Back on the Road

When last we left Our Heroes, they had mothballed their bikes and settled in for a year of teaching English and rockin' the sedentary expat lifestyle.  All the excitement and glamor of bike touring would have to wait while we refilled our coffers.  Now, a year later, we're a little wiser, much less fit, and ready to get back to The Plan.

The Plan, as it exists currently, is as follows:

• July: Bike from Seoul to Busan, catch the ferry to Japan
• August: Visit some old friends in Osaka, apply for our Chinese visas, and oh yeah, perform at the Pasar Music Festival at the world-famous Pasar Moon!
• September: More biking in Korea to put our hard-earned Korean language skills to work, possibly revisiting Dori Village.
• October-???: Overland China to Singapore-ish.  Planning, generally, to take the ferry to Qingdao, the train to Xi'an, then bike south through China to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Here is Google's suggested route for our...hmm...

This last leg of the route will, if the money holds out, carry us until July 2015, when we hope to return to the States with wonderful memories and calves that could stun an elephant.  From there, the hope is to start teaching English in France!  We're applying to the Teaching Assistant Program in France, a program exclusively for Americans up to 30 years old (wheeeeee!).  If that goes through, then October 2015, we'll be shipping out for Europe, so friends on the continent, look out!  If we're not accepted to this program, then I guess we'll have to find something even crazier and more adventurous to do like the Peace Corps or something, ha ha ha.

No, seriously, the Peace Corps is our Plan B.

As for the last year of radio silence?  In short, life in Seoul has been...fine.  The job hasn't been so bad: reasonable hours, great coworkers, cute and frustrating students in equal proportions.  The people here are very friendly, and the food continues to be awesome (except, of course, for the bugs, which we haven't given a second chance).

I think one reason we didn't get a ton out of our time here in Seoul is because never fully committed to it the way we did to Japan.  It's a pretty cool city, to be sure, though it's much bigger and, as a result, much less intimate than Osaka.  There are far more expats living here, not all of them English teachers, and the majority of them (in our experience) don't even bother to learn any Korean, such is the strength of the expat bubble in this city.  It's entirely possible to speak only English, eat only foreign food, take in only foreign media and get by just fine in this city, even if you don't live on the military base.  I will at this point mention, putting aside the usual false humility schtick, that we did bother to learn a little Korean, at least.

But...yeah, we came here to make money, not to have the experience of living abroad, not to discover the true Korea.  Granted, we did try to keep busy: we've taken Korean lessons, French lessons, viola lessons, accordion lessons, art classes, belly dance classes, brewing classes, and cooking classes (which explains why we weren't able to save any more money).  We've made a few real friends here, and we have a few new skills to show for our time here, but in general, it was nothing all that special.

The year wasn't without low points, of course: we missed my brother's graduation and my grandmother's funeral.  Jenn's bike was stolen from our nearby subway station.  Four years of not going to the dentist resulted in some very expensive dental work (I won't tell you how many fillings I had, but let's just say that it rhymes with "ten").  I've never been too good at writing through bad feelings.  I have more to say on most of these occurrences, but I don't have it in me right now.  Maybe it'll get jogged loose on the road.  For now, just gonna say that I miss you, Grandma.

And now, a few photos to prove that we are still alive and haven't been replaced by smooth-typing spambots.  Witness the excitement of a year in Seoul (minus the photos of school hijinks, those will come in another post):

Thanksgivukkah Dinner.  Catering by Mr. Harry of Seoul.  Mr. Harry's outfit by Don't Like Shopping.

Our Christmas tree, loving hand-crafted from paint, junkmail, and up-cycled holiday decorations.

Homemade kimchi!  Still haven't gotten the smell out of the fridge.  This is why Korean people have a separate refrigerator for kimchi (seriously!).

A message of encouragement from the unblinking giant cat that watches you on the subway.

At some sort of zodiac-themed attraction by Gwangbukgung Palace.  Probably put here by aliens.

King Sejong invented the Korean alphabet and basically everything else.  His reward is to eternally watch over the selfies that tourists take of their dumb faces.

Installed outside one of Seoul's many, many, many plastic surgery clinics.  We later discovered that this is actually an installation produced by an unrelated art gallery.  You should see what I produced after looking at this too long.

Makin' beer!  This time, sugars and plant matter are fermenting in our closet on purpose.

A lovely surprise from home on our birthdays!  The deliveryman barked out "Happy birthday!  Brother!" before running off in embarrassment.  Thanks, Dan!

Another wonderful birthday present, this one from Mom and Dad.  Pay extra attention to the glass of homebrewed beer!  Pay less attention to the clutter on the cabinet, please.

At our friend/coworker Holly's house, makin' bagels with her two extremely awesome kids Joshua and Ashley.