After two years, my Korean teaching contract came to an end, marking the end of an era and the start of a two-month journey across Asia and Europe. Our trip started in Beijing, where we spent a few days before hopping on a train for Mongolia.
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Our trip to Vietnam was absolutely jam-packed from the start. My friend Kelsea and I visited 4 different areas in Vietnam, and each destination was a completely unique experience. Instead of trying to tackle the whole country in one go, we decided to boil it all down to Hanoi, Sapa, Ha Long Bay, and Hoi An. As much of a bummer as it was to leave out Ho Chi Minh City, I’m glad we made the choices we did. We were busy the moment our feet hit the pavement.
After my brief but awesome jaunt in Siem Reap, I hopped over to Thailand to do a little exploring. Since this was my first adventure by myself, I was a bit intimidated. To my surprise, everything was incredibly easy and after everything was said and done, I was really happy that I decided to go it alone. I met so many amazing people from all over the place, and I know that I wouldn’t have if I’d had the safety net of a familiar face.
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August 6-12, 2016
Cambodia, you’re wonderful. My whirlwind trip to Siem Reap lasted seven days, but I wish it had been seven longer. At the end of every day, my boyfriend and I were extremely tired from constant exploration (and maybe a bit of heat exhaustion), but we always wanted to see more. My trip felt ridiculously full, but I know there’s so much there that I didn’t get to see. I’ll use that as an excuse to go back someday. I’ll see ya again, Cambodia. I know it.
As an EPIK teacher, I have to teach two weeks of English camp every summer and winter. This isn’t the type of camp that I was used to growing up as an American kid, though. There are no blobs, there are no campfires, there are no s’mores (unless you’re a glutton for punishment. Made that mistake once), and there’s definitely no sleeping here–contrary to what my students believe about me. I think they call it ‘camp’ to make it sound like something the kids will want to do.
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This is a conversation I had between myself, my coteacher, and a very disappointed 3rd grader around the time that “Captain America: Civil War” came out in Korea. The amount of thought he put in before he sighed and said he wished he could have Iron Man instead of me was adorable, even though he was basically wishing I could be someone else.
3rd graders are wonderful.