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30 April 2004 (Friday)

Patriotism at Joe & Julie's. 4/30/04

OK, so I made a couple of small mistakes on two of my poomses during the test--luckily Sabeamnim was in a good mood and laughed at me instead of getting upset. I did poomses 4, 3, and 6 and then I sparred with Minsue.

Tonight we (Jin, Minsue, me, Craig, Julie, Joe, Chris, & Jaynie) had Italian at Joe & Julie's courtesy of Joe's proud Italian heritage (he's from New York, she's from Canada--maybe next time we go over, Julie will make a traditional Canadian dish?). As if dinner wasn't enough, Joe made a fantastic baked alaska for dessert. Jaynie checked out my camera and got a good shot of Jin & Minsue and of the kids watching a movie in the bedroom.

29 April 2004 (Thursday)

Jaynie and I hiked up behind the apartments this morning--it's great to get out and do that early in the morning when there are hardly any other people on the trails.

This afternoon I watched Alden & Russell so Jaynie & Darcie (& Vincent!) could go to Lotte Mart without having to take two cars--Jaynie brought back all of my Lotte Mart necesseties (although most of the items are actually for Craig). The kids were good and I returned them in the same condition I received them.

Tonight is all about poomse practice before my red belt test in the morning--Minsue thinks Sabeamnim is going to try to get us on the earlier poomses because now that we know six of them, they sometimes get a little jumbled together... Wish us luck!

27 April 2004 (Tuesday)

Vanessa, Hanne, Erica, and Linda at the Chinese restaurant. 4/27/04

Today is Hanne's 30th birthday so we met for lunch at one of the Chinese restaurants in town. We had a really good lunch (egg drop soup; chicken, beef, and pork dishes; and fried rice) and Hanne and Linda brought a birthday cake to celebrate Hanne's birthday. The cake was delicious and it looked so enticing that the waitress came out and got several pieces for the people working in the restaurant!

25 April 2004 (Monday)

Just one more day of TKD before our test on Friday! I was having an off-poomse day so hopefully I'll get all of my mistakes out of my system before Friday (I'll be practicing all of the poomses a lot between now and Friday!). We went to Davnici after TKD and then I met Craig for kimbap with Erica, Jaynie, and Alden.

We assembled our boxes this afternoon in pottery. Erica and I also put a stamp border around our boxes so they should be super cool! I'll bring the camera again next week to document our progress.

Craig almost had to miss class tonight because of work, but what was going to keep him late was cancelled because of the rain--so we went to class and got soaking wet on our way to the building! Anyway, we learned quite a few Korean words and phrases tonight that I hope to put into use sometime...maybe it's time to make flashcards to help with memorization?

25 April 2004 (Sunday)

Visors are a popular way to protect one's face from sun damage. 4/25/04 (photo by Craig)

We went to Oedo for a team-building day with Craig's work. We took the ferry from Jangseungpo again and it took us past Oedo to get a close-up of the rock island again. There were a lot of beautiful views from the ferry.

We made it to Oedo and it was crowded again with people taking photos every few feet (myself included, I took some photos of Eunice, Brandy & John, Joel & Erica, and then I had Erica take one of me and Craig). Unfortunately, Brandy didn't get as many photos as she would have liked because the batteries in her cute little camera died... Here are some photos of the island. The matching outfits this couple had on indicates that they must be newlyweds. Craig stopped to get some tea since we were back to the ferry a little earlier than planned.

We ate lunch with a great view near Goeje College. John brought CDs for the DJ (who also specialized in making balloon animals) to play. It was a gorgeous day and I was glad I brought my hat and sunscreen along or we would have gotten a bit of a sunburn!

24 April 2004 (Saturday)

Azaleas in our parking lot. 4/24/04

Jaynie and I got up early this morning and hiked up behind the Admiral--we stopped once on the way up, got a drink of water at the top, and paused for a moment when there was confusion about which path to take on the way down. We did it in one hour and seven minutes which we thought was pretty good! It was definitely a lot cooler to go at 7 AM instead of 9:30 AM (like I did on Tuesday), which made for a much more pleasant experience.

23 April 2004 (Friday)

I hosted our first book club tonight--we read The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Reviews were mixed among the group but I think for the most part we all agreed it was well written but none of the characters were at all likeable. I made a cream cheese pound cake (Martha Stewart) with Anita's lemon glaze on top--yum! Our next book is The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory--it's another long one so I probably better get started on it right away!

21 April 2004 (Wednesday)

This afternoon I exchanged my running shoes although it took a little while to communicate that the shoes I bought were too big--the man at the store thought I was trying to get a bigger size, not smaller, to exchange! Anyway, I got the shoes and plan to test them out on the treadmill in the morning. I just downloaded a bunch of new music to my MP3 player so I should have all sorts of fun in the gym tomorrow.

After the Adidas store, I went to Mari Nails to get a pedicure--it's so nice to get that done after beating up your feet in TKD (even if parts of the pedicure did tickle a lot!)!

