much has happened........

We have been meaning to post on here for a while now, but our busy schedules have prevented us from doing so. The last couple weekends have been really hectic and a lot of fun. On April 18th (Saturday), we went to the wedding of one of our co-workers. It was really interesting to see a Korean wedding and to be able to compare and contrast it to an American one. All those weddings Katie and I went to just before we left finally came in handy! It almost felt like it was more of a show than a wedding. There was an announcer and spotlights and the guests were allowed to talk freely, cell phones were ringing constantly... it was quite an experience. Apparently, after all the guests left the wedding hall and proceeded to the reception, another ceremony was held just for the families. I'm sure that ceremony was more like what we're used to seeing in the states. A few, brief observations: we got to see the bride before the wedding and we took a couple pictures with her; wedding dresses are rented in Korea; wedding halls are permanent fixtures with several weddings taking place in the same room every weekend, all sharing the same flower arrangements and the like. Here are a few pictures from April 18th:

Maya in her wedding dress

A few of the Korean teachers from the regular kindergarten program. From left to right: Ming-Ji, Jong-Ha, and Seo-Hi. I'm not sure of the name of the teacher on the far right. She teaches 2-3 year olds, so we don't interact with her at all.


The families of the bride and groom. The parents of each are sitting in the chairs alongside them.

Katie's meal at the reception: salad, fruit, kemba (sushi, but they insist it's kemba haha) meatballs, rice, a few other things... and jellyfish! Katie ate jellyfish!

Katie and one of her students, who happens to be the granddaughter of the director of the school

After the wedding, we went home to change clothes before meeting up with our boss and Gerard to visit the neighboring town of Geoje. We saw a POW camp from the Korean war and then ate at a really nice Indian restaurant. Sadly, we don't have any pictures from that night because our camera died sometime after the wedding, but both places were really cool. We had a lot of really good chicken at the Indian place. On Sunday the 19th we woke up really early and took the 7:00 AM ferry to Bijindo (the island with the beach that connects two mountain-islands). We underestimated the time it would take to hike up the mountain and back, so we missed our ferry back and ended up spending nine hours on Bijindo. Here are a few of the pictures we took:

The view from Bijindo Beach

I found a really cool shell on the beach. Unfortunately, I crushed it into small pieces when I climbed a tree later on.

Katie posing on some rocks on the far right side of the beach

A map of Bijindo. There are two ferry stops: one on the northern island and the second on the beach. The northern island appears to be where the islanders live year-round (we saw a big school and many more homes on this island than its southern counterpart). The southern island has little to no civilization on it; it's mainly used for hiking, fishing, and farming on a small scale.

After spending a couple hours on the beach and exploring the village, we decided to hike to the top of the southern mountain. This is a view of the beach from about halfway up.

We found a really nice vantage point on top of a boulder. Notice the mountain-islands behind Katie, pretty cool, huh?

The view from the other side of the mountain. Can you find the random goat?

I decided to climb this tree to get a better view of the ocean and the surrounding islands. I crushed my sweet shell in the process :'(

Katie and I celebrated our two-year anniversary on April 23rd. I surprised her with a dozen roses at school and another dozen at home (they're really cheap here, haha). I also got her an authentic Tongyeong jewelry box and she got me a copy of The Hobbit and a financial journal haha. We went back to the Athena restaurant; this time I ordered the Athena special (pictured below).

The Athena special: 1. lobster tail with rice, 2. the upper half of the lobster, 3. a piece of fried chicken, 4. a small steak, 5. fries and tater tots. It was very good and well worth the expense ($25).

Katie posing with her roses

Early Saturday morning (April 25th), Gerard, Katie and I left for Busan, the second largest city in Korea. It is an hour and a half to two hours away from Tongyeong by bus. We spent Saturday touring a Buddhist temple, shopping in a huge mall, watching a baseball game, and walking around downtown Busan. We spent the night at a tourist hotel and spent the better part of Sunday at Hyeundae Beach and the Busan aquarium. Here are some pictures of Busan:

The walkway leading up to the Beomeosa Temple. The lanterns line the pathway in remembrance of Buddha's birthday. On May 2nd he will be 2553 years old.

