Wandering Wednesdays.

 

Christmas Eve 2009.  Desert of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 

As you may know, I love looking up cheap airfare to anywhere in the world.  If I'd have to guess, I probably do it at least 6 days out of the week.  I'm an addict.  In the fall of 2009 I had decided, on a whim, to look up airfare to the Middle East.  I started in Yemen since it's a place I've always wanted to go and ended my search with Dubai.  The tickets were ridiculously cheap from Korea and I figured it would be an amazing way to spend our Christmas vacation.

The boy and I, along with our good friends Sarah Willy and Ed, packed up our travel bags and headed to Dubai on December 23rd.  The picture above was taken on Christmas Eve, the day we arrived.  We spent the day wandering around the Mall of Dubai and craning our necks at the Burj Kalifa.  We then road out into the desert where we spent the night camping out under the stars.  Alone.   It was my best Christmas away from home to date.

Siquijor. Day 3.

Our third day in the Philippines just so happened to also be Christmas day.  We've apparently started a tradition where there must be sand somehow incorporated in our Christmas.  Last year it was the desert of Dubai, this year it was a tropical beach (or should I say, beaches) in the Philippines.  Who knows?  Next year it might be the desert sands of Mongolia.  (fingers crossed)

Terry, one of the owners of La Casa de la Playa, offered to take the beau and I on a day trip around the island.  Her girlfriend Romy decided to join us and we spent a good seven to eight hours exploring all that Siquijor had to offer.  We started off at a Christmas celebration at a local church.  It brought back so many memories of my time with family in Hawaii.  There were people everywhere and everyone was so happy and welcoming.  There were children playing and people were singing and dancing to Christmas tunes.  I could've probably stayed there all day, but we had more of the island to see.  In all reality, we could have probably spent the entire day hopping from Christmas party to Christmas party.  Everywhere we went, people were having outdoor extravagant parties.  As soon as they saw that we were foreigners, they would flag our car down and basically force us to join them.  They'd clear a spot for us at the table, pour us a rum and coke and ask us all about ourselves.  As soon as we brought out the cameras they would put on a show of dancing and singing.  There was even a rousing game of musical chairs.  It was all so refreshing and there was joy, so much joy.  One might say that it was ubiquitous.

We not only party hopped; we also visited a local healer, explored Terry's favorite beaches, visited the gravestone of a woman who died at 116, hiked to some beautiful waterfalls, dipped our toes in a natural pool at the base of a "magical tree", and chased the sunset.  It is impossible to recap everything in one post, so instead I'll post some pictures from the day and I'll have separate posts dipicting each activity later.  They have to be highlighted- they're just too good to miss!

Like I said- a LOT of Christmas parties!  The remainder of our evening was spent relaxing on the front porch and playing card games to see who would win the chance to sit in the hammock.   Not a bad way to celebrate!

We're Back!

So I'm a liar.  I didn't actually do any posts while we were in the Philippines.  It was just too beautiful and our time was way too short that I couldn't bare to spend it by the computer.  That and the fact that there was little to no internet to be had.  

The sun-kissed boy and I returned home at about 1 o'clock this morning.  We're still unpacking and getting situated and heading off to work in a little bit.  I'll be sure to post much more about our tropical holiday later tonight.  Until then, a few pictures...

 

 

Last Christmas

It's currently 4:04 am on Thursday morning.  You can't say that the boy and I don't live ruggedly.  We just got off the most harrowing bus ride that I've experienced in Korea thus far (and that's saying something).  It was about 105 degrees (maybe celsius) and I didn't check, but I'm pretty sure our driver was Sandra Bullock.  The man was driving like there was a bomb strapped to the bus and if he went under 200 miles per hour the bus would expode.  The extremely icy roads made it even more fun.  I was about to tap our driver on the shoulder and in perfect Korean explain, "ahem.  yes.  Um, well.  You see... I'm heading to my "homeland" in a few hours sir and I would um, you know, really like to survive this bus ride so that my frequent flier miles don't go to waste".   But alas,  I didn't.  Instead I stripped off all of my layers, used them as a pillow, and plopped my feet on the boy's lap. 

We're now sitting in the nearly deserted airport at Incheon, waiting for our 8am departure.  Every time that we find ourselves in this situtation, the boy and I just pretend that we're on The Amazing Race.  We've got a little section of benches all to ourselves and we've set up shop. 

