Hello Typhoons!

Hi everyone!

Life in Seogwipo has been pretty interesting this last month, particularly because of the bizarre weather. We had a nice little typhoon run right through Seogwipo about 2 weeks ago, but really we just had torrential winds and rains for a day. We were following the path of the typhoon as it made its way to our little town. The couple of days before it was beautiful and sunny and we all found ourselves down at the beach, but you could tell something was brewing...the waves weren't crashing like usual and the rip was really obvious. It was pretty great to be at the beach just knowing that in a few short hours the beach would be ravaged by huge waves! That night the sky was a kaleidoscope of all colors. It was really impressive to watch the clouds rushing threw a pink-blue-red-orange-purple sky. Nothing was damaged, and the only problem was that the wind was so strong we couldn't sleep because of the rickety window shutters!

Apart from that we have also been living through the monsoon season. The weather has drab and dull since the typhoon, and the humidity is pushing 100%! Seriously, walking home at night it is so humid you can see your own breath, and its 27 C outside! Our old apartment has taken a real beating because of the humidity. A nice layer of green mold grew all over our walls, shoes, clothing... We decided to abandon the our once cozy home to see nice weather this weekend! We had a three day weekend so we traveled a mere 45 minutes to the northern city of Jeju to enjoy the vastly different weather. It was scorching and beautiful. We spent the weekend with friends on the beach and at a great fresh water hole. Lots of fun was had while surfing, playing great made-up games consisting of a cricket bat, tennis ball and ultimate disc and just being with good friends. After a wonderful weekend we had to come home to the humid stink of mold and ugly sight of furry walls.

So last night Christian and I stocked up on hard-core chemicals, gloves and masks and went to work on the apartment! It was nice to know that the house would be more bearable and livable afterwards. It was a funny sight to see the both of us decked out in our gear, but with some good music and a good drink, the task was manageable! Ok, so it took us about 5 hours, but by 3am the place was looking a little less green! Anyways, we have convinced our directors to re-wallpaper our place, so we will soon be losing the pink and mold green flowery wallpaper for good! Assa!!! This morning we finished the last of the clean up and we treated ourselves to a couple of hours at the sauna!

Anyways, we are both still enjoying our time here. I can't believe it has been over 7 months!!! With fantastic weather just around the corner Christian and I are excited about exploring more of the island and the mainland. And then its off for 6 months of backpacking around Asia, Oz and NZ! Lots to look forward to in the next year!

Hope the summer back home has been hot and full of adventures! Can't wait to hear from you all!

I promise to put up some new pics soon!

Love Karina and Christian