Inge Kathleen Photography

Food, Friends and the Pursuit of a Mountain ~ Part 2 ~

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:43:21 +0000

Food, Friends and the Pursuit of a Mountain and then some more Food, of course ~ Part 1 ~

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:32:19 +0000

The Great Escape!

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:25:18 +0000

Mandy and I did it! We escaped Korea for a few short weeks to experience the beauty and intricacies of Nepali life.. How did we manage the escape, you might be wondering? Well see there is this new crazy invention, called an air-O-Plane. Have you heard of it? You see it wonderful! And by-golly it took us all the way from Korea right to the heart of Nepal.. Snip-Snap. Like a dream – BoooooM – Bamb! – Well quite dreamy other than 2 super long, food-less layovers in a China and then a very hearty frisking at the Tibetan border.. Ummmm, can you say Awkward?… as in awkward Turtle – (for all of the high schoolers who know the turtle well).

During the Escape, I managed to grab a few photos that I thought maybe you’d want to see or not, depending on your general mood and your current Starbucks intake for the day.

Below are photos from Kathmandu the capital city of Nepal, we were held captive by the city for over 4 days until the weather gods allowed us to fly our way into Lukla, Nepal – by a sweet helicopter! – to start our 8-day, 75 mile trek to Everest Base Camp and back., but more on the mountain later. There will be more Nepali photo craziness on the blog this next week that is coming up. I Swear. Pinky-Promise, spit on my knee and then I’ll even kiss my elbow. :)

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I made it out! Plastic Surgery and all.

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 13:08:22 +0000

Sooooo just in case you really missed me, or might have wondered if I might have died during my (our Mandy’s and mine) 70 mile – 8 day climb, 18,192 ft high in the sky – to a place called Everest Base Camp in Nepal?… Did you even ask yourself where I was? Well don’t feel bad because — no, no, I didn’t die – almost died- but death and cremation is too expensive, and you see, I have bad health insurance so I decided life was a cheaper option… Lucky for you, Mom, death is a pricey bugger… And even more lucky, I included a photo of myself in this blog post to prove my 100% alive-ness - see my portrait below –

p.s. I may have gotten a wee bit of plastic surgery while in Nepal. It’s uber cheap there, and I was having an ugly day so I thought some plastic would cheer me up! It did, but the plane ride back to Korea was surprisingly more difficult, and I’m always so hungry now. I could almost eat a c—… or maybe just a horse… hmmm strange., or is it?

Farewell Korea – Hello Arctic!

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:43:38 +0000

Ahhh in a short few hours, Mandy and I will set out out on a crazy adventure of a lifetime! We will go all the way to Antarctica to ride the back of killer whales and polar bears! We have been training for the past 3 months by diligently going to the local Korean zoo every night and feeding the polar bears. This increased our polar bear karma. We have managed to feed the bears over 1,000pds of Rice and kimchi. We believe that our by the time we get to the Arctic the polars will think that we are brothers er um sister-wives perhaps with them and then they will give us a rides from north to west. Getting to know Killer whales was a bit more of a challenge for us. You see, the Koreans don’t have them in their zoo! I was surprised and frankly disgusted when I heard this. But it has been my dream since I was a wee lass to ride on the back of a Killer so I thought really hard.. For almost an hour! I know, I know.. That’s about as hard as geniuses think! My brain hurt for hours and hours afterward.

My brilliant plan? Well, we watched Free Willy 1,2,3, &4 every night for 3 months absorbing every word and sound made by Willy and his owner, Jesse, we now know the script by heart and will conquer the hearts of all the whales with out graceful whale dances and sweet voices.. And they will bow their heads and let us walk on their backs and ride them through the arctic circle…

okkkkk… so maybe the above is a bit of a lie.. or a lot of one… (Sorry God and Mom) And maybe I’m not going to Antarctica.. but polar bears and lil’ killers are really quite cute, so squeezable, and I would go, but you see I’m an English teacher and therefore have no money to fly all that way.. So sadly all of our hard work was spoiled, and now we must settle for a 3 week trek across Nepal. A trek that consists of eating loads Indian, Nepali, Tibetan food; meeting Sherpaa, kissing llamas, taking too many pictures, asking a Tibetan to be my pen pal, playing rock, paper, scissors till our hands fall off during layovers in China, buying loads of beautiful jewelry and clothes, OHHH and yeah… um climbing 18000 feet upward to see… that mountain — Everest? :D

