Adventure, adventure, adventure!

Back from our weekend in Japan, and boy was it a good one! If you know me at all, you know that I am a planner, I like things to be planned out and to be well prepared for anything that might come up. As I am still pretty new to this whole "travelling" thing, I haven't really had anything terrible or stressful happen to me on any of my trips. This weekend had a few bumps in the road but it turned out to be one of the best weekends I've had!

It started out on Friday, I woke up that morning not feeling so great, my stomach was bothering me, but since that has always been normal for me I figured it would subside and I'd be fine. I headed off to the airport to meet my friend, Bi, still not feeling great. After a few hours and several trips to the airport bathrooms, I figured out that I had food poisoning! Hooray! What a way to start my trip! Reluctant to get on the plane, another friend of ours, Cranky, switched seats with me so I could have the aisle seat! I made it through the plane and we landed in Japan. Once we got through the incredibly long line at immigration, we met another friend of ours, VVD, out in the airport and were reading to find our way to our respective hotels! As we were making our way to the platform, another foreigner who lived in Japan helped us out. He and his girlfriend were going the same way as us for two of our trains so we travelled together with them!

We finally arrived at our station, and went to wander around to choose which exit to take, somehow we choose correctly and were spit out literally 500m from our hotel. We walked into the hotel and as we stepped out of the elevator, there was Ben waiting for us. We dropped our stuff off and went out to explore. We grabbed some noodles at this noodle joint. A lot of their restaurants were similar, they had this vending machine in the entrance with pictures of the food, you just put in your money and it spit out a ticket which you then handed to the cooks and they made it for you! They were some DELICIOUS noodles!

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Our main reason for coming to Japan was the 1800th Red Dress Run with the Hash House Harriers. It was awesome to see so many people turn up! There were somewhere around 100 runners! We ran great trail through the streets. It was cool to see the neighborhoods in Japan, the houses were much different than Korea, no huge apartment complexes, but smaller more European style houses. It felt like being back home. Really cool! This was also my first time hashing outside of Korea so it was pretty neat to see how other hashes function, what they do similar and what they do differently! 

My two travel companions dress up nice! 

I was being too Canadian for him!

After a great circle and an even great On-after, I stumbled home and passed out in the hotel. The next morning on our way to the airport, we stopped in the popular Shinjuku area. It was still early in the morning so it wasn't too busy but it was fun to explore! 

Just your average store selling your everyday sexual needs!

Crazy crosswalks in Japan! We didn't have time to go to the most famous one but this one was pretty cool too!

After we got some more delicious food, (all of which was only 700yen, close to $7!) we jumped back on the trains to navigate our way back to the airport hopefully just in time! But, as luck would have it, we got on the wrong train and went to far, so we had to back track and transfer which made us ultimately miss our flight. Now, as I said I am still new at this whole traveling thing so this was the first time I had ever missed a flight. I knew what it meant though, we would need to book other flights and likely pay ALOT to do so. So I immediately started to freak out, how was I going to pay for my flight? I had no back up money, I couldn't even really afford the flight I had booked in the first place. Luckily for me I was travelling with two seasoned adventurers. Bi was really great and understanding and tried to help me calm down. But, it was Ben who really blew me away. I have known this man for just under a year and I have never seen him switch on like this before. He immediately took charge and started trying to figure things out for us. When I was crying and worried about everything, he calmly took my hand and said, "Honey, I got this." I admired his ability to be so calm and try to find a solution. He could have easily become angry with me for stressing out but instead he did what he needed to do because, as they both reassured me, this was part of the adventure. 

So Bi and I took to a corner in the airport and hung out while Ben ran around working his magic charm. We hung out, chatted, made airport employees angry and had a good time. He managed to get both Bi and I on a flight out that same night for not a lot of money. Unfortunately he couldn't get one for himself. He selflessly ensured that both of us had a way to get home because he knew we had to work today. I actually still don't know if he has been able to get a flight out or not, but I know he is happy adventuring over there on his own. 

This weekend was a great one and it taught me a lot. I have a greater respect for Ben now, after watching him deal with the situation the way that he did! He came through for me in so many ways. I may never be able to be as care free and "laissez faire" as they both were, but I am now anxious to go on another adventure and learn more about myself and my friends! 

A Hashy Filled Weekend

Well it's Tuesday and I'm back to work after a nice long weekend filled with hashes! It began Friday night with the Full Moon Hash in Itaewon. It was a breezy -15C but we had a great little run through the hills and back alleys of Evilwon. Then onto Saturday morning at YK. The theme was Afro Circus and hashers came out in the best costumes. (I'm the one in a monkey suit!)

YK Chalk Talk

After Saturday's hash, it was time to move onto Sunday. Southsides trail was a short trail but as always a fun time. 

Next came Monday, the 38th Parallel Hash. This hash only happens twice a year and always has a great, long trail. The weather was great, sunny and only about -3C. We ran up and down snowy mountains, through parking garages, onto a roof and down a fire escape, over fences and under branches. It was a great trail, just under 10km. 

