Ben's Birthday....

"Happy Birthday Benj"

Someone just turned 25, and he is already showing it! Such an old man.... For his birthday, Ben met up with Matt, and they went disc golfing, while I prepared for his party! He had a good time doing that and it was unfortunate I couldn't go with him. While he was gone, I made him a four layer red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. This was actually the tallest cake I have ever made. It was delicious too!
That evening we had a birthday party/ new house party at our place. We had about 14 people in our house and our house seemed much smaller with all of those people! I made different appetizers like potatoes skins, deviled eggs, chicken quesadillas, and Ben's family recipe- monkey meat. It was an appetizer meal!
Later that night after we enjoyed the cake we heading downtown to celebrate on the town. We ended up at the infamous Gogos, where Ben was bought a lot of soju by Bill and Jimin.... This made our night interesting to say the least.
We really had a great night with all of our friends, and it was great to be with Ben for his birthday. This year it is so nice to get to spend our time together! I love it! The next morning, I think that he felt his age...

New Vice Principal dinner...

This semester our Vice Principal left our school to become a Principal in another school, so we got a new Vice Principal at Woonam Elementary. To celebrate we went on another teachers dinner.

I was very excited to go to this teacher dinner because we were going to a restaurant that we had already gone to and the previous time I was there, I absolutely loved it! This was the place that had the delicious marinated duck.

This time my experience was much different. Apparently this time the duck had a weird sweet taste to it. I didn't mind it but I couldn't really get a real answer to whether or not I was in danger if I ate the meat or not. My co-teachers had them take away the meat and brought us out a new kind of meat. I was so disappointed because I was NOT a fan of the new meat. My co-teachers weren't really into this new meat either, so no one really ate anything. 

I know that they were regretting sending it back a little. I know I was! 

At the end we were given some Heukimjajuk 흑임자죽 which is a black sesame soup with duck meat in it. It was more like a porridge. Because I hadn't eaten much else, I ended up eating most of this.

There was an awkward moment at the dinner. All of the teachers had to go to the front and introduce their selves to the new Vice Principal. When the subject teachers went up to the front to do this, apparently no one wanted to talk into the microphone. The P.E. teacher just kept shoving it into my face. I tried to pass it off because it make no sense for me to introduce all of the subject teachers when I don't even know their name, but he kept throwing it into my face and no one else took it. It was so awkward.... I ended up taking it for one second and introduced myself. It was REALLY awkward, and annoying, but I really didn't care as soon as it was over. ahaha

Boracay, Philippines for Chuseok....

Top 10 notables of Boracay in the Philippines...

Only one week after going to America for our summer holiday, Ben and I were loaded back onto a plane on our way to Boracay. To be honest, to get back on a plane was a little difficult since it was only 4 days since we had deboarded our 15 hour flight and had a hell of a journey making our way back to Daegu. We hadn't even recovered on our sleep yet...

That being said, things for this journey lined up really well. We were lucky. It is always madness trying to travel anywhere on Korean holidays because Koreans work a lot, so when they have a national holiday, many take advantage of it! This causes all of the buses and trains to be booked up weeks and sometimes months before. It is to the point that things are booked up on the day that they open for sales. Being a foreigner here, and NOT being able to speak the language, creates a huge handicap for us. I keep saying... "never again", but then the holiday comes around and I'm like, "Let's go!". I don't know if I will ever learn....;)

Anyways, I took the best flight of my life from Daegu to Seoul. It was the most relaxing, easy thing ever. Over a month before this trip, I was searching the way for us to get to Seoul to fly out and the trains were full, so at 5:00 am (after waking up in a panic) I booked us flights to Seoul from Daegu. There were 130,000 per person. When looking back and even while we were flying we knew it was a great decision. It put us in Seoul with absolutely no stress!

We flew Air Asia to Manila, which was not ideal. In the future I might be more picky with my flights... It was really uncomfortable and they make you pay for EVERYTHING! I was surprised we didn't have to pay to use the toilet.... Like last time I went to the Philippines, we spent another night in the airport. This time it was more pleasant because it was much shorter!

