The Moreland Adventure

Birthdays and Holidays!

2011-12-27T21:36:00.000+09:00

As you know Zak and I celebrated my birthday at Tokyo Disney but my awesome friends came over after we got home from Japan and we celebrated some more with cake and wine! One thing I love about living overseas is being able to meet and make friends with people from all over the world. Having friends to spend birthdays and holidays with is great.

My ice cream cake!

And soon after my birthday comes Christmas!! I hope everyone enjoyed their's, we sure did! We spent Christmas Eve drinking some delicious mulled wine and playing games at our friend's house. It snowed the day prior to Chritmas Eve (Christmas Eve..Eve?) so we had a beautiful white Christmas!

Game time!!

Trevor and I

Christmas Fireworks!

Me and Lisa :)

And the only picture I have of Zak and I.. lovely I know..

As you can tell, we had more than enough fun!!

And here is Pip in the snow!!!

Thanks for reading xxx

Tokyo Disney!!!

2011-12-20T22:32:00.000+09:00

For my birthday Zak and I made a last minute decision to use our flyer miles and head to Tokyo for a a few days. He asked me what I really wanted to do for my birthday and I said "TOKYO DISNEY!!" I am a big theme park enthusiast and have a very nostalgic love for Disney, so it seemed like the logical choice. :) We booked our flights and hotel about a week prior to leaving and it made me realize that it would be impossible for me to book a vacation any sooner than that because a week felt like a month!

So in typical Zak and Nikki fashion we wait until last minute to pack and figure out what we are bringing with us. If you remember in a previous post we had lost our beloved hard core sony cybershot while our family was in town so we bought another updated one to replace it. Well, unfortunately we realized that we had no idea where that one was either. We searched every nook and cranny for hours it seemed with no luck.. I mean the camera is BRIGHT yellow.. how could we lose it?!? Alas, people are thankful for our purchases because now we have given the city of Pyeongtaek not one but two shiny cybershots...for free. :(

Sadly we had to depart without the camera and headed to Incheon Airport. We decided to drive this time since we were only staying for a few days and parking was only 8000won a day (about 7-8usd). Thank goodness my husband knows how to drive like a race car driver because we almost ran into an idiot who missed their turn on the freeway that decided to STOP their car and put it in REVERSE at the fork in the road. I can't make these things up, I promise.

Upon arriving at the airport we picked up our duty free items that we purchased earlier in the week at one of the huge duty free malls here in South Korea (perk!) and made a last minute decision to buy another cybershot...sigh... this time though we didn't get the rugged one in hopes that it will turn up in a seat cushion one day.

So here are some test photos from our new camera on the airplane!

The flight is very short from Seoul to Tokyo, about 2 1/2 hours. At the airport I found something unique.. a smoker's room, outside! Way to keep the air fresh!

From the airport we took a bus directly to our hotel (The Hilton Tokyo Bay) it was about a 75 minute ride and cost about $30 per person.

When we got to the hotel and checked into our room we realized we had a beautiful view of the Tokyo Bay! Here are a few photos we got:

And what better way to escape the outrageous hotel food and drink prices than this:

At Tokyo Disney there are actually two parks, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. They were both amazing!! Here are some photos from Disney Land:

The weather was more favorable the day we went to Disneyland but that didn't keep us from having a good time the day we went to Disney Sea! It did actually start pouring rain the day we were at Disney Sea (my birthday) so unfortunately the only photo were these:

But we did however have TONS of fun there. It was a more thrilling park than Disney Land, as it included the Tower of Terror (my new favorite!) and other rides that are only in Japan.

And for your viewing pleasure:

Overall it was a great trip, I wouldn't change a thing about it. My birthday was a great success, and we are now looking forward to Christmas.

I am sorry for not blogging recently, I just got done with an 18 credit semester so that had me pretty busy. For now we are just enjoying the Christmas season and I am still waiting for it to start snowing regularly around here... call me crazy. :)

Hope you all are finding yourselves in good spirits, happy holidays!!

Thanks for reading xxx

Everland Halloween Style!

2011-10-31T19:39:00.002+09:00

One of Zak and I's favorite amusement parks in Korea is "Everland". They have such an array of things to do from watching monkeys, seeing a liger, drinking German beer and riding their awesome wooden roller coaster! Every season they decorate the park and since September they have had Everland decorated in a Halloween theme. Here are some photos of us from when we went recently:

See the animal crossing above the people?? :)

I have no idea what these are, any ideas?

Or this for that matter but it is so darn cute!

Oh you know, Korean Tarzan and his sidekick.

Please envision as this picture was being taken Zak not only feeding the birds but accidentally dumping bird feed on a Korean Woman's head... thats what happens when you are two feet taller than everyone else around you! Ooops!

I didn't understand why this photo was winking at me as I was waiting to get on a ride.

Me after one of the Halloween shows in my new cool witches hat that comes with cat ears. ^-^

And once the sun sets all the goblins and ghouls come out to scare everyone

It was a lot of fun, if you are in the area you should definitely check it out and don't forget to print your foreigners discount from their English friendly website!

Everland Resort

Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween!!!! xxx

Oktoberfest @ the Seoul Grand Hilton

2011-10-10T23:13:00.000+09:00

As I was perusing one of my Korean foodie blogs Seoul Eats I noticed a post about Oktoberfest in Seoul at the Grand Hilton and jumped on the opportunity to get tickets for this event. It was a surprise to Zak and I managed to actually keep it under wraps for the week prior to the event. I usually spill the beans within 24 hours of planning a surprise, so this was a big step for me! :-P So this event was a one time rate for unlimited German beer and cuisine, a live band from Germany, and a whole lot of fun! We definitely enjoyed ourselves and drank enough Paulaner beer for the year, I love Oktoberfest. It was nothing but a ballroom full of people who like to drink beer and eat pretzels, my kind of people!

Me in the hotel room before we went to Oktoberfest, trying to contain myself of spilling the beans! Oh and thanks for the free bottle of wine Seoul Grand Hilton, I had to drink it before Oktoberfest or else my husband would have been on to me that we are going to a drinking event if I didn't pop it open... ha ha

And now onto Oktoberfest, this right here made every penny worth it:

Tapping of the keg!

This Korean boy in his lederhosen was just too cute, even though he looked forced to wear this by his mother...

Zak about to arm wrestle..

We drink Paulaner beer! I wish you could here me singing this, because I have literally been singing it since Oktoberfest..

Drunk Nikki being silly..

And the people we shared our table with, they pretty much won all the competitions, the lady on the left it one hell of a beer chugger.. and the one on the right dominated in womens arm wrestling.

And a video I have put together from the event, beware there are embarrassing drunk moments that you will probably enjoy.. but hey it was Oktoberfest!

In all this was definitely an awesome time, we cannot wait to go again next year!!! I might just order some lederhosen ;)

Hiking in Cheonan

2011-10-04T16:35:00.000+09:00

Recently Zak and I went hiking in Cheonan, a city south of us, on the Taejosan Sanak Trail. There are many entrances as you can see by the map below, Zak and I had a goal to get to the large Buddha located in the middle of the map. Little did we know that we were starting on the wrong end and 2 hours later on a very steep hike we were only half way there and the sun was beginning to set. Even though we didn't make it to Buddha, we did have a great hike! (Next time Buddha, we will be rubbing your belly!)

Zak cheesin' at the entrance

This my readers, is the attire of a Korean hiker, you will undoubtedly feel under dressed whilst hiking among them.

Hmm what is this?

Oh I see, so you want me to walk barefoot across these rocks...

Beware, do not grab the ropes for help, I almost made this mistake. See below:

A viewpoint along our hike

Cheonan City

A very wobbly but pretty cool sky bridge

We were exhausted by the end of this hike, it was a constant incline and every time we said to ourselves "we must be at the highest peak now" we would hit another climb. Hoping to get better at hiking because its no joke in Korea!

Thanks for reading and happy trails!

xxx

No really..say what?!?!

2011-10-02T22:24:00.001+09:00

So not even 10 minutes after my last blog post (the no petrol month) Zak and I realized that not one of our bikes that we have invested a lot of time and money into but TWO have been stolen. I really hate thieves.. like really... ughhhh..

No petrol month has officially been post-poned.

:(

One month with no petrol, say whaaaat?

2011-10-02T21:24:00.001+09:00

So Zak and myself have decided to embark on a little adventure that we have given a lot of thought to. Starting tomorrow (October 3) we will be spending the following 4 weeks without using 'gas'. This means no driving our car, no taking taxi rides, no rides with friends, no public buses, no cross country buses, and no fuel burning trains. That leaves us with our bicycles, the subway, a train called the Norioo which is fully electric (but doesnt go as far as the fuel burning trains, and is limited in schedule), and the hover-round electric wheelchairs that everyone seems to think are a form of transportation around here.. ahh if only I had one handy...

To prepare for our adventure we made quite a large shopping trip to our favorite place.. Costco! :) We have stocked up on enough meat and food to last us a month so we dont have to make any large grocery shops except for some veg and milk here and there.

Yay I heart Costco! By the way if you are here in Korea and have gone to Costco but have not tried the Bulgogi Bake in the cafeteria.. to.die.for. Try it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anywho, we have decided to do this not only to prove to ourselves that it is possible to go a month without using fuel but also to kick start some healthier living. And we figured it couldnt hurt to get our carbon footprint down! I am pretty excited about this challenge, I know it will be hard and most people will think we are rediculous for doing it but Zak and I are ready to prove that we can do it. I will be sure to give you our weekly update for the next four weeks.

Thanks for reading and wish us luck!
xxx

Nikki's Trip Back to the U.S. (Part Two)

2011-09-26T19:51:00.000+09:00

After returning home from Ohio I spent a few days relaxing in the pool and enjoying time with my nephews that live in Florida. My mom and dad have a beautiful house close to the beach and equipped with a refreshing pool in the backyard, definitely a good reason to go home for a few weeks. :) It is always very nice to catch up with family, and it always feels as though you just left.

My lovely mother :)

And below are a series of my favorite photos that I took of my nephews (Levi and Elijah) while I was home, I miss them so much but am so happy to be able to see them every year and be a part of their lives. Love you both so much!

I then went further down south in Florida to visit my beautiful sister. We had a few days of catching up and lots of great wine. :) It is hard to live so far away from family but it is a great feeling when you can reunite, even if it is for a short time.

After visiting my sister I went back to my 'home base' aka moms house and caught up with my brother and sister in law who live about 30 minutes down the road, but somehow managed to not get a single picture with them!!

I also took a day and saw my Grandma whom I always enjoy seeing because that woman is a breath of fresh air, she will just tell it like it is!! Grandma lives in Georgia so while in Georgia I drove up to see Zak's dad and step-mom who live outside of Atlanta. I can always guarantee a great meal and margaritas when I see them! Food+Margaritas= Good Time!

And there you have it, my 5 week trip that felt like 5 days. It was great to catch up with everyone, a lot of traveling but well worth it!

Much love to you all xxx

Nikki's Trip Back to the U.S.

2011-09-19T22:42:00.000+09:00

After our family came to visit us here in Korea, I (Nikki) had another trip planned to go back to the States for about 5 weeks. I hadn't seen the rest of our family since we moved here over a year ago so I decided to make a trip home to say hello to everyone..and I mean everyone!! :)

Home for me is the Florida Gulf Coast, nothing says welcome home like pristine white beaches, emerald water, and two screaming chihuahuas. We will call Florida "home base" for this trip because I had many other mini-trips to make all over the United States while I was back in the country.

(The chihuahuas in their rare calm state)

At the beginning of my trip I was lucky enough to have my best friend April from Korea come and visit me for a few days in Florida. We caught up, went to the beach, did some shopping, drank some starbucks.. you know, the usual. ;) Miss her lots!

After a relaxing few days at home I was off to Ohio to first visit my mother in law, sister in law, nephews and niece! I had a great time and enjoyed pulling back my hair and kicking it country style with a great bon fire and beer!

(Alex, Colby, and Kiley)

I love Phil!!!!

My next stop was also in Ohio, just about 2 hours away from where my Mother in law lives. Here I met another side of Zak's family, the Stauglers. I had an absolute blast and was happy to be invited to a Staugler wedding, and even happier to meet them because I had heard so much about them through Kathy.

