Daily life on the honeymoon

Watching JooYeon always hard at work on translations...

Is very exhausting for me, so I make sure to get ample rest time throughout the day...

No, actually, we're in the slow months of the translation season right now, so we both have plenty of free time (and yes, mom, of course I help her with the translations!). But what exactly do we DO with all this free time, you may wonder... sure, it's nice to say that we're going on a one-year honeymoon, but how does that play out on a day to day basis? Especially considering our low budget, which is absolutely essential for a one-year honeymoon... Well, for starters, we just have general fun wherever we are - in parks, on walks, family conferences, riding in the car, shopping for cheap groceries, etc.

Other days are more cultural, like this trip to a recently opened pre-historic Native American archaeological site. In this picture, our friends Wes and Jenny are picking berries with us to experience life as it would have been for our ancestors (well, or for someone's ancestors rather)

Other times, we unwind in various ways like through reading, hot tubbing or yoga...

We often frequent events like picnics, or basically wherever we get invited to (the first picture is at Weston's aunt's house for a fish fry and the next one is at another relative's house by the river celebrating the fourth of July.)

JooYeon has been unanimously elected by both of us as the skin and fashion expert and so I'm sure that's probably harder work for her than translation, given her starting material (me, that is).


There are no "cruises" per se in our budget honeymoon, but we do jump at the chance for random flat boats passing by on local rivers...

And then there are ceremonies and festivals, some public, some private... here we are at a fourth of july display with a couple families we had recently met (look closely in the background - notice that the father of five kids is sleeping for some reason... I guess he's had too much translation too)

But of course, there are times when we DO spend money to enjoy some mainstream events like going to a dance club in Indianapolis (first picture) or chilling at a live blues club (next two pictures). However, we've noticed that holding ourselves to no or minimal alcohol levels drastically reduces the costs of such adventures.

Of course, as with any travels, there are not-so-pleasant times now and then. Such as a few days ago, when I was driving JooYeon and Wes' Dad around on some errands and barely made it to the parking lot and opened the door before spewing... (note: we took this picture because we thought the mulberry cobler vomit was an incredibly compatible color for the blue of our car and we wanted to remember it in case we ever want to detail Rocky)

This then led to my first try at an old Korean stomach remedy... finger puncture. She tightly wrapped both of my thumbs with thread to cut off the circulation and then pierced them below the nail with a sterilized needle. Apparently the blood that flows out is the "bad" blood or perhaps it somehow just alters the body's blood flow, but I thought I would give it a try...

Soon after, I was feeling better, which could have been coincidental, could have been my flu leaving, or maybe the puncture treatment, but secretly I believe it was JooYeon's loving care. So once again, a story with a happy ending!

Let the good times roll!

Our final days with shi-awmani and shi-abawji (as my mom and dad are called respectively in Korean) were filled with fun and adventure. We did some "firsts" for JooYeon such as miniature golfing and batting cages...

...and some activities that have become favorites for her like thrift store shopping

It was a very relaxing time together, complete with Rook and snacks almost every evening... the perfect springboard for the next wild adventure... the Amazon...

Fun Time with Daniel :)

LOL :)

Sports and shenanigans

JooYeon slowly progressed from watching an Indians ball on TV in Korea to a spring training game in Arizona to an Indians-Reds game in Cincinnati and was finally prepared (albeit nervous) for the real deal: an Indians game IN Cleveland at Progessive Field! It was a rainy evening, but that didn't dampen our spirits as we designed a sign in Korean and played some Rook to pass the time during the rain delay.


Aside from both teams stranding some runners, there wasn't much action until about the fifth inning when Sizemore hit a solo shot to put the Indians on the board. Then we eagerly hoped for the game to be called (which wasn't a huge hope considering the thunderstorm raging around us) so that the Indians would win, but we needn't have been so fickle. In the next inning, the Indians scored five more on an incredible rally and we were in good spirits...



Which was good, because JooYeon admitted she was quite afraid about what would happen with Dad if the Indians lost another game. Therefore, she was cheering loudly and even somehow attracted the cameras to us as we showed up on the big jumbotron in front of the stadium. After the big win, we stayed for one of the best displays of fireworks I've ever seen.



All the sports spectating made me antsy for some playing time so we called up the old gang (and a lot of new gang as well) and played some Ultimate frisbee at the park in West Liberty.

After three games or so, I started looking for JooYeon so we could go home and I couldn't find her. I ran all over the park, wondering if she had been the victim of some rare Asian abduction conspiracy, and finally found her... in the car (I swear I looked there first!)

After all that running (chasing a frisbee and then JooYeon), I was in the mood for some good food, so we ate out a couple times (on different days) with Mom and Dad - to the Mongolian Barbecue, an Amish restaurant, a new cafe in West Liberty, etc.

Finally, after only three months of searching, JooYeon and I found a perfect house. Three bedrooms, a kitchen, two baths, two stories - perhaps the only disadvantage was the small area of 50 square feet, but hey, our apartment in Korea was smaller than that!

Seriously though, our current favorites are Phoenix, Arizona, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Dublin, Ohio in a distant third. We'll continue to mull over the decision as well as other big life choices throughout our next stage of travel - South America. Less than a week now!

Adventures in Budgeting and Daughter-in-lawing

We spent our next couple weeks back at home in West Liberty, Ohio with my parents. That's when I discovered that I was not only losing hair off my head, but growing strange patches of it on my back as well...

Actually, that was just part of JooYeon's self-taught haircut training course. She's doing much better these days and only exclaims "OOPS!" about three times per haircut now.

Since our jogging has died down a bit recently, we did some walking in the park with my parents. JooYeon had her first (and probably last) experience on a merry-go-round and mom was elated on the swings.

As they say in Korea, "Jagi jipesaw gajang jeil mashisaw kim-chi issumnida" which means "Kim-chi is always most delicious in your own house." Actually, they don't really say that, but I think they would agree, and anyway, my main point is that it was good to have some of Mom's cooking again. Although to be fair, Dad can hold his own on his five trademark dishes and grilling. After the meals, JooYeon would some times clean up, and other times, Mom, Dad, or I would clean up. When JooYeon's parents heard about this, they chewed her out for not cleaning up every time. In Korean culture, it's tradition for the daughter-in-law to do all the work - but then again, Korean daughter-in-laws tend to have horrible relationships with their new families so we've all decided it's better to go Western on this particular issue.

When I first met JooYeon, one of our only points of incompatibility was our slight difference in shopping habits. She tended to buy a new wardrobe of name brands every couple weeks to eliminate the need for washing clothes, while I recycled old high school cross-country shirts and even dug through the occasional dumpster. Since then we've settled on a happy medium - thrift stores. Now I know what you're thinking... thrift stores would tend to be much closer to my end of the spectrum, but have you seen a modern thrift store? No more of this digging through barrels for 25 cent finds - shirts are now between 3 and 4 dollars, and their quality is significantly higher as well. Anyway, Joo has found some clothes that look great on her - for example...

Granted, some of the clothes are a bit worn and need a little bit of work, but as illustrated in this picture, this patchworking can be a good opportunity to personalize the clothing (yes, Mom helped me do this for JooYeon's jeans).