the best thing, part V

Saturday through today has brought some welcomed monotony.  Our days have consisted of Karl going to work while I'm still in the twin size bed, short work days for Karl (PRAISE THE LORD!!), renting movies and buying episodes on iTunes, grocery shopping together, Karl napping while I clean his room, cooking and baking for Karl & his roommates and friends...  it has been perfectly normal.  We saw Red Tails last weekend and it was good!  Especially fun to watch among Airmen and hear their commentary- very funny.  I've done a lot of laundry and loved every second of it.  I've tried to cook Karl's favorite meals and bake lots of sweets each day.  We've taken lots of walks, stocked up on things Karl has needed for his room, and enjoyed spending tons and tons of time together.  We have laughed a lot, spent $41.00 on iTunes rentals (Hulu, ABC.com, etc- none work overseas), and bought Karl a bike after he depressingly told me that he is wearing holes in his boots from all the walking he does around here.
We enjoyed our 3rd "6 month anniversary" on February 21st, which we celebrate by each writing a list of "10 things I have learned about Hannah/Karl in the past 6 months."  I LOVE this!  I Love this more than anything Karl could get me for Valentines day or our real anniversary.  It is so special to me to see that Karl & I are constantly learning about each other, growing in our relationship with each other, and paying attention to what each other is doing.  And these past 6 months have been especially crazy- I have honestly learned more about Karl in the past 6 months than ever before.  He never ceases to surprise me and amaze me in how dynamic and changing he is.  So, needless to say, our twice yearly 6 month anniversary is the most special thing to me- and I am SO SO thankful we got to celebrate one of those together this year.   I treasure 'the lists' and love looking back on them.  Last night we rented two movies, bought a bottle of wine, snacks we were craving (pop tarts, cherry sours, pistachios, & popcorn) and enjoyed another night in while really taking care of my "movies I must see with Karl" list.  A shameful list full of movies I will not disclose.  One may or may not star Anna Farris.  Today I got to see Karl & his roommate, Eric, rock climb- something they both really enjoy.  Karl has enjoyed climbing for years and since he has been here, he has acquired all the equipment he needs and has been utilizing the climbing wall here as his primary source of exercise- he really loves it, so I too love it for him!  We went grocery shopping so that he can be all stocked up this week... and I had a really sad moment at the grocery store.  I honestly had such a strong urge to buy absolutely everything he may need for the next 8 months.  It was like this really panicky, awful feeling.  The thought of him needing or wanting and me not being able to provide is a horrible feeling- I'm a doer and a mover and a shaker and that has been stripped from me through this Korea stuff.   I wanted to buy 8 months of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, vitamins, bottled water- my mind was racing trying to think of anything and everything he could need.  Annnnd then God was like, "hold the phone.  this is my show."  So we bought a weeks worth of ramen noodles instead.  And now Karl & I will enjoy the rest of our day together, and I shall blog again when I come out of my post-Karl depression in approximately one month.  Just kidding, about the post-Karl depression part, probably not the blog timeline part though.  Enjoy a myriad of pictures.

 made a double batch of some no-bake energy bites

new boots for Karl

enjoyed some wonderful ice cream while out in Gunsan

 wrote our lists on a day date to Starbucks

enjoyed a late night snack including pop tarts, pistachios, and popcorn.

 did a lot of lounging

 enjoyed seeing the tree me and Cookie sent Karl still up.. it is now no longer considered a Christmas tree but a "night light."

 attempted sleep in this twin size bed... that felt more like half a twin size bed

 did a lot of cleaning, even though Karl keeps a very clean room on his own!

 got K a bike so he no longer has to walk to work, through snow, up hill (both ways)

 I know it's blurry but I LOVE this picture of us- mostly because of K's smile.  He is SO handsome!

 annnnd he clicked the shutter on purpose before I was ready.  Whatatrickster.

I'm trying to talk Karl into a guest post soon so we'll see if I can get him on here in the next week or so!  Until then,
Hannah K.C. Burton

the best thing, part IV

on Friday we woke up and tackled the major task of repacking all of our crap stuff.  The problem was that all of my stuff had to be perfectly packed into the backpack that I brought it in AND I bought several other things that had to be added to the mix, pottery included.  Awesome.  Fortunately Karl is gifted in the roll clothes + pack perfectly arena (thank you, basic training) and he handled that job like a pro- I hate packing.  We checked out of the hotel, left our bags at the front desk, and hit the market for breakfast and one more shopping trip, naturally.
After the market we headed back to the hotel, loaded up our bags, and took a taxi to the train station.  I was SO EXCITED to ride a train!  This was my first train ride ever and it did not disappoint!  We rode a bullet train from Seoul to Iksan and switched trains somewhere in between there.  It was kind of hectic getting on and off with all of our bags [we both had a backpack and each had 2 huge tote bags... ridiculous... like, Karl bouncing between all the seats as he passed down the aisle with my giant pack, sorry dude] but the ride itself was really nice!  The countryside here is so beautiful- just mountainous and wonderful!!  It was a joy to get to experience my first train ride with Karl and in a foreign country, no less.

