Guest Post: Eating My Way Around Korea

My first meal in Korea was bibimbap. My friend who I was with at the time told me to stir up all the veggies and rice with the red sauce, or else the lady would come over and stir it for me. In disbelief, I took a bite of the unstirred rice, and like clockwork the lady came over, grabbed my bowl, and stirred it up for me with a grunt. I learned right then that I was in a special place, where meal time is serious business.

I have invited my friend and fellow Korea-ite Audrey of ThatBackpacker to share her impressions of the great variety of foods this peninsula has to offer. Read along as she explains her adjustment to regularly overloading on rice and eating squid with beer.

Make us hungry, Audrey...

 

 

Eating My Way Around Korea

Six months into my stint as an expat in Korea, I have learned a thing or two about the country’s cuisine. It wasn’t an easy start; the first time I went to a restaurant I mixed my soup, rice, and side dishes all in one bowl thinking that’s the way Korean’s did it… Nope, not quite.

During my time here I have eaten more cabbage and radishes than ever before in my life, I have mastered the art of grilling a slippery eel, I have burned my lips with metal chopsticks, and I have unknowingly devoured a dish that contained coagulated ox blood and loved it! Here’s a look at my highs and lows of dining in Korea:

The One I Tried And Liked: Dolsot Bibimbap

Before coming to Korea, rice was not a part of my diet; I found it bland and boring. Over the past few months, however, my attitude towards rice has changed. Not only has it become a staple item at every meal, it has also become one of my favourite dishes. Dolsot bibimbap is a meal served in a stone hot pot that contains rice, a raw egg, red chili paste, cucumbers, zucchini, soybean sprouts, and a bunch of other vegetables that I still don’t know by name. You can hear the pot sizzle as it is brought out to the table. I like to grab a spoon and press the rice down allowing it to get golden and crispy before mixing the assortment of ingredients together. What you are left with is a warm filling dish that is perfect anytime of year. I like it so much that I sometimes eat it twice a day!

The One I Have Gotten Used To: Samgyeopsal

Samgyeopsal is a traditional Korean meal, which consists of thick, extra fatty slices of pork belly cooked over a grill. You then place these pieces of meat in a lettuce leaf along with some garlic and red chili paste, wrap it into a little wad, and pop them in your mouth. Sounds fun, right? This may not seem like a strange meal, but having been raised in Argentina where the quality of beef is second to none, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to eat fatty chunks of pork! My first attempt at the meal consisted of me trying to pick the fat off of whatever little meat there was; that proved futile. After a few more unsuccessful meals I decided to… embrace the fat! It’s still not my first choice for dinner, but I can handle it.

The One I Won’t Be Repeating: Dry Squid

At most Korean bars, you are often expected to purchase some kind of snack to go along with your beer. Dry squid happens to be a popular choice and so I thought I would give it a go. Maybe it’s because I had been drinking some kiwi infused soju, but at that moment the squid was one of the foulest tasting things I have ever put in my mouth. It was chewier than rubber and smelled worse than a fish market at high noon. I gnawed at the piece and pushed it around my mouth trying to get it down as fast as possible. At that I was unsuccessful; most of it ended up on my napkin… I like to think I’m mildly adventurous since I did try eel on a previous occasion, but the squid and I shall keep our distance for the remainder of my time here.

The One I Refuse to Try: Dog Meat

I remember asking one of my students what they did over the weekend. The student smiled back at me and proudly stated that they ate dog meat. I was so shocked by their answer that I stared wide-eyed for a few seconds not knowing how to respond. Up until then, I hadn’t realized dog meat was consumed in Korea. I soon learned that dog stew is considered quite the delicacy by some; those who have tried it tell me it’s one of the tastiest and sweetest meats out there. I, however, cannot bring myself to sample it; even if it is considered a cultural aspect. I grew up with dogs as family pets and have a sweet little Lhasapoo back at home that I really miss snuggling with. This is one item on the menu I will not be trying. Ever.

I have tried lots of new meals over the past six months, some that I wanted to and some that I never imagined I would. I have sat at bars, tables, and on floors. My palate has enjoyed sweet, hot and spicy concoctions, and I’m looking forward to the new flavours that the next six months will bring.

What are your favourite Korean meals?


Audrey is the girl behind That Backpacker. She was born in Canada, raised in Argentina, and now finds herself teaching English to a mischievous bunch in Korea. When she's not on the hunt for authentic Indian curries, she can be found exploring her current home base, and plotting her upcoming travels around the globe. You can follow Audrey on her blog, her Facebook page, and her Twitter for even more adventures!

No More Tea for Me

Colombia is the first country, in the world, where I can call myself a coffee drinker.

Don Elias Coffee Tour, Salento, Colombia

In every other country, if I ever have the choice between coffee or tea, I will almost always choose tea. I love the taste of coffee, but I find myself choosing tea when I am offered one of the two.

