Vietnam and Thailand

It's been about a week since Austin and I got back to Korea from our outstanding 2 weeks in Vietnam and Thailand...now I get to tell you all about them :)

Our first day of travel started early in the morning with Austin and I taking the KTX (Bullet train) north from Busan to Seoul. We arrived into Seoul and then took a bus straight to Incheon Airport. Realization #1 of the trip: Austin and I are fully capable of entertaining ourselves for hours in an airport! Like, hours. We love the Seoul airport and will go hang out there any day.

Flight later that afternoon from Seoul-Taipei-Bangkok. Realization #2: Thai Airways MIGHT be the best airline in the world. We were shown to our seats, sat down and received warm hand towels, hot tea, 2 meals on a 6-ish hour flight, free movies, music, games and TV (you could even make your OWN playlist from their extensive list of music) and FREE alcohol. We also could hang out on a Thai Airways flight any day of the week. Yes, please.

Our awesome tv's on the flight

We arrived into Bangkok late and crashed in a cheap-o hotel and awoke the next morning around 4 to travel back to the airport to meet the parents! Our first sight of my parents was right by check-in and Mer cried and cried and cried....it was beautiful!

VIETNAM:
The 4 of us arrived into Hanoi, Vietnam (the capital, but not the largest city in Vietnam...which is the former Saigon and present Ho Chi Minh city in the south) in the late morning and boarded the hotel van for our most hilarious ride of the trip. Our first experience of Vietnamese driving was insane. Just close your eyes and imagine this scene: You're on a highway, no lanes, 18-wheelers, vans, buses, cars, motorbikes, more motorbikes, even more motorbikes, bicycles...all swerving in and out of one another, honking horns every other second just to let the person in front of you know that you are there...it was CRAZY, and that is an understatement. We thought Korean driving was pretty crazy due to their lack of attention to driving rules, but in Vietnam there aren't even any rules. To our amazement, though, there were very few wrecks. No one gets angry when cut off. The insanity just seems to flow and to work perfectly. Imagine that, America.

Our hotel was wonderful, situated on the exterior of the "Old Quarter" of Hanoi and complete with a comfy bed, bathtub, spacious room and super friendly staff...We loved it.


in our hotel, the Hanoi Old Quarter Hotel, with Yen...our newest best friend!

Then, we ventured out into the city for the next few days. Hanoi is a mix of old French architecture, poverty, way-too-delicious of food, wonderful touristy shops to buy worthwhile souvenirs from and warm friendly people that always greet you with a shy smile. We really loved Hanoi and the famous lake, Hoan Kiem Lake, that sits in the center of the Old Quarter. The lake is a picture-perfect hazy dreamland, complete with Asian willow trees, a pagoda in the middle and awesome Vietnamese elderly working out to TaeBo-type recorded tracks!






On our 3'rd day in Hanoi, we awoke to the early morning bus to cart us 3 hours East of the city to the famous UNESCO World Heritage Site, Halong Bay. We had arranged a 2-day, 1-night boat to take us around Halong Bay. All of the boats in Halong Bay are called "junk" boats and I might be ignorant as to why they are called this, but they are beautiful! With all the 100's of boats swimming the Bay you would think that it would distract from the natural beauty of the area, but because of the natural wooden decor of each junk boat it just...works. On our boat, we were the only 4 Americans there! We met Vietnamese, Canadians, Dutch, Australian, Kiwi's, British and probably more that I am forgetting. We traveled on the junk boat for awhile deep into the Bay and then took a smaller commuter boat onto one of the "islands" that boasts a humongous cave. After touring the cave we went kayaking through that part of the Bay and even saw red-butt monkeys!! When asking what kind of monkeys they were, our tour guide said, "I don't know...normal monkeys?" Realization #3: Sometimes the sites that you see in pictures actually that pretty, if not prettier, in person!







THAILAND:
After 4-ish wonderful and full days in Hanoi, the 4 of us boarded our trusted Air Asia flight for Chiang Mai, Thailand. When people say that they fell in love with a city while traveling, this perfectly describes our feelings of Chiang Mai. My first impression of Thailand and the city of Chiang Mai really surprised me. I expected to see more of the poverty that was so visible in Vietnam, but this country was much wealthier and very, very clean. My dad constantly made comments about how clean the streets were! Back to Chiang Mai: this city was full of tourists, expats and Thais, alike, roaming the streets for yummy Thai food, (man, I would trade Kimchi any day and everyday of the week for some awesome Pad Thai) cute cafes, golden temples and GREAT people-watching! The Vietnamese people smiled a lot, but the Thai people grinned. They were so friendly the whole time we were there. After reading more about the culture, I found that it mostly is a mask to hide their worn out, saddened lives that are taken advantage of by the Thai government. Unfortunately, from the exterior to a ignorant tourist, they seemed like the happiest people in the World. In Chiang Mai we spent a whole day hanging out with lions, tigers and elephants (oh my!) and seeing them do all their fun tricks. We also spent both nights at a great night market that had so many beautiful hand-made Thai souvenirs for dirt cheap. All in all, we LOVED Chiang Mai and flirted with the idea of relocating there after Yangsan!













