First WWOOF: 10 days of retired living with Jo and Rosh

A beautiful country property in Burra, 50 minutes outside of the country’s capital of Canberra, is where I spent my very first Willing Workers on Organic Farms experience. Jo and Rosh were a lovely retired British couple living on a good piece of land with Lola the Ridgeback, Chado the Pekingese, 9 chooks (hens) and three cows they were babysitting for a friend. Our days went something like this:

8:00 am: wake up for tea and breakfast of fruit and toast

9:00 am (but usually more like 9:30): start working on stacking firewood or weeding

Midmorning: break for a cold drink

Back to work until 12:30 or 1:00 and then a lovely sandwich lunch

After lunch was a siesta for a minimum of two hours ended with afternoon tea and bickies

4:00 pm: ride the mower to clear one of the 5 paddies (fields)

6:30 pm: watch the news with a glass of red wine, cheese and crackers

8:00 pm: dinner

They even found time to drop me at a few sights in Canberra while they were running errands there, so I saw the War Memorial museum, plus the new and old Parliament buildings. As a bonus, Matt Clarke, a very good friend from high school, met up with me on one of these little excursions and we got a quick chance to catch up. Otherwise my quiet time was spent listening to the Magpies sing, the Galahs cry, Chado snore and some wonderful classical music recordings, as Jo is an opera lover. In addition, my siestas and evenings were spent reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time. In the end I left feeling very proper and very British

WWOOFing

My last couple of days in Sydney were very nice. I tried to walk from Bondi Beach down to Cogee (a very popular coastal path) but it started to rain on me so decided half way that it was OK to just go back and get ready for my night at the opera. I walked myself down to the opera house in the drizzle with just enough time to have a glass of wine before being seated. The house and stage were actually a lot smaller then I thought they would be, but that could be because I was sitting in the front row. I thought I was going to be in the front row of the balcony, but no. Front row. I was starring at the orchestra and I know they could see me because I kept having inadvertent eye contact with the first violinist. Crazy. Wonderful.

Saturday I took a tour of the Hunt River Valley which is a wine country a few hours North of Sydney. I heard about the tour through MeetUp.com. Great web site for any city in the world. Ending up really enjoying the day with Sam, a guy trying to start up this little tour business, and a few Aussie girls and a German. We had a really nice time. We started at a wild life preserve where kangaroos just jumped right up to you. Touched a koala too. Also, emus and wallabies abounded. I fell in love with a vineyard called Hanging Tree and if you see the pictures you'll know why.
-first cultural fun fact: the girls were telling me that rabbits have a bad rap in Australia for being feral, so they are trying to get rid of the Easter bunny and have an Easter bilby instead. Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bilby
They even make chocolates in the shape of bilbies instead of rabbits.

I'm now an hour outside of Canberra, the capital of Australia, with my first WWOOFing stay. A lovely retired couple is letting me stay and eat for free as long as I help them around the grounds. It's not really a farm as much as a beautiful country home. I'll be weeding and riding the lawn mower and things like that. Today we cleaned out the garage in the rain. Very nice people and really great food. Can't believe I'm not paying for this.

So far, so good.

Sydney = Awesome

The first thing I did when I got here (after showering) was walk down to the harbor. The whole time I was thinking how much this city reminds me of Chicago, plus they have sweet accents. It's perfect. I'm really loving walking around, sitting outside the opera house, laying in the Royal Botanical Garden (my new favorite place on earth) and staring at the ocean. I've had a lot of quiet time wondering around and loved every second of it, plus meeting interesting people along the way. European travelers have such a different mind set than we do. I tell people I'm going to be here for about two months I think and they all reply with "Well, that's a bit short, but you can do it." These people are crazy!

I'm really looking forward to seeing Traviata at the opera house tomorrow and a group tour package on Saturday that will take me to a wildlife sanctuary and wine tasting. Sunday takes me on a bus three hours south to Canbeera where I will be picked up for my first WWOOF stop. So excited!

A side note for all you Seoul savvy readers: I typed this while sitting in a Tom N Toms drinking a $7 blueberry smoothie surrounded by Koreans. Go figure. =)

This is it....

18 months and 104 posts later I'm out of here. For good this time. Hard to believe.

