Hawaii: Calm in the Center of the Storm

It’s was a crazy summer with radiation, school, and traveling; and as I attempt to tackle two quarter’s worth of work condensed into one, it’s an even more intense fall.  But in between all of this stress were a few incredible days spent in America’s paradise.

There were a few things I didn’t like about our hotel, but the beach was beautiful and we were right next to one of the best snorkeling spots on the island. For the first time I really got into snorkeling, which allowed me to discover the colorful coral fish and swim with large sea-green turtles and eagle rays. It was awesome! I wish I could start every day like.

We also explored the greener areas of the island including – the garden of Eden – and breathtaking coastline where the ocean crashes on volcanic rocks, as well as discovering a rare volcanic black rock beach. Additionally, we took a day to make our way to top of a volcanic crater that offered some amazing views that made us think of the landscape of Mars.

One of my favorite experiences was a cocktail sunset cruise. It’s hard to find the words to describe how stunning beautiful the sunset was, but not worry, because I took ALOT of pictures. (In my fantasy world where I have unlimited funds and time, I would own a sailboat, learn how to sail, and spend a lot of time on the ocean)

We ended our vacation with a Lula on our final night. I felt more compelled than excited to go, but while as cheesy as expected, it was also a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, we returned all too soon to the stress of our lives right now.  If only, it was easier to return mentally and spiritually to such a relaxing and wonderful experience.

Highlight pics can be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/anita.kellogg/Maui?feat=directlink

Expect a Christmas update in three months ;-) Hope I’m kidding!

A Christmas and New Year’s Message to Friends and Family

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get out Christmas cards this year, but I want all of my friends and family to know how much you mean to me. Being diagnosed and treated for cancer, as well as, the death of my uncle, aunt, and grandfather has made this one of the most difficult years for me, and you have been my strength. Your emotional and physical support in addition to being a source of laughter and enjoyment has carried me through the year. Whether it was long distance via facebook, twitter, or a phone call, or whether it was in person bringing me soup or just keeping me company, I am so grateful for you all.

I know this has also been a difficult year for many of you. Unexpected illnesses and deaths have touched your lives, and my heart goes out to all of your afflictions. I read this week that legend has it that white Christmas brings a prosperous new year. As many of you know, we were blessed with a white Christmas here in AR, so my deepest wish for all of you is Good Health for you and your families and that you may be Prosperous in all aspects of your life.

Love,

Anita

Productive Procrastination

Writing academic papers does not come easily to me, especially on paper that I keep have to take long breaks from, thus totally loosing my train of thought. Faced with this sort of writer’s block this week, I found myself drawn to reading articles on North and South Korea, particularly on the possibility of a future round of denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang as this relates directly to my research. Since their are few blogs on Korean politics, I decided that I could apply my research to a specific niche, and maybe enhance my exposure when looking for jobs someday. Thus my new baby/blog was born – Window on Korea – featuring the latest on Korean politics, culture and society with my own particular take on these events, of course. I know this is a subject that doesn’t interest all of you, but please, if you have some time check it out. And for those experienced bloggers among you, if you have any tips on getting visitors to the site, please share them with me.

Note: I’m not in any way abandoning this blog. It will remain the site for all my personal thoughts and updates.

Return From Korea

So I’ve been back in the States for a week now, still haven’t finished unpacking, and counting down the days to Hawaii.  Actually at this point maybe it makes sense not to unpack at all.  I finished one major task – taking my Korean final on Friday, but despite not going anywhere this has not been a terrible productive weekend in terms of writing my paper on North Korean nuclear diplomacy which really needs to be finished before our trip next week. I also have to submit an entirely different paper for my upcoming conference at Emory on Friday. Fortunately, it’s written, but since I haven’t looked at it in a year, it probably wouldn’t hurt to make some minor revisions.

I have all my pictures and video from the trip to Busan posted at  http://picasaweb.google.com/anita.kellogg/YLPBusan2009# so I hope you will check it out.  Although I felt really run down most of the time, still feeling the effects of radiation, jet lag, and too little sleep; it was a great conference to network, make new friends, and learn more about the Northeast Asian countries represented.

