Green Tea Fields

First for the news. Ellen and I are going to stay in Korea longer than expected. We have renewed our contracts and will stay. Not sure how much longer, but the contract is for a year. We do have vacation in August, but still unsure of how long and what we will do with it. May only be a week.
We are truly enjoying being here and our health both mental and physical is great and we love the time we get to spend together. Speaking of which...here is another great day at a local festival.

This flag flying in the sky sums it up pretty good.



We toured the grounds and enjoy some green tea treats. Ellen picked up some really nice green tea mugs with built in filters and of course some green tea. I'm not a big tea drinker, but I do enjoy the green tea. I had some gifted to me when in Japan, and found it very soothing.









It was a beautiful spring day. The temperature in the low 20's and no humidity. We are enjoying the long spring here and I am in no rush for the hot humid months of July and August.







We are already in mid May and man time flies. This weekend is our May 24 weekend, but we don't have any holidays (of course). We are heading to Docho island to visit with our friends Andy and Jane. We will hit the beach, play some tennis and hang around their trailer park (we call it that, but it's really small concrete buildings). Can't wait. We miss home, and will be happy to get there when we are ready. The bonus is the extra time here will give us a down payment and some on our first home!! Goodbye for now everyone. Talk to you again soon.

Jindo Parting of the Sea

The parting of the sea, the modern Moses, the magical seaway, the mysterious road festival. It has many names, but call it what your want, it was a great experience. The festival occurs once a year on Jindo island on April 25th-26th. Due to the tides, the water drops to a level that allows a path to emerge that links this large island with a small island out a little less than 3 kilometers and in some places it was 40m wide. Quite a festival, so we joined up with Dean, Chelsea, Andy and Jane and we rented a van for the trip.

All along the boardwalk they had food stands, performers and people playing traditional Korean music. I got grabbed and pulled into this dance by the lady in green. Hey let's watch the big foreigner dance!!



Here you can see the boardwalk decorated with colourful lanterns on the railing.



Ellen and Jane are posed in front of the statue that depicts the original story. "According to the legend, an old lady, who was left alone after all the Jindo villagers took shelter in Modo when dangerous tigers showed up in Jindo, eagerly prayed to the Sea God hoping to meet her family again, and the Sea God listened to her prayer and parted the sea, granting her wish. This magical parting of the sea became world-famous when a French ambassador in Korea named Mr. Pierre Randi visited Jindo in 1975 and wrote about this phenomenon in a French newspaper. Jindo Sea Parting Festival is held when the tide differences are at its highest peak, where visitors can enjoy various sea experiences and the unique scenery and culture of Jindo."



Can't cross without a good pair of rubber....socks? Not quite boots, but they were sturdy enough to keep us dry. Besides, quite the fashion statement no? Looking hot babe!!



Here is the start of the rush to get across. It was still slowly dropping, but people were eager to go.


Some parts of the walk we were in water almost to our knees. Good thing the rubber socks were good and long.


Here is a good shot of our group. Left to right: Andy, Jane, Ellen, Kara, me (looking like a goof), Chelsea and Dean. You can also see once the water drops that there is a good wide "road" to walk on.



We were all decked out in our rubber boots. Others decided to keep things simple. Socks though? C'mon mom. haha.

While we were having a good time and enjoying the festival. Many locals were hard at work picking sea weed and shell fish.


There are also tons of star fish on the walkway. Here is Andy showing us what a great hat it makes.


While Andy is showing us the newest fashions, here is Chelsea getting on local TV.


After finishing our walk, we posed for a shot.





With our rubbers off. We were walking around and sampled a local red wine/whiskey. It was actually pretty awful. A promotions guy asked us if we would pose for a group picture if they each gave us a t-shirt to wear. Why not. The promoter shot with his camera while his assistant took mine and snapped a photo. In the end, the gave each couple a bottle of the stuff for free.


Good times in Korea. Standing out like soar thumbs, but quite welcomed by the Koreans for dancing and socializing. We had an awesome time with our friends and it was a great way to enjoy a beautiful Saturday out walking around.

Spring is in the air!

