someone in seoul loves you

Lolly & Pops Visit

2011-02-23T19:04:00.001-08:00

4 Month Old Ezra

2011-02-23T18:47:00.001-08:00

Baby Playdate

2011-02-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Ezra and his baby friends, Isaiah & Marc (taken by Marc's mom, Stephanie)

Snugglin' it up on a snowy day

2010-12-08T02:18:00.000-08:00

2 Months Old

2010-12-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

Well, Ezra ate and slept his way through October and November and he has gained almost 5 pounds to show for it. Today at his 2 month check up, he weighed almost 12 pounds. I'm thanking God for helping us through the last 2 months. I said many a prayer asking for His help and I always said I would give Him all the glory if the baby ever learned how to nurse properly. Don't mind if I do give myself a few little pats on the back too though. It hasn't been easy chubbing this baby boy up.

My Cowboys

2010-12-04T02:48:00.000-08:00

Memaw and Dee Dee Take Seoul

2010-12-03T03:55:00.000-08:00

A month ago we had a wonderful visit from Ryan's mom and grandmother who came all the way across the sea to welcome their new great and grandson into the world with lots of love. They hit the town while they were here too. Ryan had them walking up mountains, riding the crowded subways and eating kimchi. He didn't hold back on their Korean experience and I think they had a pretty good time. They were really good sports throughout all their experiences and even humored Ryan and I's request to dress in traditional outfits at the palace.

Memaw was mingling with everybody around, making friends with strangers everywhere we went.

She was much braver with the camera than I've ever been able to be. It was awesome. She was getting people to pose for her and everything. Here are three girls in the typical get-up.

Of course, most importantly, they spent lots of time loving and cuddling their little Ezra, who loves them already.

So We Don't Forget the Skinny Legs

2010-10-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

I took these a couple of weeks ago after I put Ezra in his crib to get his swaddle blanket ready. He just looked soo cute! I never want to forget these skinny little legs. He's already so much bigger than this now.

Mimi Visits

2010-10-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is my lovely mother at Passion 5 (swanky bakery in Seoul) on her birthday. She was here for a couple of weeks and her presence is now dearly missed. It was so wonderful to have her here to: cry to about breastfeeding, keep the house tidy, and keep her eye on the baby so I could: get dressed, take showers, sleep and eat food. Without her I pick one of the above four activities and you know I also choose food.

We didn't take enough pictures while Mimi was here and she will no doubt not appreciate that she has on no make-up in this one. She still looks beautiful though and it shows her sacrifice in letting some of those things go in order to help.

This is Ezra's halloween costume. He slept through the entire putting on and wearing of it.

Lil' Ezzy and I are on our own again. He's not into swings or any activity where he's not in someone's arms. I keep reminding myself that this is the most important thing in my life now. I can stay in my pajamas all day and allow my house to be a wreck temporarily while I nurture this little boy. He's worth it all. I do have some new tricks for getting him to sleep and I've thrown out everything that tells me not to use them. Oh yeah, I'm talking pacifiers, vaccum cleaners, rocking to sleep...and all three of these at the same time. You do what you gotta do and he needs his sleep.

Settling In & First Visitors

2010-10-14T01:58:00.001-07:00

Some of Ezra's first visitors were three of Ryan's former students & current members of his discipleship group and the co-leader of the group, "Aunt" Menya. It was such a sweet and thoughtful visit. The kids collected money to buy Ezra some gifts and went shopping after school for him. They gave him books, a kids Bossa Nova album, a blanket, little stuffed dog and best of all..a baby book with messages from students to Ezra. Some were serious and some were less. One example being; "I give you your gansta name, "Lil Ezzy".

They presented Ezra with his first Bible

and took turns holding him, very nervously.

It was such an encouragement to have them here.

We had so many kind visitors bringing us delicious food. We feel so blessed to be surrounded by people who care about us in Korea. I can't imagine what we would do if we were here without friends.

This has been one crazy week. Even though we "knew" that the first few weeks of taking care of a new baby are very challenging, we didn't know. I don't think anything can prepare you for the highs and lows of being totally responsible for the well being of a little baby. Every morning feels like a new, fresh start and God gets all the glory for that.