We made it to Manila and flew Cebu Air to get to Boracay's airport, Caticlan. We ferried to Boracay from the airport. After a much needed nap at our hostel, Friendz hostel, we started our 5 days of relaxation.... Here are 10 of the fun things we enjoyed! (In no particular order)

#1- Beaches

Boracay is 3rd on the list of the best beaches in the world. You can't read something like that and not check them out. This was the main motivator for me to get to Boracay. They didn't disappoint! The water was a great color. My only complaint would be that there were tons of people, and we didn't even go during the "high" season! I can't even imagine what they were like then!

#2- Sandcastles

The kids of Boracay have figured out how to make some money. Along the beach at night these children, (8-12 year olds) have sculpted amazing creations in the sand. I was quite impressed! For a "small" fee you can get them to write your names in the sand as well. This was when I got ripped off by a Filipino child... 

We had just gotten there and were checking out the beach. I thought these sand sculptures were so cool, and I saw someone give on of the kids 100 pesos (around $2) to put their names in the sand. When it was our turn, I didn't ask how much it would cost because I had just seen the previous person give him money. That was my mistake. Five minute later when he was done with the sculpture he put out his hand and said, "400 pesos". That is equal to around $9! ahahah! I tried to talk him down, but a crowd had formed and he was insisting and looked like he was going to cry! I gave him the money and learned my lesson. Always check the price before you go! Ben and I had a good laugh about this later...especially because we calculated what he could potentially be earning an hour! Ridiculous! :)

#3 Sunsets

How can go wrong? It was beautiful, but unfortunately on the days we went to the beach to watch the sunset we made it just in time to see the sun set and it got dark rather quickly. Still, it was a beautiful sight both times!

#4 Food

We ate TONS of food. The best part was that we ate food from many different places. We got to eat the tradional Filipino food that Ben grew up with, but then we also go to have some very "western" dishes that we can't get in Korea. We had some amazing Mexican food, and even homemade chips with guacamole! It was amazing!

#5 Zip Lining

We were looking for some adventure and something check off of a bucket list, so we decided to go zip lining! Many people are walking around the beaches and town trying to sell a tour or activity. We heard countless times, "Sailing? Sailing? Zip lining? Sailing?" It actually got quite annoying, but one sunny morning we figured we should take advantage of the sun and do something fun. The man we talked to had a listed price of 3,200 pesos ($75) . This would be a resonable price in most countries to do zip lining and zorbing together, but not in the Philippines. I showed the man another listed price in the brochure of 1,200 ($25) and he said he would match it. 

We were amused that the starting price was so much higher, but it is smart! There are many people that come to Boracay with money to spend and they don't even try to talk down price. The beach were full of Koreans and Chinese that wouldn't even think twice about spending $75 to zip line and zorb!

We zip lines from a steep hill toward the beach. It wasn't really long, but it was still cool and worth the small amount of money that we paid...

#6 Zorbing

I didn't take advantage of zorbing when I lived in New Zealand, so when we realized that we could zorb for very cheap, I was excited! I didn't know what to expect though because we weren't in New Zealand...we were in the Phlippines....

It was almost humorous as they were preparing... We watched them roll the zorb ball up the hill and put water in it. We crawled inside and down we went! It was short, but it was fun! :)

#7 Massages/ Pedicure

A very important part of recovering from no sleep for many nights and traveling is pampering yourself. This is very easy to do in the Philippines, as the massages are very cheap. I got a foot massage and pedicure, that also included a shoulders and hand massage. All of this was for under $20! Ben got a full body massage with tons of very interesting stretches. That was fun to watch! They were twisting him in all directions....

I feel like when I go to get massages, I am able to honestly talk to many of the local women. We talked about many different things and including cultural differences and expectations. I talked with one of the women about potentially living in Philippines for a time and she said it would be hard for me, but not Ben. She was quite honest to say that Ben would be pretty desirable there and would have many young women paying a lot of attention to him and that might be difficult for me to see! Hey-at least she was honest! ahah! I had great fun there, and ended up staying there for a couple hours...

