Fine Dining in Daejeon: Machera Well-Being

In Laramie, Wyoming one of the Harrington's all-time favorite restaurant is a place by the name of Sweet Melissa's. Now, aside from the fabulous name choice, the restaurant has a phenomenal all-vegetarian menu. And while our readers may be well aware that the man Harrington in particular has a deep love for meat and that Melissa gets her share too, the truth is they know the value of a good vegetarian meal. In fact, most of their home cooking is more aligned to that of a vegetarian than a raging carnivore.

Regardless of the Harrington's personal food choices, suffice it to say, the couple is always on the look out for restaurants that have foreigner appeal and a vegetarian restaurant is most definitely appealing to the vegetarian tourists or expats in South Korea who quickly discover that if there's no meat in the dish, there's likely to be fish sauce and if there's no fish sauce, there's likely to be meat.

So with an understanding that vegetarian meals are a) good for the soul and b) hard to come by in South Korea, the Harrington duo made their way out to Machera Well-Being a vegetarian buffet at the end of the Subway Line, Banseok Station.

Five Years Ago:Of Dating and the L-Word

Since their first date a couple months back in mid-February, the Harrington duo as we now know them would have spent the past few months dating and awkwardly letting their friends and family know that they were in a serious relationship. As many may know, Mike and Melissa had a relatively quick dating era since they'd previously worked together at a summer camp and traveled in a third world nation together, they figured they more or less understood the others strengths and weaknesses and general character. Not to mention, Melissa's gut instinct had kicked in and convinced her that Mike Harrington would become the man of her life and sweep her off to far away lands...such as South Korea.

But, before all of that played out, dating progressed. And typical to the dating scene, M'n'M spent many nights watching movies, grabbing bites to eat or simply studying across from one another. However, a few dating moments (or more accurately, moments from the months of dating) stand out and bring forth warm and pleasant memories of days long ago.

Early in the dating lives of M'n'M the couple made their way to Ten Sleep, WY for a Cabin Spring Break Extravaganza. Beginning with a stop over in Wheatland, WY to celebrate Easter with Melissa's parents, grandparents and three of many-soon-to-be-cabin- spring-break friends (Caylee, Jordan and Andrew), the day included receiving stuffed bunnies from Melissa's grandma and hiding plastic Easter eggs for grandparents to find.

With the holiday celebration concluded, M'n'M and friends continued onward to the Harrington Cabin which lies just 5 miles outside of Ten Sleep, WY (home of the great, Nowoodstock Festival). For the week that followed, M'n'M enjoyed the company of various friends coming and going, home cooked meals, snowshoeing adventures, dumpster diving behind thrift stores and plate-licking good Pi Phi (grasshopper pie). If M'n'M weren't sure of their feelings for each other before this March 2007 Spring Break outing, then by the end of the break they were well convinced that not only did they fancy one another's company, but they found that the potential in-laws were equally agreeable individuals.

As the spring semester of 2007 progressed, M'n'M's love began to blossom as things in the spring do. Between study and movie dates at Mike's shared apartment with his sister Katie and

Stories from the Couch: Meet-ups and Cherry Blossoms

For months upon months, the Harrington's went without any CouchSurfing experiences except those they semi-orchestrated in Vietnam, but hosting opportunities were beginning to look like a thing of the past.  However, with the arrival of Tugca and Onur, the Harrington's received additional CouchRequests and were surprised at having to consider turning down a request just to ensure they had enough time to clean their home and enjoy each other's company. Fortunately, turning down a request doesn't always mean you don't get to experience CouchSurfing, it more accurately means you don't have to clean your home.  A recent request (which in truth the Harrington's didn't even have an opportunity to turn down since another lovely CouchSurfing couple beat them to the acceptance part of the CouchRequest) turned into a meet-up that introduced a pleasant set of CouchSurfers under the softly lit Cherry Blossoms of Chungnam University.

PSA's and Pictures of Lady: Second Edition

Semi-recently, Lady enjoyed a 10k walk-a-thon after being kicked out of O World's Flower Land. She is constantly receiving the attention of all who are in her presence although she'd just as rather be sniffing trees and scavenging for food bits than have people admire her for her strength and courage at only 3.5 legs.

