Why I went to Korea: Seattle and Japan

You may find these adventures a tad boring compared to my last post. I couldn't really include it in the whole meeting my husband saga because there are no Korean men in this one. Yesterday I was just thinking about what I should write about and I thought I might give you some history to understand why I went to Korea in the first place.

Before I came to Korea, I had worked as a fifth grade teacher near Nashville. It was a great learning experience yet the most stressful year of my life. I'm sure I'll get to that whole terrible story later, but basically I resigned my position there after the first year because my principal was a complete dick. I was thinking of trying to get another job in the Nashville area, but my whole year teaching, I had worked double shifts at The Macaroni Grille in Opry Mills on the weekends, so I could take a trip to Japan that summer and also go to my friend Lainey's Wedding in Chicago.

I had previously traveled to Spain, Brazil, Italy, Paris, and Hungary....so as you could see, I caught the travel bug. I had planned on going to Japan during my spring break, but I had talked one of my good friends, Kaeya, into going with me and then her credit card got declined. She then changed her mind and said she couldn't afford to go with me. I didn't own a credit card at that time, so she had to pay me back. Well then looking at tickets they had become overly expensive, so I decided to just go and visit my good friend Dabny in Seattle. Her husband was in Iraq at the time and she hadn't been there long, so she was excited to have some company.

Seattle was really great. Dabney knew how much I had wanted to go to Japan, so she decorated her guest room with oriental decor and she had bought me some fresh flowers. What was sad is that it was my first year teaching, so right before spring break, one of my lovely students, (for like the 10th time that year) had given me a terrible virus or really bad cold. So, I was coughing, sneezing, I had a fever. Also, to top it off, there were storms so bad that my flight got delayed in Nashville, which then made me miss my flight from Atlanta to Seattle. There were some I think Braves games going on in Atlanta and the airline could not put me up in a hotel, so there were tons of people sleeping in the Atlanta airport that night. So I was just stuck there. I had met some friends from different places in the U.S. and I remember it was St. Patrick's day. So, we went to one of the airport bars and had some green beer. But then I had to try to sleep sitting upright and barely being able to breathe. I thought I was going to die. And needless to say, I really hate Atlanta airport now and I always dread having layovers there.

But finally, in Seattle in my beautifully decorated room. Dabny took care of me. She loaded me up on medicine and let me sleep the whole next day. Then the day after that, she and I took a bus to Seattle. We went to see the ferries. I was really big on "Grey's Anatomy" at that time and the love story of how Dereck tells Meredith of his love for ferries and of course the story takes place in Seattle, so we had to go there. We went to the fish market and Dabney and I bought these hand knitted hats. We had Seattle's Best coffee. We talked of College and her marriage and how hard it was for her to be alone in Tacoma, with her husband gone. I sadly wondered at that time if I would ever get married. We also went to see the Space Needle and we were going to go the Mt. Rainier, but of course, the time that I decide to visit, it is flooded and someone has died there, so they had shut it down. I met with Dabny's friends. She had a whole community of military wives. A lot of their husbands were stationed overseas, so they leaned on each other. They did each other's hair, went to each other for advice and they went running together. It secretly made me want to be a military wife. It was a great trip and I had so much fun with my lovely friend Dabny.

So then I saved Japan for the week after the school year was over that summer. You have no idea how Japan themed I became that year. I was watching Japanese movies. I had especially owned and watched "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" as well as some others many times that year. I was a geisha for Halloween. I mean obsessed. I went to visit my friends Lorena and Garrett. Garrett was also in the Air force. I began to wonder how I'd managed to have so many military wives as friends.When I had talked to Lorena on the phone beforehand she was like, "Okay Jess, I don't think that Japan is going to be like the old Japan you've been reading about, so I hope you are not let down when you get here." And she was right, especially since I they lived in Okinawa. Which is sort of like Hawaii. It's the island right off Japan and the military base there takes up about half of it. There is still some Japanese culture there, but it is pretty Americanized. It was like I flew for 14 hours to go to a tropical part of America.

