Half way there.

I can't believe we've already been in Korea for six months.  Our official six month "Koreaversary" (as our friend Jessica likes to call it) is on the 28th of this month, but we're practically there!  I know that leaving will be bittersweet, but I am honestly super excited to come home.  That's not to say that we don't like it here or anything.  There will definitely be things we miss about Korea.  I'll miss the fact that this will probably be the safest place I will ever live, period.  I'll miss the friendly and generous Korean culture where people will give you little gifts or start a conversation with you in the elevator, at the store, on the street, or pretty much anywhere.  I'll miss the fact that everything in Korea is extremely cute and I can easily find a spatula with a smiley face on it, pens in the shape of puppies, or kitten oven mitts.  And, I know that Doug will miss all the cheap street food and beef dishes here!

But....I can't wait to be back in sunny California where the avocados are abundant and our friends and family are just a drive or phone call away.  I'm counting down the days and we only have 192 more days till we're flying back to beautiful California!  That's not that far away, right?

Here's a few pictures that I feel really capture the beauty of Korea and the rural/urban mix throughout the country.

Jessica's Birthday!

A few weeks ago it was our good friend's, Jessica, birthday.  Celebrating birthdays away from home, our families, and our friends can be pretty tough, so some friends and I decided to plan something special for Jessica's birthday.  Plus, good friends in Korea are hard to come by due to the limited selection of people that speak the same language as we do, so we had to do something extra fun for her! Our friend Lisa decided to plan a birthday party around all of Jessica's favorite things-Harry Potter, Taylor Swift, and the Hunger Games book series.  We started out the night eating at our favorite Italian restaurant in Cheonan, Welcoming the Moon, and got yummy pizza, soup, and salad. Afterward, we headed to our friends' apartment and hung out and played games.  Lisa even made a Taylor Swift drink list with drinks that corresponded to different Taylor Swift songs!  She did an amazing job planning out all the details.  It was such a fun night!

 Before - The super cute birthday apple pie that Lisa and I made!

 After - demolished by chopsticks.

 Happy Birthday, Jessica! We are so glad to have met you!

Lazy weekend.

This weekend I really enjoyed just getting to relax after our busy couple weeks moving and settling into our apartment.  We still have some organizing and decorating to do, but everything is unpacked!

Yesterday, we were able to go back to Mt. Taejosan, which is a mountain that has one the largest buddha statues in Korea.  It's really peaceful, so Doug and I wanted to go back and check it out in the winter.  Luckily, now we are only a fifteen minute bus ride away, whereas before it took us about 45 minutes!  I think we'll be hiking there a lot more once the weather warms up, maybe we'll even bring little Yepps along :) 

One of the reasons we enjoy Mt. Taejosan so much is because it feels a lot more secluded and tranquil than some of the other mountains and hills we hike here.  I swear the national pastime for middle-aged Koreans is hiking.  Sometimes the trails will be busier than walking around town, so it doesn't always feel like your getting away from the crowds.  But, at Mt. Taejosan you don't have to constantly stop on the trail for passing and you can enjoy the beautiful views.

I thought this was interesting.  This is a frozen lake at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the buddha.  Someone made the Buddhist swastika with ice blocks on the lake.  Apparently,  Hitler took the Buddhist swastika and turned it backwards to make the Nazi symbol!  I didn't know that until we came here and saw all the swastikas on the temples!

Moving day!

We finally moved!! We started moving in our new apartment little by little two Wednesdays ago and officially moved in at the end of last week.  A few things I love about our new place are the huge windows overlooking the city and the mountains, being able to live in the same building as our friends, and living downtown close to everything we could possibly need.

It's hard though because I really want to decorate since it is technically our first apartment together, but I'm hesitant to buy decorations and furniture since we'll only be living here for six and a half more months.  I think I need to avoid Pinterest as much as possible so I'm not too tempted by all of the adorable home decor pins!

Here's some photos of our new place: