Not Quite the Holiday I Had Hoped For.... Oh Well :)

So on Monday night, I got a text from my supervisor telling me to come to school at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday. I was pumped. I still was up early, but I was able to talk to my family and call my bestest friend, Kenz, and chat for a bit. So I only taught one class on Tuesday and after school we had a meeting with the director and our supervisors. They decided to close the school down for the week because one of our preschool kids has the swine flu. We were escatic and as Hayli and I left the school, we agreed that we needed to get away to a beach.

So I, of course, called PJ first. He gave me a great idea of going to an island called Casamia. I looked it up on the internet and it looked amazing. It would have costed us 35 won per night and there was tons to do... so I called Hayli and she said "well I didn't really wanna spend that much".. uh... ok. So she had another idea of staying in huts on an island she had found online. Well that sounded kinda different and fun, so I agreed. We called some other teachers to see if they'd like to join.
We were really excited about the island at this point!!! :)
So we met up with Jill, Jackie, and Mallory at the subway for a 2 hour subway ride down south, which by the way was silly... we could've just taken the airport shuttle which would have taken 45 minutes... anyway... so we take the subway and things are fine at this point. Then we transfer to a bus, missed our stop, so we rode on the bus for an hour.

Jackie and Mallory on our two hour subway ride

We stopped at the wrong island. No huts and really no people besides the pushy Korean women that were trying to get us to come and eat in their restaurants. So after wandering around for another 45 minutes we got back on another bus and rode back to the ferry place. The bus dropped us off and we had to walk 30 minutes to the ferry. Now we're still staying positive and happy at this point, but we've also been travelling for about 6 hours to get to this place.

We were making the best of our gong show of a bus ride..... :)

So we finally get on the ferry and across to the island, which was not even a 5 minute ferry ride. Another bus takes us to the island we told him. Another 20 minute ride. By the time we got to the beach it was dark. All the restaurants were closed and there were creepy Korean men who spoke little to no English. We were the ONLY ones renting out a hut on the beach. Not quite what I had expected. When I had heard this idea, I pictured a bunch of foreigners with bonfires, footballs, beach volleyball, and a beautiful ocean.... not so much. haha

On the ferry... Mallory, Jill, mwah, Hayli and Jackie...

The island............ I could thrown a stone and hit it.. that's how close it was.

On the ferry... on my way to the island... I was still excited at this point :)

So we finally got a couple of Koreans to re-open their restaurant at 8:00 p.m. to feed us. They were actually very kind and we were blessed to have them there and be so kind because every other restaurant we started walking towards, they'd start locking their doors and wave their arms to us. When we finished eating, it was about 9:00 p.m. and all the other girls were ready for bed... except me :) So I stayed up and played solitaire while Hayli laid down for bed. The other 3 girls were in another hut. It was the most uncomfortable sleep I have ever had :) The pillows were like bricks and the floor was like jagged rocks poking into my back all night.

Hayli ready to pass out at 9:00 p.m. She doesn't know how to party like I do :) hehe

So when I woke up at 7:45, Hayli was up and said that she was really not feeling well and could barely walk in a straight line.... so Hayli and I packed up and were on our way back at 8:30 in the morning. We, or course, took the shorter route home, but I was home and no beach for me. I was quite bummed out.

The beach and huts we stayed in. Only got to enjoy it for about 5 minutes :) haha

So after lazing around for a while... I decided to take up Lynz and Dust's 'challenging' 100 piece dinosaur puzzle :) I actually had a great time jammin to my music and putting it together. It's glow in the dark too... how exciting. After I finished it, I taped it all together and it is now sitting on my kitchen cupboard ready to keep me company tonight.

