The Big "Trip"

Well ya'll..... I figured it's been enough time, I might as well give in and join the married bloggers club!  Disclaimer: I'm not too tech savvy or a word buff but we'll see how this goes! :)

So about a month ago I left little ol' Tallahassee to come several thousand miles over to South Korea to visit Austin for 30 days.  (He is stationed here with the army)

From the moment I got into the airport I realized how incredibly crowded this place was!  As we drove our 2 hour trip to Camp Casey, I was fascinated by all the bright signs advertising things I had no idea what they were saying.  Also in case you were wondering, the stereotype is true.  For the most part, drivers are terrible here.  They'll floor it to pass you coming up on a redlight, and then slam on brakes, just to turn illegally at the intersection.  It's crazy that I haven't witnessed any wrecks yet.  

Thankfully Austin was off work for the first few days so he was able to show me around.  Since then we have been able to do lots of fun stuff!

• We hiked Mount Soyosan! It was beautiful.  And Karma got me because leading up to the starting point of the trails was just a paved road, so I was talking junk saying I wanted a "real" hike... Well, I got it.  And even better, there were many...older adults.. going up it like nothing.  Several men wearing dress pants and polos even!

Our view from the top!

All done!

  

• Went out to a REAL Korean restaurant. Had to take our shoes off, sit on the ground and everything.

 

Dino's Meat Bar!
Yep, that's what they call these places.
glorious.

Kimchi!
(my favorite batch so far since it wasn't spicy & I'm a pansy)

                                           

• Visited the LDS Seoul Temple.  This was a very special experience for us, even though we were the only native English speakers there!

Very unique design, but beautiful!

I was happy to finally ride the train.
Austin humored me by taking my requested picture.

• Started Korean class! On the army post they offer a 10 week Korean language (Hangul) class that we were able to start.  So far we have the alphabet and a few basic words memorized!

Just in case you wanna learn too ;)

• Began teaching English.  The missionary couple in the branch here just so happened to be starting a class for a local orphanage the same week I got here and invited me to come with them.  There's only about five of them in the class and they're all teenagers who can practically read and speak English already.  I don't actually do much..but the Pihl's and the kids are awesome!

Soo...

While I was still in the States, we had been considering the idea of me moving over here to be with Austin.  We continued to really ponder our options (it's a lot more complicated than it seems) and after much prayer and consideration, we decided that me staying here was the best choice.

I miss everyone back in The Sunshine State, but I've felt that even though this is a very different country---I know as long as I'm with Austin I'm at home.  (Sorry that sounded super cheesy)

But we love all of you folks and have been so appreciative of the support and love!

Here are our excited faces.

Clearly, I'm much more expressive.