But as I am in the coffee region of Colombia, I cannot stop drinking the coffee here. Every morning I wake up and have a cup with breakfast. It is smooth, flavourful, fresh, and absolutely delicious. I even ordered a coffee after lunch today, without thinking much of it. Being here, coffee is making its way into my heart.

We had the recent joy of visiting a small coffee farm in Salento, Colombia yesterday. Our smiling guide took the four of us through the coffee fields, where they grow bananas, sugarcane, beans, limes, mandarin oranges, pineapples, and of course, coffee plants.

The farm has been growing coffee for 18 years, and our guide explained the whole process of coffee making, right from the plants.

On their farm, they grow three varieties of coffee beans, and rotate the crops after each season to ensure the right soil composition for the next round of coffee growing.

Our guide explained that when the buds turn red, they are ready for harvesting. He picked this one off a short plant and showed us the precious beans inside. They were an unfamiliar bright white, fresh off the vine, and not yet roasted brown.

The white beans are then left to dry for 3 days in the sun, and when totally ready, they are put in pans to be roasted over fire on the oven. He explained that they must be steadily stirred for an hour, and that even walking away for a minute would burn the beans.

The tour, all in Spanish, lasted around 45 minutes, and ended with our very own freshly roasted cups of organic farm-grown Colombian coffee, roasted the night before. It was so rich and aromatic, I bought two packs to give to family. Now my whole backpack smells like fresh roasted coffee.

If coffee is the nectar of the gods, I must be in heaven.

On Love, Facebook, and "The One"

How do you know when you've found the one?

Is it like some people say, those lucky ones who say "you just know"? Is it some kind of planetary alignment which wills two people's hearts to cross and never part? Is there a way to know when you've met the person with whom you can share the rest of your life?


When I log into Facebook now, nearly at age 28, I am greeted by photos of babies first rolls, wedding reception dances, and status changes to "engaged" or better yet "married". People with whom I once shared math class and milkshakes are now buying houses and patio furniture.


Perhaps stranger and more disturbing than all the cake photos and ultrasound profile pictures are the ones of our exes. We all have them, and we all do the same thing once and a while, even though it never feels right. Facebook has permitted us access to information, photos, and emotional stresses that we really have no business knowing about. It's never a good idea, but when it's made so easy, it's hard to resist a simple click.


Though that person and you have personal history, what brought you together in your time doesn't matter anymore. You exist as each other's history. Knowing this, is it any harder to know for certain whether the next person for whom your heart jumps will be there in 2, 5, 10, or even 20 years?


When we do find the next someone with whom we develop a relationship, is it with the passing of time that the person becomes "the one"? Or is it that at a certain age, we stay with whoever we find ourselves with? Is the commitment to marry a natural progression, the next logical step for two people of marrying age? Are the relationships around me people who met at the right time, when both people were ready to commit to a future?


What I'm also curious about is how friends of mine, classmates, co-workers and other acquaintances are finding their "one". Do they really know they've found it? Or does part of everyone still wonder if there might be someone else out there with whom they could be star-crossed? With whom white paint chips and car seat models have no bearings? With whom time stands still, and the world ceases to exist?


Does such a love exist outside of films and love songs? Are all the Facebook wedding albums actually proof of soulmates, proof of destiny, and proof of the real, true, mad love I believe in?


Of my single friends, and those with boyfriends too, many face the same dilemma: How will I know when I've found him?


I'm wondering the same thing lately, too.

Thoughts on Colombia

"I don't think you should go to Colombia,"

my sister texted me, just weeks before I set off on my trip through Central and South America,

"my friend is Colombian and she hasn't even been back there in 15 years."

There are two sides to every story, and that applies evermore to travel in Colombia. On one side, Colombia is a violent and dangerous country, ruled for decades by outlaw armed groups and later by billionaire cocaine smugglers. Of the same grain, a visit to the Canadian travel report on Colombia could easily scare you away from booking your ticket. Talking about your travel plans for Colombia can result in worried disapproving looks from friends and family. A quick Google search which turns up articles about young gangs hired by drug lords to kill the cops doesn't really help either.

But on the other side, the traveler's side, you hear a different story of Colombia entirely. Stories of magical lost cities, of colonial statues and salsa at night, of crystal clear beaches and breezy mountain villages, of cumbia bus rides and dancing in line at the ATM, of smiling handshakes and milkshakes of lulo... the kinds of stories that make a place alluring and fantastic. When recent travelers are asked about it, they all say the same thing:

"You will love Colombia"

The truth is, Colombia is a different place now than it was 15 years ago. The intense fear surrounding travel in this country is not without reason, but now with travelers to nearly all regions of the country, are we ready to re-think it?


I am in Medellin as I write this post, which at one point was the most murderous city in the world. You wouldn't know it now, though, as locals chat with us, offering advice for places to visit or giving directions.