I also went for a great run tonight in my new running shoes, which I LOVE!! It was a bit of a challenge getting my hiney out of the apartment, but it was a great run on a beautiful night! I always have Koreans turning their heads to watch me run by... it's like they've never seen a foreigner running on the path... or maybe just not a foreigner with such perfect form and quickness :) hehe I'm looking forward to some more good runs this fall, with the nights getting a little cooler.. it sure feels good to have that breeze with sweat dripping down my face :)

I was a little bit down about the whole situation when I got home... BUT after I had a little convo with my sista, mom and daddy-o... I agreed that things could be a lot worse :) I could have been working today or sick like Hayli and some other teachers. So I will definatley take advantage of this time off with some relaxation, hiking, puzzle making, cleaning, movies, and chillin with friends... oh and of course blogging :)

Korea Birthday

Well first off... here's a picture of PJ sleeping. He was cooking brownies and laid down on the couch with this stuffed bear and was out like 15 seconds later. I was giggling the whole time I was taking this and other photos. Lori and I had a good laugh on the way to church this morning looking at them. Might I also add that his repulsive snoring woke me up in the middle of the night, so I had to re-locate :) Lori can mostly sleep through it now, but wow!! :)

Amaya got ahold of my camera while we were having a little lunch date while Lori ran some errands. She was trying to get me to do nice poses and this is what I came up with... she was NOT impressed :)

Here's a cute one of little Amaya and I on our lunch date. She's such a cutie!!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MISS LIA ALSO... EVEN THOUGH HER BDAY WAS IN JULY!

We had Lia's official Korean birthday party last Saturday. It was quite the party!!! I spent a few hours putting together these scrap books pages for sign in pages for the party. We had a lot of fun preparing for the party. Maybe a little bit of stress too.. mostly with Lori, but it was a great success so it was all worth it.

Bob and I did the sign in tables and gifts for a while at the party.

PJ is quite the host. He did some great speeches both in Korean and English and everybody seemed to really enjoy the party.

The guy who was taking photos for PJ and Lori was quite a goof and he decided to take a picture of my cute red toe nails. I thought they looked pretty stinkin cute too :)

This is BJ... she's living with the Rogers for the year to finish off her senior year on base. She's a lot of fun and we've started bonding more these last few weeks. She's a great gal!!

Lori and the birthday girl, Lia.

Here's PJ and the birthday girl. She was content with her bun in her hand :)

So my fam did an amazing job for my birthday over here in Korea. My papa, mama, and Kait sent me a package that I opened on my bday. It was awesome!! I got some new running shoes, a thing that tracks how long you've ran for, lots of goodies, my FAVORITE cookies, nail polishes, gum, headbands, a work out shirt, my favorite mascara, good face wash, gum, and lots of other great things!! I also got some letters from the Lewis family, which I loved!! Alex wrote me a letter and I got a note from Cheryl and the rest of the fam just letting me know they love me!!! I love all my new stuff and love that my fam did such a great job!! I got phone calls and skype time with all my family members. I even got to talk to my Granny Hill and Gramps and Grandma Smith even made a phone call to Korea to sing Happy Birthday to me... couldn't miss a year :) I felt so loved and knew that people were thinking of me back home too.

Lynz, Dust and Beckam also sent me a stellar package full of randomly awesome things. I actually opened this package a lil early... oops.. i just couldn't wait though. I loved everything I got in the package and I love how both Lynz and Dust can be so creative and random. I love getting gifts that are different and random.. you know.. ones you don't expect. So in my package I got some strawberry shortcake socks, a glow in the dark puzzle, a new shirt, some goodies, lulu lemon head band... great pictures of the fam and lil Beckam, some nail polishes and other random things... It was stellar. Amaya and Jaida had a blast watching me open all the gifts, which Lori decided to wrap individually and it felt like I was back home with the fam. Here's some pics of the process of opening. Thanks again to the Tolman family fore the package and love!!

