As some of you know Joseph and I had separate vacations this year.
Joseph went home for 2 weeks and then when he returned I had a 3 week vacation in Florida.
We went home to see our family and friends and to go shopping for items it is hard to get here or we can't get them at all.
Uncle Doug's Famous Recipe and a Watermelon
First day home by the pool
YUM!
Joseph spent all of his time in one place but I was able to travel around to 3 different locations:
to see my family (as much of them as I could at the time), my friend Billie Jo and her children, and then Joseph's brother and his family. We both had a wonderful time at home. It was nice to be back and smell the familiar smells, see familiar things and to be able to buy items in stores!! To be able to walk into any store and know that the clothes and shoes will FIT was amazing. To walk into any grocery store and be able to get the spices and fruits and veggies we wanted was great.
I swear, we both walked in to Publix and stared for a good minute before shopping.
You know why Joseph and I moved here. You know us and you know how we roll.
So what is this Korea Year 2 business?
Just a reaffirmation of our goals and what we want to accomplish and taking stock of what we have already accomplished. In writing.
1. Loans....
Yes they are still there yet happily diminished. Not quite half way but by the end of this year they will be at least half way gone. We are very determined. YIPPEE!!!!
2. Traveling:
With all of our loan paying, we travel as cheap as we can. Backpacking and hostels or pensions. We don't mind and in fact have fun with it. We like it. We don't do it because it's cheaper--although it certainly helps!
Japan is on call for our Lunar New Year vacation. We will hopefully go with our good friend, Lee Ann (if we can manage it money wise). We have plans to go to Cambodia, or Thailand during our winter vacation. Other than that, we want to travel more around Korea and try and hike the major mountains here. Hiking is great exercise and it's fun when it isn't so HOT.
In addition, we would also like to do another DMZ tour which goes to Panmunjom. This is the only place where it is possible for South and North Korea to hold talks. It is a historic place that holds significance of representing the tension and conflict that existed during the Cold War and is testimony to the division of the Korean Peninsula.
When we go there will be better pictures but I snagged these off Google Images.
Check out this blog for a couples experience of the place.
3. Enjoying each other and our cat while saving money.
4. Family. I shall leave this to your good will and thoughts. This will be coming up again at a later date.
Most schools have a holiday for this day and most federal offices and some shops as well. Thankfully Herb Hillz in Daegu was not one of the places that was closed.
Herb Hillz is a small amusement park that is very natural in its settings. It has small activities and rides for children and young adults and also has exhibits about herbs and flowers and one very cool thing: zip-lining. This activity is designed for both children and adults in addition to the various skill levels. We did not explore much of this park other than the walk through to the zip-lining area so we don't have much information on the rest of the park. It was very picturesque and lovely though with flowers and lots of trees and you could hear birds. Click Here
Here is a short video taken in 2011.
For roughly $18 USD each we were able to have our zip-lining experience. This included our 5 minutes of training and as much zipping as we could handle. Score!
So after the 5 or so minutes of 'training' by our totally fluent Korean speaker we all grabbed our gloves, hats and harneses and had at it. The practice training course that is. Were we required to complete this tiny course? Not technically? Perhaps it was just to practice the various moves needed for the actual zip-lining.
The practice course was fun and made us excited to try the real thing.
practice course
The course map explains which courses are designed for younger or less experienced persons and which are more for older or slightly more experienced persons.
Joseph, Amy, Becki and Bart headed for the hardest course and Lily, Lee Ann and I headed to the middle course. Glad we did!
Through the course you were able to see the other people while they were on theirs. Most of the courses crisscrossed each other at different heights. The course Joseph, Amy, Becki and Bart did varied in height most of the course seemed to be around 50 feet or a bit higher off the ground. So awesome. In contrast, our course was maybe 30 feet or so from the ground at its highest point.
Crawling through barrels, walking a tightrope (always wanted to), balancing on tiny pieces of wood and hopping to the next tiny piece in addition to going on your zip-line and pulling yourself up once you "land" on the green mattress. SO MUCH FUN!
Everyone had a great time and other than our arms being slightly jello-fied afterwards we were no worse for the wear. It was a great time and we can't wait to go again!
All pictures courtesy of Bart. He took them and we stole them for our own blogs or other fun reasons.
Thanks Bart!!
Joseph and I are officially Korean as of last night.
Most showers in Korea are actually sinks with a switch or handle you turn to convert your sink into a shower. Last night ours decided to stop working.
Like any person would we tried to fix this handy device and decided it wouldn't work by our power alone.
The other option?
Use the faucet sticking out of the wall. No joke. This faucet is about 15 inches off the ground and is used, we think, to wash feet, the bathroom floor, fill buckets with water and other options we are not aware of at this time.
Guess how we took a shower? That's right.
Love Korea!
Not our bathroom
just an example of the shower and faucet towards the floor
(ours doesn't have a hot water option)
(New photos of our place are upcoming as soon as everything finds its rightful place)
Our friend Giselle is from South Africa and has never been to a baseball game before. Joseph and I took her to see the Hanwha Eagles play a home game in Daejeon. No hotdogs here. Pizza, chicken and beverages are the normal foods for baseball games in addition to bananas, chips, and ears of corn.
It was a blast. They lost, but we didn't care. We were supporting the home team and having a good time doing it. A huge sell out crowd and a different cheer for each player. Too fun.
The baseball games work a little differently here. We learned that tickets are sold two hours before the game begins and they only have 300 tickets to sell. Most of the patrons are season ticket holders and there is a long line 2 hours before the game starts.
On Sunday we went hiking on our mountain (Chicken Foot Mtn.) and had a great time. It's getting hotter so we got a lot of sun. Hurray for warm weather!
After hiking we met up with Bart and watched Giselle and Bart play tennis. Later just hung in the park. It's beautiful. So colorful and green. It's nice to see green after such a long winter.
Our spot to relax was near a stone pond, purple orchards and green grass.
A delicious dinner of dakgalbi was the end to a relaxing weekend.
Rain, Rain
Come and
Stay.
Take the
Yellow Dust
away.
Where are you rainy season?
Please hurry.
It is Springtime in South Korea and with that comes Yellow Dust.
To be frank, it sucks.
It doesn't affect everyone but if you normally have allergies or if you have asthma you should be careful. Can you still go outside? Of course. Wear a mask. You won't think it's weird when you begin to have an allergy attack. Promise.
You can purchase a mask anywhere. A 7-11, GS, or any convenience store. You can also purchase them at any CNA or Diaso in addition to any Home Plus or Emart.
If you are staying in a hotel you most likely can find them there as well but they are much cheaper in any other place. Expect to pay 1,000W or 2,000W per mask (unless you want to pay more). Each mask should last up to 5 days and still be effective.
Think of yellow dust as a large dust storm coming from China and heading East toward Russia, Japan and Korea. It isn't every day and it isn't all day when it does happen. This is more akin to hurricane season in the United States. It can be severe (like this weekend) or it can just be very mild and you wouldn't even notice it.
If you do happen to notice it you might be affected by it if you have severe allergies. Keep your windows closed and take allergy medicine. If you have asthma make certain you keep your inhaler with you at all times.
You will usually get a sore throat and/or other allergy symptoms.
If you happen to visit any of these places during the spring time just be cautious. Bring your usual allergy medicine and an inhaler just in case there is a bad dust storm and you need it. Click here for more information.
