Fall 2011

Old Stone Man Beach, Qingdao

To start things off I have to give some love to my dear friend Natalie who single-handedly made my blog b-e-a-utiful!  I am so excited to have it personalized to my style...it has definitely inspired me to write more frequently.  Thanks, Nat!

Since I last wrote, I have moved apartments.  The new place is directly below the old one and much more cozy.  I'm beginning to slowly get household items that make it feel more like a home- plants, DVD player, candles, lamps, etc.  My favorite part is that the shower has these awesome lights that are meant for drying/sanitizing the shower after use...I use them during and it's basically like showering in the sun...who doesn't love brightness and warmth and happiness?  I like to pretend I'm back in the Philippines on a blistering hot day so the cold water actually feels good and doesn't make me want to cry.  If only the lights kept up my tan at the same time...

Gyeongbokgong Palace, Seoul

Speaking of losing tans, autumn weather is here.  My guess is that I'll have the rest of October to enjoy the sun at the beach before I need to hibernate.

Katie @ kalbi in Seoul

We had a week holiday off work, so I went to Korea with a co-worker for a shopcation (sidenote: the entire country was off, so it was advised to not go anywhere in China or I would have).  I decided not to go by Poly and see the kids this time...tough choice to make, but I've been lucky enough to visit them twice in the past 7 months and it's a lot harder now to interrupt their classes since I don't know the teachers.  Unfortunately I didn't get to see most of my friends while I was there either, but I'm not too worried about it since I'm sure I'll be back soon. Seoul is just over an hour flight away, so it will be easy to treat myself :)   It felt different this time- maybe because I didn't visit Hwajeong, my kids, and my Korean co-teachers...in only year it has become so much more Westernized.  It seemed like everyone spoke English, lots of American music was playing instead of Kpop, and chain clothing stores were more common than boutiques and clothes stands.  It wasn't bad per say, just different.  One of my favorite things about Korea is that it is so dissimilar from America- that being said, I hope the Western trend doesn't continue quite so rapidly.

My next vaca is 8 weeks away, so until then I'll just have to dream of the hot sun and salty water that I love so much...