2014 The Best Parts

2014 was a great year for myself and Jason! Here are a few of the memories that stick out in my head:

We got to go to Ireland twice in one year! 

This was so wonderful for me. Since we'll be moving to America next year I know that I won't be able to visit my family as often as I have while in Korea. The first trip was taken a couple of days after Christmas and happened because my sister won a free return flight to Ireland for me in a competition! Myself and Jason were just newly engaged (on Christmas day last year) and kept it a secret until we arrived in to Cork airport. It was so nice to be home in Ireland during the winter (although I forgot how dark it gets) and we spent our entire time drinking champagne and celebrating with the people that I love most!

I got to bring my nieces and nephews to the panto.

I love Ireland so much!

We got a car and were able to take some fun road trips.

Right before Willys surgeries we realised that we would need a car since the surgeon was located in Haeundae in Busan which is about an hour and a half away from us. Having the car allowed us the freedom to take trips and not worry about if Willy will be allowed on the bus or having to find a sitter for him. Now he gets to come on all of our adventures with us! 

Jason and Willy on one of our adventures!

The beauty! As you can see Willy loves
to chill in it.

Our puppy had a surgery to help him take adventures again.

When we rescued Willy his front paws turned inwards. This didn't cause him any pain in the beginning but we gradually started to notice that he couldn't walk for long distances. It got to its worst point when I brought him for a hike and he just layed down after about 15 minutes and couldn't go on. Since then we found a specialist orthopedic surgeon who managed to remove Willys joints completely (they were what was causing the problem) and replace them with some of his stem cells, cow bone and blood. Amazingly his body grew new bones where his joints were and he can now do everything that every other dog can do.

This was Willy in the vets office after his second surgery.

His first walk after being stuck in doors for about 6 months!

We got married!

What can I say, it was an incredible day and a day that we won't forget for a long time to come. To read about our wedding day click here! 

Happy, happy, happy!

We signed our last contracts in Korea.

In September we signed our final contracts in Korea (we hope!) So that means that as of the end of August our time here in Korea will come to an end. We are both excited about what new adventures America will have in store for us.

We became debt free.

This actually only happened at the beginning of December. It was such a great feeling to pay off our final debt and know that when we move to America, whatever money we have will be ours! I cut up my Irish credit card also. We have both learned to live modestly while here in Korea and are hoping to bring that lifestyle with us to America. Which means no more loans unless it's for a house!

We bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate becoming debt free.

I hope you all had a great 2014 and an even better 2015! Merry Christmas everyone!

I got to see this lovely lady twice in one year!

Willy is back to hiking like a pro!

Just after arriving in Ireland and surprising
my family with our engagement!

September in Korea Part 2

A highlight of September for me was that I got to catch up with my old co-teacher and good friend Ka-eun. I've always said that she is the most unKorean Korean that I know. She left her job to go backpacking in India and is now after moving to Australia to hopefully be a scuba diving instructor!

Myself and Ka-eun

She invited myself and Jason to her family home deep in the Gimhae countryside. It was so beautiful out there and the tiny little village that her mom lives in doesn't have a shop! We got to meet her mom and I could see instantly how Ka-eun is the way she is. Her mom is so loving and strong. She rescues dogs and they have about 8 or 9 dogs in their house. One of them she rescued from a University that was using it for animal testing, he was left blind in one eye but has a lovely home now.

Ka-euns wonderful mom.

This is the poor little guy that lost his eye due to animal testing :(

This sweetheart was blind and disabled
and Jason fell head over heels in love!

She lives near this beautiful cycling and walking path so we took a few of the dogs down there for a walk and finished off our time with some lunch in a Chinese restaurant courtesy of Ka-euns mom. Now that Ka-eun is after moving to Australia her mom was saying that she is lonely and would love for us to go visit her again so we've both decided that that is one date that we must keep!

The beautiful path by Ka Euns house.

Jason taking some photos of the nearby rice fields.

Isn't it just so beautiful!

Ka-euns village.

The yummy Chinese that her mom treated us to.

That evening we were so excited because my sisters boyfriend was going to be in Busan for a conference so he came a couple of days early and stayed with us! This was Jasons first time having a visitor in Korea and it was nice to be able to show Neil around and show him what our lives are like here. It definitely made us more appreciative about living here.

On his first night he had gotten straight off the plane in Seoul and then got a train to Busan where we collected him. We then brought him out for one of our favourite meals...Dak Galbi! We then brought him to our usual drinking spot for some terrible Korean beer and soju.

Ian playing a spin the wheel game while out in Gimhae 

The next day we all just walked around Shinae (the old town of Gimhae) and saw a beautiful temple that I had randomly just found one day. That night we brought him for our other Korean food which is beef barbecue. He seemed to really like all of the food and was a pro at using his chopsticks! We were back in school on the Monday so Neil went for a run and then we all went to Haeundae together (where is conference was being held) Myself and Jason were so excited to have some yummy western food there (always a highlight of our trips to Busan)

The beautiful temple that I random found one day.

