Summer in Korea

Hello friends! It's been awhile since I've blogged, I know.  All this means is that you'll have A LOT to read now! So thanks for being patient.

Well, it's summer in Korea. This means it's very very humid.  I'm not talking Minnesota weather "humid", I'm talking about how paper is so damp you can't even stuff it in a folder.  It's so humid, I can't straighten my hair because it will go back to curly the minute I put my flatiron down.  It's so damp, that the air conditioner is constantly on at home and at school.  Forget having the windows open because it's not enough!  It also rains quite a bit. This is, after all, rainy season.  July and August are when we get typhoons.  In fact, as you may have already heard on the news, we had a typhoon in Seoul last week (July 26th,27th,28th).  We were, fortunately, in Jeju Island so we didn't have any weather problems. I know it killed over 44 people and that's extremely sad.  The wife of the chairman of Shinsegae was also killed. Shinsegae is like Korea's Macy's.  It's one of the main department stores in Korea. We have one in Suji.  Click HERE to read a little bit about her.

So, on to lighter news.  I recently had my second TKD promotion test and I moved up to Orange belt.  This time I kicked a board and broke it.  I kicked it so hard, a piece of it flew out of Jim's hands.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Lining up to begin

Pumse

No-touch sparring.

TKD is such a great workout and I'm so happy that I get to do it every week.  It beats going to the gym and having to figure out workouts on my own. Not only that, but it instills great discipline and respect.  That's another thing about TKD that I enjoy. The culture and tradition that goes with it is a wonderful attribute.









Well, another thing that's happened this summer is that I turned 30. It's finally here, not that I was waiting for that moment or anything, lol.  How does it feel, you ask?  Not different.  It's just saying that I'm 30, when all of the foriegn teachers I work with (except for Dennis) are 20-something, it makes a small impact because it's still so new to me.  A good friend told me that his 30s were the best years of his life and I have a feeling I'll feel the same way.

My birthday was on a Monday, so the weekend before, Jim and I went to an amusement park called Lotte World. Lotte is a main corporation here in Korea. Their label is on everything.  The place is a little like Disney Land, but smaller (I think. I've never been to Disney Land or World).  It was a lot of fun. We got there around 4pm and got a discount ticket so we paid about $18 for admission (20,000 won).  There was a spectacular stage show and really fun rides. The lines were long, but it was worth it.  There was an indoor and outdoor section.  The location of this place is about 40 minutes from where we live and we took the subway to get there. Here are some pics and videos:

Ice rink inside!

A traveling show inside

Earlier in the summer, we went on a hike in Namhansanseong which is pretty close to Suji.  It says in a our guide book that the trail ends at this beautiful area, but we didn't make it that far because it started to get dark. I've learned that you have to start hiking in the morning.  Nevertheless, it was neat to see the view. Here are some pictures:

The start of the trail.

A Buddhist temple off the main trail

Really steep stairs. This the view from the bottom.

The view of the same Buddhist temple from our hike up the trail.



We visited Coex Underground Shopping Center this summer as well.  It's really really big.  We mostly just walked around/looked around because we plan to go back and see the aquarium, the Kimchi Museum, and see a movie at Megabox.  Here's what it looks like:

Another place we visted with Master Chang and his wife and kids, was Ocean World at Vivaldi Park. The night before, we stayed at a pension nearby. A pension is basically a few rooms (bedroom(s), bathroom) with a kitchen.  You bring meat to grill for Korean barbecue and you do that outside. They include a rice cooker too. There's no hotel service - you wash your own dishes and bring your essentials.  The bedding is mats that you put on the floor.  There is no furniture, except a low table (like a coffee table) for sitting on the floor and eating dinner.  It's very simple, but very practical. Right outside of our pension was a small river in which we jumped into for nice swim.  The next day we headed to Ocean World and had a blast. The wave pool was really fun and the slides were fun too.  There's an indoor section as well.  They do require you to wear life jackets in the water, but it does help you stay afloat.  I don't have any pics of the actual water park, but here's some of the pension and area surrounding:

Another TKD related thing I did this summer, was to help with an overnight TKD camp with Brian, Sarah and Master Chang. He had around 30-40 kids there and we played games and they had little competitions.  We slept in the dojhang and I realized just how early kids wake up (6am).  That was a long weekend, but fun.  Enjoy the pictures!





  But that's not all, no.  We had a week on Jeju Island which was PERFECT.  More on that in the next blog, coming soon!!

More later!