Korean Food

Aside from the live squid swimming in front of many restaurants, or the spicy food that puts New Orleans spicy cajun to shame, the food here is...growing on us.  We do like seafood, but only certain types and cooked in certain ways.  Kelly and I already have weak stomachs from a bad sushi experience last year, and the stong aroma of many seafood restaurants can be tough to stomach at certain times of the day.  Seaweed is usually an instant stomach churner for me, and once I put it in my mouth I can feel my mouth start to numb and salivate more in preperation for a stomach acid explosion of biblical proportions.  If one piece of seaweed can give me the sensation of being full for over 4 hours then that is a good indicator my stomach is restricting all access for that sort of stuff to come in and ruin my day.

     Korean restaurants, in general, have great food and an even greater atmosphere.  The traditional restaurant that we have seen just about on every corner is known as a Galbi restaurant.  Essentially, a galbi restaurant involves a table with a grill built in the middle.  You usually order a variety of meat that you personally grill, and there are many side dishes including rice and the ever so popular kimchi.  The first time we went to a galbi restaurant we were, needless to say, leary about the bomb the food was about to drop on our digestive system.  After we started grilling the meat and enjoying the very spicy and challenging side dishes, we realized that the food was a lot better than expected.  The most difficult experience of these type of places is mastering the steel chopsticks.  If you think you have chopsticks mastered in the states at chinese restaurants then you got another thing coming.  Steel chopsticks are in a whole other realm than wooden ones. 

Kimchi

Kimchi is the Korean icon here as it is pretty much eaten at every meal.  Kimchi is very very spicy and while there are many forms of it. Its greatest form is in the form of pickled cabbage.  Apparently this stuff is one of the world's "healthiest foods".  While it may be healthy, it sure is a pill to swallow as you are gauranteed to drink about 2 liters of water by the end of the dish.  The way I understand it, Kimchi is pickled cabbage and fermented in the ground for months in these Kimchi pots.  I recently had heard that one of the most common illnesses in South Korea is stomach cancer.  The reason is because the food here is so spicy, it will literally destroy your stomach. 

         Kelly and I did have one bad experience the other night at a galbi restaurant.  We were at one of my favorite places, as it has some of the best meat I have had in a while, at least.  We were with a couple of friends and we decided that after we had indulged in the delicious ribmeat we came to love we should branch out and try another dish.  This particular restaurant did not have pictures on their menus so we had to go off plain intuition.  This moment was one of those moments where intuition failed us.  When we pointed to order another platter of raw meat, the server gave us a weird look as if God himself  had given us a moment of escape of the perils that lie ahead of us.  We ignored the servers questioning and ordered the dish anyway.  When he came back with the tray of meat, I immediately thought it looked like chicken.  As we placed the meat on the grill we came to the conclusion that it was not chicken.  Without a doubt there was cut up intestine on the grill, and several other pieces of what looked to be organs.  We choked down as much as we could until two gentlemen sitting next to us noticed our trauma.  They were nice enough to take our animal guts for themselves giving us their delicious rib meat.  I could not stop thanking them.  Needless to say, there are dangers out there at galbi restaurants and you need to keep your head on a swivel.

Kelly and I at another galbi restaurant popularly called "The Lettuce Palace" by the foreign teachers.

  

    

Seoul Nights

          Seoul is a city that refuses to sleep.  Not far from our aparatment in Ilsan is a shopping strip/district called La Festa.  This strip, like every block in the Seoul Metropolitan area, has every inch of its exterior covered in neon lights.  From dusk until dawn, Seoul successfully lights up its city as if the sun never went down.  The stimulus overload can drive even the simplest form of ADD into sheer madness.  One of the things that makes Korea so fascinating is its night life.

     The other foreign teachers at our school have been very welcoming, taking us out to dinner about four times this past week.  One thing we have learned about dinner thus far is that people do not consume dinner at typical hours in which we are use to.  It is very common to see people such as an older couple or business men having dinner at a Galbi (Korean barbeque) restaurant at 1 or 2 am...on a Monday.

