Mexico

I guess my travel adventures aren't quite over. I'm spending 12 days in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico as I type. :-) It has been amazing. More of a relaxing vacation as opposed to all the sightseeing I did while traveling the world. I pretty much just lay on the beach every day here and get a tan. And then it's back to freezing Minnesota where I'll be residing for the time being. That is, until I plan my next adventure!

California

I'm in California now! Woo!!!!!

Auntie Dawn's Cottage Cheese Loaf

A.k.a. Vegetarian Meat Loaf

My Auntie Dawn's recipe has made it's world debut. It has made an appearance in Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, and New Zealand. And it has been a hit everywhere! Thanks Auntie Dawn! :-)

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Hello from Kiwi land! I'm here visiting my two super good friends, Ken and Ellie Chitwood. Ellie was pretty much my first Concordia friend. About a week into our Music History class, Ellie turned around and said, "You don't happen to have any chocolate do you? Because I'm having a major craving." It was at that moment I knew we would be friends. :-) She took me to the cafe for the first time at Concordia and introduced me to all her friends. With both of us in the music department, I got to spend many hours in super exciting classes and at concerts and recitals with Ellie. And we often chatted over Starbucks or breakfast in cafe. I got to hear all about it when she had her first date with Ken Chitwood, another Concordia student, and when she knew she was going to marry him. And then in June 2007, I got to stand by her when they recited their vows to each other. They immediately headed off to New Zealand where Ken was to serve as DCE intern at a Lutheran church. When I heard about their plans for 18 months in New Zealand, I told them I would come visit. That promise is what precipitated this entire crazy trip I am on around the world! I had always wanted to go to Europe, and New Zealand was in the opposite direction, so I decided to fill in the gaps a little bit and just head all the way around the world! So I basically have them to thank for this. :-)

Here I am in New Zealand, my last stop on this whirlwind adventure. Ken and Ellie are the cutest couple ever! And they live in a really nice house with the cutest little dog ever named Pepper. You will see plenty of pics of Pepper in the New Zealand slide show because she's so cute. I have gotten to see the church that both Ken and Ellie have worked at the last year and a half. I also got to see them in action at youth group, church on Sunday, and the Thanksgiving Dinner and Service the church held. (It had absolutely nothing to do with American Thanksgiving. Just a coincidence that they are around the same time.) It is obvious that Ken and Ellie have done a lot with their time here and are a huge asset to the church body here in New Zealand. I'm really proud of them and how they've flourished and I felt proud to be their friend when introduced to all the wonderful people in their church family.

Yesterday we went on a bushwalk! It was super cool! And I got to meet Jen and Sam, two of Ellie and Ken's friends. Jen is actually from Minnesota (believe it or not. I totally believe it because Minnesota is everywhere!) and Sam is a Kiwi. He was surrounded by Americans all day as we talked about the differences between New Zealand and America. The weather has been amazing since I've been here. It said it was going to rain yesterday and today and they have both been beautiful days! I am bringing the good weather with me wherever I go. That has been a huge blessing that has carried through this entire trip. This week is going to be super fun. We have a James Bond party on Wednesday night, Thanksgiving on Thursday, and we're going to see the new James Bond movie on Thursday night. I'm pretty excited. Also, Ellie and I have something pretty exciting planned for Wednesday, but it's a secret. If I wrote it, this blog would self destruct in 10 seconds. And then you all wouldn't get to see my cool pictures and everything. I have your best interest at heart. That's all for now.

Seoul, South Korea

Two years ago, at college in California, I signed up to be a "conversation partner" for some Korean students who were learning to speak English. My friend and I signed up together and we were assigned the most hilarious Korean students, Jay and Jun. We met once a week so Jay and Jun could practice their English by speaking with us. We took them to have burgers and they took us to eat Korean food, we took them to starbucks to chat and they took us to sing karaoke. The four of us had a great time together and were often joined by their friend Don as well. I remember saying to them, "maybe someday I'll come visit you in Korea." I'm sure they thought, "yeah right, she'll never come." But Jun and I kept in touch and here I am in Korea!



Jun made a ton of sacrifices to hang out with me while I visited and I will forever be grateful. He went around the city to check out the guest houses to make sure I was staying at a nice place, he took a week off of work (which is all the vacation they have in Korea for an entire year!), and he took me to see a bunch of really cool places. He even let me drag him to a Korean cultural show which was amazing! Thank you, Jun! If you're reading.



