Wherever you will go

{I got this one guys!!}

Let us travel back to the last few weeks of July and I shall paint you a picture of my past. SO Liz and Joe went out of town for a week and I was appointed Wrigley-water. :) That was a fun week and right at the end of it, leaving our parents to watch the pup, I went to the Wisconsin Dells with the O'Neill's! We were only there a few days but it was SO fun packed! We stayed in one of the Kalahari's condos, boy, that place was sweet and I would love to go back there anytime! We filled our days with water parks, baby tiger, skyscrapers, mining, wizard quests, haunted boat rides, getting chased by zombies, pool tournaments, family, food, fun, and feeding deer! 

HAUNTED VOYAGE

While I was gone, my best friend Kaley came home from her month long stay in Barcelona, Spain! Although I was sad to miss her first day back in the states, her and her family and neighbors went to spend the day at her family's river house in Wisconsin, which was on the way home from the Dells! So I had Max drop me off there so I could spend the wonderful day with my two favorite people, Kaley and Elle! 

That day was an experience, let me tell you. We had a really great day boating and cooking up dinner with their parents. But then we decided to spend the night at the house and their families headed out. All was fun and games for a few peaceful hours. Just old friends coming together and talking about new experiences. We were outside by the dock, having just deciding to go for a midnight swim, when we got the pants scared out of us by a creepy lightless boat, blasting Eminem, that decided it wanted to get a closer look at our dock! :0 We were absolutely terrified and dashed back into the house, screaming like little girls. We couldn't get the back door locked on the house so we all three ran into one room and promptly starting barring the door and searching for weapons. With decretive oars in hand, we all fell silent to catch our breaths... and we could hear the music right outside the house!! We were all ready to fight to the death, luckily it didn't come to that, because after a few minutes whimpering and staring at each other, we decided to take the risk and go see if they were still there, to which we discovered that they weren't. We all sighed from relief and giggled nervously, but they night was pretty much over after that. haha I'm seriously never going to forget that night. Glad we're still here!! 

Unfortunately, they had to go back to school in a like a week after that day, so I tired to see them as much as I could before they departed for their different locations. Kaley and I had a wild night in Chicago for our friend Nicollette's 21st birthday! I got pretty drunk, but luckily I didn't do anything too crazy, just embarrassing. XD Fun pictures and videos came from that night. Also lucky was the fact that I was able to hang on to all my belongings! I had bought a cool vintage magazine called Movie Story from a book store in Chicago and I had it the next day still! Plus my phone and wallet! Phew! Way to go drunk self! The funniest part, for me, was that Kaley and I had gotten Taco Bell on our way home and, apparently, had trouble eating it because the next morning Kaley discovered a lot of cheese and beef on the front seats of her car! haha Gross. Still, I love my friends and I'm glad we know how to have a good time. 

The only downside of that was that the next day I was supposed to go back to Chicago with my mom and Liz to do our semiannual shopping trip! I woke up with a shock in the morning because I had left my phone on silent when I got home the night before so I missed all my mom and Liz's texts and calls so when my mom came down to see if I was getting ready, she found me passed out, and I awoke to not understanding what in the heck was going on! But I dressed quickly, ate breakfast, and we got in the car to go, first picking up my stuff from Kaley's house, which I had left in her car, but hey, at least I didn't leave it at a bar! When I had gotten up and was up and about, I had felt fine! Thinking that I must have had enough water to avoid a crazy hang over, but boy was I dead wrong. My mom and Liz ended up having to take me back home where I spent the whole day in a toilet bowl. Oh well though. It happens to the best of us. ;) 

On the 6th it was our mom's birthday but we had a little party on the 5th. Liz and Joe came over and made us some yummy shish kabobs on the grill while grandpa, dad, Max, and I all looked on and mom tried to help where she could even though it was her birthday. I made a simple spinach and fruit salad with breadsticks. All the food was fan-fucking-tastic! I'm hungry just thinking about it! The best was the cheesecake that Liz made for our mom's birthday cake. I was amazed at how great it looked and how delicious it was! Liz, you're the best!

*editor's note: is joe picking a wedgie, or what? sincerely, anna.

The next day I started my academy training at Petsmart in Schaumburg. 7 am sharp everyday! At first I was thinking, "shoot me now." But it hasn't been that bad and class is a lot of fun! I'm learning SO much! Not just about grooming but about dogs in general. I'm really happy I will get this experience so I can use it to other pet parent's benefit. :)

The biggest news in my life right now is that in September, I'm moving out! The little baby bird is finally leaving the nest. Brooke and Sam made the big leap and bought a house together!! A large, beautiful, characteristic house to call home and Max and I are going to move in with them for a year or so, to help out with money and what not. Luckily, we all get along very well, so it should be really great and fun! I'm so excited to move in and help start the renovations, like removing wall paper and painting. And even though my parents will miss me, and more importantly Storm, it's only in South Elgin so a very short drive and we'll still get to see each other all the time. I'm just excited for this experience and what life will have in store for Max, Storm, and I a year from now. :)

There is a lot to look forward to right now. And as soon as I get pictures of the house, I'll post them so you can all see our cute new home. PHEW! That's everything! Try not to get overloaded and if you made it this far down, well thank you! Thank you for reading, or skimming, and at least enjoying the pictures! All for now!