Home from the Hospital

2010-10-08T20:20:00.003-07:00

Our little Ezra Young is now 10 days old. We've been home from the hospital for one week today. It seems like so much less time. I don't know where all the hours in the day go. We've had some hard nights, but mostly we've had so much joy taking care of this little one. Every day is getting easier.

little "owl eyes" in his hospital bassinet

The nurses at the hospital were so helpful and loving; having a baby in Korea was a really good experience. One day when I was frustrated with breastfeeding, I started crying and the lactation nurse cried with me. It was really sweet and was good for me to have an experience like that here....to see how much she really cared about us.

We were a little bit nervous going home, considering every time he woke up needing to eat, I had to call the lactation nurses to help me. Fortunately, things got a little better the morning we left. It was a strange feeling to be at home for the first time with our son. Here we were with no real clue how to take care of a baby...all alone.

in his bed at home for the first time

Not 20 minutes after we arrived at our apartment, I was trying to feed him. I took all his clothes off of him except his diaper because it was pretty warm in our apartment. Right when he started to eat, the fire alarm in our building went off and there was a message on our speaker (yes, we have "announcements" in our apartment building. we never know what they're about.) Ryan went out in the hall and said it was smokey. I had to wrap Ezra in a blanket and run out. Since we live on the 10th floor, we had to take the elevator, because of my c-section. When we got outside all the residents were there and we saw that an apartment on the 5th floor had smoke pouring out of it. Firemen were already inside putting it out. We were outside about an hour waiting. Lots of our neighbors who have never spoken to us before, came to look at the baby. Praise God, Ezra slept through the whole thing! It was a good first day home. Everyone was kinda in a good mood outside and it forced a little bit of community, something that we often feel is lacking here.

sleep deprived and unshowered of 5 days waiting for the smoke to clear

recovering from the chaos back inside

It has been so good to be home. It's amazing how God gives you the strength to keep going when you have stayed up all night worrying etc. It seems like every time we feel like we can't keep going like this, He gives us a new burst of energy and golden moments with our son.

Baby Ezra has arrived!

2010-10-04T04:24:00.000-07:00

This morning at 10:44 we welcomed our little son, Ezra Young (영) Dixon into the world! Mother and child are doing fine. We wanted to pick a name that represented Ezra's family back home, and the fact that he was born in Korea. Young was Abby's grandmother's maiden name. It's also a common Korean name (영).

We are very thankful, and very much appreciate your prayers. We are also thankful for Dr. Choi.

Ezra was born on a cloudy day. I'm sure that means something symbolic. He was also born in the year of the White Tiger, which means, in Korea, that he will have good fortune. I think it was a pretty enough day to be born. You can almost see our apartment through our hospital room window.

We thank God for blessing us with such a lovely baby boy, and can't wait to introduce you to him soon.

It's only been a year since the last update

2010-09-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

I'm not a good blogger. Things that take other people 5 minutes on their fancy apples, take me about 30 on an old dying Toshiba. Ryan and I never take pictures either. One of us needs to get into gear before the arrival of the baby in the next few weeks. We know that people can deal with not getting updates about us, but something tells me they won't be so patient and kind once the little one is in the world. We'll do our best.

Baby is officially due on October 5th (but as we learned in our childbirth class, that means "sometime in late september to mid october). Right now the little one is head up with his feet in the pelvis. Some breech babies can be safely delivered, but when they are feet first, it's considered very risky. In the meantime, I've tried all manner of natural ways to get him to flip: crawling around on my hands and knees, playing music through headphones at the pelvis, elevating my hips higher than my heart and most recently, acupuncture and moxa*. So far, he hasn't budged. We have a c-section tentatively scheduled for Monday, October 4th. We'll go in Sunday night and if he's still head up, he'll enter the world via c-section the next morning.

*Moxa is the burning of mugwort near pressure points. In my case, the outside of my little toes. They put little suction cups with incense sticks in the middle on you and let the mugwort burn for 15 minutes. This was ok, but it smelled just like marijuana! I've been smelling this in our apartment everyday, trying to convince Ryan our neighbors are smoking pot. It takes a little scandal out of my day to know it's just mugwort.

A Lone Photo from the DMZ

2009-12-07T19:43:00.001-08:00

A few months ago, I went with the sixth grade class to the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. Unfortunately, that day my memory card was not in my
camera so I couldn't take any pictures. The above picture was sent to me by another teacher, Mrs. Lee (who is in the picture with me). We were "in" North Korea in the picture, inside a building built on the dividing line. It was a very intense scene at the border. Across the line there were two North Korean soldiers watching us with binoculars, and several more could be seen in the windows of various buildings doing the same. Everyone was very serious, including the sixth graders (which was a rare and beautiful thing). It was a clear day, so we could see the propaganda village and a statue of Kim Il Sung through the binoculars. It's so strange to be so close to an isolated country that no one really knows much about. I think, wonder and pray about the people who live there.