Now it's back to work with tired legs. Looking forward to my half day of work on Friday and jumping on a plane to Japan for the Tokyo Red Dress Run!! 

Daily Tasks

I've been reading a lot about simplifying your life and how relax. I've been experimenting and I've found that if I make a list of tasks I need to complete, it becomes much easier to relax and sleep at night once I have done all of them.

Here is a list of things I am doing before going to bed:
-wash all dishes
-hang up clothes
-prepare breakfast/lunch(chop veggies, etc.)
-tidy up
-prepare running clothes for am.

Once these things are done I can begin to relax and get ready for bed.
-meditate
-floss & brush teeth
-read


This routine has been working well the past few nights! So now I am working on things during the day as well. I've been trying to drink more water at work so I made a little chart and each time I drink one bottle(800ml) I mark it down. So far the most for one day has been 3. I'm also starting a new flossing and brushing routine. In Korea, everyone brushes their teeth immediately after they eat, they all have tooth brushes at school, even the kids do it. So I have brought my brush today and will attempt to do this everyday as well. Not only will it be good for my teeth, but I think it will curb some desire to snack on junk after lunch as well!

I like making changes! Now if only I could get my lazy butt up and out the door to run on cold mornings!

TGIF!

It's Friday! And, it's a long weekend! This weekend is Korean New Year(Sollar) so we have Monday off! This weekend is filled with lots of hashing! Tonight I'll be heading into Itaewon to run the Full Moon Hash, then tomorrow at my home hash, Yongsan Kimchi, one of our favorite hashers is leaving so the theme is Afro Circus! I will be running in my one piece monkey costume! Should be a riot!

Sunday I think I will head out to hike Bukhansan with my friend Kat and her boyfriend. I haven't been hiking in awhile so it should be alot of fun. Then Monday is a special bi-annual hash, the 38th Parallel Hash. I am very excited for this one, it will be an epic trail I am sure!

So I shall be very busy this weekend. Today will be day 7 of my Take 10, 10 days of meditation program. I have been doing pretty well and I want to keep it up, I think I might have to do it while I'm on the bus tonight!

I'll post updates of how the weekends events go! Next weekend, I'm heading to Tokyo for a special Hash event! Can't wait!!

Finally some sleep!

I have been having trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember, however, recently it has been the worst I have ever had. I toss and turn all night, maybe getting 2-3 hours total. A friend introduced me to this Zen Habits website and I've been spending some time reading up on it. I found an article about how to sleep like a baby, so I decided to try it out.

Here's how my night went last night:

Arrive home from work. Put in load of laundry. Cook and eat dinner. Run errand to store. Come home, clean up dishes, hang up laundry. Watch an episode of New Girl while painting my nails. Call boyfriend to say good night. Once that's done it's time for my new favorite app, Headspace. 10 minutes of meditation. Turn phone to airplane mode. Then floss, brush teeth and get into bed. Read one chapter. Lights out, lay in bed, recount all things I did that day starting from the first moment I woke up. I think I made it to lunch time and then I was asleep.

The article I read emphasized the importance of having a sleep routine. I had already been doing the meditating thing this week so I just added in a few others. I decided to turn my phone to airplane mode while sleeping, that way my alarm will still wake me up, but messages and notifcations will wait until morning. By doing laundry and cleaning my dishes, everything was ready for the next day.  They also said the trick to falling asleep was going through all the things you did that day.

I woke up at about 5am, having slept through since 10pm. Not bad. Had it not been -17C outside I would have gone for a run.

We'll see how it works tonight when I am a bit busier and have to go into Seoul after work.

Monday morning and feeling fine!

Today is the first morning I've had in a long time where I feel great! This weekend I had a colonoscopy& endoscopy, which came back clear, but left me feeling less than ideal for all of Saturday and part of Sunday. It was kind of depressing to go through that whole process only to be told there is, yet again, nothing wrong with me and it must be IBS. I have found in the past that my IBS becomes easier to manage when I consume adequate amounts of carbs(bread, pasta, rice). The downside to this is that it adds a lot of extra calories. My food journal is helpful so that I don't eat too much, but it will hopefully also help me to pin point trigger foods.

I haven't been exercising much but I'm hoping this week I can ease back into it. I am going to try out a Korean Spin class tomorrow night!

In addition to carefully watching my food intake, I've decided to try this app called Headspace. It's a meditation app. They have a program that you can do for 10 days and only 10 minutes a day. Stress has a lot to do with IBS and I know I am often stressed and have a hard time relaxing. I started the 10 day program last night and I think it really helped.

My boyfriend, Ben, was awesome on Saturday and came to meet me after my procedure, he then graciously cooked dinner for me(amazing as always!) and hung out on the couch with me watching movies while I recovered.

Sunday I still didn't feel great so I opted out of the hash, but instead hung out with my friend Ally. We went to meet a few of my friends at the local foreigner bar and had a little girls afternoon. It was very low key but really great to relax with some friends. I cooked when I got home so my lunch would be ready for today, quinoa millet salad with salmon and avocado! Delicious!