(I finally got to meet GPS!!!) :-P

To be continued...

Family Visit to Korea!

2011-09-06T14:52:00.004+09:00

Back in July some of our family came here to Korea to visit us. We were so happy to hear that someone wanted to come enjoy this amazing country with us for a while, and they were here for two weeks!! (Still not long enough to see everything though!! lol)

Upon landing in Korea we gave Kathy, Brittany, and Michelle gift bags of survival needs while in Korea which included things like, a T-Money Card, Practice Chopsticks, K-Pop Fans, Toilet Paper, Rose Flavored Gum and Cell Phone Accessories.. you know.. the essentials.

On their first official day here we all headed to the DMZ which was a trip that took up most of the day. While it was raining we all still had a great time crawling through the tunnels and realizing that we are super close to North Korea!

They were here for 4th of July and our mission for that day was to be as American as possible...

Mission Accomplished.

We then spent a fabulous 4 days in Seoul.. because you need that many days if not longer to see the whole city!!! In Seoul we introduced them to Korean Baseball, The Han River, King SeJong (yes that is Michelle planking on him), Korean Comedy Shows, Seoul Tower, all the Dongs (Myeongdong Insadong and Dongdaemun), 4D Movies.. and of coarse CHEESY BITE PIZZA!

We also did a wine train tour while our family was here, it was great fun until they cut us off the wine and put us in a bus to the ginseng museum over an hour away.. nap time. I did however manage to beat everyone in our train car for the title of rock paper scissors or Kai Bai Bo in Korea.

And now for the awesome random pictures (that you may or may not understand):

We can't thank Kathy, Brittany, and Michelle enough for enduring that long a** flight to come out here, and we hope you all had as much fun as we did while you were in South Korea!!

(All photo credits given to Kathy, Brittany, and Michelle because somewhere between our soju bowls and the excitement of pyeongchang winning the olympic bid Zak and I lost our camera!!!)

Thanks for reading!!! xxx

Happy Birthday Pip!!

2011-09-05T20:19:00.000+09:00

So last year when we rescued Pip we were unsure of her age (was told about 1 year old) therefore we don't exactly know her birth date but decided to have it on Labor Day every year and to let our crazy four legged biotch know how much we love her... we got her a squeaky squid...

Here's to you Pip and all the crazy things you do, happy #2!!!

xxx

Oahu: The final chapter (Lanikai; Kualoa Ranch; North Shore)

2011-08-28T14:49:00.000+09:00

Since Zak and I enjoyed the kayaking that we found north of Honolulu we decided to go back to check out Lanikai Beach which has recently been name one of the 10 most beautiful places in America (see GMA coverage). It is a small beach and a bit difficult to get to since there is no parking and it is located in a residential area, so we kayaked there from Kailua. From the beach you can see two islands called the Mokolua Islands, which was our next kayaking adventure!

Once getting to islands we discovered that it had a great little beach to lay out on and eat lunch. We explored the island some more, which was also mostly a bird sanctuary, and found a great spot to get blasted by the waves!

The next day we traveled up to the North Shore stopping first at the Kualoa Ranch. This place came highly recommended but only if you are taking an ATV tour of the ranch. We were able to see places where the horses and bus tours could not get to. During our 2 hour tour we saw many areas where movies and TV shows such as Jurassic Park and Lost were filmed, and the most amazing scenery we have seen in our entire lives!

After the ranch we continued up to the North Shore to Waimea Valley Falls and we spotted the infamous Giovanni's Shrimp Truck. While it was expensive and gimmicky the shrimp was very good!!!

And onto Waimea Falls where we forgot to bring our bathing suits and decided an opportunity like this should not be missed and went into the waterfall fully clothed.. amazing.

And to finish off our trip in Oahu we went on a dinner boat cruise arranged by our resort which included lots of drinking and a fireworks show!

We greatly enjoyed every moment we had in Oahu, thank you for reading and following our adventures! xx

Oahu part two; Diamond Head, Manoa Falls, and KONA Beer!

2011-08-16T10:32:00.004+09:00

A popular tourist destination in Hawaii is Diamond Head, it is a great place to hike if you want an amazing view at the top but be warned... everyone in Waikiki goes here so it can be quite busy! Diamond Head was formed from volcanic eruptions and looks like a huge crater from a birds eye view. We parked our Jeep at the national park and made our way to Diamond Head:

It was a really steep hike in some parts and my claustrophobia started to set in when entering the tunnel:

But it was all worth it in the end because of this incredible view of Waikiki!

After hiking Diamond Head (which took about 1.5hrs) we drove to Manoa Falls Park to hike the muddy trail to the waterfall! For all you "Lost" fans out there they filmed the scenes with the polar bear cages in this area..

It was a very quiet and relaxing hike, not too strenuous except when you are trying to avoid falling straight on your ass because of the mud. Lots of beautiful sites to see along the trail.

Here are Zak and I at the waterfall, we had to cross barriers to get a good picture but it was well worth the danger! :-P

The next day we went to the Kona Brewery to drink some AWESOME beer and eat lunch. It wasnt the main brewery (which is located on the Big Island) but I still wouldnt miss out on the smaller version of Kona in Oahu. Yum..

Thanks for reading!!! xxx

Testing Testing 1..2..3...

2011-08-10T13:23:00.003+09:00

My sister in law and I have been experimenting with cinemagraphs...

This next one turned out a little creepy...lol

(click for awesome-size)

Oahu 2011 (Part 1)

2011-08-04T02:18:00.003+09:00

This is a long overdue blog post that I have been wanting to share with you all as our time in Hawaii this year was incredible. But when you are too busy to keep up with your own life its hard to keep others updated as well! It will be done in a series as I do not have all of my photos with me while I am currently traveling to the States.

In Pyeongtaek we happen to live right next to the intercity bus terminal so that makes it really convenient to walk next door and hop on a bus to the Incheon Airport, I really love not driving around here!! On our bus ride we noticed a store that was having an "Opening Sale" which included clowns, stilt walkers, and a hippo.

Our flight was about 8 hours in total and we had a layover in Japan and due to the international date line we hardly had any jet lag. Woo hoo! Since we were on Oahu for 10 days we decided to rent a Jeep and after about 45 minutes of trying to figure out how the hell to get the top off we finally departed for some much needed retail therapy! Zak is worse off in Korea than I am with clothing sizes, I can usually fit into a Korean Large (lar-gie that is) but given Zaks height he cannot find anything outside of basketball shorts that fit him in Korea, so we definitely took advantage of our empty suitcase and American stores while visiting Hawaii.

After a day of shopping we decided to whip out our kayak that traveled with us and take it to Kailua Beach where the waters are known for their sea turtles and is one of the best kayaking spots in Hawaii. We traveled to the flat island which is a bird sanctuary and eventually we did spot a sea turtle on our way back to the beach!

It is hard to explain how beautiful these waters truly are!!

A panoramic of our view from the Flat Island

Wrapping up our day at the bach we went to our favorite bar "Tropics" wich is located on the resort (Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki) so here is Zak with his favorite drink, "The Back-scratcher" and yes, every drink did come with a back-scratcher!!

To be continued...

Han River in Seoul

2011-06-16T18:17:00.002+09:00

Probably one of the most beautiful places I have visited in Seoul is the Han River. It flows directly through Seoul and is often used in terms of direction... i.e. "It's above the river". We always pass over the Han when going to Seoul by train but up until recently we have not actually spent a day by the river. This past week we decided to embark on an adventure taking our bikes on the subway to the Han river. Usually it takes about 90 minutes on the subway to get to Seoul but about once every hour the "express" subway comes through and you can hop on it and be in Seoul in an hour for only 1,800 won (roughly $1.65 with the current exchange rate).

It was such a beautiful day and the weather is definitely starting to get hot here in Korea, I think its only a matter of days before we are into the full fledged sweltering heat of the Korean summer.

Once reaching the Seoul area we got off at "Singil" (신길) on line 1. There was a nice path over the walking bridge and through Yeouido to get the the Han River.

And for the record, Korean kids have the best playground equipment...I think Zak would agree...

Once we got to the Han river we enjoyed the nice bike path along side of it where you will often spot the natives in their elaborate over the top biking outfits to go along with their ridiculously expensive bicycle, which is only used/worn to bike on this bike path. Its status to have a nice bike and matching riding team here in Korea, I am thinking Zak and I need to come up with a team name and have shirts made.

A few photos on the Han:

The Han is also host to many festivals during the year including the one we visited earlier this year, the Hi Seoul Festival:

If you get a chance I would pack a lunch and spend the day relaxing at the Han!

Hope you are enjoying your week, thanks for reading! xxx

Time to catch up!

2011-05-17T14:44:00.000+09:00

The semester is finally over!! What a long semester that was. Now I can catch you all up on our life in Korea before we head off for vacation in Hawaii this week...

This is the first time I have ever seen a cherry blossom and they were everywhere for about 10 days, and then all of the sudden they are gone! We were able to check out a cherry blossom festival on Yeouido Island which is a very small island in Seoul...which happened to have thousands of people on it this day!

Later in the same week Zak and I went to see one of my favorite artists, John Legend, in concert at the Ax Hall in Seoul.

Waiting to enter Ax Hall

Ahhh the anticipation was killing me!!

And yes.. people do read books at concerts in Korea..

This is when he was singing a cover to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" :sigh: In love.

We had such a great time, if you ever have a chance to see John Legend in concert you should because he puts on an amazing show.

Life has been so busy lately, I completely missed April.. where did it go?? And now it is already time for us to go on vacation and I have to schedule time to pack! I guess that means we are ready for some wind down time, and we are really looking forward to it. Zak is taking his inflatable kayak with us to Hawaii.. seen here..

It just so happens to fit in a suitcase, yet is heavy duty enough to take on class 5 rapids. Wish us luck on our baggage weight limit!!! ha ha.

Thanks for reading xx

Nonsan Strawberry Festival

2011-04-26T21:43:00.000+09:00

Earlier this month my friend April and I ventured to Nonsan to check out their Strawberry Festival! I am pretty sure that the strawberry festival is the only thing going for this city, and it is a ghost town the other 51 weekends of the year. However, it brings lots of attention to people in neighboring cities and they come out to try the Nonsan strawberries. It took us about 90 minutes to get there by train (Pyeongtaek to Nonsan Station) and then another 15 minute walk to the festival grounds, which I might add were geniously marked by high flying strawberry balloons!

Nonsan City

Strawberry festival flags they had hanging all over the city, we decided to follow them and ended up in circles. Ha ha.

This picture is a little crazy but on our walk to the festival we ran into some Korean women selling bunnies, ducks, dogs, roosters, and chickens..

Finally we found the mirage of strawberry balloons!

I love how in Korea they dress kindergarten students in yellow suits so they can stick together.

And this trip wouldn't be complete without a random monkey at the "petting zoo", which also included komodo dragons, donkeys, bears, and groundhogs.

What? Did you think I wasn't telling the truth?!? :o)

Mmmm sprinkles on Strawberries!

A large vat of soup!

We then learned that we could make our own strawberry shortcake!! I let April take the reigns on this one since she is an awesome cake decorator!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their week, I am definitely enjoying the warmer weather here in Korea. We are looking forward to a busy summer!!!

Out of hibernation!

2011-04-14T23:39:00.000+09:00

So now that winter is officially over here in Korea (longest winter of my life!) I can come out of hibernation and catch you all up on what we have been doing since the sun has come out. There has been a lot of bike riding around the city lately, and we have met some great friends who enjoy biking as well!

Here are some pictures of us biking through Pyeongtaek (the city we live in):

This is a lake we like to bike to, it is in an area of our city that is expanding.. surrounding us were about 30+ cranes building new high rises.. if you can believe it!

(Oops! Flat tire!)

(The tall high rises to the right are where we live!)

When we are done biking we usually hit up the local Baskin Robbins for some ice cream, or in this case the ice cream fondue!

This would be our biking gang; Andy, Tyler, Bobbie Jo, Zak, Me and April!

Oh and did I mention there is also some late night biking involved to get fried food?!

And the best way to cure cabin fever during the winter is going out for some drinks, here is a photo diary of our nights out locally and in Seoul... and oh yes, here in Korea you can pull the ice out of your beer and throw it at a wall for a chance to win another beer...

