My Bali Trip: Getting There

So I've decided that rather than trying to squeeze all of my Indonesian adventures into one long, overwhelming, over-detailed, over-flowing-with-pictures blog, it would be more fun to split it up into a little 'blog series.' This also lets me draw out the lingering bliss of being on vacation for as long as possible.

I would like to dedicate this first blog to our treacherous journey of actually getting to Bali. After my terribly long and exhausting week, I ran home on Friday afternoon and we headed to the airport where we left for Hong Kong at about 8. We got there a few hours later and proceeded to have an 11 hour overnight layover in the Hong Kong airport. Which we spent attempting to sleep on the airport chairs. I would like to write a letter to the dear authorities of the Hong Kong airport and ask them, why, oh why, must they place a bar after every 2 chairs. It makes sleeping near impossible: Who can curl up and get comfy when you only have 2 seats to work with? I'll tell you who: NO ONE. I had a realization as I stuffed myself onto those two chairs and tried to talk myself out of a hysterical meltdown: cheaper tickets with unbearable layovers are not worth it.

We finally boarded our flight to Bali the next morning and arrived at Denpassar Airport in the early afternoon exhausted, sweaty, dirty, and eager to catch our boat to Nusa Lembongan, an island off of Bali. We did not, I tell you, DID NOT catch that boat. The airport in Bali may be one of the stupidest, most unorganized, stupidest...stupidest airports I've ever been in. About 5 flights came in at once, everyone raced to the immigration lines where you had to first line up to buy your visa, then turn around and attempt to find a line to get through immigration. I say 'line' as if there were any lines, but there weren't. There was just an un-airconditioned room of about 2,000 hot, angry, jet-legged travelers, all peering above the mass of people at the desks of immigration officers wondering..."why isn't this ****ing line moving!?!?!?" (Pardon the language, but emotions were running high...) We stood there for 2 hours with our heavy bags, sweating like pigs shoved into a barn awaiting slaughter. (Does it sound like I'm making it more dramatic than it was? I'm not. It was that bad.)

But we arrived. And the adventures began. Adventures of which will be described in upcoming blog posts. :)

And a quick note on my return: we arrived at Incheon airport this morning at 5 am, got home by 7, and had to be up for work by 8:30. I would like to reiterate the statement I made earlier: cheaper tickets with unbearable layovers are not worth it.

Please, oh please, self, remember this when I book my next excursion...

Burnout

For once in my life, I'd like to go into vacation feeling refreshed, well-slept, and healthy. Instead, I'm always burned-out, seriously sleep deprived, and have spent the past week surviving on vanilla lattes and m&ms. Which basically sums up my week. I had big plans of staying on top of things, running every day, being all packed-up and ready to go to Bali with toes freshly painted, and I feel like I'm barely staying afloat. I've been teaching my private lesson student every morning this week before work to get in extra lessons before I leave, went to visit friends in Seoul last night an hour and a half away, visited with a prospective new private student's family on Tuesday (my current one is moving to Hawaii!), and spent every day dodging all the drama that's taking place at work (just found out my boss is quitting because she's tired of doing 3 jobs in 1, and they aren't going to replace her -- so logical!). Perhaps I took on too much?

I just keep chanting in my head "Bali...Bali...Bali..." In 24 hours I'll be on a bus to the airport. We're spending the night in the Hong Kong airport (cheaper tickets with terrible lay-overs always seem like a good idea months before the vacation), and will be in Bali on Saturday afternoon.

"Bali...Bali...Bali..."

Monsoon Season

Today was one of those summer days in Korea when the only thing it does all day is pour and pour...

...and pour.

So what is there to do but take refuge in the little coffee shop downstairs. Which is exactly what me and my boss, Jenny, did.

I am in serious pain due to the yoga class I attended this week. I haven't been to a yoga class since my first year in Korea. And I wanted to prove that I could still keep up with the little Korean gumby girls in my class. I say 'still' as if I actually could keep up with them at one point. I couldn't before. I can't now. And my heroic effort to bend, twist, and down-dog-it like the rest of them has cost me the use of upper body. Oh, competitiveness, why must you always get the best of me?

