Bah-humbug to 2011.

I was in the Largest City in the world, Tokyo, Japan for New years and I sat on a friends couch, all by myself, in a puddle of my own ear puss. I couldn't even bring myself to stay up until 12am.

I don't think I have ever been so sick in my life. I started December with bronchitis and most likely pneumonia (though I didn't go to the doctor for the actual diagnosis), only to feel better by Christmas. Then, the day after Christmas when I leave for Japan I come down with something else to make my trip very close to unenjoyable. I've never been the person to let a sickness get in my way of playtime but holy hell did it kick my ass this time. I left Japan with a Lower respiratory infection, a sinus infection, and an ear infection. Only to come back to Seoul to get an ear infection in the other ear too. But, good thing I have zero sicks days at work because who needs those.

I feel like death. I'm blowing and coughing up a rainbow of colors. My head is pounding and I can not hear anything. Co-workers looks at me and give me the "Hi! Uh...you look tired." (Gee, thanks, I feel awful too). My Korean Co-teacher who actually has a heart, let me go home early (only because I didn't have a class- but who cares) to go to a nose, throat, and ear doctor. Now, street names and numbers do not exist in Korea. So, to find someplace you go by subways stations and Landmarks. You'd think this would be easy but all the landmarks are the same. Landmarks are like Starbucks, the same one are EVERYWHERE. So, I find this doctor who my teacher told me to go to. He speaks little english but checks me out and then sends me home with tea. TEA?!!! Really. Tea, are you kidding me? This better be some magical damn tea. I go into work the next day, and ask about this TEA. They have no idea why he gave me tea. My co-teacher reads the tea and finds that I went to a Chinese herbalist. Ugh...KOREA. She lets me leave work a little early again to find the doctor that I'm suppose to go to. I find it, it's 2 doors down from the one I went to. This doctor gives me drugs and sucks the snot out of my nose...well, the current snot because the next load fills my sinuses back up 5 seconds later! Thank god. He tells me I have to come back in two days, because he has to fix my sinus problem before he can do anything about my ears.  Drugs start to work, I go back to him giving me more drugs and poking holes into my middle ear and using a syringe to suck the fluid out. Oh my god, did that hurt. I cried.  The nurse just kept handing me tissue.

I have been sick, I have been in pain, and I have been so incredibly tired it hurts but I can honestly say I have never been so mentally, physically, or emotionally drained then what this last month and still now has done to me.  Call me a baby, but all I wanted was my mom.

After all that, I'm finally starting to feel better, I made it through the work week, and I look forward to doing absolutely nothing over the weekend. The only positive thing I can say from illness was that even though my head was pounding with my ear infections, not being able to hear my kids was kinda nice! (don't tell my work though ;).

Even though I felt awful I really enjoyed Japan. I would love to go back and actually explore more when I'm healthy. I went with 3 other people, one of my co- workers and a couple of her friends from home. I didn't do any of the planning, I was strictly a follower which turned out well, since I felt the way I did. We flew into Tokyo and then traveled north to Nagano to the village of Nawaza Onsen where we planned to snowboard.  This resort was where the 1998(?) Winter Olympics were. We stayed there for 2 nights and then headed back to Tokyo to stay with Hide (pronounced Hee-day) a guy the people who I traveled with knew. We were all strapped for cash, so it was super nice of Hide to let us stay at his house, even though we all slept on the floor...but it was a free floor! Hide was awesome because he was our personal tour guide for the time we got to Tokyo till the time we left.

Here are some pictures from Japan. I'll try to explain what most are but half the time I couldn't focus on what was going on because I felt so awful.

Hello Japan!

All the toilet seat in Japan were heated. It was like siting down on a seat after someone had already been sitting there for a while. Kinda nice on those cold days but more weird. Some toilets had bidets but I was/am too nervous to try them I've heard some funny stories and let's face it, with my luck I'd be the funny story....and sometimes I know better!

