The Whistler of Korea

These past 4 days have been heaven for 4 English teachers in South Korea. Because our school closed for the end of the term we had an extra 2 days added onto our weekend. So the Skulsteds and the Graham took this window of oppurtunity and went for it!


First off, although the bus ride to Sockcho was relatively cheap, it was pretty long--just about 6 hours on the ticker. But we had snacks, books, and most importantly, "People Magazines" IN ENGLISH!!!!! I don't who said they were trashy magazines but by the nend of the trip all 4 of us were engrossed in the articles and pictures, catching up on Brad Pitt, jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie updates.










Our first stop was Sokcho, the city on the beach, but we were somewhere closer to city than the sea once our bus unloaded. After searching for decent restarants that didn't just sell weird fish items, we realized that Jamie left his wallet on the bus. Normally this would be a fairly stressful situation. But imagine now that not one person in the bus termimal speaks English, (other than the Grahams and the Skulsteds). Through our phone interpreter, bilingual friend, June, we sorted everything and we got the wallet (and the money) back.

Next we tried to find a good motel that wouldn't set us back too much. The man in the first motel we entered promtly asked us how many hours we wanted the room for. I think he had the wrong idea. After another hour of searching, we found a motel that charged us for the night, and not per hour.

After a game of hearts and a good night sleep, we woke up and headed for the beach. We ate, we read, we played beach soccer and we dabbled in the cool waves. We then decided to head for the mountains next.


Picture by the Skulstads







There is is nothing that quite compares to driving through the country when you live in one of the busiest cities in the world. The vibrant colors of red, yellow and most importantly, orange, were a familiar scene, but we never took those moments for granted.




Seoroksan is the "Whistler" of Korea. This time of year at the mountains were particularly breathtaking because of the beautiful klaidescope of colors. The crowds had disapated once we arrived and the mountain belonged to us for the next two days. We had fun treking, riding the cable car, paying almost 7 dollars for canned peaches and ice cream, playing hearts and breathing in the clean and fresh mountain air. Oh, and eating kraft dinner with tuna and corn was sweet.

The sharp shooters

Pictures taken by Lydia and Nathan Skulsted

LOST SEASON 2 HAS BEGAN

Let the games begin.......We have found ourselves highly addicted to this awesome TV show called Lost. It's about this plane that crashes onto a deserted island. The catch is that the island is really weird, weird things happen everyday and there are other people who have been living on this island for awhile too. Last week 7 of us cramed into our apartment to watch episodes 1, 2 and 3 on our 12 inch laptop screen.

Living the great adventure

Well, it's been awile since I've posted a written post. Hope everyone has been enjoying the pictures. maybe I should explain more about the pictures and the kinds of adventures we've been up to.

Firstly, last weekend, Jamie and I celebrated the anniversary of our engagement (Thanksgiving weekend). To celebrate, we spent the day at Gyeunboak palace and then we went to dinner at this nice italian pizzerria we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The day couldn't have been more perfect, nice weather, beautiful sites and great conversations. Meanwhile, the rest of my family was hiking the very same trail Jamie proposed. Here's some pics to bring back those memories:



Last Sunday, we went to an Anglican church in the City Hall (downtown area) with Lydia and Nathan. The service was very refreshing and more intellectually stimulating that the past few months. I loved hearing all the Scriptures being read aloud, the words seemed to jump off the pages. After church we met up with one of our co-workers, Esther, in Insadong (the cultural district of Seoul). The first restarant we went to was very beautiful and traditional, but as we looked at the menu we realized that the price was too high. Aparently the lunch prices used to be a lot less expensive the last time Esther was there. So Esther politly explained to the restarant staff and we went another Korean restarant for Kimchi, Beep-in-bop and other things. Then we looked at all the beautiful traditional Korean artwork. There were a lot of foreigners in this area, btu i could have sworn i saw Katy Spane's best friend, Amy on the street, but I couln't catch up to her.

Lydia and I also snagged some super cheap, and nice, brown, suede Puma shoes (see pictures below).



Later that evening, Jamie and I had a nice meal at TGI Fridays with our good friends Lydia and Nathan. We really missed our families over the Thanksgiving holidays, but I think you really appreciate your good friends during times like these.