It even has Koi fish.

Inside the temple.

It was one of the nicest temples that I've been to.

This is in the park right by our apartment.

Looking out to the light rail and our apartment.

This was Neils view from his hotel room!

and to the other side!

Jason and Neil on Haeundae. I wish I had taken more photos
of his time here.

Beautiful Haeundae at sunset.

And before we knew it September was finished! It was a great month and we got to make lots of new friends too which was especially great!

Here's hoping October will be just as fun!

September in Korea Part 1

A typical Autumn day in the Korean countryside.

I've always loved Korean Septembers! It's still hot enough to go to the beach but it's off season so the beaches are much quieter and it's a bearable heat (most of the time). It's also the time that Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) occurs so we get 3 days off work!

This September we had a pretty good time. We didn't do any exciting trips for Chuseok this time (We've gone to Japan and China for past Chuseoks) In fact we were pretty boring and spent it cleaning out our apartment of some of the crap that we've accumulated. But we did manage to fit in a trip to the Jangyu waterfall for a barbecue.

Jangyu is the town next to Gimhae and it's actually where myself and Jason taught in our first years of Korea. It holds so many great memories for us as it is where we fell in love. On one of the many mountains in Jangyu there is a waterfall that is quite a popular place to have barbecues and swim. Koreans especially love it because the river is shaded by lots of trees so you don't have to worry about getting too much sun.

Ian and Erin having some fun time.

Myself, Jason and our friends Ian, Mark and Bianca decided that the main Thanksgiving day would be the best day to go as most people have to spend it with their families so it would be quiet. Mark and Biancas adorable baby Erin also came along...oh and of course Willy and Mark and Biancas 2 dogs! The night before we all made some delicious things to barbecue. Ian made chicken skewers and some humus, Mark and Bianca made some homemade bread rolls to go with the burgers that we made. We also had some yummy chicken wings.
When we arrived at the waterfall area we were a little surprised that there were people around but luckily it was much quieter than usual. We spent the day barbecuing, relaxing swimming. The perfect way to spend Chuseok.

Jason and Ian being very manly and barbecuing.

Is she not the cutest little thing!?!

Happy family :)

…and a very happy Willy!

I just want to eat those cheeks!

Also during September we went to Dadaepo beach in Busan. It isn't as well known as the two other beaches (Haeundae and Gwangali) But that's what makes this beach so great! It's very long and the water is quite shallow so it was perfect for Willy to run around off leash and frolic in the water. We met our friend Derek there and his beautiful retriever Plato and had a nice chill day catching up.

Willy ready to pounce!

My two favorite men!

The beautiful Dadaepo beach.

Sunset on our way home.

After a long exciting day, Willy was wrecked!

The second half of 2013 in review.

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I updated this blog, actually I have two posts ready and waiting to go but photos need to be added and unfortunately both of my external hard drives have crashed so I need to steal the photos from Jason (and find a better way to store our stuff!)

Anyway, I realize that the last 6 months I've been busy blogging about our travels that I have failed to mention anything about our lives since our travels. Well that ends now…

I arrived back from India way back in June (I can't believe how long ago it was) Myself and Willy were going to be homeless for a month but luckily a wonderful American girl that had never even met us agreed to let us stay with her. The best thing about that time is that I now have a new person to call a friend!

Jason came back from America in August and we moved in to our new apartment together. This was going to be our first time living together so we were both a bit nervous but it's been way better than either of us ever expected. Of course we have some arguments about who's turn it is to do the dishes and who left the banana peels on the counter. But its been amazing living together. Willy has just been thriving since we've been back and has loved having all three of us living together. We also got to do a little visa trip over to Fukukoa in Japan for a couple of days and that was great fun…we found out just how amazing Japanese photo booths can be!

Unfortunately the rest of August and all of September were what I like to call the "dark days". We had spent all of our money on our travels and we thought we had enough savings to tie us over until our first pay checks but we didn't. Add to that the fact that it was the hottest summer in Korea and we had no air-con. It meant that we were pretty miserable! But things soon got better once we had money coming in again!

Also when I got back I noticed that Willy wasn't able to walk as long as before and it seemed like he was in pain after about 10 minutes of walking. Once we had money again we brought him to a specialist surgeon in Busan and found out that our poor pup was in a considerable amount of pain when he walked because his joints had become severely arthritic. After talking with the surgeon we realised that the best thing to do was to give Willy a surgery which would remove his joints and straighten his legs. This would mean that he would no longer be in pain and could still run around.

He just had his second surgery last week and so far things seem to have gone well. One of his legs has swollen and we have to try to keep him off his feet as much as possible. Here's hoping that everything is successful and our pup will be hiking up the mountains again in no time.

