Dr. Fish and Ladies Day Out

Yes those are my feet inside a huge fish bowl and before you say "what the hell", let me explain.  This past weekend Geri, Lara, Jess and I went to Osan for a day of beautification and shopping.  First stop- ESCAPE SPA.  At this Spa you have the choice of beginning your experience with Dr. Fish.  Here, you stick your feet into a big tub with your friends (everything in korea is about bonding) and watch each other squirm as the fish eat the dead skin off their feet.  As someone who is extremely ticklish, I was laughing hysterically.  It took a while to get used to these little fishies nibbling at your toeies but when it was over my feet felt like butter.  After the Dr. Fish I got a lovely pedicure and a manicure and walked out feeling like love.  Then we went to the main street for some shopping.  We were taken to the "downstairs" of the purse store where I bought a lovely coach purse.  It's a nice one to hold me over until the end of the month when I go and get my Canvas Coach (real) from the Coach store in the Seoul.  Ohhhhh I am going to write a blog with all the stuff that I want after my biggest loser challenge!  Yep there is a nice long list.  Sorry, I digress.  Anyway, after we finished some "downstairs" purse shopping we went to a Brazilian restaurant and had all you can eat meat.  OMG.  I was dead from stuffed-ation.  It was great and horrible at the same time.  After we finished, we had to walk it off and so began our mission to find the "LOVE SHOP", after all, my guy is gone now you know *wink*.  This mission proved to be unsuccessful and we were disappointed so we just hopped in a taxi to go home.  As we drive down the street we see the sweet goodness of red hearts and the words "love" and "sexy" on the door and we begin to scream "YOGI-YO YOGI-YO" (HERE HERE) to the taxi driver as we laughed uncontrollably!  Awesome.  We walked into a world of lubes and dirty toys in what looked like the underground room in a HOSTEL movie and our laughing continued.  I left with a nice new fun item and some free lube that I will never use lol!!! TMI much???  ahahaha!  The day was great, fish eating my feet, mani, pedi, purse, meat, toys, and GREAT company!

Interested in the experience?? Here is the number.  031-665-9751 they speak fluent English and accept US dollars as well as Won.

Relaxing

Ticklish Geri

Brazilian Food

MEAT!

Busan Shark Diving

 This weekend my honey and I got the chance to go diving with sharks in Busan.  We met in Daejeon so that we could ride the KTX train together and of course, as with everything that is Shaina and Robert, there was a little drama with seats and cars, blah blah blah.  Eventually we got squared away, calmed down, and arrived in Busan, right at the aquarium on the beach.  We checked into our hotel and finally relaxed in the most comfortable non sexy pajamas on the planet!!!

The next morning, we got up early and went over to get some breakfast before we took a nice little walk on the beach.  Too bad it wasnt warmer. :(  We got in, met up with our instructor and sat through a briefing about the dos and donts of the dive and then, as we were in the second group, we walked around the aquarium to have some fun before it was our turn. 

After some lunch and aquarium gazing we went in to put on our wet suits and get ready to go.  We learned all the things we should be able to do and then we were ready to go.  It was such a wonderful experience and it was even better to do it together.  One thing we can check off of our 2011 check list (which I think was the best idea ever and we might have one every year).  Anyway... here is the video, and if you want to scuba go here http://www.scubainkorea.com/ and have fun.  Then go get certified like we plan on doing because you will be hooked like we are!!

Love

Dear 2011

Dear 2011,

We haven't met yet, but I can assure you that when we do, it will be memorable for both of us.  I am very well acquainted with with your little brother, 2010, so I just wanted to formally introduce myself, tell you some things about my past, and let you know what I expect from our relationship.  Now that I am leaving your brother for you, I think we need to get some things clear. 

Firstly, your brother and I had a lot of good times, some of the best of my life in fact.  With your brother,

• I lost 60 pounds 
• I became a nicer person 
• I cut off all my permed hair 
• I moved to another country
• I fell in complete love with a woman named Shaina
• I learned to listen to the voice (sometimes voices) in my head
• I learned to put myself first and do what I want above all else
• I learned when to shut the hell up
• I've hiked a mountain
• I've gone scuba diving
• I let love speak louder than logic
• I've grown as a woman and as a girlfriend 
• And as was evident in 2009, 2008, ect as well... I was the shit...

