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30 September 2004 (Thursday)

I went to pottery this morning. Sadly, I think that Minsue, Mijung, and Young-Ah are already catching up to my "skill" level. Pretty soon I'll be embarrassed to go to the same class as them!

Craig and I also went to my 16 week doctor's appointment this morning and I asked Dr. Lee if he could tell if we're having a boy or a girl and he was positive we're having a girl! Of course, we will get to see again next month at our appointment to double check (we don't want any surprises in the delivery room in March!).

28 September 2004 (Tuesday)

We made it back to the airport pretty easily (we weren't really confident in our abilities to find Avis again since they didn't give us a map with their location on it like they usually do at home) and ran into Minsue & Jin at the airport so we got to hear all about each other's vacations. We made it home pretty easily, we got a taxi from the airport (and he drove an automatic--so much better to get an automatic transmission than a standard when you're riding in a taxi!) to the ferry terminal about an hour before the ferry to Okpo departed.

When we got to Okpo, none of the taxi drivers would take us (they all get out of their taxis and try to get you to get in their cab) because we just wanted to go to our apartment which isn't as far as they wanted to travel (they wanted to make more money). I ended up getting really frustrated with them and stood there with them and yelled "taxi! taxi" but they just ignored me (wow they made me mad!). Finally a taxi drove up and we got in before telling him where we were going--we ended up giving him a 100% tip (it ended up being less than $5 USD) we were so happy he didn't make a fuss about taking us there.

27 September 2004 (Monday)

Binoculars weren't of much use with all of the fog at Sangumburi Crater. 9/27/2004

We decided to go for a drive toward the eastern side of the island, but to head up through the middle by Mt. Hallasan first. It was really foggy and cool on the drive up. The roads were too narrow and it was too foggy to stop and safely take a picture though. We went to Sangumburi Crater but it was a little too foggy to see how big it actually was. We walked on a rubber path to the rim of the crater.

After the crater we saw a sign for a nutmeg forest so we decided to check it out. After that, we drove along the eastern coast of the island and ended up going to Popeye's for dinner--the best meal we had on our trip! I realize how sad that statement sounds, but it was too true.

I was feeling pretty exhausted (the previous day I had gotten to take a nap after we went swimming but today we were "going" non-stop), but we decided to check out the Teddy Bear Museum where Craig got a magnet that shows the bear replica of the Vincent Van Gogh self portrait painting (where one ear is cut off and a bandage is around the bear's head). I got a little bear ("Curly Brown") for our baby.

26 September 2004 (Sunday)

Harubang (grandfather stones) carved from lava rock--we saw these pretty much everywhere we went on the island. 9/26/2004

We headed out to Jusangjeolli on the Jungmun-Daepo coast this morning. It was about five minutes from our hotel once we finally figured out how to get there! We had to park at the convention center which seemed strange (I'm not sure why it seemed strange, since we do realize that things aren't set up the same way here that they might be in the US...) so it took us a couple of trips up and down the road to find it. Anyway, the coast was beautiful with cliffs made of lava.

After that, we headed back to the hotel to swim in the pool for a bit. Craig was a bit leary about wearing a swim cap when the attendant handed them to us, but I assured him that that was the norm for Korea since we had to wear swim caps when I was going to aqua aerobics last winter (really should start that again!). We had a good time since we had the pool to ourselves, but the pool wasn't heated! It was an indoor pool, granted, but it could have stood to be a few degrees warmer!

After lunch, we took a drive along the southern and western coasts with the ultimate goal of visiting the Hyeopjaegul lava tube and then hitting the beach for sunset. Another mis-marked map and some poor reading skills on my part (I skimmed over the part of the description in Lonely Planet that said the lava tubes were located inside Hallim Park--oops!) got us to our destination a little later than planned, but it wasn't a big deal. The park was laid out so you had to go through certain areas to get to others which was frustrating. We ended up getting stuck on the botanical gardens side for a while before we realized the easy way to lava tubes and then we had to go through the bonzai and lava rocks to get out [note top left photo is from botanical garden section; top right photo is by Craig].

We grabbed some snacks at a convenience store (decent restaurants on this island were all hidden from us!) and headed to Hyeopjae Beach for the sunset. [Note that most of the photos of the sunset are Craig's, but a few are mine as well. I didn't bother to identify the proper photographer for each one.]

