Hello, hello. Its friday. Its 4:27pm and 5:00pm couldn't come any sooner. I am ready to be done with this week. Its been a fine week. I'm just ready for the weekend. This evening myself, a Korean friend, and another American teacher are going to see SATC 2!!!! Ahh, I am so excited. Tonight is opening night in Korea. It will be interesting to see if it will be crowded or now. Eugene, my Korean friend, said that young woman love it so it might be which would be fun. I saw SATC 1 in Uganda with all a bunch of PCVs, we got dressed up like the characters. Super fun. Super cheesy! It was wonderful.
Tonight is also the start of the World Cup!!!! Ahhhh I'm so excited for that too. Go South Africa!! I'm pulling for them to go all the way. We can do it. There is so much World Cup fever here. I love it. Koreans are really excited about it. Its so great to see they enthusiastic about something. Tomorrow we are going to this big cultural festival called Danoje and then we are going to watch the first Korean match in the streets of Gangnueg. Should be fun and memorable.
Its nice to be busy. I can't believe I am actually going to be in America in 8 days. Who would have ever thought? Not me. But I'm feeling really good about it. I am so thankful I will be able to be with my family. We are going to spend some time at the farm my grandparents lived at when we were kids. Its not really a livestock farm. Its just this beautiful place of peace on the river with acres of fruit trees, a quiet creek and a playful pond. I have so many wonderful memories from there. It will be a healing time for my family I think. I'm so glad I will be with them.
I hope you all have a great weekend. Cheer for South Africa in the Cup!!! Ngiyabonga (thank you in Zulu)!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
pictures galore
We have put all our pictures on snapfish.com so you can access them whenever you want. You can use our username: stubbsmatt85@gmail.com and our password is photos. Once you get into the home page, click on "go to photos" in the recent album box and then "view all by date" on the left hand side. Enjoy! We will keep adding to them regularly.
an unexpected hike
This Saturday, we took the train to Taebek. Its a beautiful little town hidden in the mountains west of us. The trains here are incredible. Cheap, wonderful, convenient. We could have just taken the 1.5 hour train there and back and I would have been happy. I love trains. The route was beautiful and when we arrives we found the town just as great. We planned to have a relaxing day, exploring this town. But after asking for some advice from the tourist center, they directed us to the mountain to see a beautiful shaman altar. So we took the bus and started our hike just in time for a downpour. Matt wanted to keep walking, I did not! By the time we found shelter in a coal museum, we were soaked! Boo... We looked around the museum for about an hour while the storm passed. Once we headed back to the hiking trail, Matt realized that there were two paths to the altar. We were on the path that took 7.4 kms to get there and there as another sign saying to took 4.3 kms.. Oh man! We almost made such a mistake! Great job Matt!! We got on the right path and started walking again. And we kept walking, and walking, and walking, and walking....for what seemed like forever. Straight up the mountain. No zig-zagging business here. We were exhausted. We almost didn't make it. But 3 hours later we did. It was worth it. On the top of the mountain there was the shaman altar and a Buddhist temple. Sitting there listening to their prayers and chants while looking out over the mountain range incredible.
We had done all this walking and climbing business on no food. So we were starving and excited to eat! We got down the mountain and saw our bus (that comes only once an hour) pulling into the lot. Oh no. We were going to miss the bus, then we wouldn't eat, then we would miss our train....this was not going to happen. So I started sprinting down the hill to catch the bus. I have never ran so fast in my life. Hahaha, Matt said he thought my legs were going to fall off. They didn't but I looked like a lunatic because as the empty bus was pulling out to leave I was screaming "WAIT, WAIT!!!" and waving my arms frantically. He saw me. He stopped. We made it. Thank God. We would have been deserted if not. Then we went to a beef restaurant. We were so excited to eat and so excited to eat beef because Taebek is know for cheap, delicious beef - something that is super expensive in the rest of Korea. So we order and enjoyed. It was so good. They even brought us this raw beef and pear side dish for free (we looked hungry, haha). So we go to pay for what we thought would be a 29,000 won meal (something more expensive than we usually eat) and she gave us a bill for 53,000 won -------NOOOOOOOO! Duped again but the Korean meal system! We thought that the meal was 25,000 for two -- nope, its was 25,000 for one! Terrible. Nothing we could do about it and it was delicious. We'll know better for next time. All in all, it was a great day