 Lorena and I caught up and talked about high school. We went to visit the amazing botanical gardens. I was still pretty religious at that time and I had had a hard year, but I was sort of seeing this guy back in Nashville. I had told Lorena at that time that I was still a virgin. She told me later that she just wanted to tell me to go out and have sex even though we were all Christians. I was almost 24 at the time. Lorena and I went to get our nails done and the Japanese are amazing nail artists. They painted Kanji and japanese flowers on my toes. The Kanji they painted meant "Beautiful".

Side story: When I got back to TN, I noticed a guy that I worked with at The Mac Grille had the same Japanese Characters on his shoulder. I was like, "Oh your tattoo means beautiful." He looked at me and said, "shhhh". I was like, "OOOkay..". Later, he came up and said, "Jessica, does my tattoo really mean beautiful?" I told him the story of my nails, and how I wasn't fluent in Japanese, but I'm pretty sure. He was like okay that's good. What the hell? Who get's a tattoo and doesn't do research to see what it means first??

Okay back to my story. Lorena and I went to the I think largest aquarium in the world and when we got to the sharks and whale, Lorena started freaking out. She has this weird phobia of fish in tanks. As if  even if the tank busted those things could come after her. They swim, so therefore they need water and I they cannot breath oxygen. This phobia makes no sense to me.

We also went on a tour to this school, where all the teachers and students had committed suicide right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the atomic bomb of Hiroshima. Their motto was they would rather take their own lives than let the enemy take it. So they all went into this big cave and took their lives. Really sad and then they made this one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island. I felt kind of like you feel when you visit Vietnam or watch the movie "Roots," like really ashamed of your ancestors.

Also there was boy in Okinawa that I was interested in. We'll call him Denton. He was really cute. Again with the military wife thing...He was a boy from Texas and very Christian. He also had big muscles, which didn't hurt anything. I was still pretty shy at the time, trying to be modest and I wasn't there very long, so I didn't let him know. We played ultimate frisbee and I had a little daydream about him, thinking oh wouldn't it be nice if he asked me out and we got married and I moved to Okinawa? I came back to Okinawa again that fall and I had told Lorena and Garrett about my crush and they were like well Denton is not here this time. We know you are disappointed but he is doing heart surgery in Mongolia...oh yeah that makes him so much less attractive right?

Side Note: I think it's really awesome that I can tell you these stupid little thoughts I had about men in my past now that I'm married and it doesn't matter anymore.



When I left Okinawa, I had a very long layover in Tokyo. So I still got to see some real Japanese culture and I walked around different parts of Tokyo careful not to get lost and make my way back to the train. I went to museums and parks and I had some street food. I stayed in the microscopic little hotel room. When I was on the train, I seemed to the be the only white person on that part of the train. These two drunken old Japanese men came stumbling on and they were trying to talk to me in Japanese. I had listened to some language cds before I came but the only thing I could remember to say to them was "Wacati mas sin", which means "I don't speak." So after me saying that, that prompted them to say, "Oh you speak"...seriously these people were as bad as Americans. ha. If people say they don't speak English that doesn't mean you should start telling them your life story louder, they will understand. So since they were drunk and old I just looked at them and smiled as they talked to me or about me, whichever.

I remember coming back to the states and telling all my friends how much I loved Japan and I wanted to go back instead of teaching in Nashville again. They were all like, "go." I thought and do what? Wait tables? I don't think so. So I started thinking about it and I remember one of my Korean friends in University had told me, "Hey, you should come to Korea and teach English." Korea never really appealed to me though, so I didn't really think much about it. But now then I was like well surely they need English teachers all over the world or at least in countries where it's not their native language, right? So my first thought was, "I want to live in Spain!!"