Our winter was nowhere near as severe as what we heard happened back home this year, but we were still really happy to have the air warm up and see the trees start to bud and put some colour back into he countryside. Ellen and I have been taking advantage of the nice weather with day trips on weekends to local festivals, having some picnics and also playing badminton outdoor with Kara and Matt. What's been really nice is the cherry blossoms that were out the first couple weeks of April. Here are a few pictures we took during that time.

Surprised Ellen with a picnic on her birthday. Scored some cheese we had missed out on since we left Australia and made a chicken Caesar salad.




Ellen brought me out one night to the Mokpo University Campus. They had a small festival going on, but the tulips and cherry blossoms were really nice.







Ellen copying the Korean pose all the girls were doing with the blossoms.


On the weekend we hopped on a bus and went to the Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival.

Festival to "commemorate Wangin, a Confucian scholar born there during the Baekje Kingdom (18 B.C.-A.D. 660), who was dispatched to Japan and became the teacher of the Japanese crown prince, helping the country's culture flourish during the Asuka period."







The streets through town a lined with the blossoms. We had an amazing day. It was 26 C with no humidity. Nice to warm up our bones after our not so cold, but very damp and windy "Korean winter".






It's nice to have some colour back in our landscape and our cheeks. We've been here for 7 months and time has flown by. We are truly enjoying our time here and our lifestyle is extremely healthy both individually and together as a couple. Tonight is Tuesday night, and Ellen and I meet at the gym after school. Play some ball hockey on Thursday. Wednesday is low key rest day with lots of reading. We never turn on the TV except 1/week for a movie. It's now 2:30pm in the afternoon, and I have an online class to teach from 4:00-4:50. The time between now and then will be used to plan my two lessons for tomorrow. One grade 3 class and one grade 4. That's it for now.

La Nouvelle Calédonie - La GVS!

We left Australia for 10 days. It was like a holiday from a holiday. It was awesome to speak french and get all the french culture in the middle of the pacific. We enjoyed tons of good wine, cheeses, bagettes and I had my share of pate de foie gras. We stayed the first part in the main city called Noumea. We then took a weekend trip to an island (Ile des pins).

Here is the view from our youth hostel room at sunset.




Below is a beach that is accessible from Noumea by city bus. It was really a great way to get around to all the beaches.





Here is a shot of the mainland of Nouvelle Caledonie from the boat on our way to Ile des pins.


Nothing to do on the beach but chill and play around. It was quite a bit more humid on the island than it was in Australia (cute curls babe!!)















One of the highlights on this island is the snorkeling. Surrounded by a barrier reef totalling close to 1500km, this place is filled with wonderful underwater life and many types of fish. The water is at 30 C and it is crystal clear. Can't describe how amazing it is to swim up to a corral with the colours and the abundance of fish swimming all around you. I also came quite close to a giant sea turtle which was pretty cool. A variety of sea snakes swimming on the ocean floor. Can't describe how cool it is. We had an amazing trip within our amazing trip. We are fortunate to be able to do something like this.

Life is tough!!

Ellen and I have returned from our trip to Australia and New Caledonia on the weekend and are back to work. We had a fantastic time....an amazing time. Arriving in Australia was like reverse culture shock with so many english speaking people that are very friendly. Hard to walk around without getting a "G'day mate" or "How you going?" from locals. We were spoiled to spend time with Ellen family. Aunt Allyce and uncle Allan put some serious miles on their cars getting us from the airport and just being great helping us plan our trip and getting to know their amazing location in Mt. Martha just outside of Melbourne. Our first day in Australia we didn't waiste much time getting to the beach which is a 5 min. walk from Allyce and Allan's pad.


People have these colourful sheds down by the beach to store their stuff. I feel on my rear end to find out it's around $200,000 to own one (space to have one). Sorry maybe it is a luxury storage facility and not a shed. Yikes, I'll just carry my stuff down thanks.






Allan took us out on the kayak's. Here is Scott making his way back in. Later that day, I was out for a snorkle with Allan which was great. On our way back we spotted three dolphins. Likely mother, father and a little guy. We were able to paddle along with them as they came to the surface. They would come within 3-5 feet of us. Really enjoyed that random moment. What luck!!!

