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9 DAYS - PEACE SIGNS
It just sort of.. happens.I think there is an unspoken consensus that we all wish we did this less, but when the camera comes out, the deuces fly. Peace sign (self induced) photo bomb. THE IRONY.
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8 DAYS - KOREAN KINDNESS
I am on my way to work. An old lady is collecting cardboard for pocket change. She has on the ajumma (old lady) visor, the ajumma pants and the ajumma shoes. She is 5 foot 2, and that's being generous....
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7 DAYS - UGLY TRUTHS
According to Facebook, all I do is climb mountains, hang out with foreigners and party.According to my blog, Korea is perfect: welcoming, safe, convenient and breathtaking.So here's the annoying...
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6 DAYS - ISLANDS
When it comes to islands, the Internet can't seem to agree on numbers so I'll just say this - Korea has a lot. Islands have hosted some of my favorite weekends. From Jeollanamdo, the province where I...
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4 DAYS - FAMILY MATTERS
I was lucky enough to have my immediate family here for Christmas and New Year's last year.That was rejuvenating. It's been a joy every time someone has come for a visit. Visitors are exciting because...
View Article3 DAYS - CHON CHON EE
This means slow. I often repeat this to my kids when they read an excerpt at one hundred miles an hour, ignoring pronunciation and intonation. Today is my last night in this apartment. I just made my...
View Article2 DAYS - THE LOVE NEST
First it was at Gillian's. Then all winter at Katie's. Then Chelin's. And now it's Kerryn's.I'm typing this from the nest at Katie's while she's at work. This was my request. Yesterday after I finished...
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1 DAY - MOUNTAINS, MAKGEOLI AND MERRIMENT
I suppose these three words adequately sum up this adventure, which is convenient because they are are so easily intertwined. Katie pondered allowed last week,"I'm just wondering where makgeoli is...
View ArticleHOME RAMBLINGS
Persistent thought in Shanghai:Have Western men always been this handsome? An Air France flight preceded mine at the gate. Long torsos. Broad shoulders. Five o'clock shadows. Chiseled faces. My eyes...
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REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD
It's been a week. I'd say my return to America has been anticlimactic for the shear fact that it's lacked in chaos and strife. I'm in my hometown. At the first sight of downtown I pounded my fist on...
View ArticleSPACE // SLEEP
Everywhere I sleep I'm constantly thinking about building personal space. In hostels I'm concerned with where my pack is in relation to my head, how far the ceiling is from my body, how much light is...
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WEST
My backpack is full. All American Whirlwind Winter Tour stop one: UTAH.I keep snuggling in to my sleeping bag on the living room floor. I'm ready to sleep in the desert. PHOTO BY // BRITTANY TAYLOR
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350 DAYS
That's not a rough estimate; that's an exact number.I waited 350 days for Utah. I had a plan 350 days prior and I stuck to it. That alone needs documented.Do you know how pretty Moab is? Man, it's...
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EAST
All-American Whirlwind Winter Tour stop 2 through ???: NORTH CAROLINA and UP.I've never seen the east coast north of Washington DC (except the five days I spent in New York on my way home from Korea.)...
View ArticlePACKING: MARA STYLE
Stare pensively into the closet.Pull out my favorite pair of socks.Consider the destination at hand.Take an item off the hanger and fold it onto the bed.Continue steps 1-4 for 15 minutes.Look at the...
View ArticleSHAPES
Driving through the mountains I focused. This is full circle. Maybe I thought I had come fill circle before and perhaps I was near, but I wasn't here. This is all the way back. This is point one. This...
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FOUR
My publishing professor always preached that there was something about 4 am- perhaps the cosmos were aligned, or maybe all intention and clean, pure, direct energy and information was allowed to...
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TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
That's not an option, that's a noun. My grandparents winter in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.You could blink and miss it, but you wouldn't want to.Beyond the gorges, mountains and dessert, it's...
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TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN
New Years Resolutions piss me off because they suggest that we are in some way faulty; that we have been missing a problem's quite obvious solution. Or that the elements of time can demolish desire. As...
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2013, PART DEUX
Sometime in the last five years I plucked this comment off a friend's blog and onto a sticky note. I continually wish I would have recorded it's author to give he or she due recognition. This gentle...
View ArticleADVICE YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR...
but I'm going to give you anyway:"Learn to like what doesn’t cost much.Learn to like reading, conversation, music.Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking.Learn to like fields, trees,...
View ArticleI'M GOING TO KATHMANDU.
In 4 days I will be in Nepal.It's real and it's not. No trip is ever quite real for me until I land. Through the goodbye's, security and take off, I feel like I'm dreaming. After the slightly...
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EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK
I did it. We did it.5365 meters.Telling the trekking story could take ages or be squashed into a few minutes. I'll save the details and bedazzle you with photos because details are obsolete when you've...
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SPORADIC
This blog is about to get (long-term) sporadic. At the end of March I'm heading to Georgia to begin thru hiking the Appalachian Trail.Everest Base Camp was just a warm up. I tried out my gear. I worked...
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