I also had one of my favorite elementary classes surprise me with a birthday cake and a few presents! So we spent 3/4 of the class snacking and playing games and crammed a page of homework into the last 10 minutes. They through they were pretty smooth distracting me with goodies, but in reality... who wants to work on their birthday!?!?! We had a great time!! I'm not sure if I'll use or wear any of the new hair accessories I was given, but just the face that they thought about me was more than enough!! They are such an awesome class... shout out to my IVY 3A class!!!

PJ and Lori took me out to an Indian restaurant for my birthday dinner on Wednesday!! It was delicious of course!! I have grown to have quite the love for Indian food that I never knew I had before :) I also got about 8 lotions and sprays from Victoria Secret from Lori. They are heavenly!! I got 2 love spell ( one body spray, one bathroom foam soap), sweet dream body spray, pear glaze lotion, cucumber melon lotion, vanilla sugar lotion, and berry kiss (new) lotion. They are so great and smell delicious!!

I seriously have the bestest fam. I felt so much love from them through their words and efforts. I loved all the presents I got and loved just being able to chat and spend time with the people that matter the most to me. I'd say my first Korea birthday was a great success!! So thank you to everyone who made it an amazing week!!

Little Taste Tester

So... I decided to give ya'll a lil taste tester of what you can expect in the next few days. Last weekend was a busy busy busy weekend. Lia (PJ and Lori's baby girl) had her 1st year birthday party on Saturday. Now in Korea, their 1st birthdays are HUGE!! So I sent out for dinner with some coworkers on Friday and then headed to the Roger's home to help get stuff ready. We were up till about 2 or so on Friday night getting a sign in book and slideshow ready. Saturday morning I went to Lori's teams volleyball games and helped take care of the kids. From there, we went straight to the party place and started set up for the huge party. It was fun to decorate and do some scrapbooking. It was a beautiful and successful party.
On Sunday, I invited one of my coworkers to come to church with me. Shelly, my elementary supervisor, came and she said she really enjoyed it, so hopefully that means that there will be some more visits in the future!! I also got to open up a package that Lynz and Dust... and lil Beckam sent me. Well I wasn't supposed to open it till my birthday, which is actually tomorrow, but as Lori said, I'm a brat and felt that I needed at least one early bday present :) It was a GREAT package.. full of fun random stellar stuff. Lori actually ended up getting some hello kitty wrapping paper and wrapping every lil thing... there were many, so it was fun to have a lil pile in front of me to open. Everyone there was jealous hehe.
Tomorrow is my birthday and I am planning on going out for dinner with PJ, Lori and the girls. I think to Indian, so i'm pumped!! Other than that, I'm sure i'll get together with my coworkers and do something fun.. but nothing too crazy. I also have a package waiting at the Rogers that I'm really not allowed to open till tomorrow.. so i'll be excited for that too!!
School is great... so busy.. but great!! We're trying to get things figured out for grad in February. I have to teach my kids two songs and dances, and make a play for them.. shoudl be interesting!! I also might be getting another student because one of my favorite girls had to drop because of money issues. We'll see how that goes... and that's it for now... I'll have some pics and good details on the rest of the week in a few days!!

Pajama Party and Weekend Fun!!

Here are Pooh Bears in the Pajamas!!! Love them!!

So this past Thursday we had pajama party day!!! I think it might have been my favorite day at SLP because I got to wear my pajamas... aka my lulu lemons and a T-shirt= loving life. My class was so adorable and we had such a fun day together. I have continued to love my children more and more every day!! They are growing up so fast. I look at the pictures I took of them when I first got there and I can't believe how much they've grown in 6 months... wowza... so here's some fun pics and explanations of our lil happenings for our pj party!!

Here's my end of the runway pose.. haha

My lil beauty, Annika, working it just like her teacher :)

We did a little modelling of our pajamas and, of course, I had to show my class just how it was to be done... and I worked it. Only a few of my kids really caught onto my modelling bug, and Annika was one of them... My DannyS got rocked right here... but no worries, he won in the end!!

Me giving up on trying to get a cute pic of them all looking :)

DannyS, Danny, and my new student Tony posing for me.

