, no. Immigration first, then board upstairs. Immigration first.

(Group sigh from all the foreigners as we disperse to get back in the immigration lines.

Purple girl walks off, talks to an Officer then walks back to the check in desk and starts typing on the computer. An officer walks over to a few foreigners and tells them to get in line at the Check in desk with Purple girl. The foreigners stutter a few buts and protests but get waved off by the officer who keeps pointing at the check in so we all start to head back over.)

Once we are back in line, we wait about 10 minutes. 4 people get their boarding passes and a very angry looking officer comes over and starts directing us all back to the immigration lines. At this point we are all getting grouchy and are feeling like a heard of cattle. We get through the lines only to be rounded up again in our little holding corner and this time have to wait for nearly an hour before receiving our passports, again with someone calling out names for the officer.

Now most of us were expecting to be lead back upstairs to our departure gates but instead we are told that we should proceed downstairs and that we can check in at the counters down there tomorrow morning. We later found out that we had been given 1 day entry visas which aren't very common in China and usually cost a bit. Regardless, we really didn't know what to do at this point but figured that being the well traveled and resourceful teachers we are, we could fend for ourselves. Check in was at 7 which gave us about 10 hours so here's what we did:

9pm: Scoped out the airport looking for a good place to rest our rumps.9:30pm: Picked a spot with some decently comfy chairs but no carpet, talked about building a fort and busted out the snacks. But decided to get some McDonalds as Pringles weren't cutting it.
11pm: After running around trying to buy something at the golden arches (they wouldn't take any type of credit card and wouldn't exchange money. Between us we had five currencies; Korean won, Thailand baht, Philippino pesos, American dollars and the little bit of Chinese yuan. We somehow managed to buy enough nuggets and fries to feed our group with about 10 dollars worth of Chinese money one guy had left over from his last trip here.

12am: A group of Philippinos that were on our flight inform us that they found out about a free hotel for people who's flights have been delayed. We debate about how sketchy this feels and whether or not it's worth the risk of being taken off to an organ farm or labor camp. The van driver keeps yelling at us, "no money, no money!" and some other things in Chinese no matter the question. A few decide the dude is just too shady but most of us decide to go and hope that there really is safety in numbers.

1:30 amish: We arrive at the hotel about 20 minutes away from the airport in what feels like the armpit of China. Huge neon lights welcome us in to what at first felt like a skanky love motel. 45 minutes later, they let us check in after making copies of our passports and itineraries and we head up to our rooms that are surprisingly comfy and clean. Truly one of the nicer hotel rooms we have stayed in in Asia and while the beds where hard as rocks, we slept well for the next 4 hours. We got a wake up knock right on time and were handed boxes of warm milk and a half loaf of white bread for breakfast. We got fast curbside drop off right on time in the morning and didn't have to pay a dime. Just goes to show things aren't always what they seem. We checked in, did the stupid immigration check one last time and headed off to our gate to meet up with the rest of our foreigner crew and crashed on the carpet in front of our gate for the next 2 hours before heading back to the amazingly clean and efficient South Korea.

It all made me wonder if this is just a symptom suffered in that part of China alone or if it was a byproduct of a more systemic lack of efficiency and critical thinking in the big red country. I'd like to believe that it was just a fluke but something tells me that in a country of over a Billion people who all need jobs, sometimes they just gotta find ways to look busy and at least pretend like they know what they're doing.
Whatever the case, it sure gave us something to write home about.

One word China, EFFICIENCY!

