The Big Surprise and San Fran

THE BIG SURPRISE:
I flew to Tallahassee with a lot of sadness about leaving, but also a lot of excitement to surprise my mom. I never told her I was coming to the US, she thought I was going straight from Korea to New Zealand. In fact, my original plan was to go straight to NZ, but I found a pretty cheap flight and I really missed home, so I changed plans. It was so hard to keep it from her. I told the rest of my family, one because I had to tell somebody and two because I needed their help in planning. My dad contacted my aunt so that we could go down to her beach house for a few days. I got my brother to make me mom plan a visit down to see him at just the time I'd be around. And my sister, the thing that made it complete, surprised my mom as well by flying from California for a weekend so that the whole family was together for the first time in a long while. Just to make sure everything worked out, I even emailed my mom's boss to make sure she could get some time off in the 3 weeks I was home. Lastly, I even sent my mom a fake flight iteneray to NZ, so she wouldn't have a clue.
So, my flight came in at about 9pm and I got my friend Kate to pick me up from the airport. Despite a short delay because my bags were still in Texas, we rushed home. I had expected the doors to be locked and everyone to be asleep by 10:30pm, but it wasn't quite like that. The door was unlocked so I walked right in. My dad had fallen asleep watching TV in the living room. I didn't wake him because I didn't want my mom to hear. I walked down the hall as giddy as I could be and....well....check out the video!!


I was home for about 3 weeks in which I got to see a lot of people I wanted to. I made it to Gainesville, to the beach, saw friends and family. Pretty much perfect. Becca came for my last weekend in Florida and we flew to San Fransisco together. I brought all my luggage for NZ with me because I flew form San Fran to NZ after a 5 day stop over. This was my second visit out there, but my favorite.
We did some of the touristy things of course, like touring Alcatraz and watching the seals on the pier. I also got a free pass to the aquarium bec works in. Cool gator isn't it.


We rented a car for a couple days and camped out in Big Sur. We went on an awesome hike and explored some of the beaches. Before coming back we stopped in Santa Cruz where we walked the boardwalk and laid in the sand. It was such a great trip. I don't get to see becca much anymore and I forgot how fun it was to hang out with her. Made a good choice in stopping through!!



As great as it was to come home for a while, it felt strange. I seemed liked so much had changed, yet everything was still the same. It's hard to explain. I LOVED getting spoiled by my mom and dad. It was beyond words seeing my brother, sister, and niece again. And it was amazing seeing all my friends. But, I knew I wasn't ready to stay...not yet. I think that made it a little easier to head off for New Zealand. Easier doesn't mean it wasn't hard to say goodbye though. I hate goodbyes and it was as difficult as ever to leave.

Goodbye Korea

After Tokyo, I flew back to spend my last 4 days in Korea. Many of my friends that did not renew their contract had already left. However, many of my friends renewed to stay another year and so were still around. I had a small goodbye party where we went out for dinner, to one of our usual bars, and then a final round of Nora Bong (Karaoke). It was a great way to say goodbye to all my friends and to Korea.




I had to be out of my apartment before I left for Japan. So, I stayed the night at Rebekah Gordon's house a few nights before making the long flight home. She got me a delicious ice cream cake that me and her and her cat shared. The last night I stayed at Mallory's house because she lives really near to the airport. I took a taxi to the airport, waited a few hours, and then was on my way to Tallahassee to pull off the best surprise I have ever done in my whole life.


Korea...Just saying the word "Korea" makes me think of so many things. Like how scared I was to walk off the plane, how weird it feels to be stared at because I stand out like a sore thumb, how many great friends and people I met, all the different trips and adventures I took in one short year, how many times I heard "hi teacher!!" in one day. I've been gone for a little while now, and I can't believe it's over, that I'm not going back. As different as it is, it became normal to me and I was comfortable. The job was trying sometimes and I'll admit that I was lonely at points, but in all it was such an amazing experience and I know that I'll forever have those times where I chuckle randomly and someone will ask me why I'm laughing. I'll say, "Oh nothing, I was just reminded about one time in Korea."

Takin' on Tokyo

My last trip in Asia before leaving was to Tokyo. I had my last day of teaching on the 31st of August and I left on the 1st for Tokyo. My friends were all either working r on flights back to their home countries, so I went by myself. I have to say I wasn't too excited about this trip because all I could think about was my trip home, leaving my school, moving out, etc. Anyways, I got there and my attitude changed immediately. I met a few people in my hostel that night and ended up spending the entire trip with them and I loved Tokyo more than I expected. It had such a good energy to it. Here are a few city shots, just to get an idea of what it's like there:



These are a few more pictures I took while exploring the city. The first is a bookstore I saw while passing. I want a store like that!! When I was there I ate lots of noodles...actually I think I ate noodles everyday! One of the restaurants I went to, you just walk up to the machine, press the button to the meal you want, sit down at the counter and they serve you your noodles in a matter of minutes!! What a way to eat! Also, Tokyo was covered with Anime and comic shops, arcades, statues, people dressed in costume, everything! Besides the Anime craze, I was really taken back the amount of technology there was. Like Korea, they are so far ahead with all things electronic.


The first morning I was there, I went to the Tsukiji fish markets. I look tired because the market started at 5am. We got there about 6, just in time just to see the end of the tuna auction. I never knew tuns were that big.


One of the days there I took a day tour to see Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately, it as a super cloudy day so I wasn't able to see the peak. We were able to take the bus to the base of the mountain though. At the base where tons of tourist shops as well as a little temple. I missed the hiking season by just days unfortunately. Oh well. With the trip we also took a boat ride on Lake Ashi and a cable car to Mount Komagatake overlooking Hakone National Park. Even though it didn't workout exactly how I'd like, it as still great.

In Tokyo, I made it to a few of the major shrines and temples. A shrine is a sacred place for Japan's original religion Shintoism while a temple is a sacred place to Buddhist. Many Japanese follow both religions. Here are some photos from the Meiji Shrine and Sensoji temple.


Another dayI had time for another day trip out of the city to Kamakura. Kamakura is a city just out of Tokyo that is dotted with Buddhist temples. There were like 12 all within walking distance of each other. Here are a few photo of the many Buddhas I saw in the area.


This last photo is of the Hachiko statue; the dog that waited for his owner outside the subway station everyday at the exact time his train would come, even 10 years after his owner died. Also, at the same station, Shibuya Station, there is a massive crosswalk. I had to make a video of the crowds, and this wasn't even the biggest group I saw. Sooooo many people in Tokyo!!