Meet My Nephew!!

I returned home in October between my contracts in order to be home for a very important event...the birth of my nephew! It was quite an exciting time, and since I'd been away for the entirety of my sister's pregnancy, I was excited to get home for the main event!!

The whole trip was kept a secret for everyone except my mom and dad...so it was super fun getting to surprise everyone! I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off with Facebook and a mother that lets things slip at times, but it all happened as planned! So because it was a surprise, I was just hoping that my nephew would decide to grace us with his presence while I was home. I knew my sister would be induced, but the date was still up in the air...leaving me feeling quite anxious...and her, too, I'm sure!

After all was said and done, Mr. Landon Pesi joined our world on Friday, October 21, 2011, around 3pm. He was welcomed through C-section (not originally planned) into the arms of my older sister, Stephanie, and her husband, Shahveer. It was quite a happy day for our family as we met the first grandchild for our parents. A glorious moment, indeed!

The first thing that was definitely noticeable was that dark head of hair...so cute! I'm pretty sure I was bald until about the age of five! Haha! While others did the 'his nose, her mouth...' stuff, I opted out since I am not good at all of that! As he grows, I'm sure I'll be able to point out some similarities!

With the birth being in my first week home, I was able to spend another week with the little man before I had to head back to Texas. It was incredible watching the teamwork between my sister and brother-in-law, along with the sleep deprivation! I'm not sure there's anything better in the world than holding an itty-bitty baby!

I can't wait to watch this little man grow up and have lots of super fun aunt-nephew moments with him!

A Year Already??!!

Can you believe it??! It's already been a year since I returned to Korea for my second stint. Today officially ended my first contract at Tongyeong Elementary School and tomorrow officially starts my second one! I really can't get a grip on the fact that it's already been a year! The year has flown by with lots of wonderful memories and amazing friends.

Last week, I met with the principal to sign my contract for October 2011-2012! Later in the week, I went to the immigration office to renew my visa. And today, I got some songpyeong (filled rice cakes) to celebrate my one year anniversary at the school with my fellow teachers. All of these things are indicating to me that it's been a year, but my mind hasn't quite wrapped itself around that idea yet!

So here I am...starting my new contract tomorrow with an end date of October 14, 2012. The process of deciding whether to stay or not was a really long and stressful one, but today, it feels like I made the right decision. I can't imagine saying goodbye today, instead of saying "Whoo-hoo, one more year!"

So here's too another year...may it be as full of blessings as the first!! ^^

Jinju Lantern Festival

This past Saturday was the first day of the Jinju Namgang Yuneung Festival...commonly refered to as the Jinju Lantern Festival. I remember this happening or having just ended when I got here last year, so I was super excited to make my way to the festival this year! Jinju has a beautiful river front that made a great backdrop for the event!

I headed up to Jinju a little earlier than most of the foreigners in Tongyeong, because I had food on my mind!! My first stop in Jinju was Starbucks!! I don't mind, and actually love the coffee shops in Tongyeong, but there's something about Starbucks that makes me happy!! After that, I walked a bit down the street to Valance Burgers...a legit burger place in Jinju! I was full and happy, and then I headed down to the festival!

Since I got there before the peak time (which is at night for this festival), I had the pleasure of walking around without hoards of people all around me! It was nice to do some shopping and picture taking before the place got packed! Here are a few pictures I took during the day:

Most people actually showed up to this festival at night...which makes sense because the lanterns are all lit and they're much prettier to see in the dark. I don't have a very good night camera, so I just took a few pictures of the displays. Here's a pretty one that I liked:

There was also a wonderful fireworks show at night, which is actually the main reason I went. I love fireworks!! They have two showing of fireworks during the festival...the night I saw and next Saturday. I might have to see about going again...but we'll see!

It was a wonderful day and I really enjoyed seeing all the sights!

Singapore - Day 4 - Chinatown & Singapore Flyer & Harbor

Our last full day in Singapore was probably my favorite! They were all good, don't get be wrong, but I really enjoyed the final full day there!!

We started the morning with a trip to Chinatown with Joyce and her friend, Christine.  We walked around a bit and saw this Hindu temple, Sri Mariamman Temple. I am still just so fascinated with the intricate details of the temple.

Then we took a walk through the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. It's a huge temple and is said to have a tooth of Buddha inside. We didn't see that, but we did see some really interesting things. Here's the entrance of the Temple and Museum.

Huge golden Buddhas inside the temple. They were really extravagant.

I really liked the look of this wall...there were so many tiny Buddas. I'm not sure what they're all for, but it's a cool sight to see.

After that, we headed to the Tea Chapter for some traditional Chinese tea. It was such a nice experience and it was nice to have Joyce and Christine to show us around! We definitely wouldn't have done it without them, so it was really special!

The lady showed us the proper way to brew Chinese tea.

My smelling cup and drinking cup...who knew there were separate cups for this!?

Chinatown also offered lots of shopping...but I don't think I even bought anything! But if you're souvenier shopping in Singapore, I definitely recommend doing it in Chinatown...they're super cheap there!!

After Chinatown, Sandy and I headed to the Singapore Flyer....Singapore's version of the London Eye. It provides such a great view of Singapore and is so pretty!  

I was super excited about getting on the Singapore Flyer...can you tell!?!

The sky looked amazing during our time in the Flyer. Here's part of the city!

Looking into the harbor from the Singapore Flyer! So pretty!