Next, we ventured to the very southern peninsula of Thailand to the very famous beach destination of Phuket (pronounced 'poo-ket). My Dad surprised us 4 with a gorgeous house with its own pool and outdoor cabana in the Laguna Complex of Phuket, which meaned that we had all the access we wanted to the 5 or 6 resorts within the Laguna Complex. The first couple days were no bueno because I got sick, then Austin got sick and then my Mom got sick. It was nice having a spacious house when the sickness hit because we weren't confined to a tiny little hotel room but were able to romp around and get some space. My favorite part of the house was the outdoor bed in the backyard where I started and finished The Time Traveler's Wife in about 3 days! Phuket, in general, was suuuuper relaxing, suuuuper lazy and a wonderful wrap-up to our busy 2 weeks of Vaca. The beaches were gorgeous white sand beaches with turquoise blue sparkling water. It was idealistic!







Arriving back into Korea was a rude awakening after being in 2 super friendly and warm cultures. I don't know why the Koreans didn't get the memo about being nice...instead, there was pushing, shoving, cutting in line, making gross coughing noises...and kimchi! :)

HAITI

I am overwhelmed with emotion right now as I actually take the time to dwell on the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti. How often do World disasters happen? Pretty often. How often do I really take time to think about them? Not very often. Because of the tender hearts of my friends Caroline Tigner and Caroline Fontenot for the already neglected and underprivileged country of Haiti, praise God that my heart is being affected by this awful tragedy.

All I can do right now is say "Why, God? WHY?" I don't get it. I don't get why a country that is already in so much pain has to go through more, but what I am feeling even more so right now is why I have the life that I do. I don't understand why I get to sit in a coffee shop in South Korea with a $3.00ish Blueberry tea, why I look down on my finger and see a pretty diamond, why I have clothes on my back and so many more back in our apartment...and then so so so many more back at home in Houston, why I have multiple options of things to eat for each meal of the day, why I get to leave on Saturday with my husband and meet my parents for a 2-week vacation, why I have a computer to type on, why I have healthcare...I could go on and on. I. AM. SO. BLESSED. God has had great mercy on me. For some reason that I will not understand until I get to Heaven and God shares with Believers His divine plan, I have been chosen by Him to be blessed beyond belief. I have excess. I have always had excess. But how dare me take that excess like I have earned it or deserve it and not give it away. How dare me not wake up every single day and cry in thanks about what God has given me. Maybe it's because I haven't seen with my own eyes what this life could be like and I haven't met the millions of people that can't say that they know what it feels like to have excess. How dare me forget that those people exist and that God created them and loves them just like He does me...

Friends, we are so very spoiled and have been so blessed by the Lord. What I have is not mine. What you have is not yours. I don't deserve it. You don't deserve it. Let's give thanks to God from deep deep deep in our hearts and ask that He save us from our selfish, naive, blind mind.

"Lord, give us a heart that is not blind to the pain and suffering outside of our 'world' and a voice that cries out daily in thanks for the provision that you have given us. Break our hearts for what breaks yours. Make us cry for what makes you cry. God, make us see through your eyes. Move us toward fulfilling the commands that you have given for believers: that we give freely the resources that YOU have given to us, that we love orphans, widows and the poor. Thank you so much that you have given to us so freely and that we have excess in this life. Thank you that we have food at each meal, that we have clothes to dress our bodies, that we have a roof over our head. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Now let's move. Let's help. Let's give. Let's give to where it hurts us. Let's give to those in Haiti to the point that we just might have to say "no" to some luxury in our own life in order to bless others. Let's do it!!

I am being convicted right now because it is very easy for me to hear about tragedies around the World and forget about it a minute later and never stop and thank God for His grace and pray for those hurting. But as a Christian, God desires for me to act differently. Don't let me throw my convictions on you, but do pray and see how God convicts your own heart.


Here are some websites that the Caroline's have sent to our friends that I get to pass on to you, blog readers:

Real Hope for Haiti, the organization that Caroline and Caroline raised money for a few months ago, is taking donations on their website (https://realhopeforhaiti.org/). Scroll down to the PayPal button. The biggest needs now are funds to purchase food and supplies and prices have already doubled in the last 36 hours. There are 75 children sleeping under a tarp tonight who need to eat 3 meals a day.

Red Cross An easy way is to text "Haiti" to 90999 to give $10 to the Red Cross. It will be on your next phone bill.

Compassion International. For a $35 donation you can help a family receive every sort of disaster relief they might need in this first critical week. You can CLICK HERE OR you can text "disaster" to 90999 to give $10 to Compassion's disaster relief program.