#8 Spider House

Back in May/June when we booked this flight, I also went ahead and booked accommodation for our time there. We spent the first 2 nights at Friendz hostel where we had our own bungalow type thing for only $30 a night. It was really nice and had a nice location next to the beach and it was easy to walk around and explore. For the last 2 nights we stayed at Spider House, which was more expensive and a bit of a splurge. This was a little more difficult to get to and required a tuk tuk to get there. It was more secluded, and was really cool. I was hoping it would be something a little more quiet, and besides the pretty loud music they played during the day, it was amazing! We had a large room that had 2 levels. Everything was made our of bamboo- EVERYTHING! It was built on the cliff, so you were able to jump directly off the edge into the sea, which we took advantage of as well. It was a really relaxing and wonderful 2 days!

#9 Matching Tattoos

Sometimes I say things out loud knowing they are going to be rejected.... I did this when I said I wanted matching henna tattoos, but I was wrong. I was not rejected. ahah

Since we were trying to be really corny and cheese lovey dovey for this holiday. (It was our hook-up-a-versary) Ben and my anniversary date is much later than when our actual relationship started because we waited a long time to admit it was a real relationship. Because of this we celebrate Chuseok as our "hook-up-a-versary" as normal people do....

While eating our mexican food, we thought long and hard about what could be the worst cheesy tattoo we could get. We ended up with something simple and meaningful! Hahahah! 

btw: This lasted for over 3 weeks! HA!

#10 Ben's romantic hidden dinner

Ben planned where we would go to dinner one night. He found a place online that he wanted us to try. We followed the directions that he was given, but we were having a hard time finding it. We asked many locals who actually walked with us trying to find this place. We saw no signs and we were in a not very nice place. All of the buildings were run down and it was almost scary.

Finally we stumbled upon the restaurant far back from the access alley we had been walking on. It was very hidden and mysterious. This was where the restaurant started. You walked along this path to the actual restaurant. A waiter greeted us and took us to our table. It was a low round table on our own gazebo in the water! It was absolutely insane!

The food we ordered was really good! There were very few people there. We wondered how they stayed open, but we were thankful that they were open. It was really romantic. I think only 2 other couples were in the whole place and they each got their own gazebo in the middle of the water too! I would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone...Now to find it again... :)

Our visit to 'merica.....

After living in Korea for 1 year, it was time to go home to visit the family. Since Ben had never been to Kansas, and no one had met him in person, we decided that we would spend the first 8 days in Kansas and I would travel to Wisconsin for the last 8 days to meet his family and friends.
Our flights were miserable of course, but I feel that is always expected when you have 3 flights and 2 layovers, and 1 of the flights was 13 hours. It's just NOT fun. We flew into Kansas City, and after a small problem with the rental car we were on our last 3 hours to home. First thing we did in Kansas- Sonic. We needed to eat, and Ben had never had sonic before...
We finally made it home to my parents house, and we.... hmmm what did we do? Those first days back in America are a bit hazy since we hadn't slept in days.... Oh yeah, we had a lovely dinner that my mom made. The next day we went to my Grandma's house and I sifted through some of my things that had been in the fire. In the evening we went for Mexican food and  Ben and I went to Wichita to see Sarah's family.
On Friday, Daniel, Melissa, and Zeke came into town so we could carpool together in our rental car/van they gave us, to Jason's wedding.

Jason and Anna's wedding was in Missouri so part of my time in Kansas was actually spent in Missouri. It was a really great time with family though. Ben and I travel with Daniel, Melissa and Zeke, so that was great to spend time with them even if it was on the road. 

