Singing, Sand, and Uncle Tomato

Greetings from Korea!  This week, we passed our 200th day here, and this is my 29th post.  I really appreciate all of the feedback I have gotten on the blog.  I am so glad everyone is enjoying it.  The blog has really helped me to focus on the memories we are making and less on how much we miss the states.  My hope is that you will all continue to enjoy the journey, as much as we have.

So without further ado......week 29.

After last week's sailing fiasco, I am glad to report that we had a wonderfully BORING week. ☺

Most of the week was spent working on school, as usual.  On Thursday, we were invited to go to a customer appreciation bbq held by our realty company.  It was quite fun.  We got to eat, visit with friends, and sing a little karaoke. 

ok, maybe, Mitchell didn't think it was fun!

singing Taylor Swift, of course

singing Hey Mickey

On Saturday, we enjoyed a really fun get-together with the Goliczs.  

jammin' to some ROCK BAND

On Sunday, we went out to eat a restaurant called Uncle Tomato's.  I loved the atmosphere.  The food was pretty good.  As usual, the plate presentation was a little strange, but we have come to expect that when we go out to eat.  At dinner, Dave challenged Mitchell to eat a jalapeno in exchange for the dessert of his choice.  He ended up eating 4 slices and getting 4 donuts from Dunkin.

cute decor

pretty

appetizers:  garlic bread, pickles with cabbage, pickled jalapenos

the white things are wet towels for our hands

Mitchell's dinner.....that is A LOT of food

jalapeno TIME

So that was our week.  I also took a couple of ODD Korea pics for you and included a couple of goofballs too!

I can't even come up with a caption for this one.

sand!  sounds yummy, right?!?!?

he grew a fu manchu.....then whipped it off and used it as a numchuck

she got hold of the camera without my knowledge

 

Darci picked me some flowers!

I know it was much shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoyed it.  Thanks for reading.  See ya next week..... annyeonghi geyseyo

From Hanji to Hell in a Handbasket

Getting the blog done this week was not something I was really wanting to start.  After a very long and unpleasant weekend, it was really hard for me to figure out what I wanted to say about it.  So I figured I would start with a few of this past week's highlights.  Below, you will find a few pictures from Darci's Girl Scout meeting.  This time the meeting was held at the Camp Casey Art Center, where the girls were able to make a traditional Korean paper craft called Hanji.  The gentlemen helping the girls out were very nice and we all had a great time!

getting ready to start their craft 

 

It was turned out so pretty!

meanwhile, in the hallway

group shot
 

This week, we also had a few fun moments at home.  From making dessert to getting packages from family, I managed to snap a few pics.  I want to say a BIG Thank You to my dad for not 1 but 2 boxes of flip-flops that he sent.  It was like Christmas for our feet!  Another BIG Thanks to my brother, Gary, and his wife, Donnie, for the box of candy, movies, and t-shirts.  Mitchell really needed to retire the other NASCAR shirt you gave him!

Darci wanted to make some dessert, so they had to have hats!

This her creation....yes, those are skittles in chocolate.

Mitchell's favorite:  Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit Flies like a banana.

sporting his new shirt from Uncle Gary

the goal of the game:  to kick the ball to the top

Now, I suppose that I should begin telling you about the weekend.  My friend, Dawn and I, were going to take a much needed girl's weekend and do what we thought was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Well, it was once-in-a-lifetime, BUT it was the kind of experience that I pray I never have to experience AGAIN!  There really are no words to describe exactly how horrendous this trip was.  As my kids would say, I felt like I spent the entire weekend in "the Devil's Place!"   So let me start at the beginning.

 

The trip in question was a tall ship sailing cruise set up by a travel group in Seoul.  We were supposed to sail to three separate islands, including one with dinosaur footprints!  It sounded like so much fun and I was up for some adventure.  Dawn's friend, Jessica, was even going to go. 

We found out that Typhoon Sanba was headed our way, but were told that we would be back well before we had to worry about it.  They were not going to cancel the trip.  We figured they would surely cancel the trip if necessary and we did not want to be out the money so we decided to go.  BIG MISTAKE..... if I could go back in time, I would gladly forfeit the money!

On Friday night we set out for Seoul.  This was my first time driving to the city, so I was a bit nervous, but everything turned out well.  Once we go there, we parked and caught a cab to the location of the bus pickup.  The cab ride was so funny.  Dawn had picked up dinner before we got in the cab and had some breadsticks, so she offered one to the driver.  He apparently had never had one before because he thought we called it "PLASTIC", so after he ate it he asked if he could have another "PLASTIC."  At one point, the man said something that Jessica thought was a Korean cuss word, but it turned out that he was only saying "GD Benz" because a Mercedes-Benz would not get out of his way.  We laughed so hard.  There were very few enjoyable moments after that point.  I did, however, get some pictures and video to share with you.

