Nothing Much New

We've been laying low these past few weeks. The weather has been a bit chillier than we like, and H also came down with a cold/cough combo. We've hung out at home, watching movies and playing games. We're looking forward to mid-February, when we have a 3 day weekend. It's possible that we will get Lasik eye surgery that weekend. H's boss has an uncle who is a famous optometrist and known for his surgical skills. We still need to go in for the initial appointment, and hopefully will do that this weekend. Otherwise, just waiting for warmer weather so we can get out and explore more! Hope all is well with everyone.

The view from our apartment 1-13-06.
The kids lining up at the entrance to the amusement park in Daegu.

WEE!! Lucy goes down the hill!

B and H at the bottom of the hill!

Amusing Day

On Saturday, we took a class field trip with B's school; we went to an amusement park in Daegu. Daegu is the 3rd largest city in Korea with 2.5 million people. Our 2.5 hour ride on the school bus was a bit loud, and when we stepped off the bus we were greeted with cold air (it's north of Tongyeong). Once we got moving, though, we had a very nice day. There were 25 students with B's school, and about 40 from the TKD school (it was a mixed field trip). We started at the sledding hill, and went down the hill with no problems. I (H) did bump into a lady halfway down the hill, but she didn't yell at me too loudly!
Next we were surprised to learn that we were going to enjoy some of the big rides. We took the kids on 2 rollercoasters, the pirate ship (twice), and even the bumper cars. It was fun since we were able to have the track to ourselves for one ride, so many of the teachers and most of the students got to crash into each other. It was pretty fun. We were even surprised to see that they had the water flume ride operating. The line to go on that one was the longest: about 40 minutes to get wet...I don't understand it!
We got to Tongyeong at about 6.30 in the evening. It's been cold here lately, so we've been using the heat. This morning, however, we were sad to learn that the oil that heats our apartment AND our water was out. Luckily, $175 bux and a half hour later it was delivered by a friendly employee (we thought we would have to wait till at least Monday).

A

Our 1st tuk-tuk ride!! WEE!
One Big Buddha!
A few shots from the gounds of the Grand Palace.

Back in Korea

We have arrived safely in Korea with no glitches; everything went smoothly for us and we are unpacking our stuff now. This morning Min and her parents drove us to the (new) airport; it's only been in operation for 4 months and it's a pretty nice place. Our flight was only 4 and a half hours, and it sure flew by! When we arrived in Korea, we got our luggage, took a taxi to the bus terminal, and by 7.40pm we were on the bus to Tongyeong.
We'll get some pictures on as soon as we can.

Safe

Maybe you have heard of the bombs that went off last night in Bangkok. We are fine; we weren't in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were, however, in the area of the bombs. We were just getting off the Skytrain at about 7.15PM to see the Siam Square all lit up. I noticed that all these people were huddled around a small TV and asked Min what they were watching so intently. She listened for a few minutes and then said that we better get outta there; that bombs had just gone off very near our location. We hurried out of the area and back to Koa-San Rd. We never saw any bloodshed. The details were sketchy last night so we didn't even know if it would make the international news, but it did. It's very sad to hear of the loss of life on a normally festive night.
My internet time is running out; we will let you know when we arrive in Korea on the 2nd. Best wishes to everyone.