As you can see, your brother will be hard to top, but I have lots of faith in your potential and I believe that you will show your brother up in many ways.  Your brother was quite the catch for me.  I wonder if you are as well endowed as he is lol. I am a girl who tends to get what I want from the likes of you, and since 2010 was soooo good, you had better be great.  Here are some things I am expecting from you

• A loss of 40 more pounds (60 really, but I wont put to much on you at once)
• Seeing at LEAST 4 more countries
• Wear my own big ass curly hair
• Size 10 baby!!!
• I want to hate fatty foods (hahahaha yea right)
• I want us to meet the parents
• I want to spend more time happy than sad (and I will be keeping count)
• I want ALL FLY EVERYTHING-- Def need to up my game... Time for more shoes, bag, and clothes!!!

As you can see, here are just a few of my requirements.  They are more like nonnegotiables.  Give them to me and maybe I will be as good to you as I was to your brother and all of those before you.  Now that we have all of that clear, I can firmly go into this relationship  with faith.  I look forward to becoming very intimate with you  and I can't wait for everything that will unfold.  See you soon.

With love,

Shaina

Christmas in cheongju

In my entire life, I have only spent 2 Christmases away from one; my first year in phoenix, and this present Christmas.  I can honestly say that it was a beautiful one.  This has been a rough month for me in general.  Lets of thoughts about lots of things and being away from home have made this a very uncomfortable time for me, but this week made everything wonderful.  Rob and I spent our first Christmas together exactly how I imagined a perfect Christmas would be.  Love, laughs, food, drinks, presents, smiles, drama, and lots of kisses.  My Korean family came over for a huge (and fattening) dinner in the conference room of Global Ville and we had a wonderful time.  ANDDDDDD I got a Nook from the love of my life.  What a great weekend I had.  Now I sit in bed playing with my new toys and hugging my Yoshi that rob got me as a stocking stuffer. SEE OUR CHRISTMAS HERE!

I've made a lot of changes in 2010 and its time to make even more in 2011.  I thank God that I am still growing into a better and more humble woman everyday and that I have such a wonderful man that continues to help me grow.  I think its important to take a minute to sincerely be thankful for the good AND bad things that you have in your life.  Not for the sake of others, or because a holiday told you to, but to really appreciate all the little things.  A kiss on the forehead, a whispered I love you, a teenage brother telling you you are the best sister in the world (and you know teens hate everything), a kissed hand, a heartfelt letter, knowing your family loves you, and the happiness that comes from the thoughts of your future with the one you love.  Merry Christmas!

Halloween and Everland Amusement Park

I had the BEST week ever starting with last Friday.  I went to dinner with Chanel and her friend before going to the Halloween party.  It almost started kind of rocky because Robert missed the first bus so he had to go to Dejeon before making it here which ended up working out ok anyway.  Once he arrived I made sure he had some good Eats (chicken from Kyo chon...yum) and we pregamed a little before heading to the Halloween party that I talked Ciara into coming to!  Photos below.

It was so much fun.  We ended up being so drunk that we barely remembered how we got home.  THAT NEVER HAPPENS.  So basically it was awesome.  We finally went to bed around 330 so that we could get up and go to EVERLAND bright and early at 730 on saturday. 

We taxi-ed down to the bus where Chanel was waiting for us (and only Chanel).  It seemed that everyone else who was supposed to join us canceled so it was just the three of us which was totally cool because like I told Chanel, we are NOT the lovey dovey couple. The entire trip took about 2 hours and we stayed awake and clowned the whole time, included when Rob and Chanel started photoboming this little Korean couple who took a million pictures of themselves.  Something interesting to know about Korea is that EVERY couple is so in love... for like 2 months, then when its over they never speak again lol... Not generalizing, just something I picked up.

We get there and the first thing we do is gun it to the T-express, the biggest roller coaster drop in the whole world.  Its clear that I do NOT want to take part in this roller coaster adventure from my face in the "before" shot but I did and it was awesome.  We waited in line clowning for about 30 minutes which was exceedingly short for this ride in particular.  EVERYONE wants to ride this one and I could see why.  That drop was ASSinine (yes I know that is spelled wrong).  After this ride we grabbed some horrible fair food (I was hoping for a turkey leg and a funnel cake but this is Korea remember) and then we ended up finding our way to the the ZOO!!! Yes ladies and Gentleman there were animals at the Amusement park and that was all I could ask for.  I was in heaven.  The monkeys, the birds, the "Wild Babies" it was just beautiful.  Then there was a seal show...need I say more!  Fabulous.  Anyway, we concluded out trip taking pictures and riding a few more rides.  It was SOOOO much fun.  I had the best time ever. 

