The bearded pictures....

About 2 weeks ago, Jamie decided to shave off his beard. We decided to make an evening of fun out of this event.



Jamie, before.



Jamie after

I would like to put it on the record that Rob Tegellberg is one of the best things to happen to planet earth since the invention of democracy.

Rob didn't hesitate to accept my invitation to get up early on his day off and go to Yongsan electronics market. Furthermore, even though he woke up that morning with serious ailments in his digestive system from eating too many oranges, he still trooped on down to the subway. And, because he is not just a good guy but a great guy, he stopped at Dunkin donuts to get a breakfast treat for us, even remembering that I like my coffee black.

Rob, you're a fantastically thoughtful, generous, accepting, and friendly person, and I think you bring a lot of Jesus into the world.

Therefore, a toast (of his favorite drink, malibu and coke) to Rob! Here here!

4 weeks to go...............

My sister-in-law, Sarah and her husband John. They're having a baby in 4 weeks, so exicding for the Graham family. It will be the first grandchild. 'm already thinking of ways we can spoil the little gafer.......

A taste of the arts.....

Friday night Jamie, Hils, Adrian and i hot up a no-wee-bong (singing room). Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures, mostly videos (we'll try to host them sometime....maybe)

The place was called Princess Nooweebong and here are our friends in the waiting area (which looked like a dining room with chandelers)







This past saturday Jamie and I had a full day in Itaewan (downtown Seoul). The first thing we did was head to the Rocky Mountain Tavern (the Canadian bar) for Western-style brunch. They call it the "Big trucker breakfast". You may think that eating in a bar on a Sturday morning sounds sketchy, but the food is REALLY really good. We met up with our friends Rob and Sarah-Jane and Reuben. From there we went to the War Memorial park and played with the planes and guns.



From there Jamie and I met up with some more friends and headed to an Art Gallary sponsored by Samseung. Each of us got our very own PDA for translation and narration purposes. As much as I loved the art pieces in the gallary, my favorite part of the show was the immaculate, spiral staircase.



Our infamous married friends Hilary and Adrian (new teachers from Canada). I've known Hils since kindergarten and she was my bridesmaid in May.


Here's Nathan and Lydia (aka: the "Skulls") having a moment.

Thank you Kim---Sank-you Kim

Recently Jamie and I were invited over for lunch at our apartment security gaurd's home. His wife and and the grandmother cooked an amazing meal of bulgolgi, rice, kim bop, soup, salad and and traditional tea. By the way, our security gaurd's name is Sank-you Kim and he has a wife, a daughtor and a son. They also live with their grandmother.





We also learned a lot about Sank-you Kim during our time together. He used to be a banker and their 7-year old house was built and funded by their family. It's a beautiful 4 story brick building. Jeun, Sank-you Kim's son is Jamie's age (23) and he was such a neat guy. He's studying electrical engineering at college right now (smart too).

In other news, Hilary and Adrian are here!!!! I have known Hilary since kindergarten and my twin sister and I have shared in her friendship since that first day of kindergarten. She was also a bridesmaide at my wedding. Adrian came into the picture later and I met him after they started dating. Anyways, they get along great with all our friends. I can't believe I don't have any pictures of them yet. It is truly a blessing having them here. I don't think we'll ever have this oppurtunity to be living so close to one another--this is once in a life time!!!

Speaking of once in a lifetime, i truly appreciate all of the friends I have here in Seoul. It's really sad that a handful of them will be leaving us in Febuary, but the good news is, everyone I know so far is from the Lower Mainland, so we'll all reunite in Canada!! I love the fact that as foreigners, when we're together, no one gets excluded and their are not cliques like there are at home. Everyone is accepting because we have a major commonality-we're westerners living in a foregn country.

In other news, I GOT ACCEPTED TO THE TWU PDP PROGRAM!!!!!! In laymens terms (I'm goingto be a teacher). Still waiting to hear from SFU and trying to keep on top of all the details online, but there's only so much you can do in a foreign country.

It was a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Jamie and I travelled to the beautiful and unforgetable Koh Chang island in the Gulf of Thailand. Our adventure started on Christmas Eve. We stayed at a resort in Trat, swam in the pool, got a Thai massage and ate some great classic Thai cuisine.


Our new friends from Berlin, they stayed in the bungalow next to ours. We played hearts with them on our last night and they had a lot of new and interesting perspectives about life and marriage.

















Jamie and I opened our present on the 23 of December (no room in our bags for gifts). We had wine and thourouly enjoyed our very first Christmas together as a family. We packed our stocking stuffers with us (thanks mom and dad Graham) and opened them in Thailand (Jamie's socks made a makeshift stocking).


Me and Jamie at the crack of dawn on our bus via the airport. It was an 18 hour day ahead of us.




Christmas Day we caught the ferry to Koh Chang and checked into our resort in a tiny fishing village on the island. We ended up meeting an American family that permanently lives on the island. We chatted with them and they invited us to eat dinner with them. I had to leave early because of my fever and cough.







We went snorkling on a tiny unpopulated island close to our resort. Never saw so many colors and shapes of fish and sea creatures and coral.




We also took our rented motorbike around the island and expolored other beaches, waterfalls and scenery. It was on this journey that we discovered the White Sands Beach Resort. We booked a beach bungalo for 2 nights and cancelled our reservation for Koh Kod island. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut feeling. There were mostly Europeans on that beach and resort. How could you tell? The women were topless. But I sure wasn't.







Smoothies. These were one of our daily amenidies on the island. Funny story about my desperation for smoothies. In Chiang Mai I really wanted a smoothie and i saw what looked like a fruit smoothie stand. We had to take of our shoes to get into the "smoothie" area and there was sort of a culture performance, insence burning and people bowing. No big deal, until I realized that the fruit was not meant for smoothies, but for offeries to the gods. That's right, it was an offering ceremony, not a smoothie stand.








Sunsets. Unforgetable. Breathtaking. Wow.





The last 2 days of our trip were spent in Chiang Mai. We stayed with our aquaintances who live in a beautiful Teek mansion. We visited the orphanage I volunteered at 2 years ago. The kids all remembered me and they still had pictures of me on their walls. We had a great time painting nails, making art, playing soccer and catching up. I also witnessed the slaughtering of a pig--a tradition for them especially since they hardly ever eat meat because it's so expensive. Thanks to those of you who donated money to the orphange. At the moment they are wanting to fix their kitchen floor as it's wrecked from the recent floods.






For New Years Eve we went into the city to watch the fireworks and shop our brains out. I bought a shirt at the stroke of midnight.



Now we're back in Korea (our home until July). Our skin is peeling and we're getting into the habit of wearing more clothing and putting the flip flops to rest for now.