JIRISAN MOUNTAIN II

FOR SOME REASON THE LAST POST WOULDN'T ALLOW ME OT ADD MORE PICTURES OR TO WRITE ANYMORE SO I HAD TO CREATE A NEW ENTRY. HERE IT IS~




NESSA INFRONT OF A REALLY COOL TREE AND AROUND IT ARE SOME REALLY INTERSTING WILD FLOWERS WHICH I DON'T KNOW THE NAMES OF. MAYBE YOU'D KNOW THEM DAD?




JAEUNG AND I REPRESENTIN'! BEST NOT BE MESSIN' WITH US!




WHILE YOU ARE SHAKING IN YOUR SHOES, I'LL TELL YOU A LITTLE ABOUT THIS BUILDING THAT JAEUNG AND I ARE INFRONT OF. IT WAS ACTUALLY BUILT BY SOME MISSIONARY WHO HAD COME TO KOREA IN, I BELIEVE THE 16TH CENTURY. AS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED, THE ARCHITECTURE IS NOT COMMON IN KOREA. NESSA AND JAEUNG BOTH THOUGHT THAT IT LOOKED SIMILAR TO SOME OF THE RUINS IN IRELAND AND WERE REALLY TAKEN BY IT.


NESSA AND I. BUDDHIST BEAUTIES!?~




AFTER ALL THIS TRAVELING ABOUT, SIGHTSEEING AND HIKING, WE TREATED ARE SELF WITH SOME VERY YUMMY KOREAN FOOD INCLUDING RICE STEAMED IN BAMBOO~



NESSA AND JAEUNG SALUTE YOU AND HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS BLOG ENTRY~

JIRISAN MOUNTAIN

In September, I went to Jirisan with Nessa and Jaeung. Jirisan is a mountain about 4 hours from Seoul. It's famous for several temples, it's bamboo forests and it's spiritual energy. Here are some pictures from our trip.


Here are Nessa and Jaeung after reaching one of the peaks on the mountain. Here we had to wait to view a large field like region where Koreans would go and pray to the sky god. The weekend we went rained so things were a bit foggy, but nonethless beautiful.





Us girls are celebrating infront of the stone structure I'm assuming was built for the sky god~ not sure though~


Here is a picture of a statue at one of the temples we visited~ If I remember correctly, one of the original buddhas bones is supposedly inside of here~

American Adventures~Part II

Above is a picture of my mom and I infront of Niagara Falls. We are standing on the American side of the falls. Immediately after this picture was taken, my mother pushed me over the bridge. But she obviously forgot all those swimming lessons she paid for, and I was able to swim back to shore swiftly.

Because I never seem to "just go away" my parents decided to let me go with them on the Cave of the Winds tour. For the tour, we were given snazzy water sandals to wear. Check us out modeling them!



Here's a picture of mom and I after I got drenched from the falls! Opps, I mean, after she pushed me in! Notice she is completely dry!


Twin sisters? Seperated at birth?


Dad's Jesus like qualites came out as he decided to make water fall upon him from the heavens and to protect Mom's Mary like qualities.



Well, now it's time to say goodbye to America. I had a great time and can't wait to go back to visit friends and family soon~

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave~

Returned a few weeks ago from a visit home and have received some pictures from a couple of friends and thought I'd share them with ya'll. I'm sure soon enough, my father will send me some pictures we took on his digital camera. As some of you know, I'm still living in the Ice Ages where the people used 35mm film. It's a bit expensive to convert it to a cd. Actually, here in the Ice Ages we don't have scanners. Anyway, put on some water, brew your tea or coffee, sit back and enjoy the pictures!

NORTH TONAWANDA

If you've never heard of it, you should be shot down immediately. It's the sacred home of the Carousel Museum and Nestor's Texas Red Hots. Oh, and how can I forget the Wurlitzer piano?
It's also the birthplace of yours truly! I know, not as significant as those other things, but I try to live as best I can in their shadows.

Right now I don't have a ton of pictures from home but here is a picture of me having a good time at the Violent Femmes concert at Thursday at the Square in Buffalo.