Nazawa Onsen in the gondola to snowboard!

Huh, trees on the moutain? That's strange.

I heart Japan. Just the little pieces from home that make my day! 

Old style Japanese house made by hand. The details put into making this was nuts.

Bun Bun lodge, where we stayed while in Nawaza Onsen

They drive on the opposite side of the road.

Tokyo

Some local ad. Check out hair dos!

A park

Rice wine barrels

Saki Barrels :) Yum!

Really?! All that just to say no smoking?

Japanese graffiti

A famous street...the name cracks me up but I'm pretty sure it's not really  how you say, it but still, funny.

There's a story behind this statue. Ask me later!

Busiest intersection in the world. This happened to be a slow night.

When to a famous bar called The Lock up. The entrance is a haunted house. Pretty sweet! 

The worlds tallest (highest?) ferris wheel...of course we rode it!

Creepy mickey mouse dolls you can win.

If there's Mickey, there has got to be Minnie!

More crap you can win...but look closely...

hahahaha, you know you want him!

Can't remember why this is special....

Went to a temple on New Years Eve

Walking to the Temple, lots of  little shops

Good thing I don't believe in these things...2011 might not be such a good year for me :(

Good luck smoke. 

Octopus?


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Winter

Got a Season Pass to a Mountain (I guess that's what you'd call it) here in Korea. It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive without traffic, Not too bad. It's definitely not Mt. Hood or any where near close to it but it will do. It's called Phoenix Park, which is what it's only good for...the park. I was planning to come back with a few new tricks but I lost who was suppose to be my teacher this weekend....Probably a good thing but now I'll just be doing it on my own...which could be bad. 

Me with the "mountain" 

They make the snow :(

Forcast....Snow blowing all day.

John, the first day we rode together, broke his humerus.

A co-worker's parents offered her free tickets to go see the Choir that the father sings in so I went.

The choir

Don't worry about missing your favorite show because you can watch it during intermission.

 It's snowing!

Playground by my house. Kids are still playing at 10 at night.

I love snow! The road I live on.

Whose bright idea was it to let me come to Korea?

Dude, this place....Pretty sure working in Korea is a joke.

This little piece gives you a little insight of my life....



...Jokes are funny because they are usually true, right?  ...right.

Some weird, some awesome, some just plain stupid.

Just a few things I've learned since I've been here...

You can only be friends if you are the same age. They say there age when they introduce themselves.

Bars do not close.....if you are in them, they are open.

Bars do not stop serving you...even if you are falling over, passing out, and/or puking in the bathroom.

Koreans can not walk in a straight line.

Koreans don't have a bubble. Even if there is no one around they are in yours. And they push.

The soju with the red cap has a higher alcohol content (thanks, John).

Koreans live with their parents until they are married.

There are "love motels" located everywhere in Seoul. These are where korean couples go to do the deed and who ever else...

Gyms provide clothing to workout in.

Couples wear matching outfits, down to the same shoes.

....They have couple rings (not to be confused with engagement or wedding rings, they are different)

You can drink anywhere and everywhere.

You can speak Konglish (English/ Korean) if you just add an UHhhh to whatever you say.  ex. YesUhhhhh! :) though it gets annoying really fast.

Koreans speak in threes.... ok, ok, ok 

Seoraksan

Went on an adventure to the city of Sokcho this weekend to do a 14 hour hike on Seoraksan. The plan was catch the bus at 7:10am, take a 3 hour bus ride and meet from friends in Sokcho (they were coming from a different location), then hike.  Well, let's just tell you what really happened, I love Korea more and more!

