long time coming...

marie and I have really fallen behind on this blog thing huh? Well not to much has happened so let me fill you in. My mom came to visit and we got to go see some new things with her that we had not yet seen, like the DMZ. That was interesting and a good day trip. We also took her to see some of the crazy busy markets that the city has to offer. This is an amazing experience for anybody and no matter how many times you go, you still look at all the people in shock in awe. I think mom had an ok time, it was hard for her to be out of ohio and around so many people. Since she left we have been takeing as many beach trips as we can. We went to the Hawaii of Korea called Jeju Island. This was a good weekend trip. We got some beach time, got to see an acrobat show, and we got to visit a place called Love Land which is dedicated to sex and penis. It was funny to see a bunch of old women walking around and laughing their asses off. Then the next weekend we went to another beach right outside the city called Muuido. The sun was nice, but we did not get to swim. This is one of the very very few places in the world (I think there is like 2 total) that has THE lowest tide. When the water goes out, there is nothing but wet sand and mud for like 2 miles. At one point we walked for a good half hour strait out and still did not find water. So in short, the sun and beach bumming was good, but no water which was a bummer. The next weekend we went to the city Busan, which is on the very southern tip of Korea. There is a very famous beach in Busan where everyone and their mother travels to. If you were to Google Busan beach photo's, you would see ten hundred thousand koreans on the beach. We went down with our friends Dj and his wife Margie and they new of a smaller, quieter beach, and so we were not swamped by the mass crowds and that was nice. We two beautiful days of sun and swim... It was perfect.
And so that catches you up to our lifes thus far. We have another trip to the beach this coming weekend, to a festival called Mud Fest. And yes it is just what it sounds like. Here is a link if you are intrigued enough to want to know more: http://www.asknow.ca/mudfest/
Oh and of course, Robby and Rose arrive in a little less than 2 weeks which we are both really excited about! And then off to China... And then home... Busy, Busy, Busy!

ok here i am in seoul, and let me tell you this is an experience. there are so many people it is unbelievable. buildings everywhere, hardly no grass...just people and buldings...lol. they really know how to use what little space they have. some people are rude but keith and marie tell me that is the way they are here. they look at you different here. trying to find your way around is something else. every bldg looks the same. it really makes you think of life at home, we take things for granted. it is pretty here and the coolest thing is they have exercise machines in the park, the park is just like our rails to trails at home. i am really proud of keith and marie for doing this because i dont think i could have the guts to do it. im glad i came. this has been an experience of a lifetime.

tina

Pictures

We may not update the blog very often, but we have been uploading photos like crazy! We have pictures of the Cherry Blossom Festival up (very beautiful), and some new hiking photos, and some new teaching photos. So check out the page and also the different albums.

http://photobucket.com/kmsk

Complicated Love Holidays

In the States holidays like Sweetest Day and Valentines Day are treated in a number of different ways. Either you see them as a made up holiday for the benefit of the greeting card companies, or you dread figuring out what to get your wife, or you see it as a good excuse to get some. In Korea romance holidays are taken to a whole other extreme. First there is Pepero Day, a holdiday made by a candy company. Then of course there is the traditional Valentines Day on Febuary 14th. In Korea the woman is expected to get something for the man on Valentines Day. However, one month later on March 14th White Day occurs. On White Day the man is expected to get something for the woman. No surprise the advertising for potential products to buy your lady on White Dau is much more intense than those to buy your man on Valentines. However, the love holidays are not over yet. April 14th is Black Day. Black Day is for singles. If you are single on Black Day you eat Ja -Jong ....a black bean sauce with rice or pasta. Two single people are supposted to meet over bowls of black beans and fall madly in love for life...or at least for the night.
A bit intense no?

To his credit, Keith took me out for a very very very nice, very expensive Itailan restaurant on White Day. The fact that he had absolutely no idea that is was White Day made it even better....and much more the Keith Bryant style. We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and great seafood and pasta. Of course I forgot that in Korea seafood almost always comes whole (nothing is ever taken out of its shell or off the bone) and entres such as "Seafood Pasta" almost always include baby octupus. Having tried baby octopus before and discovering that they are about as good as they sound I chose to eat around the octopus in my pasta :)

Wisdom of ages...

We decided to take advantage of the icredibly cheap health care that South Korea has to offer and get my wisdom taken out. Before we left the states, Marie and I both got checkups from the dentist and what not. Well my dentist told me that there was no problem and that my teeth could wait to come out till after we returned. I assumed that he meant my teeth came in strait, no big deal... Yeah not so much... I went to go get an x-ray to see if my teeth could just be yanked out and no such luck. My two bottom teeth came in completely sideways and i needed surgery to get them out. Well we decided that it was much more financially savvy to do it here still and i went in wednesday around 5:30. In the states, they put you under while they do surgery... Not here. i was given a local anesthetic (sorry Rose if that is spelled wrong hehe) which consisted of a couple novacain shots to the roof of my mouth (OUCH) and some down time to allow my mouth to loose feeling. I then had a heavy cloth placed over my face that looked like a doorknob hanger. It had a big hole for my mouth (duh) and then a slit for my nose. My eyes and everything else were covered up. He started with my bottom right tooth, which i was informed before hand that they would have to cut the gums (yeah ok i accepted that without question) and then he would cut the tooth itself in half before removing both halfs... (Yeah that concept threw me off alittle) Then he moved on to my top wisdom tooth. This one was going to be "pulled" out. So when i hear of teeth being pulled out i get a mental picture of a kid placing a rope from his tooth to the door knob and slamming the door. Well that is exactly what they did... Just kidding. But it was an extremely primative, grab the tooth with vice grips and pull as hard as i can procedure... Interesting to say the least. In total, the surgery only took about 35 minutes and i was out the door. The grand total for this excursion... drum role please... around the equivilant of 35 US dollars! No Joke. Now the only down side is that they would not do both sides of my mouth at the same time, so i get to go back and get the left side down in about a month! This is me being excited!

Coffee conclusion

Since we have moved here Marie has got me hooked on coffee to actually wake up. Well i have come to the conclusion that coffee does not actually make you more aware, it just makes you have to pee ALOT and that in turn wakes you up! The bathrooms are really cold here too :(

Can you make an elephant trunk with your arm? I can!

Just another day at work, teaching students the most pivotal of all English words...."eli fant."