Once we arrived at the bus, we realized we were on a trip with about 40 obnoxious English teachers from all over the world.  There were a people from the US, South Africa, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and Poland.  There were a few Koreans on the trip as well.  When I say English teacher, I do not mean certified teachers. Anyone who speaks is a native English speaker can come to Korea and teach English in Korean schools.  Most of the people were in their early 20s and the ones who were older acted like they were in their early 20s.

 

on the bus

Dawn, Jessica, and I at the rest stop

they have massage chairs at the rest stop

it was 11:30 at night when these cuties were dancing to

"Gangnam Style" by Psy

"Gangnam Style" is the NEW craze sweeping the world.  It is a good depiction of the music industry in Korea.  PSY, the artist, has even appeared on the Ellen Show because of this video.



Anyway, back to the trip.  We rode the bus until about 3am when we stopped in the city of Suncheon at a jjimjilbang for the night.  A jjimjilbang is a Korean bath house where you can sleep in a common room on mats on the floor.  Dawn attempted to go in, but could not go through with it once a little old NAKED Korean lady met her at the door and tried to take her clothes off, so she could change into PJs supplied by the bath house.  She ended up sleeping on the bus with a the rest of us who did not want to go in!

people were setting up the market at 6am when we woke up

 

After everyone returned to the bus, we headed down to Yeosu to meet the ship.  Things from that point on did not go as planned!  I don't know what I was thinking in believing that we would actually get to board from a dock.  Once the arduous process of getting on the sailboat was finished, we set out for our first island.  We were so excited because we thought things could only get better.  When our first stop was an little island called Geado to pick cases of makgeolli (a traditional Korean rice liquor), we should have known it was going down hill from there.  We did get to get off the boat for a few minutes, but there was really nothing to see!

at least we didn't have to use this boat

waiting

waiting some more

here it comes ☺ the Koreana

you want me to climb in that?!? from those rocks with all of our stuff?!?!?

ok, feeling better we made it

the view was pretty

thousands and thousands of fishing nets placed

gorgeous, the sun even tried to come out

Below are the sites of Gaedo.

bringing the makgeolli

a ferry came in while we were there

huge bags of polycarbonate resin

a man checking his fishing traps

unfortunately, this was a common site on our trip 

dead sea stars

After leaving Gaedo, we traveled to the island of Sa Do.  This is the island I was so EXCITED to see because of the dinosaur footprints that are located there.  Unfortunately, when we arrived we were told that the dock had been damaged during the previous typhoon and we would be unable to dock. No smaller boats were available to ferry us to the island because they had all TAKEN COVER from the approaching typhoon.  Uh, HELLO!  That is a huge sign that this trip should have been canceled.  Anyhow, we were told that we had to swim to the island and back if we wanted to see it.  So a majority of the people jumped in to swim to the island, including those who had already been drinking for hours, only to be stung be jellyfish and have to fight the current to get there and back.  Needless to say, my friends and I DID NOT get to see the dinosaur footprints.  After leaving there, we headed to Geum Do island to dock for the evening.

the closest I got to seeing the dinosaurs

I was not about to do that!

we just waited with the captain

cool cave....reminds me of The Goonies

they were headed back to the mainland.....SMART

Although we did get to dock for the night, there was really nothing much to see.  The rowdy group of people almost got us kicked off the island within 20 minutes of getting there.  There was not enough space below deck for everyone to sleep, so Dawn and I got the privilege of pitching a tent on the deck of the ship in the wind and rain.  So until about 3am, we got to enjoy the colorful conversations, naked diving, fireworks, and fire batons of the drunken CRAZY people.  Then around 5, the wind and rain got so bad that our tent almost collapsed and we ended up going below to sit in chairs until we left.  Fortunately, the captain decided that it was in our best interest to leave 3 hours earlier than planned so that we may get back before the storm.  

on one of the maps the ship uses

welcome to our home for the night!

THERE ARE NO ROADS HERE!

the police station - I bet that was the most action

that police officer had ever seen

the ONLY store on the island

trying to make the best of it

she looks like an OOMPALOOMPA

the tissue supplied as toilet paper

waiting to leave

I look frightening

Thankfully, we made it back to shore safely.  The water was quite choppy, but we did not get sick.  Good thing too since the toilets were clogged at that point!  We then boarded a bus and started what turned out to be an 8 hour bus ride.  And after everything, the ride home ended up being the WORST part because some of the LOUDEST people on the bus continued to drink the entire trip home and rehash every event from the night before.  The highlight for us...... the rest stop when we got 30 minutes to eat lunch in peace.

fried potatoes

I believe its called Chicken Pop

served with soda in the bottom

So finally, 13 hours after we departed the island, I walked in my door to my beautiful family and a lovely bouquet of flowers to make me feel better. ☺

so sweet

And there you have it!  I am so thankful it is over and I look forward to more adventures, only with people I know and not during a typhoon.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.  I will endeavor to bring glad tidings next time.  Until then, annyeonghi geyseyo!