The morning after thanksgiving we had quite an ordeal at our apartment. We woke up at 8:30 am to a Korean voice on our intercom system. of course, not being Korean speakers, we didn't understand what they were saying, but Jamie went outside to check it out because there was a lot of commotion going on outside. There was a huge cloud of black/grey smoke coming from under us. So I jumped out of bed and we ran outside to discover that the apartment under us and to the left was burning a steady rate.




This past weekend we went out for galbi (reallt tasty, marinated, bbqed beef on lettuce), pool and then we hung out inTim's neighborhood. We went out with our Korean friends: June, Tim and Otellia. Also, we randomly met this guy named David who lived on the same floor as us and he's also an English teacher from Canada. Anyways, we had a blast with these guys and we didn't end up getting home until 4 am.






The next morning we slept in and met up with our friends Sarah Jane and Reuben in Sanbon (South West Seoul, about an hour and a half subway ride). We went to a jinga-bong, a traditional Korean bathhouse that was actually located directly under the subway. A Korean bathhouse is basically a place where you go to relax, get a massage, go into some saunas and hot tubs. The weird part is that all the women wear pink uniforms and the men wear grey uniforms (kind of like pajamas). Also, when you get to the hot tub part, the men and the women go into seperate areas and you take off all your clothes and bathe naked. I find it very freeing.

Later that night we met up with Lydia and Nathan and we made bulgolgi at their apartment with some of their friends. After dinner we went to the Pirate Bar--our new favorite hangout because the beer comes in this glasses incased in ice and when you finish your drink you throw it at this target and if you hit the target you win a prize (see picture below).





Today (Sunday) we went to church and then we saw 2 films from the New Zealand film festival. The films were called Kitty and Stickmen. Stickmen was the longer film of the two and it was about these guys who play in a pool tournament--it was really good to watch.




Here's some pictures of my super cute English Time 1 students and Jamie's "not so cute" English Time 6ers.

Another beautiful day in Seoul

Esther, Lydia and I--playing "chopsticks".

I can't believe we live here

It's Sunday night, 6:45 pm and we're celebrating thanksgiving by going to TGI Fridays, since we don't have an oven, and since we live in Korea and a good turkey dinner is hard to come by. Actually, if you are willing to pay $75, you can have a turkey dinner at a ritzy hotel downtown. I wish I was with my family right now, they're all celebrating thanksgiving together in Oliver.

Oh well, we're making the most of a challenging situation. We're going to make mashed potatoes and gravy for our coworkers tommorow. I'm going to talk to my parents and sisters on Skype tonight.

There's so much I'm thankful for: my wonderful, supportive husband, great friends in Korea, beautiful palaces and gorgeous weather and most of all, God, and all the blessings he pours over us.












This is a palace in Seoul called Gyeongbokgung. The restored palace faired badly as the Japanese Empire encroached upon Korea's sovereignty. First it was the scene of the murder of Queen Min and the capture of King Gojong when Japanese soldiers in disguise ransacked the palace in 1895. After Korea's annexation by Japan in 1910 most of the restored buildings were torn down, except for a few of the larger buildings including the graceful Gyeonghoe-ru banquet hall and the Geunjeong-jeon hall of state. The remaining parts of the palace suffered further indignity when the Japanese erected the huge Capital Building in front of the palace in 1923 and moved one of the major remaining gates. The gate was restored to its original position in 1968 with a signboard written in Korean script by Park Chung-hee, President of the Republic of Korea. The Japanese Capital Building was destroyed in 1995 in fulfillment of a campaign pledge by President Kim Yon-sam. With this building out of the way, the government began to restore portions of Gyeongbok palace, rebuilding many halls, corridors, gardens, and pavilions. Construction continues even today, although the palace will never regain the grandeur it twice possessed over its 600-year life.

Seodaemun Prison

This prison is a place where the Japanese captured and tortured Korean ansestors. The tour was sobering but so sad to see the racism between Korea and Japan. They still hate one another and you tell by all the cursing on the prison walls.


On our way to the prison from Korean lessons.


Nathan just couldn'e resist getting his picture taken with these cute Korean girls.


The gate to the hanging gallows at the prison