In Missouri, my Aunt Carrie had organized for us to stay in a house with Phil, Sarahanne, Vatiken and Bosten, as well as Daniel, Melissa, and Zeke. While this was a bit of a shocker for Ben and I to be woken up in the middle of the night by crying babies and such, it was still a great time! On the nights, other family would come over to hang out. Duane and Shelby, and Michael and Lena joined us and we had a lot of informal fun and talking. It was the first time that we had all been together with girlfriends/boyfriends and husbands/wives. I enjoyed that time alot.

The wedding was really neat. It looks like Jason is joining a really awesome family and I'm so happy for him! There was a lot of singing at the wedding and Ben was very curious is this is what all Mennonite weddings are like.... I told him that while there is some, this wedding had A LOT! :) No worries there Ben...

But Ben did get to see something Mennonite... While in Missouri, we ran into some guys that are friends/ former roommates with a guy that Ben and I know in Korea. Of course we had to get out picture taken with them to blow Curt's mind back in Korea!
On our way to Wisconsin we stopped and spent some time in Iowa, with my Iowa family! :) We caught most of the cousins before they were off again to school and other things. It was great to see everyone! My Grandparents took Ben and I to my favorite restaurant, Bonaparte Retreat (a.k.a. Ben's). 

 As soon as we reached the Wisconsin boarder all decisions were Ben's. We needed to eat shortly after arriving in Wisconsin and the first place we went was Culvers, a fast food place that I would compare a bit to Kansas' Braums. There I tried my first fried cheese curds. Yum!

When we got to Oshkosh, Ben was reunited with his family. There I got to meet his parents, Tim & Nicetas, his brother Emil, and his dog Rocky. Rocky was the chillest dog I have ever seen. While in Oshkosh I also got to meet most of Ben's extended family as well at a party he had at his house. I really enjoyed meeting his grandparents. They were really great! 

Also, in Wisconsin, I ate a ton of food. Ben's dad is a great cook, and made a lot of food. Another thing that we did was a river float. We floated down the Wolf River with many of Ben's friends. It was a really nice day and the 3 1/2 hours didn't quite seem like enough. We were able to take food and drinks, so it was a great time! Other noteables that we did revolved around eating food as well. We went to a Filipino restaurant, and we also made sure to eat steak, Chinese food, and gyros. All of it was AMAZING and prepared us for another year of Korea and Korean food. 

While in Wisconsin, I got to do some things that I have never done before. A trip there wouldn't have been complete without learning how cheese is made. I always thought that maybe it was an exaggeration about the amount of love for cheese in Wisconsin, but I found out that it is not. They LOVE cheese! haha
We went to a cheese factory about 20 minutes from Oshkosh. The factory was a small one called Union Star Cheese Factory. It was exciting to see how cheese was made. We saw them finishing up the cheese curds. We got to taste some of the newly made cheese, and I had never had cheese this fresh! It was SOOOOOOO good! It was very squeaky! I wasn't used to eating cheese that squeaked, but it was amazing!
Another thing that we did while we were in Oshkosh was go frisbee golfing. This is one of Ben's favorite past times while living there and he and his friends used to do this a lot. I had never frisbee golfed before so this was my first time! Steve went with us. I actually did okay. On a 3 par course, most of the time I was getting 4's. I thought this was pretty good for someone who had never disced before.

Another random thing that happened while we were in Wisconsin is that we got free tickets to a pre-season Green Bay Packers game. Even though it was a pre-season game it was still full of avid fans! We had toured the stadium a few days before, so it was fun to go to the stadium full. First we tailgated in the parking lot before the game. Afterward on our way into the stadium we HAD to find cheese heads, because who goes to their first Packers game without one?
The game was actually against the Kansas City Chiefs, how appropriate! The game itself was not that exciting because like I said- it was a preseason game. The Packers won quite easily. In the 4th quarter it started to rain a little bit, which ended up being a good thing because a lot of people left, so the traffic was much better when we ended up leaving after the game! 
It was a fun experience to get to go to the game and we were so lucky to get random tickets! :)
Our trip home was really great. Ben and I got to see where each other grew up and meet the important people in our lives. I'm really glad that we decided to go to America, and although the trip back was HORRIBLE, it was still worth the journey!