Elizabeth & Mr. Jung's Moving to Peru Party

My dear friends, Elizabeth (from Peru), her husband, Mr. Jung, and their son are moving to Peru next month. I went to Yeosu for their going away party last weekend. It was a great time with good food, wine, singing, dancing, and good friends! I am so lucky!

From Elizabeth & Mr. Jung's Going Away Party

Elizabeth, Jaimae, and I

From Elizabeth & Mr. Jung's Going Away Party

The man on the right is a musician. He sang songs in English, Spanish, and Korean. He even played John Denver's Country Road. We had so much fun!

From Elizabeth & Mr. Jung's Going Away Party

Saying see you later, not goodbye, to Elizabeth and Mr. Jung.

I will certainly miss them, but now I have an excuse to visit Peru, hooray!

My Summer Camp Students

I had a 5 day summer camp. Here are two of my classes. The kids were great & the classes were small, yay!

From Elizabeth & Mr. Jung's Going Away Party

5-6th grade students

From Elizabeth & Mr. Jung's Going Away Party

3-4th grade students

UN Cemetary Park

Kyung Soo and I spent a Sunday afternoon at the UN Cemetary Park. It is a beautiful tribute and a peaceful place.

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Street signs

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View of part of the park.

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In memory

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Wall of Remembrance

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Beautiful tribute wall.

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Countries involved in the war.

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Another view of the park.

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There were some beautiful memorial rose bushes.

The Korean Boyfriend

I currently have a Korean boyfriend named Kyung Soo. He lives in Yeosu during the week where he is doing civil service as a dentist in a public health center. He comes to Busan on the weekends where his family lives. He's pretty great, we're having fun.

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Kyung Soo & I hanging out, being silly :)

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We went to a countryside town called Miryang to enjoy nature.

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Kyung Soo's brother came with us. We are standing in front of a little water fall. It was really beautiful there.

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Drinking some San Miguel beer at a little bar in a popular area of Busan called Kyung Sung, not to be confused with Kyung Soo's name.

From Elizabeth & Mr. Jung's Going Away Party

I went to Yeosu last weekend & Kyung Soo drove me to the bus terminal. This is at the bus terminal. We were eating pot-bing-su which is a delicious icey Korean dessert.

4th of July

I spent the 4th of July hiking, eating good food, and with good friends. I may not have gotten to celebrate with fireworks in the US, but I still had a great day of celebration!

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Kyung Soo & I on our 4th of July hike. We hiked the mountain behind my house. It was a lovely day, although a bit muggy.

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There were a bunch of beautiful sunflowers blooming!

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I'm enjoying the flowers here :)

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What an amazing view during our hike, we were so lucky to be out on such a nice day!

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Gwangali Bridge lights up at night. This is a famous beach. We went here at night for some drinks to celebrate the 4th.

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Celebrating the 4th internationally :)

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My friend Tara & I enjoying the 4th on Gwangali beach.

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Kyung Soo, Wil, Tara, & I hanging out.

Night Hike Extraordanaire

On an early June Friday night, I didn't feel like going out to a bar or anything like that. Instead, I picked up my camera and flashlight and took a night hike. It sure was peaceful and the moon was bright!

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Me on the mountain.

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View of the city from the mountain.

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Flower photo with a flashlight shining through.

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More flowers on the side of the trail.

I really enjoyed the solice of a night hike, no people, just the sounds and smells of nature.

Summer Solstice in Yeosu

For the longest day of summer, 2 of my American my friends from Busan Angelle, Ashley, & I decided to leave the city behind and kick it in the countryside of Yeosu. We had a lovely time visiting a temple, hanging out with friends, and generally relaxing. Oh how I love summer :)

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Angelle, my co-teacher from last year, Gwen, & I in front of a convenience store having a beer.

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A big group of us went to norae-bang (kareoke private room) and sang & danced, what fun!

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My friend Seulgi (right) and her friend took us to Heun-gil-ram Temple on Dolsan Island. This is on the steep walk up.

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The incredible & newly refinished temple on the cliff.

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We stopped at a stone beach for a bit of relaxing.

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On Sunday afternoon, we went to a coffee shop that had a beautiful tended garden in the back. A great close to a wonderful weekend.

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Jaimae, the talented gardener, & I

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A beautiful passion flower growing in the garden.

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Delicious ice cream with yogurt and blueberries on top, mmm.

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Me and Jessica's daughters, Gaya and Gabin. They wanted English names so I gave them Abbie and Kayla, respectively.

This was a great weekend. It was really fun to introduce my new friends to my old friends and show Angelle and Ashley around Yeosu.

Lotte Giants Game

I've only been to one baseball game since I've been in Busan, but it was quite a hoot. It was raining, but there was still a decent turn out and much fun was had.

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View of the Lotte Giants field.

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Wearing rain gear to keep my clothes from getting soaked.

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Korean baseball players :)

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Posing as a baseball player.

Jeju-do & the Reuniting of Old Friends

It took me quite a while to book a ticket to Jeju Island as the return tickets on Sunday were always full. Finally, I got one & enbarked on a little island-weekend adveture to visit my dear friend Rebekah and my dear friend Joo Young. I arrived at the airport and Rebekah was waiting there for me, what a special feeling. And not long after, a 4 months pregnant Joo Young, picked us up and we all went to dinner together. It was so nice to be reunited with such sweet friends. It definitely made my heart happy!

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Dinner at the delicious Indian restaurant!

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Me, Bex, & Joo Young hanging out together at Joo Young's parents' house.

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Me and my Jeju family. Last year I went to Jeju Island and couch surfed at their house. They adopted me as my Korean family. I love them!

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Bex & I goofing around at a local watering hole that had costumes to play with.

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The next day Bex took me on a scooter ride to a beautiful coffee. This was the view.

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Bex enjoying the chilly water.

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Nothing like fresh green seaweed...actually it tasted gross.

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I got a shot at the hospital because I hurt my shoulder. This is after, I was feeling great from the painkiller, but my shoulder was in a lot of pain for the next 3 weeks.

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Bex & Phil's cute little doggy...they found her & nobody claimed her. Her name is Jin-go which means used in Korean. We were having a lot of fun together here.

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Our tasty meal of grilled eel!

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Bex & I hiked part of Halla Mountain (the tallest mountain in Korea). It was such a beautiful day, everything was so green, we were feeling fine!

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A view from on angle, amazing.

What a great weekend. Of course, it ended too quickly, but it was so nice to be in the company of a good friend I hadn't seen in a while, especially while enjoying the beauty of Jeju!