Lastly, you can purchase an awesome shirt (photo attached). 100% of the profits will go to support ministries in Haiti. You can buy them here (http://www.aaronivey.portmerch.com/stores/product.php?productid=17149&cat=0&page=1&featured)

I know there are tons of other ways to help, I just wanted to share these with some friends and family who I thought might be interested.



"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, THOUGH THE EARTH GIVE WAY AND THE MOUNTAINS FALL INTO THE HEART OF THE SEA, though its waters roar and foam and the MOUNTAINS QUAKE WITH THEIR SURGING..." Psalm 46:1-3

Why hello, 2010!

Well, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years have come and gone...I feel like every year it is so awkward writing the new year on everything that asks for a date, but this year's date seems especially uncomfortable. Are we supposed to say "2010" every time we say the date... or just "10?" Saying "0-" seemed fairly normal after doing that for 10 years and now we have to change our whole date-saying mentality.

I hope that each of you reading this had a wonderful and very blessed Christmas full of great memories that you can retrieve and smile on for years to come. Christmas in Korea is interesting. The province that we live in, Gyeongsangnam-do (Gyeongsang is the name, 'nam' means south, and 'do' means province), is known for being a predominantly Buddhist area, but spotted with several Christian church of various demoninations. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, however, store after store threw up their tiny Christmas tree, holly and ornaments and changed their normal Korean music to English Christmas music. Employees at stores wore Santa hats or festive beanies of some sort and even many delivery drivers (who don't drive cars but mopeds) wore entire Santa Claus outfits. The thought that consistently puzzled me was, "Do they even know what Christmas is about?" From my experience here so far (and others might see it differently), Koreans LOVE America. If asked where in the World they would want to travel most say the US, learning English here separates you from the rest of the Korean population and makes you a prized jewel, American celebrities and culture are very talked about here and, in general, Korean see the American culture as one to mimic.

Side note: There are, of course, many Koreans who do not feel this way and are angry that the US still occupies their country.

Side note #2: I often think this mentality is crazy.

But the whole reason for sharing this discovery is that despite the fact of if certain Koreans are Christian, Buddhist or some other faith they seemed to view the Christmas holiday and all that comes with it as this faddish, cool and copy-worthy Western invention. They know how to immitate all of the exterior sights and sounds of Christmas that has gotten way too out of hand in the West, but do they know why we celebrate Christmas? I dare say that most of the American traits that Korea has adopted are only the skin-deep, materialistic and idolatrous things that we pursue on a daily basis. I pray that many Koreans know that the whole reason for Christmas is Jesus, not how many lights you can hang, what colors of ornaments to put on your tree or how expensive the gift is you buy. Sadly, the probable reason why it seems that Koreans see Christmas as a materialistic celebration is because that is how most Americans see it...how sad this must make Jesus.

On a lighter note (phew!), I read my friend Kim Davis' New Years blog and she listed her top 10 favorite things from 2009 and I thought it was a brilliant idea...so I shall copy her. Thanks, Kim!

In chronological order:

#1. Living with A-mazing girls that really love Jesus and encouraged me everyday to pursue Him more and more and more. I miss this already. Pipey, you moved out in 2008 but I'm including you in this bunch for sure.

The gals minus Candice because she wasn't there, which means...

...she gets THIS.

#2. Leading a YoungLife Small Group in the Brazos Valley. My small group girls amazed me each week and loved on me and each other so very well. I pray that through our honest time of looking in to Scripture and analyzing our lives that they were able to intimately meet with Jesus. Sadly, I don't have a picture. They're too good looking to all be in one picture together. It just wouldn't be fair.

#3. Seeing many of my friends get married. Let me try to express how much I love weddings...everything about them...going to them, planning them, being in them, watching the groom watch the bride, eating good food, open bars (yep, I said it), looking at the pretty flowers, dancing all night...oh they are just great. What is even greater? Watching the friends that you love marry their loves and have the happiest day of their lives. 2009 weddings included: the Lewis' (I know, I know it was December 2008 but since it was only 11 days until the new year, I'm including it.), the Fordinal's, the Vacek's, the Dixon's, the Cotgreave's, the Jumonville's and the Todd's.)

The Jumonville's

Caldwell girl leaders at the Fordinal wedding

The Dixon's

The Lewis'

#4. My Bridesmaid's shower and Bachelorette Party. This day/weekend brought me so much joy my cheeks hurt so much from smiling. Having my best friends and wonderful family celebrating the excitement of Austin and my upcoming wedding was more than a girl could ask for...and it produced wonderful pictures and fun memories!

What we like to call "the girliest morning ever"

My bridesmaids and me

"Whose a super freak?"

#5. My parents buying a wonderful condo on Lake Conroe where we all spent many great weekends by the lake and on the boat...and where Austin and I got to live for a month and a half before moving to Korea. Score. Thanks, Mom and Dad. Sadly, again, no picture.