I'm usually pretty good with good-byes and endings. I'm ready. It's time. But, nonetheless, I'm a little nostalgic when saying goodbye to all the wonderful people who have become part of my life since I've been here. This goodbye does not really have to be forever my friends.

I leave here to embark on yet another first for me. Extended solo travel looms ahead. As I run around Australia with no real plan or end in sight I hope to continue communication here when I can. Should be yet another eye opening experience of self-discovery...or just a good time.

작별 인사 서울. 그게 현실이야.
Jagbyeol insa Seoul. Geuge hyeonsil-iya.
Goodbye Seoul. It's been real.

My Last "Meet Up"

Sweet things I did this weekend at the Yong Pyong ski resort:

• Skiing for the first time in about 15 years...I'm still not very good at it
• Jimjilbong twice
• Norebong
• Bowling
• Slept in sweet train sleeper car type bunk beds
• Water park including sweet indoor slides, a lazy river with crazy waves in it, a pool dedicated to a wide variety of jet messaging chairs and multiple outdoor hot tubes in a variety of different colors. We also got to rent some sweet swim suites and had to buy a swim cap. We all looked pretty hot.
  

Good times with good people all for under $200,000 won. You just can't bet that.

Never Say Never

The ultimate example of last minute major changes that happen around here:

Megan Reddy is coming back to KC after being "gone forever" for only 1 month due to a the bunk replacement teacher they hired for Apple Class. She is only staying for 3 weeks, but that's perfect for me, as I am leaving at the same time. I don't think I have ever been this excited.

Sweet-uh.

Let's go to the mall and see the fish!

I have finally made my way over to the aquarium in COEX Mall. I had the option to go with the school the first day arrived, but decided that the chance to sleep late and come in after the field trip made more sense. Man....that feels like it happened 5 years ago.....

Growing up near the Shed Aquarium, I didn't think I would find an aquarium in a mall impressive, but then I also wasn't thinking about the fact that this is largest mall in Korea either. It was pretty sweet. It way very large and had an interesting array of fish, displays and other seemingly random animals such as bats and hedgehogs. My favorite room had many inventive tank displays such as a toilet bowl, washing machine and my personal favorite a computer in a glass box with an aqurium desktop on and then actual fish swimming around it. The place is also famous for it's two headed turtle and shark tanks that have a tunnel walk way where the sharks swim over you. I give it a rousing two thumbs up.

Late Start

I hope you aren't an early riser if you live in Seoul. Coffee houses don't open until 9:00 am on a weekday. On the weekends it could be 10:00 am or later. Even if the place is open the place will be totally dead inside. I'm reminded of a beautiful summer Sunday morning when I tried to go to brunch and the restaurant we wanted to go too didn't open until noon. For brunch. I mean...COME ON!

Potty Training

It took me some time in the beginning to perfect the squatter toilets that abound through out Asia, but I never stopped to think about the reverse situation. What would my reaction be if I had been raised on squatters and suddenly were to encounter a western toilet? Well, apparently it takes some training to use those too....

SNOW DAY!!!

First day back from a warm tropical vacation. Wake up, push the snooze button, wake up again, push the snooze button again, wake up and roll out of bed into a much too cold room and no hot water. Layer on the clothes, pack up and grumble out the door. Make it out the door and greeted by a foot of snow with falling flakes. Instant smile. Walk by people "shoveling" with brooms and large wooden boards. Treat myself to overpriced coffee and a bagel. Walk into the office and hear that the kids are not coming due to the snow. Boss it late due to the snow. Work on your own stuff to get ready for tomorrow.

Best first day back at work ever.

Malaysia: Truly Asia

I didn't realize what I was getting into. Honestly, I decided to go to Malaysia because Megan could get a lay over there on her way to Australia. She didn't end up going to Australia, but we still ended up in Malaysia with Kelly, Leah and Meaghan in tow. I was anticipating a similar experience to the one I had in Indonesia, simply because of it's proximity, but I was way off.

Major observations:

* It's a predominately Muslim country. Many women wore khimār or shaylah (a scarf or cowl that covers all but the face). I saw a few in full on burka.

* I was surprised to see such a strong influence of the Chinese and Indian populations. We saw a lot of Chinese temples and ate a lot of Indian food. I felt like I was walking through the World Showcase in Epcot sometimes. According to Wiki the country's ethnic make up is 54% Malay, 25% Chinese, 7.5% Indian, 13.5% other.