...and that is exactly what Zak did!

Drinking on the train.. one of our favorite past times..

Soju Bowl!!!!!!

Oh and Pip made some new friends as well! Here she is with Einstein and Vamp :)

Her best defense is kicking big dogs in the face, and well, its her only defense!

Another update soon! Thanks for reading

xxx

Two Years Ago Today..

2011-03-10T08:27:00.000+09:00

Zak and I made one of the biggest, yet easiest decisions of our life.. getting married. I can't even begin to say how happy I am to be able to share all of the moments that are on this blog, and many more, with each other. So here is to many more special moments, adventures, and years of happiness! I love you Zak Moreland!

*Happy Anniversary!*

Indoor theme parks and Korean theater shows!

2011-02-23T19:39:00.000+09:00

Earlier this month Zak and I decided to take a trip to "Lotte World" (pretty much everything in Korea is owned by Lotte.. even our apartments!) the world's largest indoor theme park! It is estimated that 8 million people visit Lotte World every year. I can see why, because it was below freezing outside and we were on the inside having fun on the roller coasters! Lotte World does have an outside portion with more thrilling rides, and we braved the cold for a few of them.

There were roller coasters going in and out of the walls, pharoah boats almost touching the ceiling and even an ice skating rink (which we did not attempt to do, due to the fact that the little 5 year old Korean speed skaters would have shown us up!). And this is me upside down on a ride..

All in all it was a very neat place to visit for a few hours, I would recommend not going on a weekend though if you can.. the lines can get verrrrrry long!

The weekend after visiting Lotte World we decided to go see a Korean theater show called "JUMP". It is a martial arts based comedy show, with very little talking so we were able to understand the whole show. I definitely recommend seeing this show if you are in Seoul and have 2 hours to spare. Not only were the stunts awesome but it had the laughs to back it up! But before we went to the show we walked through some market areas in Seoul, the one I am pictured in below is Namdaemun Market, I had to cover my purse's eyes as we ventured through the land of fake purses hehe...

Then we randomly found a giant digital screen on our walk to the theater...

And here we are with our best "JUMP" pose as we were heading in to see the show:

Thanks for reading

xxx

Hwaseong Fortress

2011-02-15T17:08:00.002+09:00

This blog should have been posted in January, but here it is now! :)

A few weeks ago we went to check out The Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. It is about a 45 minute drive from where we live and we brought Pip along for the hike! The interesting thing about this Fortress is that it contains a city on the inside, instead of protecting the land like I have seen with many other ancient landmarks. Korea sure knows how to utilize their space.

The Hwaseong Fortress was built in the late 18th century by King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty to honour and house the remains of his father Prince Sado, who had been murdered by being locked alive inside a rice chest by his own father King Yeongjo having failed to obey his command to commit suicide. (wikipedia)

And now for the photos:

We had to take our shoes off through parts of the Fortress that they are trying to preserve:

A peephole to Korea! This is looking at the city surrounding the Fortress:

Zak and Pip getting snowed on!

I don't know how many stairs we climbed this day, but it was definitely a lot to reach the top!

We all three got to ring the bell at the same time, you ring it three times, once for your parent's health, once for your family's good fortune, and once for yourself. It was pretty loud and Pip did not enjoy it as much as we did!

And finally King Jeongjo:

And something else interesting we saw as we were passing through the inner city was a car being steam washed! It gets so cold here that you don't get your car washed with water, but with steam instead.

Thanks for reading xxx

Times Square in Korea

2011-02-02T21:44:00.000+09:00

This past weekend Zak, Joe, and myself visited the Times Square in Yeongdeungpo. It is just south of the river in Seoul, and one train stop before Seoul Station. We haven't had the chance to visit "Times Square" yet (which ironically is not a square at all.. more like a group of 8 story buildings... but here in Korea you build UP not OUT!) and since we wanted to see the new movie "The Green Hornet" I knew that Yeongduengpo had a 4D theater to see it in. Probably the coolest thing about seeing movies in Korea is being able to see them in 4D. You have the water, wind, lazers, random punches in the back, etc. IT IS AWESOME. :)

When we got off the train in Yeongduengpo we had to walk a few blocks to get to Times Square, it was frigid cold and I didn't think about bringing an extra jacket layer over my thick sweater (silly me thinking I am in Florida). But when we entered the main building I discovered that apparently Times Square is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon...

I title this... how many people can you fit on an escalator? (Actually I need to photograph how many people can fit in an elevator.. you would be surprised!.. I have been in an elevator that wouldn't move due to having too much weight in it.)

Zak waiting in line at Smoothie King, it was so busy that you needed a pager.

OMG!! Auntie Anne's!!!!!! In Korea! This is the #1 thing I said that I missed from the states, a yummy soft pretzel from Auntie Anne's. Unfortunately I didn't eat one because I just had lunch, but I am totally going back to get one!!!!

Zak heading into the 4D theater!

After the movie we were heading out for some dinner and saw this neat statue..

And me walking to dinner (freezing my arse off)

And finally, here is our dinner (Joe I forgot what this was called please chime in in the comments and let me know the proper name!) It was pressure cooked chicken with noodles and vegetables, sooooo good:

Thanks for reading, we just visited the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, a blog to follow soon!!

xxxx

January in Korea = COLD.

2011-01-17T17:31:00.000+09:00

Every time I have heard someone describe the winters in Korea they would always say that I have to experience it to know what they mean by "bone chilling cold". It is the type of cold that will creep into any layer of clothing and attach itself to your body no matter how hard you try to keep it out! Which is why today I am sitting happily inside our warm apartment typing this blog :)

Over this past weekend I have learned that water which is spraying from a faucet in the laundry room in every direction can in fact freeze in less than an hour. I spent all yesterday listening to icicles falling from the ceiling in our defrosting laundry room because somehow our Korean rigged washing machine hose decided to break loose. It was such a lovely thing to wake up to, especially because we just thought the noise was our neighbors taking a loud shower. :X

Luckily we had a friend of Zak's over this weekend who is Korean and he helped us accomplish all the things we have had trouble doing due to the language barrier. We managed to fix our washer in the right way this time, so hopefully we wont have any more water explosions. Joe (aka Zak's friend) also helped Zak get his Korean Immigration card which allows us to buy things online, since most Korean websites request a foreign ID number to purchase items like movie tickets, train tickets, pizza, etc. Joe also informed us of the great "bundle" deals Korea has for internet/cable/phone but we needed a Korean bank account to take advantage of the deal since they need direct deposit, so we signed up with the bank right downstairs in our building (how convenient!) So now we have digital cable with movie packages, high speed internet, and an internet phone all for a whopping 45,000KRW (about $40) woo hoo!

Here is a photo of Joe, Zak and Pip when we were out looking for parts to hook up the washing machine:

Last night a bunch of friends and Zak's co-workers headed up to Seoul to enjoy some great Mexican food at On the Border. It was definitely worth the trip and the margaritas were aweeeeesome!

Here is one of me all bundled up in the negative degree weather outside of Seoul Station:

And the night ended with a yummy Soju Bowl:

So all is great in Korea-land, we are enjoying the fact that we don't have to move anytime soon.. considering we have moved every 6 months for the past 3 years. But I am definitely ready for it to warm up around here!!!

I will leave you with some awesome cell phone pictures that I uploaded that have been taken at various moments in the past 6 months:

Trying on some native wear at the Korean/American Friendship Festival

Some more shots of the Korean/American Friendship Festival

Crazy Crepes! I think this had tiramisu and ice cream in it

I was taking advantage of Zak while he was still recovering from his surgeries he he

This was some sort of Korean American Idol contest at the I'Park Mall in Seoul

Thanks for reading!!! xxx

Ringing in 2011!!

2011-01-01T14:11:00.002+09:00

It is already the new year here in South Korea, and as I sit here watching the Times Square NYE bash I figured I would share some photos from our New Years Eve!! This year Zak and I decided to make a hat and jacket with EL (electroluminescent) wire and go out with our friends to celebrate! This wire is similar to the wire used in the outfits of the new movie "Tron". Its pretty neat, and lasts quite a long time. We got a lot of "DUDE YOUR JACKET IS AWESOME!!!!1111" and "ITS TRON" by people who were enjoying their NYE as well ;) The Korean women were the most interested in what we were wearing though and thought it was so neat!

Hold please- Times Square countdown...

And Happy New Year to the East Coast!

Ok on to the pictures:

Myself and some friends.. doing what everyone does best here in Korea-land... drinking!

Zak's NYE Jacket! It flashed between blue and red!

And a NYE Kiss!!! <3

******** HAPPY 2011 TO EVERYONE ACROSS THE WORLD! *********

Happy Holidays from the Moreland's!

2010-12-24T17:05:00.001+09:00

So this past week Zak and I decided to embark on a mission... it was tough.. ups and downs.. cracks and crashes, hot moments, sticky moments.. you name it we went through it.

The mission sounded easy, but let me tell you.. making a ginger bread house from scratch is far from it. LOL

So here it is,

MISSION: GINGER BREAD HOUSE

There you have it, the 2010 Moreland Gingerbread house!!

And a picture of our festive living room...

Happy Holidays!! Thanks for reading xxx

Birthday Shenanigans!

2010-12-10T20:09:00.001+09:00

So another birthday has passed for myself, now that I am 22 (or the deuce deuce as Zak calls it) and have successfully had a hang over on most weekends while 21.. it has dawned on me that well... I am 22 now. What do 22 year olds do? Must I sophisticate my wine palette? No more tequila shots?!

This is the first birthday that I have had that didn't include a countdown.. it just kind of came and went. Does this mean that I am getting *gasp* OLD? But no matter how old I get I can count on one thing, and that is being able to spend it with my husband.. whether he is in the same country as me or not, he always makes my birthday's memorable.

On my birthday weekend this year we decided to use some of our million billion gazillion Hilton points and book a room at the Millennium Hilton in Seoul. When we got to the Hilton I was so amazed with all of their beautiful holiday arrangements! This hotel was 5 stars in my book. After checking in and heading up to our room, we put the Dom Perignon on some ice and made our way to the executive lounge where we were greeted with appetizers and drinks, free of charge! (It pays to be a Diamond member!!!)

Me in our hotel room! :)

After many lovely drinks in the lounge and hours of gazing out the window looking at beautiful Seoul Tower, it was time for dinner! The Millenium Hilton had about 5 restaurants, this place was more like a resort. We chose a wonderful French restaurant to eat at, where I had a serving of Monkfish, and Zak had Korea's version of Kobe Beef. We snapped a photo by the beautiful tree after dinner:

After dinner we went back to pop open our bottle of champagne!! I (understandably) after already enjoying happy hour and wine with dinner.. hit the pillow after only a glass! Here are some pictures:

(The only picture I got of Zak, and of coarse he is always goofin off! lol)

So onto the next day, my actual birthday. We set out to find the duty free shop hoping to get some items tax free since we are foreigners.. but apparently you have to have a plane ticket back home to actually receive the items because they are shipped to your gate before you board the plane. Hmph. So feeling a bit let down after that discovery we walked to the main level of this huge mall, only to find the exact store we tried to buy from up stairs right next to us! YAY! Only this time we had to pay taxes and the prices were jacked up from the products being imported.. but all is well because I am now the proud owner of a new set of black onyx earrings and toggle bracelet from Tiffany & Co. I told you my husband is the best didn't I?!

We walked around Apgujeong did a little more shopping, then went out to eat at TGI Friday's. Disappointedly there were no potato skins or fried green beans on the menu. :( The TGI Friday's in the states is definitely much better than what is offered in Korea. We did pass by an "On the Border" Mexican restaurant that landed in Korea, so we will have to try that one out soon and see if it is comparable to the one in the states.

Zak at TGI Friday's

So there you have it, my birthday in a nutshell. I had an awesome time, and am really thankful for being able to spend it with Zak. I am one lucky girl to have such a loving husband.

Thanks for reading!

PS> Here is a picture of Zak getting kicked in the face by Kung Fu Panda!

Holiday season in South Korea!

2010-11-30T23:38:00.003+09:00

Its that time of year again and I am more excited than usual about it this year!!! Just being able to be together, have a nice home, and live in such an awesome country. This has definitely been a great year for us.. excluding Zak's time in the hospital..!