It turned dark while we were down by the harbor, and I was able to get a few shots that I liked!! Here are three famous sights in Singapore: the Helix Bridge, the Marina Bay Sands Resort, and the Science and Arts Museum!

The next day, we spent the morning relaxing and then headed to the airport to fly to Malaysia! The time in Singapore was really nice. The city is so new and fresh and everything is so easy! It was definitely nice being in an English-speaking country, versus what I'm used to everyday! Everything was super easy to get to and  public transportation was clearly marked and user-friendly! I definitely recommend a trip to this growing city! I already know if I visit again, the skyline will be completely different! The city had so much construction going on...it's an exciting time for Singapore!

Singapore - Day 3 - Little India & Singapore Zoo

On the third day in Singapore, we started our adventure with a personal tour guide. Sandy met Joyce in New Zealand and she offered to show us around a bit during our trip! It was so nice to have a local to show us things we wouldn't have seen otherwise!

We started our day with breakfast! Everything Joyce picked for us was new to me, so I was excited! We tried egg roti, carrot cake (not the sweet stuff we're used to back home), and chwee kueh. It all tasted delicious!!

Here are Joyce and Sandy after breakfast!

After that, we headed to Little India to walk around and see the sights. I've never been to a Little India before, so it was quite exciting for me! Almost immediately when we started our journey, we saw a stand with henna! I was so excited because I've always wanted to try it, so I didn't hesitate a minute! It was amazing how fast it was for the man to draw on me!

I was so excited about my henna tattoo!

There were so many colorful things to see! Here are a few pictures:

An interesting thing to us was how the people there dry their clothes. It was so crazy to see these drying racks just sticking out from the buildings, but it makes sense!! Just hope one of the clothes pins doesn't break!

Our next stop was another first for me...a Hindu temple. In Korea, I'm surrounded by Buddhist temples, but I've never seen a Hindu temple until this trip to Singapore. We visited Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple in Little India and it was quite an interesting thing to see. There were definitely still active worshipers there, but there were also lots of tourists, so the combination was a little chaotic and confusing!

After that, Sandy and I headed to another famous place in the city, the Singapore Zoo! For some reason, I've always heard about the zoo, so I was excited to see it for myself. It's hard to explain, but the zoo doesn't really have cages...it's more of an 'open' concept. It doesn't mean you're face to face with the animals...you're separated by a deep ditch or moat in most cases. If you're in Singapore, you should definitely check it out. (On a side note, I don't recommend worrying about the tram fee, the zoo is small enough for walking and we didn't even need to use the tram...so save your $5!)

The zoo is famous for it's collection of orangutans. We got to see a feeding time, and it was incredible to watch them! They were so adorable and I just wanted to take one home with me!!

The zoo is surrounded by lots of lush greenery! This is the lake that's at the zoo.

And, of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't have at least one flower picture on my trip! These flowers were so unique!

We also went to the Night Safari that is right next to the zoo. My camera doesn't handle night pictures very well, so I didn't even try! I just enjoyed the time without worrying about pictures! It was definitely a good time, and one of my favorite parts of the trip! If you are going to Singapore, you definitely have to check out the Night Safari!

That's all for now...the last Singapore blog coming soon!

Singapore - The First Two Days

Whoo-hoo! My first blog about Singapore!! Have no fear...there are two more on the way!!

My trip to Singapore was a wonderful adventure. It all started with a midnight flight from Seoul to Singapore, with a short stop in Kuala Lumpur. I got to Singapore around 10am and made my way on the subway to my hotel. Of course, I was there before check-in, so I left my luggage and headed for the nearest hawker center. I was starving!!  I had previously watched the Anthony Bourdain review of the city, so I knew the first dish I had to try! Chicken Rice!! It was a great way to start my vacation! It was definitely yummy and super cheap! I really like the hawker center dining they have there...so affordable and delish!!

I spent the first day on my own, exploring the city a little and catching up on some sleep! Sandy joined me in the afternoon of my second day, and we had a full schedule of sightseeing ahead of us! Our first stop was Suntec Mall, where we visited the 'World's Largest Fountain'...the Fountain of Wealth. On the way to the mall, we ran into a giant chocolate bar that we just had to take a picture with!! Ok, it was probably mostly my idea, but who can resist!! I also got a snapshot of a really neat wall in one of the subway stops. It was for the youth olympics held in Singapore in 2010 and each of the tiles was made by different people from around the world (from what I could tell, anyways!). It was really interesting to me!

Finally, we reached the fountain and read the instructions telling us how to make our wishes come true from the fountain. We didn't really believe it would happen, but we followed the instructions anyways! Something like...Walk around the fountain three times, keep you right arm in as you walk around, and make a wish as you walk. I'm not sure if I even wished for something, but it was fun, anyways! Here are a couple pictures of the fountain!

After that, we headed to Merlion (like mermaid + lion) to see the harbor! It was really beautiful and the weather had cooled off a bit from the daytime heat, so it was quite nice! The Merlion is quite a popular thing in Singapore and is representative of the city. I'm not sure of the specifics, but it still made for a nice picture! Here are the shots from Merlion Park:

Hopefully from this picture, you can see three of the most notable sights in the Singapore harbor...from left to right, the Singapore Flyer, the Science & Arts Museum, and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. My camera isn't too keen on night pictures, but you can get the general idea, hopefully!!

So wrapped up my first two days in Singapore...more to come!!