    

I just had to take this picture of a neon tiger prowling alongside a skyscraper in downtown Seoul.  I would find this less humorous if I knew the significance behind the neon tiger because it was surrounded by Christmas decorations and other Christmas lights.  Perhaps Father Christmas has a giant tiger helping him deliver presents in SoKo?  I could not help, however, but marvel at this sweet lighting display alongside a massive tower.  They went into great detail even to have a tree and clouds above the tiger.

On Saturday a couple of foreign teachers took Kelly and me out to see a little bit of Seoul. First, our day started out by waking up and doing some much needed laundry.  While we were waiting for our friends to call us, I was flipping through the terrible, terrible Korean drama tv shows until I stumbled upon a slightly better movie.  It was Matrix Revolutions.  I realize there are better things to do with my time, but since it was in English, it was the only thing I could divert my attention to.  Anyway, after Neo saved Morpheous and the keymaker from an exploding semi-truck, Kelly and I went with our friends to Itaewon.  Itaewon is a shopping district that is mostly populated by foreigners.  Mostly everyone there speaks English and there are many markets that supply those with the most dire homesickness with basic needs such as Prego spaghetti sauce or Campell's soup.  There are also a lot of fantastic restaurants and pubs that serve more than quimche(I will get to that later) or galbi. 

After Itaewon we went to this market in the backstreets of Seoul (note the two pictures above).  The above left picture is a great representation of Seoul.  Packed.  This market, like many markets that sell cheap, off- brand products was packed.  I felt like I was part of a colony of army ants furiously scurrying around taking out everything in my path trying to feed the queen ant (in my case, my need to buy crappy souvenirs that will sit on a book case or inevitably wind up broken by the hands of my children).  One thing I found interesting was that Korea is just as cold as Minnesota, if not colder at some points in the winter.  It was about 12 degrees that night and there were still that many people out shopping.

(I found this completely necessary to post a picture of a woman chopping the head off a frozen fish with a cleaver fashioned 400 years ago...not really.)

Great Expectations

Voila,

     We finally now have internet at our apartment rendering it possible for an update that many of you are waiting for.  I suppose it was possible earlier in the week to publish a post, but I did not find it soothing nor apropos to write a blog in a dark, testosterone filled PC room with nothing other than pre-teens and grown men furiously playing World of War Craft and Starcraft.  I was already reluctant enough to bring Kelly in there, as she quite possibly could have been the first woman some of those gentlemen have ever seen.  That is, other than their fictional female fairy avatar counterparts who wields nothing but a sword and longbow.
     (Korea is famous for these "PC rooms" which are basically really advanced internet cafes with really nice computers, but they are usually filled with gamers.  Many Koreans love gaming and are obsessed over the game Starcraft, even to the point where our school director's wife, who must be in her 40's is familiar with it).

     None-the-less we are here in Seoul.  Korea in many ways is everything like we imagined while at the same time nothing like we imagined.  This place is jam-packed with people and neon lights. 