The increased security of the last ten years makes Colombia much more accessible for travelers. On this journey through Colombia so far, I've met visitors from Ireland, England, Germany, Austria, Holland, France, Spain, Mexico, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Colombia and of course, fellow Canadians. The majority of travelers here seem enthralled by the culture and nature of this country, and many are adjusting travel plans to manage overstaying every place they visit. I'm no exception.


Starting with a booking for 3 nights in Cartagena and staying for a week was just the beginning. The old city left me breathless and dying to see more of the colourful buildings. It also gave me the sweetest taste of anticipation for what the rest of South America has to offer. After overstaying in Cartagena, I only imagined a few nights in Taganga. I ended up spending another week diving in the national park, among blowfish the size of my torso and some of the prettiest coral walls I've ever seen. The rumours are true:

"You will fall in love with Colombia"

I've already fallen in love with Colombia, evidenced by my extremely slow journey here. I went through the whole of Costa Rica in just over a week, and I've already spent two weeks just in the northern regions of Colombia. But that's me, and that's how I travel: when I like a place, I stay for a while. Lucky for me, my travel partner travels by the same rule.

So, why did I like Taganga, and why did I overstay my planned visit by a week? I went into a dive shop looking to do some fun dives, and I was greeted with the friendliest and warmest smiles. The dives were gorgeous too, but it was the people who took us on those dives who made me want to stay. People like our boat captain Oscar, a 60-something Colombian man who sings to himself while we prepare our tanks and put on our fins. Or the man selling empanadas on the beach who eyes us when he says 'cervezas', just in case we want another one. Or the simple welcome of an "hola chicas" as we return to our hostel after a day at sea. Or the 12-year old next to me on the plane who strikes up a conversation in Spanish and suggests spots to visit in his hometown of Cali. It's just like all the travelers said:

"You will meet the nicest people there"

Now 2 weeks into Colombia, I can only wonder if our upcoming destinations: Salento, Cali, Popayan, San Agustin, and Bogota will implore us to overstay as well. At this rate, hearing what the travelers coming north have to say, it'll be another month before we actually leave this country, at least. We plan for 2 more weeks before we get to Ecuador, but can we really see and do all that we want in just 2 weeks? Like everyone tells us:

"You will want more time everywhere in Colombia"

The only way I will be able to leave this country is to know that I'll be coming back. Already contemplating future teaching jobs and learning Spanish here, I know this first month in Colombia won't be my last.



Blue Wave

Tayrona National Park

Cabo San Juan, Tayrona National Park

Truck from Pablo Escobar's garage, Medellin

See more of my photos from Colombia and beyond on Instagram

Guest Post: 3 Surprises Teaching in South Korea

Earlier this year, through the star actor in my first viral video explosion, I met a lovely new friend in Korea named Janna. A photographer, blogger, teacher, as well as a fun and creative person, I knew I would love to have her write for my blog at some point. Lucky for my readers, she agreed. Here she shares 3 things which surprised her about teaching in Korea.

My own arrival to Korea in 2006 involved a lot of confusion and alienation, and I definitely required a period of time to adjust to the new way of things around me. Awkwardly asking for my mailing address and being told to use the school's address since my apartment "didn't have one" was just one of my early moments of confusion. But sometimes it's those little moments where expectations are not met where we gain insight into the culture in which we find ourselves.

Take it away, Janna...

It wasn’t long ago that I was wrapping up my life in America and headed to Asia to teach English. After completing a portion of my student teaching in China, I rhetorically thought, “How different can Korea be?” However, the answer is, “a lot”. In Korea, I’ve worked full time in a public middle school and part time at a public elementary school. Like in any country, each school has its very own unique culture. Staying away from the specific cultural differences of each school, my focus here is on the general.  

1 - Slippers

Posing with students usually results in at least one heart, and in this case, two.

In most Asian cultures, it’s customary to take off your shoes at the entrance of household and to wear slippers inside the home. From my experience in China, we kept our shoes on in most other establishments, including schools. Therefore, I was shocked when I arrived in Korea to discover we were to wear slippers inside the school as well. I have my own shoe locker at both schools. My feet have never been so happy in a work environment! I wear comfortable slip-ons in the warm months and warm fuzzy slippers in the winter months. This brings me to my next shocker.

2 - Indoor temperatures

Everywhere she goes, Janna makes friends with the locals.

I arrived in Korea at the end of August. It was humid and in the low to mid 30s every day. Growing up in the southeastern part of America, this was the spring and summer norm for me. My new foreign friends were blown away when they saw me wearing jeans. I thought I could handle this weather. What I wasn’t ready for was the lack of air conditioning. In my school, the windows were open and the air conditioning was off. Students dripped in sweat after playing outside during P.E. Female teachers gathered in the small break room where a wall unit was on blast. I had an A/C control in my room, but was monitored in the office. So, if the students weren’t in the classroom or if the temperature wasn’t above a certain degrees outside, I was asked to keep it off.
 
