a couple photos, at last!

This isn't a ton of photos because I can only upload ones taken on my iPad (and most are on my camera right now), but here are a few to enjoy!

Chocolate-tomato candies, anyone? I like chocolate. I like tomato. But this??? Ew!

Ahhhhh, my newest obsession! Can't find them in Korea though! Green-tea KitKats!

View of Seoul from my hotel.  The large river there divides the North and South sides of the city, and is called the Han River.

More Seoul! 

The view from my gym-- good inspiration to get there, huh?! This looks out on the aforementioned Buddhist temples. That is a giant statue of the Buddha.

A cool statue I found.

Uncle Kev, I thought of you when I saw this little pup on the street. I think you SERIOUSLY need to invest in some pup-size ave-iators!!! hahahahahaha (Shea, what do you think?!)

LOVE to all

I'm constantly on CNN.com over here and watching as Sandy destroys so much of the East Coast. Thinking of everybody and sending as much positive energy as I can muster. Please stay safe. Terrible feeling to be so detached from this craziness, but thinking of everyone nonstop.

Sending all my love... Any and all updates would be appreciated!

xoxoxoxo

Commenting

Hey guys!

I know a few of you were having trouble commenting on the blog, so I think I helped fix that and make it so anyone can comment. Let me know (via email, I suppose) if you're still having trouble. But in the meantime, ask questions or leave comments as you wish!

<3

The Seoul purpose of this trip...

hahaha. get it? sole, seoul? oh man.

Okay, so I'm super tired now, but here's a quick synopsis of Day numero uno in Seoul:

-Met with the sweetest woman, a woman with whom the Academy works. It was a work meeting, but we hit it off really well and she was just so kind. Gave me tons of advice for my trip here (good food, where to do the best shopping, historic and government sites to visit, etc.), and took me out for a bombdiggity lunch. The stove is built right into the table, so raw meat, onions, and mushrooms are brought to your table and you put them onto the burner (the table's sunken in where the burner is) and cook them yourself. No oil, just fresh meat/ veg. Sweet soup (sweet potato and rice), mashed pumpkin, cold noodles, kimchi (water + spicy), sliced hot peppers, sauteed greens, and salad were all sides. THEN they brought us more soup at the end. I was way too full at the end of the meal. I may meet up with this woman again for a concert Saturday night.

-The fruit here is so good. As part of my room upgrade I got a fruit plate delivered to my room. Ate an apple for breakfast and it was the largest, crispest apple I've had in a long time (thinking of you, Betsy!!!). Plus a sweet, juicy clementine. Fruit's a big deal here, often taking the place of a baked good/ candy dessert. I most certainly don't mind.

-As I was working out this morning (in, might I add, the nicest gym I've ever been in) I look out upon a temple and a massive Buddhist statue. So tonight after another meeting, I decided to explore, not even originally intending to see said statue. Well, I walk RIGHT across from my hotel and come across the most brilliant display of mums (chrysanthemums) I've ever seen. It looked like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland or something. The flowerpots were arranged in swirls and stacked in rows. I'm going to try to figure out uploading pics tomorrow so I can show you because it is really something else. The whole flower display (there must have been tens of thousands of mums there) led up to a temple whose entire ceiling was covered with white Chinese lanterns. Really magical looking. There were candles and incense lit, and it was very spiritual. People bowed deeply in front of all the statues, and the mood was serious and respectful.

After I wandered the grounds a bit more and saw some monks, a huge tiled area for outdoor meditation (extra cushions were stored so you could meditate whenever you want), and some more temples, I heard chanting. I looked around and saw that one of the temples had a meditation being led by a monk. The place was pretty packed, probably 50 people worshipping. I don't know what caused me to go in, but I just went in, got a cushion, and sat in a seated yoga position. This is a little personal, but I think it's worth sharing to demonstrate the environment in which I found myself... I lost it. I just became so overwhelmed by the beauty everywhere, the power of the voices chanting, the feeling that so many things in my life had clicked together and I was exactly where I was for a reason, that tears just started flowing and flowing. I wasn't sad by any means, I was more happy and just experiencing so many emotions at once. I bought and framed a card last year that had a quote on the front that read, "You are exactly where you should be. You are doing exactly what you should be doing." I couldn't get that line out of my head throughout the whole practice. I stayed for the rest of the meditation, which was 45 minutes (the whole thing had been an hour, but I had stumbled in late). I know to some that may sound really cheesy, and it's a little strange to share, but there was something so immensely unique and beautiful about the whole evening there.