     We arrived Friday night Kora time which is approx. 15 hours ahead of the central time zone in the US.  So yeah, jet-lag is giving us a run for our money.  Our school director picked us up at the airport, late, and brought us to our apartment that evening.  Just as expected the apartment is very small but comfortable.  Like everything else in Ilsan, it is in a high-rise; so it all has to be crammed into the smallest of places for it to fit.  I cannot complain about free housing for 14 months.  Seoul is one of the biggest cities on the planet and we can clearly see why.  We are living in Ilsan, a subdivision of Seoul which is about a 55 minute subway ride from downtown and it consits of about 1 million people. 
     One thing that was nice about arriving Friday night is that we had the weekend to unpack and adjust.  We actually did not need much time to unpack, because we woke up around 3:30 a.m. to unpack all of our things thanks to jet-lag.  The directors wife, who also works at the school, took some time to show us around and offer answers to our endless questions.  One thing about Korea is that Confucian values and teachings are deeply enbedded into the culture, making just about everyone over here insanely generous and gracious...unless they are drunk.  Anyway, she took us to several markets and malls to buy things for us.  We felt a little spoiled when she offered to buy our Christmas tree even though I tried to make a plea bargin for her not to.
     The school is nothing like we had imagined.  It is on the 6th floor of an office building and consists of about 400 highly, highly, highly energetic Korean children from about ages 6-12.  One thing that is interesting about Korean age, is that they are automatically 1 year old when they are born, and age another year after the Lunar New Year.  So technically, a Korean can be born mid-December and in Febuary be 2 years old as opposed to 2 months old.
     We have been doing training all week long and like everywhere else, training blows.  We are learning a lot from the Korean teachers and the foreign teachers alike.  One thing that is nice is that there are about 9 other foreign teachers here (seemingly all from the mid-west (must really suck there) and there is a really awesome network of foreign teachers.  We all went out for dinner on Monday and they seem like very fun and interesting people.  Some of our co-workers hail from a different land, such as Ireland, Australia and Manchester. So far they seem great.     
     A lot of gray area that made us nervous while we were living in the States are getting clearer and clearer.  So far from what we have heard, we are employed at a very reputable and elite school and there are absolutely no issues with the director.  They literally take care of everything.  They pay us on a timely manner and pay all of our bills for us such as internet, cell phones, cable, health care, national pension, etc. (Out of our own paycheck of course.)

Well that is just about all I feel like writing right now.  Sorry to those who were anticipating pictures on this post.  While you can be certain that I will be walking everywhere with my D90, I have not taken any pictures yet.  I have, however, taken a lot of video with my HD handheld camera, however Youtube will not enable me to upload them in Korea, and blogger does not have that function.  If blogger does allow uploaded videos, please do not hesitate to tell me how.

Anyway, hopefully my next post will offer a little more visual stimulation for those who have attention issues.

Parade of Homes

     There are now 6 full days left until Kelly and I depart to Korealand.  Since November 21st, Kelly and I have been on the road saying our last goodbyes to loved ones.  Our trip started with a quick drive/move of all of our junk down to Iowa.  There we were able to make precious moments with Kelly's parents and friends, decorating Christmas Trees, watchings movies about socially awkward offensive linemen for the Baltimore Ravens, a shopping spree at Kohls and SAMS Club, and eating.  Kelly and I had the pleasure of buying 270 tampons, yes a years worth of tampons from SAMS Club.  I figured that Korea would have feminine products such as tampons, but my lady would have none of that, and figured it would be best to have a full years supply.

      From Iowa we made the 8 hour drive to Chicagoland Illi-noise where we had the pleasure of meeting the Korean Consulate and spend Thanksgiving with my side of the familiy.  Meeting the Korean Consulate was an adventure.  The meeting started at 10:30am but we needed to be there at 10:10 according to the secretary.  The secretary also stressed about five times to not be late.  Being unfamiliar with Korean customs on punctuality, I figured I would please the Consulate and conform to their wishes of being early.  With that being said, we were 2 1/2 hours early to the meeting.  We did not want to take any chances.  We left my grandparents house at 7:00 am and got on the Metra train at the Palatine train station at 7:35, and arrived at Olgilve train station at 8:30.  It only took us 20 minutes to walk from the train station to the NBC tower, where we did not realize that on the 27th floor of the NBC tower is a metropolis of Korean government officials.  They must really love "The Office".  After waiting about 45 minutes in a Starbucks downtown, we had just enough time to burn in a Payless shoe store, of all the stores we decided to pick that one.  Don't ask, we had to make a decision.  After a long, awkward interview with the consulate, who asked us personal questions such as "what are future career goals were", we took the train back to my grandparents and then headed to Greys Lake to my Aunts house for Thanksgiving.  We had an amazing Thanksgiving with a lot of family and friends.  It was truly a great holiday, until Black Friday.

