Can somebody hand me the aloe?

'Cause I am freakin' sunburnt! I guess that's what you get for not asking someone to put sunblock on your back and you end up missing perhaps the most annoying spot to get too much sun. Maybe I should back up a bit...

So this weekend was probably the most amazing four days I've had in a while. (Save for several birthday celebrations that were pretty fantasically awesome in their own right!) It started with a relaxing evening spent with my bff Jess and her family, which involved coloring, cookie dough ice cream and Beerfest on Comedy Central (aka waaaay too many of the same commercials). The next morning was even better because FINA World Championships were on NBC and I got to see Reezy in his finest as the US Men's team kicked @$$ in the 4x100 free relay and beat the French, who should have won hands down. I guess that's the power of Phlochte? Onto that afternoon when Jess and I went to go see the Orphan. To my surprise, the movie proved to be much better than I think either of us had anticipated. It was a little less horror and little more suspense/thriller with this crazy orphan girl on the loose trying to kill everybody. I won't give away any spoilers, but the ending did lead to a thought-provoking discussion on the drive home.

Speaking of driving, the next part of my weekend involved an almost two hour trek up the summit to vist my hetero life partner (copy-right pending) and her hubby in Lake Tahoe. Even though I had just been there for father's day, it had been my first time in years really getting to experience what the lake had to offer. Despite the fact I left with a pretty nasty burn on the bottom of my left shoulder blade, only adding to the color discrepancy between my arms, I had a blast rafting down the Truckee River (see photo below) even though we nearly died several times and Brad may have ended up injured due to my lack of avoiding the bushes... and playing on a remote beach with the Mabies.

By far the best part of this weekend was sharing a room with Chelsea and staying up late catching up on the gossip and laughing about our time spent living together in Portland. On the drive back to Sacramento I got to spend a lot of time mulling over my friendships I've made in my short 23 years. Being an only child, you come to appreciate the friends you have so much more because they truly do become like family. All of my girls back home in Sac and up in Portland are my sisters and I don't know where I would be or the person I would be without them. I've said this before during a drunken love fest with two of my besties, who shall remain nameless, that I truly feel blessed by the women in my life. After losing my mother to cancer in '99, my dad did the best that he could to be there for me and I love him beyond words for the sacrifices he made to keep our family together, but there's only so much girl talk that can be had. I floundered most of my way through high school without that feminine influence, not knowing a thing about make up or tweezers (can we say yikes to the insane eyebrows I had back then?!). But then I solidified friendships with some of the most amazing girls during my last two years along with the first two at uni and there is no way that I can deny that my mom sent them (and their families) to me to serve as strong female role models in my life. Beyond the superficial shopping trips and boy talk, these girls taught me what it meant to embrace being a woman and to stand up for our identity as double-x chromosomes.

Okay, I'm going to climb off of my girl-power soap box now and tell you guys some exciting news about my trip to Korea. So, now that I have my VISA issuance number, I had to deal with the Consulate in getting the actual VISA stamp added to my passport. Well, after being transferred around the Consulate's main switchboard I found out that I had to send in all of my documents, including my passport, ahead of me before they could set up the interview date. Apparently a vital part of my packet was missing as I found out yesterday afternoon. Included in the list of VID (very important documents) was a return envelope for them to send my passport back in. Well, figuring that I would have to drive into SF for my interview anyway, I didn't bother including one. Surprise, surprise! My documents all checked out and they decided that they didn't need to interview me after all *does happy dance* So now I have to wait another week to get my passport back and then everything will be ready for me to go!

On a less exciting note, my swimsuit has gone to crap and I would like to get a new one before I leave. Anyone know of some good sales?

First Post!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to check this out and keep tabs on me while I prepare for probably the most exciting and challenging phases of my life so far. As you all already know, I am moving to Nonsan, Korea for a year long contract to teach elementary/middle school aged students conversational English.

(Insert awkward transition to explain why I am posting maps from GoogleEarth)

(A shot of Nonsan relative to the entire country)

(A closer view of the city. As you can tell, it's not very big.)

I wanted to give you guys somewhat of an idea of where I will be living for the next year since I obviously haven't been able to take any pictures yet. Random factoid about Nonsan: they grow five different varieties of strawberries, AKA my favorite fruit, thereby making it the most awesomest place to be assigned, even if it will take over an hour each way just to go to the bank.

(Insert yet another poorly worded transition to explain the next set of pictures taken of my school.)

Word on the street is that my classroom size will only be about ten to fifteen students and I will only have to teach about six hours a day from 2PM until 8 at night; which translates to sleeping in and being available to Skype (username: margaret.miller86) or chat on AIM (username: haydensjedi04) when most of you guys will be getting off work. If my calculations are correct, I should be about 14 hours ahead of the west coast (that means 17 for you east coasters :) you know who you are).

So most of you guys know that I have been knee-deep in the VISA process to be granted clearance to enter the country and work there for the next year. After dealing with a not-so-friendly clerk at Fed-Ex who wouldn't believe me when I told her which city to select for shipping my package, (Much like in the UK, major cities in Korea are divided into districts or neighborhoods, that you have to clarfiy on the shipping label. For instance, my documents had to be shipped to the Seocho-Gu district of Seoul, ergo simply putting "Seoul" on the label wasn't going to cut it.) I finally got my way and the documents arrived safe and secure. I just recieved my VISA issuance number from the Immigration Office and now I have to drive into the wonderful city of San Fransisco for a formal interview with the Consulate to determine my eligibilty to teach in Korea. You would figure the fact that a company has chosen to hire me would be validation enough, but apparently not *shrugs* But onto the more important tidbit of info I recieved in the e-mail from my recruiter yesterday; my departure date.

That's right, I now know the date I will be leaving for Korea (from now on this will be referred to as 'd-day'). August 22nd will be the day I board my plane for the long haul flight that I am pretty certain will change the rest of my life. Last night I had a lot of time to think about this day as I tossed and turned in the Sacramento heat. I imagined how hard it would be saying goodbye to my friends and family, what we would do to celebrate the night before, and then I had a horrible confirmation. I would be missing all of football season. Yes, I know this should be at the bottom of the list of my concerns after not knowing the native language and learning to eat Kimchi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi. But for those of you who understand my love of the sport, it just simply won't be the same watching highlights from my laptop on ESPN.com. I was trying to figure out last night why I had such an emotional connection to the game and that's when I realized how big of a role watching football with my family played in my life. Every weekend we would wake up after a full morning of sleeping in (this being a huge deal for my dad who was usually up at two in the morning to go to work during the week) and get changed into our team shirts (Cal on Saturdays and Chargers on Sundays) in order to show our support proudly. Then came game time; complete with snacks of the salty and sugary variety. Whether our team won or lost, the latter occuring with the most frequency, the most important thing was that we spent the day together as a family, united as one screaming at the TV to urge on our favorite players or insult the referees (who, in my mother's opinion, were always either blind or getting paid by our opponents). This past year I tried to carry on the tradition on my own via text messaging with my dad during Cal and Chargers games. While it wasn't exactly the same, I felt a renewal of that connection to my past and that I know I am going to miss during my year abroad. I just hope the players and coaches will be able to hear my brilliant advice from thousands of miles away just as well as they did from hundreds :D