I'll Be Home for Christmas.... Sometime

Living in Korea, I have realized there is one major downside. What do you think? Being away for the holidays. I'm going on 2 years of being away from home, which isn't a problem for me. I've gotten used to it. My college was a few hours away, I studied abroad in Japan, and I temporarily lived down south. That's no biggie. I'm pretty lucky as far as being away from home is concerned. I get to talk to my family on skype quite a bit, especially my dad. 

When the holidays roll around, I find myself homesick. Any other time, I’m surprisingly not. I've become really comfortable living in Korea. To me, this is home. Sure, there are obviously things I miss back home that I can’t get here. For example, I miss Primanti Bros., Sarris Candies (let’s face it, chocolate just isn’t the same here), and I even miss driving a car sometimes. I don’t even know if I even remember how to drive at this point. When I come home, pedestrians beware! I’m might forget that you can’t drive on sidewalks in America. 

Holidays like Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas are such a big deal in America. The most noticeable difference is Christmas time. We have our own Thanksgiving here in September, which is a big holiday to celebrate. But Christmas time just feels empty. You can hear Christmas music in the stores and occasionally you find a mini tree here and there. But there’s no spirit in the holiday season. It’s almost as if they know it’s a big deal in other places so they jump on the Christmas bandwagon, but so many people don’t really celebrate it. So if you take away the music and the trees, it’s just another normal day. You won’t see Santa anywhere or stockings hanging.

As my brother said, it’s become normal for one of us to miss a holiday or 2. But missing every holiday for 2 years is down right weird. I miss the food. This Thanksgiving, trying to find pumpkin pie, let alone turkey was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. My Thanksgiving was spent eating Korean food that I eat on a daily basis. It didn’t feel like a holiday. 

Hopefully this Christmas, there’ll be a little more cheer! Stay tuned to find out...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Tuna & "Elissaisms"

Everyone has their blonde moments and I'm no exception. My family doesn't even refer to my "moments" as blonde anymore. Calling my "moments" blonde just didn't cut it apparently, so they made up a new name for them. They're called "elissaisms". I'm guessing the reason for a name of it's own is mostly due to my cooking skills. Let's take a look... 

First, let's look back to college. It all happened in the apartment building where I lived. One Saturday afternoon I decided to cook myself some chicken fajitas and ended up with the entire building evacuated and a visit from the fire department. Let's just say people where not happy and obviously I played dumb as to who set off the alarm. 

Then there's the infamous "tuna melt" situation. When I was in high school, I was trying to be a good sister and attempted to make my first ever tuna melt for my brother, who was home on break. Being that I never cooked before, it was destined for disaster. And let me tell you, I took disaster to the next level. I handed the tuna melt to my brother, who then looked at me awkwardly and said, "what happened?".  In the moment, it came out wrong, but I responded with "I was waiting for the tuna to melt" which was not at all what I meant. I realized immediately that I would never live it down and I was right. To this day, I am constantly reminded of my cooking skills, especially when it comes to tuna melts.

Now for the most recent incident. This story also involved tuna. This past Sunday I was hungry and thought tuna sounded good and it was quick. I had some difficulties opening the can and when I finally opened it, the lid cut my hand pretty bad. I figured I would put a bandaid on it and in a few days it would be alright. Well the next day, my finger was still bleeding. A package of bandaids and 24 hours later, I decided to go to the hospital since the bleeding wouldn't stop. Oh, and did I mention, it was Halloween... So the doctor came over and checked out my hand, and after making things 10 times worse, he motioned for me to move to a table with needles sitting out. As many of you know, although I have tattoos, I don't do well with shots. So naturally, I panicked and tried to runaway. The doctor grabbed my hand and was nice enough to reassure me the it would be very painful. Thank you for the comforting words! I would rather someone lie to me and tell me how everything will be okay. But this wasn't the case and it did hurt, a lot! So I turned to my friend to help me get through it while the doc. so kindly gave me that painful shot and then stitched my finger up, but when I looked over she looked like saw a ghost. Here, there was a guy who was just walked in that cut off 2 of his fingers. After my finger was stitched up, we headed over to another bed and waited. The nurse gave me a shot to see if I was allergic to the medicine. While we waited, not only was there a man with fingers missing, but there was also a baby who was crying and couldn't stop asking to leave that had to get a shot in his behind. I think we all thought we were going to pass out at any moment. Luckily, I wasn't allergic and we got out of there as fast as we could. Happy Halloween everyone!

