1. Alcohol is cheap. Super cheap. You can buy 375ml of soju, a clear liquor comparable to vodka, for a little more than 1 USD and a liter of Cafri or Cass beer for less than 2 USD. 2. And it’s everywhere, for sale, 24 hours a day. Unlike in some American states where the… Continue reading 7 Things I Learned about Drinking in South Korea
On our first day in Hue we were collected from the train station, bags and all, and put on motorbikes to tour the area by the Hue Riders. We were led by Bill, who cussed and laughed a lot and told us stories about his time working as a translator for the American Marines during the… Continue reading Vietnam III: Hue
We had a long list of places to see before Vietnam was finished but Ha Long Bay was number 1 on my bucket list. We used BC Family Tours for this two day overnight leg of our trip. (Note: We were not exactly on time to be picked up by our tour bus so they left… Continue reading Vietnam II: Ha Long Bay
The last time I wrote about losing someone it took nearly a year to get it on the page, and I hardly wrote anything else during that time. I've lost someone again, but I can't wait a year to write this time. In fact the people I have lost would entreat me not to. So before… Continue reading Before I give you the rest
A note before beginning: This trip's itinerary was planned and organized by my travel buddies, Linh and Chantal. We took the north to south route starting in Hanoi and ending in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I've heard repeatedly that that is the best way to do Vietnam since it gets progressively warmer as you head… Continue reading VIETNAM I: HANOI
This morning I brought a can of Trader Joe's chai tea latte mix into school to try and finish off with my colleagues. It's Lucy's last day at Namcheon and I wanted to share it with her particularly. The last time I brought something in, it was the candied ginger my mom sent for Christmas. It… Continue reading Dangerous Chai
During my seventh day of winter camp Mr. Jo came in and invited me to have lunch with the rest of the staff keeping the school running during the winter vacation. "You know yukgaejang?" he asks. "Gamjatang?" I ask quizzically. This is like me saying to a Swede "have you had American beef stew?" and… Continue reading Yuk Gae Jang 육개장
For the past two weeks I've been popping by my my main school to teach English to a handful of third and fourth graders for a couple of hours during winter vacation. On Mondays, I sit there with Eun Soo and Yeon Hwa, two 11 year olds who couldn't be more different, and strain to… Continue reading Winter English Camp
THIS MORNING, sometime between the hours of three and five AM, I opened my laptop to Skype home because I couldn't sleep. Mom said the drought in Lake County has abated but the rain won't stop. She said it's cold and that a new grey tabby likes to sit outside the kitchen window and watch her putter.… Continue reading Homesick in 2015
SOME I GOT AND SOME I DID NOT. That sounds about right. This cusp always forces us, some of us reluctantly, to assess what we got, what we did, what we shed away, and all of those things that we didn't. My family is still in 2014 assessing the past while I'm more than half… Continue reading What I Wanted in 2014