Icheon Rice Festival; Saturday Escape from Seoul

2009-10-24T07:31:00.001-07:00

This weekend we attended a festival held in thanksgiving for a good harvest of rice in Icheon, a city about an hour northeast of Seoul. It was refresing to leave the city for several hours for the more mountainous eastern Korea. Icheon is famous for having the best rice in all of Korea (because of the geography and the lack of pollution.) I think that I have yet to develop a refined rice tasting palette, as I was unable to detect anything particularly superior in Icheon rice. It was good though. Rice is good.

These ladies are in traditional dress, hanboks, serving tea (even though we had to sanitize our hands coming into the festival, it was totally ok for us to all drink tea out of the same glass cup.) I like that about Korea.

more scenes from traditional Korea

a sweet little ajuma & ajashi weaving straw into animals

At lunchtime, we walked along the food stalls to find something to eat. Usually in Korea, a restaurant has one or two specialty dishes and little else. We saw
some familiar favorites, like the seafood and green onion pancake pictured below. Since we've eaten those many times, we kept looking.

We saw this lady and what appeared to be deep fried green peppers. Tempted by these tasty looking things, we settled on eating at the place she was working. They had two dishes, one was soup and the other was the fried peppers.

We all ordered soup without knowing what kind it was. One lift of the spoon revealed
this.

The soup was a typical red pepper broth but there were many whole fish with white eyes in it. We thought that they were perhaps eels of some sort because the did not have fins. Later we found out that they were mudfish. Mudfish live among the rice paddies and in really dirty parts of rivers. They are really fast and are considered to have all kinds of health benefits. In traditional stew, they drop them in while they are alive. They crawl into the tofu to escape the heat and die there. Lovely!

We ate some rice and broth and eagerly anticipated the arrival of our fried peppers. You can probably guess what happened next....they weren't peppers, they were deep fried mudfish! Some Korean men were so excited that we were eating it, they gave us some sort of nut or fruit and proceeded to make us try it right in front of them. Of course, we did our best to look like we LOVED all of it! Inside we were making a face like one of the children below.

After the mudfish experience, I got an icecream cone to get the taste out of my mouth and enjoyed the rest of beautiful Icheon. The availability of cheap & tasty icecream cones everywhere in Korea has definitely been a daysaver on many occasions.

The next night our friend invited us over for chili. She had several of her Korean friends over and they were all eating their chili very cautiously and slowly. It resembled the way i "ate" my mudfish stew in a lot of ways. Even when things are hard, it's so special to get to particpate in Korean culture. I want to try harder to do it more. (Ryan is already pretty good at it, but even he couldn't eat the mudfish!)

Cross Country Meet, Fall Weather, Good Day

2009-10-18T06:40:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning was the first middle school cross country race. The girls came very pumped up (despite the early hour) and began cheering loudly from the back of the bus. It turned out to be a lovely day and the girls ran really well. 4 or 5 international schools participated in the race. Hannah Parrish (pictured above)came in 2nd place in the meet. I happen to know that her grandparents occasionally look at this blog and thought they would be happy to see a little report on their star cross country running granddaughter!

Anguk Station Area; Perfect Spot for Autumn

2009-10-18T05:51:00.001-07:00

One thing that is so nice about living in a big city is that there is always somewhere new to go. Saturday night, some girls got together while our husbands were eating steak and wandered around a serene and romantic area across from Insadong. (We then managed to destroy the romantic mood by being the only non-couples in the whole neighborhood!) It's a peaceful little section with many promising looking cafes and shops. Brick buildings & the careful thought put into the design of the establishments, inside and out, make this a really charming place. I definitely caught the "happy virus" in this neighborhood; it's contagious. cafe that's on my list for next time adorable bags of coffee outside the shop on our way home...happy!

Chuseok, Wonderful Weather, Etc

2009-10-05T05:27:00.001-07:00

This week we had a lovely break from school in honor of Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok. Though we planned on attending some cultural events around the city, Ryan became sick just in time for the break. Boo! He started feeling a little better towards the end though and we were able to enjoy the extremely pleasant weather Seoul has had as of late. We walked across the bridge near our house to the very beautiful Banpo Bridge Park. In this case, the grass is definitely greener on the other side. We rented this tandem bicycle and rode all up and down the river, glimpsing skyscraper after skyscraper and some cheezy Korean couples on picnics. You can see one such pair in the video below (taken from the back seat of the bike.)
It's a popular Korean trend to wear matching outfits with the one you love.