I love love love these girls... Annika, Camilla and Rachel, having some giggles.

At one point in the day, we were supposed to have a little slumber part and pillow fights... made things interesting. The pillow fights were fun, but some kids really had no idea what to do with the pillows, but they did their best. I tried for some time to get a cute pic of all my kids and I on the floor with our pillows and blankets, but gave up and decided just to get a bunch of cute pics of my kiddies. They were a blast!!

Dale and my new student, Shaina, caught cuddling.

How cute are these two, Camilla and Elliott... another lil crush for the day!!

So during our little slumber party, I noticed that a few of my students were being.... quite flirty with other students... what can I say... it was a loving day. I thought it was really cute. I'm not sure what their parents thought of it, but I'm sure I'll hear about it if they're not happy :)

Camilla, I can't get enough of this girl!! She got sick of carrying her blanket around... the next thing I know, it's stuffed under her pjs... I couldn't stop laughing!!

DannyS was telling us a 'scary' story!!

We got to go downstairs to the 4th floor to play around in the tent... this last maybe 10 minutes seeing as DannyS could only tell one story about a monster in the bathroom and they weren't too interested in my scary story :) So we ended up just letting them play in the jungle gym for a good 35 minutes.

It turned out being a really fun day.. full of goofy hats, giggles, love and fun. I would have a pajama day every day if I could. Ya'll know how much I 'LOVE' getting all dressed up for my days... but wearing my lulu lemons and a T-shirt wasn't too bad... hehe

Emily and I getting ready to go to the baptism!!! She's a real sweetie!!

Elizabeth had her best friend, Emily, come visit her for a few weeks. Liz took off this past Wednesday to go to the states for a week or so and left her dear friend, Emily, here to hang out with the Rogers until her flight on Sunday back home. Well this Saturday, we decided to get together and go to a baptism and then go out to kareoke with a bunch of ysa. We had a great time together and I wish we could have spent a lil more time together.

catch up

So first off, here are some pictures from when we went swimming.... oh how I love my Pooh Bears :)

Rachel, Liz, Dale, Annika, Ginna, and DannyS ready for swimming. All the kids have to wear a swimcap in the pools... so they looked pretty goofy, but adorable!!

Danny S, Diane, Danny, Ginna, and Camilla getting impatient with Kristen teacher for wanting to get pictures before they ran into the pool :)

And this... tis nothing, just Camilla's scandalous 5 year old swimsuit :)

The past two weeks have been non-stop busy. It has been a little overwhelming at times, but great at the same time. I know I've said this many times before, but it just amazes me how fast time is flying here. I can't believe it's almost September. I officially hit my 6th month mark on September 5th.... maybe I'll go out for a special dinner to celebrate :) The reason these last few weeks have been so busy is because I have been teaching a summer intensive program on top of my own classes. It has been a lot of fun, but has definately worn me out :) We also had a situation with Hayli. Her grandmother got sick very quickly and Hayli ended up flying home right after work last Friday, so this week a few of us teachers have had to pick up her classes too. We also have had 2 new teachers come in this week, and I am the only foreign teacher around that is staying... so I'm also had to help them get situated and comfortable with everything... so fun!! I'm kinda a big deal :) jk

My birthday girls... Ginna, Annika and Rachel

This past week I also got to have a birthday party with my class. We had 3 birthdays in August.. Annika, Ginna, and Rachel. Annicka, of course, came all dressed out in her cute lil outfit and all hte girls were so excited and cute on their special day!! We had fun giving them presents and playing games for our class.

