Gyeongju

For Chris' birthday this year, we took a trip down to Gyeongju. Gyeongju is one of the prettiest cities and oldest cities in Korea. In fact, it was the original capital of Korea. Thus, there are tons of things to see and do there. Below is a slideshow of some of our pictures from the trip

Halloween

This year we celebrated Halloween at Everland Amusement park. It was so much fun! When we got there we all picked out hats or costumes to wear around the park. It was so much fun!! Koreans wanted to take pictures with us all day long. It was so funny.

Caving Trip

Being foreigners in Korea definitely has some advantages. One of the advantages is free trips! We just went on one such trip into the mountains of Korea. On the trip we went caving . . . and I mean serious caving that included small holes that you had to crawl through in the mud!

We also went white water rafting and hiking. Overall it was a great trip that was tons of fun! I am uploading a slideshow so that you can see some of the photos from the trip.

Friends

I have 2 best friends in Korea: Ashley and Shauna. Almost every week we got together to talk, fellowship, cry, laugh, shop, eat, or a combination of these. Shauna leaves in August, so here are some pictures of them and from Shauna's going away dinner.

Ashley and Shauna

Shauna and Henderick dancing

Daecheon Beach

We decided to head to the beach one weekend, so week took a 3 hour train trip down to Daecheon Beach. On the beach we had a ton of fun picnicking, and swimming. It was so relaxing. We walked down the boardwalk and ended up eating dinner at a chicken place. Chris loved it, and ate so much chicken! We are definitely planning on making another trip down there!

Chicken restaurant on the ocean

1 Year Anniversary Trip

For our one year anniversary we decided to take a weekend trip to Suwon, Korea. That city is surrounded by an old fortress and has a terrific folk village. We had a great time, and enjoyed being able to relax in a 5 star hotel!

Felicity's Wedding

During my first year in Korea I made a ton of friends. Some of those friends I lost contact with. Yet, through a strange consistence I was able to reconnect with one of them. My friend Felicity was studying to be a teacher when I left Korea. And then, when I came back to Korea I could not get in contact with her. Then, in February my friend Ben started a new job. And coincidentally his new co-teacher was my friend Felicity. She had met him one time at my going away picnic and happened to remember him.

The same day as my picnic in 2007, she went to a Bible study. There, she met the American man that she was to marry. So, anyways, we re-connected and here are some pictures from her wedding!

Felicity and Me

Me and Rachel

Ben

Felicity and her new husband

The wedding . . . almost all weddings here take place in a wedding hall. So wedding halls are in huge buildings with tons of halls and a buffet restaurant. There are normally a ton of weddings going on at the same time, and the decorations just stay up. Plus the people just rent their dresses. . . way less hassles than in the USA!!

Horse Races

Our friend Ben likes to go to lots of places in Korea. Since he has lived here for awhile, he decided he wanted to have a different kind of Birthday party, and he decided to have his party at the horse race track. There is a really nice park surrounding the race track so we had a picnic there, while Ben and his friends bet on some of the horses. While there Ben and his friends won over $1500. Chris and I don't really gamble, but we decided to put some penny bets down because I wanted to pretend I was in the movie MY FAIR LADY. Surprisingly, we still ended up winning about $16. Yet, that still didn't convince us to waste anymore of our money. It was a really neat experience, but also really sad. Just looking around you could see all these poor Koreans just wasting all of their money. It was really obvious. I really felt sorry for all the people who become addicted to this kind of life. Oh well, it was definitely a new experience.

Ben and his friends who won the big bucks

Cheering for my $16 win

Placing our bets

And they are off!

People camped out for the races

Cooking

I have discovered a love for cooking while living in Korea. I have made wonderful foods, and I love experimenting with various recipes until I have them perfect. I make fabulous banana pudding, macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, chili, and BBQ . . . just to name a few.

Well, with a lack of ingredients available in Korea, we have to make everything from scratch, and so, this post is dedicated to our latest creation . . . green bean casserole. I had Chris help me fry the onions, because I hate being popped by oil. So you will see below some Chicken cordon bleu and our casserole. It was delicious!

COEX Aquarium

On one of our free weekends we went over to the COEX aquarium. It was my first time there, and I guessed that it would be small. Yet, when we went in I was shocked because it was huge!! We spent the day there with our friend Ben, and then we went to get pizza at Uno Pizzeria. It was so much fun!

Ben at Uno Pizzeria

Chris and Ben destroying aliens

In front of the aquarium

Attack of the octopus!

Get me out!

Don't flush the fish!

Winter Camp

Two times a year, in the winter and the summer, public schools have English camps. Since I am the main English teacher I was in charge of planning the camp. So instead of spending most of our resources on books, I created my entire camp instead. I made a workbook, theme, arts and crafts, and even wrote a play.

Our camp theme was "Blast Off to English," and the kids actually built rocket ships. It was a lot of fun! Below are some pictures from the week.

China!

In December and January, Chris and I took a trip to China. During our trip we hit a ton of major sites in Beijing, and then we went down to Xian, China. Xian is where the terricata soldiers are. It was definitely an experience, and realized exactly why we decided to live in Korea and not in China. Below are tons of pictures from our trip.