We had done all this walking and climbing business on no food. So we were starving and excited to eat! We got down the mountain and saw our bus (that comes only once an hour) pulling into the lot. Oh no. We were going to miss the bus, then we wouldn't eat, then we would miss our train....this was not going to happen. So I started sprinting down the hill to catch the bus. I have never ran so fast in my life. Hahaha, Matt said he thought my legs were going to fall off. They didn't but I looked like a lunatic because as the empty bus was pulling out to leave I was screaming "WAIT, WAIT!!!" and waving my arms frantically. He saw me. He stopped. We made it. Thank God. We would have been deserted if not. Then we went to a beef restaurant. We were so excited to eat and so excited to eat beef because Taebek is know for cheap, delicious beef - something that is super expensive in the rest of Korea. So we order and enjoyed. It was so good. They even brought us this raw beef and pear side dish for free (we looked hungry, haha). So we go to pay for what we thought would be a 29,000 won meal (something more expensive than we usually eat) and she gave us a bill for 53,000 won -------NOOOOOOOO! Duped again but the Korean meal system! We thought that the meal was 25,000 for two -- nope, its was 25,000 for one! Terrible. Nothing we could do about it and it was delicious. We'll know better for next time. All in all, it was a great day
mini memorial service and baby fish eggs
Last week, my grandmother (Betty Duley) passed away. She had had a long battle with Parkinsons and it was her time to pass on. It was so hard not to be home with the family at a time like this, but thanks to phone access and skype I was able to say goodbye to her over the phone and talk to the family after she passed on. The blessings of technology. Thankfully I will be able to come home to celebrate her life with my family at her memorial service. I am so thankful. I will be home June 19-26th. She was an incredible woman that lead a selfless and dedicated life for justice. She is such a role model in my life. I'm lucky to call her grandmother. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks.
A little funny story that I know my grandma would appreciate is this: After my grandma passed, I wanted to have a little memorial service of my own since I wasn't going home for a while and its important to grieve when you're grieving. So Matt and I collected some wildflowers and let them out into the sea. It was a beautiful and funny because they just wouldn't go - haha the waves were too big, but eventually they did after me pulling up my pant legs and drudging into the ice cold water to release them after the waves crashed onto the shore. It was great. Then we went to dinner (covered in sand). We were excited because we have now learned the language well enough to read. Once we read, we can sometimes figure out what it means..most of the time not, but reading is a start! Anyways, we go to this restaurant, find a table and begin to read. Now keep in mind how quick you can read the menu in the States... fast.. it doesn't take you long. Well for us we have to sound out each syllable of 도부몰 - we have to change each sound, then try to remember if we know what it means....for the whole menu. Anyways it takes awhile. Well the phrase above - I knew was tofu stew but I didn't know the last part. So we thought - let's get it, we know at least half of it. So it comes, a firey red tofu stew (just want we thought we had ordered - perfect!!). We were so proud. Then Matt starts to serve it and we notice fish under the tofu - awesome, an added bonus!! Then we see lots of fish eggs ---- soooooo many fish eggs. Apparently, we ordered a Korean delicacy pregnant fish full of babies in tofu stew - SURPRISE! Neither of us had ever caviar so that was quite an experience. It was surprisingly good. Would I get it again? Maybe not. But Matt thought it was awesome. Haha, I guess I feel bad about eat a pregnant fish and her little babies.. yikes. Anyways, I thought my grandma would have laughed so hard about this little memorial service. It was a good day.
A little funny story that I know my grandma would appreciate is this: After my grandma passed, I wanted to have a little memorial service of my own since I wasn't going home for a while and its important to grieve when you're grieving. So Matt and I collected some wildflowers and let them out into the sea. It was a beautiful and funny because they just wouldn't go - haha the waves were too big, but eventually they did after me pulling up my pant legs and drudging into the ice cold water to release them after the waves crashed onto the shore. It was great. Then we went to dinner (covered in sand). We were excited because we have now learned the language well enough to read. Once we read, we can sometimes figure out what it means..most of the time not, but reading is a start! Anyways, we go to this restaurant, find a table and begin to read. Now keep in mind how quick you can read the menu in the States... fast.. it doesn't take you long. Well for us we have to sound out each syllable of 도부몰 - we have to change each sound, then try to remember if we know what it means....for the whole menu. Anyways it takes awhile. Well the phrase above - I knew was tofu stew but I didn't know the last part. So we thought - let's get it, we know at least half of it. So it comes, a firey red tofu stew (just want we thought we had ordered - perfect!!). We were so proud. Then Matt starts to serve it and we notice fish under the tofu - awesome, an added bonus!! Then we see lots of fish eggs ---- soooooo many fish eggs. Apparently, we ordered a Korean delicacy pregnant fish full of babies in tofu stew - SURPRISE! Neither of us had ever caviar so that was quite an experience. It was surprisingly good. Would I get it again? Maybe not. But Matt thought it was awesome. Haha, I guess I feel bad about eat a pregnant fish and her little babies.. yikes. Anyways, I thought my grandma would have laughed so hard about this little memorial service. It was a good day.
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