happy new year!

although this blog has not been updated recently, or on a regular basis, i plan to change that. as of lately i have been attempting to learn html and create something that isn't a carbon copy of every other blog page. i feel like i divulge enough personal information on this page for the page itself to warrant its own personal feel. i'd like the page to be of my creation, and not a simple copy and paste template.
anyways, this past week saw the celebration of chinese new year! becky and i took advantage of the five day weekend and went off to the island of jeju. it was gorgeous with volcanic rock everywhere. it was as if the people wanted to make sure its visitors knew that the island was formed from a volcano. it reminded me a bit of scotland with its rural landscape and its stone fences. the vacation was a good and relaxing time, although getting to and from the island was a bit trying. we took a boat from busan and traveled along the coast. this would have been a beautiful ride with spectacular views - except, the voyage was eleven hours long, and it was made overnight. departing at 7pm and then arriving at 6am, this lengthy boat ride made me feel like i just spent a full day at wonderland, riding every roller coaster twice.
the ticket prices varied from about 36,000 won ($36) to about 150,000. seeing as we are both in korea to pay off debt, we opted for the 39,000 won tickets - not quite at the bottom. it turned out that the lowest class tickets were for these medium sized rooms that were supposed to hold up to 125 passengers overnight. no chairs, no mats, only floor to sleep on. and a bathroom to share. the tickets that becky and i purchased were for a little nicer surroundings: a room that held ten people, with little foam bricks for pillows. the lack of sleep and the rocking of the boat made the next day fairly interesting.
when we arrived on the island we headed off down a main street, dreaming of breakfast restaurants back home. "would you like coffee or juice?", "you want the hungry man's breakfast?", "white or brown toast?". as we meandered along, completely unfamiliar with the area, we reached a mcdonald's. i'm ashamed to say it, but i was super happy that i found a place that served a standard western breakfast. not surprisingly, we ran into the other foreigners who were also on our ship. also not surprisingly, the big breakfast that i ordered turned out to have been a classic case of false advertising, where the food in the picture was fit for a sunday brunch, but the food delivered was like the leftovers from the sunday brunch.. on monday.
anyways, not to make a long story out of every aspect of our trip, i'll just say that i enjoyed it. becky and i were able to meet up with a friend of ours who worked with us back in july, who is now teaching at a camp on this beautiful island.
funny story - so in our groggy, dizzy state, becky and i decided to pick a place we could put our stuff down, and maybe have a nap to get over the ... boat-lag. we were looked at a map wondering which direction to head towards and decided on this hotel (looked inexpensive with an ocean view) that was close to these 'lava caves' that we wanted to check out. anyways, the place we chose turned out to be within walking distance to our friend's place - and it is a fairly big island; big enough to be a province anyways.
so, the holiday was a good time. i plan on going back, and maybe bringing my bike. the 11 hour ship ride was pretty brutal, but on maybe the next trip we'll get a bigger group to go. and maybe on that trip, we'll opt for the room with bunk beds, rather than floor..