Winner!

B and I entered a contest a month ago. It was an internet-based contest for people who have nice shots taken in Korea. Well, of course we jumped all over this one! I put together a slide show, and set it to traditional Korean folk music, and I thought we had a pretty good chance of winning something!
It turns out that our show was one of 6 grand prize winners! Luckily for us, we are supposed to get a free digital camera out of the deal! We just found out today that we were winners, so more info on the camera will follow. But for now, here's the link if you want to see our slide show!

http://korea.net/event/event_20070330/ucc_contents_view.asp?seq=6&page=1&flag=1

A Full Weekend

We were quite busy this weekend. We travelled to two small towns, as each was holding a festival. The first town was Hadong, which has an amazing apricot blooming festival every year. It's held on a farm outside of town and the views were amazing. The weather was warm and we had a blast. Next we took an hour long bus ride to an even smaller town:Gurye. We visited Sansuyu Village, where trees with yellow buds are blooming. We saw some good things here as well, although a lot of people had their cars and were speeding by us. On Saturday night we stayed in a hotel in Gurye, and got up bright and early Sunday to visit a famous Korean Temple. Hwoemsa was quite a place and we had a good time here as well. Traffic was stop and go for about an hour getting back to Tongyeong, but now we're home and happy that we made the trip. I've posted about 50 pictures on a different website, and you can click the link below if you want a peak at them.
The next festival is the cherry blossom festival, which should also be a good time. The weather is warming up, and the forecast is saying 60 by the end of the week. Spring is here for us in Korea!
http://uwrf.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032731&l=2ec2f&id=184902869

With regret

We're sad to mark the passing of Brandon's cousin Rachael. She died at the age of 14 from astrocytomas of the brain stem and spinal column. She was much too young to have had to deal with such ailments but her courage and spirit were far beyond her years. Our thoughts are with her parents and brother in this time of sorrow. She'll be missed and fondly remembered.

Spring Rain

We haven't posted in a few weeks, but we really haven't done anything too exciting, either! Last weekend we got new glasses. We were amazed when the eye exam consisted of us looking thru a machine for 10 seconds and the machine judging our prescription for us. It was unbelievable (and free). That machine must be expensive, but totally worth the money. We had a more difficult time choosing frames, but ended up satisfied an hour later when our glasses were finished!
Yesterday we traveled to Busan for the day. We met up with our friend and her boyfriend, and saw the movie "The Pursuit of HappYness". It was a very good movie. We then ate lunch at TGI Friday's, which turned out to be spendy but tasty. The skies looked like it would rain, but it held off and we were able to walk around for a few hours.
Today the rain came, and came, and came. The wind joined in and it was pretty exciting for awhile. The temps are really warm lately and I'm not sure if this is normal or not. But, with weather these days, what's normal anymore?
March is the time when Korean school-children start new grades. So, our hagwons have been changing classes around to accommodate with new students. This week should be fun as we will most likely give out several western names to the newbies.
We hope everyone is doing well and look forward to seeing you in July :)