Thanksgiving was spent with friends, and although North Korea tried to ruin it, our plans worked out and we had a great time. I have been wanting to put up the tree since..um.. the beginning of November but Zak made me hold off until after Thanksgiving and im glad he did. Often times people forget about Thanksgiving and move right into Christmas. So the day after Thanksgiving our tree went up!!! :) We haven't had it up in two years and every time I look at it I get such a warm feeling inside.

So lets rewind a bit to the weekend before Thanksgiving. We met up with our friends in Seoul and shopped till we dropped! Myeongdong is a whole shopping district with everything from shoe stores, clothing stores (even stores like H&M, Forever 21, and Zara!) By far my favorite part was discovering that they had a Lush store. I have never been happier to set my eyes on bath bombs and body wash! :) By about 4pm Myeongdong gets VERY crowded, when exiting a store you are in heel to toe walking.. its like black friday madness every day of the week!!

Here are some pictures we captured along the way!

Zak decided to try on some native wear...

(By far the funniest picture of Zak that I have!! Every time I look at it, it makes me laugh!)

And then came the arcade.. Korean arcades are far better than American!

And of coarse.. Zak has to beat my high score ;)

The mall has a beautiful Christmas display outside, Koreans LOVE the holidays just as much as I do!!!!!

So in all we have had a great week, still pretty busy learning the Korean language.. distinguishing between the "proper" way and the "known" way to speak.

On another note.. our dog Pip is still a a crazy nut. She was spayed about a month ago and is slowly coming out of her "mothering" stage. We have put away most of her toys for now because she just protects them to much and I can tell she is unhappy feeling like she has to watch over them. I don't know where she found my cat ear headband from Halloween.. but she did.. and its fuzzy.. so naturally she thought it was her baby..

I hope you have a great week! We are spending next weekend at the Hilton Millennium in Seoul for my birthday, I am so looking forward to it and will take plenty of picture to share!

Thanks for reading xxx

Finding the Beach in Korea!

2010-11-17T12:06:00.002+09:00

I have been missing the water lately, and living on a peninsula I knew the beach couldn't be that far away! Zak and I found a strip of national beaches about an hour or so away, and with Pip in tow we headed out. The drive was not bad on the way there, but it is easy to want to drive fast on Korean highways and they have strategically placed speed detectors along the roads. So without a handy GPS that locates all the radars for us, we continuously speed up and slow down when I yell "CHECK YO' SPEED!" You see, in Korea no one really follows traffic laws, they are just a guide.. so if you drive slow you will get rear ended or get stuck behind the man driving a plow while everyone else is overtaking you... needless to say the purchase of a GPS is in our near future. :)

Upon arriving to where our directions landed us, we quickly deduced that we were in some sort of a fisherman's wharf/ boat dock.. not the beach! But we did walk out on the sea wall and get a beautiful view!

(Click to enlarge panoramic)

After leaving the first stop we drove a bit further north and the road ended at the beautiful Cheongpodae Beach. It was so cold out by the sea, I think in the low 40s with a nice wind chill! Pip was very confused as to what she was stepping on and decided to lick the sand to get a closer investigation... hmm not so tasty?? Here are some pictures from the beach!

I will definitely be visiting this beach again once the weather warms up!!! On our way home we thought all was swell, until we hit the dreaded traffic. Our 1 1/2 hour drive turned into 4 hours of stop and go! It was terrible, but we did get a few laughs when we saw vendors set up all along the route selling beer and food!

Next week is Thanksgiving!!! YUMMMMO! Hope everyone enjoys their week!

PS. Want a custom coat like Pip's for your pup? Visit WarmWags , I highly recommend them for big dogs or small!

Celebrating Zak's Birthday!

2010-11-03T16:20:00.001+09:00

So this past Monday my wonderful husband turned 26! I am so thankful that he is healthy and we are enjoying our life, every time a birthday rolls around you can't help but think what you were doing this time last year. We were living in Pennsylvania in Keith and Julia's basement and Zak was getting ready to unexpectedly head to Afghanistan for the first time as a civilian. I remember thinking and wondering if we were ever going to make it out to Korea, and the thought of it just seemed surreal. And now, here we are in Korea! Most people I have met do not like it here in Korea, but Zak and I had a choice to come and we don't regret that choice at all. I grew up knowing that there was more to the world than the 48 contiguous states (and the other two.. as well) lol. I am so happy to share my love of traveling with someone who enjoys it just as much as I do. My grandma told me that when you look back on life you don't want to think "We should have done that" but rather "Maybe we shouldn't have done that!" ha ha. If anyone reading this blog ever has an opportunity to travel and experience a world outside of your own, I would definitely take that opportunity and enjoy it. Don't waste your time worrying about what if's, just do it!

Now on to Zak's Birthday... ! For a few weeks now Zak has been wanting to try making a quiche, and what better time to dirty up the kitchen than your birthday. We now call this, the birthday quiche:

It was filled with egg, cheese, potato, bacon and onions! YUM!

Later on in the evening I surprised Zak with an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins! I love the Korean Baskin Robbins so much more than the ones in the states. They get very creative with their flavors and cakes!

The Panda cake was too cool to pass up!

So in all I think Zak had a pretty delicious birthday! Now we are getting ready for the holiday's and the weather is definitely starting to cool down here on the peninsula! Thanks for reading! :)

2010 Inaugural Korean Grand Prix!

2010-10-29T16:12:00.004+09:00

This past weekend Zak and I had the opportunity to attend the first ever Korean Grand Prix. We had been looking into going before we even got to Korea, Zak is a big fan! For some reason life got in the way and we never got the tickets in advance (you know..hospital visits and stuff...) so by the time we realized the race was right around the corner..literally like a week out.. we checked the ticket prices and they were about 975,000krw (roughly $865) each. There was no way I was going to put out almost 2 grand, but luckily I had seen the USO advertising a trip to the F1 race and to my surprise the tickets including transportation, and seats in the grand stand were only $95 each! What a great deal, and big props to the USO for that!

So the day of the race Zak and I woke up very early to head on post and get to the bus that took us down south to the Korean International Circuit in Yeongnam. This trip was supposed to be 4 hours each way but you add in the traffic of over 170,000 people attending the race it was easily 12 hours round trip... not the ideal situation but hey..$95 dollars people! ;)

This was my first ever visit to a race track of any kind, and I am definitely a fan of Formula 1 racing now! We were rooting for the Brits driving the McLarens, Button and Hamilton. Here are a few photos of us arriving at the race track:

And all the drivers arriving to the pit area:

I was also able to get some footage of the opening ceremony:

The race had a delay due to the rainy weather, and then went on to have about 20 safety laps, and finally the race began! There were a lot of wrecks on this track, which was pretty intense. We had our fingers crossed that our guys would wreck and they didn't! Here is a photo of my man Lewis Hamilton being pushed to his starting block:

Zak enjoying the race:

With a sudden turn of events the Ferrari team ended up winning and Hamilton came in second, which we thought was pretty awesome considering a lot of cars didn't even finish!

Here is a photo of the the awards ceremony and of me representing my roots:

We had an awesome time and can't wait to go again next year!

A crazy trip to the zoo!

2010-10-19T15:13:00.001+09:00

Zak, myself, and one of his friends Ben decided to take a trip to the Zoo, and we all agreed that this was by far the BEST Zoo we have ever been to! The zoo was just south of Seoul, and pretty tricky to get to by train (meaning we would have had to take a train to Seoul and then had back south on a subway to get there) so we decided to drive! It is not too difficult to find your way around Korea with a car, you just tend to get stuck in a lot of traffic.. I mean the whole country is the size of Indiana and there are over 48.6 million people living here.. your bound to get stuck somewhere! We managed to get to the zoo in a little over an hour, which wasnt bad at all. Upon entering we quickly realized that this is a HUGE zoo!

It housed every animal imaginable even the fennec fox whom we concluded is a close relative to Pip... (notice the size comparison in the ears.. LOL)

The primate exhibit was my favorite, these are not your average orangutans and baboons!

Unlike America, Koreans find it extremely entertaining to feed the animals. And I had to agree that it is pretty funny seeing monkeys catch shrimp fries! Every animal was up and moving around as opposed to be lethargic, and they all gave quite a show! Somehow these monkey's got a hold of a mylar balloon and were playing 'monkey in the middle' with it...

Zak and Ben's favorite exhibit were the Kangaroo's. We were able to go inside the pen and feed them and pet them!! Here is Zak while we were waiting for the Kangaroo pen to open up, can you sense his excitement? LOL

Ben had a goal to hug a Kangaroo, and im pretty sure he succeeded. Although it was not photographed we witnessed him hugging not one but two kangaroos! Here is one of him feeding a 'roo!

And me:

After walking around the Zoo and eating waffles filled with jam we stumbled up the bear show.. apparently Korean's are all about training bears to do tricks!

And for the grand finale: A crazy monkey with a mohawk in the nursery:

Thanks for reading!

Hiking Trip in Pyeongtaek!

2010-10-12T23:03:00.001+09:00

This past weekend Zak and I met up with our friends Brett and Kathy and went on our first hiking adventure in Korea! We went to Buraksan Park in Songtan. Throughout Korea there are many areas to hike, and most are set up with work out equipment in different areas.. as you will see in our photos. We had the motivation of an all you can eat meat buffet at the end of the hike! Score! Here are some pictures:

Zak on a workout machine before we started our hike!

And Brett doing the same... lol

While hiking in Korea you will find these pile of rocks all along the trail. You try to stack the rocks as high as you can without letting them fall! We saw some very high stacks along the way!

A view from one of our stops

Zak doing his famous "K Kick" lol

Brett and Kathy hiking.. see the cool workout equipment?

And a video to show you how to use the equipment.. please note the awesome stretch being demonstrated by our fellow Korean hiker..

Thanks for reading! ;)

Pip's first bike ride.. and house hold goods! YAY!

2010-10-03T12:33:00.000+09:00

Zak and I have been super busy lately! I feel like I have been doing school work non-stop...well... because I have been. And Zak is busy with his crazy work schedule at the moment. We did however manage to find time to take our little Pip on a bike ride with us down by the river here in Pyeongtaek. I wasn't sure how she would react to being put into a basket on my bike, but she seemed ok with it and I felt comfortable enough to bring her with us. It was such a beautiful day and the weather has cooled down so much. I fear that before I know it it will be snowing! Here is a picture of Pip enjoying her ride:

And Zak while we were taking a break:

I am so happy to announce that Zak and I are no longer sleeping on the couch! Our house hold goods have arrived!! It has been such a mess the past couple of days but we had to kick it into high gear because Zak invited some friends over for the weekend, and I wanted our home to be presentable! I didn't think we could do it judging by the disaster we started with:

But we did! Our friends came over and we enjoyed lots of food, drinks, and played on our Playstation Move. Take a look at how pizza delivery boxes come in Korea! Ribbons and all!

I still have a lot of work to do sorting out the bedroom and all of our clothes, but it will get done and it is soooo nice to have everything here.

I have a mission this month, to figure out what to do on Zak's birthday! He said all he wants is for me to take him somewhere he hasn't been to before in Korea, so I need to get creative! His birthday is November 1st, so I have a few weeks to decide.

Did I mention that I am soooo excited that the holiday's are right around the corner? I am currently burning my spiced pumpkin candles mmmmm they smell so good!

Happy Chuseok!

2010-09-19T18:02:00.000+09:00

Fall is right around the corner, and it is time to celebrate Chuseok! Chuseok is a holiday here in Korea where families get together and share their great harvest. Many Koreans pay respect to their great ancestors during the Chuseok Festival, and it lasts for 3 days. It is similar to our Thanksgiving. People also take this opportunity to go on a vacation, I pulled up a picture of what we can expect the roads to look like into this weekend:

Needless to say, Zak and I don't plan on traveling.

However we will be studying hard for our Korean driver's license because our car has arrived in Korea, it is in Seoul now waiting for us to come pick it up! After we get our licenses of coarse...

Last weekend Zak and I stumbled upon a street festival in Songtan, there was lots of games, chicken on stick, cross dressing singers, and soju! Here are some pictures:

(I think I might have scared Spongebob!)

Here is Zak rocking out to the live band..

I hope your speakers were down, Zak's got one hell of a yeti yell.