I loved Spain. It's my favorite country. But I quickly found out that European countries want British English and most require a Celta. I found out later, I probably could have went there and taught English, "under the table", but then I'd still have to pay for my plane ticket and my cost of living. I needed a job. I had little money left. So I found this Korean website online and they contacted me immediately with 2-3 different interviews. I found that Korea was my best choice because they pay for your airfare and they provide you with free room and board. I also made as much money as I did here teaching plus the exchange rate was amazing then, because it was before the recession, so I actually made more. Plus, I didn't have a car or gas to pay for so I wound up saving like $1400 every month. It was an amazing deal.

So I thought to myself, "It's just a year, and anything has got to be better than the teaching year I just had."

How I met my husband Part 1: How I came to find Korean men attractive

I must warn you this will be a long story, It will take several posts, kind of like that show "How I Met Your Mother", except eventually I will get to the part where I meet him. This is not really a travel story, well it sort of is.... but it seems to be the question for the moment so I'll tell you about it. I will tell you the extended version that is, because all the juicy stuff is on my way to finding him. For those of you who don't know me, my husband is Korean and I met him there in Korea. I taught English there for 3 years.


I'll begin with my attraction for Korean men. I like to say I caught yellow fever and it just wouldn't go away. When I first moved to Korea I did not find Asian men attractive at all! I thought they were all skinny and short and I had heard other rumors about certain body parts and I didn't want to go there.


Well for the record, I was sort of shocked when I actually got there because a lot of Koreans are really tall. I have a theory about this, (this may actually be fact and not just my theory). Before the Korean war and after they were really poor and they didn't get the proper nutrition, but this country is literally one of the most progressive countries ever. They have come so far so quickly. So once they had proper nutrition like milk and meat, they became normal sized and some of them really tall.


Other great things that I found in Korea was the bullet train, which is a super fast subway that will get you from the top of Korea to the bottom is 3 hours. Obama and/or Arnold Schwarzenegger actually visited Korea to talk about putting one of those in California. I think they should put one in all the states!


Another thing is Internet in Korea is the fastest in the world. Their public transportation is the most efficient and the cheapest in the world. Literally you can go from one side of Seoul to the other for like a dollar. I almost fell over when I went to London and costed like 7-14 pounds to do that. Also shopping is so awesome and cheap.


 Koreans take whatever is on the runway, make an almost exact replica and sell it on the streets for really cheap. It's awesome. The only bad thing is the material is really cheap, but it's not going to be in style long anyway, so who cares, right? And the shoes are amazing and cheap too, but  literally one time I bought a pair of shoes (loved them) and I was half way home and one of them just fell completely apart, so I had to hop/walk barefoot on the disgusting sidewalks of Seoul til I got home. From then on I kept an extra pair of shoes in my  fake Louis Vuitton purse.


There are millions of amazing things about Korea and I won't spend this whole post telling you about them. I'll leave something for my later posts. But I'll mention one more thing and that is Korean food! People ask me about Korean food a lot. Korean cuisine is largely based upon rice, vegetables, and meats. Traditional Korean meals are noted for the number of side dishes (banchan) that accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice. Kimchi is served often, sometimes at every meal. Commonly used ingredients include sesame, doenjang (fermented bean paste), soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, pepper  flakes and gochujang (fermented red chili paste). One of the favorites for foreigners is Korean barbecue (galbi). The meat is deliciously marinated and grilled then pair with any or all side dishes  inside a lettuce wrap. Delicious!


So basically it's really healthy and they think kimchi is amazing. Some have claimed it can cure cancer. It has been proven to burn calories. They eat it with everything and it's really smelly. Before I had been in Korea for six months, I couldn't stand it and it made me sick to smell it. I gained so much weight because I wouldn't touch Korean food. I would eat at McDonald's or go out for pizza, and even though the pizza was a little weird, because it had sweet potato in the crust. I would rather have that. I can't really contribute all of my weight gain to my diet and big part of it was also the amount of alcohol I consumed. 


The first week I was in Korea I was drunk four nights out of seven. I thought, "Wow, I'm off to a great start." There is a drink they make in Korea called Soju. It takes like a cross between vodka and rubbing alcohol. It is customarily consumed neat, but there is no way I can consume it without mixing it with coke or juice or something.  It is deadly, (and by deadly, I mean it will get you in major trouble. Although I'm sure if you drink enough you could die of alcohol poisoning) and it will give the worst hangover of your life. 


