Here- Provo no time please

Cute wedding tonight,but I'm exhausted. Oh and hi elder Orr...miss ya!

Here- 7/11 Midway 11:08pm

Much needed free slurpee rehab. Bout rounds up my weekend.

Will update life later...when I'm closer to getting it all together.

There- 4:45 PM

So since I came to Korea I have tried this new thing called exercising. If you haven't gotten to try it out yet I highly recommend doing so on a regular basis. I usually jog around the park that is by my house and it has been a nice new hobby for me. Can't believe someone didn't tell me about this earlier. Anyway, it's monsoon season around these parts which means that it rains just about every other day. When I say it rains I mean it literally dumps rain the entire day. Because it's Saturday today I usually like to get in a little bit longer run but it has been raining since I went to sleep last night. We live right by the mountains so the thunder has been crazy loud echoing off both them and the high quantity of high rise apartment buildings. This morning I chilled around the apartment, watched a movie on the computer, enjoyed the rain storm and then got sick of being in the house so I decided to run anyway. My roomy looked at me like I was crazy as I sauntered out the door but there was no stopping me. It was awesome. I loved running in the rain for some reason. By the half way point I was drenched and when I finally walked up the stairs to my apartment I looked like I had just been swimming fully clothed. I don't know what I enjoyed more, the actual exercise or the looks I got on the street because not only am I a foreigner but a foreigner running in the rain. Crazy American. If you're new to this whole being healthy fad like myself I suggest at least a could frolic in the rain. Couldn't have been more fun. I took a picture of myself when I was done but you can't really tell how wet I was plus I look stupid so you'll just have to imagine it or go jump in a lake with your workout clothes on and you'll probably get a pretty good visual.

There- 6:15 PM

This past week I had to say goodbye to room 5011 of the Ariana Hotel. My time there was peaceful and lasted quite a bit longer than I expected. Now, because change is one of the only things in life that is consistent, I must move on to a new home and a new location. At the beginning of last week I moved in with a TaeguTec employee and will stay there for the rest of the summer.

My new roomy is named Kim Myung Soo (or Alex) and I think he is in his mid 30’s. He is living the bachelor life and just moved into a posh three-bedroom apartment so TaeguTec offered me up to him because he definitely has the space. I guess he had been living in the company dormitories for the last several years and is now making the transition to his own place. He moved in for the first time two days before I did so he is still in the process of getting all of his “stuff”. I told him to get married just so he can obtain things like a blender, silverware, plates, maybe a couch, an iron and/or ironing board, hangers, perhaps a couple beds…oh wait, the majority of Koreans sleep on the floor and don’t own a mattress whatsoever. Which means for the next two months I am back to sleeping on the floor. At least on my mission they gave us each a big pad to sleep on. Here it is literally my body, two blankets and then floor. My hips have definitely felt the hard floor the last few days but my back actually feels much better after a night on the hardwood than when I sleep on any mattress. It’s different but I enjoy living the Korean lifestyle, even if it is just a couple of months.

Alex's place is crazy nice compared to most Korean apartments. It was just remodeled and looks brand new. I really thought that it might be annoying having a roommate but this situation has worked out quite nicely. We are now currently bff’s and do almost everything together. Ok, maybe that’s a lie. We travel to and from work together, go to eat every once in awhile and maybe chill in the evenings some time but for the most part I do my thing and he does his. Just how I like it. Living in a hotel had its perks. I never had to make my bed, the room was always clean, fresh towels, had my own space but it gets pretty lonely after awhile. Even me, the ultimate loner, got sick of myself. I never thought I would be the one to seek out social interaction but after living in a room by myself, in a country where I am the clear minority, I found myself jumping at the chance to have a conversation with someone. So, goodbye Hotel Ariana and hello normalcy (at least to a certain degree).

Living room area in the new place

My room with my bed rolled up on the left there.

Kitchen

Here: Provo 8:52pm

Brain flood

On the fourth I paraded in Park City with the Leavitts

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike...

Happy late birthday to my mother dear, my niece Emma and my brother Brett. July birthday love!

My mind is still pretty jumbled, so this blog is thus.

There- 8:30 PM

4th of July

Being in Korea for the fourth meant that there would be no red, white and blue colors anywhere, no parades, no fireworks, no bbq’s, no watermelon (ok some watermelon), no family and friends, no (insert 4th of July tradition here), and certainly no day off of work. So, do you what I did? That’s right, I traveled back to America. Well not quite, I actually traveled to the closest thing to America I could fine, the local U.S. military base here in Daegu, Camp Walker, a.k.a. “little America”. The branch that I go to church at is made up mostly of American soldiers and their families so the branch president had everyone over to his house for a little bbq and firework watching.

At promptly 1800 hours I met President Hugo at the main gate and he signed me on to the base. I had been on military bases in Korea while I was here on a mission, Camp Humphries in Seoul and the Osan Air Force Base so it wasn’t a shock to go from being surrounded by smaller, black haired Koreans to much larger, meaner looking Americans in a matter of minutes. It’s always weird to be in Korea and yet feel like you are right back at home with houses that have green grass, bigger cars, American fast food restaurants, and a melting pot of races.

It was a great evening. I mingled (I know, I mingled), more out of necessity than desire, met some people in the branch, enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, Mormon desserts, hundreds of different kinds of salads, and much more. As it got dark we all went into the back yard and watched the firework display. The military is definitely well equipped with loud, bright explosives and put on quite the show almost directly over the top of us. It was really cool and it felt like I was right back at home.

Afterwards I was signed out, walked back through the gates and it seriously felt like I had just walked through the wardrobe from Narnia. Back to Korea and back to the grind. It was a great opportunity for me though. It was awesome to spend the day in which we honor our great nation with the men and women whose responsibility it is to protect it. Another shout out to all of the wonderful people at Camp Walker as well as the rest of the soldiers around the world. Thank you.

“Happy 4th America! putting up wins since 1776.”

- Brian Wilson, pitcher, World Champion San Francisco Giants via Twitter

The movie is kind of long, it's just a small portion of

the firework show. Enjoy!

There- 9:30 PM

This summer has already made me feel pretty helpless at times. While it is an awesome experience to be able to work abroad I can’t help but feel disconnected from my life back at home. Most recently I have had to sit and ponder from a far the life and death of Rachel’s grandpa Keith. He passed away yesterday and while somewhat expected because of his very old age and deteriorating health it is still hard to swallow. I would definitely like to be there for Rach at this time because I know how much he means to her.

I have only known Rachel’s grandpa for the 4 years I have known Rachel. We would try to visit him when we were up in Salt Lake as often as possible. Every time we would go to his house I would have to explain who I was, where I lived, what I was doing and the fact that I had married his “little Rachel”. It was fun to talk to him though. He was so genuine and sweet and would try his best to remember who you were. He was never slow with a joke and made me laugh every time we saw him. More than that though I loved how much Rachel loved him. She loved how sweet he was, and how gentle and charming he could be just sitting in his recliner, barely able to breath on his own. He would compliment her all the time and tell her how beautiful she was. They would talk for a little while hand in hand and Rach would look so happy. We both knew that he might not remember exactly what went on but she was convinced that it made him happier and I’m sure she was right. I think he reminded her of her own father and the wonderful man that he is. She was so curious about his life and would read anything that she could find from his past. One day when we were up in Midway she found a box of his old stuff and spent the next several hours reading everything in there from journal entries to the backs of pictures, a smile on her face the whole time. He was a great man and I enjoyed getting to know Grandpa Keith during the last few years of his life. I only wish I could have met him earlier on. We will miss you.