TV Land

TV. I didn’t watch it much while I was in the states but it’s been quite the lifesaver over here. We have cable and although most of the channels are unintelligible to us there is a good selection of English ones. We get the Discovery channel (I’m a huge Bear Gryllis fan) but you do have to watch other things once in a while.

Last year Jason and I OD’d on America’s Next Top Model. Yes, it’s crazy the things you’ll watch when you need to hear English spoken. Jason does a great Tyra Banks impression. “I only have two photos in my hand….”. I’ve also shed many a tear while watching The Biggest Loser - which probably means I'm the biggest loser. But the majority of shows here are criminal type shows. I’ve now seen CSI, Law & Order, NCIS, Missing Persons, Medium, ect. A strange genre when you consider the low crime rate here.

Yes, we’re terrible. I’m thinking of this while spending an afternoon doing just that. Watching crap TV. The weather patterns that spawned the typoon that hit Taiwan with devastating effects has shown up in Seoul. Luckily we won’t be getting anything other than a few days of heavy rain. However since we’re not working for a few more weeks we’ve decided to hunker down for the duration and veg out. I watched Goonies this morning which I must say is still a good movie.

We spent the majority of our vacation in the states and it was fantastic. We visited family and friends in NY and WY. We did hit CO for a few days and stole a few hours in the Minneapolis airport with Jeff and Lara. I’m sad that we didn’t see all of our wonderful friends and family. Sara and Cara - I wish you could have made it. Minneapolis crew – we’ll be there next summer. And Mary…I’m sure Maine is beautiful but really...didn’t you miss me? ;)

It’d be hard to chronicle all the great times we had in the states this summer. Instead I’ll post some pictures. Hope you’re having a good one!

The Vanderbilt Masion...or as my Kiwi co-worker said, "the best cricket field ever."

There are quite a few gardens around the Vanderbilt grounds that we wandered around.

A beautiful path through the Vanderbilt woods.

For Jason's birthday this year we went to a bookstore. We're at that age when things get really exciting. :) Actually, I loved it!

It's the best bookstore I've ever been to.

I think this is the only picture I have of Jason's mom from the whole trip. :(

Jason's dad was the one who turned us onto the bookstore a few years ago. Thank you!

It's really expensive to buy English books in Korea so I stocked up. I bought thirty books and lugged them in my carry-on. As an aside...if you're looking for a good book check out Empire Falls.

Millie Beans is so damn cute!!

I think I took the most pictures of her by far.

My cousin Stephanie and her little boy Gavin.

Jaime and Jessica hanging out on my Dad's Birthday.

Violet drunk on my Dad's birthday cake.

Yes, it's baby season again. Kim and her little boy Myles.

Ava and Violet enjoying the slip and slide.

I love them!

Ava at the Frog Pond.

Abby showing them how it's done.

Water Babies

Jason and I went to Clark's Fork Canyon which is only a short drive from Cody.

While we were visiting there was a Grizzly attack in the area. I'm glad we didn't run into one that day.

Hot but not humid - thankfully.

Ben is a little jock. He loves sports especially baseball. He's really good at it too. Just look at his concentration.

Chad taking a rest.

Ben getting some coaching advice from Dad.

We went to Hugh Smith Park one afternoon for a BBQ. The kids had a lot of fun playing around.

Dad manning the grill.

Jason and I took a trip down to Colorado to visit our land. This is the fabulous tent we borrowed from my cousin Matt. Thanks again!

Our land

Our wash

Jason restaking our property boundries with the appropriate color.

Dorky shot of us on our land before we left for Wyoming.

I've driven by Hell's Half Acre all my life on the road from Denver to Cody but have never stopped. My curiosity finally got the best of me and we pulled over.

Aparently Hell's Half Acre is where they filmed Starship Troopers (a sci-fi movie from a few years ago).

Jason and I and the Wyoming crew took a camping trip up North Fork. This was my first camping trip in an RV since I was little.

Jason and Violet enjoying the sunshine and some ice cream.

Squirt guns were very popular with the kids until they got clogged with sand.

Ladies lounging

My sisters and I sporting our hoodies.

One of my favorite places in the world is the Beartooths. Jason and I took a drive through there on one of our last days in Wyoming.

Me modeling my new cool fleece that my mom gave me.

We were stopped by this lake while we waited for the pilot car to pass through some road contruction. I didn't mind at all.

The bear's tooth

End of Semester

We've been keeping really busy here in Gunpo. The semester has flown by and we're now on summer vacation. We're going to visit the States again in a week. We've decided to flip our schedule - go home in the summer and travel around Asia in the winter. I love spending the holidays with family...but being couped up inside for a vacation isn't ideal. I'm really looking forward to hanging out by the pool in New York this summer and camping a ton while we're in Wyoming.

Since I've been a bit lax lately, I thought I'd post a photo summary of a few things we've done in the last few months in Korea. I figured it would be best to catch you all up before we see you again. :0)

Jason, Jake, Marnie, Fritz, and I went to the Lantern Festival in Insadong in May.

