the lazy days o' the summer......

the last few weeks in seoul have been great. i have thoroughly enjoyed just being able to hang out, laze about, and do whatever i wanted. i really do cherish the down time at home with no agenda. the campus is quiet and the weather has been tolerable so far. other than the drama with sam, the holiday has been pretty low key.

we have about 12.5 hours until we leave for the airport. it is nuts to think that we are going to europe. paul and i were talking today that is seems so surreal still that we are going. at the moment, we are getting ready. i am doing a load of laundry and paul is trying to de-ice our air con. it has huge chunks of ice on it since we love our air con so much. he chipped some off with a spoon and is now using the hair dryer to melt the ice. we have started the packing process, but it is moving slowly. it will be a late night, as usual. it seems this is a trend for us......stay up super late the night before we go anywhere. oh well.....it's us. it's how we roll. i am sure someday it will have to change when we have little ones to tow with us. for now, we are enjoying our just being married life. so fun!

we fly to munich, germany tomorrow. we are going to catch a sleeper train there to budapest, hungary. we have lucked out with accomodation in budapest. we have an apartment to ourselves for the five nights we are there in the heart of pest. so exciting. the owner speaks good english and will meet us at the train station. after budapest, we are flying to glasgow, scotland, stay for a night and then taking the train tro edinburgh. it is one of paul's favorite cities in europe and i am excited to have him share this place with me. should be a really fun adventure. he raves about how amazing the place is all the time.

i will blog regularly as well as upload pics as i am able. we are taking the wee laptop, so that paul can work as needed. i also need to announce my new toy----a new camera lens for my digital camera body. i got a tamron 18-200mm lens. it is awesome! i can get close up shots and faraway shots all with one lens. so excited. i am also proud to say that i researched, shopped and bargained myself from the beginning to end. the whole buying stuff in korea can at times be intimidating and it makes me anxious. last thursday i went to the market, went in about 5-6 shops and got prices. i needed to do some more research. we went back on saturday and i bargained my way to a deal. i was super proud of myself. paul said he was a little embarassed by my persistent bargaining with the guy. it was fun and i was in shock the rest of the day that i did it. woo hoo! i am hoping to take lots of pics of europe. i will also be taking two furry friends with us---hope bear and frederick the frog (4F's class mascot).

check back often to read about our adventure.....

p.s.--the hair dryer is working to de-ice the air con. yeah!

oh the days of summer....

i have been busy resting and hanging out. it has been fun! jo and i went to the market, shopped here and there, met friends for lunch, and had fun!

i have been working on a few artsy projects here and there. finally finished the laptop sleeve that i have been working on. woo hoo! yeah for being artsy and cool. here is a pic....more on flickr page.

in other news, sam is having more pooping issues. i took him to the vet on monday. he had some x-rays, an ultrasound, and went home with some furrball meds which also works as a laxative. we tried that for a few days with no success. he is still hungry and eating which dr. yoon, the vet, says is a good sign. wednesday we made another trip to the vet. this time india came along for her yearly check up. thank goodness for our friend anne and her kiddos who were kind enough to take us to the vet. this time dr. yoon gave me a take home enema to give to sam. oh boy! india checked out ok, sam got his yearly shots, and i stocked up on cat food and litter for july. after two attempts with the enema there was still no action. today, thursday, i gave him another go with the enema. he went straight for the box and made some small pressies. i was excited. he then made a few more about five minutes later. i was encouraged and hopeful. the only issue now is that he is still stopped up. we go back to the vet again tomorrow for a check up and hope that dr. yoon can clear this up before we leave for our trip. please pray for sam. i know he is older and i am sure his body is slowing down, but i am not ready at the moment. i just cannot think about it now. pray for healing and recovery and no pain.

today i met my friend natalie for brunch. it was fun to hang out and catch up. then i piddled around the hongdae area which was super fun! it is near the art school and there is lots to see and be inspired by. i came home and then went to meet paul for dinner at on the border.

the weather has warmed up here, but there has been quite a nice breeze the last few days that make the shade a great place to be. i have enjoyed it. i got to sit outside on wednesday with my friends, anne and johan, while there kiddos played behind their building. so fun!

it is hard to believe that this time next week we will be in budapest and beginning our european adventure.

summer is here....

yeah!!! i am so excited that it has finally arrived. i am having a chance to slow down, rest and relax. i think i am fighting some allergy yuck at the moment. i am sure it has been partly related to being run down with the end of the school year. i am taking cough meds as needed and trying to rest a lot too. that is not hard for me to do.....i love to sleep.

leslie's daughter, sarah, is here visiting too. paul and i have been hanging out and showing sarah lovely seoul. the quirks and quips of the city we have grown to love. it has been so fun! fish market, dr. fish, nanta, jimjilbang, namdaemun market.....all checked off the list.

today we went to a jimjilbang, a korean bath house. it was fun and we all laughed and giggled. yes, we were in the buff and we all had adjuma scrubs. this involves a korean lady scrubbing the dead skin off of you.....lots of dead skin. it is quite the experience, but feels amazing after. woo hoo!!! i feel like a new woman. i cannot wait to do it again before school starts.

i have a list of things to do now that i am out of school. i want to do some spring cleaning and also prepare for our month long adventure across europe. so fun!!!

more to come.....