<3<3<3,
Marybeth

Forest Creature

Today is a nature post! Ahh the great outdoors. Er, well, the great outdoors are rather stiflingly hot as of recently. Summer here means humidity and it makes everything sticky and muggy. Whenever I walk our of my air conditioned classroom or air conditioned apartment, it's like a walk into a hot jello mold and I have to force myself through the thick, warm air. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration... or maybe not! You don't live my life!

Woah, woah, I'm getting hostile. This heat is getting the better of me... It's a good thing I took a mini vacation this weekend and went camping with my coteacher, Elly, her husband and daughter, and two other families! It was such a nice feeling to get to go camping. I love camping and I miss going with my family. But these nice Korean families made me one of their own this weekend, and I couldn't have been more grateful.

But first!

(These were taken today, Tuesday, not during the camping trip)

-Anna-

dress: TJMaxx? Marshall's? I don't remember...

necklace: American Eagle

shoes: Ebay. Duh. 

belt: Toona (Korea)

So yes, camping. Elly and her family go camping every weekend and have invited me along, but hadn't been able to go until now! We went east and into the mountains to Youngwol City in Gangwon Province. We left Friday evening after work, so we got to the site later that night. My tent was already set up ^^ (because one of the other families offered a spare single tent!), so I just kind of hung out. There were two other families that were already there. One couple had two boys and a girl (one of the boys was a toddler who I kept trying to win over so I could hold him, but I never officially got the approval... He did call me "imo" a few times though, which meant "aunt". I'll take it as a small victory ^^). The other couple had two girls. They were kind of cautious at first, too shy to speak English with me. They eventually warmed up and were asking me all kinds of questions like my favorite color and food and where I was from and how much Korean I knew (which I impressed them with by telling them things like "hello", "thank you", "bathroom", "beer, please"... you know, all the important stuff. Oh, lord, and I'm a teacher....).

The next day we went on a trip to a geography museum, because apparently these kids are responsible for learning stuff while they're on vacation. And they actually do it! Then we went wading through a creek after we decided it was too hot to look around a temple. Then we hung out around the campsite, me reading the first book of The Game of Thrones. OoOoh it's so good.. And we also managed to splash around in the creek that ran adjacent to the modestly sized campground. 

Now a word on Korean camping, compared to my camping, compared to real camping:

Koreans seem to mostly camp in tents. Some had small caravans, but mostly tents. But these are no meek, flimsy, cozy little tents. No, these are 4 bedroom netted monsters. It's great! I mean, mine was the single, so it was small and cozy, which is fine by me. I even got a Pororo mat to lay on. Also, they don't really have campfires. I asked Elly about it, and she said campfires are really popular, but I think their campfires are just brought out to cook. Campfires at home are also used to cook, but sometimes they're just for staring at. They didn't have any fire pits to make fires; the families brought out this grill/fire thing that had a table thing around it for eating around. It's not really something you'd just set up to watch or hang out around without cooking. And also the campground itself: the whole set up kind of reminded me of a parking lot with a few skinny trees. The sites were side by side, separated only by a line, and even that was more of a suggestion. There was no privacy (unless you hid away in your mansion tent) and there was no grass and no trails to follow. I mean, it wasn't awful, it just wasn't what I was used to. I'm accustomed to little nooks of nature we back out trailer into and can't see or can barely see our neighbors through the trees or brush. And my way isn't even considered camping by some standards back home; unless you hiked a mile to set up camp, caught a fish for dinner, and took a shit in the woods, you're not camping.

In addition to the many meats we grilled for dinner, one in particular I couldn't stomach: pig intestines. Now I gave it the 'ole college try... I ate it all right, but let me tell you, it was anything but mashisoyo (delicious).  It was tough and chewy and took forever to swallow (a-harrr....). 

BUT all the other food, the pork, steak, chicken, rice, Korean pancake, fruit, and dokboki I had was definitely delicious. I love when people feed me.

elvis hanging out in the creek. his english name is elvis because he plays the guitar; how precious!

the gang minus the husbands and the baby. DOROTHY IS SOOO CUTE! don't the other kids look enthralled too?

But I had a lovely time, and if I'm invited again, I would definitely do it again. Or perhaps some of my other friends can plan some camping trip! I want to make s'mores next time. I feel like s'mores are an essential part of any camping trip. But marshmellows are kind of hard to find/expensive and I couldn't even find graham crackers when I went to Costco (one of the places to shop for foreign food), but I'll try searching elsewhere. I haven't given up yet. I have a feeling Dorothy, Elly's daughter, would love them!

Until next time!

Anna