-On a much lighter note, the tea that's drunk here is a brown rice/ green tea and it's super yummy.

Okay, time for some sleep! Korea's in the same time zone as Japan, so I'm still 13 hours ahead of you East Coasters.

love- court.

Peace out, Japan!

Okay, so apologies for being a little slacker here the past few days. It felt like a whirlwind wrapping up in Tokyo and then moving on to Seoul, where I am now. First off, I would like to say that green-tea kit-kats (same inside, but instead of the chocolate coating it's this green-tea flavored frosting/coating) are unbelievably good and seriously addicting. Please. Cut. Me. Off. Well, after just one more... ;-p

Let's finish up Tokyo first. My last full day there I had some of the best meals I tasted in Tokyo. NOODLEFEST 2012, baby! I had learned my lesson about getting around with public transportation and left quite early for my afternoon meeting. Two extremely kind Australians explained the map system (you don't get precise addresses on streets like in the US and Europe. Instead, everything is in grids divided by district. Pretty confusing, even for natives.). So I found where I had to be a took a little stroll to get some lunch. I went where I saw the most people which ended up being a great idea. It was a shop that sold udon noodles, which are fat, delicious rice noodles. Nom nom nom. They-- like every noodle in Asia apparently-- are quite sloppy to eat. In fact, at noodle restaurants it's pretty standard to see disposable bibs on the table because when you slurp up the noodles you make quite a mess (and slurp is an understatement... American table manners are out the door, which is actually quite fun once you get over being self conscious about being so sloppy and slurpy). Anyhow, these noodles were housemade, simmering in a broth, and mixed with chicken, veggies (bok choy I believe), and a poached egg. You get a massive bowl and go to town. Oh I think I will dream of these for a long time. And because I'm sure you're curious, yes, I did in fact look really, really good in the bib. Almost too good.

The second meal that made my tummy so happy was fresh ramen! Not like the ramen we get in the US when our bank account is running scarily low. No, these are fresh noodles that are plumper than those aforementioned ones and they are topped with various veggies, meats, and eggs. The meal I got had pork roast, half of a hard-boiled egg, and some mushrooms. It's pretty cool at these noodle shops in that you pay before your meal at what is essentially a vending machine. It has buttons with Japanese writing describing the foods (or sometimes, if I was lucky, pictures), so you pick the one you want, deposit your money, get a ticket, and wait for your meal to be served. I didn't know any of the words on the machine, and the waiter didn't know much English/ how to describe each item to me, so I asked him what his favorite was, and that was that.

The next day-- my last one in Tokyo-- was pretty crazy. I had a great meeting at a school in the moorning, but the school itself was a bit farther than any of the others I'd visited, about an hour away. I was scheduled to get a bus to the airport at 12.10 so that was my deadline to get back, but at the train station on the way back things got rough for me. I was a few yen (essentially a few cents) short of a train ticket, so I went to use my ATM to get some money. Well it wouldn't work at the first two places I tried. So I went to some banks to exchange some US dollars. No good either. I tried to explain my situation in very slow, hand-gesture-accented English to a couple to bum the 4 yen I needed. No go. So that's where I started to freak out. No cab would accept credit card. I didn't know how I was going to get back, and then I'd miss my bus and be late to the airport and yadda yadda yadda, my mind went in a thousand directions. It really broke me down that nobody could understand me, and I was pretty stranded. I finally walked a little farther and tried another ATM and miraculously this one worked. I thought I would cry with joy. I caught the train, but was way late. I had missed my bus. So I checked with the concierge and the next bus was already booked full. Luckily, however, there was a last-minute cancellation, and I got on that bus and to the airport with plenty of time. I got so worked up when I got stranded though, it really shook me up and took awhile to get out of that antsy mindset.

Buuuuut then I got to Seoul and things turned around. My room got upgraded, so I am kindasorta living like a queen right now. I know it's a little dorky, but when you're living out of a suitcase, it feels SO good to have a good place to come back at the end of the day. More on Seoul in a bit!

love- court.

continued...

I just got the blog equivalent of being cut off by the answering machine.

Errr... so you press your hands in prayer position and bow down. We also went to get our fortunes. You get a stick from a silver cylinder (shake it till a numbered stick falls from a tiny hole in the top of the cylinder) and then read the fortune from a drawer with the same number that the stick had. Mine was bad, bad luck, which had me very worried about getting my luggage back! (I did get it that night, though, ha) So those with bad fortunes fold them up and tie the paper onto a rack nearby.