     Black Friday was the first and last time I will ever partake in the ridiculous consumer mindset that sweeps the nation like the H1N1 flu virus.  My 2 brothers, father and I decided we should get up at 2:30 a.m. to get into the line at Best Buy at 3am to buy $300 laptops.  That idea progessivly went from a bad idea to a terrible idea.  My middle brother Dave and my dad stood in line for about 5 minutes until they thought it was a dumb idea, and they sat in the car and went to Dunkin Donuts, leaving Nate and I to fend for ourselves in the line.  We waited outside in the cold for 2 hours just to get tickets.  Once Best Buy opened up at 5am, my brother and I stood in another line for about 3 hours.  All this for saving abotu $160 on a laptop.  Don't get me wrong, this is a really nice laptop, but I think I'd rather spend the extra money and keep my sanity.  I kept reminding myself of what Winston Churchhill once said, "Never, Ever, Ever Give Up".  Actually, I never said that to myself I am still trying to rationalize/validate my actions that morning.
     After our terrific time in Chicago, Kelly and I then flew down to St. Louis to see her grandparents.  It was a great, peaceful time in the Lou.  We had a great time visiting with her grandparents.  We also set her grandma up with Skype so we can talk with her while we are in Korea.
     After St. Louis we then flew back to Chicago, and then drove to Michigan where we now reside.  It is always great coming home, reminiscing about the olden days wondering what happened to certain people here while driving the streets.  I talked to the travel agent responsible for buying our plane tickets to Korea.  It is official as of today, we have a itinerary for Thursday December 10th.  At 7:45 a.m we will fly from Minneapolis to San Francisco and then a 13 hour flight directly to Seoul.  It is hard to believe that in 6 days (after tonight) we will be flying to Korea.  We cannot wait for this adventure and are extremely nervous at the same time.  There are a lot of unknowns to what we are doing and we can only have an open heart and mind.  Keep us in your minds, as my next blog will probably be focusing on how extremly small our apartment is.  Till we meet again.

Kelly packing for Korea in her room....Yeesh

South Korea....who?

    The closer Kelly and I are to departing to Korea the more we realize how little we know about Korea, and the more we realize that nobody else knows anything about Korea either.  For starters, Korea is not a third world country and for the less educated, the country is divided into two parts.

     The other day, Kelly and I were in Barns and Nobles book store looking at travel books.  While we were in the coffee shop portion, a man with two incredibly lazy eyes overheard our conversation and decided to chime in.  He had mentioned to us that Korea was an incredibly unique country because of its history of war.  Crazy eyes told us that over the course of history, Korea  has been invaded and attacked over 400+ times while never declaring an invasion on any other country (prior to the Korean War).  While I was a little thrown off guard with this man barging in on our conversation, concentrating more on his eyes than what he was saying, I found that fact interesting.  Thus, I bought a book called "Culutre Smart! Korea" by James Hoare which has been an amazing source of very basic information about Korea's history, culture and customs.  This book will hopefully enable us to not look like complete idiots for our first few weeks/months in Korea.  Therefore, I will use some information that I have gathered about Korea to convey to those who know nothing about Korea.

     Little do people know, unless you are 50+ or actually paid attention in social studies, Korea was a unified country until the end of WWII.  Like Crazy eyes mentioned, Korea was invaded a lot.  As we all know, centuries ago China and Japan both had their ambitions to rule the world (a broken record idea).  Korea is placed right in between the two superpowers and therefore was the skid mark on the underpants of many Chinese/Japanese wars.  In 1910, Japan annexed Korea and basically treated them like trash until Japan was defeated in WWII.  Well the allies who defeated the axis of evil thought they should stick their hands in the Korean cookie jar (this is where the ideas get creative).  Russia and the US had rights to Korea because they were the victors.  Well since they are so good at diplomacy they came to the decision that they couldn't come to a decision and split the country in half.  Communist Russia called dibs on the North, and the democratic US shottied the South.  Herein lies the division of a country.  In 1950, North Korea (as anyone else who would have their country split in half by people who it doesn't belong to) sought to unite Korea by force.  Introduce the Korean War.  In an even tug-o-war match with Chinese and US help, the war ended in a stalemate and resulted in nothing but a lot of death, shattered economies, and a really, really big border that puts the United States boarder patrol to shame (we're talking land mines and sharp shooters).  Needless to say there is a lot of hurt and suspicion in Korea.  You can't blame them for whats happened throughout history.