Autumn came and I recovered. The weather was beautiful for a bit, and then the South Korean chill came that I had always heard about. In my school, and in most, there is no central heating. Each room has its own control, and therefore the classrooms stay fairly warm. The hallways, however, are freezing. In the dead of winter, in the warmest city in South Korea, it was -10 and all the windows were open in the hallway.

There wasn’t a day in the winter when I wasn’t teaching in my winter coat and a scarf. All the students stayed geared up in their puffy coats, bringing blankets and hot packs for their hands into the classroom. This was a big change for me but I adjusted quickly and totally forgot. People from back home commented on pictures, “Why are you wearing gloves in the classroom?” or “Why are all the children wearing huge winter coats indoors?” I had to giggle a little.

3 - Teachers’ Dinners

An artful student account demonstrating Janna's preferred method for disciplining students.

Over the course of a year, you can expect to attend about 5 work dinners, usually around special times like the start of the year or end of a semester. I was excited at my first dinner – free food at a really nice restaurant and a chance for me to get to know the people I saw each day. We sat around the tables crossed legged and began to feast. The food kept coming and we all kept eating. This doesn’t sound too shocking, right?
  
I was enjoying being part of a normal company feast, but then it happened. I was being poured a shot of soju. Everyone got quiet and a teacher of high rank stood up to make a toast. We all toasted and took the shot. Next, the Principal stood up and spoke. We took another shot. I saw the Principal and Vice Principal in the corner stand up with a bottle of whiskey. They came around to every teacher and gave them a shot to drink. The beer started flowing. At each table, I saw shot after shot being poured. I heard glasses clinking all around me. Some ladies got away with pouring Sprite in their shot glasses and snuck out early to leave the scene. This was no ordinary dinner party, so I stayed around to see what would happen next! After dinner, most of the teachers left but about 12 stumbled or took piggy back rides to another place for more food and drinks. At the end of the night, we were about 5 strong at a norebang (singing room). The next morning, my department clapped when I walked to my desk and a co-worker said, “There’s a rumor that you’re engaged to the P.E. teacher”. Laughing, I was sure all I did was sing a duet with him. I’ve tried to understand why these dinners have a tendency to get a little wild. Simply put, Korean teachers are some of the most hardworking, determined people I have ever known, working diligently from 10 to 14 hours a day. I think 4 times a year, they just need to let loose and have a chance to bond with each other.
  
Teaching in slippers, extreme indoor temperatures, and wild nights at faculty dinners are just the start of surprises to come your way! Whether the shockers are good or bad, you adapt, learn, and grow from all of them. Each day in Korea brings something new and wonderful.

You can follow Janna's adventures at www.happytrails2u.tumblr.com.
Stay tuned as she soon launches www.thelongwaybackhome.com.

My 3 Favourite Travel Moments - The Blogger Relay!

Thank you to Stephen of Bohemian Traveler for passing on the proverbial blogging relay baton to me. I now join the Green Team train of travel bloggers, led by the folks at Overyonderlust.

Our task is to choose our three favourite travel memories and tag another travel blogger when we're done. The team with the longest running chain of bloggers will win a small prize from the Lowcost Travel blog, as well as major travel blog gloating status.

It is always a challenge to narrow down and pick favourites, but after a while looking back on travels, I realize the moments below are some of my happiest, craziest, and simply best moments on the road.

Enjoy!

1 - Finding the diamond at Schwedagon Paya, Burma

Walking up to Schwedagon Paya is the closest I've ever felt to heaven. In a land of curious smiles and cawing roosters, the paya glows bright like the sun. Once up close to the pagoda, I lost myself in the magnificence of it all. When a guard approached me and gestured to see my ticket, I was so in my own world of gratitude I couldn't even find mine. Worried I would be kicked out, I apologized frantically. Clearly not a problem, he pulled out a ticket from his pocket and pointed to the writing on the back of it. In English, I read to myself an explanation of the diamond-encrusted top of the pagoda. Squinting to the top, I couldn't see a diamond from a reflection of the sun, and the guard could see my struggle. He pointed to a particular spot on the tiled ground, stood on that spot, and then pointed up to the top. Following him, I stood in that precise spot, and I saw the sparkle of a blue diamond come into view. I'll never forget that kind guard, or the way that diamond sparkled all the way from the top of the pagoda.

2 - Having my ear ripped off by an elephant, Thailand

In keeping with the theme of Shaun's pink dolphin bite, I present to you my second travel memory:

When you're at an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai, it's very easy to feel like fast friends with the elephants. Within minutes of arriving we were feeding the elephants sugar cane right into their mouths with our bare hands. In hindsight, it's obvious that I thought I had a little more of a bond with the elephants than they felt toward me. After an elephant reached out its trunk to check me out, I ended up on the ground with dirt and mud all over me, and a severed ear. Three countries and two rounds of stitches later, I still have my ear, and one helluva story for the grandkids.