Christmas then came upon us and I have to admit that I have always hated Christmas in Korea. But this year was an exception because Jason proposed to me on that day and we had the most wonderful day celebrating, getting drunk, chatting to friends around the world and eating a delicious leg of lamb. That was definitely one Christmas that I won't forget!

After Christmas we got to go to Ireland for a couple of weeks as my sister had won a return flight from Korea to Ireland for me in a competition. This was the best surprise in the world as because Willys surgery would be costing us a lot of money we had decided that it would be best to skip Ireland, but now that the flight was free I was able to go!

But more on our trip to Ireland in a future post. Now back to our travels in my next blog post which is about our time in Pushkar in India!

Happy new year everyone and I promise I'll be a better blogger now that normalcy has returned.

Our expectations...

So for this blog entry I’m going to be getting a bit of help from Jason (yes he really does exist!)

We have a week left until we begin our much anticipated travels so we have decided to make a list of things that both of us are looking forward to the most. Then, when all is said and done we can make another list of what our favourite things turned out to be.
I thought this would be an interesting way for us to look back on and see what lived up to the expectations and what just came from nowhere and blew us away!

I guess before we start I should tell you where we are going. We are going to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Northern India and Sri Lanka. (although our plans are constantly changing so who knows where we'll end up actually going to)

First question, What country are you most excited to visit and why?

J: Nepal. I’m intrigued by the prospect of meeting tibetian refugees and I’m excited to hike in the himilayas.

G: You stole my country, I would say Nepal too, because the people, the country and the scenery all seem out of this world. I’m also excited to complete a personal challenge of hiking over a 14 day period. I have never hiked longer than 2 days and that nearly killed me, so this should be interesting!

                                  A village in the Himalayas in Nepal

What country are you most apprehensive about visiting?

J: (instantly) India. why? The filth, the pushing, the leering at my girlfriend, the possible thieves and not being able to go to the bathroom in private. Oh and the heat.

G: Once again my answer is the same as Jasons. I’m nervous about India because of the extreme poverty that we will more than likely encounter. I have been to some poor countries but none quite like india! I’m also worried about the food, I love indian food…just a very mild version of indian food.

                                         

What man made structure are you most excited about seeing and why?

J: The Taj Mahal, because of the sheer grandure of it and the story behind it.

G: I would say the temples of Angkor because they really are works of art, but since I’ve already seen them I would have to say the golden temple in Amritsar. It looks so beautiful in every photo I’ve ever seen of it. It is also a very spiritual place for many Indians and any person, religious or not, can spend the night there and eat meals there in exchange for a small donation of their choosing.

What animal are you interested in seeing the most while travelling?

J: its gotta be tigers in india. Because I’ve never seen a tiger in the wild and I just think it would be breath-taking.

G: I have been researching recently about Sri-Lanka and I found a place where every evening hundreds of wild elephants congregate around a big watering hole (or a lake, I can't remember) and I think that this would be just an awe inspiring experience to see all of those elephants free and wild.

 What recreational activity are you most excited about and why?

J: I would have to say the safari in the Corbett national park in india. Because it would be a truly primal experience 

(this is where we will hopefully have a chance to see tigers in the wild)

G: I’m excited about doing some kayaking in Thailand or Cambodia. But also super excited about doing the trek in the himalayas and just seeing the beautiful snow-covered peaks.

What city/town are you looking forward to visiting?

J: I would say Leh (in india) because it’s real high up in the mountains and it just looks really peaceful and beautiful

                                    The beautiful town of Leh

G: I’m actually looking forward to seeing Varanasi (in India). This will be our first experience of India as we will be entering overland from Nepal so I’m sure it will be a shock to the senses. But I’m really interested in seeing the Ganges and all of the excitement that goes along with the world reknown river and city.

                                  Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world.

What country’s beaches are you most eager to visit?

J: I have to say Sri-Lanka because all of the beaches look so beautiful…from what ive seen on google images and we all know that google images are 100% accurate! haha

                One of the images that came up when I typed Sri Lanka into google. haha

G: I’m really looking forward to Koh Lipe in Thailand. This is going to be our first destination and after a stressful couple of months I’m so excited to just laze on the beach and drink some cheap mojitos.

                         The walkway to the bungalow that we've booked in Koh Lipe

What are you least looking forward to about travelling?

J:  The actual travelling, trains, buses, planes etc… and people trying to rip you off often.

G: The last time that I went travelling I had no expensive items. This time around we are going with laptos, cameras, kindles etc. I’m really dreading my need to try to keep all of these items safe all of the time.And of course I'm dreading having to spend 4 months without my wonderful puppy Willy! I question myself every day wondering if I'm doing the right thing leaving him. But I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say that we couldn't have found someone better to take care of him and give him love! I actually trust his sitter more than I trust myself!

              I love this little monster!



So there it is.
All of our expectations about travelling. I'm excited to redo this when all is said and done and see what places lived up to our expectations and what places stole our hearts without us knowing it would ever happen.