I really liked Seoul. It was a huge city with lots to see. And lots of shopping! Jun took me to a bunch of cool places for shopping: Itaewon, Myongdong, Inchon, etc. And I am definitely at maximum capacity with my luggage now. Jun and I also went to some really cool palaces and a Korean traditional village. We went to their big space needle structure and saw the famous 63 story building that is the tallest in Korea. We also took a fun cruise on the Han River. I enjoyed the Korean cuisine. Be bim bop and chop chay are my favorites along with egg soup. I tried to master chop sticks and eating while sitting cross legged on the floor. I really enjoyed the Korean culture.

Taking the train to Daejeon for the day and visiting my friend Nikole was a definite highlight of the trip. She is teaching there and it seems like a really cool community in that area. All her friends there are super fun and it got me thinking about a possible opportunity for my future...

Another super cool and random thing happened one day in Seoul. Jun and I were walking around and were stopped by a couple of guys with a video camera. They were talking to Jun in Korean and it seemed like they were asking to film him and telling him what to do for the camera. I said, "Jun, you should go for it!" And he said, "No, they want you to do it!" Turns out they were working for some Korean organization that exists to help foreigners traveling around Korea. In case they have an emergency or a medical or legal problem, they can call this company and get help with the language barrier and all that. So I stood in the middle of the street and pretended to talk on a cell phone while they filmed me and apparently are going to use it on thier website. :-) Basically, I'm a famous actress over in Korea now, so I should be treated accordingly.

All in all, my week in Korea was fantastic! Thanks to Jun and Jay for letting me come for a visit!

A little more about India

Let me just say a few more things about India so you know what you're seeing as you look through the pics.
I went on a two day trip to Mysore to see the HUGE palace there and it was really amazing. It was beautiful! And we stopped at several temples as well, which were really interesting. All the sculptures on the outside of the temples were realy cool. I took a really interesting class in college called Music Cultures of the World with Dr.Geisler (in case you're reading) and in that class we studied a bunch of Indian instruments. I saw those instruments depicted in the statues on the temple, which was cool because the temple is hundreds of years old! So a bunch of my pics are from that trip to Mysore and back and all the cool things I saw along the way.

I did a bunch of shopping because everything is so different, it was really fun, and it was nice and cheap, which I was a big fan of. I am also a bargainer, so I had a good time trying to get a good deal on things.

I definitely had an Indian massage. Yeah, that was a very interesting experience...

I also got a tattoo! :-) A Henna tattoo, that is. (Steven Homestead can now breath a sigh of relief.) I got one on my left hand and forearm and on my right foot. It was super fun and you can still see it after almost two weeks. I really like it. But not enough to go permanent. Just temporary every now and then would be enough for me I think.

So yeah! India was wonderful and unique and I really loved it!

Minnesota in Korea

So pretty much everyone who knows me outside of Minnesota knows that I am very proud to be Minnesotan. I love Minnesota! Especially when I'm not there in January. So I was super excited when I found ties to Minnesota in South Korea. The first full day I was there, I was shopping around with Jun, and I overheard a couple talking to someone in the store. I recognized their accent immediately and said to Jun, "They are from Minnesota." When I walked over closer to them I saw that the lady and I had the same purse! So I used it as a talking point. "Hey we have the same purse!" I exclaimed. Had this woman not have been from Minnesota, she probably would have said something like, "yeah...that's nice..." and had a look on her face like "please don't talk to me again you weird stranger." But this nice lady said, "Oh my goodness, we do! It's the best purse ever for traveling!" This was all I needed to confirm my suspicions. This couple put the "nice" in "Minnesota Nice." They asked me where I was from and when I told them they said, "We're from Minnesota too!" (I told you so.) So we chatted and introduced ourselves. They are the lovely Tim and Pam Anderson (of course their last name is Anderson!) Tim even took a picture of Pam and I with our purses and Jun and the store owner gladly posed for the picture as well. Tim even gave me his business card and they said, "If you ever need anything, Marla, you feel free to get in touch with us." Sigh. That's why I love Minnesota! :-)

The Minnesotaness didn't stop there! I was shopping later that day and I started looking through a rack when I came upon a shirt that said Minnesota right across the front. It was really cheap, so I bought it. I can't believe I found a shirt that said Minnesota in Seoul, Korea! As we walked around the city throughout the week, I saw other Minnesota things for sale and I saw several people wearing shirts with Minnesota on them. I would yell out, "Minnesota! Yeah!" But they never looked over at me because I honestly think they had no clue what their shirt said or that they were wearing apparel from the coolest state ever. It's really too bad for them.

And then of course I saw my high school friend from Minnesota and ran into my friend Starla from Minnesota. So it was pretty cool. I had a Minnesota nice experience in South Korea. :-)