Once we got to our final destination we took a taxi from the train station to where we are now!  Annnnd then made a horrifically long trek in the snow to Karl's dorm because the taxis can't drive on the base.  Our Friday was a long day of travel and adventure- it was so so so fun to get to do all that with Karl- I was so helpless and not in control when it came to travel, getting around, and communicating during our stay in Seoul.  I was dependent on Karl to make it all happen when normally we share equally in things like that, it was really nice to sit back and trust him to take care of us and our travels 100%.  I literally wouldn't have eaten, had a bed to sleep in, known how to get anywhere, etc. if it weren't for him- he is so so so wonderful and is the best relationship pants wearer ever!
When we got back to Karl's dorm we were both exhausted from travel, so obviously we ate at the food court for dinner, but not before I got the grand tour of this little cave he's been living in for the past few months.  He has made it feel so homey and sweet in here and it has been so nice to see and feel all of our things from home right here in Korea.  It makes me feel happy to see all the things that I packed and prepared for him- our bedding, towels, pictures, kitchen things.  Well we checked K's mail and he had 2 fun surprises!!  Only a couple of days after Valentines Day the celebration continued!!

A Valentine from Kinley!  Such a fun surprise!!  Made us both smile big time!

Annnnd  a Valentine treat box from Cookie!  Karl & his roommates have been chowing down on this thing all week!  Thanks, mom!!

Friday brought an early bedtime and gratitude that our room wasn't 85 degrees like it had been the whole week prior.  It also brought the start of 9 days of sleeping in a twin size bed together.  Come Monday morning I will be wishing for a 10th night. 

Super thankful for super squished sleep,

Hannah K.C. Burton

the best thing, part III

Thursday was our last full day in Seoul so I woke up ready to squeeze out every last little drop the city had to offer!  We went to Namdaemun market, just a quick walk from our hotel, and shopped for lots of fun things for me to bring home.  Then we went to the big department store/movie theatre and found that they were finally showing a movie in english that afternoon!  I had been dying to see a movie with Karl- it has been MONTHS since we have gotten so a movie together!  After a quick nap back at the hotel we went back and we saw The Descendants.  I never would've opted to see this movie if we had a selection to choose from, however, being it was literally our only choice we went for it.  It was OK... besides the foul language.  It should also be noted that at the theatre they serve 'sweet popcorn,' AKA carmel corn... not a bad trade.  After the movie we had dinner at this deli in the market.  This would be a good time for me to interject that I have been here for just shy of 2 weeks and have only spit food out of my mouth 6 times.  That is pretty good, if you ask me.  I have, on the other hand, had peanut butter crackers replace a meal about 8 times.  Anyways... after dinner Karl & I took a taxi to the North Seoul Tower- a maj tourist attraction.  Suckers, I know.  That was literally the coldest I have ever been in my life.  The view from the top of that hill was so super pretty, though, so I would say it was worth it.  Plus getting to play with the lens Karl & I bought for our camera for this trip was extra fun at night.  Enjoy some pictures, although we seriously failed at taking them this day.

I'm already starting to get sad about leaving.  Praying time moves at snails pace for the next few days!

Hannah K.C. Burton

the best thing, part II

I'm definitely behind a few days on these little travel posts of mine but K is back to work this week so here's to catching up... and jeers to the kidney stones that I passed two nights ago whilst not having access to modern medicine.  Yippee.


