Bangkok

We've made it to Thailand! There were no problems and we met up with Min at the airport. We're really enjoying it here; there's lots to see and do. Everything is cheap here, so that's kinda fun, too. The coolest thing I (H) bought was a fresh fruit smoothy for about 70 cents. We've seen many historical sites as well, including an Ancient city that was mostly destroyed by the Burmese army a few hundred years ago.
Tonight is New Year's Eve so we'll have to ring in the new year in Bangkok! It will be hard to go back to the cold weather; it's been in the upper 80's-low 90's here all week.
Hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!!!

Flight Info

This is our last night at our place for a few nights! We leave Tongyeong tomorrow evening, when we begin our journey to Thailand! We'll leave here on a 7:30pm bus for Busan. We plan on crashing at a cheap motel near the bus terminal. Then on Thursday morn, i.e. 6am, we'll catch a taxi to take us to the airport. Our flight flies out at 8:30am on 12-28. We are flying Thai Airways, flight TG 651 from Busan to Bangkok. Our expected arrival time is 12:20pm Thai time (2 hours behind Korea time).
Our return flight is scheduled to leave from Bangkok on Jan 2, at 11:50am. We get into Korea at 18:45. This is flight TG 654 (Thai Airways).
We are anxious and excited to get the show on the road! The local weather on Xmas and today was unseasonably warm, mid 50's and sunny. They say that tomorrow it's gonna drop way down and keep dropping for the rest of the week. That's all we know for now. If we don't get a chance to post before January, Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Unexpected Test

Tonight at Taekwondo we were surprised to learn that we would be testing for the 6th chapter this evening. We had about 15 minutes to practice, and then we did our test with the other students watching. Normally all the students participate together, but since we won't be there to take the test on its normal date, we had to go alone. We have an Xmas party for H's work the night of the test, so our instructor was nice and let us test early. We think we did well, and hopefully the next time we go to class we will be red belts!
This week has really gone by slowly, but tomorrow's Friday! Saturday will be a busy day since we will both be participating in holiday programs. It doesn't seem like the Christmas season this year, as there is no snow and we're away from family. It really snuck up on us!

Change of Plans!

On Saturday, we visited Tongdosa, one of the three most important temples in Korea. It's said to hold important relics from Buddha. We took a bus from Tongyeong to Unyang, which was 2.5 hours long. Then we caught a city bus to the temple, which was about a 3o minute ride. The weather was brisk but we were dressed accordingly and had no problems. It even tried snowing once we got to the temple, but gave up quickly and the sun peaked out not long after that. We had a nice time and enjoyed the fresh air.
The ride home was less than desirable, as we ended up on a wrong bus and took an extra hour to get home. But, one bump in our transportation plan in 5 months isn't too bad, so no complaints here.
We're getting excited for our Thailand trip. We just learned today that we will be staying longer than originally planned! Instead of a rushed 3 days, we will have a solid 5 days in the Bangkok area. We now leave the morning of Dec. 28th, and get to Thailand at 12.20pm (no time change necessary). Our flight home doesn't leave until Jan. 2 at noon! We are so pumped, and are now researching more attractions to visit! B has found an ancient city that he's pumped about. I'm looking forward to seeing my friend the most! The warm weather won't be bad, either.
Both of our schools have Holiday programs on Saturday afternoon. We then have Sunday and Christmas Monday off; we may try to take in one more Korean temple in 2006! Hopefully everyone is doing well, we miss you.

Holidays

We bought a small white Christmas tree! It came furnished with cute lights and a few ornaments. The two kids are Jane and Sue, sisters who are also H's students.
Today (12-14), I had a party with one of adult classes. We went to a noray-bong, AKA karaoke room. They are very popular here and are everywhere. The woman on the left, Sandra, just opened one, so we went to wish her well and sing a few ballads.

Brown Belts

We passed our test last Thursday, and are now brown belts! This is exciting; we are moving right along. Our instructor told us that we will be testing for the black belt in March. I guess there are 4,000 students who meet together, and all test for the black belt. We have been learning "chapters", and we are on the 6th chapter now. There are 8 in total. When we get to the test, there will be a panel of judges, and 10 students are in a group together. The judges decide which chapter we must perform; they can choose any chapter between 4 and 8. Our instructor said they almost always choose 8, as it's the most difficult to do! After we perform that, we must do a sparring portion. Girls spar with girls, and boys with boys. You spar with someone who is the same height as you. According to our instructor, we only have to spar for 20 seconds! However, if you don't do any moves, you must begin again. So, basically, we have to go out kicking for 20 seconds. The test is 80% our chapter performance, and 20% our sparring ability.
Both our schools are doing holiday shows on December 23rd, and everyone is busy getting ready for them. It should be cute, however B's school has a lot planned. His may turn into a 2-day show! The temps are steadily falling, but the sun is usually out in the morning and afternoon.

Weekend Photos

Friday night at our place: L-R Anna, Alice, Lauren, Arnie, Jeff, B, and Roxy.



Heather with the birthday girl: her mom is B's director and her dad is our TKD instructor. Brandon with his medal after finishing the 5K.
Michelle's wedding. It's common to take large family photos, and then friends pose with the couple.

Busy Weekend!

Our weekend started Friday night with a party at our house. In all there were 10 people; mostly co-workers. B did meet a fellow foreigner from Indiana, and he also came. We had pizza, snacks, beer, fruit soju, and Jenga! Our last guest left about 3am! Saturday we walked to town and bought a present for B's director's daughter (her father is our TKD instructor). It was her 1st birthday party, one of the biggest birthdays celebrated in Korea (the other is the 60th bday). This was our 1st such party, and it was a good experience. The food was plentiful and tasty, and the festivities were interesting.
This morning we awoke early and headed to our 5K race. This was a first for both of us, and it was a very good time. It was a bit chilly today, but once we got going we were sweating. This marathon is a big deal, and a famous Korean actor even started the morning with an appearance. We didn't win the race, but we weren't dead last either! It took us exactly 35 minutes to run 3.1 miles. For not practicing at all, this is a decent time for us! After the race, we booked it home, showered, and changed into our "dress up" clothes yet again. One of my co-workers got married at 2pm, and we were able to see the ceremony. It was our second Korean wedding, and it was enjoyable.
One sidenote: 2 American guys introduced themselves to us. They are in the Army and stationed in Daegu. One of them, Marty, informed us that he was from Sioux Falls, SD! Wow, what a small world! He's been in Korea for 2.5 years and really likes it here. He's upset since he's being transfered in a few months. Well, I asked him how he did, and it turns out that he won the 10K!! That was pretty cool. I'm sure there was an award show, but we didn't have time to watch it.