To read the whole crazy story, you can read the blog post.

3 - Feeding pigeons in Piazza San Marco, Italy

I love pigeons. People say they are dirty and diseased, but I find them charming. For a traveler, the sight of pigeons is familiar, and it can feel like a tiny taste of home when you're feeling miles away. Pigeons also don't discriminate between a rubbish bin or the statue of a saint - they will go anywhere. So when I was in Venice, and a man offered me a bag of birdseed for a Euro, I happily paid him. The pigeons flocked to me in a dusty, feathery flurry, and I maintain it was the best Euro I spent in all of Italy.

And there you have it, another successful post of travel memories for the Green Team!

Team Green: As jam packed with surprise and zest as the green limes of Colombia!

I now tag my travel partner in crime ThisBatteredSuitcase to share her top three travel stories. I'm sure she'll give the Green Team something to be proud of.

Let the relay continue with every memory!

Video: First days in Colombia

it's only our second day here in Cartagena, Colombia

we're both already in love with the beautiful old city, its graffiti, and its friendly faces

if today is any indication...

it seems Colombia will be living up to its reputation as one of

the best countries for travel in all of South America

Boyfriend Blues

Cahuita, Costa Rica

Being on the road is one of the best feelings I know. It frees me, it moves me, and it deepens my life.

But this time, being on the road also breaks my heart a little.

I left behind my boyfriend to travel my heart out. We're still together, and we keep in touch everyday... but the more days we spend apart, the more we discuss our future together.

When I left Korea recently to begin this crazy adventure, I decided certainly that I would return to Korea to find a job in Seoul upon completing this trip. I still consider Korea to be my home, and even here in central America I often long for the daily life that I lead there.

However, since I left Korea, the other half of my relationship has deepened his own future plans. He wants to move to Tokyo.

He says working life in Korea requires long hours without significant pay, and he feels daily living in Japan will be more comfortable. He wants to work and build the savings to make his future ambitions a reality. I respect him, and I understand why he says Korea can be a difficult place to live.

The allure of Japan is strong to me, as there are many similar cultural elements to Korean culture. But when I really think about it, I'm not ready to leave Korea.

I love a man who I fell in love with in Korea who does not want to live in Korea. What am I to do?

Part of me jumps at the thought of living in Tokyo, the bright neon familiar to me now. The crowded subways excite me, as does the lure of language. Japanese is on my list of languages to learn, and I have a few friends who would help me settle in. Tokyo would be good to me.

However, I've now spent more of my twenties in Korea than anywhere else. I feel so comfortable and confident in Korea now that I can't imagine moving to Tokyo and starting all over again.

It's a confusing time, only made more intangible by the distance between us.

I can only put trust in myself, in him, and in the road that we travel together.

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Any Road

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there"

- George Harrison (from the song Any Road)

Just a day before we sail from Panama to Colombia, I can't help but feel madly excited about the upcoming continent and all the adventures we'll have. The lure of South America has always been in me; even as a little girl I dreamed of the Brazilian amazon. Now with hours until we sail, and just days until out feet find solid ground on the Cartagena beaches, I'm thrilled.

Our plans for Colombia - and the whole of South America - are pretty vague. We do have our general direction, and certain cities we won't miss. But when it comes to how long in what place, we are intentionally keeping our plans open.

The road is nothing if not unpredictable. Embracing the unpredictability of the road means being open to all people, and all places. It's easy to end up in a place you never intended to visit, simply upon the recommendation of another traveler. I learned that first-hand when in France in 2006, and I ended up unexpectedly doing the first three days of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela upon the recommendation of a friendly girl I met in the hostel. Destinations become fluid and so do the reasons for visiting.

The photo above is from Cahuita on the east coast of Costa Rica, after hearing that it was "beautiful" from a girl with whom we shared a short bus ride. We hadn't even heard of the city, and within 24 hours we were there.

The joy of motion, being en route, and just simply not knowing is a big part of what makes traveling so immediate and so rewarding. You find a place to go, and then you get there.

For us, right now that place is South America.

of rice and beans (or "the magical fruit of central america")

since coming to central america three weeks ago, i've been eating a lot of gallo pinto. gallo pinto is rice and beans mixed together with seasoning, and it's a vegetarian's dream food.

fantastically yummy gallo pinto with an omelet and toast in little corn, nicaragua

the gorgeous presentation prize goes to cafe liberia, in libera, costa rica

the best gallo pinto i've had yet has to be this one pictured above, from a restaurant in the tiny coastal village of cahuita, in costa rica. a pile of rice, beans, tortillas and salsa topped off with fresh guacamole? well, if you insist...

a bit part of traveling is trying local foods, and now that we're in panama i'm already longing for costa rican gallo pinto. of course we're still eating rice and beans, but they aren't quite as ubiqutous as they were across the border. i've heard that the rice and beans trend continues in a variety of forms throughout south america too, and i certainly hope i can keep eating this delicious food.

have you tried costa rican gallo pinto?

share your thoughts on the rice and beans below in a comment, or on Twitter @expatkerri

What did you do on Monday?

