Since it’s Mother’s Day, I wanted to dedicate this entry to my mother, Betsy “Bets” Greenleaf Yarrison.  I was born the day before Mother’s Day in 1987 and brought home on the actual day.  This means, I’m the best Mother’s Day present ever.  You’re welcome.

We may fight and disagree with relative frequency, but I’d say she did a pretty bang up job as a mom.  So, Bets, Happy Mother’s Day!


However, I think you could have done a better job of stopping this:

Stretching LOL yeahrightprobsnot

Love her though.

24 was a good year.  I did a lot of things.  I compiled this list of things I accomplished between May 9, 2011 and May 9, 2012:

• Moved to Seoul
• Became conversational in Korean
• Hard-boiled an egg
• Ate intestine
• Went to Vietnam
• Rode on the back of a motorcycle and didn’t have a panic attack
• Fed a crocodile
• Fed a monkey
• Watched a monkey show (I’d like to never repeat this)
• Yelled at a cab driver in another language
• Shot a gun
• Started to like mushrooms (<-this is my #1)
• Went bungee jumping

Basically, 25 has big shoes to fill.


I’d say going to Bali is a good start to that. 

On Sunday, my friends, Kasey, (Ken) Fibbe, and Michael all decided to head to Nami Island for a day in the sun.  This trip had an ultimate goal, though.  Bungee jumping.

As Kasey and I rode the elevator to the top of this tower that looked like a creepy carnival ride, I was unsure of how well this was going to go.  I had not gone to the bathroom before we went up.  I was afraid this could have been a costly mistake.  

I went first because I wanted to get it over as quickly as possible.  The feeling was indescribable, so all I can give you is this video:

Woof.


The rest of Nami Island was beautiful.

The metasequoia trees:

The swan paddle boats:
 

The rogue ostrich who escaped its enclosure:

Have no fear, absolutely no one did anything about it and many people were encouraging their children to try and touch it.  I don’t know about you, but I find those giant, deadly talons they sport on their feet to be PRETTY EFFING NOTICEABLE.  

[Note: In this picture, it had just pooped.  We had a very good view of that process.  Not for the weak.]

Nami Island: Where Everybody Goes Balls to the Wall…Including the Ostriches.

The barista was SO CUTE it took me five minutes to work up the courage to: 

1) Walk to the counter,

2) Look him in the eye (or general facial region),

3) Tell him, in Korean, a large bug had just decided to kamikaze itself in my freshly made drink.

Result:

Me: SUDDENLY!  <points> BUG!

Him: <Grossed out look> 

*cringe*

The abridged version of my life for the last few months:

February 

Tiger class graduated.  

Didn’t take pictures.  

March

Started teaching 3-year-olds in Bear class.  

Much cuter.

Started taking a new Korean class.  Love it.

Had a terrible week-long illness that was thought to be pneumonia.  Two trips to the emergency room later, it turned out not to be.  Being alone in a hospital in a foreign country is…awkward.

April

Spring has SPRUNG in Seoul!  Moods are lifted.  Trips to the Han River are frequent. 

Mary, my lovely older sister, is coming next month right after my birthday,  I am so excited.


Now that we’re all caught up, I can get back to regular updates about all the weird things that continue to happen.  

A long time coming, here is my account of my Christmas in Vietnam.

Kasey, Skyler, and I were really excited to get out of Seoul and wear some things that showed a little skin.  Frankly, I haven’t been able to wear a vulnerable v-neck in a coon’s age, and that’s just a shame.  First we had to get there, which wasn’t so bad except for this BULLSHIT snack-pack we were given by China Eastern Airlines:

What am I holding, you ask?  Onion cookies.  Honestly.  Honestly.  Really?  Come on. 

We arrived in Saigon at 2AM after a little mix up with immigration in which Skyler’s Canadian passport was given to another Canadian woman who was clearly Asian.  I guess I understand how that happened…?

Saigon was beautiful, bustling, and had more motorcycles than I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  It turns out that the way to cross the street in a seemingly impenetrable sea of motorcycles is to just walk right into it.  Luckily, Vietnamese people are super friendly and ushered us across many times.

The major thing we did there was go on the tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels.  This was a tunnel system used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam war.  I’m not claustrophobic by any means but WOOF! Those things were tiny and I bailed the first chance I got:

There was also a lovely display of the different kinds of gruesome traps the VC used against American soldiers to protect their land.  Just in case you had some trouble imagining the effect of said traps, there was a beautiful mural that illustrated just that:  

                                                               [Yikes.]

Then I did one of the coolest things I’ve ever done and will probably never do again:

That’s an M-16!

[On a serious note, my father is a Vietnam war vet.  Jim “Dad” Yarrison is the nerdiest badass I’ve ever met, but since he takes out his own stitches and stuff I don’t hesitate to give him that title.  It was pretty interesting to see what he had to deal with over there.  Though he DID get wounded in what sounds like a pretty heinous way, he didn’t end up skewered by a trap in the jungle.  So, great soldiering, Jim!]

[Side note on that serious note: One time, Jim Yarrison got stung by a scorpion in the jungle in Vietnam.  I asked him if he called for help and he said, “Well, I figured if it was going to kill me, it would before anyone could get to me.  If I lived through the night, I’d be fine.  Hurt like hell, but better than the alternative!”  I did NOT inherit that man’s pain tolerance.]

We ended that day, which happened to be Christmas, with some delicious pho:

Then it was time for the next stage of our trip, THE BEACH!

We flew down to Nha Trang in southern Vietnam.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t exactly beachy.  That didn’t stop us, though:

Since it was cloudy, we decided to spend the next day on a tour.  There was an option to take this tour on the back of some motorcycles, which we clearly took because we’re adventurous, independent women.  I’ve been scared of motorcycles for the last 15 years, but I definitely got over that fear!

Our first stop was Monkey Island.  On the way, there was a little Russian boy who was separated from his group and got on our boat accidentally.  He cried. One of our tour guides mocked him (“HEY BOY! BOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!”).  Skyler took a picture:

Monkey Island has monkeys on it that you can feed.  I give that experience an A+ because I have never touched a monkey before.  

The rest of the island was a weird, sad, and seemingly-abandoned place with things like this: 

[This gem was on a playground, but I would have given anyone $100 if they could have figured out how exactly to play on it…]

Then we were led to the World’s Saddest Monkey Show

After that incredibly uncomfortable experience, we were pretty happy to get off of Monkey Island.

Our tour guides then took us to a beautiful waterfall where we got to swim and frolic all the live-long day.  Needless to say, the first three days of our trip were extremely interesting.

Part 2: COMING SOON!

[Credit to Skyler and Kasey for letting me use some of their pictures!]

I have notoriously clammy hands.  So much so that my friend Ashley used to touch my hand then yell “CORPSE BRIDE!”  It’s an affliction.  

With that backstory, the following exchange happened at school today:

[Blair and Jamie bounce over to me during playtime and Blair sits on my lap.]

Blair: Emily Teacher, your hands are always so cold.

Me: *sigh* I know, girl, I know.

[Jamie reaches out and touches my hand and starts to sing]

Jamie: Froooooooosty the snowman…

Game. Set. Match.