Post Korea

I realized that I haven't disclosed my plans yet, and felt like sharing since I have extra time here at Starbucks.  As you know from the last post I am leaving to go to the Philippines.  I fly Seoul to Cebu with a transfer in Manila.  On December 18th I have a flight from Manila to Frankfurt via two stopovers (Bangkok and Kuwait).  So beforehand I have two and a half weeks of free time in the Philippines.  I will try and stay with some locals via Couch Surfing (if you don't know about it check out their site - this will be my first time but my friends who've tried all highly recommend it).

I could get used to this!

I'm definitely looking forward to relaxing and getting some needed sun on the beach.  Right now if I had to pick a shade for my skin tone it might be neon white.  Not that I tan much, but the beach should do me well (I'll need lots of sunscreen!).  While in the Cebu area I'll try and hop around to a few of the nearby islands.  FYI the Philippines has over 7,000 islands, so I'll have plenty of choices! If things are going well I will wait to go to Manila until a day or two before my flight.  If I want a change of scenery I can head up north to the capital sooner.

My sisters are both in Germany right now - one is studying in Wurtzburg and the other is an au pair near Munich.  My parents are flying into Munich on the 20th, and we will all spend Christmas together!  Our trip highlights will include an apartment stay in Nuremberg, a visit to my grandma's relatives near Dusseldorf, and New Year's in Berlin.  I'm pumped to see my family and experience Christmas in Deutschland.  We were all there for the holidays back in 2003, which was a blast.  A cramped car for five plus luggage, roadtrips with lots of rock, paper, scissors, stupid antics to pass the time, and the wonderful Christmas markets - good memories.

A Christmas market in
Germany

I fly out of Frankfurt back to Manila on the 3rd of January, at which point my plans are completely blank.  There are a lot of possibilities, including friends traveling with me from the States, a winter camp job in the Philippines, or heading out to another country in SE Asia.  I'm hoping my plans start to take shape within the next month, but for now a blank slate is fine with me.  I'll be sure and update the blog when things develop!

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