I've always heard that Communism is great on paper but bad in practice and to a cynic like me, that's always made perfect sense. Having never actually stepped foot in a communist country however, this has always been one of those "so they say" things that I myself have tossed out there a few times without having any first hand experience to back it up. Well after this past week, Van and I can now officially say that we've seen the effects the big red machine can have on a place and let me be the first to tell you, it ain't pretty. Just so you know, this isn't going to be some Anti Commie rant, but I think that the story I'm about to tell you serves as a shining example of how truly dumb people can get when formalities are considered more important than people's well being. At the time our experiences were frustrating and a bit nerve racking but now looking back they just seem too funny to keep to ourselves.
Arriving in Gwangzou China:
As we got off the plane and walked through the terminal toward Immigration, I noticed something rather peculiar. There were smoking rooms in the airport, which in and of itself is not so outlandish but inside the smoking rooms were stands that somewhat resembled water fountains. However unlike a water fountain that supplies you with nourishment, these stands were lighter fountains intended to help the 2000 people who die each day from smoking get there just a little quicker. Nearly 3/4 of all men in China are smokers and smoking fountains are a true sign that a country smokes too much.
A bit further down the road, distracting us from the giant body temperature gadget intended to catch all sickos coming into China, there was a nice bulletin board describing the dangers and effects of Dengue Fever with a GIANT, and rather nasty looking mosquito. A very pleasant welcome sign indeed! And just a little further was the immigration check. Now at first glance you might think that China really has it's act together here. There are a good 12 maybe more lines for you to choose from and they move relatively quick. At the desk itself there are nifty looking cameras that resemble giant Iphones that take your picture and confirm that you are the person in your passport. Then something caught my attention as we were waiting in line. A slowly growing group of people were standing around just past the immigration check with some not so happy looks on their faces. They also all happened to be western looking. Once we got up to the counter it all became clear. The pimply faced "police" officer took our passports, looked them over, looked us over, wrote something down and pointed over to the growing mass of foreigners. If any of you remember our little debacle in Chile, you will understand my reluctance to leave my passport in his possession but seeing as there were nearly 30 foreigners in the holding pin already, I figured there wasn't much point in making a fuss about it.
About half an hour later the team of immigration officers turned their stacks of passports over to one of their crew who began looking at each passport individually and trying to find the person to match the picture. Now we had a long layover ahead of us but I wasn't really looking to spend another half hour in our little corner of the airport and a few of the foreigners had connecting flights that were scheduled to leave in 15 minutes so I offered my assistance. She held them open and I read off the names and congratulated each person on their official non threat status. Then we proceeded up the stairs to the international departures where we had to stand in another line to be x-rayed again. Not sure what they thought we could have picked up in the 100 yards between our last airplane and this one but safety first I guess.

Once we got to our gate, we met up with some other English teachers heading to the same place we were and had a nice little party, ranting about the silliness of the Gwangzou security system.
One pleasant surprise, however, was the gift we were given for filling out a survey for purchasing anything within the country of China, including in the airport. Pringles and a beer constituted as enough to fill out the survey for a nifty little gift.

to be continued...

Weeman and other Philippino airport adventures

I am trying an experiment. Usually after a trip, we, or rather I, will write an exceedingly long post about our experiences. It usually encompasses everything from what happened, to what we wore, to how we felt, what we ate, what the dog ate, how many insects we came upon, and on and on until everyone reading is either sleeping in front of the computer or has quickly skimmed and gone on to their next task. This time instead, we have decided to try a different approach and write a series of posts in the interest of not taking up too much of your time in one sitting.

To start off, we are going to write two posts about airport experiences. Yes, two separate posts. The airport stories are almost more exciting or at least humorous than the rest of our trip. Possibly. You can be the judge. Writing the "Philippino airport experience" will be your favorite Rogers hostess, and authoring the "Chinese airport experience" will be the handsome male counterpart.

At this point you might be rolling your eyes at what you might consider our eccentric and verbose habits. Why would two posts need to be written entirely revolving around airports? Most airports are the same right? There is a line before the check in, boarding passes handed out, occasionally a tax, an x-ray machine, laptop out, no liquids allowed, shoes off, the scramble to put your shoes on, put our laptop and passports back and grab all of your bags while attempting not to hold up the line before the other passengers begin to boil with rage at your sloth-like movements. And did I mention waiting. Lots and lots of waiting. Those aspects of the airports are duplicated in nearly every airport world wide (as far as we have traveled) but we found a few intriguing differences while traveling in Asia.

Noticeable differences from Manila to Boracay:

-multiple x-ray machines. (in Manila) Manila is not known for it's safety. The Philippines is a poverty-stricken nation for the most part, and with that comes violence. So before one even enters an airport an x-ray machine scans your bags and body for metal or perilous objects.

-after checking in we were weighed (with our bags). I guess so they knew how much the plane would weigh with passengers and baggage, I didn't like it, whatever the reason.

-after paying our tax (for what I'm not sure) we stood in line to be x-rayed one more time. I guess in case the first x-ray machine didn't catch our machete.
"Weeman over there" said the man in front of us, indicating the line next to us.
Kyle and I looked at each other, hoping the other had understood this strange accent. It had been lost on both of us.
"I'm sorry?" I asked.
"Weeman over there" he repeated patiently.
Weeman, I thought. Does that mean small people? Is this a mixed English Philippino word that should sound familiar to me?
Still uncomprehending, Kyle began to walk to the next line over.
"No, no, weeman." he repeated, as if we were the dumbest people he had come across in all of his years.
And then it clicked. He was saying "women." There were two separate lines for women and men and we had failed to notice the obvious. Laughing, I made my way over to the "weeman" line where I had to remove my shoes, take out the laptop, hand them my passport, and with an added bonus of being patted down for weapons. I looked around for any more lines we might have to wait in. Five lines and counting...

