letters/19

Dear Typhoon Bolaven, I'm sorry to say but I was a bit disappointed. You were supposed to be the worst typhoon in ten years. You had people (myself included) rushing to the grocery store to stock up on food and candles, duck taping their windows and schools canceling (no complaints on that one). You threatened with images like this
but in reality, it looked like this outside.

Dear Boss, saying that "the weather will be nice" in the middle of a typhoon is a little extreme. I think we need to clarify what you qualify as 'good weather'. Dear Hubs, I love it when you randomly bust out Chicago musical show tunes. Sexiest.thing.ever. Ok, maybe not ever but it's pretty cute. Dear kindi student, you were being all cute and wanting to hold my hand during class. You became exponentially less cute when you decided to try and stick my whole hand in your mouth. Dear kids, it's great that you want to be around me all the time but following me to the bathroom and waiting outside the stall is a bit much. Dear motorbike, today was my first lesson and I have to say, you're a whole lot less terrifying than I thought. I look forward to being able to ride along next to the hubs on his bike. Dear Hubs, you have been a rockstar this week. Sweet notes, making meals, intentional prayer time. You know just how to turn a bad week right back around! 

Joshy washy

{you can tell we're related by our identical large noses}

My brother hated the nickname Joshy washy but as his younger sister, it was my duty to torment him with it. As we got older, my brother and I were, for all intensive purposes, clones of one another with the same taste in music, art and hobbies. I think it was because of this bond that he became my biggest cheerleader. He not only had hopes higher than I could dream but he also had all the confidence that I could do anything. Everything a girl needs in a big brother. He was also a thrill seeker extradonaire. Which I am not by any means, but I loved to watch. His favorite hobby was windsurfing and one of my favorite memories was when he started as a young boy and I would join him and ride along on the front of the board. As the years passed, he went from amateur to teaching windsurfing at his university. Seven years ago, while away at grad school, he was killed in a windsurfing accident the day before he was supposed to come home to visit.

You always hear these stories but you never think it will happen to you, and sometimes it still feels like it didn’t happen. People ask me how I got past it and the truth is, I never did. It’s not something you get over or past. It’s something that you live with on a daily basis. The difference is that you make the choice of what you make out of the situation. You can wonder why something happened, you can question it and try to make sense out of it or you can pick yourself back up and keep going. I don’t mourn my brother anymore. These dates are no longer a sob fest in my house; feeling sorry for myself and asking “why me” questions. But I do remember him every day and I think that’s the important part. He was and still is an important part of my life and taught me so much about living life, seeking out adventure and being proud of who I am, inevitable flaws and all. It is these lessons that I will always remember and cherish...and his awesome salsa dancing skills.

Happy birthday bro, you’re still an inspiration.

Letters/18

{Merchandise Mart, Chicago, where I spent the last two years of University}

Dear Chicago, I've kinda sorta missed you lately. My parents are there right now enjoying all of your great food, good people and amazing lakeside summer weather. Hopefully we'll be back to visit sooner rather than later. Dear 5k, you are the first that I have ever signed up for and another thing I can mark off my list of goals. Thankfully I'll have a great group of girls to run with (well, they'll run, I'll huff and puff and try to keep up) and awesome sparkle skirts to get more stares from Koreans with. Dear school, I love that I now have Mondays off but I think I may cry a little when I see my paycheck. I keep reminding myself that God has always provided more classes in the past, this will be no different. Trust and faith are two things I always need to practice. Dear weather, I thought that leaving Tulsa would be great because Korea couldn't possibly be as bad that. Wrong. You are much more muggy and humid. Horrible for trying to start running again. Dear new sports bra, so glad that I got you and you keep everything 'in place'. Should make running just a little more enjoyable. Dear hubs, when I went out for my first 'run' (I think it was just over a quarter mile. Baby steps...very small baby steps) you were the biggest motivation while giving me bits of positive reinforcement as I went out the door. When I got back (about ten minutes later) you had a post run smoothie ready for me. I can't believe that I get to call you mine.

Meat eater

I never craved red meat while living in the states but as soon as we moved to the land where beef is immensely expensive, I started to crave it more and more. You know it's expensive when you feel guilty eating it alone. Since being home from our vacation in the States we've been craving it more than usual. So what's the only logical solution? Driving to Cost-c0 (thank God for Cost-co in Korea) and picking up some steak. I've always used store bought marinade but decided to try to make one from scratch (how hard could it be right?). I googled steak marinade and "The best steak marinade in existence" popped up on allrecipes. It was a sign for sure.