He was so serene!

Reading for writing

I admitted to myself that I really want to write.  I have been writing forever but I very rarely allow myself to get to deep into it because of a little thing called "fear".  What if I give it my all and I fail?  What if I sit in front of the computer screen and I can't write anything?  What if I think it's great but everyone else thinks it's horrible?  These are the questions that I continue to let plague me and ultimately keep me from one of my greatest desires, but no more.

I picked up The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes because I didn't  read all of them when I was younger; a few here and there, but not all of them.  I couldn't put it down.  It was, and is, a constant reminder of what I want to do, and the way I want to do it.  Conan Doyle conveys his characters so well by only using minor details and a captivating story line.  He paints a picture that can easily be followed, yet at the same time forces the reader to stay on their toes.  It's not just the story itself; its the way he expresses it.  Rereading the stories has made me look at my own writing differently; both where I am now and where I want to be.

This made me want to reread more of the classics.  There is such an abundance of great material out there and I have barely scratched the surface.  I am going to keep writing, but right now, I am going to focus on broadening my literary horizons so that when I sit down to finish (and ultimately rewrite) my untitled autobiographical love story, I will be confident in my knowledge and my abilities.  I am so excited about what I know will end up going into my mental "Success" files where I keep all the things that I have accomplished.

My book cue is posted on my blog to the right.  If you have any books suggestions please let me know!

I have Reappeared

So I realize that I have disappeared for some time so I am back for a moment. Let's see, whats new with me.

Went out this past weekend with Rob for his friends birthday and it was pretty interesting. the whole thing was badly thrown together and every time we arrived somewhere it seemed like there was something else wrong. Not to mention it was raining. There were some Bright sides here though:

BRIGHT SIDE 1. I didn't say one damn thing. I despise when there is no plan. Like I want to stab someone. But this weekend was not about me so I tried my hardest to shut the hell up. Do you have any idea how hard that was for me? But I think I did very well. Even when they sent us to a town with no place to meet in the pouring rain which ended up getting us into quite the heated argument with the taxi driver. Still... nothing from Shaina. Luckily, Rob was just as pissed off and it was his decision to leave early (although the look on my face had to tell him that that was definitely what we needed to do)

BRIGHT SIDE 2. We looked good. Like fresh off the red carpet good. My dress was a hot topic to me. I'd never quite worn a dress like that so I was a bit nervous about what it was going to look like. I even thought people were bullshitting me when they said it was going to look great. Paranoia. But it did in fact look awesome and I was real happy that I chose to wear it. We even matched by accident. And Robs suit looked great.


And all was well that night when we got back into our suite and sat up talking for like 2 hours.


The weekend before found me on the pole at a local Korean Dance club called FROG RAIN, even though keep calling it FROG DANCE lo.. Me and rob ventured off and had hookah and Calmegi before we went to that little spot. Very nice indeed. Right up until aKorean girl thought I was gay and tried to attack me and rob. WTF. Always a funny story though.

Work has been interesting and since we are doing the intensive program. it has been pretty intensive. I'm not a fan of teaching history in a foreign language because history is boring to kids no matter what the language. Bastards! I can't wait until I am just teaching library once again.

I feel so disconnected from my friends and family back home. There is so much to say all the time, that I just end up saying nothing at all. "hey whats new" is always my question, but when the question is asked of me there is always so much. I wish I had a BFF of my very own in Korea. I have a lot of friends, but not a BFF, like Keyonna, that I could always roll with and complain to all the time. I miss my Saturday morning tea and shit talk. I miss my late night couch sessions, and I miss our flyer than life outtings to the movies (AKA "fly for no reason" as we liked to call it"). I miss driving and I miss NOT sweating. I'm not sad, just a little nostalgic. I need someone that I can just be myself around all the time. But I can still honestly say I love it here.

This weekend I will probably go out all night once again. Rob is ditching me this weekend for some dorm clean up which actually sounds like bullshit but whatever. I will spring clean my house, even though it isnt spring, and maybe do a little redecorating. I also have some scrapbooking that needs to be DONE because I have more pictures now lol. Hmmm other than that, I think that is all for this glorious update!!! Adios