Just strolled in a national park watching monkeys in the trees.

Cahuita, Costa Rica

swimming with sharks

Jake's Place, Little Corn Island, Nicaragua

"you're probably wondering who jake is..."

this is how the dive briefing began for my second day of diving in little corn island.

"...jake is a friendly nurse shark."

a friendly shark? friendly and shark are two words not usually used in the same sentence, at least outside of the diving community.

this dive was actually my second time seeing sharks underwater, so i had a small idea of what to expect since we had seen a few nurse sharks on our dives the day before.

the first time i saw a shark while diving, it was sitting still under a coral shelf. lying on the ocean floor, it looked calm, resting and waiting for night to come.

i expected to see jake in the same way.

as i handed my fins and weights onto the boat, i casually asked my dive master how big jake was.

"about 7 feet."

when our boat arrived out in the middle of the choppy waters, i wondered if jake would be resting under his chosen coral shelf. securing my mask and air, i rolled back off the boat and into jake's place.

as soon as we got down to the coral, our dive master turned to us and gave the shark signal (a hand gesturing a shark fin on your forehead). within moments, just feet below my fins, jake swam through.

we stayed still to watch him, and he had no interest in our group. he swam out of sight and we kept going along the coral. after a few minutes, other divers signaled the shark hand gesture. jake swam by again in the other direction, close to the coral. he kept on appearing and disappearing throughout our dive.

i was not scared, but more amazed to see this creature moving peacefully through the water below us. the shark appeared perfectly in balance with all of the other fish and life we were seeing under the sea, and accordingly didn't feel threatening. there were even two foot-length blue fish following the shark around, as little ones might follow around their older siblings.

the underwater social hierarchy in balance, right before our eyes.

upon surfacing, everyone commented how good the dive was. how lucky we were to see a shark.

and i feel lucky too.

how special to witness a moment of life for a creature so misunderstood, to the tune of my own breath. i felt no fear, but rather peacefulness and a longing for the underwater dream never to end.

but like sleeping dreams, all dives have to come to an end.

even dives with sharks.

my philosophy on love

i believe any man could be the right man for me, at any given moment in my life. i also believe that people come into our lives for a reason, be it to teach us something, to help us through something, or to just enjoy the great times together.

in all of my past relationships, something hasn't quite been in line to keep us in love for the long run. accordingly, i have spent a lot of time looking back on what i consider my most successful relationships. i examine which parts of the relationship were fully satisfying for me, and which parts could have been improved.

now at 27, i think i've finally got a theory that seems to hold water for me, as well my friends who i've explained it to.

love has three elements: mind love, heart love, and sex love: for lasting love, all three of these elements must be in line.

first, mind love. mind love is having stimulating conversations, and being able to make each other laugh. it also means being able to understand each other, and be patient when things aren't alright. mind love is the insatiable adoration that you have for your partner's brain. you want to hear that person's thoughts, and you enjoy the way the express themself. of course, your partner should also be as interested and crazy about the way you think, which gives you the energy for those amazing into the night conversations that just make life feel so worth it. think before sunrise.

next comes heart love. heart love is missing your partner, and the happiness and enjoyment that comes simply from being near that person. wanting to spend more time with them, having a hard time saying goodbye, and staring at your partner's photos are all signs of heart love. it's also that feeling inside you when you hear those three magic words. heart love can lead us to do silly things, like midnight drives in the rain, and it's probably what romeo and juliet were feeling when they snuck away together.

now we come to sex love. sex love shows itself after a long day out in the world, coming home and embracing as soon as the door is closed. sex love is the throw down, the i-need-you-now, the groceries-in-hand kisses. the passion, when you stare at your partner and just admire the little idiosyncrasies that make them yours. when the hedonists in you both find paradise in one another's arms, and never feel it is enough. sex love is exclusive, primal, and absolutely worth losing sleep over.

so what happens when one of these loves is out of line? the relationship is so close to perfect, but part of you is left a little unsatisfied.

if mind love is out of line, you might end up fighting where understanding is needed, or resenting the logic of your partner's decisions.

if heart love is out of line, someone might be too busy to make the "goodnight" call, or you might start wondering if your partner still has feelings for a former fling.

if sex love is out of line, your once passionate kisses could turn into pecks.

i realize this is a grand simplification of relationships, and that there will be many people who could disagree with my three concepts. However, when I look back on my own life, I see relationships which start out with two loves strong enough to overpower the missing link. As time goes on, though, the third missing love starts to show itself, and by the end of the relationship, it comes to overshadow the other two loves.

i like to think of them as the chakras of love, three glowing hot spots that everyone has in them.

it just takes the right person to light them all up.

big in granada

big skies

big avocados

big trees

big colours

big friendships

Just two days into Granada, Nicaragua with my beautiful travel partner Brenna, I can't help but feel we're at the beginning of something amazing, something life altering, something unforgettable, something big.