20 April 2004 (Tuesday)

Think of me what you will: I just bought a pair of shoes that are a half size too big and then proceeded to buy about ten bananas more than I needed....

I went into town this afternoon to buy some new running shoes at the Adidas store (the ones I wanted were on sale). I somehow ended up getting a half size too big though, so tomorrow will be the first time I attempt an exchange in Korea!

On my way back to the car, I stopped to buy some bananas and strawberries. The woman selling them had giant bunches of bananas and I was trying to tell her I just wanted four bananas (and I thought I was successful until I got home!) and then pointed to the strawberries indicating I'd like some of those, too. I ended up getting 4,000 Won (about $4 USD) worth of bananas!! Luckily, Joel & Brandy were able to take some off of my hands so they won't all go to waste.

Earlier in the day (before I lost my ability to maintain control over my purchases), I went on a hike with Hanne, Vanessa, Noreen, and Joo. We hiked up behind the Admiral again this week, but took a different way up this time than last week. We had some good views of Okpo (I'll bring my camera with me sometime when I go earlier in the morning) and had fantastic weather again.

19 April 2004 (Monday)

The pottery instructor showing Erica how to make a slab for her box. 4/19/04

Another busy Monday! Minsue and I got our protective pads that Mijung ordered for us (now we won't have to wear the stretched out yellowing ones at the dojang!). We went to Davinci after TKD and since I was already in town, I called Craig and he met me for kimbap for lunch.

Hanne joined us for pottery in the afternoon. She worked on her first coiling project while Erica, Vanessa, and I admired and signed our masterpieces from last week and made our slabs for our boxes that we'll assemble next week. Then we got started on more coiling masterpieces (but smoothing out the coils this time): Vanesessa's "work-in-progress" wastebasket is on the left, Erica & Hanne made trays (maybe for candles, maybe for...), and I made a small candle holder that I will stencil a pattern onto next week so the light will shine through the holder.

I went to Korean class by myself because Craig had a "team-building" dinner at the lobster restaurant in Gohyeon. Our regular teacher is out this week, so the sub went over the two counting systems with us, over the alphabet again, and then covered some basic phrases like "How much is it?" and "Can I get a discount?" or "Do you have Tylenol?"

18 April 2004 (Sunday)

Seoul Station. 4/18/04

We picked up some Subway sandwiches for the train-ride back, checked out of the hotel and went to Seoul station. We had to sit facing backwards on the train (we had to sit that way heading into Seoul, too) which was slightly nauseating.

We got in a taxi for the ferry terminal in Busan and our ferry to Jangseungpo had been cancelled, so we waited for another ferry that left two hours later. We walked around in the underground shopping area (between subway stops) as it was raining outside.

17 April 2004 (Saturday)

We sat by some Phish memorabilia at the Hard Rock Cafe. 4/17/04

We attempted to check out the Namdaemun market but after about 10 minutes of being shoved around and seeing nothing really different from the market in Busan, I had to get out of there! We hopped on the subway and headed across the river to Apgujeong where we ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We spent most of the afternoon in Apgujeong and Myeongdong and then went back to Itaewon for dinner at Pancho's--a mexican restaurant. We saw two other Mexican places in Seoul, so we will probably try those next time as Pancho's was short on atmosphere and the food was only OK.

16 April 2004 (Friday)

I love electronics! (Potentiometers on display at the Yongsan electronics market.) 4/16/04

We had breakfast in Myeongdong and went by the Myeongdong Cathedral before we headed out toward Gwanghwamun and Changdeokgung. We passed a museum that had these sculptures out front (each represented a Lunar year--like the monkey, dragon, snake, etc.) on our way to Gwanghwamun.

We finally approached Gwanghwamun, and after going way out of the way to cross the street, walked along a tree-lined sidewalk just in time to see the changing of the guards. A moment later, the area inside the main gates was filled with students.

We passed by this building with mountains reflected in the windows and the Jong-Ro Wedding Cultural Hall on our way to Changdeokgung.

We arrived at Changdeokgung shortly after 11 AM and saw that there was an English-language tour offered at 11:30. We thought that this tour may be about 20-30 minutes--perfectly timed so we could go to lunch right afterward! We paid about $2 USD each and waited for the start of the tour. Once we were past "security" and safely inside the palace walls, our tour guide let us know that it was an hour and twenty minute tour! It was interesting and the grounds were beautiful--the hour and twenty minutes went by quickly. We saw a lot of signs of spring on the tour (and throughout Seoul). Our tour guide informed us that symbols on the roofs' edges (on buildings or gates, etc.) are a buddha, monkey, tiger, etc. that are there to protect the building/whatever is enclosed in the gates from harm.

After lunch we took the subway to the electronics market. Craig liked the market in Osaka, Japan better, but we found good prices on a lot of electronics (although, sadly, we did not purchase anything...). After the market, we met Joel & Erica for dinner in Itaewon.