The inside of one of the buildings in the temple complex. Apparently fruit is being offered to Buddha?

Reconstruction of a temple was taking place and tiles for the roof were being sold for 10,000 won apiece. The three of us wrote a short note on a tile and signed our names.

The entrance to the complex

A park with lots of shrubs and flowers outside a big mall in Busan called Centum City.

Our next stop was the baseball game at Sajik Stadium where we witnessed the Lotte Giants (home) get crushed by the LG Twins (away). This was the situation by the time we found our seats: top of the first, no outs, bases loaded due to walks. Most of the teams are sponsored by a large company and are referred to as the name of that company rather than the city in which they play. Thus, Lotte Giants instead of Busan Giants.

LG put up 3 runs in the 1st thanks to five walks. By the time we left in the 6th inning, the home team had two errors, had walked 8 batters and the score was 10-4. I would compare the skill level of the Korean league to that of A or AA ball in America.

In the subway we saw this cardboard cut-out advertisement with the manager of the Lotte Giants and a Korean girl. Apparently Gerard was fond of her!

Later that night, in the middle of a quest to find food, we encountered dancing soju bottles on a crowded street (soju is a cheap liquor Korea is famous for producing). The one crouching down in the back is playing the air drums = hilarious!

The next day we found a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Busan to relieve our Mexican cravings. The food was amazing.

At the Mexican restaurant you could write something on a sticky note and place it on the wall. Family Guy fans will appreciate this find.

We saw this on the way out and Katie and I were able to translate all of it except for the word 'casar.' I believe it's a reflexive verb: casarse... but I can't remember what it means. The rest of it goes like this: The tacos are delicious. Take it from someone who comes from the land of tacos - Migue

Korean couples often wear "couple shirts" (identical shirts) or sometimes couple shoes... but this was the first time we had seen a complete couples outfit. The shoes, jeans, hoodies, shirts, everything was identical. Strange!

Hyundae Beach - the most popular beach in all of South Korea. It was definitely much nicer and bigger than any beach we had seen so far, but nothing compared to beaches in North and South Carolina.

A sand art contest was being held on Hyundae Beach

A buck-toothed fish at the Busan aquarium

There was a tunnel underneath a tank full of sharks, sting rays, turtles, etc.

Lots of sharks!

Bonus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtJNCmiH01k Luckily, this isn't the kind of teaching videos we use at our school; although, what we have isn't too much better! This is a video from the public school system in Seoul where Gerard taught last year. There are several other humorous videos. I'll post new links every now and then.

Goodbye for now.

Comments are appreciated!!!

rick-rolled, korean style

Sad, but true. Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up" was playing over the loudspeakers in the grocery store as Katie and I were shopping the other day. We were just minding our business, shopping for groceries and enjoying the mix of American music they were playing when all of a sudden it happened... rick-rolled. It hit us like a ton of bricks and before we knew it we were singing along because, sadly, we know all the words.

Katie and I had been planning on going to a town called Jinhae to see their cherry blossom festival last Saturday, but we had to change our plans because we had to wait on the movers that were bringing us furniture from the apartment of the American teacher that recently left. So instead we took a ferry to an island named Yeonwha-do. Here are some pictures from our latest excursion:

This is typical of what you can see from the ferry. Steep, mountainous terrain shooting out of the ocean all around (I have decided to refer to them as "mountain-islands" henceforth). You can see another island behind the first; there were just rows upon rows of islands surrounding us.

Bijindo Island - It's hard to see, but there's a small strip of land that connects two mountain-islands. That strip is actually a beach and I have decided that it is the coolest island/beach ever, because I'm assuming you can swim on both sides! We will be visiting this island when the water warms up a bit more!!

Beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees outside of a Buddhist temple. The electricity poles give this scene a modern feel, haha.

Artwork on the outside of the temple. This scene reminds me of The Chronicles of Narnia.

The view from halfway up the mountain

A big statue at the very top of the mountain overlooking the bay. It reminds of the huge statue of Jesus on top of that mountain in Brazil.

Apparently a good time was had by all!

As a special bonus, I'd like to add a few pictures from the dinosoaur expo in Goseong, a neighboring town (we had been once before with the American teachers, but this time we came with the children).