We had a great night, and its even better when you know you have a little dog to come home to at night! :) I will leave you with a video of Pip:

Hope everyone enjoys their last few days of Summer, it's Fall on Wednesday! Woo hoo!

The Glowing Toilet

2010-09-12T22:52:00.001+09:00

Another exciting day in the Moreland household! We decided to open up a box that came with out apartment that has been sitting in an empty bedroom for the past month. When opening the box we found user manuals to just about everything in our house. Thank goodness the Korean's love to put picture-grams with everything because I wouldn't know how to decode these user manuals without them. Underneath the user manuals we discovered about 10 remote controls! So we spent the rest of the evening walking around the house with every remote to see what it turned on, the lights, the heater, the camera, the food washer, the UV sanitizer, the air conditioner, and the toilet...wait.. what? A remote for our toilet?! It is not just a remote for the toilet, it is a remote to turn the light on in our toilet. I have no idea what the purpose of this infrared light in our toilet is, Zak thinks it to keep your bum warm. So in true Moreland nature I felt the need to document this discovery...

Does anyone else have a glowing toilet? Do YOU know what its used for?!

Another discovery, the "Soju Kettle". We went out to go play pool with some friends last night and he recommended that we try a soju kettle. Usually when you get a soju drink there are many flavors to choose from, but the soju kettle has one flavor...original. It ended up tasting like lime kool-aid. Here is a photo of our kettle...

I think we had about 3 kettles, and by the time the lady selling things came around I was pretty toasted. You see, here in Korea, they get you when you are at your weakest. A woman wearing a necklace that states she is deaf holds up a sign that says "Thank You, I Love You" and asks me to buy something. This is what I chose on this particular evening:

(elephants under a palm tree)

Just another Korean bar trinket to add to the collection.

Thanks for reading, you are awesome.

P.S. Does your McDonalds do delivery?

(Mine does) :-P

Pip is finally in her new home! (Video Heavy!)

2010-09-08T18:17:00.000+09:00

Great news! The typhoon was just a windy thunderstorm, I am glad it wasn't any worse! The worst it did to us was keep us up all night from the whistling coming through our utility closet. There is supposed to be another one headed this way in a day or two but I am pretty sure thats going to be south of us. Here is a picture of the typhoon at about 5am:

And a video of this weak little storm:

On Sunday, Zak and I traveled to Gumi which is about 2 1/2 hours south of us by train. In Gumi we met Pip's foster/rescue mom and we united with the new addition to our family! Pip didn't really seem to mind being handed off to strangers, I think she thought we were just taking her for a walk! We had a little bit of time before our train home so we went and looked around Gumi with Pip. People in Korea love to pet dogs that are being walked, and Pip is no exception. She does get a lot of laughs for her big ears though! Here are some pictures and videos (sorry I have to post them individually, having issues with our editing software! ) of Pip's first day here:

Video of Pip's first walk:

Waiting at the train station (it was so hot!)

Pip really wants out of her carrier:

Pip didn't want to sit still in her carrier, so we let her out so she could see what was going on!

The best thing about the ride home was that we were able to sit first class! There is so much more room, its quiet, and there is no "standing room". Standing room= oversold tickets, tickets are still sold for the train ride even if there are no more seats left so there are people standing over your shoulder most of the time in the economy cabs.

And finally, Pip for the first time in our apartment:

Sorry for so many different videos! Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Cross your fingers that we get our house hold goods in the next two weeks!

Thanks for reading!

Typhoon Kompasu is coming!

2010-09-01T14:12:00.001+09:00

Time to stock up on water and get all my laundry done! I had no idea there was a Typhoon in the forecast until my husband's doctor called to inform me that he needs to get to the clinic ASAP since it will be shut down for a few days and his wound needs to get checked out! (Thanks Dr. Kim! Without you I would be wondering the streets of Korea tomorrow during a Cat 3 Typhoon!)

(We are where the red square is)

See you on the other side of the storm, with hopefully no damage to report! Right about now I am wishing we didn't take the apartment on the 10th floor of the tallest building in our city. (Actually I love this place, but its going to suck to use the stairs if the elevator is out of service!)

Ciao!

Want to go on a Korean Rail ride?

2010-08-30T14:41:00.000+09:00

Zak and I decided we would take you all along on our subway ride to a neighboring city! Are you excited or what! :-P We really love living right next to the train station, it has been very convenient! Whats even more convenient are these cards called "T-Money Cards" that you can refill with Won (the Korean dollar) and use on just about anything, cabs, trains, buses, pay phones, even soda machines! You can get them in pretty much any design or character you want, mine is Hello Kitty, because I have let the little girl out in me while living in Asia and cannot help but think anything Hello Kitty is cute and I must have it. So here it is, your first "Korail" experience:

I just love how the rain and humidity makes my hair look.

Another college semester has begun for me, at least here in Korea I get to do some face to face classes and can have a little break from taking all of my classes online. Zak decided that he wants to take part in my Korean class at my college starting in October, I am really looking forward to that!

Another thing I love about Korea.. Bubble Tea...

We are off to get Pip in a few days, I can't wait to meet her! I hope everyone has a great week.

A night in Seoul!

2010-08-23T13:48:00.000+09:00

Let me preface this blog by saying that there will be a medical update at the end, and when I say that the picture is absolutely not for the squeamish I-mean-it. Don't click it if you can't handle blood ... and an incision that has exposed all layers of the dermis, right down to the muscle. Seriously.

On to non gut wrenching adventures now..

Zak and I took a trip to Seoul this weekend, it was great! We started off our trip by going to a hotel that Zak used to frequent when he stayed in Seoul a few years ago, since we had our back packs full of overnight things we wanted to drop them off before we started adventuring. Thats how we would have liked it to go anyways.. After being denied by about 8 hotels (why we were denied by so many I still have no idea) we decided to just skip that mission and head to the Coex Mall with back packs in tow. This was by far the busiest mall I have ever been to in my entire life! I got excited when I saw a familiar store on the mall map, and when I finally found my American store (Abercrombie and Fitch) I realized that the store was actually just one shelf of A&F product in a large department store, sad face. So then I ventured into a Korean store, similar to Forever 21 and crossed my fingers that I could find something to fit me! (In Korea a size M is equivalent to an American size XS!) I almost passed out when I saw a size large shirt, I knew I had a chance! It is actually great to be a bigger size in Korea because most of that clothing gets put on the 50% off shelf. I did score some great new tops!

Zak didn't get anything from the Coex Mall, it was just way too busy to keep shopping comfortably so next we headed to the Kimchi Museum! I didn't realize there were so many types of Kimchi! Here are a few photos from the Museum:

Little Koreans making little Kimchi!

Kimchi cures cancer... you didn't know?

Zak barely fit in the exhibit!

After we left the mall we got on the subway and headed to Itaewon to meet up with a friend from Texas! It was great to see a familiar face in Korea! Faun took us to a bar called the "Bungalow" where we sat on swings and the floor was covered in sand, like a beach. We had a few drinks, met some of her friends, ordered ka-bobs that came with hot dogs on the end..

After Bungalow we went down to what I named the Seoul river walk. It is a man made stream that has fountains and a lazer light show! Mostly everyone was interested in the Korean street performer:

And a blurry picture of Zak and I:

By the end of the night, Zak was exhausted and so was I we finally found a hotel in Itaewon and got some sleep! We were going to do some more sight see-ing the next day, but due to Zak's medical issues, we decided it would be best to not over do it and just go home. (See mom's we listen!)

Now on to the juicy stuff (literally) yuck, I can't believe I just said that. Zak went for his post op check up a few days ago, and low and behold there is another complication. I feel so bad for Zak to have to endure all of this, but he assures me that it is not as bad as I think it is! lol So the doctor realizes that Zak has a seroma underneath the lower 1/3 of his incision. A seroma is a build up of fluid in an empty space that basically just keeps killing flesh and draining forever if it is not fixed. So apparently the only way to fix a seroma is to re-open the wound. There we were, just had eaten lunch, and the doctor whips out his medical scissors and starts cutting Zak open. I felt the color drain from my face and could no longer watch this process. The doctor cut about 2-3 inches wide and it opened up the cavity which is about an inch or so deep. We have to keep this cavity packed with gauze until it heals from the bottom up, which will take a few weeks. Like I said before, please do not click the picture if you do not think you can handle it..

(If you said YUCK or OMG to this one dont click the next)

To see more picture from our night in Seoul, click here.

We are adopting Pip!

2010-08-14T21:30:00.002+09:00

Who is Pip you ask? Pip is a rescued puppy that came from a puppy farm here in Korea. She has been fostered for about 5 months and at the end of this month she will be our new puppy! We (mostly me) are so excited!!! I have gone back and forth for over the past year about wanting an animal, and while it would have been nice, our life just wasn't matched to have a pet. Now that we are settling down in Korea for a few years we have more time on our hands to take after one! Most of the streets here in our city have pet stores on them, and while they are just too cute for words staring at me in through the windows with their beady little puppy eyes, I couldn't help but think about all the puppies in the shelters here that needed homes too. Here are a few photos of Pip that I got from her foster mom:

(Apparently this is Pip's favorite toy donut and she goes crazy over it!)

Ok ok enough with the cute little big eared puppy...

Zak is feeling much better this week! He is still having trouble getting around, but overall I think his health is improving every day. His large incision is having some issues with leaking plasma, but we were assured that this is normal, his post op appointment is on Wednesday so we will see what needs to be done about that situation then. We are crossing our fingers that he will be able to go back to work late next week, I know he is getting so antsy sitting around the house all day. Without all of our things here it can get pretty boring, all we have to do is watch movies on the computer and online shop... but hey, im not complaining.. I am so happy to finally be in Korea!

Another piece of good news is that we finally got word that Zak is released from his re-call back into active duty. Whew. It sure would have sucked for him to go to Iraq after all of this happened to him. We also had our dryer repaired that I broke, and now have that and the washer hooked up to a 110v transformer so we don't have any more voltage issues. Now the only issue we have is a leaky faucet which should be taken care of tomorrow with some handy plumbers tape. Since Zak has been out of service I have become quite the handy woman. :)

Thats all for now, hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Lots of Love xxx

A week long trip to the hospital

2010-08-07T17:55:00.010+09:00

As much of you know, from my emails and Facebook posts, Zak has been in the hospital for the past week. Thankfully he was released yesterday and is now relaxing at home on the couch. He went to the emergency room when we suspected that his appendix was rupturing, and 8 hours later they confirmed that for us. Soon after he was diagnosed he headed into surgery where they discovered that his appendix had already ruptured. An appendectomy is a pretty routine procedure, and most people can even go home the next day. But when you have a ruptured appendix it can be life threatening due to the toxic fluid being released into your body. His first surgery went well for 48 hours until he started to bleed out of one of his incisions. (it was laproscopic so he had three small incisions) They tried to patch him up with gauze, but it was pretty much like a geyser coming out of his abdomen. So he was again admitted into surgery. This time it was not so easy to find the problem so they had to make a very large vertical incision to see everything that was going on inside his abdomen. They fixed his clotting issue, and cleaned him out. It was very scary for the first 48 hours following his second surgery, we all wondered and hoped that nothing else would go wrong. He was released yesterday (Friday) and I think he is much more comfortable at home! Recovery is going well, we even walked around the city a bit today. He wanted me to post a picture so he could give everyone a thumbs up.. I warn you he looks a bit bruised and battered.

And for those of you interested in what his scar looks like... Click on the censored photo below to link to the up-close photo.

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone, he really is feeling much better.

While Zak was in the hospital I was in charge of moving into the apartment, getting the couch, washer and dryer delivered and hooked up. Everything went well, and I love our new couch!

It is actually dark brown but it looks black in the photos.

The washer and dryer are brand new, but they are 110V and the hook up in the apartment is 220V. So silly me- I thought you could just use and adapter and everything would work. Nope. Wrong. I am pretty sure the dryer is ka-put. We shall find out when Zak is well enough and he can inspect it! I couldn't find the hot water switch all week so I was taking cold showers and hoping for the best, but then I found the plug to the hot water heater... woo hoo! I am so happy to have hot showers again. :) Not much more to update, didn't do much traveling around Korea this week besides going back and forth to the hospital. Take care everyone, have a great weekend and week to follow!

We signed a lease, and caught the "crud"...

