One a Week Wednesdays: Country # 1

View Russia in a larger map

 So! After talking to Matt, I have decided to reveal some details about our big trip one country at a time. Every Wednesday I will publish an entry with details and an itinerary for one country, in order of our trip. Because we are traveling to a LOT of different countries, this is going to take some time!

So up first, straight from Korea, is..... RUSSIA.

Yes, the "motherland". The largest country in the world. If you got any hints from my recent post about how we are taking "the long way home", maybe you came to this conclusion. We will be traveling across the ENTIRETY of Russia by TRAIN, on the famous Trans-Siberian railway. 

At the end of February, after packing up, shipping our valuables home and saying one last goodbye to Daejeon, we will head to Donghae, a port city on the eastern coast of Korea. From there we will board the Eastern Dream, a ferry/small cruise ship that will take us on a 24 hour journey to Vladivostok, Russia. After getting our bearings in Vladivostok (re: adjusting to the FREEZING temperatures of March in Siberia), we will board a train for a 3.5 day journey to Lake Baikal. Yes, you read correctly. Three and a half DAYS. While many people couldn't imagine spending this much time on a train (let alone an old, creaky, Russian train, where almost no one speaks English), we are beyond excited. What is more romantic than spending 4 days whisking through the thick Siberian snow-covered forests in March, while sipping tea and snuggling in the warmth of your sleeping bag? Nothing. Not in my book anyways :)

Once we reach Lake Baikal, we will get off the train and enjoy (re: freeze) a few days doing an assortment of things. Most likely this will include DOG SLEDDING, enjoying the Russian Banya (some of the hottest saunas in the world), and sharing vodka with strangers along the banks of the world's oldest and deepest fresh water lake. 

After that, we will board another train to continue our journey to Moscow. This will take another 3.5 days. As you can imagine, the break at the lake is necessary, unless being on a train for a week straight is something you fancy. 

Once we arrive in Moscow, we will do some sightseeing. The Red Square comes to mind. 

After Moscow, if we have time, we will head to St. Petersburg for more sightseeing. Most likely though, we will bid Russia farewell and head to our next destination. 

Traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway has been a goal of mine for quite some time. Matt got on board (haha...wow) with the idea right off the bat, and we've been planning for this part of the trip for awhile. For a lot of people, Russia might not be a place you'd put at the top of your list, but we couldn't say no. We're so close, and traveling one of the longest railways in the world was something we just couldn't pass up. People we have spoken to that have been to Russia have all said that they were pleasantly surprised with how much they enjoyed it. We hope to do the same!

Pull out a map and try to figure out where we're off to next...

Say Yes to the Dress!

So, it's done. Measurements were sent in yesterday, as well as the deposit. With the help of my awesome consultant Quyen, the dress I decided on is perfect! Basically I was able to take two ideas from other dresses I've seen, merge the skirt and the bodice together, choose a back that I like, and choose the fabrics.

Because it's the high season for weddings in Vietnam (winter is the dry, nice season), Quyen suggested I send in my measurements now so they'd have plenty of time to tailor the dress. She promised she would send me a picture when it's finished. I desperately wish I could post it, but someone I know probably wouldn't be able to stay away from this website :)

In just 57 days I will be off to Ho Chi Minh to try on the dress!

Big sigh of relief that it's coming up fast. I am at the point where I am dealing with disinterest from my students (due to end of the year apathy), homesickness, cold weather setting in and as a result I'm having issues with motivation on all fronts. I just can't possible imagine doing this job without the significant amount of vacation I get. As much as I love Korea and love my job, every 6 months a relatively long vacation is not only warranted by NECESSARY. I know for a fact that without summer and winter breaks I would be one unhappy camper here. While I spend my days pleasantly enough, there is only so much routine (or lack of routine which happens in schools more often), that I can take. While some of you might think I am spoiled (which yes, I totally am), it's hard to compare living in a foreign country to living and working at home. I remind myself constantly of how fortunate I am to have this opportunity.

Bottom line is, it's the end of the school year, everyone is tired, and I'm ready to see my mom, rejuvenate, and start the next (and last) school year refreshed and mentally prepared.

