Wedding!

The wedding went fabulously and almost without a hitch.

On Friday, I got my nails done. I am happy to report that my nails cooperated and did not break in the two weeks before the wedding, so I had mostly uniform nails for the ladies to work with. I played around with the idea of getting interesting nails with glitter and such done, but I opted for simple French tips in the end. It was also a good thing that my nails were in good shape, because they don’t use fake nails here. I guess most women are just really lucky with their nails in this country. While the lady did my toes and painted them a nice pink color (I was not going to have my toes French tipped, and I wanted some color), I flipped through a Japanese nail magazine. I do have to say, they have some pretty crazy nail designs in Japan. They have everything from fake nails with jewelry attached to bows and buttons. Luckily, the magazine had a picture of a pretty basic French tip nail, because the ladies couldn’t understand what I was asking for. They do that style here (although not in the simple style we are used to); they just didn’t understand what I was saying. They took 2 hours to do my nails. 2 hours! And my nails weren’t even completely dry; they just took their time doing everything. Oh well, they did a really good job.

After my nails were done, Cody and I headed down into Shinae where we had some yummy Dak Galbi and some ice cream with Fallon and Susan before parting ways for the night.

On Saturday, I woke up bright and early at 7am to wake up and start getting ready. I used the first hour to mostly wake up and do basic hygiene things, and then Fallon, Susan, and Chris came over to hang out with me while I put on my make-up. Actually, that’s a lie. Chris came over because he was keeping Cody company for after I left the apartment to get my hair done, and so got stuck having to hang out and watch me put on my make-up. I’m sure he was so excited about that, ha-ha.

Anyway, so I hurried to finish my make-up so that we could be to the hair salon by 8:45, and made it just on time, barely. I usually don’t run late, but sometimes I take too long, and this day was coming dangerously close to being that way.

Anyway, so we show up at the salon, and the stylist was there waiting for me. I’m not sure if I mentioned it in the previous blog, but she was there 15 minutes before the shop was supposed to open just for me. She was very sweet and very helpful, and I tipped her pretty well for all of her effort, which surprised her because they don’t often tip in Korea.

I actually have to remember to get her e-mail address and send her pictures, because we were taking pictures of the process, and she was asking for the pictures. She wanted proof that she did a waygook bride’s hair, I suppose. She was really cute though, and I should really let her have the pictures. She quickly transformed my hair, in an impressive 30 minutes, which was wonderful. She was quick in the practice run, but I changed the style a bit for the day, and I was worried she would take a lot longer because it was the day of.

I then headed off with Fallon and Susan to get dressed and give them time to finish getting ready. Again, we finished getting ready to get to the wedding site exactly on time, and the driver didn’t drive too fast or too slow. We were even able to get there just before Cody, so that we could still kind of have a ‘reveal’ where he saw me. We didn’t take pictures of it, but it was nice to have that ‘here I am’ moment.

Cody also brought the bouquets, and I had a moment of being miffed, because the lady didn’t put the right flowers in the bouquets, but I decided it was ok, because they were pretty and it didn’t matter to me that much because she did a good job on them.

The next hour was devoted to taking pictures and trying not to die in the humidity. The weather cooperated by not raining and not being too sunny, but it was so humid that we were sweating even when standing in one place. I think it was 95% humidity all weekend.

People started arriving at 11:30, exactly when they were supposed to start showing up, and I was supposed to hide so that they wouldn’t see me until the ceremony, but we threw that idea out the window. It was so hot, and Fallon and I really didn’t want to hide in the hot bushes, especially because the ants and bugs were out in force that day.

Fallon and I being silly

We started the ceremony almost exactly on time, at 12:00. We ran into our first glitch, because Fallon couldn’t hear her music (Cannon in D, string quartet) at first, because the speakers we used were quiet, and so Cody and the boys had to get our attention so that we knew she had to walk. Oops. Our next glitch came like 15 seconds later. Cody had cut her song so that it was about as long as it took her to walk the distance, but be actually cut the song short on accident, so Fallon’s song didn’t play for very long, when suddenly mine (Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, also a string quartet) started playing. I had to wait a little while to let her get far enough, when I started walking. I walked at just the right speed, didn’t trip (although my feel almost betrayed me by making me almost lose my balance), and I remembered to pause when I was supposed to. I got to the stairs, in place, and handed off my flowers, to have the music end about 8 minutes later, so that was perfect.

Fallon wondering what happened to her music, oops!

Me just trying to walk slow, but fast enough to make up for the music glitch, oh, and not trip

The Ceremony was a mix of really serious and silly

You may kiss the bride!

Bubbles!

Everything else went off very well. Stephen put in a good number of jokes and humorous spots. He even included a part from the Princess Bride, which I loved since it is my favorite movie, but he didn’t know that, what was even funnier. He added a lot of good points, but accidentally mispronounced Cody’s middle name. Oops, oh well. Cody’s vows went well, and so did mine.

After the ceremony, we took a few more pictures and headed out to pick up the cakes and head to Waltz, the vegetarian buffet we had decided to have the reception at. We were a little late getting there, but I think it turned out ok. We had some yummy food, cake, and some speeches.

After eating, many of us headed out to Munich Ice bar to have a beer in an ice cup to cool off (and throw the ice at a target to try and win a prize, hehe) and we had a generally good time.

Cody and I departed from everyone’s company at 4:30, and while they kept on with the party, we headed to Hotel Hyundai, which is a really nice hotel in the area (probably 3-4 stars or so) to have a nice western buffet dinner and stay the night. The food was delicious, and much to the wonderment of the hotel staff, we stayed in the traditional Ondol room. For those who don’t know, this means we slept on thick pads on the floor instead of on a bed. It was pretty comfortable and very nice. We woke up the next morning to have a western buffet breakfast and play in the pool. We also bought a tea set from the cultural show because we had been meaning to buy ne, and we really liked the one there.

After we checked out, we went home, re-packed, and headed out to Seoul to get some errands done, and to get married legally the next day. Luckily, the marriage process was really quick, so we were able to go to a nearby museum and then head back to Mokpo to relax and pick up our wedding pictures from Wim.

This weekend was wonderful. I had a very good time, and am now happily married to my love. I am looking forward to going home now and starting the next adventure in our lives. Who knows what will come, and I am excited to see what happens.

What I'll miss and what I won't in Korea

So, I probably forgot a ton of things, and if I think of anymore, I will add them, but here are some things I'll miss about Korea, and some things I won't.

Things I’ll miss about Korea

1. Kimchee Chiggae (Kimchee Stew)
2. Friends I’ve made here
3. The things kids say
4. Kimbap Nara
5. Cheap, easy transportation from city to city
6. Fun events
7. Weird things to laugh over
8. Konglish
9. Being so close to many interesting countries to visit
10. Cute stickers
11. People in movie theaters having to dance and bow as you leave the theater
12. Everyone younger than you, or serving you, bowing to you
13. being able to bring anything you want to eat, or drink into a movie theater
14. Most restaurants being OK with you bringing outside food and drink in
15. Seeing animals died in funny colors on their ears and tails (pink, blue, green, yellow, purple)
16. Dakbokki (Rice cakes in a spicy sauce)
17. Dakgalbi (Spicy chicken and veggies cooked at your table)
18. Samgaebsal (the thin-sliced fatty pork kind specifically)
19. Servica! Especially useful, or cool servica… like Tupperware with your tuna, or face mask samples with your lotion purchase, or a bowl with your frosted flakes, etc.
20. Kiwi Soju
21. Noraebang
22. Staying out until 5am is normal, and isn’t hard to do
23. Trying new things
24. Love motels
25. Mandu
26. Ondol (Floor heating)
27. Being allowed to do what I want to do for the most part at work
28. Seoul
29. Cute Korean Songs and TV Shows
30. 5,000 won pizza

Things I won’t miss about Korea

1. Smelly streets
2. Piles of garbage everywhere
3. The miscommunications
4. Not being able to do a lot of things without a Korean speaker
5. Old, smelly Kimchi
6. Stinky silkworm larvae sold at street vendors
7. Adjushis and Adjummas staring when you:
Show your shoulders, or your shirt it too tight.
You have a tan
You eat
8. Feeling like a monkey in a zoo whenever I leave my officetel.
7. The crappy washer/dryer combo in my officetel
9. Foods that is too salty
10. Having to watch for motor traffic wherever you are… even on the sidewalk…
11. Not having seatbelts in your speeding taxi
12. Seeing blatant animal cruelty and neglect often
13. The Ninja-guerrilla-trained-mosquitoes
14. Being asked very personal questions
15. Random people trying to practice their English with you, or asking for illegal private lessons.
16. Not being able to have a choice in English TV
Not having access to a wide variety of foods outside of Korean food.
17. Not having a car
18. Koreans breaking traffic laws, making the roads hazardous
19.The humidity
20. Yellow Dust
21. Things that shouldn’t be sweet being sweet, and things that should be sweet, aren’t
22. People freaking out over Mad cow disease, North Korea, Melamine, and the H1N1 Virus
23. Protests
24. Small Apartments
25. Tiny kitchens and refrigerators
26. The whole bathroom being a shower
27. Uneven sidewalks
28. Squatters
29. Toilet paper not being in the bathroom stalls in many public areas.
30. People putting used toiled paper in the waste paper basket
31. No soap, or only gross-looking bar soap in restrooms
32. No clothes my size outside of Seoul
33. Classrooms that have no air conditioners/heaters
34. Assigned seating in movie theaters
35. Being lumped in with foreign teachers who do bad things
36. Not being told things until the last minute
37. Annoying Korean songs and TV Shows
38. Not being able to read anything that isn’t in English, or is in Korean, but is the same word as in English