Instead of heading back to the lounge singers right away, we stopped at the Seattle's Best/Cinnabon near our hotel. Craig had a cinnabon (he let me have a few bites) and it tasted just like at home--sickeningly sweet!

25 September 2004 (Saturday)

We took a bus to the airport this morning. This bus stops at several hotels in Haeundae Beach, makes a couple of more stops in town and then zips right along to the airport. Pretty convenient and less that $10 USD for the two of us.

Our flight to Cheju was pretty uneventful which is always a good thing. The flight time was only about 40 minutes. We got in fine, rented our car and we were on our way. We checked out the "Mysterious Road" on our way, but failed to see the mystery in it. We talked to Minsue & Jin about this later and it turns out we were supposed to actually stop the car to experience it rolling in the opposite direction that the horizon would indicate (as in, it looks like you're going uphill but actually you're going down so the car would roll forward).

Our hotel was nice. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency and I do have one pretty major complaint that leads me to not recommend this place to a friend: they had lounge music at the cafe downstairs from about 6 PM to 10 PM (not that that is bad, that's just fine!) and we could hear it in our room! I think we were paying too much per night to be forced to listen to the Korean lounge singers singing Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, etc. if we were not even at the cafe!

We ended up eating dinner in Seogwipo (after several attempts to find a parking spot and being stuck driving through the open food market twice!) at Tombstone because our (now outdated) version of Lonely Planet said it was good Western food. I know that I am a pretty picky eater (but I think I've lowered my standards enough to enjoy most of the Korean food (or Korean interpretations of "Western" food) I've had this past year), but I just did not like the food there. I did end up eating a bunch fries and fruit that fortunately came with the chicken I ordered.

When we got back to the hotel and discovered our lounge music problem, we decided to head downstairs to the cafe where Craig got a glass of red wine and I had some dessert.

24 September 2004 (Friday)

We spent the night at the Westin Chosun at Haeundae Beach in Busan so we could already be in Busan for our flight to Cheju in the morning. The ferry ride was really bumpy from Jangseungpo and we were on top of a double decker ferry which I think made it even worse. Somehow I didn't really get nauseous, but Craig wasn't doing so hot. We should have taken a break at the ferry terminal when we arrived, but instead we hopped into a taxi right away. I thought for sure I was going to have to tell the driver to pull over so Craig could puke! Luckily we made it to the hotel, had an OK dinner there, then went down to the beach for an evening stroll.

21 September 2004 (Tuesday)

We are going to Beijing next month! We booked a package tour based on the rave reviews of Erica & Joel and Don & Patsy who each took separate trips through the same company and enjoyed their trips. So, the travel agent asked me to transfer the money (for airfare, hotel, transportation, guide, and food--it's quite a deal!) to his account. We have a Kookmin account and travel agency's bank is Woori Bank. The coolest thing ever is that I can go to my Kookmin ATM and choose: English>Transfer>Woori Bank> and then type in his account number and the amount of the transfer and it's done. You can transfer between any bank in Korea this way. At home, it would require at least a wire transfer fee not to mention a bit of paperwork and hassle.

Here's hoping that our tourist visas are as easy to obtain!

20 September 2004 (Monday)

Craig's Oma died on Saturday--we just heard from Anita tonight. We will miss her and we wish we could be with Craig's family this week.

19 September 2004 (Sunday)

Yesterday was our 5th anniversary--we went to John & Leila's for Leila's birthday (her mom made a really nice Brazilian dinner for everyone--delicious!). We are planning a trip to Cheju for our anniversary trip this year which I think should be really nice.

Today we went to Busan for the day (and I didn't get sick on the ferry, thank goodness!). When we got back to Okpo, we decided to finally try out Lee Place for dinner since we've heard from a couple of people that the food is good. I had Norwegian meatballs, boiled potatoes, and cabbage and it was so good! Craig got a cheeseburger and fries. I didn't try his cheeseburger, but the fries were fantastic!! I think we're going to have to go there every week until I go home in December!

17 September 2004 (Friday)

We ordered Chinese delivery tonight with Erica & Joel. I think it was the best ordering experience I've had in Korea so far! I called and asked "Do you speak English?" when I got a "yes," I then asked if they knew where our apartments are located. When I got a "yes" to that, too, I proceeded with my order. And then to top it off, the food was delicious when it arrived (and the order was correct)! I don't think it gets much better than that no matter where you are in the world!