2010-07-30T15:58:00.000+09:00

This week Zak and I decided to venture into Suwon, Zak had never been there before, and obviously neither had I. We took the metro and it only took us about 30 minutes to get there. The station in Suwon is like the station in Pyeongtaek, it is a giant mall! But the one in Suwon also has an underground mall. We looked around the mall (AK Plaza) and I found the holy grail of make up! I was so convinced that Korea did not have any brands of make up that I am used to using, but little did I know it was all hiding in this mall. :) As we were walking through another level, we spotted some odd "art"... if you can call it that? Apparently someone has a fascination with making dead bugs smoke cigarettes and battle with each other...

And me with an alligator made out of scraps:

After we shopped around there a bit we went outside of the station and starting looking around at all the stores in Suwon. We were pretty hungry at this point and decided to go to a Korean BBQ, where you do the BBQ'ing yourself. They just give you a bunch of meat and a hot stone, and your supposed to know what to do with the rest! We winged it by watching what everyone else was doing, and must not have been doing it right because a waitress came and re-arranged the whole thing for us! Here is a picture of Zak while we were BBQ'ing:

After we ate I went into a beauty store that I had scoped out before we had dinner. Upon entering I was handed a basket of free goodies such as lotion, face wash, and ICE CREAM! And I also ended up buying some more face lotion.. and got more free samples! I love Korea!

Some time between then and now Zak and I caught the dreaded Korean crud. It is known that most countries have different organisms and germs hanging around and we were bound to be plagued by them at some point no matter how much we used germ killers. It really is not fun to describe how we are feeling, but I think we are getting better... until we meet up with some new germies.

On a better note, we signed our lease for an apartment! It was quite a process, being that our realtor and land lord are Korean. Our realtor speaks broken english, and the land lord doesnt speak a bit of it. We had to do negotiations with them and then go on Camp Humphreys with them and sign the lease with the housing office. Im happy with the way it turned out, since we have such a nice place! The only expense we need to cover is our cable and internet. We will be moving in this weekend, our first night will be on Monday. Since we have none of our house hold goods yet, we will be sleeping on our new sectional until some time in September, hopefully earlier! But I would rather be in our "home" than in a hotel, and I don't mind sofa sleeping. :) Here are some pictures of the new place, they aren't very good... but they will suffice until I can do a video walk through for everyone!

I forgot to take pictures of the master bedroom, and the two other rooms that will be our workout room and office. After we move in I will post the walk through video! :) Have a great weekend everyone!

A week's review of Korea

2010-07-25T15:48:00.000+09:00

I think this has been the longest week of my life! Between all the jet lag and adventuring around Korea we were more than ready for a lazy Sunday! Earlier in the week I said how Zak and I discovered the great shopping mall in the Pyeongtaek metro station, but failed to mention the awesome pizza we had at the Pizza Hut here in Korea. They have an American menu and a Korean menu, and the pizza's can get a little crazy! (Im talkin' sweet potatoes crazy) So we went kind of low key and ordered their version of a Hawaiian Pizza, which comes with awesome cheesy fondue bites as crust! You rip off these sweet potato and cheese filled bites and dip them into a bowl of cheese fondue.... they are delicious! Here is a picture so you can get an idea of what I am describing:

Later in the week we decided to make a trip into Seoul, well Yongsan actually but we were basically in Seoul. We visited the tallest mall I had ever been to, I think it was about 8 stories tall. We rode an express train which only took about 45 minutes, as opposed to taking the metro which would have taken us well over 2 hours because of all the stops. It is 4,500 won (equivalent to about $4) to ride the express train into Seoul, so it is well worth it! Here I am on my first train ride!

And this one is of me in the center of the mall where it is all outdoors, it kind of looks like I am on a ship:

We picked up a few things at the mall, and I quickly realized that I don't fit in most Korean clothing.. due to the hips my mother blessed me with! lol But we had fun nonetheless and also ate some grrrrrrrrreat sushi! I still can't get over how inexpensive food is here.

On to other things- Korea has a store called "Skin Food" meaning food for your skin, lotions, face wash, make up, etc. Zak and I decided to pick up some face masks to see what all the hype was about, and here is my detailed review/demonstration... enjoy!

Haha, pretty crazy huh? And while my skin did feel rehydrated by the "Alaskan glacier water" that is supposedly in this product, I don't think I will be buying it again because it felt as though I had a jellyfish on my face.

Yesterday we were invited to go to Zak's co-worker, Brett's home to have dinner and go out. Brett and his wife Kathy are great, and we also met up with another one of Zak's co-workers named Danny. After munching on some turkey and having a few pre-game beers we headed out for our first night on the town! Korean clubs/bars are a bit different than American bars but are still just as much fun! The main beer here which is served in all bars is called "OB" and tastes like Miller Lite to me. And all bars have Soju mixed with different flavors depending on where you are. We tried just about every flavor last night and are paying for it today! Here is a picture of Zak breakin' it down on the dance floor:

And me enjoying some Soju Slush! (It is VERY humid in Korea so please excuse my mop of hair going every direction)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, much love to you all xxx

We are in Korea!

2010-07-19T20:42:00.000+09:00

Yay! We finally made it to Korea! I am so excited to share some of the pictures we have gotten on our first day. Traveling was to be expected....long! I was so happy to get off the flight. We had the best service ever on Asiana Airlines, even though we sat coach I felt like we were in first class. You know, the steam towels, great food, slippers...etc. Here is a picture of Zak and I leaving the hotel on our way to the airport!

And one of me before we went to our gate:

Here is the plane we were on to Korea, I think it looks like a whale with that hump on the top:

So after we landed and went through customs, we were greeted with a man look for "Jack and Nikky" (pronounced NEE-KEE) The ride from the airport to our hotel was a bit long as well and Zak and I didn't get much sleep on the airplane.. well none actually.. so we were fighting to stay awake during our taxi ride. It is weird to not tip anyone in Korea, and they are all about customer service, more so than the American's who work in customer service that get tipped. Our hotel is nice, they have a great breakfast and free laundry service... but the toilet is a bit weird, it has lots of buttons... and the shower has eight shower heads...yes, eight. After we got some rest we woke up this morning ready to go walk around Osan (where our hotel is) and Pyongtaek (where Zak will be working). Here we are in Osan:

We took the train into Pyongtaek, and when we got out of the train station Zak had thought we were in the wrong place but quickly realized we weren't.. there has just been so much built up in the last 3 years to recognize what he remembered. The have a huge shopping mall in the Pyongtaek train station, its 6-7 floors with a movie theater and pool on top. Here is a picture of Zak playing with a claw machine in Pyongtaek:

(They have these everywhere)

So we had a pretty successful first day in Korea, I have learned how to say "hello" and "thank you" and I have also learned how to use the money (won) here. Off to conquer some more jet lag....

Annnnnd we are off!

2010-07-18T01:39:00.000+09:00

In a few minutes we will be checking out of our hotel and checking in for a flight that will begin the next four years of exciting adventures in Korea. Thanks to everyone who has helped us out in the past year while we were preparing for this move. We hope that we can share some awesome times with everyone through this blog. Zak and I are so excited to finally start our lives in Korea. And for those of you who would like to know where Korea is in location to the United States:

I will update when we have arrived on the other side of the world!

Much Love-
Nikki and Zak

Tales from an airport

2010-07-17T01:48:00.000+09:00

Let me back up first and say that my husband and his uncle, Keith, decided to light off giant fireworks in the backyard last night. Fireworks that apparently ONLY out of towners can buy here in Pennsylvania. There is a store that you are only allowed to enter if you have a state ID from somewhere other than PA...being Florida residents meant that we can buy any explosives we wanted. So $100 and two packages of fireworks later we sit in "ooh and ahh" at the loud boomers just 200 feet above us, and then it rains down ash like Mount St. Helens erupted. The neighbors and the dog were thrilled. he he

I will let Zak show you how awesome the fireworks were... (best viewed in 720p)

Pretty exciting huh? I'd like to mention how much Zak resembles "predator" in that video...

So here we are now, sitting in the Philadelphia airport listening to babies screaming and the news anchor talk about Mel Gibson. We are on our way to Los Angeles for the night, and we will be leaving for Korea tomorrow afternoon. Woo hoo! Zak's phone is disconnected so if anyone needs to get a hold of us before we head out please call my cell phone, it wont be shut off until after the weekend.

:)

Happy 31st Anniversary to the Alley's!

2010-07-15T12:15:00.000+09:00

Don't forget the good ol' days!

Happy Anniversary!

With Love-

Nikki & Zak

Part two of trip down south.. and update on move.

2010-07-15T07:13:00.000+09:00

After spending 4th of July weekend in North Carolina we headed further down south to see Zak's Dad and Eleanor in Georgia. There is just something about Georgia that Zak and I love, you can have the hustle of Atlanta and also the calmness of floating down the Chattahoochee River....oh and LOTS of shopping :). We arrived pooped from the weekend at Kathy's we had to nap and recover for a day. After we recovered we headed to the Chattahoochee to do some lazy river floating with the fam. The lazy river floating turned out to be the "This raft is made for a child, why is this water 50 degrees, I really need to pee...damn this beer is tasty kind of day". Unfortunately Zak's camera battery died and he left the charger in California.. (which by the way the hotel mailed back to us, to the wrong address and no one lived there so now our package got forwarded to this lady's house 2 hours south of here...and we got charged $50 for all of this... and still no camera/computer charger.) So no pictures of this water adventure....but I was able to snap an awesome photo of Zak's tan line on his feet that was caused by wearing these.

The best part about visiting Zak's Dad and Eleanor are margaritas followed by a mean game of badminton... and their cat is pretty cool too. ::Shout out to Stewie::

(Eleanor and I)

(Stuart trying to hide in the jungle)

(Zak ready for some badminton action!)

We also took Zak's family out to Korean food...so we could get them hooked on it and hopefully have a visit from them while we are out in Korea ;) Right Eleanor? The dinner was awesome and Eleanor ordered some sort of seafood pancake with octopus tentacles in it... but she wouldnt touch the mildly compared Korean BBQ Beef... I on the other hand ate wayyyyyyyyy too much and feared that I might be in trouble because I seriously love Korean food too much. At least they dont eat bread and cheese there, I could spare to cut out a few carbs!

I tried to introduce Stewie (the cat) to Pleo (our dinosaur) and he got so upset that he slept behind the TV for the rest of the night, hey at least I got a good picture!... Ok Stewie to make you feel better I will post some photos of the giant bug you stalked and chased away... this wasp like creature was dragging a giant spider behind it.. take a look for yourself.

(Pleo meeting Stuart)

(Stuart stalking scary bugs...they are the blur...wait for it....)

(Scary bug carrying even scarier spider)

It gives me the ebbeeegeeebeees just looking at this.

Anyways:

After getting "home" from our trip down south, we had a lot of organizing and unplugging to do before the movers came. We took everything down from the walls, puttied all the holes we made... packed lots of luggage... and had a really long night cleaning and figuring out what we needed to take with us on our flights since we wont have our household goods for another two months.

The movers came yesterday and it only took them about 3 hours to pack and move all of our stuff out, I was so happy that I was not the one packing this time! I have done that too many in the past 18 months. So now we sit here at Zak's Uncle Keith's home with his family, and they are so awesome for letting us stay whenever we find ourselves homeless! We leave on Friday to LA and fly to Korea on Saturday... I will update before then.

Thanks for reading!

4th of July weekend in North Carolina!

2010-07-13T09:49:00.000+09:00

Its been a while since our last blog post so this one is filled with lots of exciting things!

Zak and I decided to drive down south for our holiday (week). Our first stop was Kathy's house in Charlotte, NC. We had a blast white water rafting (yes I took on the rapids again!) and boating on Lake Norman. I was able to meet up with a cousin I haven't seen in a looooooong time.. ok like I was in the womb last time we met. Laura and her husband are renovating an awesomely old home from the 1900's if you are interested read her blog about it here. It is great to meet up with family..considering I don't have much of it in the United States! After we met up with my cousin we went to South Carolina to see a live band play and catch July 3rd fireworks. Below are photos of our night!

(Kathy and I)

(Zak and I waiting for the fireworks!)

(Zak's sis Brittany and Kathy!)

