Tuesday, September 30, 2008

rockin out the states

SOOOOOO......

i got home. (iowa home.) stayed a week and a half, then made my way east, spent a night in pella to see joy (college roommate) and my grandparents, and stumbled upon chicago last tuesday, which is where i am at the moment. iowa was restful, and chicago is sentimental. it's nice to be back in my homeland again and be able to eaves drop on other peoples' conversations and understand.

so to summarize my plans for the next while: ali (amazing boyfriend for those who don't recall) is coming to chicago on thursday!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!! he's never been to chicago, despite the fact that he's been to america a few times, so we all plan to show him a good time. he left for england the day i left for thailand and has been there since so we haven't seen each other for over 6 weeks! hopefully we won't have to do that again for awhile. so anyway, we're spending a week together in chicago, then heading to iowa for a long weekend (also a place he's never been. APPALLING huh. i mean who comes to america and doesn't go to iowa?!?), then he's flying back to england, and i'm flying back to chicago, and then two days later, i'm flying to london. and that's where i'm staying! yup, i'm gonna hang with the brits for awhile. i'll have to come back around christmas to apply for a work visa (don't ask why i couldn't apply earlier...MUY COMPLICADO!!!!), and then hopefully i'll be going back soon after to stay for good. and by "for good" i mean atleast a year. i must say i am getting tired of living out of a suitcase and always anticipating my next move, so God willing i get the visa and when i do and am in england, visa in hand, suitcases unpacked, i will be a HAPPY and RELAXED girl who will not be planning her next move anytime soon. (unless something really cool comes our way...he he...)

SO now that all the blah blah blah catch up is done, guess what i did today?!?!? MOVED TRICIA AND JEN INTO THEIR NEW APARTMENT!!!! it rained all day and their apartment is on the third floor, so needless to say, my arms are like jello! but they're in, we're done, and now it's only 2 days till ali comes!

oh AND i've been doing more than just...nothing...while i'm here. i'm getting trained in kindermusik! ya it's pretty cool cuz it's all online and i get to go as fast as i want. :) so hopefully that will give me a boast in the "yes i do have job skills in places other than korea" category.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

another goodbye...

i have once again found myself in an airport. our month journey of southeast asia has come to a close, and i'm sitting in the bangkok airport waiting for my flight out to korea. and then it's run run run through customs, run run run to get my bag, run run run to meet my friend lucy at my gate who has been keeping my suitcase for me this month, run run run to departures and then pray pray pray that i'm not too late to catch my flight out of korea. once i'm on that flight, i'm home free! atleast if you call a layover in japan, and then chicago, and finally reaching omaha about 30 hours later home free. but anyway, i'm staying optomistic. i get to go home! get out of asia for awhile! i really can't wait for showers that aren't infested with bugs, toilets that actually flush and don't require me to pour buckets of water in them after each use, toilet paper!, and not sweating about 7 tons a day.

our last few days in thailand were really nice. after koh tao, we headed to the nearby island of koh pa gnang where we met up with the friends we had made in koh tao, and their friends they had made elsewhere, which ended up being about a group of 10 of us. they were all such great people! i feel so lucky for the people we've met on our trip. i like to think we found the best of the best, but i always feel like i do. oooo, and one of the guys we met had just played in the olympics! he had just come from there with his girlfriend. he played on england's field hockey team. COOL huh? and he lives close to where i'm going to live in england, so i'm sure i'll be meeting up with them again. actually, a lot of the people we met are from england or ireland, so i'm sure i'll be able to meet up with them in the future...we can re-live the good times of southeast asia...

anyway, so in koh pa gnang, we went to the half moon party in the jungle, which may have been one of the coolest things i've done. eveyone covered in neon glow in the dark paint (which seems to be all over my stuff now, refusing to come off...) dancing the night away in the middle of the woods. other than that, i must say we didn't do much in koh pa gnang. the weather was crappy--the first bad weater we've had on this trip--and both jen and i got super burnt our last day in koh tao on our final dive so neither of us were up for a lot of activity unless it included air conditioning, loose clothing, and possibly a bathtub of aloe vera.

we got to bangkok this morning at about 4 am after an all night bus ride, crashed at a hostel, shopped a little in bangkok, decided we really hate bangkok cuz it smells and is hot and crowded, and spent the night reminiscing about the last month. goodbye thailand!!!

Friday, September 5, 2008

aruba, jamaica, oooh i wanna take you to...koh tao.

so. back to thailand! we left vang vienne, rode a bus all day to the border, rode another bus all night to bangkok, got to bangkok at about 5 am, got on another bus and spent all day getting to the south of thailand, then took an incredibly dodgy and rusty boat all night to get to koh tao. fortunately, only two out of the three buses had screaming babies.

so we've been in koh tao all week and it is beautiful! such a change of pace from all the moving around we had done the first half of the trip. it's so chilled out here and everything is done slowly and without hurry. it took a couple of days to adjust, but we started our scuba diving course a few days in, and then our schedule picked up. i felt like i was back in school again! 9-12 everyday of classroom and then 12:40-6 out in the water, learning all the skills and how to, well...scuba!!! we finished our 4 day course yesterday, complete with a scuba certification card and everything. the whole experience was great...we loved our long-haired tattoed french instructor, we loved everyone at the diving place, we loved our group and all the people we met, and mostly, we loved all the colorful fishies at the bottom of the ocean!

tomorrow morning we're doing a fun dive at one of the best places in thailand, and then in the afternoon we're heading to koh-pa-gnang, where we will rock out the half moon party sunday night! and then back to bangkok tuesday and then...no...don't say it....we have to go home. :( however, i haven't been to america in over a year, and i can't wait to...go shopping! ha ha, and see my family. really excited for that.

ok, the ocean is calling my name..."carolyn...carolyn...come swim in me...i know i'm salty, but just keep your mouth closed this time and we will have great fun together..."