my own little version of 'eat pray love'

met this man at the elephant caves in Ubud, Bali. i about died when i saw this photo.

Oh hey bali!

I love your palm trees. I love your chocolate cashew orange chocolate. I love your cheap sunglasses. I love your smelly incense. I love the moss growing everywhere. I love the chaco wearing weather. But I DO NOT like your deceiving overcast-sunburn causing sun rays. At all.

ADIOS BITCHESSSSS

Haha. Only joking. But seriously, this girl is minutes away from catching her first flight! Malaysia here I come!!!

GOODBYE KOREA pt. dalkalbi

LAST REAL AND AUTHENTIC KOREAN DALKALBI OF MAH LIFE!!!!
it is so, so, so depressing. dalkalbi is by far my most favorite korean dish. it's grilled sweet potatoes, chicken and cabbage smothered in a spicy chili sauce.

so there's this place that we go to when we want some delicious dalkabli. it's run by the sweetest, kindest, cutest old lady (pictured above). we were all hamming it up, mrs. dalkalbi telling us to stay and laugh with her and us clapping every time she brought out food and telling her she was beautiful.  she liked us so much she gave us free coca-cola, noodles and rice. OH and yeah, we ordered two servings of dakalbi and she gave us five. five servings. that is a lot of dalkalbi. but i am a known sentimental fatty so of course i wanted eat as much as i could. i mean, it would totally be my last time eating fresh delicious dalkabli!!! with this in mind i ate as much as was humanly possible. literally, buttoning my coat became a problem as we were leaving and walking up the stairs was a workout. but it was one hundred precent worth it. sooo delicious. 

I'm actually getting a little upset writing this. knowing that i will probably never have it as good as that night ever again. i'd better go. i need to start google-ing dalkalbi restaurants in the states. 

GOODBYE KOREA pt: sokcho city sign!

thank heaven for timed photos right?

What what??

My family rocks!!! Thanks to aunties Jodi and Julie and grandpa bill for helping a girl out!! You're the best!

GOODBYE KOREA. lunch date

My sweet shin teacher took me out to a goodbye lunch date. We talked about dexter and art. So fun and delicious.

>

GOODBYE KOREA pt: cleaning out my school closet.

cleaned out my closet at school and discovered these little babies. i couldn't bear to throw them away so i took some pictures and then felt better about tossing them.
the assignment: draw a face with eyes, eyebrows, ears, nose, teeth, mouth, and hair.

i laughed so hard when i saw a couple of these. and what a ridiculous variety. the imagination working in these kids is nuts.

GOODBYE KOREA pt. one

spent the weekend with jamie (alaska) and deandra (canada) and we had a treat yo-self weekend of so much delicious foods and indulged in every korean novelty we could find.

(korean movies, vintage shops, sticker stores, ice cream, and of course some four wheelers.)

(we tried to rent four wheelers. but they were too expensive, so we tried to all ride one together and split the cost. we had no idea how to explain our cheapass plan to the four wheeler man, so we all just jumped on and acted out the scene. he did not like that. he angrily said "stand up" in english, and we did, but not before we made him take our picture.)

(how gorgeous is this skyline? we about died when we saw it. with a background that amazing, cheese ball photo is necessary. )

GOODBYE KOREA (pizzahut)

PIZZAHUT!!! dah hale, right? yeah, well i had to try and it. and HOLY MOLY it was delicious. sweet potato puree, corn and mayonnaise? weird, but heavenly. :)

ladies and gents:

i'm leaving korea folks. 
sad? yes.
emotional? oh yeah.
but like any sentimental fool, i've got a list of last time things to do my last week in korea. and i'll be sure to keep the ole blog updated!

(don't worry. these girlies weren't crying for me. just kim jong il.)

omg. omg. omg. omg.

last day of school tomorrow!
can't believe it's almost here!

monkey on the phone.

monkey just called me on the phone. and here's how it went:


M: kylie teacher tv? monkey no computer games.
K: no computer games? sad! monkey want tv?
M: nooo. monkey tired. monkey sleep.
and then he hung up.

weird? yes. sadly adorable? double yes.

spongebobby.

korean kids love adding the "e" sound at the end of words. finish-e. change-e. the list goes on. today we made spongebob creations and a couple of my kids kept calling him spongebobby. and the name totally fits because some of the creations definitely didn't look like the real spongebob. take the two on the left. naked and eyeballs on his forehead. maybe spongebobby is a distant/weird cousin?

some B&W beauties.

oh 2012, you're bound to be a beautiful year. 

happy 2012!!!

new years highlights:
a) countdown and fireworks on the beach

b) lantern lighting

i have always wanted to light one of these babies! and the experience totally lived up to what i was expecting.

(with deandra, jamie, and simone )

 (we got to write our new years hopes and wishes on the lantern before we lit it. sentimental and beautiful)

c) Watching the first sunrise of 2012! Being on the east side of the world, Korea saw it first! Before coming to korea I had only seen sunsets over the ocean. but holy moly, sunrises over the water are totally more majestic.

what a fantastic way to end a great, happy, exciting, full, and adventurous year.