"Siblings: your only enemy that you can't live with out." -Anonymous
Well, itâs 27 days into 2018. Itâs a new year in South Korea for me. 2018 came quicker than expected. Let me just say that I thank God for all the lessons, blessings, and all in between. If you have followed my adventures, youâd understand that 2017 was more than amazing for me. I have so much to reflect on, BUT Iâll save that for another post. Iâm already behind on stories as it isâŠđ I have to rewind it back some months.
I canât say it enough. God works in mysterious ways. Long story short, with no plans nor intentions, my brother and I are living in the same country code. It has been 2 years since we have last seen each other in person. Having immediate family in a foreign country with you is amazing. Funny thing, now we both get on each otherâs nerves, but we always end up falling into some wild adventures together.
Like our first encounterâŠ
About a week after my return from the Philippines, we met up for the first time; It was so dramatic. đŽ He was with some friends, as they were in Seoul shopping; I just tagged along to spend time with my brother. We found ourselves at a Korean restaurant where my brother put me on the dumplings here, which I highly recommend. As they were pushing on time getting back to their city, Cole was telling us about taxi drivers that finesse foreigners in paying a little more for direct service. Little did we know, we were about to end up in the same situation. We got onto the instillation and asked the driver to take us to the bus station. He told us it would most likely be full and wouldnât be able to take it. So, weâre thinking, okay can you give us some timely options? He started acting like he didnât understand us. -__- Jay and Cole went to check to see if there were any available seats were on the bus, and they came back to the taxi with the look like, whatâs option B? Our driver found his sense of understanding and said heâll make a deal with us and take us directly to the city. đ€šđ Desperate, with no other option, the offer was accepted.
I think it was a month before we saw each other again. Our jobs donât make it easy; since then, Iâve been dragging him all over the country.
Everland: Our first adventure was to the amusement park, Everland. Weâre both into roller coasters and thrills; my students hyped it up, so I thought we should give it a shot. It was packed to our surprise and we had to wait for the rides. We were a little disappointed at what Everland offered. Itâs not a park of major thrills. I will say that my favorite part was watching my brotherâs reaction when the trainer of the âanimal safariâ fed the giraffe from our window. đđŠ
Nami Island: I read about an island thatâs in the middle (not literally) of South Korea that has ice sculptures and other tourist attractions. Mind you, itâs very cold in the northern areas of South Korea. Iâm always prepared, because I donât like to be cold. I kind of dragged my brother along on the trip, I didnât really tell my brother the plans, and he wasnât prepared. đ Our trip was cut kind of short so he wouldnât freeze. I think he enjoyed it. đ€
Christmas Time: So, several things happened during Christmas time that made it so memorable and meaningful. For me, the holidays are more than just gifts, those materialistic things that people tend to make the holidays about. Going into the holiday season, I thought it was going to be just another holiday time and not really feeling the âChristmas spirit.â This Christmas time was very special and well spent with wonderful people. Itâs not about where youâre celebrating, but who youâre celebrating with. In my city, my Canadian friend, Liz, went out of her way to prepare a pre-Christmas dinner for some of us foreigners in the area. I mentioned cranberry sauce to her, and she went on G-Market and purchased some. That right there shows me how much she cares about us (her friends), and us spending the holiday together some kind of way. I felt that it was extremely thoughtful of her to go through all that effort to prepare dinner for us.
A soror of mine has been in South Korea for some years and gets herself involved in things. She was in a play that a fellow co-worker of hers directed. I went to her city to show her support and see why she received the wonderful reviews she did.
Finally, Christmas day I spent it with my brother and his roommate. Literally on Christmas Eve morning, I thought we should have Christmas breakfast and dinner together. They got the groceries and I brought the pans, utensils, and seasonings. Itâs amazing how you can cook different foods with only 1 pot and 1 pan. Iâm telling you, Korea is building up my survival skills. Lolz. Anyways, the breakfast turned out good and dinner was amazing. Our feeling about the holiday changed, and we appreciated it that much more.
New Yearâs in Daegu: I had all types of plans for our trip in Daegu. Originally, he was not a part of the plan, but he got plugged in.đ On New Yearâs Eve, we spent it at E-World, a better amusement park. We had a good time there and really enjoyed ourselves. Later that night, we went downtown to where they do the traditionally ringing of the bell. We, well I, was excited to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay again. I got some good freebies. After the countdown, we had to get out of thereâŠ
I think because I was trying to be cute, I got a cold. We both wasnât trying to do or go anywhere after New Yearâs Day. Out first meal of the new year was take out from McDonaldâs đ. Later that night we found some energy, and I took him to his first jjimjilbang (Korean Bathhouse). I think everyone should experience these places; they are amazing.
Well, Iâve been preparing for new transitions in my life, and Iâm excited to share to the good news soon!
Happy (late) New Year!!
Until the next adventure(s)âŠ