Ginko.

Maine has Korea beat for fall foliage. Despite it being a mostly coniferous state, Maine's broad-leafed  trees tend to all change at relatively the same time, while the leaves here in Korea are so sporatic. Despite this, there are two trees that are so gorgeous here that we cannot enjoy at home. These are the Asian Maple (aka the Japanese maple to those of you back home), and the Ginko. The Asian maple, like most maples, turns a gorgeous deep red. These trees are everywhere. Ginkos are my favorite, though. They are planted all over Daejeon and when fully changed, their bright yellow colored leaves appear like snow falling when the wind blows. They are especially beautiful at night time in the lamplight on the sidewalks. The shape of the ginko leaf is unique in and of itself. It's one tree I wish we had back in Maine.

The 10 Week Push

Okay, so it's more like 9.5 weeks. Sue me if I am a few days late with starting this! Before our vacation to Malaysia, Matt invented his own "5 Week Push" to get him in shape. It worked out pretty well for him, and so he has decided to do a 10 week push for our trip to South East Asia trip. He has always been one to motivate me, so I am starting my own! If you want to check out his progress, along with fun stuff he finds on the internet and his own musings on Taoism, then follow him on his tumblr:

http://mattmeetstheinternet.tumblr.com/

 While he is focusing on gaining some muscle and toning up, my goals will center around weight loss (duh). Sad news is that in the past month I haven't lost any weight. I'm not surprised since my exercise has been sporadic. Good news is I haven't gained any either, so I'm starting right where I left off.

Here are my goals for the next 10 weeks:
1. Start the Turbo Fire back up again. From week 1. Do the full 9.5 weeks of the program. 
2. Track my food, for real.
3.Cut back on all liquids except water. For me, that mostly means coffee and a little bit of soda.
4. Get more sleep. Sheesh! Start back on a good routine.
5. Watch what I eat.




Doesn't sound too hard. I was doing great before. All I really need to do is get back into exercising 6 days a week. I know how I am, and exercise impacts my weight loss the most. While a lot of people say diet is much more important, I see more results with exercise. Of course, I don't eat crap for every meal. I am assuming if you were to only exercise and not care at all about what you consume that you won't get results, but that's not me.



So here's to the next 9.5 weeks before the trip! It's time to find the motivation I seemed to lack for the past few weeks. I keep having to remind myself that this isn't just a fun vacation. I'm going to Vietnam to try on my dress for crying out loud! It will be the only time I get to try it on before going home in 10 months!

Let's do this!

Sneak Peek: 2013 Travel Plans

One thing is for certain: that whole blog post I wrote a month or so ago about going to Japan for 5 days? Totally out the window, and you'll understand why.

A few weeks ago, Matt and I shook on a trip plan. Why did we shake hands on it? Because ever since we set foot in this country we have both been guilty as charged of spending countless hours conjuring up travel plans only to scratch them the following day/week/month. We were getting sick and tired of always changing our minds. Of course this decision, especially on where to go when we're done, shouldn't be taken lightly. When we are finished in Korea, our things will be sent home on the slow boat from China (almost literally), and truthfully, we both know that it will be our last chance to travel for a while. Once we touch down in Maine it will be also systems go towards solid jobs and a down payment on a house. After that, it's kids. Now, this all sounds so typical, right? The adventurous couple gets it "out of their system" young and then comes home to dig in to "real life".We don't like to think in those terms. We are very committed to staying adventurous in the future, but we are both realistic about these goals. In the next 5-10 years we want to focus on jobs, children and, if all goes to plan, starting a small farm. Whether or not this farm becomes anything more than just a backyard, sustainable project we're not sure. Regardless, we won't be able to take a lot of time or use a lot of money to travel internationally. Because it is important to us to farm and concentrate on family, we are perfectly okay with this.

So, when deciding on where to go, we had to come up with a set amount of time to do it. We knew we didn't want to be away for too long, but we also wanted to take advantage of the time given to us, and our proximity to other places. We finally agreed that 4 months of travel will be the perfect amount. We finish our contracts the last week of February, 2013. Our goal is to be home by the 4th of July. One reason for coming home in July is that it will coincide with openings for teaching jobs. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I would most likely be twiddling my thumbs until the end of June anyways, since most teaching positions for the following year aren't posted until then. For Matt it doesn't matter when we come home. He can apply for business jobs any time.