The temple was extraordinary. The ceiling was painted with different Japanese pictures, and the altar itself was stunning. Lots of gold, and people knelt in front to meditate. There was a sort of wishing well where people threw coins and bowed down to bring good fortune to themselves. Nearby were lots of statues of Buddha and Buddhist characters. It was a busy area, but also very peaceful the closer you were to the temple.

After, we got to meet up with some other St. Johnsbury friends from my class and a couple years ahead of me. Fun to catch up on where everyone is, etc. Tamae and I had dinner together and then sadly we had to depart. I loved getting to hang out with her.

Yesterday I was VERY tired, so the morning was pretty low-key, but then I went to the bank to get some money exchanged and headed out for lunch. I went to a place Tamae recommended, called Mos Burger, which is a chain restaurant here (I think they actually have some California locations, too). She recommended I try the rice burger, so I did. The rice part actually describes the buns, which are two rice "patties" (reminded me of a purely rice veggie burger). Between the rice buns I got the shrimp/ fish option. Yummers! Iced oolong tea washed it down perfectly :]

Then I was off to the aforementioned meeting where I got horribly lost. It made me so anxious and nervous. Obviously I didn't want to be late for the meeting, but that feeling of hopelessness/ being 100% lost is not a good one! But again, thanks to the goodness of others, I was on my way. The meeting was in Harajuku, another part of Tokyo. Anyone recognize the name? Think Gwen Stefani... she used it as inspiration for her music and her clothing line, and I can certainly understand why. A very fresh scene, younger crowd, music and clothing everywhere. It's so funny to me the American music that gets absorbed here (Olivia Newton John, anyone??? haha). I checked out some clothing stores Cam had recommended I see, which were very cool. So abstract and fun to look at and explore.

By the time I got back to my hotel I was so hungry, so I went to grab some dinner nearby. The meat-filled egg, along with a small salad topped with a poached egg, croutons, chicken, lots of greens, and a Caeser-ish dressing, and a draft beer filled me up perfectly! Well, I did opt for some dessert, too... of course (Dyl knows all too well that I cannot have a dinner without some form of dessert). I went for the waffle with bean filling, and it came with a small scoop of ice cream. It amazes me how much people eat here, but how incredibly slim they are. Food quality!!! It is all real, fresh food without fake ingredients. I am actually eating less than most people at restaurants (even with dessert! ;-] ), but they eat well and stay very healthy. Good to see other cultures' approach to food and eating habits. Very interesting to me.

Back at my hotel, I went to the sauna (which was beautiful, but I am a wimp in saunas and could only bear five minutes), and then the "bath house," which is basically a hot tub. You have to be nude to go in, so you must shower before hand-- cleanliness is HUGE here! Before every meal you are given a wet wipe or a warm, moist towel to wipe your hands (even at a chain restaurant like Mos Burger). It was very relaxing, and helped get me set for that awesome night's sleep.

Today I have more meetings and hopefully I will do some exploring closer to my hotel, like the Shinjuku Central Park and the government building, which allows for good views of the city.

Hope you're all doing well! Sorry if I'm rambling a bit... so much on which I can report!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Tokyo is an assault of the senses

What's happenin' friends?! After two nights of very interrupted, short sleep, I feel SO good, because I went to bed before 9 pm and slept till 4 am. Early, but much better rest than I had been getting. Oh ScarJo, how I TOTALLY know what you were going through in "Lost in Translation" ;-] hehe. I also switched rooms because before my room was right behind the elevators, so it sounded like a plane was flying by my room every time the elevator moved. So much better now! Plus, my new room is on the opposite side of the hotel, so I get to look out on a whole new part of the city now. Win, win. I cannot believe I leave tomorrow though. WHERE DID THE TIME GO?! Jeez, so much exploring I still need to do here!

Well, meeting up with Tamae was AWESOME! Felt like not a moment had gone by when we met up :] She was so nervous about her English because she hasn't been speaking it regularly since high school, but her English was great! (Sidenote: it has really been an adventure trying to get around not knowing any Japanese. People have been incredibly nice, but when there's a language barrier, there's not much you can do besides use hand gestures, draw pictures, and nod-- a LOT. The address system here is pretty hard for me to grasp, so yesterday I got lost going to a meeting and was late, but I stopped into a salon to ask for help and the two guys both helped me so much-- they both searched on their ipads for the business where I needed to be, then they found directions to get there, then one of them literally walked the whole way with me so I wouldn't get lost. I was blown away. I mean, can you really imagine someone in the US leaving their shop to walk you a 5-minute route? When I stopped by after the meeting to thank them again, they acted like it was no big deal. Human kindness never fails to impress me-- we have so much good in this world. And I know that sounds cheesy, but when you are totally dependent upon others for help, you cannot help but notice this.)