Lesson learned. Be careful when opening tuna cans. Hopefully no more incidents anytime soon. Stay tuned for more tuna-less stories...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Gaga Goes Trick-or-Treating

Hope everyone had a good Halloween & got lots of treats. Can you guess what we are?? 

Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,

Elissa Rae

Can't Forget Cambodia

Some how I've managed to forget to post about my trip to Cambodia! After all the trouble we had in Thailand and not getting to cross the Laos border, it was about time to move on to the next country. Getting from Bangkok to Cambodia wasn't the easiest trip, but it wasn't nearly as bad as trying to get into Laos.

We woke up around 3 a.m. and headed to the train station thinking we would just sleep during the ride. We read about first class seats that reclined and could double as a bed. No biggie. We could take a long nap and be ready to go when we got there. This was not the case. After barely making the train, we came to find that this particular train didn't have any first class seats. Every seat on the train was exactly the same with wooden seats, no air conditioning in the middle of July, and windows that barely opened. Oh, and did I mention, it was jam packed? I attempted to put my feet up and take a nap, but when I woke up I saw a bunch of eyes staring at me. Not what you want to see when you first wake up. On the bright side, there was beautiful scenery. On another downside, it took a few more hours than expected to get there. After we came to our stop, we hopped in a tuk tuk and drove to the border. Luckily, this time we knew about VISA scams and weren't fooled and kept on going. Gabe and I walked around aimlessly looking for the right place to go. This process repeated a few more times so I'm going to skip ahead to the part where we finally crossed the Cambodian border. It was about time! 

We took one bus that took us to another bus that we needed to take to get to Siem Reap. Along the way, we stopped for a bite to eat. I was exhausted and only wanted to grab a drink. They seemed to be out of everything I wanted to order and settled on some random pineapple drink. This turned out to be a big mistake. Being as tired as I was, I drank it without thinking and didn't realize that there was ice in the drink, which is a big No-No there. As a result, I was sick for the next few weeks. But it didn't stop me from having a great time during my trip. So we continued on our crammed bus ride until we reached our final destination. I couldn't have been happier to get to our hostel. It turned out to be a great place. Before they take you to your room, they take you for drinks and you can hang out and play pool. They also give all their guests a complimentary massage, which was needed at this point. Then finally, we settled into our room for the rest of the vacation. 

The rest of the evening we roamed around Siem Reap to see what was there. Turned out to be a fun town. Not at all what you would expect when you think of Cambodia. When we first walked across the border, what we saw was what could be expected for a poorer country. There were dirt roads, people walking around without shoes, and little ways to escape the blistering sun. But after exploring around the main town of Siem Reap, things were different here. The town was booming with foreigners (probably all there to see Angkor Wat too), bars blasting music, people shopping at the night market, lights strung above every alley, restaurants packed with people. It was a happening place to be. We didn't stay out too late since our driver was showing up pretty early the next morning. So we grabbed some pizza and headed home.

The next morning began pretty early. This was the day I was waiting for. Today, we were going to Angkor Wat. This place was on my bucket list and I couldn't believe I was finally on my way. Our tuk tuk driver made a plan for us and we went with it. We definitely lucked out, he was an awesome tour guide and fun person to spend time with on our trip. We bought our tickets and in we went. It was a surreal moment for me. You think of going to these places, but when you're actually there, you can't help but pinch yourself and wonder, is this real? We spent hours touring the many temples around Angkor Wat and the main temple that is widely known. The only downside to exploring the temples wasn't the construction, but all the kids begging for money and trying to bargain with you. It was heartbreaking to see. They would tell people they needed the money or they wouldn't be able to go to school. Needless to say, I bought a lot of bracelets and Gabe bought some sort of flutes. We couldn't say no, especially when they don't stop following you. 

