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.

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.