Category: Asia
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Sports Day – Trail of Tears
Every October 9th South Koreans observe Hangul Day, a national holiday, commemorating the creation of the Korean alphabet by King Sejong the Great. For most Koreans it means a day off and a chance to rest and relax. For my coworkers and me it meant a forced march up a mountain in the rain, but…
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Japan Vacation – Returning to Korea
One Last Train Ride [photogrid ids=”2922,2925″ captions=”yes” columns=”three” fullwidth=”yes” ] Nicole and I woke early, cleaned our room, and took a train back to the Osaka airport. The ride was early and uneventful. The often crowded subway was sparsely populated with random Japanese people and the odd tourist with a suitcase making the same trip…
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Japan Vacation – Kyoto and its Temples
Today marked the fourth day of Nicole and my Chuseok adventure in Japan. We arrived on Wednesday and spent the past several days visiting Osaka, Nara, and now finally, Kyoto. Breakfast We started the day with coffee and buns at a nice little café around the corner from our AirBnB residence. Up until this point…
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Japan Vacation – Nara and Deer
This is day three of my trip to Japan, if you haven’t already, I urge you to read Day One or Two first. Nicole and I woke up early today and grabbed some snacks in our room before taking the train into Nara. The ride was on an express train and only about 40 minutes. We…
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Japan Vacation – Osaka All Day
This is day two of my Japan trip over Chuseok. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to start with Day 1. A Great Night’s Sleep I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but Korea is not known for its mattresses. My mattress and my coworker’s mattresses, I’m told, are not comfortable. The…
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Japan Vacation – First Stop Osaka
Nicole and I visited Japan over Korean Thanksgiving, more commonly known as, Chuseok. We had Wednesday to Sunday to cram as much globe-trotting into our lives as humanly possible. Since I’ve always wanted to visit Japan, we opted to go to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara. Traveling to Osaka Wednesday Morning, we woke up at 6…
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Wondo – Beach Camping in Korea
This past weekend Nicole and I went back to Wondo for a weekend of beach camping. Our first weekend in Korea Nicole and I went to Wondo with my foreign coworkers for some R and R. When we went the first time, the water was freezing and the beach was practically empty. This time the…
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Sunflower Festival and Beach day
After our busy day of tea fields, baseball games, and nightclubs, Nicole and I could only follow it up with an equally busy Sunday of sunflowers and beaches. Bus Terminal Last Friday my Korean co-worker, Jade invited me to a sunflower festival with her and some of the other foreign teachers. Nicole and I met…
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Club Night
After the tea fields and baseball game, Nicole, Will, Kayla, and I went downtown to paint the town red. The game ended early by Korean standards, around 10 so we found ourselves downtown well before Korea dance hour, which may or may not exist. The first club we went to was called Mix…I think. There was…