On 4th of July we all headed to The U.S. National Whitewater Center. They have everything from rafting to kayaking, hiking, rope courses, zip lines...etc. We had so much fun! (Pictured Below)

Zak loves to be adventurous, as do I (ok..well, im trying!) so it was definitely an awesome day. The whitewater rafting is all done on a man made river that was/is used for Olympic Training. They have rapids ranging from Class 1 to Class 4, and each boat sits about 6 people.. plus a river guide... as long as your river guide stays on the raft and doesnt fall off on the biggest rapid and leave you wondering what the hell you should do without him... good thing we decided to pick him back up..

Here are some photos of our rafting adventure..

Gearing up to go!

Heading down the rapids with Brittany and Kathy in the front! (Kathy later realized that this is the roughest seat in the house...and it later landed her in the water..good times, right Kathy?)

Next we went flat water Kayaking and it was a great break from the thrill of the rapids.. I tried to get all of us in this one...

The best part of the day (in my opinion) was watching a lady being coaxed of a giant tower that you are supposed to walk off and simulate falling to your death. Ok so its not that bad, but really this lady would.not.jump. Kathy and I chickened out at first but decided since that lady could do it.. so could we! We kept reciting "Just walk off, dont give yourself enough time to think about it.. just do it!" Here we go:

(This one is Kathy)

(This one is me!)

(and this is Zak and I)

The Whitewater Center had the best fireworks show we had ever seen! It was at least 30 minutes long, and I think everyone in North Carolina showed up for it! The next day we went out boating on Lake Norman, we arrived on time for our rental to find out that the secretary is playing hooky (darn those 4th of July brews eh?) and the Marina guys had no idea what to do! But eventually we got in our boat and then found out we had no gas.. and lucky for us, the whole marina was out of gas too! So the manager came up with a plan and we followed him to a nearby marina with the fumes we had left in our boat and filled 'er up! After that fiasco we headed out on the lake, enjoyed a few coronas and lots of sun! I think Zak is a natural...

More blogs to follow on the rest of our trip...

White Water Kayaking Craziness

2010-06-23T01:32:00.000+09:00

This past Sunday Zak and I were planning to go to Yosemite National Park, woke up early prepared for our 3 hour drive and then we decided it would be too far to do in one day, and since Zak has already been... I was ok with missing out. Not to mention I was up an hour before the alarm went off wondering if I would come across a bear while we were hiking and what the hell I would do? Since we were already up we began looking for something fun/adventurous to do in closer proximity to Sacramento. Zak came across this white water rafting place about an hour and fifteen minutes north of here on the Cache Canyon River. The family owned company, Cache Canyon River Trips, welcomed last minute guests so we decided it would be an exciting thing to do since I am a newbie to river kayaking and Zak loves the thrill of the rapids. We arrived, signed up, got a safety tutorial (which later came in handy!), put our life jackets on.. grabbed an inflatable kayak and off we went!

Right off the bat we hit some good rapids and since I was up front I got soaked! It was so much fun to take them head on, and when we got a break we pulled over to enjoy the scenery.

About 2 miles past our start point there is a pull out where we could get our BBQ lunch. We weren't really hungry but we paid for it so we got out and ate anyways! :) By this point, every inch of us was soaking wet! Here is a photo of me heading to our lunch:

Ok back on the river we go! One of the river guides (who were strategically placed along the river) was nice enough to snap a photo of us as we headed back down the Cache Canyon River.

Here is a video of us taking on a small rapid! (Sorry if it makes you dizzy!)

The next series of photos depict Zak and I taking on the largest rapid on the river called "The Mother" and after we were done with it I decided "The Mother #$*@^$" would be a better name. In these photos you will notice that our faces go from shear excitement to... oh sh*t we aren't in the kayak anymore! ("The Mother" Photos courtesy of Cache Canyon River Trips.. we paid $25 just to re-live this moment) (click to enlarge)

It happened in a split second and before I knew it I was being drug underwater by a class 3 rapid, reciting in my head "Do I have my hat? Wheres my hat? Oh crap can't let go of the paddle!" Then I remembered what we learned in the safety course to put your feet in front of you if you happen to fall into a rapid to avoid hitting your head on a rock. Ok check.

"Wheres my husband?! Ok I see him..hes ok.. now how the hell do I keep from drowning? Sweet a big burly man is jumping in after me, he will rescue me!" (Thanks to the river guides strategically placed on the river, or else I don't know how badly beat up I might have gotten!) So after what seemed like at least a 5 minute struggle to get me out of the current (in reality probably only a minute) I was pulled up onto a rock and reunited with my husband who proceeds to say "Nikki don't freak out, you are ok". Semi-freakout in 3-2-1... after regaining my thoughts and coming out of a shock like state, I realized that I had successfully rescued my hat and kept a hold of the paddle the whole time! Mission accomplished! Now if only I had put not swallowing water first on the list..

After a river guide told us where to find the paddle that Zak let go of we hopped back in the Kayak and headed back down the river...this is my scared face..

So long Mother Rapid... until we meet again..

So thats it for our adventure, bruised and banged up we traveled a few more miles down the Cache Canyon River, and hit a few more rapids. In all it was a great experience and would do it again if I had the chance!

To see more photos of our white water experience click here.

Wagyu and Wine

2010-06-22T03:00:00.000+09:00

Another fabulous weekend here in the Moreland...hotel? It was our last weekend in Sacramento so we had to make it a good one! Friday night we went to an AMAZING restaurant called, The Kitchen Restaurant. The world class chefs literally cook your food right in front of you with top notch ingredients ranging from sea scallops fresh out of the water, wasabi fresh from the root, and the most tender wagyu beef we had ever tasted.

Here is the set-up of the restaurant so you can get an idea of what we experienced...

We could walk around the whole restaurant, including the kitchen in the back, like it were our own! They only have one seating a night for dinner and the menu changes monthly, it is truly a one of a kind experience.

Take a look at the size of the lobsters they cooked! (And fresh wasabi below that)

There were five courses in total and each of them were unique and delicious, I just loved that they used local organic farmers to acquire their vegetables. Our favorite course was the wagyu beef! It was so mouthwatering delicious, Zak's co-worker even said that he hadn't ever enjoyed a steak until that night! Here is a picture of it to get your mouth watering too!

If you want to see some more pictures of our night at The Kitchen, click here.

Today we went white water kayaking, it was crazy fun to say the least and we took a nasty spill on a class 3 rapid so I now have a very painful deep tissue bruise on my rear end- blog and pics (sorry no pictures of the rear end..lol) to follow!

Shout out to the Dads!

2010-06-20T07:24:00.000+09:00

Since Father's Day is upon us I thought it would be fitting to have a blog to say thanks to our fathers!

Up first we have the ever handy Don, my dad who is always there for you whether you need worldly advice or if you would like a break down of his newest thriller-esq book.

When I was little my dad would take me to Caprock Canyon in New Mexico and we would dig up all sorts of fossils and rocks, who knew oysters would be in the middle of New Mexico? That is one of my fondest memories growing up, and the photo below will always remind me of you Dad! Thank you for everything you have done for me in the past 21 years! We hope you have a wonderful Father's Day because you deserve it.

Up next is Jeff, Zak's father! I am lucky because my father-in-law is an awesome cook! Anything from surf to turf is delicious. We always enjoy visiting when we are in Georgia and he always makes it feel like home. And Jeff gave me the best gift of all... his son!

This is one of the only pictures I have of all of us together so it will have to do.. by the look on Zak's face there was a pretty interesting conversation going on. (This was our one year anniversary!.. The cake was still good a year later!) Thanks Jeff for being a great Dad and an awesome Father-in-Law!

And last but not least we have Phil! Phil is Zak's step-father and possibly the best fisherman in Ohio! :) It is always guaranteed that the TV will be tuned to the "Match Game" on Game Show Network when visiting Phil. We have some great memories of fishing and sitting by campfires, and hope to have many more in the years to come! Thank you Phil for being you, we hope you have a great Father's Day and hope that you catch a fish or two for us!

This is a picture of Phil, doing what he does best! I love that he enjoys the simple things in life.

*Happy Father's Day to all of our wonderful Fathers!*

The Celtics lost and our car lost a window...and a gps..

2010-06-19T05:46:00.000+09:00

Wow! What an interesting week this has been. I can honestly say that our life is anything but dull! The absolutely-amazing-omg-is-this-really-happening-moment came when we finalllllllllllllllly got our plane tickets to South Korea! Two one way tickets to half way across the world, YAY! They tried to put us on a non-stop flight from the east coast, but uhh that would have pretty much taken us 20+ hours. So instead we are flying from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles and staying the night there. The next day we will board our flight to Seoul, Korea, which is a whopping 12 hours. When I was a young kiddo I made a trans-Atlantic flight when we moved to the States from England but only vaguely remember the trip. Since then my longest flight has been 5-6 hours... I have no idea what to do on a 12 hour flight! Zak on the other hand has made many long flights to and from Southwest Asia... just a perk of his job I suppose. (Just kidding)

In other news, when the NBA Finals began Zak and I told each other who we think would win, and during which game. Mine went like this..

Game 1- Lakers ...and they won.
Game 2- Celtics ...and they won.
Game 3- Lakers ...and they won.
Game 4- Celtics ...and they won.
Game 5- Celtics ...and they won.
Game 6- Lakers ...and they won.
Game 7- Celtics ..and they... I still can't bring myself to say it.

So you figure since I predicted all those correctly that the stars would align and the Celtics would pull through for my game 7 prediction right? Ugh, wrong. Ok ok so I was the only person cheering on the Celtics in a bar full of Laker fans, and saw my sweet victory coming in the last 10 seconds. And. Then. They. Lost. :( Gloat on Zak, gloat on.

To top off an awesome night, it turns out as we were sleeping our rental car got broken into! There were about 5 other cars that got broken into as well, so much for your "security" Hilton! Oops I forgot, the security is only here on the weekends.. because thats when all crimes happen of coarse! Heres some pictures of what we woke up to...

I am sad to say that our awesome GPS/PMP got stolen! I have never been robbed before and feel violated! That was the first "big" purchase Zak and I made together as a couple, and we saved up for a while to get it, back when we would scrape pennies together for toilet paper. So its unsettling to know its in the hands of a thief that will probably only sell it for $25 and doesn't know its true potential! (because it is far more than just a GPS!) Ah well, at least they were too stupid to steal the Ray Ban's that were sitting right below it. So long Cowon Q5W.. we will miss your British accent, and im sorry we were stupid enough to leave you in the car!

After a couple hours of dealing with this mess, we got a new rental and are moving past this incident and learning from it!

Zak, his co-worker and I are going out to this place called "The Kitchen Restaurant" tonight. Gourmet Chef's cook your 5 course meal right in front of you.. heres a link if you want to read more about it.. The Kitchen Restaurant. Blog to follow! Have a great weekend!

A week of squid and... magical mouthwash?!

2010-06-14T09:00:00.000+09:00

After the bout of sickness we both contracted last weekend I was hoping for a great week ahead of us. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel as far as my allergies were concerned and Zak managed to get his way back to work! So in light of feeling better we went for a sushi night. It was a great little restaurant in the corner of a strip mall, with all you can eat sushi! We sat at the sushi bar while little boats floated around in front of us, each of the boats had different sushi, squid, fish eggs, etc. on them. I settled down with a glass of Chardonnay and my new favorite sushi roll, the "spider roll". Zak on the other hand had plans to settle down with this little guy...

(click to enlarge)

To our dismay we started feeling like sh*t again on Tuesday. So we decided to tough it out as we figured it would be another round of a 24 hour bug. Wednesday rolls around and our symptoms were getting worse so we decided to head to a clinic! But we did it the Moreland way... I took Zak in to get his stomach issues sorted out in the morning thinking that I still would get over my sore throat and fever, and he saw the doctor and we carried on with our day. But by about 8pm I could no longer stand the pain and I clearly was developing some sort of blisters on my tonsils, and off we went to the clinic again. After being asked a few times "weren't you here earlier?" I was finally able to see a doctor who later diagnosed me with tonsillitis.

The best part of this story is when we were on the hunt for a 24 hour pharmacy at 10pm. We found ourselves at a Walgreens in the middle of bum-central. I think we got asked for money about 5 times while we were there, and felt as though we were the only "normal" people inside of this store. Luckily we got some added humor when the pharmacist discovered that I had been prescribed "Magic Mouthwash" which she later re-named "Magical Mouthwash" because she felt it was more fitting for the concoction of antacid, lidocain, and antibiotic she mixed together for me.