Around sunset, we drove back to the city, cleaned up, and headed out on the town. We were a little more daring this time. We got up enough guts to try the fish pedicures. It didn't hurt that the guy offered us beer to help calm our nerves. He knew what was up! I had a little bit of a hard time putting my feet into a tank of fish that wanted to eat me! I like to think that's a normal reaction.  Eventually I did it and it felt as awkward as I thought it would and I couldn't stop laughing the entire time. The guys working probably couldn't wait for us to leave, but we stayed for about 30-40 mins.. Afterwards we treated ourselves to finishing our pedicures and got our nails painted. The rest of the night we bounced from bar to bar and learned what a beer tower is. I couldn't help but be curious.

The next morning we took off a little later. Our driver took us to the floating village. It was a ways from where we were staying, but I'm glad we went. It was good to get to see more of the countryside. It's crazy to see how different one country is from another. It was an eye-opener. On the way there, we passed one of my favorite places. We found a small lotus field. We asked to stop and walk around for a short while. It was adorable. I happen to love lotus flowers and couldn't resist. The only thing you could see for miles was one small broken down hut that someone lived in and a sign that asked for a small donation that was equal to about 25 cents. We dropped some money in the beaten up mailbox and took in the sights of the beautiful flowers. Then back on the road to the next stop. 

As soon as we got on the boat, what's the first thing they ask us? "Do you wanna hop in the water?" I looked down and the water was a dark brown color... Besides that, the floating village was simple but had a big story to tell. Our tour guide on the boat told us about all the orphans that live in this village and how hard life can be for some of these people, especially himself. He began to tell us about how he was going to school kind of far away, but doesn't always have the money to go back and forth and sometimes sleeps on his boat. I couldn't fathom a life like this. It made me appreciate everything my parents did for me so much more. And did I mention that there was an alligator farm not far from the houses and orphanages? But we politely passed on that one.  

The rest of the trip was just walking around and shopping. But this time I did decide to take a plane back to Bangkok and not a train. I had enough run-ins with trains and busses at this point and couldn't take anymore. If only it was that easy. I found out my credit card was frozen because I forgot to tell them I was traveling, my Korean bank account card didn't work outside of Korea, and I didn't transfer any money into my bank account from home. I was stuck. Luckily, my parents were nice enough to let me use their credit card so I could have at least one comfortable ride. The downside to this plan. (You know there's going to be some sort of problem!) I said bye to Gabe and the tuk tuk driver took me to the airport, only to find out I had to show the airline the credit card that was all the way in America. Great! So what did I do? I had to call my parents on Skype and have them show the card and verify that I wasn't lying. But this wasn't the last problem... I fell asleep waiting and almost missed my plane. Thankfully one person came back to wake me. I spent the next day on 3 flights from Siem Reap to Bangkok to Seoul. I spent about 6 hours waiting for my flight in Thailand being sick and unable to sleep on the cold seats in the airport. 

It sounds like there was a lot that went wrong on this trip, but it made for an awesome adventure. (Well minus the getting sick and sun poisoning parts.) I saw amazing things I never thought I would see and I would do everything all over again, even the fish eating my feet! It was completely worth every minute! 

Sorry it took 3 months to post about! Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Is Anything in Incheon?

What started out as a miserable day was quickly turned around. How, you ask? By doing what I do best, wandering aimlessly around a place I don't know anything about. Oh, and did I mention, I don't speak the language either... (I'm working on that one though!)

