Noelle + Kip

From Minnesota to Colombia

2008-11-14T12:32:00.019-06:00

It´s been a few months since this blog has been updated, so here we go. Hold on to your britches...August to November.

Kip and I had an absolutely wonderful time being home with our families and friends. We were able to see more family than we expected while also spending a huge amount of time with our folks! Flying kites, baking cookies, and eating together as a big family were a few of my favorite things. As I write this I wish I could be with them right now! Also helping my best friend Hannah and her husband Jonathan prepare for their country wedding at the end of September was absolutely wonderful. Who can say no to a barn dance!
Although I do not regret leaving for South America, I do wish I could have all of these people with me along the way.

After all of this fun of course came time to buckle down! Thanks to REI and Target, our ability to pack and say goodbye was less stressful. And on October 17th we were in the air beginning a very new experience. We spent the night sleeping on the floor of the Orlando airport (not the most comfortable of locations) and made our way to Cartagena on the following morning of the 18th. Cartagena is known as a romantic holiday destination for Colombians. It was quite beautiful in ´The Old City´ section as it has beautiful yellow and orange colonial buildings and a view of the sea. Kip and I spent many evenings walking through this neighborhood, visiting a few museums, and eating local food (rice, beans, plantains, and meat). Oh, I won´t even get into how wonderful the fruit juice is! Cartagena was beautiful but a strange location to begin our trip as tourism is huge and a majority of the people we interacted with were selling things or explaining an area of tourism.

After letting our romantic side come out for awhile, we moved on to Santa Marta (4 hours North East). Kip and I didn´t spend a great deal of time in this town as it wasn´t anything to write home about, BUT it was the starting point for La Ciudad Perdida. Kip and I decided there are very few `Lost City´s out there in the world any more, so decided to take the 6 day trek into the jungle to see this ancient site. It was an extremely grueling journey as we hiked an average of 4-5 hours everyday through ravines, strong rivers, and debris from mudslides. But thankfully we survived and enjoyed the site and journey!! We were also lucky enough to have great interaction with an indigenous family for a few days. Alicia and her family were often around our camp to share supplies and understand the life of foreignors. She even sewed up by broken bag, how nice!

After plenty of hours of recouperating in Santa Marta (including medicine, food, and sleep) we moved onto Aracata (to visit the birth place of Jorge Garcia Marquez) and Mompos (sleepy river town for The Day of the Dead). Kip and I were quite relieved to find that the average small town in Colombia was quite comfortable with lots of friendly faces, music, and food. Both towns were lovely and wonderful experiences.

Onward! Bucaramanga for Elections, City Life, and Relaxing! We spent a solid week living in the Hotel Floridablanca reading, walking, and eating at our favorite Colombia restaurant El Viejo Chiflas! mmmm...

Currently we are in Malaga staying with the family of our friends Sergio and Cara. Malaga is a small town 6 hours away from Bucaramanga hidden in the valley between gorgeous green mountains. It has been really great to stay in a home, walk around small town, and have a gorgeous view of mountains. Kip and I have enjoyed staying with Alba and Pilar (our hosts) and practicing our spanish with them. oh, and we made our own Scrabble board! Yea! It´s been a treat!! And in a few days, we plan to continue on as we have been here for one month and still have quite a bit to see in Colombia.

Japan Run!

2008-08-21T02:32:00.009-05:00

2008-06-19T00:56:00.012-05:00

Morning Zephyr was recently reviewed by freemusic.blogsome.com which was a great surprise.

http://freealbums.blogsome.com/2008/06/10/morning-zephyr-two-albums/

Read the review. Enjoy the music.

2008-06-15T23:12:00.005-05:00

Cartagena Calls

Mark your calendars: The Joneses are officially flying to Cartagena, Columbia on October 17th, 2008 to begin a long expedition through the lands of South America.

2008-05-25T04:32:00.003-05:00

Noelle and Kip Jones are officially....DEBT-FREE!

We would like to thank the Korean Educational System for all of their help and look forward to living a debt-free life for a least one year!