Last weekend, I stayed and PJ and Lori's. Lori and the girls got home earlier last week and it's been so great having them back! The girls have grown up so much over the summer and are still just as cute and ever. Little Lia is just about walking now... growing up so fast. Last Saturday, PJ and I went to the gym and we did a boxing workout. Going into the workout, I thought.. I'm a natural fighter, so this will come pretty naturally to me... boy was I wrong!! haha The workout kicked my hiney and I started to get sore 30 minutes after the workout. Just my upper body, but man... I'm sure I have never had such an intense workout!! I'm hoping I can work out some time each week or maybe every two weeks to hit the gym to do a boxing work out with PJ because I really enjoyed it and it felt great!!

I love my family!! They definately were feeling and hearing about my busy busy weeks I had been having and my awesome family decided to send me a little care package full of goodies and fun things AND great notes!! Dad... I am truly grateful for the effort and sacrifices you make to drive across the border to send me my packages!! You're amazing!! :) So here's the sad part... you see my dad sent teh package about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Usually it only takes a week to get here... so I kept bugging PJ and Lori to check their mail and they kept saying "nope, not here yet" I had almost lost hope when I got a call on Wednesday that it was here. I left right after work to go pick it up. Turns out hte mail man had put it in Lori's school rather than leaving it in their mailbox, so it had been sitting in the school for an extra week and a half.... my yummy cookies and squares were no longer and fresh and delicious and they woulda been. What a bummer, BUT let's look at this with a positive perspective.... I will not have to worry about those extra calories when I go to the gym!! :) Nope, still not feeling okay about the whole situation :) haha :) Anyway.. I just wanna give a quick shout out to my amazing family!! They are always thinking of me and are so supportive and loving even from across the world and it feels so good to still feel that consistent love every day!! Thank you all!!

Ok back to me... :)... So I decided to be a hermit for today because I don't remember hte last Saturday that I just relaxed. I tried to sleep in with no alarm, but I still woke up at 8:45 a.m. which I was okay with because I still felt well rested. I had some breakfast and started cleaning my apartment. It feels so good to have my apartment clean. I love being in my apartment after I've cleaned!! It looks and smells so good! Then I've just been relaxing. I wrote in my journal, read a book, watched a movie, did two loads of laudry including my bed sheets and relaxed. I love the weekends! Speaking of this weekends... my friends Jared Leavitt got married last weekend, Jarah Wagner and Brad Weston are getting married today, and Josh Watson gets married I think in the next week or two... wow... life is going to be a little different when I go home. No worries though, I still have my Kenz!! Well I better... six more months for her to NOT find a husband hehe :) I'm really happy for all my friends that are or have gotten hitched and wish I could have been there to support them! Well that's it for now... signing off for now!

I LOVE LIFE!!!