Another thing about drinking in Korea is they have a whole other culture about drinking. In America, it is not okay to fraternize. A manager or supervisor is not supposed to go drinking with their employees. In Korea, it is mandatory. If you supervisor says, "Let's go drinking." You must go. If not I'm not sure if they would fire you, because I have always gone, but I'm sure it's really frowned upon. I'm not sure which way is better, but I tend to go with American culture on this one. I think there are boundaries when it comes to co-workers. For example, when I was teaching adults, I had a student who told me he got drunk with his boss and inappropriately told his boss everything he was doing wrong with his life, so he was afraid to go to work the next day. Thank goodness, it never did, but that is exactly the situation I would get myself into if I drank with my superiors too much. But the first Korean boyfriend I had and I will get to him soonish, would actually break dates with me to go drinking with his supervisor, because he "had to". 


Okay, back to Korean men. Before I started to even notice Korean men, I decided to try some Western men when I first got to Korea. I first was really into this guy named Niles. I liked him mostly because he was a musician and I was just looking for some fun. One night, we all went out to town nearby to where we lived in Korea called Ilsan. We were all drinking and talking and after everyone was really drunk I started making out with Niles. We made out the whole night, but we were so drunk that I pretty much had to carry him home. So I was just going to put him in his bed and go back to my apartment, when he pulled me onto his bed and was like no, don't go. I didn't really want to have sex with him, but I was so drunk that I just was like, "whatever." Well the alcohol was my friend that night because he couldn't get it up. Also, from where I was standing through blurry vision, he didn't look very pleasing even if he was excited, if you know what I mean. 


Niles wound up being a real jerk to me afterwards. He wouldn't talk to me or even look at me after his "embarrassing incident." Then I found out really quickly that he and a couple of other guys were like the "Village Bicycles" who tried to get with every new girl who came to the village. I even got really drunk one night and confronted him. He said we could be friends and he just felt awkward. After about six months or so later, Niles apologized to me and said he was sorry for EVERYTHING. I was hurt at the time, but in hind sight, I am so happy nothing ever happened between us. 


Then I dated this British guy for a little bit. I met him out in Hongdae, which is a part of Seoul where the most dance clubs are located. I was actually trying to make Niles jealous at the time, because he had moved on to the next new girl and I was going to show him. Anyway I had some drinks with this British guy named Henry Swords or something really British. We went out a couple of times, but discovered we weren't really compatible. 


Technically, I had a couple of experiences with Korean men before I was officially only attracted to them. One night, Maisie, Clio, Micah, and I were going out for sushi. That is all we were going to do. We were going out for sushi. I was the only one who had to work in the morning, so the rest of them were not worried at all about getting back anytime soon. We decided to go to this German bar in Ilsan. This bar had beer bongs and we were all having a good time and drinking. There was a Philippino band there playing. There were also all kinds of Korean businessmen there. One in particular was not so bad looking. He was actually pretty good looking and very tall and had on a suit. That never hurts. He was eyeing me. So being the wonderfully outgoing people my friends were they decided that we were going to go over and have drinks with these businessmen and dance with them. I quickly discovered the hot one didn't speak any English at all. At that time, I spoke no Korean. We did dance some and to my embarrassment, Micah tried to teach him the words "Motor boat" and how to do that. I think I did smack him hard for that. 


Then we all decided to go to a Karaoke bar. In Korea, these are called Noraebangs. We were all singing. I made out with the Korean guy, but he had no idea how to kiss. Then he got up and sang a song that was only in Korean, but he inserted my name into it. I have no idea what else he was saying but every so often he would say, "Jeshika, blah, blah, blah." He begged me to go with him, but I practically had to pry myself away from him. He gave me his business card and that was the last time I saw him. Clio said I should have given him a chance and I was like yeah and what would we talk about? I just wasn't that into him. 


