What's In A Name?

On Sunday I asked Kenneth to start reminding me of his family members' names so I know them all when I get to Nigeria. They all have a traditional Igbo (his tribe) name and then an English name, so it will prove to be a bit complicated. Kenneth's traditional name is Udochukwu. I learned that chukwu means God and udo means peace so his name is Peace of God. Many of his relatives have Ugo followed by "chukwu" or "chi" which means eagle so they would be Eagle of God.

I asked him to give me an Igbo name. He thought about it and said Amarachi.  Amara means grace so he's named me Grace of God. I looked at him to make sure he was talking about the right person! I'm almost barfing as I write this, but it felt so lovely for him to look at me and name me that. He's literally the best person I know and sees the best in me. He makes me a better person. Being around him makes me want to be better, to try harder to be nicer or softer, more respectful. I'm trying!

The next few months for us are going to be very trying with his immigration process, flying to and from Nigeria (with stopovers on the way there and back as well as flights within in the country), and him relocating to Canada and me coming back to find a new place to live. I left Canada with the idea that I would come back with a lot of money and travels. Instead, I'm bringing a husband. Which I'd say is a pretty good trade off. There's just less money. Turns out immigrating to Canada costs a lot of money. Before I left I got rid of the majority of my furniture thinking I'd have the money to replace it. And now we will have less. But if being here has taught me anything, it's that I can live with less: space, furniture, stuff. I lived for a year in a very small bachelor style apartment with a 2 burner stove and a fridge that went up to my boobs. And I am pretty happy with it. So I can do it. I just have to make sure it happens when I go back to a place with bigger things.

Here's what I know for sure. There is no one else I'd rather make the transition with. Kenneth calms me, he is so wise, and loving. Gosh darn it and I lucky!

Lots of love,

Alli

A quick trip

Busan is where I asked to be stationed on my application to be a teacher in Korea. For many reasons I'm glad it didn't work out, but I've been wanting to go there since I got here. There was never a good time or as much time off as I thought I needed. Plus, Kenneth works most Saturdays so I would have had to go on my own. So, last weekend when he had the whole weekend off, I booked us a hotel and train tickets and we were off!

It actually wasn't that smooth. I booked a hotel Friday morning without checking the train tickets. Because I left it so late, all the good train times were gone. Normally it's a 3 hour train ride. we had to take a 5 hour one that didn't get us there until 1:00 on Saturday afternoon. When we got to the hotel, they didn't have our reservation. I showed them the email confirmation I received from priceline.com who I booked through. Turns out, because I used my credit card earlier in the week to pay for my Nigerian tourist visa, my credit card company froze he card becuase of all the Nigerian scams out there. So, even though I got an email confirmation the payment didn't actually go through. It took a while to sort that all out. We got a room, but it ended up being so much later in the day than would be ideal to tour a city. But, we made the most of it.

Smoothies for the train ride

Excessive packaging for this disgusting vegan blueberry crumble cake.

We hit up Korea's most famous beach (I purposefully booked the hotel right near the beach knowing I wanted us to spend a lot of time there.), Haeundae Beach. It was beautiful even in Fall. We walked along the beach as the sun set, watching kids play in the sand. I don't think I've ever worn shoes on a beach before - first time for everything!

I love how the waves left lines in the sand.

This man was fishing. We thought he was ridiculous fishing on the shore,

 but he caught one as we walked by!

Later, we went to the aquarium which featured a mermaid show.

My kind of penguin

Nemo

That evening, we went for really terrible Mexican food. Either it was Koreans not knowing what goes in a taco, or they were trying too hard to be unique. They featured nachos with corn and Parmesan on them. A lot of items had eggs and bacon on them. We found a few things to eat, but it wasn't amazing. Luckily earlier in the day we had a great burger and chicken Caesar salad!

I took Sudafed and then drank a Long Island iced tea. Oops!

There is a famous fish street that I wanted to avoid. Instead, we ended up walking right down it. Luckily, it was midnight so half of the shops were closed. But, many of these eel restaurants were open. Not my thing!

The next morning we went to a beautiful temple on the water. It was really beautiful!

Starbucks holiday drinks cheers in the back of the taxi!

On the way up to the temple, they had some delicious snacks to try.

Loved these zodiac statues, especially the one with the scarf.

Shrine to offer blessings for traffic safety.

 I touched his belly. Does that mean I'm pregnant? I failed sex ed. 

A couple making a water offering

I really like this pic

And this one

Altogether it was a quick trip, but a fun trip. I was able to get us train tickets on the way back on the quick train, which was smart move on my part. Sunday ride home on the train should be as short as possible! I'm really glad I got to go

Fall Foliage

This blog is for my mom who asked if I've given up on my blog. The answer is no, I just don't have as much to tell you about. This weekend I got vaccines on Saturday, was sick from the vaccines Saturday night and spent Sunday resting. On Saturday evening, Kenneth made Nigerian food for our group of teacher friends. It was a fun night as it was the first time for all of us eating Nigerian food. It was a delicious stew of beef and chicken over rice. He added a lot of spice so I took mine out of the pot before he spiced it up!

Now, watch this funny clip from one of my favourite comedians about what has become my favourite season. If you would have asked me a few years ago, I wouldn't have thought much about it. As long as I'm not overheated, I'm fine fine with whatever season it is. And being from Canada winter just last so long we have such a short spring and fall. But here in Korea, the seasons generally last their full amount of time. The leaves have been changing color here for at least 3 weeks, many trees still have yet to turn and the ones that have turned stay that way for many days. It's amazing!

I've been taking advantage of spending time amongst the fall foliage as much as possible. Last weekend, Kenneth and I went up to Seoul Tower which allows views from the top of the city. It was such a lovely, beautiful day!

At Seoul Tower they have those love locks that you can write on and lock to the structure to show your undying love for each other. It was so sappy but we did it because who knows! It was a fun thing to do and Korea is where we met and fell in love, so why not leave our mark there!

Have I ever told you that Koreans love churros? They are everywhere! They had them up at the tower so I had to partake.

It was Halloween weekend

I like this pic of me walking

My walk on the way to school is full of trees changing at different times. Here are some pics I captured along that walk. It really is so wonderful.

Enjoy your fall (which if you're in Edmonton means it's already winter!)

Love,

Alli