Jeju (재주), the Schmidt and the Museus

Our four day excursion to Jeju Island was just what we needed. We packed as much into every day as we could. Lots of waterfalls, palm trees and volcanic formations. It's hard to get tickets to and fro because travel agents buy all of them and then sell tour packages so we were forced to return early Sunday morning but all we had to do was kill the day in Busan and wait for the Tara and Emily to arrive. They walked out the gates at 9pm and we were off to Tongyeong. They're gradually getting the feel of the city, people, culture and time zone. Everyone wants to meet them so we're all getting a lot of free meals. This weekend we'll head to Seoul and the DMZ.

Briefly

Over the weekend we ventured up to Seoul, the four and half hours feel shorter every time, for the Birth of Buddha Lantern Parade. The parade was Sunday night so we spent Saturday and most of Sunday exploring. We met one of Brandon ex-coworkers for lunch and did some catching up. The parade was unlike any we've seen in terms of size and theme. For two hour solid lines of people marched down one of Seoul's main corridors carrying lanterns with larger lanterns on wheels interspersed amongst them. The monks and other marchers were all smiles and the street crowd cheered, clapped and occasionally got sucked into the parade.

We leave for Jeju Island bright and early Wednesday morning so we're busy packing and cleaning and won't get pictures on for at least a week (we had to take the night bus home so we got home at 4am Monday morning, cutting our prep ane recovery time short). The Schmidt girls have less than a week before they meet Asia and Heather may be just as excited as they are (Brandon doesn't get excited). If we get internet service while in Jeju we'll post and try to slip a pic or two on here.

Feel free to leave comments...

The group from "Hero" Taekwondo school. Some of the little guys were testing for their 3rd degree belts!


B and I awaiting our birg test. Notice the sea of white in the background!

Since the last time...

After our trip to the English Village Brandon got pretty sick, he missed a day of work and went to the hospital twice ($35 the first time, $15 the second [total: drugs and doctor visit]). They said he had bronchitis/acute tonsilitis but apparently that's what they tell everybody with a fever. The next weekend we tried to go to a Buttterfly festival a few hours away, but we made the mistake of going on Children's Day so we saw a few hundred thousand people and a dozen or so butterflies. We didn't stay long because the lines to the exhibits were huge and just trying to walk around took a lot of effort and patience.
Last weekend we devoted to Taekwondo and tested for Black Belts. Saturday we trained for three hours, making sure we knew our Poomse (choreographed movements) and sparred for a few minutes. Sunday we started at 10am with more review, then we had lunch and headed to Jinju where the testing was taking place for all of Gyeongnam province. We had to wait our turn amongst the other 6,000 people taking tests so we didn't get in until 5pm. It looked like an army of children in white uniforms. We'll get pictures on a little later. For the test the judges picked one of four Poomse and we had to do it, then we sparred with a partner for about 30 seconds just to prove that we were willing to kick and be kicked. We won't know for sure if we passed for a few weeks but our fingers are crossed. Neither of us really wants to go through that again, it was pretty nerve racking to wait seven hours in anticipation and you can believe we were the only foreigners around so all eyes were on us.
A few more days and then we'll be back in Seoul for Buddha's birthday, there will be a big lantern parade through the streets Sunday evening. A few days later and we'll take a trip down to Jeju-do for an island getaway. We'll be there four days and then come back to Busan to meet our friends Tara and Emily at the airport. They'll be here about 10 days and we'll do our best to give them as complete an overview of Korea as possible.
We've got just two months left before we come home. We'll stopover in Tokyo and look around the largest megalopolis in the world for a week. We've got a visit to Mt Fuji planned and expect to have a very memorable experience. We'll get back to MSP on July 18th and probably be stateside until September, when we'll come back here for another year. So anybody who didn't get the chance to come has another opportunity to expand their horizons. That's all for now, we'll get those pictures on ASAP.

Ansan English Village

This past weekend we traveled with B's school to an English Camp. We took 25 elementary-aged children, and the bus ride was a long 6.5 hour ride! Once we got to the camp, it was pretty interesting. We ended up being assigned 6 students to care for. Mine were older and quite well-behaved. B's, on the other hand, were a bit too rowdy for their own good. He spent the majority of the time keeping them out of trouble or apologizing for their mis-deeds. The older girls walked away with some good memories and learned some important things along the way.

We got home Sun at 10pm, and the next day B wasn't feeling well. Tonight (Wed.) he had afever of 102.8 so we figured it was time for a visit to the hospital. Roundtrip it took us an hour, and we learned that he has an acute case of tonsilitis, for which he received 2 shots and a bunch of pills. Total cost: $30, including the taxi rides. His temp has already dropped 2 degrees and it's only been an hour.

Here are a few shots from our Ansan Adventure!

B's boys working on a science experiment.