May: The month of unexpected vacation

2008-05-18T23:27:00.003-05:00

May has been quite an interesting month thus far! Christie and Steve came to visit which was really nice. We love visitors as you can imagine, so it was great to do a little temple hopping, visit a traditional village and ride on bicycles. Hopefuly we'll be able to visit them in Berkeley sooner than later. We also have found a considerable amount of vacation due to Parents' Day, Children's Day, Buddha's Birthday, and a Sports Day thrown in there. It's been quite a nice schedule, what can I say. With the free time, Kip and I have been preparing much more for the trip. As of now, we are looking at Cartegena as our first destination. Look it up, it looks amazing! We are also running, biking, and and studying spanish. All of which I think is really hard! The next few months will be quite valuable as we try to take in Korea while also mentally/physically preparing to see family, friends, and a whole new continent! Goodbye rice and kimchi, Hello rice and beans.

Sea Slug Slurp

2008-04-16T20:14:00.003-05:00

Here's a taste of what the men had to go through.

Rain Drops, Cherry Blossoms, and Those Darn Mosquitos

2008-04-16T02:43:00.005-05:00

I am going to go out on a limb and say "SPRING IS HERE". As I write, the gray clouds are accumulating and rain drops intermittently fall. It's quite nice to rain once again. I enjoy seeing the water hit the windows, and splashing about as I walk down the street. The only downside to Korean rain is that it is not accompanied by thunder and lightning. Nothing like the States.
Last weekend Kip and I were quite busy as we spent all of Saturday in Iksan and Sunday in Gokseong with Anthony (a friend from Gwangju). Iksan was delightful as we were hang out with sunkyung and her classmate in their college town. This included walking amongst the cherry blossoms, drinking at her favorite hole-in-the-wall, climbing a small mountain, and taking in the fresh air. On Sunday Anthony came over for a good ol' country time. We went to the farmer's market where we found quite the adventure. A few inebriated farm women selling food took hold of the men and convinced them to drink makkoli (rice wine) and have a 'snack'. This snack turned out to be slippery, slimy sea slugs. Thankfully as the photographer of such an event, I was not given such a treat. I merely photographed. The two fine men on the other hand had to chewy, slurp, and swallow the very unpleasant creature. Something they will never do again, but also never forget. What a weekend. So I must say, spring has brought along beautiful sights and wonderful experiences. This now brings me to the question: why do mosquitoes exist? I can conclude that they are officially here like the rain, and I am not happy about it. If anyone could give me an honest, biological reason for why these disturbing and unfortunate creatures are allowed on this earth, please let me know. -Cheers to flowers and slugs!

Where the Wild Things Are

2008-03-18T23:51:00.006-05:00

Back in the swing of things! After a wonderful 6 weeks of vacation, the school bells rang and we returned once again. A new school year began which means nothing less than chaos. Students return with a bit more energy and an extra sparkle in their eyes while teachers are shuffled around between different classes, schools and positions. It is an extremely difficult situation to watch and be around for the first week of school as everything changes at the drop of a hat. Thankfully that has passed and now we find ourselves in slightly different situations than last year. Kip is now teaching in the Foreign Language Center (formerly English Town), because the admin decided it would be a great idea to have students learn both English and Chinese at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone? Highly Doubtful. Kip has a true challenge ahead as he must motivate the students while also trying to keep a small fragment of the information in their heads! My schedule has changed a bit as I no longer have a co-teacher 3 days a week and now teach in the kindergarten on Friday. Thus far, not having a co-teacher has gone well. There have been only a few moments when having an extra (korean speaking) adult in the room would be super nice. Thankfully all is well though. Kip has revamped his website kipjones.net which is looking great, and also allows for people to download new and old music of his. yeah! As for the next few weeks, I look forward to reading the two travel books I purchased on Central and South America. As you may know, Kip and I will be in the states for 1 1/2 months after Korea, and then onto another expedition. We will be heading to mexico in hopes of spending a solid 6 months traveling south. After those 6 months, depending on money and ambitions, we will see where we go :) Come October, I will be excited to speak spanish, eat amazing food, find hidden secrets, and take photo after photo. Into the jungle we go.

The Adventures of Busan

2008-02-09T21:36:00.001-06:00

We've just returned from a great trip to Busan! Located on the south/eastern section of Korea, Busan is most known for its shipping industry. Kip was unable to go inside the port area on a previous visit, so we made it a priority for this trip. And this time, we had success! We were able to take a boat through the 5th largest port in the world. Other enjoyable elements of the trip were beef kalbi, sparklers, and a lot of walking.

It's 2008!

2008-01-22T01:27:00.000-06:00

I've decided that it is absolutely ridiculous that our blog has not been consistantly updated since we got married. So I've decided to make it my own personal goal to update this sucker!
Watch out 2008.

