The Spice Life

Hello out there!

I admit, this blog has that stale feeling that comes along with its author's (or authors' if we want to count Dan in on this) failure to update. I apologize for the long silence, and hope you haven't given up completely on checking in from time to time. A fois, si vous voulez.

So, let's get the housekeeping over with, as my phonology professor used to always say before we started the lesson. Housekeeping matters are as follows: 1. how long have we been home (home being not Korea), 2. what we've been doing, 3. where we've been, 4. where we're headed, and 5. what we plan to do with our lives now. Is it only me who cringes when I take a look at the last two matters at hand? I've recently been visiting friends/family (sorry to jump ahead on the list) in BC and I don't know how many times I was asked those 2 questions, along with "where will you work?", "where will you live?", "oh, so you don't have anything lined up?", "you haven't worked for HOW long?", "How was Korea?" (my favorite open ended question of the month). Ok, some of that isn't true, but I definitely felt unemployed, unsure of living/working situations, and at the same time, amazed to be back in my hometown with people I loved and missed. Not a bad situation.

Back to my list.
1. Dan and I have now been home (mostly in California with Dan's parents) just about 6 weeks.

2. I just got back the other day from 3 weeks seeing friends and family. I got to hang out with my old roommates Jana and Jenny and meet Jenny's newest friend and daughter, Ada Lynn. We spent time, the four of us, in Poulsbo, WA, and I said hello and farewell to Jana who left shortly after for a YEAR in India with International Justice Mission. What a woman. I then ventured up (this is with parents and sister Chris) across the 49th parallel and was greeted by the rest of my family (the six of us hadn't been together for more than 2 years), and then we were quickly inundated with uncles, aunts, friends called uncles and aunts, and old friends and their new babies, and old favorite nooks of White Rock. We swam, ate well, celebrated Chris' 29th birthday on White Rock beach à la barbeque and went to and fro to Vancouver to see sisters #2 and 4, along with their significant others. Meanwhile, Dan supported my travels by staying at home and working for his dad, getting firewood, fixing things, painting, and the like. This decision was also reached in part because... well, living in America is just a lot more costly than living in Seoul. We have to do real-life grownup things, like pay for health insurance, cell phones, car insurance, gas, ... although we're avoiding the rent-paying for the moment. Korea just didn't demand a lot from our wallet, save trips to Costco and buying milk. Are we considering going back? No. Maybe. No. I don't know. Probably not. I hope not.

(2 continued). Last week, I met up with the Spicer clan in Gold Beach, Oregon, and camped, romped around, kayaked, dipped in the river, ate endless BBQs, devoured fish n' chips, stumbled across an elk in the forest, glimpsed river otters in the Rogue River (adjacent to Dan's uncle's property), ran up and down the beach with Jack the dog, hiked little trails in huge Douglas Fir forests, snapped a few distant photos of reckless, but talented windsurfers, and... basically, decided I need to live there at some point.

3. See #2.

4. We aren't headed anywhere in particular. That's not entirely true. We'll be moving to Auburn, CA to live with Dan's sister (Katy) for a while, hopefully do some substitute teaching and temporary work because.... come September 18th, we are boarding a plane to go to a distant, distant, very far, distant land called South Africa. Why? You see, several years ago my sister Chris (oldest, #1) got involved with this nation. Why she chose this remote edge of our planet, do not ask me. Anyway, after years of living there, hanging out with little chillens, studying for her Master's, she managed to win the heart of a pilot named Barry Andrews. In June they got engaged and their wedding is Oct. 2nd, so we're heading off early to see the sights (namely humongous animals at the Kruger Park) for a few days and tour around Cape Town for the remaining time before the wedding. Why stop traveling when you don't have to?

5. Life plan = ?. Life plans are a little unnerving for this here typist, so I like to go a month at a time. Dan, on the other hand, has a plan to go back to school late next spring to start his Master's in teaching (high school science, math, and "those types of subjects"). Depending on where he gets accepted, we'll be moving. Our options: UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, UC Davis... and hopefully we'll end up at one of those locations (UCSC please!!!). We shall see what happens with me, though I'm keen on going back to school quite part time to learn Spanish... like, really learn it. I want to use it with ESL and anything else I can get involved with to work with immigrants and that kind of business.

Finally, that's over with. Here are some pictures of the last weeks here.... now you're all caught up with even the details you never asked for! Take care now.

we, in fact, did not make this castle, though aren't we convincing???

Port Orford

being silly in Vancouver

Bubble blown by hippies on Commercial Ave.

Sisters reunited (Chris' birthday)

White Rock wildlife.

Chris' Birthday Barbeque.

The newly engaged, to-be Christina Andrews!

What/Who is bigger? Ada or Wine?

Cuteness incarnate (above and below)

It's a Spicer sign! Byeeee!!

3 weeks ago, all the staff at our school went out on the Nowon town to say goodbye to the other foreign teachers and to welcome the new ones (Tom and Christy Gage). These faithful remnants are the ones who went out for a second round of drinks, during which our boss, on the far left (blocking his face with a victory sign) got smashed.

My friend at work: Sophia. She is one of the brightest things that happened at our academy.

Finally leaving the smokey bar and heading back... or were we looking for the bar? It's all a bit of a blur ... Here is "downtown" Nowon by night, anywho.

Last weekend, we went to a Korean Major League baseball game in Jamsil. This is how you know you're in Korea: while the teams are warming up, you get to watch a Hapkido show.

Now, for the big question: what kind of beer will we drink? Prime Max ("delicious idea") or Hite ("from natural mineral water")? Note: It's all Hite... it's all the same.

or ...

I vote regular old Hite.

The boys had an obvious favorite:

The Lotte Giants cheerleader man. What team spirit! He never showed fatigue or disinterest, despite the fact that only one point was scored (Giants) in the first inning, leaving the miserable score 1:0 for the rest of the game. It must take a lot to dampen his spirits!