Ahhhhhh I’m so excited.. I couldn’t even sleep last night.. probably due to the nightmares that I would forget my wallet, passport, get in a knockdown drag-out fight with Mandy, and my beautiful camera would blow up.. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, —> Boom! Like burnt toast! Done! haha.. so I decided that the sleep wasn’t worth it.. Too scary. I am off to finish the last things on my list…

1) Pack my passport And wallet

2) Make Mandy breakfast in bed

3) Go have a love chat with my camera

4) Fly to Nepal

See you all in a few weeks well via this blog at least :)

Won’t you miss this beautiful face??? huh, huh? Nepal won’t know what hit it!

and you can send your love or hate mail to my friend Juan for capturing this brilliantly accurate depiction of my face. :) You guys miss me, won’t you? kisses and hugs for everyone! :)

Apple Pies and Kimchi

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:53:26 +0000

Basically this post has no rhyme or reason.. My favorite :)

Bow-ChiCa-Bow-Wow!

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:49:44 +0000

Imagine if this was how you made your money… hahaha… I would for sure blink and twitch and break into cold sweats all at once…. and then I would be fired. Done for. Sent back to the States. And sentenced to a life of eating only Spam and kimchi.. :: Inge shudders and begins to twitch uncontrollable for 23.4 mins:: …….. Ok, ok.. I’m back! Whew…. remind me never to apply for a live manikin position… ever… Dog food and fermented cabbage just aren’t for me.. I might just cry and cry and cry…. and then the smell of my breath! Oui, It would be bad… yikes! You don’t even want to know! My mouth would be like a small dark hole (or big dark hole depending on your personal opinion… but keep that to yourself thank-you!) of death….. death I tell you, that nasty 5 letter word ::shudders again::

Random wondering of the day: Do you ever wonder why “death” has 5 letter instead of 4 letter? I mean, Really.. Lets be honest… All bad, ugly words in the English language have 4 letters.. you know like the words… um…er…ish…

::Inge suddenly remembers, just in time, that she should stop her typing right NOW and only silently count off all the naughty words she knows… so she doesn’t end up in a big dark hole of Death herself… then looks around to make sure no one heard her thoughts… wowzers! she’s twitching again… and…ewww! she’s sweating…. I swear, there is something seriously wrong with her, but don’t tell her I said that.. See, she’s a wee bit self-conscious, and might beat me if she knew I was talking behind her back..And I am a peace loving commentator and have no other employment options so this will be our little secret, yes? ::

But really… Why does death get 5 letters? does it just feel like it’s better than the other big bad words like…… Such a snob! If Death went to high school, she would for sure be a Mean Girl and hang out with Rachel McAdams and her possy…. Esh! where does Death get off — thinking it has the right for 5 letters? And with that I will end my thoughts… —twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch….. :: see what I mean? Something is for sure wrong with her..::

Ajummas, Asian Speak, and Hand Towels

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:49:41 +0000

Yooowzers! It was an intense day of battling little Korean munchkins, saving the world, flying to Venus on a magic carpet , and then, then my proudest accomplishment of the day, I ate more food than for lunch than all five of my male teachers. I’m a beast! (I’m training for a food-eating competition in July). Don’t worry Mom, I’m not really too large from all the extra food, yet…. uhh…. you see large is not really the proper terminology, I’m just a little plump, well-fed, well-rounded, maybe robust or possibly husky? … I don’t know English isn’t my first language anymore, no, I’ve given up for a more appropriate global language. It’s called “Asian Talk”.. Have you not heard of it? Why it’s all the rage here! Everyone speaks it! You guys are so behind the times! Get with it ….

You know they say (“they” meaning those smart people, who live in the smart people town, and make smart people money…. you know “them” right?) Well “They” say English will be obsolete in 5 years. So get on the stick, Move to Asia! Go, go, go! What are you waiting for?!? leave your life of stupidity and mostly English. Sell your house, buy a big towel (Tip:: uhhh….. So we only have hand towels here in Korealand, and what’s more awkward than the combination of a shower + roommate or random neighbor + hand towel = red face.. or worse….. oommate IN hand towel + you eating breakfast = the involuntary loss of your breakfast.