My Sunday started around 7:00 a.m. and although I really didn't want to get up, I finally dragged myself out of bed knowing I was going to be running a 5k.  This was going to be my first race since I've been to Korea and I was both nervous and excited at the same time. It's been awhile since I've ran. But you have to start somewhere. I had convinced a group of people to run together, then one by one they started dropping like flies. The day of the race, the number of remaining runners was down to 3. No worries though, 3 was still a good group to run with. It also didn't help that the weather forecast called for a downpour. I kept positive despite the obvious, until about 9:00. After leaving late and a $30 taxi ride, we arrived at Incheon Station, but ended up in the wrong park. By the time we found a map and realized where we were supposed to be, it was 40 mins. too late and the park we needed to be at was nowhere close. Between the bad directions and it being that early on a Sunday morning, I was not a "happy camper" to say the least.  After the realization that this was not happening, we decided to wander around since we were already there. 

Turns out we were in Jayu (Freedom) Park. It was beautiful, but random. The park was up high and overlooked the town. It was breathtaking from the right view. But we also saw some strange things. Why on earth would there be a chicken house in a park? This was definitely a first! The statues were also on the strange side. There seemed to be no theme. There was a giant pipe statue, one of MacArthur, some kind of bright-colored characters that reminded me of Teletubbies, and ride outside of the park was a giant statues of a bowl of noodles. Whatever floats their boat.  

Since we weren't making the race, we figured let's see what's in Incheon. Honestly, none of us knew of anything. When I think of Incheon, I think of the airport and that's about it. I was pleasantly surprised with this place, just not for a Sunday. Right outside of the park, where we saw the giant noodles, was Chinatown. I love the fact that I've been to 3 Chinatowns in Asia and they all seem to be more like China than China actually was. And what I mean by that is when I think of China, I have a certain stereotype that comes to mind. I think bright colors like reds and blues, dragons, and temples. But when I was in China, I didn't see too much of these things. It seemed more subtle and not enough dragons. Well, that is except for China's Chinatown. But Korea's Chinatown seemed to be exactly what I think of. There were beautiful, bright colors everywhere, authentic food, and of course, dragons! This would've been great, except for the fact that it was Sunday before 10 a.m.. In Korea, everything starts later. Before 10 a.m., good luck finding anything open including coffee shops. Strange, I know. So it was too early and on a Sunday. This is the worse time to travel around anywhere in Korea. 

After we left Chinatown, I had one mission in mind. Find coffee! I'm not a morning person and it was still early. We had no idea where we were going, but coffee seemed to be nonexistent here. We ended up walking the 5k just looking for an open cafe. Then finally, something went right. We found Dunkin Donuts. So not only did I get my wakeup coffee, but I got delicious cream-filled goodness to cheer me up. After that, I was ready to explore. 

We continued roaming the streets for several more hours before deciding to head home. And this time by subway, no more taxis that don't know where they're going! It took an 90 mins. to get home, but at least we knew where to go and we got seats, nice cushiony seats! Incheon has a lot going on, just not on Sunday mornings. I'll definitely be going back one afternoon to finish what I've started!

The best part of living in a foreign country and the ability to explore. That's when you get to see what life is really like. It's much more satisfying than tourist attractions that you've probably seen online and you know what to expect. The unexpected is way more fun!

Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Tora-b Cute & Quaint

So this past weekend I was finally able to catch up with my friend, Riley. Lately it's been hard to find time to meet and catch up on this crazy thing we call life! We met in my favorite place in Seoul, Hongdae. But not before getting on the wrong subway first. You know, I've only been living here for 14 months... On the bright side, since Hongdae is already kind of far and I got on the train in the wrong direction, I was able to take a nice long nap! Now that I was refreshed, I was ready for a day of cafes, shopping, and good conversation. 

After much debate, we settled on Spanish food for dinner at an adorable restaurant that seemed popular. We couldn't have been more wrong! I've never had Spanish food with no taste before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. No worries though, the night was quickly turned around as always. We strolled around and did a little shopping before heading to, one of my now favorite, coffee shops. I've seen this place in passing before, but never stopped by. It's tucked back in the streets of Hongdae, hidden from most. Riley had been there before and said we had to go. From the outside, it looks like an old beat-up basement. But the inside is adorable and has a homey feel. There were drawings on the wall, music I would actually listen to on my own, and awesome coffee. I also loved the fact that they give you chunks of chocolate to dip into your drink. It was genius! We hung out for hours reading magazines and relaxing. 