What you need, minus the garlic powder

Yum! I've never been so excited for steak before.


What you need
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons dried basil
1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic (optional)

What you do
.Put all ingredients except the optional minced garlic in a blender and blend on high speed for 30 seconds until thoroughly mixed.
.Pour marinade over desired type of meat. Cover, and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Cook meat as desired.

recipe found at allrecipes.com

Haute Travels Escape to Jamaica!

To get more information send an email to hautetravels@gmail.com

letters/17

Dear Hubs, thanks for all of your help this week. Coming home from a two week vacation is never easy but you've taken a lot of the workload off. So blessed to have such a helpful husband. Dear Church, you have a way of producing the most lovely of ladies. Keep it up because I absolutely adore my Thursday nights with them. Dear Motivation, I'm trying really hard to get back into life in Korea and it's harder than I thought. Hopefully I can get caught up on work this weekend and finally get the motivation to start working out again! Dear Bali Coffee, you are more amazing than I remember. I've missed having a cup of coffee in the morning before work. Oh and if you add coconut milk...delicious. Thank goodness for good friends who brought it back for me. Dear US of A, I kinda sorta miss you and your good food and your awesome people. Dear Laundry, thank goodness you're done! When we first got home we had five loads of laundry. I've never missed a separate washer dryer so much. Dear Amanda, thanks for throwing awesome birthday parties for your husband. Best party ever.

Eating freezer burn

Spending the first few years of marriage overseas, you tend to miss out on certain milestones and traditions. Our biggest one was being able to eat our cake topper on our one-year anniversary. Lucky for us, my parents kept it so we could celebrate on our almost two year anniversary.
When we first took it out of the freezer it actually looked pretty great, but as it defrosted it started to look more and more…grey. Not a good sign. I could tell by the nauseous look on hubs face that he was not looking forward to this. Needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised. It was still moist and tasted almost the same as it did on our wedding day. Except for an extra little punch of sweetness in the aftertaste.

{a before picture of what it used to look like}

{a little smooshed and definitely grey}

We didn’t finish it, but everyone that was there got their fair share of cake that night. I owe it to my sister who generously offered to freeze it for us when we left on our honeymoon. She said that the trick is to first put it in the freezer uncovered until the frosting is frozen. Then, she put it in a Ziploc bag and sucked out as much air as possible. Last, she put the bag in a plastic cake holder and put it in the freezer. Just in case you ever have some leftover cake you want to save for a few years from now.




{he secretly enjoyed it}

Back to life, back to reality

When you read the title did you think of this song? Oh the 80's.
Back to business. I was pleasantly surprised at just how easy it was to go home. Although, I kind of felt as if we were bashing on Korea most of the trip. In our defense, I think it was only because while in Korea, there are so many things that we miss, can't do or are just different than in the states (duh). In the last year and a half, we have forgotten about most of those things. Then, all of it was staring us in the face for a good two weeks. It's hard not to get slightly bitter.
The hub's mom always asks after a trip, "on a scale of one to ten, how was it?" Oh and you have to read it with a strong Boston accent to get the full affect. So how was it? Better than I ever imagined. Before leaving I thought that it would be stressful, rushed and I would be begging for someone to put me on the next flight out. Ok, maybe that's a little over dramatic but overall, I did not have great expectations for the trip. We had so many people to see, we had to move out of our storage unit and had other general errands to run before we left the country for a long period of time again. Thankfully, hubs stays calm a whole lot better than I do. Little did I know that it would be easy for me as well on this trip. Our friends and families were amazing and made things so easy on us as far as helping out and coming to meet us anyplace, anytime. You guys have no idea how much we appreciated it. Here's a little recap of the good and bad of the trip:

GOOD

-We had a nice break from playing charades to ask questions while we were home. I did, however, catch myself head bowing a few too many times. Some habits die hard.
-We literally had Christmas in July. There are so many things that we either can't find in Korea or it would be twice to the price to buy here. Since we were going home, we took full advantage and started ordering things online. When we got home, there was a Christmas tree with all of our purchases wrapped and ready for us.
-Free refills in restaurants. Need I say more?
-We had date nigh in America. This is huge news guys. We have regular date nights in Korea but it's nice to be back in our old stomping grounds and be able to have date night at our usuals. If you're ever in Tulsa (I know it's at the top of your vacation list) check out Yokozuna and order the rising sun roll.