Bali Bound

I go to Bali in one week and 2 days!!! Ali and I are heading to this beautiful island in Indonesia next Friday and spending 10 days there. The itinerary is as follows (I've attached links to all the places for your reading pleasure!):

We're spending the first few days in a small island off of Bali called Nusa Lembongan to do some scuba diving (apparently the diving around Bali is INCREDIBLE!) and watch some killer sunsets and do all of those sorts of things that people do on magical islandy places. Then, we're heading to Padang Bai to spend a couple of nights at The Marco Inn, a little beach house on the water that has a 360 degree rooftop with daily YOGA CLASSES! (I am much more thrilled about this than Ali is...) Here we're hoping to make the most of the Blue Lagooon that everyone claims spectacular and perhaps take a day trip to Mount Agung, the highest mountain (and active volcano!) in Bali.

And then, we're going to Ubud! This is the heart of Bali and supposedly the center of Balinese art and culture. We're staying in a place called the Ubud Inn, which is where...brace yourself...this place is where...where...ELIZABETH GILBERT STAYED IN EAT PRAY LOVE!!! (Again, I am far more thrilled about this than Ali is...) To stay in the place that Elizabeth Gilbert (who could quite possibly be titled 'my favorite person-I've-never-met ever') stayed in my all time favorite book is almost too much for me. Maybe I can also find that guru fortune teller guy that she befriended there. Anyway, Ubud will be the last leg of our journey, so we're hoping to take in as much of the Balinese culture as possible, including renting motor bikes for the day to explore the Balinese country side, rice paddies, and life outside of the city. And THIS, people, is the one thing that Ali is much more thrilled about than I am. I have a deathly fear of motor bikes ever since I crashed both Nathan Van Kley's and Tim Van Vugt's mopeds in the 8th grade. One I crashed into the wall of an alley (in my defense, I had just planned to sit on the moped but my friend told me I had to spin the handle to keep the engine running and the next thing I knew, BOOM, straight into the wall.) And the next time I was trying to turn a corner and ended up driving straight onto someone's front yard. It is HARD turning corners on mopeds. I was 13 and have never driven any moped-ish vehicle since.

This will be the first time that Ali and I ride a plane together. We've lived in three different countries together and have said 'hello' or 'goodbye' nearly 20 times to each other in airports, and yet we have not managed to actually get on a plane at the same time. What if we're completely incompatible in the air? This plane ride could make or break us.

Hollywood Kids Goes Global

Yesterday, my 6 year old Kindergarten class and my Primary class both performed Pinocchio for their families. They did so well! I am seriously amazed at how well they can memorize lines in the 8 weeks we spend on each play. They know the lines better than I do. And they're 6. And they're KOREAN. Even the kids who had no idea what their lines meant, no idea where one word ended and the next began (wheredidyougetthosegoldcoinspinocchio?), and no idea if their character was supposed to sound happy or angry (my 'sly' fox was about as chipper and friendly as Barney) got smiles from the audience and absolutely beaming parents.

That is, every one had beaming parents except Dora. Dora's poor mother sat in her chair with a look of despair, sympathy, and embarrassment as her poor 7-year-old daughter sobbed through the ENTIRE play. Dora, the only girl in my Primary Pinocchio class and therefore by default has the part of the Blue Fairy, has had her lines memorized for weeks. No problems. Until yesterday. From the moment the parents walked in the door, Dora's bottom lip started quivering and her eyes started welling up. During their individual introductions ("My name is Robert. I am 8 years old. I am Pinocchio. Welcome to play, everybody. Enjoy the show!), I noticed that she could barely get out a word and I frantically turned to Jenny, my boss, and said "What's the matter with Dora!?!?!?" To which Jenny replied, "I think she's a little nervous." A little? A LITTLE!?!?!? Apparently, Dora has some serious stage fright issues, as from that point on she spent the entire 5 scenes sobbing, arms shaking, unable to function. I bravely stepped in to help the poor girl out. (And I mean it when I say 'bravely.' I can see why Dora had a break down. The look in the eyes of those expecting parents is enough pressure to make me, a 26 year old EXTROVERT, get shaky in the knees.) She stood next to me, wand in hand, and didn't manage to murmur one word. She stood on the stage for each song, did all the actions in hysterical weeping despair, but did not open her mouth. I guess we'll need to work on that.

