Jordan - Petra and Aqaba

I'm writing this from the airport in Jordan, we're just about to catch our flight to Athens. Jordan was amazing!!! It was so much better than I could have imagined. Yesterday we went in to Petra and saw the old city, it was beautiful. The rocks were all different colors, mostly different shades of pinks, and the carving was pretty unreal. Again, so hard to explain in words but it was great, I can't wait to post some pics, hopefully within the next couple of weeks. After seeing Petra we took a taxi to Aquaba which is about two hours south of Petra, there we went to a beach and did some snorkelling. The coral and fish were really neat, I've only snorkelled in one other place (Thailand) which was also really cool, but the neat thing here was that there was coral surprisingly close to the shore, so you didn't have to go far to see the good stuff. There were tons of bright colors and tropical fish, I wish I could have taken pictures! We also got to have tea with a out taxi driver's family which was really nice even though they didn't speak a lot of English, it was nice to see a traditional house in Jordan. My time is up so I'll end this here, but I hope you're all doing well!!

Jordan - The dead sea

We got to Jordan yesterday and it's been a great change of pace! We went straight from the airport to a resort at the dead sea. It was our one night splurge of this trip and it was more than worth it! We were staying at a pretty posh resort but in one of the cheaper rooms, but lucky us, when we got there we got upgraded to a deluxe suite...it was beautiful! We had a great view and the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in. The resort had tons of pools, great restaurants and a prime spot on the coast of the dead sea.

The first thing we did was go for a float in the dead sea, it was incredible! It stung a bit at first because the salt got into every little cut and scrape. After the initial pain it was really cool to just float around. You couldn't float on your stomach though and, as we found out, if you tried the water would force you to flip back over. We were 400 meters below sea level so the gravity and everything was really unique. After taking tons of pictures we ate at an Italian restaurant, and watched the most beautiful sunset...though the one on the Nile was nice, we found a secluded spot to watch this one so we got some amazing photos and didn't have to share the experience with anyone else, it was lovely! Tomorrow we're going to explore Petra.

Egypt - Luxor!

I really thought that seeing the pyramids in Cairo was going to be the highlight of my trip to Egypt, but I was proven wrong today! After two days in Cairo, Joy, Luke, Aaron and I flew down to Luxor.

The tombs and temples there were spectacular...absolutely amazing! Some of them were so well preserved, and some not so much but it was amazing. My favorite things were the obelisks, they were massive and carved from a single piece of stone, they were breathtaking, none of them were under 100 feet tall and every inch of them was covered with hieroglyphics, pictures etc...the amount of detail in every carving was unbelievable.

Also, the Karnak temple and the tombs we saw were unforgetable. My favorites were the tomb of Ramses II and Sety. Some of the tombs were fairly simple and shallow but these two were deep and so intact that you could see color on some of the walls. Most of the temples and tombs were full of color when they were made but that has since faded in most areas so it was pretty impressive to see an spots where it was still preserved.

We also took a sunset cruise on the Nile in a felucca boat, as you can see it was beautiful!

We head to Jordan tomorrow morning, I can't wait!

Egypt!

We've only been here for a few days but I feel like it's been at least a few weeks, we've done so much! When we got here Joy and Luke met us at the airport and we spent our first two nights with them in Cairo. We saw the Giza pyramids the first day which was AMAZING! We took a horse ride through part of the area and walked the rest of the way. Even though it was incredibly hot, it was beautiful. It's so hard to describe what it was like to see them. We watched a lot of travel videos and looked at pictures before we came but nothing can really do justice to explain how amazing it was to see them in person. We also visited Islamic Cairo and Coptic Cairo.

One of the best things about the trip has been the amazing food, falafel, shawarma, Tahina and fresh pitas, it's fabulous! However I think I may have been enjoying it a bit too much as somewhere along the way I picked something up and I've been pretty sick the past two days, I won't go into details but let's just say it's not pleasant, I'm hoping it clears out soon. We're in Luxor right now, I'll have to write more about that another time, hopefully before we head to Jordan on Thursday morning!

Leaving on a jet plane!

It's officially my day of departure for what I hope will be a fabulous two months of traveling! I hope i can keep this blog updated as I go along. My first stop is Cairo where I will be meeting up with two dear friends, Luke and Joy. I can't wait to see them and to see what the next little while has in store!

Almost done...

As my year here comes to an end, I'm starting to realize just how much has changed in a year. When I left, my plan was to spend a year here, make some money, pay off some loans, and go back to do my masters...basically put my life on hold for a year and step right back in to it without missing too much. Well that hasn't hapenned at all...thank goodness.

When I came here, I wanted a break but I got so much more. Rather than taking a break from my life, this has been an amazing extension that has turned into an an adventure I can't wait to continue. Although I'm sure it sounds a bit cheesy, I've learned so much about myself by living in another culture. I feel like it's added another dimension and given me another perspective on what I want to do with myself and how I want to do it.

Ok no more vagueness, basically it made me realize just how different life can be without exposure to diversity. Diversity of opinion, thought and culture. Korea is a very homogeneous country. I'm the only Canadian or person of color most of my students have ever met. While teaching English is my job description, I think the most important thing I have done for any of my students is to give them exposure to another way of thinking, not one that is better than their own, but just one that is different. And, I think that's also the most important thing they've done for me.