In other news, there is never a lack of things to do on the Peninsula and with the warmer weather, why not get out of Daejeon and check out some of the upcoming events throughout May and the Summer months?

One of Korea's biggest spring events is going to be the Expo 2012 in Yeosu. If you're interested in going, but don't know if you want to spend cash to get a ticket, check out Korea Tourism Organization's Contest and get a shot at winning FREE Tickets! Or, head to the main website and simply purchase tickets.

Expos are uninteresting, eh? Why not head to Seoul, May 31st - July 31st, and enjoy the Broadway Hit

The Longest Friday Ever

After an enjoyable few days hosting amazing CouchSurfers Tugca and Onur, Melissa awoke on the morning of Friday the 13th unprepared for the sheer length of the day that awaited her.

Typical Friday's pair Melissa with 5 classes of energetic and fantastic 4th grade students whom always require Melissa's greatest expenditure of energy and enthusiasm. Fortunately, they are a fine bunch and easily receive such treatment from their Native English Teacher.

However, on Friday the 13th, while things were not entirely frightening, the day did not end with 5 classes of 4th graders and allow Melissa Teacher opportunities to blog and waste time on Facebook as typical Friday afternoons do. Rather, Friday the 13th gave Melissa another 2 and a half hours of school-work obligations in the form of listening to and judging approximately 20 speeches. Working in a wealthier Daejeon neighborhood, students at Samcheon elementary were able to present speeches on a variety of topics with an impressive command of the English language. The afternoon was therefore spent listening to 5th and 6th grade students sharing their thoughts and proposed solutions for
 school bullying, environmental pollution and degradation and the unification of North and South Korea. Additionally, students spoke of their admiration for their grandparents,

Stories from the Couch: Ppuri Park and Other Things

Having enjoyed the first couple days of hosting and a night out on the town, the Harrington's and their guests were happy to awake on Wednesday morning and take things slow due to the national holiday, honoring the election. 

The day began with a fabulous Turkish style breakfast prepared by Onur. The dish was a simple yet extraordinary combination of onions, chilies, tomatoes, seasoning and eggs which was then scooped up onto a piece of bread before finding it's way to eager taste buds. With a hearty, happy start to the day, the crew cleaned up and packed up and prepared for an enjoyable outing to Daejeon's Ppuri Park.

Located in the southern parts of the city, Ppuri Park is perfectly situated between the river and a small hill. The park is significant in size and allows for guests to view various markers of historical Korean family names as well as take in a variety of foliage...when it has bloomed anyway. Additionally, the park showcases

Stories from the Couch: Batting and Beverages

Following Easter Dinner on the 8th of April, the Harrington's welcomed into their home a lovely CouchSurfing couple: Tugca and Onur. Tugca and Onur hail from the great nation of Turkey but are currently working on doctorate work in the field of astronomy in Northern Ireland. The couple made their way to South Korea after Tugca won a free ticket from Turkish Airlines. The two enjoyed nearly a week of living life in Daejeon and spent 4 of those days, 5 of those nights with the Harrington duo.

After a bit of a trial finding the Harrington's abode on Easter night, the couple finally arrived, dropped off their luggage and headed out to dinner with their previous hosts. Upon their return, Melissa and the couple chatted a little covering the basics of being CS guests in the Harrington home before everybody was off to dream sweet dreams of new friendships and insights only possible through CouchSurfing.org

The following day, Tugca and Onur explored Daejeon's KASI observatory with a previous colleague while the Harrington's made their way to their respective schools.  A bit exhausted from all that Monday's entail, the crew opted to stay in on Monday evening taking time to get to know each other and their respective cultures over a bowl of Kimchi Chigae.

Fortunately, the following day left everyone more energetic and ready for a night out on the town, especially considering the mid-week holiday in lieu of Korea's National Election Day. So it was, on Tuesday night, the foursome met up with Aaron and made their way to a typical Korean restaurant to enjoy everything from kimbap to bibimbap, from mandu to sujaebe. Stuffed to the brim, the group then made their way to meet up with James at the Dunsan batting cages where Tugca, Onur and even Melissa made their first attempts at swinging a bat and even...