The year ended so well as we were able to finish our classes and introduce Kip's parents to Korea. It was a wonderful treat having Jerry and Leslie in Gokseong. They were able to truly relate to the many tastes, smells, sounds, and smiles of our home. I must add that they did such a spectacular job adjusting to this new, foreign place. Cheers to trying to climb a snowy mountain, eating freshly grilled Kalbi, and squirting Hotteok on our gloves! Family is the best. I hope that you all had such a wonderful Christmas and that the beginning of this year has been great for you!
Thank you God for 2007 (The year of new places, marriages, more family, and snow!)
I'm excited for what 2008 has to offer.

Cheers Friends!

Goodbye Fall

2007-11-27T02:51:00.000-06:00

Fall is nearing an end, but it has been good to us. Riding through the mountains, eating beef stew, playing Go-stop with friends... The cold is upon us, so we find ourselves now unable to ride as often and wearing many more layers than before. But let's be honest, that's the beauty of winter. I'm ready to throw on my orange hat and huge boots to truck around the town! Come Snow. Come Cold.

The Adventures of Jeju

2007-09-27T07:54:00.000-05:00

Kip and I just got back from a delightful trip to the island of Jeju. Typically known as the honeymoon location for Koreans, we thought it would be a perfect place to ride our motorcycle and do our first bit of camping together!

Within a 5 day period, we were able to:
-cuddle up in new sleeping bags
-get lost in a hedge maze

-disobey plenty of signs (such as sneaking into a lava cave, going further on our mountain hike, and skidding on a wet pier)

-climb Hallasan (the highest mountain in Korea)
-visit Love Land (a tourist trap-let your imagination work its magic)
-take 4 ferry rides
-and sunburn our faces into smitherens.

Now that's a vacation!

2007-09-03T02:34:00.000-05:00

Now introducing Noelle and Kip Jones

The power of FELT

2007-07-14T23:32:00.000-05:00

Well, the semester is winding down, and we're getting ready to go back to the States. The wedding planning is coming along just fine. Here's what's been going on:

In an attempt to turn my bachelor pad into a suitable residence, we turned to FELT for answers, and it hasn't let us down. In addition we put a number of photos through a filter in photoshop before printing and laminating them. The resulting oeuvre smacks of a mid-80s public library to me, a vibe I rather enjoy in a living room. Yesterday we purchased a few extremely cheap bookcases (the ones my parents used to refer to as "Wilfred Allen" furniture--Ethan's less fortunate younger brother) which Nols assembled like a champ!

Last Tuesday was my last day at Godal Elementary School, so some students made nice cards and such. The above picture represents all the students in 6th grade, as drawn by Lee Ji-hyun (the nervous looking girl to the right of the center figure, me). I wasn't aware my headband made such an impression, nor did Noelle know she was marrying a man who masquerades as a sun god on Tuesday...

2007-07-03T01:16:00.000-05:00

After weeks of vigoriously kick-starting the motorcycle and a solid 4 hours of waiting at the shop, the bike is back to its old self! We are both very happy to now have a motorcycle that not only drives, but also has electricity 100% of the time!

시골학교라고? Noelle's a star!

2007-06-10T00:20:00.000-05:00

In last thursday's edition of Gwangju's Mudeung Ilbo, Noelle and the Gokseong English Town got a nice write-up, accompanied by this picture. The big headline read: "시골학교라고? 깔보지 마세요", or "It's a countryside school? Don't knock it!" The students pictured are sixth graders from our school, Jung-ang Cho (Central Elementary). I have them on Monday afternoons, where they don't pay me quite the rapt attention seen here.

We just started this, so go easy on us.

2007-05-28T02:06:00.001-05:00

Over the next three months, we will use this site to relay crucial life-or-death information about our upcoming wedding. We hope you'll use it to ask us questions, give suggestions, and maybe even waste time. Here's a picture Noelle took of Mr. Yun's cute granddaughter.

Unfortunately she won't be coming to the wedding, but at least she'll be eating cookies.

well, OK, we'll write something

2007-05-13T06:28:00.000-05:00

Today we took a nice motorcycle ride (but no pictures) to Jirisan where Kip's crappy little motorcycle that usually does pretty well huffed and puffed all the way to 1100 feet where the carburetor began to behave like the gas tank held chicken soup. We chatted with some monks while sitting on some rocks in the middle of a river, too.

Anyway, our wedding is the 25th of August. Our reception is, too, but afterward. Cheerio!