Okay, back to my day with Tamae... she was absolutely the best hostess! She bought a tour book of Tokyo JUST for my visit! She lives about a 2-hour drive from Tokyo, and although she visits every now and then, wasn't totally sure about all the districts. We first went to the fishing district, Tsukiji. This was too cool for school. Sushi restaurants everywhere, with the freshest fish possible. I even got the chance to watch a 300-kilo tuna being cut up with machetes and swords. The men doing it were so theatrical, and obviously LOVED the crowd they attracted on the street. (Uncle Mike, I just kept thinking about you here-- you would go crazy!)

All the food we ate was un-fuhreeeeaking-bellievable. Sushi, fish cakes (so weird, but mayonaise is wildly popular here. I mean they slaaaaather it on. Not my cup of tea, but I did put a little on to get the experience. It was good-- and I don't usually like mayo much-- but I couldn't use as much as they do.), waffles shaped like fish with a sweet red bean inside (one of my favorites so far), and one of my real favorites I've discovered here: sweet egg. It's basically a slightly sweet egg mixture that they put into a 1.5"-deep square pan (about 7x7") and form into a rectangle. SO YUMMY!!! Last night I tried some that was stuffed with meat, too, so it was kind of like a meat omelet in a rectangle shape. All those who know me know of my love of food, so you guys can imagine the food excitement I'm having. Even the soup I get for breakfast makes me happy =] (or the triangle-shaped sushi filled with fish/ veggies whose name I keep forgetting, no matter how many times Tamae tells me)

So after the fishing village we went to the Sky Tree, which is about 350 meters high, the highest building in  Tokyo. Unfortunately the tickets were already sold out, even by  11 am, so we didn't get to go up, but we walked around nearby and saw a lot of shops. The whole city is like a gigantic Costco in terms of samples. Almost every business passes out samples of their food, so that was pretty fun in the tum.

Next we went to a beautiful area with the oldest Buddhist temple, called Sensoji. The gate to Sensoji is called Kaminarimon ("Thunder Gate"), and leading to the temple are hundreds of shops selling food, wares, clothing, chopsticks, etc. The temple was really remarkable. Right in front of it is a giant urn about 3- 4 feet tall filled with incense. You are supposed to lean over it and scoop your hands towards your face (almost like splashing your face with water) to bring the incense smoke towards you and breathe it in. Then, you bow with your hands pressed in p

Touchin' down in Tokyo town!

Konichiwa! Greetings from Japan!

I've made it here safely! I got to my hotel around 11.30 last night after the most adventurous flight I've had to date! Want to know all the details? No??? Well okay then!

Juuuuuuuuust kidding! (*cue Corky Romano voice*)

So my flight out of Burlington arrived to NYC a bit late, which is probably where things began to get interesting. It was just due to some rainy weather, but these stems got a little sprint in once we arrived to La Guardia so I could catch my next flight, to Detroit. In Detroit things were  weird. I kept getting calls on my cellphone from the airline company that the flight was delayed an hour, then I'd get another that it wasn't, and so on and so forth. It ended up being about a two-hour delay due to a problem with the original plane (yeah, I guess I'm fine waiting so the door doesn't blow off the plane while I'm flying over the Pacific... ;-) ). We board and take off! Well, about four hours into the flight I start to see a lot of action about four rows ahead of me. We're talking people huddling around an older gentleman, laying him down across four seats, and then setting up a very MacGyver-esque IV line, hooked to a coat hanger attached to the luggage bin with athletic tape. Hmm. Okay... Not so much. The pilot gets on the intercom and announces we have to make an emergency medical stop in Anchorage, Alaska because they don't want to risk the guy's life by keeping him on the flight. So we start getting ready to land. Have you ever landed unexpectedly somewhere? It's very strange... they have to release fuel from releasers under the wings, so you see what is approximately the equivalent of a fire hydrant spraying liquid fuel while you're flying (my inner environmentalist was sobbing). We landed successfully, and honestly I'm not even upset about the time it took because we got to fly over a ruby-red/ pink sky and see some phenomenal Alaskan mountain ranges. I was blown away and now want to visit Alaska even more!