So I was single for a while and then I went to the Philippines. That's a whole other story. I had a ridiculous time there and I have no idea what happened, but after that, it was like someone flipped a switch in my brain. I suddenly found Korean men attractive and I started to find Korean food delicious. I craved it. 


The beginning of the end was one night. It was my friend Analyse's birthday. We all went out to this Mexi/American restaurant called "On The Border".Anyway, it’s terribly expensive and not nearly as good as any Mexican restaurant you would eat at in America, but I suppose, us foreigners felt a sense of comfort from eating there.

We decided to try out a bar called “Ho Bar X.” Ho Bar is a chain of bars in Hongdae. There are literally ten of them there. We liked it because the drinks were pretty cheap. On our way to Hongdae that night, Clio had informed us that she had been learning some Korean phrases from the Korean teachers she worked with. It was Clio, me, Analyse, and Maisie in the cab. So Clio taught us the Korean pick up line. It is “Shiganesoyo.” That means: Do you have time for me? So Clio set up a dare and the dare was that each of us had to find a Korean guy to try this out on.

As we made our way into Ho Bar, Analyse found a table of British boys and were chumming them up. I was drunk by this time and feeling really randy. I looked over and at the bar, I saw a very attractive Korean bartender. I was shocked. I hadn’t seen a Korean that I thought, “man he is so hot,”  until this guy. He was wearing a superman shirt and he had big muscles. I went over to him and said, can you make me a drink? He was like okay. Then I said, “shiganesoyo.” He said, “yeah!” So I flirted with him a bit, but then I went back to my British boys.

We decided to go to another bar, but as I was leaving, the bartender caught me by the arm and said, “Where are you going, you’re so cute.” So I gave him my number and said okay we can go out sometime then. I soon grew tired of the British boys and wanted to go home. I thought a lot about the bartender. We texted a few times but , he worked six days a week and he only wanted to sleep on Sundays.


P.S. The bartender is not my husband...stay tuned for next week's post to find out what happened with him. :)

Lost and Replaced...Passport and trip to Taiwan

Have you ever lost something? I used to lose things all the time and it was never a big deal until it was something really important. Always mostly I lose my keys and I find them after searching frantically. This story is about losing my passport. This was one of the worst moments of my life as a traveler.


So I have trouble thinking of ways to start writing and I promised myself I was going to do this thing, and by thing I mean blog. To come up with ideas I found this website with 80 journal prompts. The question I read today was: Have you ever lost something that couldn't be replaced?


This question prompted me to remember the time that I went to Taiwan with my best friends at the time: Maisie and Clio. This story takes place in March 2008. We were all working together in Korea at a place called "English Village" at the time in Korea teaching English. We had a three day weekend, so we figured we had to go out of the country. We literally made up our minds to go somewhere a couple of days before we went, picked the cheapest plane ticket to anywhere that all of us had never been, purchased the tickets, and packed to go. 


A month before we took our trip was Chinese New Year and two of the guys I worked with had been to Taiwan at that time and they told us we should check out this place at the bottom called "Green Island." I was just happy to be going to another country, so I let Clio plan everything. 


On our way to the airport, Maisie realized that she forgot her passport and her underwear, so we had to call our good friend, Micah, and have him go into her apartment and pick out some underwear for her. (Which I'm sure, he didn't mind at all) and get her passport and meet us at the gate. We were afraid we weren't going to get to the airport on time after that, so we were really stressed. Missing planes was nothing new for Maisie and I since the month before I messed up the time and and we missed our flight to the Philippines. Don't worry, we still made it there. 

On the way there it was nice to bond. Clio and I had a very deep conversation. I was telling her all about my very Christian college life and how I wouldn’t even kiss a guy and only give them side hugs. She was amazed and astonished.  I remember telling her I didn’t think I was a Christian anymore, because I wasn’t a virgin anymore and she thought that was absolutely ridiculous. For me I was involved in a kind of Christian culture that you couldn’t be lukewarm. You were either hot or cold. So sex before marriage to me was a very horrid sin that automatically took away your Christianity. 