The Russian - American Alliance

The weekend managed to be both eventful and relaxing. On Friday evening I had the pleasure of introducing noraebang (Korean karaoke) to my fellow Americans as well as Russian, Mongolian, and Japanese friends. Despite the variety of countries we represented, because of our similar ages, we were all mostly familiar with the same songs which made the experience one of the most fun I had had on this trip. Of course, the Beatles can all always be counted on to unite all.

Saturday morning came too early as we gathered for our required fieldtrip to Gyeongju. This UNESCO world heritage site/city is one of my favorites in Korea, but I was not overly impressed with our tour. We spend the majority our time at the museum followed by an enjoyable traditional Korean lunch. Then we were given 5 minutes to take pictures of the royal burial mounds from an awkward place roadside, and could only view some of the most famous sites and we quickly drove past them on our bus. We concluded our tour by visiting a Buddhist grotto. However, looking at the Buddha carved into the stone (sorry, we weren't allowed to take pictures) took mere minutes. I'm convinced we spent more time on the bus than any actual sightseeing.

Saturday evening a few of us wanted to experience a dance club here (we have developed a strong American-Russian alliance on this trip). We had originally intended to explore the area near the beach, where we had heard many young people hang out, but Tristan (a fellow American) thought it would be better to head to one at an international hotel. There were some interesting sites - including my first strip tease, but I was feeling run down and quickly grew bored so I returned to our hotel with one of the Russian girls after a couple of hours.

By Sunday we were all feeling exhausted, so we decided to head to the beach, which is supposed to be the best in all of Korea. The first beach we reached, we learned there was no swimming due to jellyfish, but a short taxi ride later, we ended up at (?) and found it easy to rent umbrellas and mats to lie. The water, like my previous beach experience in Korea, was cold and dirty and we did not stay in for long. Still we had a good time relaxing, talking, and finding out more about the different customs between Russia and the U.S. I have learned much more by just hanging out with the fellows at this conference than from any of the lectures I have struggled to stay awake through. Afterwards we tried some Vietnamese food and head back for a shower and a nap. While the rest of our little group spend the evening working on Wednesday's presentation and doing laundry, Daria and I decided to do a little shopping and enjoy some Italian food and wine. Overall, it was such an relaxing and enjoyable day.

The Recent Flood of Sad News

Recently, I learned that my Aunt Fleurette is being taken care of by hospice and has only a couple months to live. The news was quite sudden and took everyone by surprise.

It seems that for my family this is the year of death and medical tragedies.

Since I learned I had cancer in late October:

- My Uncle Kim passed away of cancer in his early 50's.

- My good friend, Megan, her baby has suffered from infantile spasms and a brain malformation

- My cousin Cathy, who is only a couple years older than myself, her husband was recently diagnosed with cancer with a large tumor near his heart

- My Grandpa Renda has recently discovered that he has lung cancer that has spread to a tumor in his brain

- Now my Aunt Fleurette has end stage COPD in her ealry 60's

It just seems like too much for a single year, and I keep waiting for the bed news to end. Please keep all of the above in your prayers as well as their families who are struggling to support and cope with the illness of their loved ones. Please pray too that the coming year will be brighter for my family and that it will filled with more good news than bad.

 

We look for light

But the darkness of night reigns

So we console ourselves with the soft glow of moonlight

Gifted by the love of friends

And await the dawn that surely must come again

The Strangeness of Korean Baseball

What can you say about an event where an entire stadium blows up orange plastic bags and subsequently place them on their heads? (My Russian friend, Daria, upon seeing this strange sight, asked if the bags helped the home team win) I guess, I simply have to say it was the most entertaining sports event I have ever attended. Usually, I find baseball too long and boring (apologies to baseball fans). However, between everyone letting lose after a few beers - producing some unexpected singing and dancing, the pom-poms we made out of newspapers, and of course the orange bags, it was practically impossible not to have a good time. Words really can't adequately capture this experience, so hopefully these pictures will give you some idea of what it was like.