Off we went back to the hotel for some more R&R. But good news came on Thursday when we found out we FINALLY (like 1 year later finally) got our orders for Korea! Yes, it is true readers.. we are off to the land of "not quite right" next month. I never feel that anything is set in stone though, because after all, we are dealing with the Department of the Army here... things change quickly! Prime example: the day after we got our orders for Korea, Zak got a wonderful FedEx package stating that he needs to report back to active duty. SAY WHAT?! Yes Zak did sign on for 8 years of Army (4 active duty, 4 inactive reserve), but this really happens?...yes and of coarse it would happen to us! Luckily he is already a civilian employee of the Army, so its still looking like Korea is the plan.

Thanks for reading, sending our love to you all! xxxx

PS. Have you seen "Get Him to the Greek" yet?! It is definitely a comedy must see!

Cirque De Soleil & Six Flags!

2010-06-08T03:48:00.000+09:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had an eventful one! The Cirque De Soleil "Alegria" was in town for the week so we decided to go to a showing of it on Saturday. It was a beautiful show, and I wish we could have taken lots pictures but there were no cameras allowed...ok...so we got one. I couldn't resist! There were all sorts of high flying acts, amazing fire dancers, and great singing! The picture below is at the end of Alegria when the whole cast comes out, they all removed their head dresses and wigs which I thought was neat. (Click to enlarge)

Here is one of me leaving the show!

On Sunday we drove to Six Flags in Vallejo, California. It was a beautiful day... full of sunshine and apparently everything I am allergic to in the air. Before the extreme allergy meltdown we were able to ride a few roller coasters and watch some shows! This Six Flags was a Zoo/Theme Park mix. Zak was behind the camera all weekend so I don't have any pics of him at the park... I promise he went and enjoyed himself too.. :) Here is a picture of me in front of the "Medusa". This coaster had an awesome drop, and of coarse we sat in the front!

Here is one of a White Bengal Tiger swimming under water...

And an Elephant under water...

This Six Flags also had an orca show, the name of their whale is "Shouka". It was pretty neat, and im glad we didnt sit in the first couple of rows because they got soaked!

Unfortunately the downfall of our trip was at the Shouka show.. allergy attack x10! At this point I was sneezing every 30 seconds in sets of 4-5 sneezes. My eyes were swelling shut, and I could no longer function as a happy being at Six Flags. Zak would love if I posted the picture that would pretty much sum up how I was feeling... so here it is...

Yes, it was time to leave Six Flags. I was disappointed that we weren't able to ride any more of the roller coasters because I love theme parks. So we got back to our hotel armed with allergy nasal swabs and eye drops, and somewhere between Vallejo and Sacramento Zak and I started coming down with a stomach bug.. awesome. Needless to say Zak is off work today and we are both laying in bed, but feeling much better than we were last night!

P.S. HAPPY *7TH BIRTHDAY* TO OUR NEPHEW ALEX AND HAPPY *17TH BIRTHDAY* TO ZAK'S SISTER BRITTANY!!!

Hawaii!

2010-06-04T06:59:00.000+09:00

Last Thursday Zak and I were trying to decide what we were going to do for the long Memorial Day weekend ahead of us. And since we are in California we figured it would be an easy shot to head to Hawaii! We logged onto a last minute deals website and found a great deal for a few days at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. Zak said "should we do it?!" I said "YES!" and we booked our tickets! We left Friday afternoon and arrived in Honolulu around 7pm. Here are a few pictures of us arriving in paradise.. (click to enlarge)

After we got all checked in we headed up to our room on the 29th floor of the Tapa's Tower to check out our view from the balcony! It was dark but I could still see how beautiful it was... it truly looks like paradise!

On Saturday we got up very early so we could get a full day! I was able to function at 5am for once.. but only because of the time change! :) We planned to go to Haunama Bay for snorkeling and hanging out on the beach! We missed our first two shuttle buses due to being in the wrong spot! But we finally got on one and were able enjoy the Bay for a few hours! Here are some photos from our snorkeling trip (Zak's new underwater cybershot really came in handy!):

The Hilton Hawaiian Village had great entertainment! On Saturday night we got "VIP" tickets to the "Ultimate Hawaiian Experience". So as we sat around the pool with our swag and free drinks we listened to some intense poetry, great music, and even better fire dancing! Zak got some great pictures of the Fire Dancer!

On Sunday Zak and I felt it was necessary to visit Pearl Harbor since it was Memorial Day, and we had been wanting to visit! It was a humbling experience to see the ships that fought during that time. We walked on the USS Missouri and the USS Bowfin Submarine. (The submarine was verrrrrrrrry tiny inside... I dont know how someone could live in a submarine!)

If you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii jump on that plane and do it! You will not regret it, it is a little slice of paradise that I think everyone should experience. Hope everyone finds themselves having a great week. We are heading to Cirque De Soleil Alegria here in Sacramento this weekend. Ciao!

To see more Hawaii photos follow this link: HAWAII

Urban Dare Sacramento!

2010-06-01T12:39:00.000+09:00

Since my last update Zak and I joined a race in Downtown Sacramento CA called the "Urban Dare". It consists of running, walking, trivia about the city, dares (such as sticking your face in a plate of whipped cream to find bubble gum... then blowing a bubble) and it was an all out race with about 35 other teams! Through out the race you are allowed to use smart phones, call friends or family that have access to the Internet, and take public buses and subways(we opted out of the public transportation). As the race started we were handed our clue sheets with 11 clues and dares that we needed to complete with photos before we headed back to the start/finish. Luckily Zak and I had the smarts to print off maps of the city since we had no idea what roads lead where! Also, the clues are in no particular order so you have to figure out the answer, find what it is connected with in Sacramento, find out where that place is...and RUN! Here I am before Zak and I began our race: (CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)

Our first clue: "It is the title role of an Adam Sandler film in which Kathy Bates plays his mother. Get your picture in front of the restaurant that goes by this name." Answer: Water Boy! This one was a couple blocks away from our starting point.

After leaving Water Boy Cafe we ran into a woman who was willing to fulfill part of our "photo hunt" challenge which was "Get a picture of someone not in the race doing a cartwheel."

Clue number 3: "His statue of David now stands in the Galleria dell'Academia in Florence. Get your picture in front of the restaurant that goes by this name." Answer: Michaelangelo! This one took a bit to find since we weren't familiar with the structure of the streets yet.

Clue number 4: "This establishment that specializes in a green form of transportation, has a rhyming name. Get your picture in front of it." Answer: Mike's Bike's! We actually passed this on the way to Michaelangelo's and didn't know it!

Clue number 5: "This sea god's statue was once covered, so as not to offend a convention of home schoolers. Never mind those that were offended that the sculpture had to be covered up. Get your picture with this statue." Answer: Poseidon! I give Zak props for finding this one! It was in the middle of a bunch of buildings and had no physical address. But luckily his friend from work took explained this statue to him just days before while they were downtown, so he remembered where it was!

Clue number 6: "Go to the monument that honors California's firefighters for your spellbound dare." We ran around the capitol park a few times before finding the firefighter's memorial, but when we did find it and completed our dare which was to add up the numbers found across the memorial that corresponded with a word our team had. Once we had the final number correct we could move on..

After the dare at the memorial, we ran into an opportunity to complete our photo hunt dare! "Get your picture shaking hands with a dog." Thank you puppy for being such a good sport! :)

On to the next clue! # 7: "This ship was known as the galloping ghost of the china coast. Get your picture with it." Answer: USS Sacramento! It took forever to find this one and we had to call reinforcements aka my sister, her boyfriend, and my mother! Thankfully we found it... I was actually looking for a ship which would have been much easier to find.. instead it was an anchor!

Clue number 8: "In China, he is known as the father of the nation. Find his statue and get your picture with him." Answer: Sun Yat Sen Statue! Off to China Town we went!

After China Town we had a dare to do a wheelbarrow race on the other side of town.. we didn't get a photo of this one though!

The next clue # 10: He said, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself..." Dont be scared. Go to his park for your bubble dare." Answer: Roosevelt Park! I took this challenge and it was a messy one! I dont have a photo, but instead I have a video for you viewing pleasure... ENJOY!

The final clue! Number 10! "Go to the market named after the street that is named after the (CDXXXII DIVIDED BY XXIV)th letter of the alphabet. Get your picture with the equine statue there. Thanks for the help with the roman numerals mom! After figuring out what they represented we added them up "18" and found the 18th letter of the alphabet...Q right? Wrong. FAIL. So we thought we had this in the bag.. running up and down Q street trying to find a market with a statue of a horse... wait... lets count again... ohhhh. Its R! We found the R Street Market... and the horse!

As you can tell by that last photo... I was doooooooooooone. Ok so time to head back to the starting point AKA MVP Sports Grille...the only thing that kept me going was knowing there was a beer waiting for me...

So in the end we finished 25th out of 35 teams, it was about 7 miles in all that we traveled around the city and it took us 2 hours and 50 minutes. Not bad considering I didn't think we would be able to finish all the clues since we weren't familiar with the area!

Antique Car Show

2010-05-16T05:33:00.000+09:00

It has been quite some time since I last updated, not much going on besides enjoying the sunshine in Florida! Zak is on the other side of the country enjoying the weather in California. I love visiting family and hanging out with our nephews, they are all so cute! I will be heading to California next week, and Zak and I will be there until sometime in late June. After we come back from California we will hit the ground running as far as packing and preparing to move to Korea! As of right now we will be on a plane to Korea July 19th. We have been waiting for this moment for about a year now, so it is very nice to be so close to starting our life overseas. I am taking the summer off school, and will begin a new semester sometime in August. I will be attending the same college in Korea as I am in the states since they have a satellite school in just about every country.

My sister-in-law Emily and I went to an antique car show today, she works for a business that incorporates antique cars with weddings. (http://www.abridesride.com/) It was a very early morning but we managed to pass out lots of business cards and coozies for the company! I got a few good shots with my Cannon while we were there too! Here is my favorite from the day...

The Moreland Adventure

Birthdays and Holidays!

Tokyo Disney!!!

Everland Halloween Style!

Oktoberfest @ the Seoul Grand Hilton

Hiking in Cheonan

No really..say what?!?!

One month with no petrol, say whaaaat?

Nikki's Trip Back to the U.S. (Part Two)

Nikki's Trip Back to the U.S.

Family Visit to Korea!

Happy Birthday Pip!!

Oahu: The final chapter (Lanikai; Kualoa Ranch; North Shore)

Oahu part two; Diamond Head, Manoa Falls, and KONA Beer!

Testing Testing 1..2..3...

Oahu 2011 (Part 1)

Han River in Seoul

Time to catch up!

Nonsan Strawberry Festival

Out of hibernation!

Two Years Ago Today..

Indoor theme parks and Korean theater shows!

Hwaseong Fortress

Times Square in Korea

January in Korea = COLD.

Ringing in 2011!!

Happy Holidays from the Moreland's!

Birthday Shenanigans!

Holiday season in South Korea!

Finding the Beach in Korea!

Celebrating Zak's Birthday!

2010 Inaugural Korean Grand Prix!

A crazy trip to the zoo!

Hiking Trip in Pyeongtaek!

Pip's first bike ride.. and house hold goods! YAY!

Happy Chuseok!

The Glowing Toilet

Pip is finally in her new home! (Video Heavy!)

Typhoon Kompasu is coming!

Want to go on a Korean Rail ride?

A night in Seoul!

We are adopting Pip!

A week long trip to the hospital

We signed a lease, and caught the "crud"...

A week's review of Korea

We are in Korea!

Annnnnd we are off!

Tales from an airport

Happy 31st Anniversary to the Alley's!

Part two of trip down south.. and update on move.

4th of July weekend in North Carolina!

White Water Kayaking Craziness

Wagyu and Wine

*Shout out to the Dads!*

The Celtics lost and our car lost a window...and a gps..

A week of squid and... magical mouthwash?!

Cirque De Soleil & Six Flags!

Hawaii!

Urban Dare Sacramento!

Antique Car Show

Shout out to the Dads!