-Checking out the caves in Silver Dollar City. They once floated five hot air balloons at once in this thing.

-Baby time

-Friend time

-We stocked up big time and one of the biggest items was oatmeal. At fifteen dollars a pop here we thought the suitcase weight was well worth it. Some splurge on fancy meals...we splurge on oatmeal.
BAD
-No running red lights? What's wrong with this country?
-Flying is always a risk. I'm not talking safety, I'm talking who you're stuck next to in a confined space for hours on end. We unfortunately drew the short straw on the first flight. I think it was proof that God has a sense of humor though. While standing in line at the check in there was a man in front of us bragging to whoever would listen about his amazing teaching job and every past job that he had since high school. We commented on his annoyance and guess who we were lucky enough to sit next to? Be careful what you say people.
-my feet swelled up so much that I couldn't fit into any of my shoes. I think for the first 48 hours people thought I had developed a bad case of the cankles from all the rice I've been eating.
-I never thought it would be so annoyed to hear English. I'm shocked at what people think is ok to talk about loudly in public. Yes, this probably also happens in Korea but we have the privilege of not understanding a word of what they're saying.

Now we're back and trying to readjust to life in Korea. It's all back to the usual except for the six a.m. wakeup calls from my body still being on US time.

letters/16

Dear Hubs, you always make traveling more fun and definitely less stressful. Thanks for being such a great travel buddy. 

Dear last American meal, you were no doubt a giant splurge but I can't think of a better combo than Cinnabon, Garret's Popcorn and a giant burrito as our last meal in the states.

Dear Ms. Teagen, you were a whole lot harder to leave that I first anticipated. I know I won't be there in person for the big moments but you can expect pretty cool gifts from around the globe from your weird Aunt Chelsea. Dear exercise, haven't seen you in awhile. Guess I didn't stick to my 'I'll still workout on vacation' plan. Back to eating healthy again...on Monday. Dear feet, I really hope the swelling goes down soon from our 14 hour flight. I can hardly fit into my shoes. Dear Hubs, you and your buddies decided to play a prank via phone and tell me you got put in jail for streaking. I was left crying in a restaurant before you figured out you had gone too far. The 'I'm sorry' cake with a naked running Ken doll on top definitely made up for it though. Dear friends and family, thank you for such an amazing trip home. It was better than we ever could have anticipated.

letters/15

Dear USA, you rock but can you stop shoving all the things we’ve missed in our face? It’s just going to make it that much harder to leave. Dear sister, thanks for making such cute babies. We laugh at how “big” her eyes are but I think we’ve just been living in Korea for too long. Dear sister (you get two letters this week), I'm shocked by how absolutely amazing you looked after just pushing a tiny person out of you. I just hope I can pull that off when I have kids in about ten years.

{say hello to Ms. Teagen Harper}

Dear Senor’s, you’ve lived up to our memories of amazing Mexican food, thank you. I think the waiter was grossed out at how fast we can finish five baskets of chips.
Dear family, thanks for an amazing welcome. Nothing like hearing hoots and hollers and large signs to make you feel special.
Dear weather, you feel like a giant blow dryer on us at all times, is that really necessary? Dear Lake Hudson, you never cease to amaze me and are always the perfect getaway. I love that my parents live at a lake house year round.Dear paddle boarding, you are the perfect workout for the gal who is sick of working out. Except for coming back against a strong current and over small waves…not so much fun.
Dear Branson, although you are largely populated by people who drive too slow, (or in our experience, on the wrong side of the road) you’re pretty fun. Silver Dollar City was definitely a highlight especially since it was hot and overcast so there were no lines. Thank you everyone for not showing up.

Dear dad, I forgot how amazing your Swedish pancakes were. A nice nostalgic piece of the trip. Especially when it's topped off with local blueberry maple syrup.
Happy almost weekend! I’ll probably be out of commission next week as I soak up every last minute of American goodness but I’ll be back for next week’s Friday’s Letter’s. Have a great weekend!