The only downside, which is a big pet peeve of mine here, was when I asked one of the guys working there about his Phillies hat, he had no idea what I was talking about. Why do people wear these hats when they have no idea what they are. I constantly see guys wearing Pirate and Phillies hats because they're popular, but for all they know they're a band somewhere. But this is an issue needs a post of it's own. 

Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Down the Mountain We Go

Channeling Tarzan

This past weekend was probably one of the best weekends I've had since being in Korea. It all started with getting to see an old friend from Etown who just moved to Korea to teach. 

Saturday we went to the 2nd Annual Expat Festival, which wasn't really a festival, but rather just a soccer game. Festival or not, it was a good game despite the fact the FC Seoul won 4 to 1. I guess scoring in the first 5 minutes was a good indicator of what was to come. Although next time I want to sit with the FC Seoul fans and not the other expats. They looked a million times more excited to be there and had dances and cheers for everything. Lesson learned!

 Afterwards, we went to Hongdae and chilled out. We grabbed some much missed Taco Bell and bought Louie his super cool skeleton and superman Halloween costumes. Which one he'll be remains undetermined at this point. Guess you'll have to wait and see...

 We ended the evening at GR8, a hooka bar tucked away in the streets of Hongdae. I've got to say, I'm not much of a hooka fan, but I did really like this place. It was very chill and relaxing. (Minus the drunk foreigners that knocked over a candle and lit their table on fire.) 

Sunday was by far the best day of the weekend. Thanks to my friend for putting everything together, we channeled our inner Tarzan and ziplined in the mountains of Mungyeong. The zipline course is 9 lines that are all different. Some lines you lay out like your dead, some you curl into a ball, and others you play darts while on the go. Luckily, we had a good group of people. Although I think they thought we were a little crazy and not being able to understand the directions didn't help. 

Afterwards, we went down the road to an old railroad that's been converted into bikes for fun. They were a little slow paced for me personally and I think the dad and small children in front of us wished we weren't there at all. While not paying attention because of some on our bike yelling at cars driving by, we didn't brake in time and had a tiny accident. After a long day, it felt good to get home and reacquaint myself with my old friend, my bed.

Video proof is on it's way! Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Good Company, Chuseok, & Caribbean Bay

Last week was Chuseok, or Thanksgiving for those back home.  It's now my favorite holiday in Korea. Why? Because I get 3 days off.  

This Chuseok was much better than last for 2 reasons. The first being my friend from school, Mollie, came to Korea. She's studying in China and made some spare time to come and relive our college days. In May I went to visit Mollie and now it was her turn to check out my digs. We didn't do many tourist things though. We checked out all of the major shopping districts during the day and all of the bars and clubs at night. For a short time, it felt like I was back at Etown.

The 2nd reason this holiday was better than last was because I finally went to a park here. I've been in Korea for 13 months now and have yet to do many of the main tourist attractions. Being that many would go to see families from Sunday to Tuesday, it was the perfect time to check one thing off of my list. We went to Everland and Caribbean Bay to celebrate.  Caribbean Bay is a water park that is now out of season since it's September, so less people and smaller lines. The weather was perfect, but many of the rides were closed. Despite some rides being closed, we had a great time with the slides that were open and the lazy river. 

After soaking up the sun, we walked next door to Everland. I didn't realize it, but it's open for the Halloween season so again many rides were closed. The park had pumpkins, ghosts, and zombies everywhere. You couldn't get away if you tried. They had parades, shows, and creepers walking around to scare you silly. I have to admit, they got me! We didn't get to ride as many rides as I would've liked, but I did get a set of fun ears to wear and painted my face like a little kids, so I can't complain.  

