First Leg

Current City: Baton Rouge, LA

We headed off to DC on Friday morning, a bit behind schedule but not too far, I'm just going to start adding at least an hour to my desired time departures. We hooted and hollered in the car on the ride down, very excited about our coming journeys. We walked around the capital for about 2 hours and then headed to Arlington, VA to stay with an old college friend of mine. We went to a bar for dinner and then just hung out in his apartment the rest of the night, it was good to catch up, it's been around 4 years since I've seen him. Saturday morning we ventured to the DC arboretum, unfortunately I had a nasty allergy attack but the trees and flowers were still beautiful.

Off to Apex, NC! Oh no the car! The oil pressure light kept flashing on our drive to NC, so very very bad. So, we would stop and let the car cool/check the oil and the light would go off and we could drive a little further. We finally arrived and were lost in the town for a bit until Jonathan came and found us! Sunday we took the car to Sears to have it looked at, apparently what happened is the last time the oil was changed they put the wrong oil filter and oil change in, so basically we got a SUPER expensive oil change, alas, such is life. We got to see a bit of Raleigh and Apex and reunite with long lost friends:)

A long, dark, windy ride later we arrived in the Great Smokey Mountains, TN at the Abrams Creek campsite (no car problems woohoo!). We set up camp, made a fire and hung for a little while before hitting the sack. Tuesday we awoke early and put our new stove to good use with coffee and oatmeal. We ventured on an almost 12 mile hike to the nearest waterfall. It was quite beautiful and quite tiring. Back into the car for an 11 hour ride, yikes!

Although we didn't stop in Alabama it didn't seem too exciting. We did stop in Mississippi for some dinner, also not too exciting, but super nice people. We were telling how we were driving cross country and going to New Orleans next, one woman who worked at the Waffle House was from New Orleans and was giving me some pointers of what to do and drink;) Well, thank goodness we were talking to them because I left my cell phone on the counter and we got in the car and drove across the street to get gas. After I had finished pumping a woman from the restaurant came huffin and puffin over with my cell in hand! So lucky! We finally arrived in Baton Rouge around 1am to see yet another friend who I haven't seen in about 3 years.

Yesterday, we headed to the French Quarter. It's an old quaint city bursting with artists and musicians. We really like this city. We got some breakfast...plates piled high with fried seafood and jambalaya, delicious. I was told to drink a Hurricane, so Mike and I did and Evan got a beer...you can walk on the streets with your drinks:) Then we had to drive Evan to the airport:( We will miss our only non-down-and-out road tripper!

We are still in Baton Rouge and plan to leave tomorrow to head to Texas for some more camping.

You can see some of the pictures that we took at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ana.stachowiak/OokSTrip#

Heading Off Again...

This morning we begin our journey to the other side of the country.  Our friend Ook arrived late Monday night at Newark.  We just hung around on Tuesday, resting up eating A LOT, Maria's pizza and Matilde's restaurant.  Wednesday we journeyed into the city: Bronx Zoo, Union Square/Heartland Brewery, American Indian Museum, Battery Park, Staten Island Ferry, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge and a Thai restaurant.  Ook made it to 4 of the 5 boroughs in 1 day, pretty impressive I think.  After dinner we went back to Evan's to hang out and sleep.  Thursday morning we walked to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, they have some really cool exhibits including a tropical/desert and warm climate greenhouses.  We then went to Grand Central Terminal, visited Mike's uncle at work, got some pizza, visited Gloria, walked past Central Park and traveled back home.   

This morning we are starting our cross country road trip...we should be leaving in 1/2 an hour! (maybe) We will try to post some updates during the trip.

Some of the last pics

One more to go

We flew off the Korean peninsula days before the northern neighbor launched their "satellite" and narrowly escaped the apocalypse and certain death, Or so we've heard, coming back into the western mental-sphere.

