Jangtaesan: A Beautiful Getaway

Ben's older sister, Sarah, and her little baby boy, Jinu, have come to Daejeon for a visit before she moves back to Korea in July. This weekend we decided to take a relaxing trip to a recreational park in Daejeon called Jangtaesan. So Ben, Mary, Sarah, Jinu, Joon (Sarah's husband), and Rachel (a Korean friend of all of ours), loaded onto a bus and head out to this beautiful, serene, calm landscape for an afternoon of reading, walking, talking, picture taking, and general relaxing.

Sarah and Jinu, both as fair skinned as I am!

The azalea's were out in full bloom and lit the landscape up in flames.

A forest of cypress, perfect for a picnic.

Sarah, and Rachel...hiding from the camera.

Mary and ben, purely chilling.

It was really wonderful to meet Sarah and Jinu, and I am excited for them to join us here in Korea. From what I have learned of Sarah from her visit, it will be a great addition to have her and her little bundle of squeezable, pinchable, cuddle-able, loveable joy.

Safe trip home Sarah and Jinu, and hurry back!

The Gift of Love

The other day I was looking at my facebook wall and noticed a "gift".  The only gift I have is a heart shaped cookie with The four letter word written on it, "Love". The gift was from Mike.  And it made me smile, then giggle, then think...

It's an interesting thing, this love thing, because we use it so easily and freely sometimes and then so carefully others.  Also its an odd thing how love can grow and die as if its a plant or a person.  Then I ask, if you feed love, water it, clothe it, talk to it, and nurture it, why the hell can't it last a lifetime?

At the end of the day however, as with any life, you learn from it, you smile, laugh, cry, have adventures and misadventures...so has the love really died after all?  It may not be present any longer, but the lessons learned and experienced had will live on in the heart, mind, and soul.

So do our pasts really need to have a future?

Summarize: My First 3 Months

My first three months here has consisted of many new faces, the most beautiful children in the world, many drinks, late night outings, beautiful hikes, weekend getaways all over South Korea, temples, festivals, birthday parties, a baby shower for one of our Korean teachers, an Earth Day celebration extraordinaire, a Daejeon Hanwha Eagles baseball game, and a trip to Taiwan.
So upon my arrival at the Incheon Airport I was met by a Korean from my recruiting company. He spoke extremely little English, and he put me on a bus and said “last two stops”, to which I said “last stop?”. He retorted with “yes, last two stops”, and at that point I realized I would just smile sweetly at him, thank him, and get on the bus and hope that I can determine whether I need to get off at the last stop or the second last stop. Along the way we stopped at a rest stop, where I encountered my first “hole in the ground toilet”. And on the door to the hole in the ground I was met with a wonderful message and I had to capture it in a picture.

In Daejeon I was met with friendly faces, fruit Soju, and spicy Korean food. When I arrived I was taken straight to my school by a man I would come to know as Duey, the office bitch. Duey is a man of few words due to the whole language barrier thing, but he is warming up to me! I met Mary, and Laura, (Ben was in Canada), the other foreigners who I would be living with. Mary and Duey showed me to the apartment and I was able to relax the rest of the day getting to know everyone.
In my first few weeks there were many nights out with my Korean family, Ben, Mary and Laura, and outings with the Korean teachers at my school. Kate, one of the Korean teachers, is a regular fixture on our Soju adventures.

Laura, Me, Matt, and Mary...my first night out in Korea.

Tina, Mary, Me, and Laura...my first ECC (work) outing.

Charlie, Emily, and Ben.

Ben and the bosses wife, Janice....she was HAMMERED!

Me, Mary and Kate

Emily, Ben and Laura.

Kate, Mary, Emily and Ben eating fish cakes.

Rachel, another Korean friend had two birthday celebrations in one week, which consisted of delicious food, succulent cake, and thirst quenching Soju and fruit Soju. The second outing included my introduction to the Korean karaoke scene…called a Noraebong…where we jammed out with our clams out, (and for Ben, rocked out with his cock out)…don’t worry mum I don’t mean this literally!

Rachel blowing out her candles.

The first outing for Rachels Birthday.

Mary, Laura, and fruit Soju.

Kate, me, and Mary.

The start of the second outing for Rachels birthday.

First dinner at Amelie and Monicas, then out to noraebong!

Amelie, Rachel, and Monica.

The girls!

"I love you!"

NORAEBONG!!!

Ben, me, Mary, and Amelie.

Maria, a Korean teacher at our school, left two weeks after I started to go on maternity leave. We held a baby shower for her at our apartment, and prepared lots of food. Most of the Korean teachers from our school came, and it was a really great day.

The spread created by Mary and I.

Maria with one of the baby gifts.

Earth Day, April 22nd! Luanne came to visit me from Suwon for the whole weekend. We went out for a great Korean meal, and then went back to our apartment for Earth Hour. We turned out all the lights, turned off our computers, and lit a shit load of candles. We played cards and drank Soju in the candlelight and had a wicked time, we ended up turning Earth Hour into Earth Two Hours. We head out to Doonsandong, the downtown of Daejeon, and went to a bar and then to a club.

Joon, Mary, and Luanne.

Our setup for Earth Hour drinking.

Joon, Ben, and Laura.

Where there is Soju, there is food.

We moved onto Cocoon, a club in Doonsandong.

The Daejeon Hanwha Eagles vs. Seoul SK baseball game...my first of what I'm sure will be many...they love baseball here, and the crowd gets really into it!

Evidence of you being able to see a mountain from absolutely anywhere in Korea.

The Hanwha Eagles dancers.