So this week hasn't been quite as eventful as China, but it has been a truly amazing week!! First off, school... school has been very busy lately. I am teaching a summer intensive program on top of my teaching schedule and it has kept me very busy. We also have had 2 new teachers come in this week and have 3 more coming at the end of the month. Hayli and I are the only foreign teachers who are staying.. so we will be the big dogs now :) I am excited for the challenge.
This past Thursday we took the kids to a swimming pool!! I was loving life. The weather was gorgeous, my kids were behaving great, and I got to act like a lil kid in the pool. My kids were so stinking cute. Camilla's swimsuit was the sexiest swimsuit I have ever seen a young girl wear and I had to laugh a little because I was so taken back by it when she took her clothes off. I have a picture on my camera, but I left my camera at PJ's today... .oops.. I know not surprising though :) I even got a little tan going on, which I never though would happen. I am more white now than I think I have ever been in August. The weather has been scolding hot lately though and I am really enjoying it... well as long as I have water or air conditioning :) My clothes have been sticking to me lately and I've had to shower every time I get back home or have a break in the middle of my day on the weekends :)
On Saturday morning I had the opportunity to go and listen to Elder Cook speak at the Korean singles conference. He spoke on marriage of course and said some very memorable and important things on that topic, but he also told a story and linked it to our lives and I want to share that with ya'll. His story was about a man who lived in the southern states. This man baked and sold pies... rabbit pie to be exact and the people loved them. A while later, the man went through an investigation because rumor had it that he was mixing horse meat in with his rabbit meat pies. After further investigation the rumor was confirmed as true. When the man finally fessed up to his secret mixture he explained calmly that he used half horse meat and half rabbit. Now the size of a horse is much bigger than a rabbit and when he said he used half horse meat and half rabbit, he wasn't lieing. He took the horse meat... cut it in half.. then took the rabbit meat and cut it in half and mixed the too together. So Elder Cook related this to our own lives by asking how much of our time to given to strengthening our testimonies, faith, temple attendance and other spiritual thing and how much of our time is spent on worldly affairs. Most peoples rabbit meat would be the spiritual things and the horse meat, the worldly thing. We were challenge to change that and it really was a boost and motivated me to re-evaluate how I spend my time. Am I spending it on the things that will count in the eternal perspective or am I more worried about the worldy things. I thought it was interesting and worth sharing. I'm excited to see and feel my spirit get stronger as I make this adjustment in my life and continue to do throughout my life.
After the meeting, I went with Young Ju and Young Moon to the base for PJ's bbq. Young Ju is a girl I met through PJ who had started to take discussions and has decided to get baptized next week. It has been such an amazing experience to be able to befriend her and share my testimony with her. My testimony has definately been strengthened from it and she has truly been a blessing in my life too.
Anyway, so we went and met up with PJ and his coworkers that he was having the bbq for. It was soooo much fun. We played mini golf and I won.. of course!!! :) Then we had hte bbq and threw a football and baseball around. Two Korean guys came up to me and asked me to teach them how to throw a football... :).. oh boy. So I did my best and they did get a little better. Not very athletic crew of Koreans. One guy was like 'You'll have to forgive me, I..... uh... I was gonna say I throw like a girl, but you throw much better than any girl I know' haha... I just said 'well that's because I have an awesome dad and bro that taught me how to really throw a football, so I don't look goofy' haha..... I was loving life and the weather couldn't have been any better!! We played a little football game, which was really a joke... not as competitive as I woulda liked it!! :) But that's ok.. I had a blast. Then we headed back to PJ's and we had a great discussion about marriage and dating :) Love those chats haha
Today was an amazing day!! I love Sundays. Something very exciting happened today.... PJ got called as our new bishop or they call it branch president here. I'm super pumped!! He's gonna do so great! Church was sooo awesome today. We had two talks on prayer that were both very inspiring and the other lessons were stellar too!! I got to attend a baptism of a friend I met and it was so fun to be part of that too! Life is so great!! This week will be another busy one, but I'm pumped. Tomorrow night, I have been invited to go to PJ and Lori's for dinner because Brother and Sister Goo are going to be there. Sister Goo spoke at the women's conference in 2007 and I have listened to her talk and am very excited to meet her and her husband!! Should be a great night!!

Beijing Adventure!!!

Lynz... you recognize this pic... hehe

So this past week, Hayli and I went to Beijing. We stayed in China for 5 days and 4 nights and we had an absolute blast!! We got up early Tuesday morning and headed to the bus stop. We had some shoe drama with Hayli forgetting her running shoes and it was quite the gong show morning. We had gotten on the airport bus and driven 5 mintues before she decided to hop off the bus, take a taxi back home, and try to catch the next airport bus, which we had no idea when it was supposed to come and I seriously thought I was going to be going to China by myself. It did give us quite a few laughs while waiting for our flight.

On the airport... heading to China

Lynz was trying to explain to me how I do a collage picture, but I wasn't listening too closely, so I have a few photos I'm gonna put on here and if you wanna see the rest (Dad) then you're gonna have to go on facebook and check them out.