Amy, Lisa, Lucy, Lauren, H, Victorie, and Michelle.

B and Emily, his most playful student!

Jindo Sea Parting Festival.

Thursday, looking at the people from a bird's eye view!

Our nice new friend, Mr. Park and Brandon.

http://uwrf.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035704&l=df547&id=184902869

Sea Parting Festival

On Wed. and Thurs, we took vacation and headed to the west coast. There was a sea parting festival going on, and we thought we should check it out. It took us over 6 hours to get there, as the town is on an island and it quite small. We changed buses 3 times and finally made it there around 2pm. The festival itself was outside of town, so we hopped on a city bus and made it to the grounds around 4pm. Luckily for us, the actual parting occurred at 5pm, so we timed it perfectly. We grabbed some rubber boots and started marching across the sea from one island to the next. It was a really amazing experience and we're glad we had the chance to participate.
On Thursday, we ended up being shown around the whole island by a government official who works in Seoul but is from Jindo(the island). We were with him for over 5 hours, and he took us on a ferry boat cruise, out to lunch, a temple, a museum, and finally back to the Sea Parting Festival. We were very lucky to have met him, as we would not have been able to get to all those places without a car. He was a very friendly man and we learned lots of interesting things.
Saturday we had TKD for 2 hours. It's closely approaching our black belt test date, May 13, and our teacher is having Saturday classes for all the students to fine tune their skills.
Next weekend we're going with B's school to Seoul to visit an English Village. That should be fun.

The path leading to the temple.


One row of the famous wooden scripts.

The rarely decorated outer hall.

Daegu (대구) & Haeinsa (해인사)

Yesterday we visited the 3rd largest city in Korea: Daegu. We'd been there b4 but only to the famous amusement park there. H's school had a meeting there, so we hitched a free ride in the van. While the teachers were in the meeting, we checked out downtown. Unfortunately for us, the city is pretty spread out and we spent more time trying to get places than we did actually enjoying them. At 4pm we met up with our group again, and were pleasantly surprised when they decided to visit Haeinsa, a famous temple.
This temple is famous as it holds the "Koreana Tripitaka" the oldest Buddhist scripts in Korea. They have been preserved for at least a thousand years in their original storage place! Another interesting thing is that the temple had just finished holding a festival, so there were colorful banners everywhere! We'd never seen that at a temple before. It was a beautiful spring day and we had a great time. When we got home around 10pm we were greeted by our new camera that we won from the contest! It's pretty sweet!!
Yesterday was also an important day as Emily Schmidt and Trent Museus were married in Brainderd, MN. We're really sorry to have missed their special day. We wish them the best!

Weekend in Seoul

Last weekend we spent a wonderful weekend in Korea's capital, checking out a cherry blossom festival held in the heart of the business district. The weather was nice, and we had a lot of fun. I put about 40 pictures on my Facebook account, and if you want you can check out the link. We have no concrete plans for this weekend yet, but with the weather warming up we want to take advantage of it. We hear it's been snowing a lot back in the States, and are sad if it's caused any hardships (my sister is now playing softball indoors).

http://uwrf.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015745&l=f055a&id=184902869

On the steps leading to the tower.

Jinhae Cherry Blossoms

Last Sunday we visited Jinhae for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The day was overcast and it tried to rain, but that was ok for us as less people ventured out. The thing we didn't know was that a sand storm had come to Korea from China, and it was advised that people stay indoors. We did get a text message about this, but we can't understand Hangul. Oops. There were still enough people so that the area was crowded, so we must be ok.
There were two parts to the festival; first we climbed 365 stairs to a look-out tower, and then climbed the tower's stairs. We had a good view of all the beautiful trees. Next, we took a shuttle bus to the Naval Academy and got to walk around there a bit. It was a good time.
We plan on taking a night bus to Seoul this Friday after work. There's a cherry blossom festival in the middle of the city, so that should be pretty cool.

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 :)

Feb. 18, 2007: Just arriving at Mount Seoraksan (in Northeast South Korea).


Hiking up to the waterfalls.

A different part of the mountain: we took a cable car up here. It was amazing!

B trying to tip over the rock. All of those little piles are good luck piles made by various people.

At the foot of the mountain stands a big Buddha!

Happy Lunar New Year! We're lucky as we get a 3-day weekend, so we decided to head up north. Last night (Friday) we stayed in Busan with H's boss at her in-law's house. Then this morning we went back to the eye doctor. H's eyes are returning to normal, so that's a good thing.
At 11.20AM, we boarded the bus for Sokcho. We roasted for 6.5 hours, and made it here with no incidents. We saw the East Sea, and were surprised to see barbed wire set up along the coast. This is to keep the North Korean's out. We found a really nice hotel and ate a good meal at a local restaurant.
Our first impressions of this city are quite good, and we can't wait to sight-see all day tomorrow and Monday!