NEW YORK CITY

I went to New York City for three days at the end of my trip and visited my friend Drew. I met Drew in Health class in high school. Everyday I noticed him checking himself out in the paper towel dispenser and had to say something to him about it eventualy. I realized then that we had something in common...being extremely vain!!!!! Also, later found out that we are fellow scorpios! With such deep connections, no wonder we became friends!

Anyway, Drew has set himself up very nicely in the East Village, and can I say, I am jealous.....here's a view of his apartment building.


Yes, that's right. He lives above the Holyland! From North Tonawanda to the Holyland, he's done quite well for himself, wouldn't you say?

On the first full day of my visit we went to the MoMa (modern museum of art) Modern art is not my favorite but Drew seemed sick of going to the MET (which is where I've been dying to go for ages) so I figured I could go the next day while he was at work. Here are some pictures we took while there:





Here I am cheering on my brother's team!





The first floor of the MoMa



The MoMa had a very nice garden~



Here are a couple of pics of the city on the other side of the enclosed garden~







Here's a shot of Drew happily waiting for his lunch~



Well, I never ended up making it to the MET. When I got there on Monday they were closed and Tuesday I left for Korea. This is the second year in a row I've tried going to the MET, guess it's just not in the stars for this girl!


That's it for my pics in NYC, as mentioned above, once I get my pics from home I'll post them. Hope you are all well~Ciao!

Korea's Next Top Model~

Lights, Cameras, Action!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At Head Rush hair salon in seoul, they were looking for the next top model to model their creative hair designs. I was one of the chosen "foreign" models.
Here I am on the right next to two other hair models. There were four of us in total. Two Korean girls and two western girls.
It was really a great experience. There was a makeup artist who did my make up. A fashion designer picked out my clothes and then the final touch was the hair stylist who cut my hair infront of countless numbers of people. Never before had I had so many people watch me get my hair cut!





Here I am striking a pose for the camera~



A close up~



From a distance~



After the cut~

Into the Night

as she slips away into the night,
the flowers pollen
remains in her heart.
alone, she is unsure of what
is changing inside her

the moons pull draws her near
its shores, and asks for her heart,
but she realizes its gone to the sun
who teases with his whimsical laughter
to disappear without a trace in the night
and never remain by her side

Tokyo

In February I headed over to Tokyo to visit my friend Agutxi and check out the big bad city of ToKyO. I had an AWESOME time visiting him and seeing all the really cool things that Japan has to offer. Hope you enjoy them!~


Agutxi doesn't live in the center of Tokyo, he likes to live a little on the outskirts of a city. When he was living in Hong Kong he lived on Lama Island so he had to take a ferry boat home. In Japan, he has a nice little hike after getting off the subway to get home. Despite Patricia and my complaints after some long days, the view is beautiful and we were able to see Japanese homes and the really cool train below:




Here we are: Patricia, Agutxi and I hanging out in Agutxi's pad~
Agutxi lives in a guest house~ a guest house is where you rent a room
and then you share the bathroom, kitchen and common areas with the
other people in the building~




One day we headed to a very famous temple in Asakusa. There are lots of cool shops on the road to the temple. They have lots of traditional and cool looking japanese things you can buy such as wooden shoes, kimonos, swords, etc. Here's a shot of the market:



Here are Patrica and I standing outside of the temple.

(Did I mention it was FREEZING during the trip)












I'm not sure why it is, but the Japanese seem to like to clothe their statues. I guess they have feeligs too!!! I'm sooo insensitive!





Unfortunately one of my great dreams was not realized on my trip to Japan.... I missed sumo season by one day!!! But we made a trip to the museum and learned lots of interesting information about sumo anyways. Thought I'd take a moment to educate you on some interesting sumo facts.


(This photo was taken outside of the museum)

Right now the second highest ranking ozeki is a Bulgarian man name Katsumnori Kotooshu. He's the first ever european ozeki!

Wonder why the wrestlers throw salt around? From ancient times it was believed that salt posses purifying powers. So the wrestlers purify the ring as a sacred place and also stomp about to squash any evil spirits.

Did you know that there are 82 sumo winning techniques!?