The crew out for dinner.
Juong, Heidi, me, Hayli, April, Hana, and Catherine

So the first day we did the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, Silk factory, Duck restaurant and Circus show. The Forbidden city and Tianamen Square were amazing... it was so neat to be there and recognize things from Lynz' pics when she was there!! The silk factory was fun too because I pretended like I really was gonna buy somet hings, so they were letting me lay on these silky sheets and it was soooo comfy. Lynz didn't enjoy the duck restaurant when she was here, but I actually didn't mind it. It wasn't even close to as good as Dad's pheasant meat, but it was good.

Can you see me!?!?!?

The circus show was UNREAL!!! I coulda watched it every night! The stunts they did were soooo cool. I was sad because they were real strict about taking pictures. I snuck my camera in, but got caught as I was just about to take a pic. They were amazing athletes and so gifted. There were 3 little girls, like I'd say they were 12 or 13 and the things they were doing were insane!!

Our hotel was ghetto, but not in too bad of shape. It was nice cuz we were right down town, so there was lots of stuff going on all the time. The food in China is GREASY!!!! The fry everything!! They fry salad, corn... everything. I stuck mostly to eating the fruit, but the food was actually really good. The only Chinese food I really recognized from home was the lemon chicken stuff.

This is my pineapple with rice and veggies inside... very interesting.

On day 2 we went to the Great Wall, jade factory, friendship store, Ming 13 Tombs, and of course, by my request, the Olympic Bird's nest. I loved the Great Wall. The weather was not real nice, it was really muggy and cloudy, but Hayli and I hiked up the stairs to the very top and were sweating and gross when we got down, but had a blast doing it. It was amazing thinking of how they built this with just their hands so long ago and how sturdy and intense it was. I also was able to walk through Granny Hill's and Lynz footprints they left on the hike too which was a very neat experience too!!

Gettin ready for our Great Wall hike

Look at those muscles infront of the Bird's Nest

The jade factory and friendship store were fun to look around in. I love playing the bargaining game, so they'd start at a ridiculously high price, like let's just say 900 and I'd start at 25. They'd be like "oh no you crazy, you never get real jade for that price" so I'd play around with them a bit more and come and go.... just before leaving the store, I had a bracelet taht started at 950 down to 35... I didn't buy it, but it was fun to win!! :)

We are amazing bargainers!!

The Ming 13 tombs was also very cool. We had a really great tour guide and she told us of hte history and we were able to wander around and look at all the cool looking building and statues.


Temple of Heaven

The next day we did the Summer Palace, pearl factory, Temple of Heaven, and.... the market!!! The summer palace was gorgeous. We took a dragon boat actross the lake and there wasn't as many people which was nice, cuz we could just relax and wander around a bit.

Hayli and I with our dragon boat

The pearl market, again was fun..... I did some more bargaining and, of course, won all the bargains I wanted to :) Yes dad, that's the stubborn, bull-headed side of me :)

I really enjoyed the Temple of Heaven too because there wasn't as many people too. I had 3 groups of young people come up and ask for a photo and for me to sign my name... I'm not sure if htey really thought I was a movie star, or if they just really have never seen a blonde chick before :) but I was able to oblige, it made me feel special haha.

The market.. oh the market... how I loved the market.... it was bargain central. Everyone wanted you. I started bargaining for this ugly shirt cuz the girl wouldn't leave me alone and finally she was like 'I don't like you, you're too smart" haha... I bought some uggs for $20 and a purse for $10... it was sooo fun!! I don't think the sale people liked me very much because my opening line was "Now you're not dealing with your average foreigner, dont' be playing games with me" I felt so tough haha.

These girls loved me... we had fun bargaining!!

The last couple days we relaxed. Went to a Hutong village and just walked around and acted like foreigners. I had such a blast and would love to go back with my family!!! Throughout the trip I kept thinking how amazing it'd be to go on a trip like that with my fam!! I miss them!!! We had such a fun tour group. The whole crew was made up of English teachers who teach in or around Seoul, so it was fun to make some new friendss. I'm excited for my next trip even though I have to wait till Christmas. Right now I'm leaning towards Thailand!!