Not a word mentioned about it while talking to my far east contacts. The South Koreans are resilient people. Very dismissive about their black sheep brother to the north. "It's just a lot of trash," Said one child months back, during a different barrage of threats. Naturally, they have turned a deaf ear.

But it's all the rage back home. People saying, " Thank God you got out when you did." Like we were fighting in some CNN war room.

We have lived without TV for a year by choice, letting the internet satiate our entertainment needs. Back in it, I again realize the stupifying hype generated by those 24 hour news stations located in westchester's 24-26 channel range. We can fear anything they want.

In reality, South Korea is a lot safer for the individual than the U.S.A.(at least it seems that way to me and as long as US military backs them, hehe) . I believe that. Their medical system is cheap and efficient.

Guns, though I promote the 2nd amendment, are not a problem in Korea. No shootings. (Just stranglers and knivers).

Their education system (not better in my mind), however deeply flawed it may be, is the nations top priority. They have 99.9% literacy rate, or something close to it.

In short, I hope people stop taking the TV's word as truth. There's finer information on the internet and in libraries.

In other news, our last night was spent at Soundgarden in Jinju's Gyeongsang University "district." For a Tuesday night I was surprised at our turn out. Most of our friends came out to say goodbye over some drinks. Thanks guys!

In other other news, more exciting news I think. Our friend Kim Hyung Ook or "Ookers" as we like to call him, is visiting the USA!! He is joining me and Ana on our cross country trip. He has never been out of S.K. so we're super excited to show him this vast beatiful land. (most of which will be new to me as well).

We're Baaaaack!

We arrived safe and sound on Wednesday night after a long journey. Samjin was able to come with us on the plane but he did get told, "No barking", as you can imagine he didn't really listen. It was a crazy last couple of weeks so we still have some pictures and stories for you that we will share soon. It's good to be back.

Ho Hum

I'll begin on Sunday. It was a nice day. Really warm. The sun had shone strong through the day. Before I left for my walk with Samjin I brought the plants to the roof for some of the goodness. 

At the foot path by the river some of the small cherry blossoms started to bloom. There was another person next to me taking this same picture.

I made my way down to the river which is running quite dry. At certain points you can walk right across it on its gravel floor. With the water washed out I saw all these large rusted anchor type things on the river bed. I guessed they were to deterrents to boaters. What do you make of it?

So I did the loop and walked further down the river by the bamboo thicket. Across the river at this point was a partially collapsed rock wall.

I headed back up into the streets at the bungee jump platform that hangs over a cesspool. Walked past the damn and headed home after a couple hours on foot. The sun was getting low, and the plants don't do well in low heat so I got home and took them down. Ana got back from soccer and we met some friends at Zio Ricco's for some pizza pies. They serve dark Belgian beer here so I got one.

There were also some jolly fat Italians juggling wine bottles next to me:

A couple nights ago we had an Apartment sale. Got a knock and in came ten shoppers. This is what John got. John is letting us live in his suite for the remainder of our time here. He's holding our beloved and mysterious herb plant. It was vibrant and full, and then our dog was spiteful and attacked it last week. 

So thats been the deal. The rest has been a pretty crappy fight with our management. We worked hard for them, and actually cared about the success of their business, and we get treated like dogs. 

Jinju University of Education

Jinju University of Education CUE English Program ..... DON'T work for them! We once again had a fight at work, they are making us move out of our apartment tomorrow by noon, so that they can move us into a place that is free for the remaining 3 weeks that we are here.  I am very angry right now.  They tried to move us into the dormitory which won't allow our dog and told us to put him in an kennel, which they won't pay for.  Basically, they are pushing us around again and this time I'm really tired of it.  They made all these ridiculous claims that if we stayed in our apartment and they paid for it the entire staff at the school would be fired if an inspector came to audit their spending.  I can't believe this is true because our contract states that they will provide housing for us for the terms of our contract.  Well, at least outside of work we have made so many good friends who are willing to have us stay with them.  So, even though work will make it difficult to live comfortably for the next couple of weeks we will be ok:)