June/July and August summary

It's been since early May since I've posted, and well things have been great since. Ellen and I were on vacation from the 2nd week of July until the end of August. Here what we've been up to.

This pictures shows what it is like to go to a Korean bbq. Our favourite spot is 1,800 Won ($1.50) per serving of meat. It's called sam gib sal (frozen pork belly bacon) and it's great. In Korean tradition all the sides are "service" and included. You have to pay an extra 1,000 won for the rice. The beer is also extra. You get Kimchi of course (which is nice on the grill), lettuce, green onions, white onions, red bean sauce (has a little spice to it). Three of us can eat with some beers and be full for $16.

These are good buddies of mine, Matt and Barry. They have both returned to Canada, but we will see each other as Barry is grom Guelph and Matt hangs out in Southern Ontario as well.




The next few shots are some bad lucks. The first was a sad day for me. My favourite Christmas gift from the Walpole's was my dish mop. I wore it out as it seems. Emma is sending me a new one as a gift. Nice.

The second pic is the repair we had done for bad water flow. Since our pipes were clogged, we could hardly get any pressure which would also not allow the hot water heater to kick in. We called in the technicians. They did a great job of running the floor pipes from the room next door into our shower. The old pipes left there (the corks was our touch). It's not pretty, but man do we have good pressure. Koreans are all about gettin' 'er done and not so much craftsmanship.


We managed to get away and see Andy and Jane a few times as well. Here is the boat we ride on to get there. It pulls up straight into the paved ramp and the cars roll straight off and we walk right on/off. Super simple. Not the prettiest thing, but she's safe. It takes 2 hours and guessing the speed of the boat, we are likely travelling no further than 35 km's.

Picture of Ellen on our way back home. We often sit outside on the ride back, as it is nice. There is also an inside with a floor and little pillows. We can go in there, take off our shoes and lay down. The mornings, we spend inside either napping, or reading with the locals.


On this day, Jane and Andy actually had to work. So, we sat at the beach and waited for them. Andy was nice enough to lend us his home made beach umbrella. Ah yes. Bamboo, ducktape and a cheap umbrella does the trick.



Here we have the truck on their island that fummigates for mosquitoes. Not the safest stuff to be breathing, but not exactly sure on the details. Here we are about to get a mouthful.




Did we mention they have a rainy season? Here is Ellen taking a cab to work. The guy was gonna drop her off before this and make her walk like the locals. No way!! Yeah, when it rains, it pours.




When school finished, Ellen and I worked one week teaching at an English camp. We spent the week there, sleeping on the floor and showering with no hot water, but in the heat they had mid July it wasn't that bad.


Here are the middle school kids and Ellen checking out the eclipse we were lucky enough to see mid day.




One morning, Ellen and I went for a walk and checked out a Dorim temple near by. Also made time to go for a little dip in the stream. The are 9 rocks engraved with sayings from the old scholars. The water was very fresh as it is run-off from the surrounding mountains from the recent rains.