*Everyone likes to celebrate Christmas, even the Muslims and the Hindus.

* In general, the locals are extremely kind and welcoming. Just like Indonesians. <3

* Every person I talked to spoke perfect English.

* Europeans are such interesting travelers. You can met some seriously interesting people in hostels.

* The bus system is not as well marked as one would hope. It made for some interesting walks in Kuala Lumpur, but it Georgetown it was more like hailing a cab.

Things we saw:
* Batu Caves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves
- We witnessed a sacred Hindu ceremony, got a bindi put on our forhead by a monk and ate my first meal on a banana leaf.
* Petronas Twin Towers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_towers
- We walked across town, got stuck in the rain and then could go up in to the bridge because tickets for the day were sold out.
* Taman Negara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Negara_National_Park
- Spent three days and two nights in the oldest (and most tourist friendly) rain forest in the world with a couple of deaf Italians. Made for a very interesting experience.
* Snake Temple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_Temple
- At first I was mad because I thought that all the pit vipers were fake, but when we finally saw one move I was more content. I also held my first snake.

LOST

The word that will best describe how I will feel come January once my girls have left me. But let's not talk about that.

What I really want to talk about are wonderful memories of the good times we've shared, most of which are already mentioned here, but one major event is missing:

LOST - Season 5

Many of us came over as crazy Lost fans, so naturally we began a weekly viewing party. We gathered in my apartment every Thursday night with wine and chocolate and a strict no talking rule. I will miss the bitching and gossiping about work over spilled wine and taking 3 hours to watch one episode because we constantly stopped to discus all the deep symbolism and meaning of every little thing on the screen.

This photo is a prefect representation of the time we spent together. Thank you ladies.

Life is like a box of chocolate...

Funny things about Saturday night:

1. Ordering a large pop at Papa John's and receiving an entire 1.5 liter bottle.

2. Standing in a freezing cold concert venue thinking we were going to see a jazz concert and ending up seeing what we thought might be a South African Christian rock group. Turns out D'Sound is a Norwegian pop band. I guess you never know what your gonna get.

Olympic (Park) Style Skating

Speed skating is a big thing amongst the youth around here. Alex Kim runs off to speed skating practice ever Thursday after school and then comes back the next day to show me how he does his turns. We've got elementary kids who show up in full spandex suits on their way to practice. Skating and soccer seem to be their big sports.

Just like at home, the winter season brings on the holiday decor and outdoor skating rinks. We hit one up this past week in Olympic Park. You can rent skates for a dollar and then they make you wear a helmet. It's sweet.

Home Again? Home Again?

I've been ripped through space and time and back again in the past two weeks and finally feeling like I have recovered.

Going home for Thanksgiving was certainly a special treat. I was given two weeks and a day to fly home, drive to Minnesota and fly back again. I like to think I made the most of it. I played Wii with mom, rode on the back of dad's motorcycle down Lake Shore Drive, cuddled with George, had a sleep over with the little girl cousins, bought shoes, bought jeans, bought presents, had quality Madge time and Skyped Carley at the same time, went downtown three times, ate steak, ate Chipotle, ate pizza, ate 43 lbs. of turkey and 20 lbs. of potatoes (OK, I may have had some help with that one), ate lots of stuff, saw some modern art, saw the preview of The Adam's Family Musical with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, went to The Burwood to see lots of old friends, went on an 8 hour car ride with all 5 Chicago Johnsons (that hasn't happened in a long time), went to my first Johnson baby shower for Baby Bot, hung out with my bros, hung out with the family and basically soaked up the U.S.A air. I felt like I was home from school on break. No major culture shock, just a little jet lag. It was wonderful being home and oddly enough I felt more home sick while I was there then I have since I've been in Korea. It was hard to say good bye.

I'm back in SoKo and again it fells like I never left. Gearing up for Christmas, the Drama Show and saying good-bye to my two favorite co-workers. December is going to go way too fast.....

It's Here

The swine flu has hit us. I may be about a month late...but we are finally feeling the effects of swine flu at school. I've heard through the grape vine that the choice to cancel kindergarten classes was made last night after 3 students allegedly went home with swine flu yesterday. One co-worker who was lucky enough to still be in the office at the time received word and posted the news on facebook. A phone tree of calls ensued after one person read it. This was the only "official" word of the situation I ever received. My boss never address all of us to tell us what is actually going on. We've got a great system of communication around here.