15 April 2004 (Thursday)

Our train from Busan to Seoul. 4/15/04

We took the 10 AM ferry from Jangseungpo to Busan today to catch the 12 PM high-speed train from Busan to Seoul. The train was nice and it was much more relaxing than dealing with traffic all the way to Seoul (although we made it in the same time it took Erica & Joel to drive up).

We arrived at Seoul Station around 3 PM and took a taxi to the Lotte Hotel (the hotel was not worth the money we spent--next time we'll try to stay at a less expensive hotel but I had trouble finding a room for all three nights at other hotels--also the "New Wing" is supposed to be much nicer than the old wing of the Lotte). We went to the tourist office for some maps and then headed out to Myeongdong (the shopping/entertainment district near our hotel) for the evening.

13 April 2004 (Tuesday)

The road we walked on for a while between the uphill and downhill portions of our hike. 4/13/04

I went for a hike in Okpo today with Erica, Vanessa, Noreen, and Hanne. A butterfly landed on Erica during one of our breaks. We were out for two hours, had really great weather, and didn't see a lot of other hikers. After the hike, we saw some wisteria behind the Foreigner's club.

12 April 2004 (Monday)

Today was a super busy day! Started off the morning at TKD as usual, went to pottery in the afternoon, and then Craig and I went to our first day of Korean language class!

TKD: Erica came to class again (2nd time) today and Brandy tried it out for the first time. They both say they liked it and that they'll come back on Wednesday--there are two other new people so it's a good time for them to start.

Minsue and I are planning to test for black belt in July, so I've changed my plans to go home in August instead of July. Now the pressure is on to pass my red belt test at the end of April and the second red belt test at the end of May...

Pottery: Erica, Vanessa, and I went to a pottery class in Gohyeon today--next time I'll have to bring my camera to show off our work! The instructor/owner made the base for us and then we made our pots/vases (we haven't all decided what they're actually going to be!) by adding layers of coils until we got them the height we wanted them. It was really interesting to see how different our three pots turned out even though we all started out with the same materials!

Korean class: Classes are Monday and Wednesday from 7-8:30 PM until June 30! I really hope I can make that kind of commitment--it will help that Craig is going with me so we can encourage each other when one of us gets lazy! Tonight we went over the alphabet and learned a couple of basic words... I learned (among other things) that "a-ya" means "ouch"--so next time I hurt myself in TKD, I'll try to say "a-ya."

11 April 2004 (Sunday)

The Geoje pebbles give information about the hiking trails. 4/11/04

We went out to chicken on the mountain last night with Erica, Joel, Brandy, & John. We somehow ended up getting the pancakes with seafood in them (octopus this time) and although I was able to eat around it, they are so much better without the seafood!

We went on the hash today--we took a bus so we could start at one end of the trail and be picked up at the other end. We saw some beautiful views but it was pretty hot without any shade on much of the trail. The trail was pretty crowded in some areas, but it was still a good hike. Harley joined us today and Joel gave her some water from his Camelback after the hash.

8 April 2004 (Thursday)

There's not too much going on here this week... We are trying to decide when to reschedule our trip to Seoul and will hopefully try to get up there sometime this month or early next month.

6 April 2004 (Tuesday)

Nancy helped Jaynie and me with Poomse 6 at their apartments--again the video guy has a different style than what Sabaemnim wants us to do, so I needed some individual help getting the order down!

5 April 2004 (Monday)

Today is Arbor Day and Craig has the day off (and we didn't have TKD today) to celebrate (we're probably supposed to be planting a tree somewhere...).

4 April 2004 (Sunday)

Craig and I went on a hike this morning--the weather has been really nice lately. We had Jaynie's family, Julie & Joe, and Erica (Joel was traveling home from the US) over for mexican tonight. I made guacamole for the first time (at 4,000 Won per avocado it was a pricey venture!) and Craig made sopapillas for dessert. We also had fajita-seasoned chicken burritos and refried beans (fajita seasoning & refried beans courtesy of my mom!). Jaynie brought her blender (we left ours in the US) and made tasty margaritas.

Also, today is Daylight Savings in the US but Korea doesn't observe it so all of my calculations for figuring out what time it is in the US have been thrown out of whack...I'll get used to it by the time it's fall and the time changes again!

3 April 2004 (Saturday)

We went to Busan today. Craig bought a couple of books and we brought home Subway sandwiches for dinner (and lunch Sunday!). The sandwiches were so good they were worth the nauseating ferry ride home!

2 April 2004 (Friday)

Nancy & Liz having fun with Mijung on Liz's last day of TKD. 4/2/04

We went to Shelly's today after TKD to raid her apartment. She leaves for Perth, Australia in the morning and had some food and household items she was unable to take with her. It was sort of like a garage sale where everything was in the free box! I got pancake mix (Aunt Jemima), enchilada sauce (that I had to sound pathetic enough to get Nancy to give me), cajun seasoning, and some spicy (Korean) ramen.