15 September 2004 (Wednesday)

Today after TKD we all hopped in the TKD van to get coffee (I had a "fresh orange juice") at El Paso (no, it's not a Mexican restaurant) in Jangseungpo--Sabeamnim even went with us (he doesn't usually like to go out w/ so many women--and with so few who speak Korean).

12 September 2004 (Sunday)

Sabeamnim helping Jaynie get ready to spar at the black belt test. 9/12/2004

On our way home from Costco, we stopped to watch Jaynie and Young-Ah take their black belt test. It was so much better being on the spectator side of things than have to worry about actually taking the test! I took photos of Jaynie & Young-Ah with Jaynie's camera, but Craig took photos with our camera of Jaynie's poomse and then of her sparring. Somehow Jaynie & Young-Ah didn't get into the same group, so they had to fight with two other random Korean women--they both did a really good job!

Craig played around with one of the new lenses I bought while in the US last month so he got a couple of pretty cool shots of the upper belts sparring throughout the day.

11 September 2004 (Saturday)

Craig had to go to a meeting at work this morning and then at noon, after hemming and hawing for a bit, we decided to drive up to Daegu to get some bagels from Costco. We spent the night at the Central Hotel which was a really good location and fine for one night at about $35 USD. The most exciting thing we found at Costco this time was the Nature Valley crunchy granola bars--we've had access to the chewy ones, and then the ones with yogurt topping for a while. So to see the crunchy bars was quite a thrill! Yum!

10 September 2004 (Friday)

We went to Minsue's tonight for dinner. She made us a Korean dinner complete with all of the little side dishes. Everything I had was delicious!! And everything I didn't have (seafood pancakes, sorry Minsue), Craig thought was delicious.

8 September 2004 (Wednesday)

I feel that I must make a public service announcement since I've had to to tell two people (actually four people, but two couples) about IMDb in the past month. How did these people survive before they knew about it? How would anyone settle a barroom brawl or a Blockbuster bickering session or find out more about movies/actors/tv shows without it? If you don't know what IMDb is then I suggest you go back and click on the link.

6 September 2004 (Monday)

My belt! 9/9/2004

Minsue and I got our black belts today! My name was even spelled correctly (Mijung thought they may have spelled it "Redecca" (with a "d" instead of a "b")) on the belt! I still feel a little cheated because we didn't spar for the test, but I know I did all of the work to make it to the test in the first place, so I'll just have to be content!

Craig and I usually eat lunch at the kimbap restaurant near TKD on Mondays because the cleaning ladies are here on Monday. Today, Erica, Jaynie, Mijung, and Minsue were going to join us, but the restaurant was closed! So we tried another kimbap place and it was closed. We stopped by a sushi place and it was closed, too! Finally we found a third kimbap restaurant that was open and we ended up having a really good lunch there.

After lunch, Erica, Minsue & I went to pottery in Gohyeon. I picked up the second set of six dessert plates I had waiting for me. We are going to start going on Thursday mornings from 9:30-11:30 with Minsue & Mijung. Should be fun--and Minsue & Mijung will be able to talk to our instructor so maybe we'll actually learn a little about what we're doing!! We'll start next Thursday.

Yet another typhoon is heading our way tonight/tomorrow: Typhoon Songda. I'm hoping it will be like Chaba (not show up here) but we'll just have to wait and see...

2 September 2004 (Thursday)

Craig and I are trying to plan a trip to Beijing--we were hoping to go over Chuseok (the Korean "Thanksgiving") but we're having a hard time getting flight reservations. Now we're thinking of going in October instead. Either way, I'm excited to go there. We just need to decide what we're doing for the 5 day weekend of Chuseok now! We've also got to plan the rest of the trips we were hoping to get in before we leave Korea--I will leave in December so we don't have much time left to get all of our little trips in.

1 September 2004 (Wednesday)

Today was my first day back at TKD--I'm sure it was a combination of not having exercised for four weeks and being 12 weeks pregnant, but I was tired after class! Class went well and it is so much better now that it is not so hot (July was really pretty miserable at TKD now that I look back on it!).