When we got to Taipai, I remember us talking about how it looked so much like Korea. There were Neon signs everywhere and it was a big city. The only difference was everything was in Chinese instead of Korean. I remember getting there pretty late and the girls and I were alternating between singing Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" and Britney Spear's "You want a piece of me". I remember laughing at Maisie because she didn't know the words and made up her own. 


We went to a internet cafe first to send a few emails. In Korea these centers where you go to pay to use a computer are called PC Bangs. Then we decided to stay at the YMCA. We decided we had a little time to see a couple more things before the night was over so we went to the 101 building by subway and took a cab there. For those of you that don't know, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101 this link can tell you all about the 101 building. It was basically the tallest building in the world until 2010 when they built a taller one in Dubai. So we take a cab there and we notice the taxi driver is chewing this tobacco. It is red, so it looks like his mouth is bleeding. 


When we get to the building, we realize it is closed so we get the taxi driver to take a picture of us in front of it. This guy did not speak English, so just by getting him to realize we wanted him to take a picture, we were doing good, but when we looked at the picture later, we discovered no one would even be able to tell where we were because he only got a picture of our faces. So that was great.


That night after going to the building, we went to check out the huge night market on the street. I bought this nice looking, really shiny, cute bag for $10. I was very excited about. It looked expensive, but about a week later the thing fell apart. You get what you pay for, I guess. 


We went to a street restaurant and had some delicious "steak."? I hope that's what we were eating...I know in China, they eat monkey brains and cats and everything, but I'm not sure about Taiwan. It was pretty good, whatever it was. Although, that night I had food poisoning, but the other two girls were fine. 

In the morning we were going to the train station to take a train from the top of Taiwan to the bottom and take a train to “Green Island.” The train ride was 6 hours long. I finished my book, “My Horizontal Life” by Chelsea Handler.  Thank goodness Clio brought another book : “Something Borrowed” by  Emily Giffin. So we switched. Clio read the Chelsea one and said, “This girl is such a whore, but it’s funny.” Both books were great. Any time we had left on the train we were of course gossiping about all the people we worked and lived with at English Village.

When we got to the loading dock of the ferry. We bought our tickets and then we were hungry and then we loaded ourselves up on “Taiwanese snacks” chips, candy and soda.  I had never ridden on this kind of ferry. Clio told me she was probably going to be sick and I hadn't even thought about being sick. But when we started moving I got green really fast. The ships was like that ship ride at the fair. It swooshed steeply from one side to the other constantly. Thankfully they had throw-up bags everywhere and I definitely used a couple and had to lie down. I hated myself for filling myself full of the snacks.  Clio was really sick as well but she was handling it way better than me. Maisie, on the other hand, was in the seat in front of us reading a freaking book about Benjamin Franklin. Unbelievable!

I was trying to get over my sickness on our way to the hotel. We were anxious to get to the beach. The thing about “Green Island” is that everyone that lives there looks like they have been punched in the mouth and gotten all their teeth knocked out. They chew this tobacco that stains their mouths red. I think it’s called Areca nut, but don’t quote me on that.  We quickly realized that not coming during “tourist season” meant that we were pretty much alone on the island except for the natives and of course, my debit card did not work there, so I wound up having to borrow money from Clio.

First, we got set up in our hotel. They gave us scooters, and tried to teach us how to drive them without speaking any English, but on my first try I got the brake and the gas mixed up somehow. I ran into a bush, went flying into the air and broke the mirror. Clio and Maisie were just laughing at me. So we decided to not do the scooters. We instead rented a car for later. We asked the front desk person where the beach was and she said we could walk there. On our way to the beach, there was a huge cow in the road. Clio is afraid of animals anyway so she started freaking out and I was afraid she was going to freak the cow out. Somehow, we made it past. Then we passed a prison very close to our hotel.  That’s not scary at all!!  Then when we got to the beach, we realized it was not white and sandy. No, this “beach” was molten volcanic rock. Our hopes of tanning and swimming  were out.