After you buy the towel, give away your dog (there’s no room here), and buy a box of chocolate, (why the chocolate?) Ummm… the chocolate is for me…. I could go into some long diatribe about how you won’t be excepted into Asian culture unless you bring expensive, dark, delicious chocolate, or how there is a tax for chocolate-less visitors, or you’ll turn into a pumpkin wear a dress unless there is a box of chocolate in your hand, but let’s be honest, I’m selfish.. I want chocolate… So stop by Mr. Ghirardelli’s, spend a month’s salary, and I’ll see you soon… Remember dark chocolate, none of that weenie milk chocolate stuff!

Oh yess…. back on track…. hmmm, where was I? oh yes, my intense day! Well after many a hardships, I went to the little market in my town… And the Ajumma’s (grandmothers) were out in full force today, so I wandered through the food stalls with sad, hungry eyes hoping to get handouts. It worked like magic! ::I’m not going to lie…I’m a pro. I’ve got skill-Z:: Not only did I get free berries, the ajummas gave me free Korean lessons to boot! It was a sweet, sweet day in Asialand for sure….

Happy Birfday!

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:27:03 +0000

Spiders, Sweat and Elbows

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:37:43 +0000

My sisters, Anna and Candace, and my friend Tim (not shown — the photographer) came to see me in Korea! Oh we had a fabulous time.. Thank- you for coming guys! More on that later but now for the…… —>

Random thought of the day.. Doesn’t it feel good to sweat again? I mean really sweat??! The drip, drip with no dry kind of sweat? In honor of delicious, hardcore, nasty, sticky sweat I have compiled a list of some of the reasons I love Summer.. So far 20…AND more to come >.<

1) Sweat
2) Watermelon even if it is $8.00 and Strawberries
3) Fresh squeezed sour/sweet Limeade from Mexico… My Mexican mom, Zoila, you have made me a spoiled Mexican food brat… I thank thee :)
4) 5:30 sunrises and 9pm sunsets
5) Outdoor theaters. great time to nap outdoors because who are we kidding? You can’t actually hear the movie anyway :)
6) Summer dresses and flip-flops
Oh, Oh… making Koreans uncomfortable by showing a little elbow (yes, yes… I know, I’m lewd.. I really should put away my suggestive elbows, but I just can’t help myself…)
7) Korean Visors (take our visors times their size by 4 or 5 and then you have a Korean Visor…Yes, yes it’s like a visor on steroid. Exactly! Yet not only do they wear the visors outdoors, these beauties can also be seen sported indoors or at night. It makes wearing sunglasses indoors seem quite practical actually.)
8) Peach picking while sweating…
9) Deodorant so I can continue to appreciate #1 and #8 without too many ill affects
10) Salads and Korean Melons. :)
11) Trying to grow lettuces and tomatoes on the rooftop of a 20-story Korean apartment building.. notice the key word “trying” :)
12) Saying good-bye to winter forever (Ok, I lie, but I’m a happy disillusionist, don’t burst the bubble. It’s a pretty blue bubble and I like it this way.)
13) Having bonfires fueled by sweaters and scarves and socks and tights..
14) Picnics and No Socks
15) Cat Naps in hot, heavy humid air.
16) Watching Koreans stare at me in the subway.. *but who am I kidding? I rudely stare every season of the year, sorry Mom.
17) Lady bugs, fireflies, birds
18) Barefootedness — except the dirty feet part that comes with it because then Koreans stare at me even more because I’m just a dirty-footed, elbow showing, no-visor wearing, sweaty foreigner..
19) Spiders, Ants and Snakes
20) Coming to the realization that I was severely and totally mentally damaged by Korea’s winter… Because suddenly, for the first time in my life, I am thankful for spiders, snakes, and ants and humidity.. What’s wrong with me? ::fyi y’all, that’s a rhetorically question. No feedback is needed::

Well that the start of my summer-loving list…My goal is to make the list go at least until 100..or maybe 120… gasp!!! Yes I’m a hardcore heat lover.. with pit-marks to prove it… yes, yes too much information, I know.. Next time I will be less descriptive. I apologize.