South Korea's economy has boomed since the Korean war.  There has been  A LOT of emphasis on science and technology.  Seoul is one of Asia's/ the worlds leading economies and is one of the largest cities in the world with roughly 20 million residents.  Samsung, LG, and other technological giants call South Korea their home...so I hope that answers your question mom.....yes.  They do have TV's in Korea.  Seoul, like Tokyo, is well off and advanced.  Some would argue they are far more advanced than America.

I hope this post wets your pallet for more information about Korea, as there will be many of these comparing and contrasting north east asia to the midwest United States.  

Click to see the Korean Promotional video...what roped us in.

South Korea Bound...in 4 weeks

To say the least, Kelly and I have had to make a lot of important decisions in the past couple of weeks. Once we landed in Omaha after our honeymoon, we only had about 6 weeks to find a place to live, work, change names, transfer bank accounts, investments, life insurance, selling cars, repairing cars, traveling for the holiday season and last but not least preparing to move to Korea. Kelly and I have about 2 weeks left at ACR, a company in which we have invested a combined 4 1/2 years of our lives at. The job has offered amazing experiences for the both of us, as well as has been our source of income which has served us well. It is bittersweet to leave ACR, as we are excited to start something new with our lives while at the same time sad to leave a job in which we were so familiar. The few weeks that we have left are stressful in themselves because we are constantly reminded that we will not be able to see everyone for at least 14 months.

It has been nice to ease in to the transition of being married while in America. Our original intention was to leave for Korea October 15th, 4 days after our honeymoon in Ireland. Yah, we were stupid. We have enjoyed experiencing the fall, especially not having to go to school. We have been trying our best to see everyone we can before we go, but we have realized seeing everyone is just impossible. We have been able to take part in many things such as our traditional "Valley Scare", carving pumpkins at my brothers house, visiting Stillwater with the in-laws and watching the Vikings win.


(the carvers; left to right, Pete, Kelly, Elizabeth, Dave)
(Stillwater Bridge)

Even though we have hit the ground running after our wedding, once we are done with our jobs in 2 weeks we will begin sprinting. After our last shift on November 20th, we will have approximately 19 days to pack all of our stuff, drive to Iowa, drive to Chicago, meet with the Korean consulate in downtown Chicago, celebrate Thanksgiving in Chicago with my family, fly to St. Louis, MO to visit Kelly's grandma and family, fly back to Chicago, drive to Michigan, drive back to Minnesota, pack for Korea, then fly to Korea. The newly wed buzz might (will) be put to the test.

This morning, in order to keep our sanity, Kelly and I walked around the Rosedale mall area because it was uncharacteristically nice out for November 9th. We stumbled across an REI store ("accidentally") and perused for a good hour or so (my weekly fix). Other than all my other visits to REI, we actually had an intention to buy something. We wanted to buy a duffel bag and I knew REI sold duffel bags that were big enough to fit humans. I went directly to the XXXL bags. Even though it was about $65, we decided it would be sufficient for the both of us to pack 14 months worth of clothes (4 seasons remember). Needless to say, once we got home I demanded Kelly to sit in it, and naturally I zipped it close with her in it...you would too if you had the chance. When I was in 5th grade, I convinced a girl to sit in an empty tuba case, and I latched it close with her in it. Don't gasp. She was alright, until the pounding stopped.

The Euro

As stated in the last couple of posts, the Euro got the better of us while in Ireland. I am not going to sit here and tell you I am happy with the exchange rate between the US and Europe. When we were in Europe, and I know this is constantly fluctuating, the exchange rate was $1.56 for 1 euro. With this in mind we were constantly in an uphill battle.