Curious about their hair? their every day hair style is a top knot but once they are in the intermediate juryo rank, they are allowed to wear a special top knot that is shaped like a ginko tree leaf. Each stable hires a hairstylist who does the wrestlers hair daily. I wish I could get my own stylist!

Preparing for a sumo match, who's ready to take me on?



Agutxi steps up to the plate, but he doesn't realize that I've been training life times!!!!
muh ha, ha, ha, ha!

<

Here's a picture of us one night painting the town red! Those poor Japanese people didn't know what they had instore for them that night!!!!

Two Funky Monkeys!!!

If memory serves me right, this is Shinjuku Station:

Here are a few of the famous harakushu girls:

Rather than finding all the adolescents dressed in baby doll or goth style clothing intersting (just reminded me of my own angsty youth) I took quite a liking to the nearby phone booth.

Below are some outdoor food vendors, and immediatly Patricia and I were thinking cheap food. Well, after being robbed blind (I swear they were more expensive then restaurants) we left still hungry and really broke!

Here is last, but not least, a night view of tokyo taken at the top of a hotel. (name escapes me but think it is the Hyatt)

Thank you for being an avid reader of Heathers Adventures. A special thanks goes out to Agutxi for providing me with all of the photos that you see posted here.

Also, thank you to my cool friends who downloaded skype: K-dawg in Costa Rica and R-dawg in New Zealand. It was so great hearing both of your voices!!! Get on there people, it's free!!!!

Needles

Needles
Change the currents
of my life
and ebb the flow
of the night

I have flashes of the past
mixed with anticipation for
the future

perhaps all my dreams
are just a lie
and all I see
effects my eyes
more than my wonder of the universe
and the flow of the tides
I wish for your abscence from
my heart
and to reinvent the times
I lied
to give you a better face
clearer, more angelic
more pure
than my own~

SORAKSAN

I took a trip to Koreas most famous mountain resort back in November with Jonny and have neglected to post any photos here on my blog so here they are with a bit of the adventure~

Unfortunately we only had two days for the trip but we treated ourselves like royalty, literaly. We stayed at the most expensive hotel there (the name escapes me right now) but it's the name of some posh British hotel. So Jonny felt right at home there. But he let me watch some violent movie called Diabalo instead of the football (soccer) match. You can take the girl out of America but you can't take the gun touting America out of her!!!

Here is Jonny in his home environment~

Here's Jonny in front of a London bus with the mountains behind him~

On our first day of the trip, we got a late start. We were supposed to meet at Express Bus Terminal at 8:30am but when i arrived there I received a phone call from Jonny that he had just woken up and would be there shortly. Sooo....I grabbed some breakfast and after he arrived we got tickets for the next bus. We didn't end up getting to Seokcho, the city nearest to Saraksan until after 1:00pm. By this time ready for lunch we walked down to the beach (Seokcho is a famous beach town) and decided to get some food. The day was sunny and beautiful, and since neither one of us sees the water that often living in Seoul, other than the gorgeous Han River, we bought towels, adorned with bambii and a kitty cat, and laid out on the beach and chatted. (those were our only towel choices not purchased out of desire believe it or not)





We realized that we wouldn't get any hiking in that day so we headed to the mountains when we started getting cold and took a short walk around. Then when we got to our luxurious hotel we were very excited of our fantastic view.
The next day we headed out a bit late after our very nice breakfast at the hotel. Our first stop was the outdoor Buddha statue~





Then we visited the temple nearby~





Then we made reservations for the cable car, yes, we took a cable car to the top! stop laughing! we didn't have enough time to hike! and we still had some hiking to do......
Look at Jonny working hard at climbing~poor thing!





Look how high we had to hike~





Here is me conquering the mountain, I almost bought a plaque at the top but I didn't want to make everyone else jelous of my accomplishments~





After posting this blog, I realized that almost every picture is of Jonny! What the heck! I seemed to take a lot of pictures of him and he took pictures of me but still hasn't sent me any! Perhaps I should rename this post Jonny's trip to Soraksan or an Englishmen's trip to Soraksan and oh yeah, that weird American girl who was stalking him......