I took a walk yesterday as a “lunch break” to clear my head. As I was walking along, enjoying our beautiful town and the gorgeous weather, I remembered that it was the last day of the 80 degree weather. I went back to my desk, took care of a few things and then peaced out of the office. I hit the beach with some food, water and a book. It was so peaceful out there. The waves were coming in gently, the seagulls were soaring, the pelicans dive bombing (ha!). There were a bunch of other people out there too. Parents watching over and playing with their kids, chicks tanning (even though their skin already looks like leather) and old dudes tanning (even though their skin has looked like leather for years).
Just as I was thinking that this was heaven on earth, a family showed up with three screaming kids and two not-so-lovely moms. They sat right beside me (about 30 feet from the water) and proceeded to scream at their kids playing in the water. Seriously, people? I was *this* close to asking why they didn’t sit a bit closer so they could be within talking distance with their kids. Oh well, whatever. They lasted about an hour and left – thank God – and peace was once again restored to my little section of the beach.
If I had my own business, I would make a rule that says any day over 80 degrees requires an afternoon at the beach. You know, because I want myself and those working with me to be refreshed. Haha.
Matt and I drove all over LA today – picking up and delivering random gear for my job. We were at Dodgers Stadium for awhile, so we decided to head up to Pasadena to eat lunch at All India Cafe. I have not eaten a ton of Indian food but I have had some very disgusting Indian food in the past. Like make-me-gag dishes. All India Cafe is simply amazing. One afternoon when we were there, one of the owners talked to us about how they developed the recipes for the restaurant (they are a blend from different regions in India) and took us in the kitchen to check out the tandoori oven – which was SO cool! I typically eat the Chicken Tikka Masala lunch. Each dish is so flavorful. And the naan is amazing. If you are in the area, definitely eat there. It’s one of our favorite restaurants in the world.
Matt and I took a quick afternoon drive down the PCH to Huntington Beach today. It’s really cool how each beach city has its own vibe. Huntington is really fun and there is always a ton of surfers doing their thing. There is a stretch of beach along the way that allows dogs – it’s so much fun watching them run and play in the water! If we get bikes one of these days, I totally want to ride to Huntington and back (16 miles RT). It’s such a beautiful stretch of ocean.
Are you in need of an adventure? Want to travel more? Up for the challenge of living in a culture completely different than your own? Always dreamed of living abroad?
My former boss is looking for two teachers in South Korea for positions starting in the beginning of August. There are some horror stories of teachers going to Asia and getting ripped off but I can assure you that this guy is legit and treats his foreign teachers (you!) fairly.
The basics: You’d teach between 5-8 classes a day. No huge class sizes (the most I ever had was 10 kids). You are paid monthly. They pay for your housing – you pay for utilities only. 2 weeks vacation plus national holidays. One year contract (you can always stay longer, we stayed for 3 years). They pay roundtrip airfare. The apartments he has are a ten minute walk from school and a five minute walk from the subway. Lots of restaurants, a Walmart Supercenter type store and a Starbucks within a block of the apartment.
Requirements: You must have a bachelor’s degree and be a native speaker of English. Pretty simple really.
Living in Korea is an adventure and takes some time to acclimate… but once you are ready for more, all of Southeast Asia is a short, cheap plane ride away. Let me know if you are interested and I can get you some more info!
Pictures: the city of Sanbon at night (where the job is), a sweet Korean girl, lanterns from Buddha’s Birthday, Matt and I during our Korean wedding performance, delicious Korean food and the view from our apartment in Sanbon (it’s a beautiful city).
The Google Street View car was driving up and down the streets of our town the other day. When I caught sight of it, I totally gunned it to follow it around for a bit. I’m hoping to make my online Google debut soon!
Just in case you didn’t know, the beach is wet. This poses a problem in a house that doesn’t have a good ventilation system. A few months ago I discovered some mold in our kitchen that had completely taken over a basket. Isn’t that some of the knarliest mold you’ve ever seen? It only took about two weeks to grow – ew!
Then about a month ago I found mold covering the mini-blinds in our bedroom… which probably explains why we were feeling all stuffed up each morning. We started leaving our windows cracked to let air circulate.
Yesterday I was grabbing something out of our closet and found that my straw hat was moldy. Sonuva! The rest of the day I was sick from it so I decided to just throw it away rather than save it. I can’t imagine walking around with mold spores, dead or alive, on my head. So now we leave the closet door open most of the time so that it doesn’t stay stagnant in there. I also purchased some of these little tubs of pellets that soak up the humidity in the air and stuck one in each room. I hope they help!