#6. Austin graduating. Him graduating meant that we could get married...yay!

#7. Marrying to the love of my life. Everything leading up to our wedding, with premarital counseling, planning the wedding, showers, etc. was just so wonderful and then our wedding day was the best day of my life so far. The exciting part is that we're only at about 6 months right now and have the rest of our lives to keep on lovin' each other. yippee.

#8. Honeymooning in Cabo san Lucas. Ahhh, I want to go back to that life. Eatin' Mexican food (best Guac everrr), sipping frozen beverages, laying by the beach/pool and not having a care in the World for 2 weeks. Yes, please.

#9. Moving to Yangsan, South Korea! Being adventurous and moving across an Ocean has been the best thing for our marriage and has taught us so much about ourselves as individuals. Also, we have gotten to travel. By the end of our year we hope to have traveled to: Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, Malaysia (where my sister and brother-in-law (BIL) are moving!!!) and then finally London (to see Candice, Jon and my God-mother.)

#10. Learning Taekwondo. Austin and I knew that coming to Korea that we wanted to learn something new that was indigenous to Korea...so Korean Taekwondo it was. We are taking TKD with our friends in the above picture and will be taking our Green Belt test on Jan 11'th!!

Well, that's all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed my top 10 from 2009. See you again next time.

Ko-Rea-Tae-Kwon-DO!

It seems like it has been forever since we last blogged. Sorry for those that check regularly (cough cough Brittany Williams cough cough). A lot has happened in our life and we have remained fairly busy.

First off, two other couples and us have started taking Taekwondo. Taekwondo originates in Korea and many of our students have been taking it from an early age and could for sure kick our butts. We take Taekwondo 3 times a week (as well as having Korean class 1 night a week) so our week nights remain full and active. I think that that will help our weeks fly by pretty fast! Taekwondo is awesome, but sometimes I wonder if, in fact, we are really in a boot camp. Our Taekwondo Master works us out pretty hard. The 1st 20-ish minutes of class is INTENSE stretching and there have been many times when I sit cringing waiting for Austin's body to pop loudly or just break in half. Our 2 instructors laugh often at my not-so-flexible husband and are desperately trying to make him as limber as can be....baby steps, baby steps! The next bit of class is usually hard core work outs, anything from various crunches to sprints to partner wheelbarrow! Hah, that one was fun. The last third-ish of class is actually learning the punches and kicks and practicing our loud grunts every time we strike a pose. I would say, Taekwondo makes you feel like you are ready to go kick some serious butt and take on the World. We will let you know if that happens :)

Thanksgiving-Korea Style was spent at the Seaman's Club, a restaurant right on the water by the port of Busan that caters to the US Navy. When we pulled up to the restaurant I was actually informed that we were technically on US territory and it kinda gave me warm fuzzies inside. We had a Thanksgiving Buffet full of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, salad and apple and pumpkin pie! It was surprisingly really good and for sure hit the spot after 3 months of Korean food. We celebrated the fact that there was NO Kimchi at all on the buffet and would have gotten mad and protective of our holiday food if there were! We were with one Korean lady and she was like, "Where's the Kimchi? I need Kimchi!" and we all just laughed. Koreans eat Kimchi at every meal and are taught from an early age that it is one of the healthiest things that they can consume...in actuality, it's sick and tastes like sour trash. For the non-Kimchi connoisseurs, the dish is fermented cabbage or radishes seasoned with onions, garlic, horseradish, red peppers and ginger. In general, Thanksgiving was yummy and fun but it definitely made us miss home knowing that our families were celebrating it together in either New Orleans or the Schauers' South Texas deer lease.

This past weekend was our friend Mara's Birthday celebration! Her Birthday was on Thanksgiving Day so her boyfriend, Drew, decided to surprise her with one of her good college friends coming in from another Korean city (Daejeon) and a bunch of people meeting at a bar to give her a quasi-surprise Birthday Party. We had a great celebration full of Long Life Bar (with its neon lights, drink coolers and sporadic techno-esque musical light show), another random bar and an end-of-the-night commencement at a Noraebang. A Noraebang is a modern must-do in Korea that entails a bunch of friends going into one room that has couches, disco balls, tambourines and a Karaoke system and singing their hearts out to whatever song they want to. The hits of last night were: Baby Got Back, Layla, Get'n Jiggy With It, Since You Been Gone, Wonderwall and many others. For some of us it was our first Noraebang experience, but we enjoyed it so much there are sure to be many others.

We are looking forward to our Winter Break starting December 22nd where we will have about 5 weeks off! My parents (Lauren's) are planning on visiting at the end of January and we are going to travel to Thailand with them.

Pepero Day

celebrating Pepero Day- the mature way

So on the glorious day of November 11'th in Korea the natives celebrate "Pepero Day," which is a Valentines-like celebratory day. Here is the description by Wikipedia (don't we all love good 'ol Wikipedia?)

Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11, since the date "11/11" resembles four sticks of Pepero.^[3][4] The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts. Lotte denies starting the holiday and instead states that they noticed a bump in Pepero sales around November 11th and after continued popularity they decided to then encourage the holiday with special gift boxes and other promotions.^[2] Some consider it to be a contrived holiday and some teachers have encouraged children to exchange healthy snacks to help combat obesity.

According to one story, Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero".^[5]

Austin and I were showered today with Pepero sticks from our students, but don't worry we won't eat them all at once because my co-teacher made sure to remind me, "Lauren, don't eat all of those or you will get very fat!" Thanks, Young Jin, for reminding me of that!!

more Pepero fun

our many Pepero presents...such a cash cow for the Lotte company that sells these yummy sticks.

And just to keep you on the edge of your seat, Austin and I (as well as 4 of our other friends) begin taking Taekwondo classes this Monday!!! Woooooo. Yes, that's right. We are turning Korean. Everyone has told us that if you are in Korea, you MUST take Taekwondo so we will update more (with photographic evidence) when the time comes.

Until next time, stay classy US of A

Korean Quarks

Today, as well as everyday, I have been amazed by the number of extremely silly things that Koreans do (while thinking it is totally normal).

Korean Culture = Paradox = any person, thing or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature (thanks, dictionary.com).

For your enjoyment, please read below and feel free to laugh because I chuckle under my breath daily:

1. Recently in Korea it has gotten verrry cold, verrry fast. The winter is obviously approaching, which means heavy jackets, scarves and those hand warmers (yano, those square hand-held paper things that have the self-warming rock-type things in them to keep your hands warm during the winter? On a rabbit trail, the only memory I have from those until now is from Junior Cheerleading (Ponderosa Cowgirls) competitions that always seemed to be extremely cold. With our side pony tails, fire-engine-red lipstick and navy and white uniforms, we always used those hand warmers during the long day of competition!!!) Korean schools, yet, still leave all of the windows open (with cold gusts of wind coming into the classroom) Why, you ask? My friend Haley informed me it is because they think the open windows will "let the swine flu out."

a. This is funny because I didn't think that the flu would just let itself out like a house-guest.
b. The open-window perdicament means that the children and teachers are forced to keep their heavy winter jackets on during all 8 hours of school. I asked my co-teacher why the heater was not on in the school. His response: "Heaters? In school? That's crazy!"
c. The flu-letting-itself-out-open-windows, in my opinion, is going to make more children sick from the cold than the swine flu ever had the chance of doing.

2. After 4th period today (right before lunch) my co-teacher said, "Lauren, aren't you dizzy?" I got rather confused and then replied, "Well...no. Am I supposed to be?" For the record I think he meant 'are you dizzy?' but he then proceeded to tell me that he is very dizzy and needs nutrients in his brain. I suggested that maybe he was dehydrated since that could lead to dizziness and he rarely drinks water. He looked at me like that was the craziest idea ever and then proceeded to smack his head repeatedly with an empty water bottle and told me that he thought that that would make his head feel better.

We then arrived into the lunch room and he noticed that today for lunch we were having a brothy vegetable noodle soup rather than the typical protein dish, rice and kimchi. He gasped, "oh no!!! I need rice in my brain to make me less dizzy!" I kinda chuckled and then said "You know what? In the US many people do not eat white rice because it is a simple carbohyrdrate and they think it will make them fat and not give then as much nutrients as a complex carb." His response? "Why, that's crazy! Rice is the most nutritous vegetable there is!!!!"

haha. I have to laugh again as I type this.

3. Back onto the topic of the Swine Flu. (which Koreans are craaaazy obsessed with) Many Koreans (children in school, teachers, people on the street, etc.) wear face masks very similar to the ones that doctors wear while at work. Some are the typical solid blue or white, but the best ones are "designer face masks" that the children wear that have an animals face on them, usually with the ears protruding off of the face mask in a 3d fasion. They are crazy about the kids not getting swine flu and being very sanitary in all aspects of life, however, many things they do totally contradict that:

a. My co-teacher just cleaned all of the tables and all of the classroom with a dirty towel with a bit of water on it. He excused himself to wash the towel and I asked where he washes it. He said, "in the bathroom, of course. I sprinkle some water on it!" So, now the kids will be touching and working on totally dirty and NOT sanitary tables tomorrow!
b. In Korean bathrooms, you are not supposed to put toilet paper down the toilet. Instead, there are waste baskets next to the toilet that you simply drop your used t.p. in. These absolutely disgusting pieces of toilet paper might not aid to contracting the Swine Flu, but it is just downright gross.
c. Also in the bathrooms, we have bar soap to clean our hands with. Something about everyone in the whole school sharing the same bar soap does not make my hands feel clean...and they don't believe in paper towels because it will pollute the country so the kids walk out of the bathroom and wipe their hands on their pants, their shirts or their friends. Hello nasty.