We went back and took the car to the only restaurant on the island. It was the best tuna sashimi ever, though. We were the only ones there. We wrote our names on the wall. The tuna that we ate was caught by the owner about ten minutes before we got there. It was sliced in front of us and absolutely delicious.  After dinner, we decided to drive around the island, but didn’t get very far at all and our car broke down. We had to wait for the hotel owners to come and fix the car.

When they had fixed our car, we took the car to the other side of the island to the natural hot springs and it was really nice to be the only ones there. The springs felt like a hot tub. I loved it. We all talked about our experiences with men and I remember saying I would never date a guy unless he were pretty. Clio and Maisie said they had dated their fair share of ugly men. Maisie joked that she liked her men big and dumb.  Then we went back to gossiping about the crazy people at English Village.  We found out it took about 30 minutes to drive around the whole island.

The next day, we went snorkeling. The guy at the hotel took us to put on our wet suits first. Then we got our snorkels on and Clio was telling us a story of her crazy, at that time boyfriend, Micah, who made her swim with the sharks and people could see them in the tank. Clio was just swimming slowly out of her mind, while Micah was doing all kind of acrobatic type movements in a shark tank.

When we first got into the water, the guide gave us food to feed the fish. Clio about freaked out because hoards of fish just attack you. But once we got going, it was one of the most beautiful and amazing experiences of my life. The fish were gorgeous and exotic.  I would have snorkeled all day if I could. Then we drove around the island in the daytime and talked of how any of us could live in such a secluded place. Maisie said she could, but Clio and I said we needed more people and more excitement and amenities. It was a truly beautiful island. We shopped a  bit. That night we saw a Karaoke bar, so we decided to go. The people that owned the bar were some of the most unfortunate-looking  people, with their missing teeth and red mouths, but their children were so adorable.

We sang any English song that was on the menu and we drank beer with the natives. It was all very surreal.

We we left, I bought Dramamine for the ferry and was fine on the way back. The train ride wasn't so long with us talking a lot. When we got back to Taipei, we saw an amazing street play with Chinese characters and the story was all in Chinese, but  we felt really lucky to get to see it. We couldn't stay very long. We had to make our way back to the airport. I’ll always remember that trip as a time when the three of us became closer friends. We are still close friends today. 

Here's where the passport part comes in: When we got back to Korea, we almost didn't make the bus back to English Village, so we took the bus from the airport and and then we took a taxi to the bus to EV. Well, I guess pulling out my wallet I must have pulled out my passport and I was in such a hurry, When I tried to put it back in my purse, it must have fallen back out. 

I was so depressed that I had lost my passport, mostly because I had stamps in there from Brazil, Spain, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The worst part was the taxi driver called and said he was going to send it back to me, and he never did. After a couple of weeks of depression and realizing I wasn't getting it back, I finally had to suck it up and go get another passport. 

Introduction of Jessica

Dear Reader,

Hi, my name is Jessica. I have tried blogging once before, but couldn't stay committed. A lot of friends told me to start a blog when I first started traveling. I should have started then. I would have remembered a lot more hilarious and important details to stories I will tell. Recently, I started working with a sweet amazing friend, who told me I should start a blog telling people of how I traveled debt-free to thirty countries and I will try to offer some advice for such things, if anyone is interested. However, I would much rather write about my ridiculous drunken nights, and dating stories. Please beware that if you are religious, you may not want to read my stories because you may find them disgusting and distasteful and it may prompt you to pray for my soul. On the other hand, if you are open-minded and like to hear ridiculous stories that you may only find in novels and such things, I think you will really enjoy my blog. I, of course will not use real names for anyone who has shared experiences with me. Please no one sue me and I will try to never give you cause to. No one will probably even read this right? So, no worries. I have started to write a book, but I figure a blog might be better. The reason being, I have no idea how invested I will become in writing this and I do not know of any editors or publishers. I'm just not that connected. Regardless of what you think, I hope you enjoy.

Sincerely,
Jessica