I was jonesin' for some local beer and food. We found something like that at the Wednesday market in Melbourne. There was a lot of people out having a great time. Lots of great music, live bands, tons of food stands and of course some local beer/wine.





We were also walked the boardwalk in the downtown of Melbourne at night.



Riley (Ellen's cousin) took us out one morning to do some fishing. Fishing for squid, flatheads and whatever we can get. Scott got some nice action on his rod at one point and reeled in this bad boy. Great fight. A Port Jackson. Type of shark. When I went down to net the thing, I was blown away to see the colour on the guy. Let 'er go of course.




After being limited in our choice of groceries in Korea, we really went nuts here. We cooked up a storm and ate tons of cheese, breads, pate and of course all washed down with some great Australian wines and beer. Scott and I made quick work of filling up the recycle bin!!


Ellen here is putting the final touches to her chicken, apple, blue cheese and spinach pizza made on the BBQ.


Here is the happy family. We had some great laughs!

We spent a week with the Graham's and then we rented a car and headed up the coast to Sydney. In the time we were in Melbourne, we experienced the hottest day on record in 100 years 46 C in Melbourne. The dry conditions, heat and high winds were disaster for the forest fires. We came close to some driving up the coast, but were never in any danger.


On a happier note. We went to Raymond Island to see some Koala's. The island is 150m from the mainland. No typo there...150m. Ferry ride was 2 minutes. Here is Ellen and Emma trying to see what it's like to hang out in the trees and do nothing...'cause that is what Koala's do...nothing. This was not a zoo or anything, completely in the wild. Just hanging out.





We left Lakes Entrance for Batemans Bay. Not a bad stop. We got a little weather on our way and it dropped a bit in temp (low 20's), but still doesn't take away from the gorgeous coast on our drive.



Ellen always has a good eye to catch some shots of colourful flowers. Won't bother trying to name it, to me its a flower.




Just can't get over how blue the water is and how white the sand is in some places.



We next headed to Pebble Beach to check out the Kangaroos that apparently are just sitting there on the beach. Well...they were. Quite calm and likely used to seeing people, but they are totally in the wild. Really cool to see. We didn't have any food, but tried to get close all the same without disturbing them.







It had been cloudy for a couple days, and our tans were fadding....oh no. We were close to Jervis Bay and noticed a blue sky opening close to the water. We headed to Hyams beach and were not dissapointed. The whitest sand we'd seen and really a gorgeous spot to hang out for the afternoon. This is some more of that life sucks kinda stuff. The sand is seriously so white. It almost looks washed out in this picture, but it is crazy white. Also squeeks when you walk on it...weird.





Here I am on a rock. (purpose is to show I'm not the 205lbs I was when I left. Still some work to do!!)



Looked up in time to check out a hawk in flight. Again, name of it is...hawk.





We made our way to Kiama and checked out the blowhole on the pier. We saw the rock pool, but after being on the beach most of the day, we didn't take a dip. Can't say we swam in one, but you can't do everything, I mean c'mon!! Had a nice dinner that night (ok...everynight) and relaxed before our hike in the Minnamura rainforest.
Ellen was looking at me, but starting speaking french to this tourists from France. Couldn't help herself of course. Also the only time the blowhole actually blew when she was there.







This was a wonderful hike, or should I say walk along the great boardwalk through the rainforest. The destination brought us to a nice waterfall, of course.









We got into Sydney and stayed the first night at Bondi beach. There had been 2 shark attacks in a row just 150m of shore in this picture. Too chilly to go in anyways.



The next night we stayed in Sydney in the Rocks which was great.
Scott and I kept busy while the girls did some shopping. Had a choice to enjoy a hamburger Australian style with "The Lot". Beef patty (yeah, not kangaroo), cheese, egg, slice of beet, bacon...a true treat for me and my arteries.






What is a visit to Sydney without a shot of the opera house?


We saw Emma and Scott off in the afternoon as they were catching their flight back to Canada. It was really great seeing them and spending time with close friends from home. Made us truly miss home.