This morning over breakfast, we discussed an idea I've wondered about before. Whether you travel for a week or a month or a year, after the travels are over you feel a specific range of feelings when reviewing your photos.

It's easy to think of the pictures from early on in the trip as being less informed and lacking the worldly wisdom of later pictures - your clothes tidy and clean, your skin unworn and not yet blazed by the sun.

Around the middle of the trip, the photos are happy and care-free: the mark of a traveler truly amid the journey, thinking neither of the beginning or the end of the travels. For me, this is where I usually find my favourite travel photos.

When it comes to the final pictures of the trip, they seem to hold the knowledge, sadness, and already nostalgic feeling of a trip coming to an end. Sometimes you even stop taking pictures for days at a time.

Every trip has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And though this trip through central and south America together begins now for us, it's hardly the beginning of our journey as travelers together: we've traveled Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Japan, Thailand, Burma, and South Korea together.

And it's certainly not the end.

the evolution of a backpack (& the legend of the woman in the black dress)

My first extended backpacking trip was around Europe back in 2006, where I managed to see 22 countries in 4 months. I began the trip hopeful and naive with a bag weighing 12kgs (not including my carry-on), and I came home with a full heart and a dirty bag weighing in at a hefty 17kgs. It was getting hard to lift near the end of the trip, with gifts and ticket stubs and moments of life all fighting for space in my bag.

Here in 2012, I begin my second extensive backpacking trip, as I head off to Nicaragua to meet up with my friend to navigate our way through central and south America until we get to Rio de Janeiro. We're planning to be on the road for a few months (but it could end up being longer if we love a certain somewhere). I vowed to myself not to bring too much stuff, and in particular not too many clothes.

Having recently moved out of my apartment in Jinju, Korea - where I had lived comfortably for 2 years - I parted with a lot of clothes. Some were old vintage items I just wasn't wearing, some were new items that I hadn't quite worked into my wardrobe, and there were lots of colourful scarves and pretty skirts that just fell somewhere in between. With the simplicity of fewer things in my apartment in Korea, I also seem to have adopted a bit more of a simpler wardrobe in the past month. Fewer costume changes, and more well-liked clothes on repeat. It is with this principle that I packed my backpack for my upcoming travels.

What clothes did I pack? A pair of jean shorts, a black skirt, a white skirt, a blue button up collared shirt, 3 pretty tops, a longsleeved shirt, a cardigan, a short dress and a pair of leggings. Just one dress, and this is odd for me, since my four-season wardrobe consists of at least 50% dresses. The reason is that I know I will find dresses I love down south.

Yes, there are other items in my bag, and that's what makes up the other 6kgs. I have a netbook and terabyte of storage for videos, a 1068 page guidebook, a GoPro camera plus the user guide (since I have yet to memorize it), a silk bed liner, a pair of blunnies and a bunch of other little things which I want to have with me. Of course I want to have dresses with me too...

But, when I'm traveling in a new city, and I find a dress that I love, I buy it. These clothing items are my souvenirs, and when I wear them I'm filled with the memories of the music, food, and the city where I bought it. Going to the land of floral dresses and handstitched patterns only makes my heart pine for beautiful dresses, and I know I'll find ones that suit me perfectly. This way, the dresses I wear on my trip will be of that area, and I can create memories and take photos wearing items from that region.

At the airport en route to Managua, Nicaragua, my backpack weighed 8.8kgs (with a carry-on at 4kgs). Here I have a much more organized and well-prepared backpack than the one I carried in Europe, and as a bonus I'm starting at a lighter weight. Remember, my first backpacking trip was 6 years ago, and I was pretty much as novice as a backpacker can get (I'd been to Paris and London for 2 weeks each on a high school exchange, but high school exchanges are far different from solo traveling, oh and that one trip to Barbados when I was 16 with my family...). I've picked up a lot of tips and tricks throughout my other travels to places including Turkey, China, Burma, Vietnam, and Thailand.

My very first time leaving Korea in 2007, I rode by boat past this bridge while it was under construction. The bridge stuck its half-contructed spine out into the sea then, weak and unready. Leaving Korea most recently in 2012, we rode along the very same bridge, now confidently providing commuters a more convenient road to reach the airport.

No umbrella, wearing my heaviest shoes instead of keeping them in the bag, using air compressing plastic bags to organize clothes, and carrying fewer liquids are some of my current strategies keeping my bag lighter. But another strategy is just simply having fewer clothes. When traveling Europe in 2006, some clothes in my bag would go a month or more without being worn, which is too long to simply be carrying clothing on the road. This time, I plan to wear everything in my bag in the span of a week, and just wash what I wear every other day in the sinks (with my handy traveler's laundry soap sheets).