Take this meal for example, Kelly (beautiful I might add) at a mediocre restaurant ordered fish and chips. In American terms, she got fried fish and french fries (a standard meal at the local American Legion) for 14 Euro. I ordered the cheapest pizza, a Mediterranean pizza for 15 Euro. Not bad prices huh? Well if you do the conversion, Kelly and I spent approximately $41 on fried fish and a personal pizza. This is not the only example here my friends. Kelly and I could only settle for pub food. Not that we can complain it was good food in a great atmosphere. Pub food consisted of either a burger and fries, or a panini and fries. You could not find a burger and fries for less than 12 Euro. Kelly and I, buying pub burgers and fries for about 24-25 Euro= $36. To this day, I am still trying to figure out how ludicrous and expensive Europe is. I have been to fancy restaurants in the Twin Cities with Kelly, and the max we have spent at a restaurant is about $50. Are you trying to tell me, that I spent $41 every meal on a burger and fries? We went to McDonald's the last night we were in Dublin. To try to save a few, but even their/our dollar menu ("Euro" menu) is a rip off. You can get a double cheesburger in Ireland for 2 Euro. Not bad right? Well thats actually $3. Don't even get me started on retail.

It doesn't stop with food. Cab rides, bus tickets, Bed and Breakfasts. Europe is expensive and will bust your bank. However, it is awesome and worth it. My advice, which is what it always has been, go to Europe when you are older and have a little more cash.

Irish Pubs

I want to make a quick observation about Irish pubs. The Irish pub scene is by far one of the coolest aspects about the night life in Ireland. The pub scene is very laid back. In a pub you can see a 70 year old sitting next to an 18 year old laughing and having a good time while listening to musicians playing real, authentic Irish music. The pub scene is so cool because its main focus is usually on music, or football (lesson learned from Green Street Hooligans, never call it Soccer). The music tradition in Ireland is evident. When you walk around the Temple Bar area in Dublin, there are numerous musicians on the street performing. While they are usually playing for money, their main focus is getting their sound out on the street. It was fascinating/inspiring to see so much raw talent that played on the streets. In the pubs, the Guinness flowed like the headwaters of the Mississippi and the music was playing until the wee hours of the morning. It was very refreshing to be in an atmosphere where you can actually talk to the people (person in my case) you are with and not have to compete with Lady Gaga annoyingly sing about a disco stick...actually it is always refreshing when I don't hear Lady Gaga.
One other cool thing that you would commonly see in a pub is that even though the people are amongst their own private conversations, everyone in the pub could not help but tap their toes or clap to the music. Quite honestly, the music that we heard was kind of intoxicating, and without a doubt, it allowed us to leave the place with a smile on our face and a desire to go back and listen to more. This is unlike several bars I have seen in the US (mainly the Twin Cities where I am gathering most of my generalizations). The bar scene in America seems so lame compared to Ireland. In Irish pubs there was not this sense of a "meat market" between men and women. I did not see any obnoxious students drunk to the point where they made fools out of themselves, nor did it seem to be the goal of the locals to get "crunked" while wearing the latest American Eagle polo shirt. I did not see any of it, and that is one thing that made the whole pub experience so great.

Ireland

So Kelly and I went to Ireland for our honeymoon a few weeks ago. Throughout the past few years while at college I have had the amazing opportunity to travel and see different aspects of the world. For some unknown reason, however, I have had this uncanny reluctance to travel to Europe. Don't get me wrong, I find the history and culture of most European cultures fascinating as I do all cultures, but European cultures have always seemed boring to me.
Ireland has always been on Kelly's "bucket list" yes the now cliche bucket list (thank you Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson), ever since she was very young. Her mother went to Ireland and Kelly has always had this sense of Irish blood pulsating through her. So I thought I would surprise her. Even though Europe is low on my list of places to see before I die, I knew Ireland would be different. I just wanted an excuse to go somewhere.