That is all that has happened today at school, but I'm sure there will be even more before this beautiful Thursday is over!

Until next time, take care friends and family. We miss you all dearly.

Namhae, Schnamhae

Hey friends and family, we hope each of you are doing so well and enjoying the growing excitement of Thanksgiving and Christmas in the oh-so-wonderful US culture! We are really starting to feel the sadness of being in Korea over American Thanksgiving and Christmas...that was probably ushered in with the missing of my cousin, Meredith's, wedding and my Granddaddy's 90th birthday party. Signing up to spend a year in a foreign country, however, guarantees that things will be missed back home, but plenty of new memories will be made.

Speaking of which...

Austin and I had the brilliant plan to have a relaxing, peaceful weekend in the small island town of Namhae. It is southwest from where we are now in Yangsan and is connected to the mainland by a really sweet bridge. We took a bus from Busan to Namhae on Friday night and then a taxi to Sangju beach (which is one of their top things to see on the Namhae website!). We unloaded ourselves from the taxi, took several looks around and realized that we were not on a hoppin' beach but rather in a depressing ghost town. There were several motels that we spotted, but only one with the lights on and any sign of human life in it. We were starved so tried also to find a restaurant to grab a quick dinner only to realize only one restaurant was open. Their specialty, you ask? Raw fish. yum. We talked them into giving us Ramyeon (Korean version of our cheap Ramen noodles...they are cheap here as well and pretty much bear the same stigma) and the owners showed us upstairs to their discrete motel that was actually rather nice. We enjoyed being able to lay in bed and watch tv (the only English was sports, which we were totally game for) since our apartment does not have cable set up. Our land-lord told us that we could not set up cable television unless we could promise to keep this lease for 3 years -- sorry, bucko...no TV in our apartment it is. And for what it's worth for Namhae, I'm sure you are wonderful and quite fun in the summer, oh Namhae.

Austin and I woke up the next day optimistically thinking that the experience the previous night of Ghost Town, South Korea was just an illusion and that in the morning there would be more activity. After walking around the beach and surrounding beach area and seeing appx. 10 people Austin made the executive decision to grab our things and return home. For those questioning our judgment and thinking that we are sissies, you're probably right. At the moment of depression we didn't care, though. I mean, 10 people in a whole village, really!?!? So we tucked our tail between our legs, boarded the bus back to Busan and smiled as we entered back into our gigantic city :)

Saturday night Austin and I had the perfect "us" night by going to a yummy Western restaurant (Book&Beer) and shared skewers of peppers, onions, shrimp, salmon, etc. We then did what we do best: coffee shop it up and enjoy the relaxingness of sipping a latte and reading.

On a super positive note, because of our earlier-than-expected arrival back into Yangsan, we got to go with our good friends Paul, Bertha and baby Sonya to a great English-speaking church in Busan. It is called Antioch International Ministry (AIM) and has English-speaking Christians from all over the globe...America, Korea, Philippines, Africa, Japan, etc. The church also holds a Chinese and Japanese service at the same time as the English service but in a different part of the building. It was so refreshing for us to be able to worship and be in a community of believers that we can understand and fellowship with. Thank you, God, for that blessing. AIM is about an hour away from Yangsan, but way worth the travel to get to be with other believers.

That's all for our at-times-dismal and sporadic but fun weekend.

For those who have not received it yet and were wanting our address here:

Austin and Lauren Schauer

Gyeongsangnam-do, Yangsan City, Mulgeum-eub, Beom-eo Li,

Namyangsan Heights Vill #404, South Korea, 626-814

Heart and Seoul

Facelift? Yes, I decided we needed a little spicing up to our blogging life (although Austin doesn't contribute and thinks blogging is lame???). I figured bamboo was fitting, as we are in the land of much bamboo.

For the Choesuk weekend, Austin and I joined two other couples (our Canadian friends, Danielle/Mike and Mara/Drew) for a fun-filled trip to the capital of South Korea and the 2nd most densely populated metropolitan area in the World, Seoul! We took the KTX train (the really fast train) to reach the entire opposite side of the country in only a mere 2.5 hours...about the distance from College Station to Austin!! It is crazy how small this country actually is, but rather exciting because that means that we can easily explore other cities during a regular weekend.

With many of the 10,000,000+ Seoulites out of the city, (for Choesuk, the families all gather together at the paternal grandparents home, no matter where in the country that might be) us 6 were able to maneuver to city with more ease than if the entire population were present. We have heard from many people that the city was totally dead when we were there, so I can only imagine how many more people and how much busier it has to be! Starting our days at about 9 am and ending close to midnight or later each night attributed to tired feet, full stomachs and happy SEOULS!

What did we do and see?