So, where to go for 4 months? What did we decide on? Because this is only a sneak peek post, I'm not going to reveal our actual plans. All I will say is that our theme for the trip is "the long way home". Maybe that will give you some idea as to how to plan on traveling. You never know! Our final choices for destinations are varied and AWESOME. We are so excited to make it all work!

When we realized that the cost of 5 days in Japan is equal to 2 months of our big trip, we quickly diminished thoughts of making it there before we leave! We can't believe how expensive it is!

More to come at a future time. For now, it's back to wedding planning and finishing the save-the-dates!! We are psyched with how they are turning out, and only have a few more to put together before we can mail them home! Pictures of the process will be posted within the next week or two :)

Fireworks.

Here is a short video that gives just a glimpse of what the hour-long fireworks show was like in Busan.

While I am having a fantastic Tuesday listening to Mumford and Sons on Pandora and getting ready for my next speaking test, three girls are getting screamed at by two teachers. Tears are flowing and although I can't understand, harsh words are universal. Being around students always reminds me of what it was like to be young and impressionable, and how serious everything seemed to be.

The science teacher just came over to me, patted me on the shoulder and asked if I was okay. Confused, I said "of course". I now realize she was making sure I wasn't thrown by all of the madness going on around me. I suppose a white girl sitting in a room full of screaming Koreans with her headphones on raised some questions. It's nice to know someone is looking out for me!

Well, I'm off to class.

Budget Woes.

With less than 10 months to go, things seem more real. With that reality check comes a harder look at our wedding budget.

While we're not planning on having a potluck, barefeet, backyard affair (although that would be awesome!), we are having this wedding on a rather strict budget. Considering that most weddings in America these days are enormously expensive (the average wedding cost is around $26,000!), we are pulling this off WAY below average. Even though we knew from the start that our wedding would be budget friendly, the best part is that when we hashed out what we wanted our wedding to be like, where we wanted it to be and what we wanted to do, we realized that it didn't need to cost us much anyways. It's not like we had our hearts set on a nice, all inclusive wedding venue and had to settle for less. Our original plan was for the state park, and that's where we're having it, and the best part is, it's free! (well, we have to pay the small entrance fee for guests, but it's minimal in comparison).

Everything so far seems good. Prices are fair, we have some awesome friends and family helping us out and we've found some great vendors that we're happy about. Whether or not we'll be able to pull off a lot of the small stuff depends on how much we can actually save outside of our 2nd year bonus. The bonus is what is essentially paying for the big stuff (tent rental, food, etc). But as you all know, there is much more to a wedding then chairs and a buffet.

Unlike most weddings, there is one aspect of our budget that is going to end up causing a lot of unnecessary anguish: the plane tickets home. Yes, for the bride and the groom, we're having a destination wedding. There's no wedding if we can't afford to fly home! I've been keeping an eye on the tickets since they became available 2 months ago. Things are not looking good. What frustrates me the most is this:

1. price for one, round-trip ticket from Korea-Maine-Korea:

The cheapest ticket to date has been $2000.00.

2. Now, observe the one, round-trip ticket from Maine-Korea-Maine:

 $1762.00! Now, that might not seem like a lot of difference, but this isn't the lowest price I've found. It has gone up and done from 1400-1800 for the past two months. If we just planned on going home for vacation and nothing else, then we could swallow an extra 600.00. But, we simply can't send aside more than 4000.00 just to get us home! It makes me so angry that tickets going in the other direction are ALWAYS cheaper than ones coming here. I know I need to just get over it, but it's unnerving nonetheless.

The tickets from Maine to Korea have been fluctuating a lot, while the ones from Korea have never gone below a certain amount. I know it's a LONG ways away, but I am a ticket-searching addict. We plan on buying our tickets early on since we need the rest of the money for the wedding, so we're looking at buy them around March. Here's to hoping #1 prices drop, or else we're not giving out favors, let alone flowers! hehe.