This is not really all that shocking. Most people I know at other schools have either had a similar situations of being stuck in their office while there are no students in the school. Others have been told to stay home for half pay and emailing homework responsibilities. The swine has taken Korea by storm!

My Misadventures in Baking

Megan is babysitting our old co-worker Chris' oven while he is in Canada chilling between Korea gigs. How do you babysit an oven you ask? Well, here ovens are a free standing unit more like an over sized microwave that you keep on your counter. We've had some interesting encounters trying to make the homemade baked goods we have so desperately been craving.

We've had some pretty hilarious evening sitting on her floor mixing ingredients in salad bowls based on one measuring cup and a cereal spoon. Megan's mom's banana bread was a great success, along with most cookie attempts. Sadly, the brownies from scratch were a serious fail.

The most recent struggle I encountered was with butter. I bought some supplies for cookies and banana bread and went to Megan's only to discover that I forgot butter once I had arrived. I went down her street to pick up the butter along with more flour and some extra walnuts if possible. I was searching so hard for walnuts to no avail, that I didn't pay attention to the butter and ended up with spreadable corn based margarine. Megan convinced me that I did not want to bake with that so I went back and got a huge block of "butter". When I started to cut the butter to soften it it broke apart like I was cutting up a block of wax. Deciding this "butter" would most definitely ruin the taste of my chocolate chip cookies, I made one last trip to the full on grocery store and would settle for no less then genuine Land O'Lakes butter. I was finally successful. Only had the energy and drive to do the cookies, but they are delicious.

I want to attempt my mother's unique banana bread recipe, but it calls for beating egg whites until they are stiff. Without an electronic mixer I find this task a bit daunting. There is a possibility I will try to use a blender. Update later.

ENT

I wouldn't normally go to the doctor for a little cold, but with the ever present concern for swine flu I stopped by the doctor on my way home from work after spending the whole day feeling progressively worse with muscle aches, chills and a small cough. There is an ENT office just across the street. I have never been to an ENT, so I don't know if this place is Korea weird or just ENT weird, but it was weird.

After waiting about forty minutes, I was called back into the office, which is actually one big room. I sat and watched as a family of three small children took turns having crap sucked out of their noses. The sights and sounds were just like a dentist's office. I finally got called up to sit in the dentist chair, and through broken English communication determined I probably don't have swine flu and just need to rest and drink a lot of fluids. He then prescribed some pills, none of which is an antibiotic, some kind of cream to put up my nose twice a day (not doing that) and said I should wear a cotton mask out around people. He stuck some stuff up my nose and sucked it back out again. Then I was moved on to sit at a humidifier for two minutes and then some other station where I stuck two prongs up my nose that glowed red. I have no idea what that was all about. The doctor's visit cost $3,200 won (less then $3). I walked across the street to the pharmacy and got everything I needed for $5,600 won within 5 mins. My meds consist of individual bags of 4 1/2 (yes one is broken in half) pills to be taken 3 times a day. 24 hours later I'm feeling much better.

It's A Small World After All

Random events of an evening took me in an unexpected direction ending in meeting a guy who played baseball with my brother in high school at a soju tent in my neighborhood. My mind was blown.

Another Hike

Went to see the dancing reeds of Mindungsan which meant another over night bus trip and early morning start. The plan was to reach the peak at 6:30 for a heart-breaking sunrise, then descend through tall reeds that dance around in the wind. Sadly, it was a bit cold and rainy, so the sunrise was lost in the clouds. It was still a glorious walk.And then there was the Jeongseon Arirang performance. Being that it's the best-known Korean folk song, we were all expecting a quaint little concert. Turns out we were very wrong. A full on musical portrayed a very traditional Korea in the 50's with a sudden US influential invasion. There were three main women, I'm thinking they were a mother and two daughters, the "mother" stayed in the traditional clothes, one came over from the US in a bright red suit and ended up in a US military uniform, and the third wore traditional handbok until the end when she wound up in an unidentified military uniform. It ended with the two military daughters shooting at each other and the mother running in the middle and being killed by both of them. It was crazy.