Wake up at 5:30 to meet Stephy (the friend I'm going with) to take a city bus to the subway and then the subway to the bus terminal to take the coach bus that will take us to Sokcho. Everything is going smoothly. We are both on time, we get the bus, catch the subway, we are good on time, right. Well. Then, we go out the wrong exit out of the subway. Apparently we looked really confused because a Korean tried to help us with no English. Finally found the bus terminal. Sweet! Our platforn is 17, we are at 3, um, ok. Let's find 17! Hmmm...it only goes to 9. Uh... Ask some one for help. They point us in a direction that goes out of the bus terminal to who knows where...ok, let's try some one else...Time is narrowing down at this point. Go a different terminal only to find this only goes to 13. Starting to be really stressed only have a few more minutes. Ask another information booth, have two minutes, he's telling us to hurry but the guy he tells to take us is leisurely walking, UM, let's go buddy!! We are speed walking, kinda figure out where we are suppose to be and break out into a run. Finally get to our platform only to see the bus leaving. Awesome. Next bus, 10:30 (3 1/2 hrs later).

Turns out we have LOTS of time to kill so we park it at Dunken Donuts to get some breakfast in the bus terminal. Instead of a donut I decide to get a breakfast sandwich. I tell the girl I want the number 3 (it's a lot easier to order a combo then to order a specific item) and I put up three fingers. Easy, right? My order comes up and I have 3 number 3s. Seriously?!? I guess we are here for a while...

My food...

3 1/2 hours later....on the bus!!!

Our seats in the very back....good thing we packed a couple bottles of soju! :)

Traffic....lovely. Our 3 hour drive turned into 5.

We finally arrive to our destination 9 hours after we left. Steph calls her friends to find out where we can meet them since we didn't get there when we were suppose to. Luckily, Steph found out that they were heading to Water Pia (a spa) so we were just going to take a cab there and meet them. In the process of telling the cabbie where we needed to go and getting in, Steph left her phone and her wallet on the bench. After we get in the cab and start heading to the spa she realizes she doesn't have them. So, we tell the cab driver to pull over. Did I mention we don't speak Korean...so we are motioning for him to pull over though he doesn't quite get it, a minute or so later he finally figures it out as Steph's door is open! She gets out to try and get it. Gone! Awesome. No phone, means no numbers. I don't have any of her friends. So, we go on a blind mission to hopefully find her friends, other wise, we are own. We go to this spa, which is huge! Foreigners are fairly limited if you venture out from the areas where they flock. We are the only ones, so it should be easy to find her friends if they are here! A hour or so later after we ventured around the place....got yelled at for not wear swim caps on, soaked in the spa (which is awesome by the way, message tubs, hot tubs, cold tubs, sauna, grooming stations, messages if you want one... don't find them. Decide to leave so we can figure out a place to sleep. As we are leaving we see them! They have been there for 2 hours, but in the outside hot tubs which is basically a maze of hot tubs out side. Huh?!! ...if you knew we were coming to meet you, why would you go in the MAZE in the very BACK of the spa?!!! Anyhow...we found them!

Our sweet, and not to mention our super sexy swim caps!

After we hungout in the tubs for a little longer we left to go back into town to go get some food.

Local market of every dried seafood available.

The street we went to get food at. There was a gap between the mass amount of people so I took a picture.

Dinner! :(

Sokcho is the city closest to the South eastern border of North Korea. It's on the coast so seafood is big here. Restaurants offering the same seafood are lined up, one after the other. We pick one that a couple of the people we met up with had gone to. It was full so the Lady who owned it took us down the road to where her son also worked. Check out the pictures below.

Our table was cardboard wrapped in tin foil and placed on a stool. 

Stuffed Squid....delicious! Apparently this is the only place you'll find it.

Our dining space...there was 6 of us, maybe 7.

The kitchen where he cooked our food.

A huge King crab selling for w250,000 = roughly $250

Finally, made it to the Mountain we thought we were going to climb.  We needed to take a picture just to prove we made it! Conclusion of the trip, our 14 hour, 2 day hike turned into a 1, maybe, 2 hour hike to a waterfall.  It was beuatiful though!

Everyone else who wanted to climb. Imagine Multnomah falls on a busy day, times 3.

Made it to the waterfall...not that exciting but watching the Koreans priceless.