The trip was essentially flawless. I credit that to the many hours I slaved over the computer for about 4 months before arriving in Dublin. Our itinerary consisted of arriving in Dublin at 9 a.m. Monday morning. I did not sleep at all because I was too busy watching Transformers 2, Land of the Lost, and Mulan on the overnight airplane ride. Plus I get gitty with excitement on airplanes traveling to unknown areas of the world. We had to walk aimlessly, but with a mission around Dublin for about 4 hours before we were able to check in at our B & B (bed and breakfast, however don't be deceived like we were. You have to pay an additional price for a breakfast). Kelly and I tried to everything we could for the first 2 days of being in Dublin. We walked everywhere. If it wasn't for our trusty travelers book by Fodors, we would have been lost before we got off the plane. Thanks to that book and our motivation to walk everywhere, we boldly, and with confidence say that we almost have that city memorized.

After 2 days consisting of sight seeing at places such as Malahide Castle, Dublin Bay, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College (the Long Room and the Book of Kells are indescribable), and several, several pubs, we took the cheapest way possible, a bus ride across Ireland to the mesmerizing Dingle Peninsula. The bus ride, although a few hours longer than any other means to get to Dingle was the cheapest, and greatest way to see the real Ireland. We made dozens of stops in small Irish towns and villages, and we were able to sit and ride with the locals who use the bus everyday. $150 for the two of us taking the 9 hour bus ride was way more justifiable than spending nearly $270 to take a 6 hour train ride. We needed to pinch the penny, or should I say Euro when we could because Europe has this way of taking all your money (more on that later).

Dingle was an excellent oasis from the bustling city of Dublin. Dingle was our Grand Marais to Minneapolis. Our Manistee to Detroit. For those who do not understand the correlations, put simply, it was a very quaint, relaxing town on the Atlantic. We stayed at another B & B, and did a lot of relaxing which lacked in Dublin. There still was, however, a lot to see and we were not about to miss it. We stayed about 2 1/2 days and 3 nights in Dingle. It was very relaxing. October is Ireland's wettest month, and the entire 7 days we were in Ireland, it rained for only 1. Dingle was warm, sunny and mostly gorgeous. One day we went on a 3 1/2 hour boat tour of the Great Blasket Islands on the Atlantic. We saw such things as dolphins, seals, goats, and 2,000 year old archaeological sites from the Celts. We saw where Gale Saiyers lived before she was evacuated from the Island during WWII. We saw amazing Irish landscape on the sea side--landscape that makes Ireland so popular.



The Second day we decided to fulfill Kelly's dream (other than coming to Ireland) which was to go horseback riding in the Irish hills and mountains. One of the bonuses to going to Ireland in October is that while you gamble with getting rained on the entire time (lady luck was on our side), the tourism industry is coming to a close. Meaning, everyone is headin' out of Dodge. Kelly and I were the only 2 customers to go horseback riding. So other than our guide, who spent the whole time yelling at her dog who was running along the entire country side chasing sheep that did not belong to him, it was just Kelly and me. Amazing countryside to say the least. Kelly has good taste and I thank her for dreaming to go to Ireland.


After an astonishing 2 1/2 days and 3 nights in Dingle, we took the long bus ride back to Dublin, where we would close out the night and our honeymoon in Ireland. The bus ride was perfect, as well as our last evening in Dublin. While in Dublin, we got a slightly better room at the same B & B and we decided to make one final hurrah of sightseeing. We walked to the Dublin Castle. There was not much left of the enormous castle first established by Viking Longboats (Dublin and Limerick, the 2 largest cities in lower Ireland were actually established by Vikings, huh.), but there was some, and some is all we needed to get our enjoyment out of the building. That evening we TRIED to save more money (at this point our Euro was exhausted and we now relied on the Visa) so we went to McDonald's of all places. Even McDonald's was overpriced (more on that later)!


Needless to say this trip was amazing. Kelly and I love to explore by nature, and going to a new country and sitting in our hotel room for a week did not sound appealing. We did a lot, and we aren't going to lie and tell you there were not times we were stressed, because when you try to do a lot, including staying 2 days in one places, then taking a 9 hour bus ride across the country, then coming back all within in a week, there is naturally going to be stress. It was worth it however. We did what we could, and saw what we saw and there were no regrets. We had a blast in Ireland and have not closed the books on it yet. There is potential to go back (several, several years from now), but we just don't know yet. There is a lot more out there to see.