This is an overview of the expo. Katie took this picture from on top of a hill where they have arcade games and a big swinging ship ride. I have numbered the notable attractions:

1. The tent that housed the dinosaur skeletons. This was probably the coolest and definitely the most relevant exhibit.

2. A unique combination of sturgeons in aquariums (lower level) and a restaurant with terrible service (upper level).

3. A cartoon-ish exhibit of dinosaurs and cavemen. The kids loved it!

4. A 3-D movie theater and a live performance including a man wearing a tyrannasaurus rex costume with his legs completely visible the entire time, haha

5. Me and my kids resting in the shade for a while

Katie's infamous 6-1 and 6-2 classes. Apparently these kids are troublemakers! She tells me that the kid at the top right of the picture, the one trying to like cute and sweet with his hat, is the worst of the bunch, haha.

fooooooood

hi! people have been complaining about how i (katie) never write on here anymore so i decided to give in and fill you guys in on what's been going on. please excuse the lack of capitalization...i'm too lazy today :)

let's see...brian can talk again, which could be seen as both good and bad news. haha. last week went by pretty quickly and uneventfully. this week should be a little more exciting: we're going on a field trip (to the dino expo place we went to last weekend, coincidentally) on tuesday and our new canadian teacher starts on thursday! joy, the american teacher who works with us now, is leaving on wednesday, so that will be a bit sad. oh well...brian and i won't be the newbie teachers anymore! score!

yesterday we had a bit of an adventure. we met up with joy and got our hair cut. this was scarier for me than for brian because he's a boy...there are only so many ways his hair could be messed up. mine could be a disaster! thankfully, though, the woman cutting my hair spoke a little english and did a pretty good job. my haircut does have a slight korean-girl feel to it, though, which is sort've funny to me. what's even funnier is that brian's hairstylist went crazy with the gel/hairdryer/other styling products and when she was done he looked completely metro. anyone who knows brian should find this hilarious and i really really wish i had taken a picture.

next we took a bus to geoje, a town on geoje island (about 20 minutes away from tongyeong). there's a huuuuge department store there called home plus which has amazing western food, like different kinds of cheese. and more than two types of cereal. it's awesome. we wandered around there for a while and then walked outside where there were some beautiful cherry trees blooming. they're everywhere in korea and they're so pretty.

anyway, on to the main topic of this blog : food. a lot of you guys have been pretty curious about the food here and if we like it or not. there are a few different categories of korean restaurants here : pork restaurants, raw fish restaurants, regular korean food restaurants, and western-ish restaurants.

these turtles have nothing to do with food. they're for sale as pets and brian wanted me to post this for mr. and mrs. regan. cute, aren't they?

this was taken at a 'japanese' restaurant (it really wasn't japanese food). brian is about to take a bite out of a baby octopus tentacle. yummm. they actually put the whole baby octopus in the pot first, let it cook, and then cut off the pieces and eat them. the woman in blue behind him is the director of our school.

this is the standard layout for most normal korean restaurants. there's one main dish and then several side dishes (in this case there's soup, kimchi, and pickled japanese radishes). the main dish here is pork mixed with rice and topped with an egg...it's soooo good!

a pork place! here you cook your own food on the little plate in the middle of the table. you usually sit on the floor in these places too, which brian isn't very good at. there are also a ton of side dishes, most of which you can cook with the meat or eat raw. after you finish cooking and eating the meat, you get either noodles or rice to finish your meal with.



one of the western restaurants we went to...called a 'tourist restaurant' actually! we got a korean variation on a salad, bread/biscuits, pickles (they come with pretty much everything, including pizza, around here), and ribs/chicken and pasta. mmm. if you look closely, you can see the tater tots mixed with the fries. koreans are big fans of the tots :)


i don't have any pictures of the raw fish restaurants b/c i hate fish and try to stay as far away as possible! but basically they have tanks out front where you can pick out your favorite fat fish, they kill it, and then put it on a plate for you to eat. fresh fish!


that's all i've got for now...i'm sure we'll write again soon!


p.s. i almost beat brian in the college basketball brackets. i'm so proud of myself!