Lotus Lantern.

Ladies getting ready for the parade.

More parade folks.

Knick Knack shop.

Jake and Jason seem to share a love of wandering down random alleys.

The lanterns weren't typical laterns as you can see.

Most of them were around 15 - 20 feet tall.


And some of them breathed fire....as Bear Gryllis would say, "It was just awesome!"

Kellee, Dale, and their daughter Abbey came up to Seoul for a visit. We went to the DMZ and the War Memorial Museum. It was so cool! I learned so much about the Korean War. I think I'll start going to the non-arty museums from now on.

The DMZ is the most heavily fortified border in the world. We went there around the time that the North was shooting off rockets. Maybe that was why I found it so fascinating.

People come to the DMZ and leave memorials. It's possible they're for the families that were seperated during the war, or maybe just in solidarity for other human beings.

It rained the whole day so we didn't get very many pictures. Jason didn't want his fancy camera to get wet.

Isn't he cute?

Yes, there are train tracks that run to Pyeongyang. People aren't allowed to travel by train to North Korea though...it's just for grain and other relief supplies that the South sends to them via the Sunshine Policy agreement.

Wedding Medley

I've been to quite a few weddings so far in my life and all of them have been different. I've been to a swanky Manhattan wedding on a rooftop overlooking Central Park, an outdoor wedding in the Colorado mountains, a few small town traditional weddings, a garden wedding in Phoenix, and a Mormon wedding (which had the most boring reception I've ever been to). Over the weekend I went to another wedding that was once again different from all the others.

My co-worker Nathan and his fiancée tied the knot. I had seen pictures of a Korean wedding that (other) Nathan had gone to a few years ago. http://bigbadboonis.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html. So, I was kind of expecting the same thing...but I should know by now not to expect anything in Korea.

Nathan and Sung Hee didn't have a traditional Korean wedding. Instead they had a combo wedding - modern Korea, Vegas karaoke, and traditional Maori. It was interesting to say the least.

Modern Korean weddings take place in wedding halls; however wedding megaplexes would be a more apt name. The wedding halls have several floors of pre-decorated chapel rooms and a huge buffet style restaurant. It was the first (and probably only) wedding that I've attended that had the wedding procession accompanied by smoke machines that ran down the center aisle. The ceremonies are booked for a half hour each and you have to be prompt since the next wedding party is gathered outside the chapel waiting for their turn.

During their ceremony, Nathan sang a romantic Elvis song to his new bride. When I say this, you probably assume that Nathan is an accomplished singer. He is not. I wasn't sure if it was okay to chuckle as I watched him but there was no other reaction that seemed appropriate.

Nathan's mother, a nice lady from New Zealand, wore a hanbok as did the bride’s family. The wedding couple wore traditional western wedding clothes for the ceremony. Sung Hee looked beautiful in her white wedding dress, tiara, and glitter. The happy couple changed into hanboks for the reception.

The reception at the buffet restaurant was also interesting. There were several wedding parties there and it wasn't geared toward any specific couple. There was however a few choice wedding photo ops. There was a generic unity candle-type thing, a rubber cake that the couples pretended to cut, and a champagne tower that the couples stood next to while the wedding hall host made some generic toasts.

After the buffet, we went to a great little bar in Ansan where Nathan changed out of his traditional Korean clothes. His third wedding ensemble was a super tight white Elvis costume and an exaggerated Elvis wig. He joined the band for a humorous rendition of Heartbreak Hotel and the crowd went wild.

Toward the end of the evening, a few of his friends from home convinced him to join them for a traditional Maori dance. Only one of the guys was part Maori, but it was surprisingly well done.

All in all, I'd give the wedding a 10 on originality. As Jason was saying the other day...Korea should change its tourism slogan from Korea Sparkling to Korea: It's never boring.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I've included pictures from a trip Jason and I took to Chiaksan National Park a few months ago.

We went early in the season so all of the pensions and minbaks close to the park were closed. Jason approached the family that owned this one and they agreed to open up a room for us.


This was an old school minbak so it was nothing more than a small room with some blankets to sleep on. Since the owners weren't expecting guests they didn't have the restroom in working order. I asked the lady who owned the place where the bathroom was...and she gave me a small chamber pot.

Since the place didn't have a bathroom (or shower or sink or ....) this is the only angle I allowed Jason to shoot of me all day.

Last year we were in the Philippines for Buddah's birthday so we missed all of the celebrations.

Lanterns are put up on every street/path in Korea that leads to a Buddhist temple.

The temple was in the National Park - as many of them are.

Coolest bridge ever!

This waterfall has been turned into a wishing well. The bottom of the pool is covered with coins.

The trail was really steep and a bit freaky in some places. In this picture, you can see that the trail is only a couple feet wide. What you can't see is that there are 50+ feet drops on either side and gaps in the rock trail.


It was really windy that day and in order to not do what the sign says, we decided to turn around and try again another day.

View from the trail.

Jason contemplating the best way down.

It was easier to appreciate the view on the way down knowing we'd soon be on level ground.