Updating on Jesselife

So I'll update you on the past month, sound good? A lot is going on, oy!

Week 1

Happy birthday Buddha! I missed the lantern parade in Seoul (dangit!) but here's a lantern....

The wisteria was blooming sooo pretty and smelled so nice! It was nice for shade but the bees loved it too...

Temple Stay: BUST. Well, not a complete bust but there were a few misconceptions about my trip... For instance, it was not a 4 hour trip there, it turned into an 8 hour ordeal. It took a subway, 3 buses, and a taxi to get me there. Oof! If I had been able to stay another day or two it would have been fine but I had to turn around in under 24 hours and make the looong journey back. It was very big and beautiful but they didn't know I was coming, didn't speak any English, and I didn't really learn anything (the communication barrier was the culprit but why did the website say English speakers were welcome...?). All in all it was relaxing for the short time I was there but if I go to another Temple Stay I will make sure it is nearby and with a big group!

Comfy but less than attractive garb for my temple stay!

Bathing Buddha

PIGGYFLU!: Okay, so when I brought up swineflu to my boyfriend he thought I was making a joke at first but yes, Swine flu has officially reached and is spreading around South Korea. An academy (hagwon) in my area has had some teachers who tested positive for the H1N1 virus. At least one school in my area (area being Bundang which has a million people) is closed for the week. Around 50 teachers are currently under quarrentine in my area and there is a rumor that new teachers to Korea may have to be in quarentine for their first 7 days in the country. It seems a little extreme but we shall see if it is true or not soon. My school has a new teacher that is arriving this Friday so we're not sure if he is really going to be able to teach next week or not yet!

There is a blog about the people in quarentine RIGHT NOW in my area started by this guy...he updates a whooole lot more than I do (of course he's sitting in quarentine :( so has more time to burn) so if you want to check into it, it is interesting to read!

http://underquarantine.tumblr.com/

Speaking of piggies, this is a picture of a cell phone store--do you see the real pig's head in the store--it's sitting next to a tray of ground pork....so strange! People were just chilling out and eating pork and watermelon inside the store at like 9pm at night.

I drank a concoction made out of this kind of snapping turtle...the man offered it to us and I couldn't say no to a gift. I took a little sip and felt like I had turtle in my mouth for the next half hour...it was made from turtle, eel, ginsing, tree bark, and who knows what else. Wow, that was....interesting...... >.<

Week 2

...life as normal.

I took pretty pictures of flowers!


I still think weeds are pretty :)

Patrick had his hand surgery and is doing okay. I'm dating my personal Terminator now. ^.^

Yeah, not too much happened that week and the weekend was rainy/gloooomy.

Week 3

The roses are blooming!

Garlic is in season, too

Korean Wedding: One of my old coworkers, Crystallina, was married this past weekend and several of us from work went to her wedding. I was especially curious since I've seen snips and heard stories about Korean weddings and this would be my first one! Crystallina is not in fact Korean but the man she married is so it was a mixture of Western and Eastern styles. My jaw dropped when I walked into the room she was in before she walked down the aisle; she looked like a radiant, sparkly doll! And when I say sparkly, the pictures really cannot do her decadent gown and accessories justice. I will post pictures anyway but wow, she was sparkling head to toe! Even her nails (fingers and toes!) were "bedazzled" with little colored gems. The dress and veil were incredibly detailed and custom made...and they suited Crystallina's style perfectly! Mom, I will never wear a dress like this, so don't start planning in this direction! :)

The beautiful bride looking just like a perfect doll!

Getting ready to walk down the aisle!

Standing at the altar with her STB hubby :)

My coworker Christine was the solo bridesmaid. Her not standing up next to the bride threw me for a loop!

Smoke special effects!

Crystallina and her family

And of course you know me, I stuck out from everyone else and wore tie dye! Look, I match with the bouquet!

There were some similarities and differences of the wedding--the singular bridesmaid was more for pictures than for honor, the weddings are held on the hour inside this 2 story part of a building called the Teddybear Castle, we ate buffet style and had little tickets to enter, people were chatting during the wedding ceremony which I found odd (we were sitting around circular tables) and the best part were the special effects--the light/chandeliers on the ceiling lit up like a spectacle event when important people were going to walk down the aisle and smoke even came out of the stairs to pool around the bride and groom from time to time! A plastic cake display and fake standard flowers made it seem a little like a LasVegas wedding in Korea but it makes sense to not have to plan so much for a wedding down to the very last detail. All in all, I'm not having a wedding like that but hey, I'm an odd bird as it is. I think this finally prompted me to designate my future wedding as a destination wedding.

They turned the fountains on! Pretty!

Korean nuclear testing: yep, NKorea tested another nuclear missile yesterday morning underground...life goes as normal here, no one really talks about it other than the weigukin (foreigners). Foreigners really are getting worried though....apparently more than testing is going on? I should go do more research.

I'm almost at 7 months--I will be on Saturday! It's hard to belive....yet feels like it's been a long journey so far. Things are changing and I'm doing alright though! Bali in 6 weeks and then Intensives will start the day I get back, yuck! He's starting it really early this year to screw us out of money. It's more than a bit disheartening but I can't do much about it. I'm just going to keep smiling and think about beautiful, exciting, relaxing Bali!