- the famous Yongsan Electronics Market (the largest electronics market in Asia) where you can pretty much find any electronic good you could ever want. Our friend Mara was the biggest spender here, buying a zoom lens for her Nikon DSLR camera.

- the Korean War Memorial. We spent about 2 hours only on the outside walking around before realizing that it was too late to make it inside...that will definitely be a must-see on our next trip. Koreans are very proud of this museum and flock here often to remember Korea's history

the front of the War Memorial

the many different types of planes and machinery used in the Korean War

A Republic of Korea plane

The type of weapon that Austin's Grandfather used in the Korean War

- Myeongdong Shopping Area...so fun and busy, busy, busy!

A store strictly selling cell phone accessories! So Korean!

- Namdaemun Market, (the largest traditional market in the country) where Austin caved and finally bought his sought-after man-purse (he will kill me when he finds out I called it a man-purse over the internet for all to see!!!).

- Itaewon area (the "foreigners" area of Seoul due to its close proximity to the US Army Base). We ate Mexican food here, but it was not too authentic, so that made us have to go get more the next day :)

- Gyeongbok Palace (the largest palace in the country) was very pretty and traditional. We were smack dab in the middle of the city, but felt like we were totally removed and in a very peaceful area.

A cute little boy wearing a traditional hanbok outfit!

- Insadong Market area is where we stayed AND spent much of our time. Insadong is known for its traditional pottery and handmade gifts. There are also cafes and shops lining all the streets that all have a warm, European-like atmosphere.

- Sinchon area...mainly just the ON THE BORDER for steak/shrimp fajitas, guacamole and margs!!! Muy Bien :)- Dongdaemun Market that has some of the best clothes shopping deals in the city

Overall, we covered a lot of the really interesting and exciting sites to see in Seoul, but there are sooo many more things that would be a thrill to see and do. We are excited for our next trip to the big city :)

Our First Day of School

After laying out our "first day of school" outfit and our leather patent shoes last night, Austin and I survived our first days of school as Elementary School teachers and even have a few funny stories to document.  But first, here is a run-down of our days:

Austin: At 9 am in the morning, Austin was the guest of honor at a school-wide assembly in the gym. He had to give an introduction speech and broadcast himself to the whole school. At 9:50 he sat in the "teachers meeting" = eating apples and drinking green tea! From then to 11:50 he sat in HIS OWN classroom on HIS OWN computer and did nothing. After the 11:50 class he had lunch consisting of: rice, some kind of soup, cold noodles, kimchi, and hard egg casserole (?). From then until 3:30 he, again, did nothing. Then, until the end of the day (at 4:40) his Korean co-teacher gave him a lesson in Hangul (the Korean language).

Lauren: At 9 am in the morning, I had to report to the "broadcasting room" and sit behind a wanna-be news anchor set to introduce myself to the whole school over the school-wide broadcasting network. From 10-1, I had 3 back-to-back classes of 5th graders where I shared my Powerpoint on my life, family and hobbies. My lunch consisted of: rice, some kind of soup, sweet and sour fish, leaves with anchovies in them and kimchi. [Note: we no longer feel bad for American Schools' Cafeteria Food] Since Koreans do not use knives and I was having a hard time cutting up my sweet and sour fish, I asked my co-teacher (Young Jin) how to cut my food. He, then, leaned across the table and started cutting all of my food for me with his chopsticks! After lunch, my co-teacher and I had two more classes followed by reading a book for an hour.

Funny things said today by our kids:

little girl to Lauren about Austin's picture: 

"He has a lot of hair on his face. Is he your grandpa?"

little boy to Austin:

"Do you like your wife?"

little girls about picture of Ella: 

[giggling among girls]    

Lauren: "What are you laughing at?"      

Little girl: "She wants to eat your dog!"

Lauren: (wants to punch them in the face)

little boys to Lauren:

"How much do you weigh?"

little boy in the stairwell to Austin:

"You look like OBAMA!"

little boy in the hall to Austin:

"You look like BRAD PITT!"

We are now taking a vote on which one YOU think Austin looks like...please respond with a "comment"

Our First Place!

Our bedroom. Those back doors lead off to a porch/laundry room.  During the winter you close the suction doors and summer you leave them open.

Our Kitchen!  It is a great space with a stove, microwave, fridge, countertops, plenty of storage and table and chairs! Very modern looking with these bamboo-type floors!

Our bathroom. Restrooms in Korea do not have a special area for the shower. As you can see, the shower is in the room and has not raise in the floor to retain the water. Therefore, the water from the shower goes all over the whole room...not their smartest decision.

This is what it looks like when you walk in. Stairs on the right lead up to a 3-4 ft. ceiling loft area (we are using it for storage).  Straight ahead is our bedroom, with the kitchen straight ahead and to the left. Bathroom at 9 o'clock and entry way (for shoes...Koreans don't wear their shoes inside their home) at 6 o'clock behind us.

Apartment, Hanguel and Outback!