On Wednesday, we all went back to our normal routines and Mollie went back to China. Hopefully all holidays will be as good as this one was. Maybe next time we'll stay away from the  jell-o shots though, they've turned the King into an alcoholic. Yes, Louie is now in love with them! Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Birthday Lovin'

Just wanted to say thanks for all the birthday love! We kicked off the festivities at midnight with some Korean BBQ. Later at  work, I was surprised with an adorable pink cake - the guys have good taste! Not to mention, lots of students singing to me and being forced to behave for an entire period. I bet their glad that only happens once a year! It was a good day. The best part of it all, I was finally able to celebrate it with my twin brother, Evan. He made it possible by coming to Korea to teach with me for the next year. After 7 long years, we could finally have a birthday hug and not just a call at midnight! The festivities will continue through Sunday, so until then . . . 

Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Proof of Phuket

Here's some videos and pictures from my trip to Thailand with my friend, Becky! Hope you enjoy the show! Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Phuket's Past Due

I'm sure by now many of you are aware of the bad luck we encountered when we were trying to go to Laos while on vacation. Something I should've mentioned a while back was how much fun we had in Phuket. Before we began our bus ride, we spent 6 days in Phuket and it was amazing. 

This trip was in the making for nearly a year! Boarding the plane was a surreal moment that seemed like we spent an eternity waiting for, or 9 months - close enough.  We arrived to our hotel, Bodega, super late but that didn't stop us from enjoying our first night in Thailand. (P.S. If you're ever in Phuket, this is the place to stay!) We had too much excitement to simply go to sleep. The nightlife in Phuket was a sight to see. There were lady boys and hookers lined up and down the bar street and it seemed like business was booming! Every way you looked, you would spot guys with hookers attached to their arms ready to go - well, could've been a lady boy, but who knows. 

The next day, we hit Phuket in full force. The night before, we met some guys from Spain that offered to show us the beaches, how could we say no? So off we go on our rented motorbikes. The beaches were perfect and not only did we enjoy the sights of the sunset from the viewpoint, but we got to see elephants lounging along the side of the road. This was probably the only relaxing day we had.

The next 3 days was jammed packed with things to do before we took off. We rented vespas and drove around looking for the zoo for hours. I repeat--FOR HOURS. No we were not lost, just you know...exploring! Ha!  We were determined to hold a tiger and ride an elephant!  We even resorted to knocking onto other people's car windows to ask for directions. Maybe we should've considered staying away from cars with kids in it because the moms weren't happy with us. After wandering around for a while, we found the zoo in the strangest place possible. There was nothing around and no tigers. After all that way, it closed 10 minutes after we got there.  So stalking people was for nothing. 

Next on the list was a boat tour of the islands. If you ever go to Phuket, definitely a good idea. Not only did they let us hang off the back of the boat while driving, but they let us jump off the top of it for fun. We went snorkeling and we fed some ferocious fishes.  We fed them bananas and bread, which who knew they even liked, but they bit! We also got to feed cute monkeys that were apparently dangerous!? Afterwards, we lounged out on various beaches, including the one where they filmed "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio while they fed us fruit and drinks. Needless to say, it was the life I'd like to live. The only downside of the day was sun poisoning. Someone didn't think to where sun block and turned out looking like a lobster. Lesson learned. 

 One thing I wanted to check off of my list was to learn how to box, Muay Thai style.  Yeah about that..totally not for me. In the first 10 minutes of jump roping, I was beat. If only you could see the actual boxing. It's no joke. Also off the list, we finally rode an elephant. Her name was Wanjai, a.k.a. Sweetheart. At one point while trekking through the jungle, we felt like we were going to fall off. So I asked our guide, "do people ever fall off?" He told us nope. Being the worrier I am, (thanks mom), asked, "if we fall, would you catch us?" His response? He laughed and shook his head no. Reassuring. We made it back safe and sound, no thanks to our guide.

Phuket was definitely an awesome vacation, even though no tigers in Thailand for us. Video proof is on it's way! Stay tuned... 

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae