A quick post before I attempt to tackle some photos for (hopefully) an upcoming post on Japan…
Sly left right after New Year’s Day and flew back to California for some work training. I didn’t tag along this time because I would rather save our money and travel somewhere we haven’t been. Plus, someone had to take care of the kitties.
A look back at 2015 …
Moving to Korea was obviously the biggest thing that happened to us in January (and this year), but before then we rang in the new year at home with family and then took a road trip back to Atlanta, stopping in New Orleans along the way. In the several weeks prior to moving to Korea we sold off or donated a lot of our belongings, repainted and updated our entire house, lived in a hotel, drove to Houston, stopped in Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis along the way, spent time with family, drove back to Atlanta via New Orleans, and then flew to Korea.
As we drove through the Southern US I fell in love all over again with the South. Everything was so intensely familiar and so comforting — the food, the people, the Southern drawl, the friendliness, the deeply ingrained nostalgia… So much of my life has been spent moving as far away as possible from the South and yet here I was wondering when I could come back. It was — it is — home to me. And now we were saying goodbye. Again.
There’s so much I still want to write about this transitional time in our lives that, once we arrived in Korea, I sort of left by the wayside. (In particular I want to write about New Orleans and the surreal experience of staying in the same hotel where my parents stayed on their honeymoon.) Looking back on life one is always able to pinpoint the moments his/her life changed but rarely is one fully aware when the actual moment is happening. For better or worse I knew that our choice to move abroad would forever shape our lives, and that was exciting and terrifying and wonderful and heartbreaking all at the same time.
After a late night watching the new year countdown (and an even later night of drinking) we fell asleep fully clothed only to wake up couple hours later. It wasn’t the best planned idea, but then that could be said of our entire New Year’s Eve.
The traditional way to celebrate New Year’s Day in Korea is to get up and watch the sunrise. The most popular places for doing this are along the East Coast of Korea but since there was no way in hell we were going to attempt to get up *that* early we opted to watch the sunrise on top of our nearby mountain, Apsan.
Going out and celebrating New Year’s Eve becomes harder and harder the older we get, especially when you have spent every day since Christmas dressed in some form of pj, stuffing yourself with food, and bingeing on Netflix shows.
The crazy thing was that up until the morning of New Year’s Eve we were still entertaining the idea of ringing in the new year in Seoul as a consolation prize for not getting our shit together early enough to celebrate it in Hong Kong with friends. Like most of our trips this year we let the idea hover around us for days, neither one of us committed enough to scrap together any sort of plan or even daring to bring it up with the other.
In the end we decided to celebrate new year’s eve at home in downtown Daegu.
goodbye, 2015
It’s that time of year again — time to look back on lists of things done, books read, and photos taken in 2015.
My reading goal this year was a measly 20 books which does not include all the books I started and never got around to finishing because my digital library loan ended before I was able to finish thereby putting me back on a long wait list, nor does it include books that always seem to be in a perpetual state of being read (I like to read multiple books at once).
Here are the books I read/completed in 2015:
I have been wanting to get our portraits taken ever since we first visited the underground mall in Daegu. Waaaay back in January or February I told Sly that I wanted to have some cheesy photos taken, Korean style, for our yearly portraits. We don’t usually have our photos taken professionally or in a studio setting, but we do like to set up the tripod at least once a year to take a more ‘formal’ photo.
In Korea, having your photo taken in a studio is extremely popular and there are varying levels of photo studio. The most basic studios with simple backdrops can be found in underground malls. The more elaborate studios take up entire buildings and have all sorts of props and crazy backdrops and scenes.
We chose one of the many basic underground mall photo studios near the subway and, keeping in accordance with Korean trends, we dressed alike. Or at least as alike as we could. Initially we felt self-conscious dressed as twinsies but once we arrived at the studio we realized we didn’t take it far enough. For whatever reason the thing to do here, especially if you’re a couple, is dress EXACTLY alike, right down to the shoes. In the studio waiting rooms every single couple or group of friends wore matching outfits. Every. Single. One. Continue Reading
song is “Snow Candy” by Starship Planet
Merry Christmas, or as they say here, Me-ri Keu-li-seu-ma-seu!
We like making and sending a holiday video every year instead of cards. Some of you may have received them under Sly’s email (I make the video, he sends it). This year we dressed in somewhat matching outfits (very Korean) and went to one of the many underground mall photo studios to have our annual portraits taken. We didn’t exactly plan on having a holiday themed portraits taken but when we saw the little reindeer antlers we couldn’t resist.
Today started with opening gifts in bed surrounded by the kitties then a breakfast of tea and cookies (the ones made last night/early morning) while watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Then I took a long nap with the kitties.
Sly has the “roast beast” in the oven and the crockpot of mulled cider going. My mouth is already watering.
Hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of good food, sugary cookies, mugs of hot (possibly alcoholic) drinks, and time with loved ones.