Getting there!

So many things are going on now. I feel like there is so much time left, and yet it is flying by so quickly. I will be back home in Oregon and looking for a new job before I know it.

The main thing that is coming up this weekend is, of course, my wedding. I am excited and yet nervous at the same time, which is normal I suppose. Mostly, I am nervous to walk down an aisle by myself with a bunch of people watching me. I used to do acting in high school, so usually I could pretend I’m just acting, but this isn’t the same, I have to be the center of attention and people are going to watch me, expecting me to be pretty, smile, and not trip. That’s not exactly an easy task to accomplish when you are nervous. I only have two more things to do for the wedding, get my nails done, and practice my make-up some more before the big day. I’m excited, only four more days, and then on Monday we will go to Seoul to make it legal.

After getting married, Cody and I will probably be heading out to Jeju with Fallon and Chris the last week of this month. I’m excited because it’s supposed to be different from most of Korea, and is known as Korea’s Hawaii. There should be some interesting things to go see, but more on that later, if we go.

On August 6th we will be heading out to Thailand for six days, and we are both really looking forward to that. I am particularly excited to get a massage, try authentic Thai food, and take a Thai cooking course. Hopefully the weather is decent while we are there.
Finally, in August 22nd, we will be flying back to the states. I am so looking forward to it, and can’t even begin to name the things I want to do/buy.

In the next few days, I will try to blog about the things I will miss about Korea, and the things I can’t wait to get away from. I will even try to include pictures of some of these things.

Happy 4th!

I'm gearing up for a really busy weekend and a really busy next two weeks and I am really excited!

Today I have a 4th of July Tex-Mex party to go to at our friend Randi's place. She put together a very Texan 4th of July. I'll miss having the 4th at home, but hopefully this will be fun and make a decent replacement and next year we will be back home to celebrate.

After the fiesta, we then have a birthday party to attend and we'll be going to the local Vietnamese restaurant to get some yummy veggie/meat wraps and celebrate our friend Hugh's birthday. After dinner, we'll probably all go out and get a couple of drinks.

Tomorrow is exciting because we are doing our wedding rehearsal, so hopefully that will go well. I'm starting to get a little nervous because I really have no idea what we will be doing.

I'm happy because I have only two more weeks of school (and until the wedding), and so many classes are being canceled, that instead of my usual 40 classes I would have left, I only have 29. YAY! I only have to teach my 6th graders next week, and then my 5th graders only once the following week. I am so looking forward to being done. I will miss the kids, but I'm feeling ready to be finished teaching, I could change my mind later, for for now I am ready to be done.

Next weekend will be exciting because we will be heading to the Boryeong Mud festival where we will be playing in the mud all weekend. I hope the weather is nice, but I'll have to remember my sunscreen so I don't get burned for the wedding.

The following weekend will be the wedding finally! I'm looking forward to it. We'll be getting married on the mountain, and then going to a local vegetarian buffet for lunch, and then hitting the town and doing whatever sounds fun. For dinner, Cody and I will be heading to the Mokpo Hotel Hyundai for what I hear is a wonderful dinner and then stay the night in one of their nice rooms. We will then wake up to the hotel's beakfast buffet and go from there.

That following Monday we will then head to Seoul to make it legal/official. We were going to do it before the wedding, but my school decided to be mean and decide that I have to wait until school is out. Lame. Ah well.

Hopefully soon after the wedding we will be visiting Jeju, Korea's Hawaii, And then on august 6th we will be heading to Thailand for a week for our vacation, and then head home on the 22nd.

Thailand isn't our honeymoon. Hopefully within a couple months after we get home we will be taking our official honeymoon in Vegas, or more preferrably, Jamaica or in the Carribean somewhere.