Differences from Boracay back to Manila:
-Boracay in general is more relaxed. They sometimes have trouble with electricity. So when that happens, the x-ray machines fail to work. Not to fear, your bags are still checked, however, with a thorough investigation.
"May I open your bags?" A nice man asked.
"Sure," I answered dreading the re-packing of the bag we had stuffed to the brim with Kyle's mad packing artistry.
He opened the top, looked in (not without a certain amount of dread, probably calculating how difficult it would be to re-pack the bag)
"Is it mostly clothes?" he asked
"Yes, just clothes" I answered
Closing my huge bag, he glanced and at the next bag.
"Whats in there?" he asked, mildly curious
"Mostly books" I responded.
Next to me I heard the lady inspecting Kyle's bags, "ooohh nice bags. Is this the mommy bag and the baby bag?"
Kyle, as some of you might know, loves outdoorsy stuff, especially of military fashion. Oh, and bags. My husband is a bag man. He is to bags as Carrie from Sex in the City is to shoes. If he sees a bag, especially one that is durable with multiple pockets, he just has to have it, not matter how many bags he already has in his closet. So, on our trip, he had not one, but two military bags with him, his large backpack, and his smaller shoulder bag.
"Uh-huh" Kyle agreed to her question laughingly
"Can I adopt the baby?" she asked jokingly (but only half joking)
"I'm pretty attached." Kyle responded with a witty smile.
And we were through, much more smoothly than anticipated at least with the bags.

The next sign we noticed was "Flight la la la is canceled." (I don't remember the numbers)
"Is that our flight?" I asked Kyle anxiously?
I had booked our flights from Manila to Boracay separately, but with a little extra time for error which meant that if we missed our next flight, I don't think the airlines would cover the cost of purchasing us a new ticket. We had to catch our flight from Manila home.
It was 2:30
From Boracay to Manila was supposed to be at 4:00 arriving at 5:10
Manila to China was 7:15.
"It won't be a problem" said the flight attendant checking us in, "your new flight will put you in at 6:20 and it's in the same terminal."
But she was wrong. VERY WRONG.
Our connecting flight wasn't in the same terminal. And in Manila terminals aren't even in the same vicinity but nearly across the city.
As soon as the plane hit the ground, Kyle and I were running out the door.
"Where do we go?" we asked several people at information desks.
"Terminal 3, you need to take a taxi"
"What!! We are out of money" we pleaded.
We seriously had less than $5 (in Philippino pesos)
"There is a free bus service" (it was very cheap, but not free)
We jumped in the van and pleaded with the man to go as we had less than 50 minutes before our plane took off and some flights wont let you check in 45 minutes before the flight.
"The traffic is tight, I don't know if you will make it in time. It is best for you to take a taxi."
Explaining our lack of money, we pleaded for him to make an exception and not wait for the van to fill, with little success. However once we had filled every seat, with absolutely no extra room, he drove like a race-car driver on speed, both feet on the pedals, which is actually how most Koreans drive, but maybe it is a trend throughout Asia.
A man and his cute as a button two year old sat next to Kyle grinning with excitement and anxiety.
"Where are you from?" he asked Kyle
Kyle who was trying not to have a heart attack as we were almost surely going die from trying to get to the airport on time or miss our plane responded quickly and without much interest "America."
"We are going to Texas" the man continued excitedly. "My wife is a medical technician in Houston, so we are moving there. I am nervous. I am not sure we will be able to make it there" We assured him that Houston was a very international city, and we were sure he would be fine. He was beaming from ear to ear, excited to start a new life in America, in Texas no less. Had we not been pulling our hair out from angst we most certainly would have a more in-depth conversation with the man.
Swerving to the front of the gate, we somersaulted through the doors, flew through the x-ray machine, and jetted towards our check in counter as they were closing up.
"You just made it" the flight attendant said.
We were the last ones to board the plane. We were so thankful.


These pictures are actually of us in the Seoul airport, but as we aren't writing a post about that airport- I thought I would share them on here.

A very fat and distorted looking Col. Sanders

Ronald McDonald looking exceedingly happy

How they clean Korean airports- ingenious

Other posts to look forward to in this series:
China airports
A night in Manila
About the Philippines
Scuba diving
Suggestions for other travelers going to Boracay
Our general adventures