It's a new strategy in practise for me, but an old concept. I remember reading of the legend of the traveling woman in the black dress who carried no backpack. They say she washed her dress and underwear every night to have it ready and clean for a new day. Sounds pretty amazing to me, and I'd love to try that on my next adventure - after I stock up on Peruvian alpaca sweaters.
Now, to you dear reader, what's your strategy when packing your travel bag? Are you a notorious overpacker, prepared for every rift of inclement weather? Or do you bring less and adopt a more frequent washing cycle, as I'm going to try? Please share your tips and ideas as a comment here on the blog, or tweet your tips and ideas to me on twitter @expatkerri.

I'm already imagining all the beautiful things I will find in Granada and beyond. I guess I'm not ready to be a legend in a black dress just yet.

How I Book Cheap Flights

I fly.

A lot.

So I consider myself a kind of cheap flight finding guru, and I'm often asked by my friends how much a certain flight should cost, or how to know when you're getting a good deal. They ask what sites I use, and how far in advance to book flights. Here I'll share some of my flight booking philosophies, as well as some of my favourite websites for booking flights.

First, I remember reading something a while ago that said when you get on a flight, it's unlikely that anyone else paid the exact same price for their ticket as you did. That being said, there is always flexibility when it comes to buying plane tickets. It's important to browse early for flights you want to take. I also advise you to click the "my dates are flexible" button when checking flights, because sometimes there can be a large change in price just a day or two around your chosen date. Also remember that flights on weekends are usually much more expensive than weekday flights.

If you can handle the geeky details - which I love - check out this interesting article by Fare Compare which thoroughly explains why Wendesday is the cheapest day to fly for domestic flights in Canada and the USA.

Before you book your ticket, it's important to check more than one site. It's easy to just type your desired destination into Google and hope for the best, but you'll probably have more luck looking for flights directly on a few good sites. Browsing a few sites can show you a great variety in price and help you find a better flight.

Here are my personal choices:

1. Hipmunk - I haven't been using this site for long, but I fell in love at my first search. This site easily calculates all of the flights for your destination in seconds, without opening annoying new tabs or windows. You can easily browse through the flights to find the cheapest and most comfortable flight for you. I am currently booking a flight to Nicaragua to meet my dear friend Brenna, and I'm not looking to arrive too late in the evening, so I've organized the flights according to arrival time. The best part of this site is that all of your browsing and comparing and clicking happens in one page which helps keep your flight options organized and easy to compare.

 Organizing flights by "agony" is one of the best features of Hipmunk: price, flight time, and stopovers are all calculated together into overall convenience.

2. Skyscanner - I like using this site more for browsing than for booking, because of one special feature. This site, unlike others, allows you to search for flights going "everywhere", which really opens up travel possibilities for someone like me. I have vacation time here in Korea, and many cities and countries appeal to me, so sometimes the best way to choose where to go is to see where the cheap flights are.

 

It seems right now, the cheapest place I'd be interested in visiting from Seoul would be Philippines. Not bad at under $300 round trip...

3. FlightAware - Here is another site that I like to use to get ideas for where to fly. It's also a good site for learning all the destinations your favourite airlines fly to. My personal favourite airline is Korean Air (though I have an Asiana flight coming up on Tuesday about which I've heard only wonderful things). I've clicked "Live Flight Tracking" for all current Korean Air flights, and right now there are 55 flights operating.

I didn't realize Korean Air flew to Auckland. Good to know for the next winter break!

4.  Expedia - I've been using this site since I started flying regularly, way back in 2002 when I went away for university. It was one of the most useful sites for me back then, as I could compare flights and book all within the same site. Upon logging in, all of your details and cards are automatically filled in, which helps when you fly frequently. I've now used this site for domestic flights in Canada, overseas flights to Europe, as well as for booking flights in Asia.

 

The option to search for flights in "nearby cities" can be helpful when your travels are open, as mine usually are. 

5. Air Asia - This site and I have a good relationship, most of the time. I can usually book flights easily, but sometimes the site has internal errors which cause the page to close while waiting for a purchased flight to be confirmed, which is suuuper frustrating. This happened once when I was booking a ticket from Bangkok to Yangon, and after an hour of sweating and screaming I was able to book my desired flight. For booking flights in Asia, this site does offer some of the best deals I've seen, so I'm willing to put up with the occasional site errors to get a better deal.

One good point about Air Asia's site is that it shows you the flight differences for the dates surrounding your chosen date automatically, to help you tailor your dates to the best rates.

There you have it kids! My favourite sites and favourite ways to search for good flight deals. I hope I've given you some good ideas for sites to browse. 

Now I want to hear from you. What site do you visit first when you need to book a flight? Post your answers as a comment here, or directly tweet them to me on Twitter!

Now just to book that flight to Nicaragua...