the year we were married.
as i’ve mentioned numerous time here, on my blog, before…
husband & i taught english in south korea, soon after we were married.
we spent 22 months in south korea.
we took our first vacation away from s.korea in july of 1996,
after we’d been teaching for 3 months.
we bought 2 plane tickets to fukuoka, japan.
we bought our first true ‘backpacks’ for the trip.
we bought our first sleeping bags for the trip.
we were truly ‘backpacking’ southeast asia…
we were only staying one night in fukuoka.
because, we were broke at the time,
and could only afford to be gone for one night.
we planned on sleeping on a beach.
we arrived in the afternoon,
had a few struggles with the subway-bus system because everything was so expensive,
we had to be creative finding our way to a beach.
i don’t remember eating dinner.
we found a nice hotel to sneak into, to brush our teeth,
before bedtime.
we found soda machines, but they were approximately $5.00/soda, and
we could NOT afford that.
we found a beach.
even more amazing, for whatever reason, there were fireworks that night.
amazing!
as dusty & i lay there on the beach,
he asks, “babe, where are the sheets we packed?”
{we packed sheets because it was july, we knew it may be hot during the night, and the sleeping bags would be too warm. so, we could lay on top of the sleeping bags and cover ourselves with sheets. for protection.}
i start rummaging through our bags,
ohhh…no.
{panic}
no, sheets.
by midnight, we each had at least 12 bumps.
12 bumps from mosquito bites.
not good.
it was way too hot to be in the sleeping bags, and if we laid on top without a sheet,
we were sacrificing ourselves to the thousands of mosquito’s that had made their appearance soon after sunset.
for the first time in our marriage,
i received one of dusty’s ‘looks.’
he could not believe i forgot to pack the sheets!
doh!
morning came, we walked back to the same hotel nearby to brush our teeth. made our way to the airport, we skipped breakfast because…we couldn’t afford it.
at the airport, we didn’t know at this time in our travels, that every country’s airport fee is different, based on their economy. so, in japan, we did not have enough money for the airport fee. an ex-pat helped us out. since that day, we have returned this favor to other unprepared travellers. stupid international airport fees!
looking back, we laugh & laugh at this memory.
and while i was on flikr today, i saw the picture below, which reminded me of our sweet memories of fukuoka, japan.
except, we were not actually snuggled up in the sleeping bag.
current day: we do not own sleeping bags. it’s not really our thing…
never was, never will be.
did you notice the lack of eating in japan???
during our 22 months in south korea, dusty lost 30 pounds. yikes!!!
current day: his weight is right back up where it should be, my popeye.
好的開始並不代表會成功，壞的開始並不代表是失敗..................................................
Great post..I love it, and yes I did notice your lack of eating lol Thank you for having such a great blog 🙂
Dude!!! What "looks"?? Fricker!! 🙂
Oh, what a sweet memory! Jane, you are a troopeer! yes, it is always memorable the first time you get a 'look'….:)
that is so awesome!! I can't believe you two backpacked southeast asia!
oh and i am sure there were "fireworks" hahaha
I loved reading your story about Fukuoka. Colby and I experienced similar frustration when we went there on a visa run while in Korea. We were running late the day we left and decided to exchange our Korean Won to Yen AFTER we got to Japan. Turns out, you can only exchange Won at a Korean bank and they were all closed because it was a holiday. Unlike you, we had reservations at a hotel, unfortunately it was a 30 minute cab ride to get there (and we had no Yen yet) A nice lady at the airport wrote a note to give to the cab driver that said we would pay him after we get to an ATM at our hotel. When we got there we couldn't get our card to work. We tried to get him to take our Korean Won, but he refused and after about an hour of sitting there waiting for us to figure it all out, he left. Poor guy. We still feel bad about that. Like I said we had reservations but when we got there to check in, no one spoke English. They kept waiving us away like they were all booked up. We finally gave up and started to walk around asking if there were any vacancies. After another 45 minutes or so we finally found one in a really nice hotel that had a cancellation. What a stressful trip it was!!! That was the trip we decided we were done and ready to come back home and finish school.
Thanks for sharing your travels with us all. I for one really enjoy reading them :0)
Ha! That is an awesome story. When were you in Korea? Dis we know you there? Sorry… I'm not sure who this is.
And if you gals think you don't give looks?? OMGosh!! :). Husbands always get the "I chose willingly to spend the rest of my life with THIS?" look. 🙂
my sensitive – sensitive hubby. after all the wonderful praise you receive on this blog…one tiny tiny criticism and you're all riled up! wink.
love love love you!!!
xoxo.
#9 Lives!, My name is Kelli Barton. My husband Colby and I were in Korea from June 1996 to December 1996 teaching English. You and I went to SUU together (I guess) We didn't know each other. I came to know who you and Jane were when we decided to go to Korea (Colby served a mission there). Friends told us that there were several others from SUU/Cedar already there. I think we crossed paths at a subway station once while we were there, not that you would remember because you didn't know who we were. Funny thing is,I think I remember backpacks! I wonder if it was around the same time.
Love that story! Oh early marriage – I'm surprised we all made it through. I love looking back.
I sure love fridays for your flashbacks!! You are too fun! We are right there with you and Dusty on the no sleeping bag thing!!
I LOVE that story! Crazy kids….