We ended up getting to the Tokyo-Narita airport about 3.5 hours later than expected, which led to a whole lot of really happy flyers, but oh well. Then I went to luggage claim... no bueno. I knew things weren't good when I saw a piece of luggage that wasn't mine but had a white board screwed onto it with a note written that said something along the lines of, 'Passenger COURTNEY KOZLOWSKI please see an airline representative.' Ruh roh. Well, my luggage wasn't there, and was actually in LAX (I knew it had been hinting that it wanted a West-Coast vaca!), but will be arriving tomorrow. Actually, today, since I'm now typing Sunday morning. Unfortunately it won't get here till about 8pm or midnight, so I have a little voucher to go buy an outfit for my meeting this evening. I won't have all my materials, but at least it's a temporary problem. What's that tag you're supposed to use? #FirstWorldProblems? Onwards and upwards!

I got to my hotel, which is about an hour and a half by bus from the airport. Tokyo is huge and is divided into many districts. I'm in Shinjuku, which is described as the major business/ entertainment/ shopping district- woot! Once I checked in with Dyl and my fam to let them know I was here safely, I headed down for a bite at one of the hotel's restaurants. I had not slept much on the plane with the intention of getting on Japanese time ASAP. There is a 13-hour time difference here, so when I called home around 11.30 pm my time in Japan, it was 10.30 in the morning in Vermont.

The dinner was sooooo yummers! It was basic, and probably just the tip of the iceburg as far as what I will be trying on the trip, but I had udon noodles (thick, white wheat noodles that basically taste like gnocchi turned into fat pasta... like 3 or 4 times the thickness of linquini.) They're available even in the states, but man oh MAN were these ones good!!! They were in some type of mushroomy, beefy broth. On the side came the lightest, most delicately fried Tempura I've had: eggplant, some type of hot pepper that wasn't very hot but instead tasted a little sweet, and prawns/ shrimp that I could probably live on for the rest of my life. Seriously, they just kinda melted in your mouth. Mmmm... =]

Today I'm hanging out with an old friend and former softball teammate, Tamae, who lives just outside of Tokyo. I CANNOT WAIT! I'll report back!
XO- court.

At the airport(s)!

Hi everyone!

Ahhhh, the adventure begins!!! I'm in the Burlington, VT airport right now. A few layovers (New York, then the beautiful city of Detroit- ha!), then I'll be on my merry way to Narita airport outside of Tokyo. Apparently it takes a bit of time to get to Tokyo from Narita... I'm already anticipating a bit of an adventure in that regard. Will the signs for the train have some English? Will they be color-coded so I have a general idea, or will they be entirely in characters? I'll let you know! Already looking forward to some fresh, yummy sushi =] nom nom nom!

Thanks to everyone who's called/ sent emails/ sent positive energy my way for this trip. Feeling the love BIG TIME!!!

Wow, as I'm sitting here I hear these crazy-loud planes flying overhead-- national guard jets! Wowowowww! For a second I thought it was my private jet coming to pick me up, but then I remembered the pilot is meeting me in Detroit- how silly of me! ;-}

Sorry if there are lots of typos at first... Getting used to this fancy schmancy iPad!

xoxoxoxo- court.

Ps, y'all would've loved the beautiful Vermont sunrise that waved goodbye to me in the northeast kingdom as Dyl and I drove to the airport this morn... A little sliver of brilliant, deep orange. Divine!

Pre-trip details

Hi everyone!

I'm just starting this blog, so I'm new to the concept (despite the fact that I read about a gajillion blogs a day anyhow...). I know how I'd LIKE this to be, but whether or not I achieve that level of blog awesomeness will be determined later. I just think this is a great way to keep in touch with everyone while I'm abroad, so I hope you enjoy! =]

Right now, here's my itinerary:
19 October: TAKE OFF! Woohoo!
20 October: Land in JAPAN. I'll be staying in Tokyo while I'm in Japan.
24 October: Fly from Japan to Seoul, KOREA.
1 November: Fly from Korea to GERMANY.
11 November: Come home, sweet home.

It's a superlong trip, but I'm extremely excited to see so many different, interesting cultures and meet so many people. Right now I'm wrapping up all those last-minute details like packing, getting my itinerary and meetings schedules squared away (I'll be meeting with consultants, talking with potential students, attending educational fairs), and hoping I don't forget anything!!! Hard to imagine what kind of stuff you'll need to pack for three weeks.

Anyway, have to get back to work, but I'll keep you posted throughout the trip!

x's and o's to all,
court.