It's funny, because as I was on the bus of death (or serious injury), I was reminiscing about last Christmas.  We practically had the exact same time off that we do this year.  December 23rd-27th.  Last Christmas Eve was spent craning our necks at the Burj Kalifa, riding camels, eating shwarmas, sand surfing, getting henna tattoos, and sleeping outside under the stars in the middle of the desert.

You can also check out the video that we made on our desert safari experience. 



We awoke early on Christmas day, said Merry Christmas to all of our sleepover companions, and then the mister and I hopped on a plane and set off for Bahrain where we met our good friend May.  We both fell in love with Bahrain almost instantly.  May took such great care of us and we had the priviledges of watching falcon training on royal property and experiencing Azza for the first time.  We also ate like kings!

May showing Ryan Sheldon and I the best Bahraini shwarmas

Lonely Planet even liked our Azza video so much that it was featured as one of their top picks! 




And after two glorious days spent in Bahrain, we headed back to Dubai for a little skiing and beach time before our departure home. 

Ryan, Sarah, Tawny, Chris

It was a trip of a lifetime and I'm so excited we got to experience it with good food and great friends.  We're even lucky enough to have Ryan Sheldon joining us for a few days of this year's trip!  I'll be sure to check in as soon as we land and are all situated!  Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas eve's eve.

Elf Yo' Self.

I'm sure that everyone and their brother from another mother has seen a few of these, but they're just too funny. Claire made one for all of the girls at work and posted it on my facebook wall.  You'll have to click on the link below to get a glimpse.  

The boy, not wanting to be outdone, made one of his own.  His is very... interesting. (unique?)

Langcon English Academy Elves
Chris [tmas] Elves

You just take a gander those and let me know which one was the most enjoyable. Hahaha.  Or should I say, "Ho ho ho"?

I feel it in my fingers... I feel it in my toes.

Christmas is all around us.  It's everywhere I go!

Ten bazillion points if you can name what movie that's from.  If you don't know, you should google it and then watch it.  Ten bazillion times. 

It's Christmas time Ladies and Gents.  What does that mean for us English teachers in South Korea?  It means another year lacking candy canes, real Christmas trees, absurdly over decorated store fronts, and crowded shopping malls.  Christmas isn't really big in Korea.  At least not in Pohang.  Our main shopping street won't get Christmas lights put up until next week.  Yes, it takes them forever to put them up, but oddly enough, they keep them up until mid-February. 

Christmas time also brings with it our school Christmas party.  My fellow co-workers and I got started 3 hours earlier than usual this morning so that we could shop around for decorations for our partay. 

This is what we found.

At first glance it appears to be a wonderful Christmas wonderland, until you realize that it's quite possibly all of the decorations in Korea.  This was quite literally everything that we found.  We settled on some festive hats, tinsel, wrapping paper, ribbons, and supplies for our Christmas craft. 

Ahh yes, I chose the reindeer hat.  I thought it was awesome.  Awesome until little angel Andy came up to me and said, "Teacher you are a reindeer!" to which I responded, "Yes Andy, I am".  He then explained to me, "But teacher reindeer have thin legs and yours are thick!"  Thank you for that Andy, you little gem, you.

Claire got to work on creating a beautiful snowman while I made little presents to hang everywhere.  Aria and Landis, being the taller girls in the group, hung everything up for us.

We'll be staying late tomorrow night in order to get everything finished.  Luckily our boss knows how to get things done.  She simply asks what food she needs to buy us in order to keep us happy.  I think tomorrow's dinner will consist of Korean hangover soup (oh.so.good.) and Baskin Robbins ice cream (almond bon-bon for moi).  I might take it all with a little side of cough medicine.  I've been feeling a little under the weather and it's flu season again.  All of our students are coming to school wearing their masks.  We decided to take preventative measures and now all of my co-teachers and I have our very own masks. 

I'll be sure to keep you updated on our Christmas progress.  I won't actually be able to attend the party since the boy and I will be on a wee vacation!  I'm actually a little disappointed that I won't get to see all the kiddos enjoy the Christmas fun but I definitely need this vacation.  Sun, sand and delicious food- here we come!