Tuesday Karl and woke up and he lovingly brought me Dunkin Donuts and a latte in bed- Happy Valentines Day to me!! And obvi my mom sent Karl & I a VDay card with a treat inside.  Duh.  Also it should be noted that they actually do put lots of nuts in their 'toffee nut lattes,' not an appetizing surprise. Then we ventured out for our first subway experience {which we owned.  And by owned, I mean we didn't ever get caught in the violently closing subway doors, which I did see happen, twice.} on our way to a day-long bus tour of the city... after one seriously extensive walking search for said bus, we found it, enjoyed some KFC for lunch, and had an awesome day of exploration! We saw palaces, the president's home, the national museum of Korea, stopped at most of the major shopping districts, and were just pumped full of information on the history an culture of Korea.  The museum was really neat- the actual building itself was gorgeous and architecturally stunning and the contents were amazing- the history of Korea is so much more extensive and dates back just exponentially further than that of the US so it was pretty amazing to walk thru- every exhibit was in English which was pretty neat and humbling because our museums certainly don't have Korean explanations on each exhibit, not that I know of at least. In Itaewon I bought a few very large, breakable, and awkwardly sized souvies that Karl sweetly toted on and off that dang tour bus the whole day- also I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to get those things back to the states :/  Another prob for another day.   For dinner we did some research and decided on an Italian restaurant a taxi ride away so, while the taxi did supposedly take us to the right address, we never did find the restaurant.   We did, however, find a different Italian/pizza place and enjoyed a very delicious Valentines pizza and coke date.  Perfection. Anywayz, the day was great- lots of walking and feeling very unamerican and unlazy.  Enjoy some piczz!

The structure in the middle of this picture is an actual palace- it was so interesting how the city of Seoul just built itself around 5 different palaces... normal.

Since we couldn't have gotten off at each of the tour bus stops and really spent adequate time, we decided to tour one of the palaces on Wednesday.  I'm so glad we did because we were able to give our best energy to that tour and it was totally worth it!  Such a cool experience!  We woke up, took the subway (total pros), bought tickets to the english tour of "The Secret Garden," aka the expensive tour and only one in english, and then went and had breakfast at a coffee that was shop right across the street while we waited.

You can actually see the palace right behind Karl in this picture

The palace was huge!  It was actually like 3 palaces all connected at different points that made up the whole dynasty.  All of the different buildings within the palace walls were for different purposes for the king or workers- this building was a library

the men & women "noblemen" slept separately- husband & wives included- beginning at age 7.  this little doorway (was like 4 feet tall) connected the male sleeping quarters to the female

male dominance or something

We are standing right next to the ponds where the kings wrote poetry or something... and then played drinking games, according to our tour guide :/

This was such a great tour! It was so interesting and fun and we both learned so much about Korean culture and history.  After this tour, we went to a shopping district that I had wanted to visit and then ended our night early with a shady dinner at our hotel...


I'm already enjoying reliving this trip and I haven't even left yet!  I am so enjoying being here with Karl!
Hannah K.C. Burton

the best thing, part I

So I wrote this 2 days ago but have been having some Blogger issues... I have 2 more days of posts to share but here is a start, enjoy!

So it's day 3 in Korea, we are now in Seoul, and our room has WiFi! Wahoo! I had wanted to blog everyday but our first hotel had spotty Internet access soooo here I am. So travel into Korea went well... with the exception of the 4 documentaries/docudramas United Air played on the way over, making my 12 hour flight feel more like 120. 
I went thru customs and baggage claim and handled my ridiculously heavy luggage single handedly. Maj independent woman, not by choice. Also it should be noted that Karl asked that my things be packed in a backpack for ease of travel... so 16 days worth of crap was all stuffed into a very large backpacking pack of mine... one that I can't maneuver without basically topping over backwards. So that was good too.
Anyways, after chasing the sun for 18 hours I finally got to Karl and it sure was wonderful! 

We took a bus to somewhere and eventually got off because we were scared we had passed our stop but had no way of knowing because the driver didn't speak English. So then we flagged down a taxi, called our hotel, an had them explain to the driver how to get there- and that's basically how our transportation here has gone ever since.
Our first hotel was good, kind of. Karl and I did a ton of research on hotels and finally booked a few for the next week and were very careful to not book a "love hotel."  Well, we were apparently not careful enough. You can use your imagination, however, I will say this- the bed in our first room had a circle-shaped mattress. I would've thought that was really cool when I was 8. Now, Woof.
The first half-day was nice and relaxing- we ate pizza for dinner (from a place called "Pizza Her," written in the same font as Pizza Hut) and I went to sleep at like 7.
So Sunday, after a 30 minute and $20 miscommunication with a taxi driver, we enjoyed breakfast and then spent the day walking around a super neat shopping center in Incheon!

Monday we woke up and checked out of the love hotel and made our way to Seoul after, YEP you guessed it, transportation/communication/language barrier joy. 

Regardless, I am SO enjoying this city!
 It is much friendlier to English speakers (even though I do feel ignorant and guilty that I don't speak their language) AND our hotel is like way great. This is the view from our room!

Karl and I had burgers for lunch, walked around a local market that is literally right outside our hotel where we tried this delicious spiraled/fried/potato snack! I also got these gems (made in my RX)!

We are having so much fun here and just enjoying the culture, adventure, and everything that Korea has to offer!  I can't wait to share more about our trip as each day unfolds!!
Hannah K.C. Burton