You were going to get a quick tour of our apartment with some picture that I took, but this computer is taking forrrrever, so that will come soon!

Our adventures in Korea have continued to be new, different and very eye-opening (We Americans sure do have a way of thinking that everything we do is correct, even if we love to think that we are open-minded).  After talking to our parents on Skype yesterday morning, (yahoo!) Austin and I ventured over to a Christian church that was down the street from the little bakery we were sitting at…yes, Koreans surprisingly LOVE their baked goo

ds AND they don’t have any funky fish products in them, unlike most of their foods.  This bakery’s name was ‘Paris Baguette,’ which makes me laugh really hard because about 90% of the people in our city do not even know what “Hello” means!  There are some random shops with English names that for a second makes me excited to think that there are English speakers, then

 when I remember the situation we are in I get very confused as to why they would name their shops with English words.  Continuing with that thought, I have yet to see one Korean with a t-shirt with Korean writing (hanguel)…yep, all English.  I want to go up to them and say, “I’m sorry, do you e

ven know what your shirt says?”  It confuses me. 

     Back to the church topic:  So Austin and I mosey on down to the church (the only reason we know it is a church is because of the large cross at the top of the building- everything else in Korean) and walk

 in only to be stared and pointed at by all of the people in there!  It was like they had never seen an American before.  There were four little girls who were probably about 7 years old that continually ran up to us, giggled and said “helllllooooooo!” They were the cutest things ever and it made me w

ant to adopt a Korean baby (Austin and I decided they are some of THE cutest babies out there!)  We were welcomed by two women who grabbed my (Lauren’s) arm and led us into a fellowship/community area.  The assistant pastor then came and sat with us and, amazingly, spoke excellent English.  He wanted to know everything about 

us and was totally amazed that we had only been there three days and were interested in finding a church.  This man (his Korean name translates to David) had been a missionary in the Philipines for 18 years and was pretty much fluent in both English and Filipino, as well as Korean.  He to

ld us all about the church, told us he would love for us to attend their church and informed us that we are the only foreigners to have ever visited!  We went upstairs for their 3 pm church service and were amazed by the hospitality.  They had us stand up at the beginning and the congregation sang a welcoming song to us, complete with hand mo

tions and all!  At one point, they waved their hands in our direction to demonstrate them sending blessings and welcomings our way.  The assistant pastor gave us ear phones for us to listen while he translated the events of the service.  We watched a special kids’ performance and listened to the telling of one of the church missionary’s trip to Ezra, Jordan.  It’s funny…we American

s don’t really think about Christians from other countries (especially Asian countries) being missionaries and going into other lands to share the gospel.  I realized how narrow-minded we can be!  Our first Korean church experience was so interesting bec

ause neither of us have ever felt SO welcome at any church and only ONE person could speak to us in our language.  Hmmm…

    So today Austin and I sat down at our kitchen table and really tried hard to learn as much of the Korean language (Hanguel) as we possibly can.  We began with learning the alphabet (hanguel characters) and then attempted to learn the words.  It is tricky, this language, because it is a double 

whammy- first learning a totally new alphabet that looks nothing like ours and then having to learn new words.  While reading Hanguel I feel like a first grader sounding out the c

haracters slowly.  It taked five minutes to read one sentence and even after that, I still have no idea what it means!

This is what we have learned so far:

 

Hello: an-nyoung-ha-se-yo

Goodbye: an-nyoung-hi-kye-se-yo

Thank You: kam-sa-ham-ni-da

I’m Sorry: choe-song-ham-ni-da

Dog: kae

Chicken meat: tak-ko-gi

Beef: soe-go-gi

Year: hae

This is my practice sheet:

 

Lastly, today we went with our co-teachers into Busan (Pusan, either spelling) to get our Alien Registration Card (ARC).  You have to have one of those if you are staying in the country longer than 90 days…and to set up internet, cell phone and a bank account! The ARC card was simple to apply for, but we don’t get it for 10 more days (Bummmmmer).  Buuut, after we did that they took us to Hyundae Beach, which is the most famous beach in South Korea.  It is on the outskirts of Busan and has tremendous views of the city, Japan Sea and mountains. We walked along a pathway and onto the beach and saw many a grandma doing sit-ups, jogging and stretching! It is amazing how active everyone is here.  Hyundae was beautiful and we are planning to go back…the real news from that trip is that we saw: OUTBACK, STARBUCKS, PIZZA HUT & BENNIGANS!!! I thought Austin was going to cry he was SO happy.  So it looks like we might be making a quick subway trip to Busan when in need of some back-home-cookin.  Busan was definitely refreshing because we saw many foreigners, most of the signs has English translation and the before-mentioned American cuisine….All I want to find now is a yummy salad bar!

 Grandpa working out (Note: his wheelchair is next to him. Don't worry, he only needs that to get around.)

For now, An-nyong-hi-kye-se-yo!