She's no princess!

In American society, it's often considered affectionate to be a princess. In Korea, it's a label placed on many girls who are treated with utmost delicacy and are generally quite superficial. While JooYeon was by no means a princess in Korea, she was still too busy working to try out even the simplest of sports, and so one of our goals in coming to America was to try as many new forms of athleticism as possible...

First Impressions

In order to counteract jet lag, I tried to get some sleep during our 7 hour Beijing layover. Luckily the 25 pounds I had dropped against my will in Korea finally showed a positive side as I comfortably wiggled under the armrests.

Upon arriving in LA, we had to take accomodations in a more ghetto-esque area. This was unfortunate because I really wanted to give Joo a good first impression of the US. After spending a year telling Joo how America was not as dangerous as in the movies, I had to give JooYeon earplugs to cover up the non-stop sound of police and ambulance sirens. She also wondered why I wouldn't let her go outside after 11pm. Therefore (in defense of the video below), I did anything possible to distract her from the surroundings...

Desert Mountain Hiking

Hiking the White Tanks of Arizona was a bit exhausting and we

rejoiced at finding a rock to relax against.

So I went up on the rocks to meditate

and seek a Deep Peace...

And there she was! The Deep Peace came and surrounded me!

Cacti Impressions

After gradually re-building our muscles from the sludge they had become in Seoul, we were ready for a desert hike with Heather. It was almost 100 degrees in the middle of April, but as everyone keeps saying, it was a dry heat.
Nonetheless, we did experience enough heat damage to our brains to attempt a photo series of cactus copy shots.

Beginning the Journey

After receiving JooYeon's green card in early March (finally), we began packing our bags and preparing to leave Korea together for the first time ever. JooYeon spent over a year each in Australia, Vietnam, and China and so was no stranger to foreign lands, but this trip had a different mood. Although we still haven't settled on a country in which to live, there's at least a strong chance that this departure would be a final goodbye to Korea (not counting return visits of course). Both of her parents gave us wonderfully practical wedding gifts- JY's mom gave us fancy travel bags and her father gave us a digital camera.

We said our goodbyes- to her parents, brother Gi Hwak, extended family, Kong (family poodle), and three of her closest friends who met us at Incheon Airport.