I have now proudly completed 8 Dramas--all of which include a story book, a drama book, a song (lyrics and melody by yours truly) to go with each scene of each drama (meaning I've written 36 songs thus far), a 20-page workbook filled with fantastical activities, and a teacher's guide giving line-by-line detailed instruction on what the character should be doing, where they should be standing, and how they should be sounding. We have 4 more dramas to go to finish up levels one and three, and then we move on to levels two and four. Each level has 6 dramas -- enough to last one year if you follow the 8-week program that I have laid out. I found out yesterday that my Hollywood Kids program (have I mentioned that I did NOT pick out the name 'Hollywood Kids'? Just to be clear...) will now not only be used in all of the 40 Feinschule schools across Korea, but will also start being sold in Korean bookstores and will be exported to China and Japan and possibly Germany. My books are going global! I feel seriously proud of the program that I'm creating. And to think that it all starts on my little Mac at my little desk in Ilsan.

Why Can't Life Be One Big Birthday?

Last Saturday was my friend Amanda's birthday! It was a fantastical day of girlie activities, yummy food, and watching Korea's World Cup game...see for youself:

First, we got an actual, real, just-like-home cupcake. YUM! I haven't had a cupcake since...(when you can't complete that sentence you know it's been too long). It was an adorable little place called Life is Just a Cup of Cake. In fact, it may have been the most dainty, delightful little shop of sugary goodness that I've ever stepped foot in.


Mmmmmmm.













Then, we saw the coolest little dog in the world. In case you didn't know, I plan to own a pug someday because I think they're the funniest, cutest dogs on earth. This little guy was no exception.

Then, we got a manicure and got our hair done!

Then, we got wine and talked about how pretty our nails and hair looked.










Then, we ate over-priced Greek food! (But we didn't notice because the company was good and the wine was a-flowin')!











Then, we went to a pub and watched Korea play Uruguay in the World Cup (which they lost, but our mood was too great to be dampered). Go Red Devils! Mary Soo rocked the red horns.












I wish every day was a birthday.

Together

I've been battling through 'open class' all week, which is the Korean name for 'parents get to sit in on their kid's classes and tell the school what they're unsatisfied with.' In my mind, I like to call these days...'Carolyn gets to analyze parenting skills and figure out the reason behind the terrible-ness in my least favorite kids.' Seriously, when the worst kid in the school's mom is video-taping her kid scream in other kids faces and try to swallow his egg shaker and then goes ahead smiling and calls him 'special,' you stop blaming the kid.

In more uplifting news, Ali and I celebrated 2 years of together-ness last week. Two years ago on June 15th, Ali landed at the Seoul airport and, after not seeing each other since our one day romance in Beijing 4 months earlier, we officially fell in love. (Insert 'awwwww' from the audience...) I have to say, it feels like a lot longer than 2 years. I guess that's what happens when you've lived in 3 different countries. But it's been the best 2 years of my life! This picture was taken one of the first days Ali and I were together in Korea 2 years ago. Don't we look like 2 people who had just fallen in love? (Insert another 'awwwwwww'...)




And finally, 2 of our best friends here in Korea--Jason and Natalie--are leaving for home this Friday. It feels like it's been a non-stop 'good-bye' party for weeks (so tired!), but we will definitely miss them after they've gone. This is the problem with living in such a transitional place--nobody stays!