SK 2013

SO, I suppose our little corner of the internet hasn't been getting a lot of our attention. I believe it's mostly because I never have anything to say. But I've got a lot to say today. Max and I finally pulled our money together and bought some tickets to go see Anna in her part of the world and I'd like to tell you about it...

South Korea is 14 hours ahead of our time here in Illinois, so when we boarded our 14 hour flight we knew we were in for a long journey. Luckily, Korean Air is seriously accommodating. We had an abundance of movies and shows to watch, multiple games we could play, even against each other, and interactive video to see what the front and back of the plane could see and where exactly we were on the earth. So even though we were cramped and exhausted, we were at least entertained.

When we got to the Incheon airport in South Korea we made a little camp on the benches and waiting for Anna to join us. This wasn't our last stop. We were to continue on to the Philippines for a side trip for a few days.

When I saw Anna I was filled with so much excitement and love! My best friend, my sister! Reunited at last!

But after a four hour flight, we arrived in Cebu, Philippines at about 1 or 2 in the morning. Anna had a hotel room waiting for us though and we crashed for about 10 hours. The next afternoon we boarded another plane, arrived on another island, boarded a boat, and arrived at our final island, Boracay.

Above is our room and us all standing on our balcony. We stayed at Spider House and, boy, was it beautiful! It was very outdoors-y which caused for some interesting encounters. Like when it rained or that giant beetle flew in and couldn't fly out or when that cat just walked through our room. The Philippines is such a beautiful place. The ocean was warm and salty, the people were friendly and helpful, and the wildlife is abundant.

There was a restaurant/sitting area on the bottom floor of our hotel, although our hotel had many many many levels that weren't always level, if you get my meaning. But this was the place we hung out the most. Eating breakfast, next to the ocean, the sun, breeze, it was all amazing.

The town was a booming place. Busy, noisy, crowded, bright, happy, and with many shops and restaurants! We couldn't see enough of the place! Every day we'd explore something new.

This is the little cave/tunnel that we had to walk through to get to our front gate of the hotel with spiders and waves galore!

There were downsides to the trip, such as, Max and I getting sick from the food and Max got sunburned/sunsick on the second day but the trip gave us a chance to learn about a place we knew nothing about and getting to see a part of the world so different from ours. I've never been to a place like it and it was definitely not... resort-ish nor was it real life, but it was fun and I'll never forget.


But we left after a few days and traveled back to Korea!

Here is the view from Anna's apartment in Bucheon. Her place wasn't as small as I thought it would be and her cat, not as mean, though twice as annoying. We had so much to do in such a small amount of time. We got to Korea at 7am on Wednesday and we were to leave Sunday afternoon. Anna wanted us to experience everything and meet everyone. We were tired and still a little sick but we followed her like sheep and our eyes grew wide with the many many many things we saw.

The market

The food

The city night

Everyday life = subway

Baseball

Friends

And amusement

I enjoyed seeing into her life, learning about what she deals with everyday. I have to admit it was a culture shock but a relief to be in a place that reminded me somewhat of home. Which I was excited to go back to after this exhausting but amazing trip. The only problem was leaving Anna behind. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I had her around all day everyday. She's my other half and without her I am lonely. It's been awhile since she's been home long enough to see whenever I want. I am happy she's being an adventurer but I still miss her and want her here. But she'll be home and March and though she may not be here for good, she might not be leaving without me again. But she'll still be home for a bit and we get to make new memories and I am counting the days. :]

<3<3<3<3,
Marybeth