Our friends, Carrie & Dan Buller, were out and about a few weeks ago and heard a man speaking Portuguese; since Dan speaks Portuguese also, he introduced himself. The man was Fabricio from Brazil and he lives in Seoul and plays for the Korean soccer league. We went to watch Fabricio in action Saturday night. Happy Soccer! Happy Yellow!

Typical E-mart Lunch

2009-10-04T22:13:00.001-07:00

First, look in the glass case at the models of all the dishes that you have to choose from. Try to read in Korean what the thing that looks good is called.

Go to the counter and order. The cashier will give you a ticket with your number. When your number is called, go and get your food.

Enjoy (the kimchi udong!)

Second Summer in Seoul

2009-08-15T23:47:00.000-07:00

We just began our 2nd year living in Seoul. After a wonderful summer of rest, we have come back rejuvinated and excited to begin. Last week was our first school week and it has been so good to see former students and meet new ones. The girls in this picture are seventh graders that come to after school discipleship group that Abby helps to lead once a week. There are many new teachers at our school; below is the middle school staff on the first day. The high school doesn't seem to have anyone gathering them for mandatory photo shoots yet, so there are no pictures of Ryan and his co-workers. There will be some soon maybe.
We got together with some friends and went to a baseball game last night. By the time we got there, the only tickets left were standing only. We managed to find us a pretty good little spot and were even occasionally able to sit down on the stairs. We were definitely in close quarters, but it was fun that way. I (Abby) have to say that baseball games in Korea are far more exciting to attend than baseball games in the U.S.A. There is so much passion and energy the ENTIRE game. The fans never stop cheering, even if they are down 7 runs. The fans do organized cheers and songs in perfect unity.

The boys all had a traditional Korean baseball snack, a dried squid. It has been really hot this week. Today we went with our friend, Jung Mi, to eat cold noodle soup with ice in it and some kimchi mandu. We passed this sweet little sign in our neighborhood walking home from the bus stop. We're feeling happy to be back and looking forward to a new year.

I fought the octopus and I won

2009-04-18T07:39:00.001-07:00

This weekend I (Ryan) went with Will and Toby to a nakji restaurant. Nakji means octopus, and it is served in a variety of ways. We "enjoyed" it both cooked in a red pepper sauce and freshly-killed-raw. I wouldn't say it was the most pleasant experience. The taste wasn't bad, but the octopus didn't seem to know that it was dead. It writhed around on the plate for about an hour.

Bali, Indonesia

2009-04-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

This week we traveled to Bali, Indonesia to enjoy some rest and warmth during our school's spring break. Our first few hours after landing were a whirlwind—stepping out of the air plane into the humidity and the sudden onslaught of money changers and taxi drivers competing for our attention; whisked at a breakneck pace from the coast to our hotel in Ubud, a village surrounded by rice paddies and forest. The Hindu religion dominates Ubud. There are temples and alters everywhere, and the colorful and sometimes frightening gods are a constant reminder of the unseen world. Our driver stopped so we could take a picture of these two women who were walking to a temple with offerings.

Every shopkeeper, restaurant and hotel owner places small offerings to the gods on the ground outside of their establishment. Usually these are banana leaves filled with fruit, crackers, and incense. It's hard to tell where the line is between religious devotion and nominal tradition; one day we were behind a group of school children who were picking up these offerings, throwing them at each other and stuffing them into mailboxes. At the end of the day they all end up in big trash heaps.

The lushness and variety of flora and fauna in Bali is astounding. Flowers explode from the left and the right down paths and sidewalks. Coconuts and bananas hang within plucking distance. Street vendors sell snake skin fruit, durian, mangosteen, oranges, and things I can’t name.

We met a very nice couple from Canada who were staying at our hotel. They filled us in on the best walking routes into and around the village, where to eat and what to see. The walk was beautifully lined with rice paddies.

About one minute after we wandered out of our hotel the first morning, we found ourselves in the sacred monkey forest. Monkeys basically do what they want in this Hindu community. We saw them boldly stealing fruit from the alters to the gods, and they perform all other sorts of lewd and indecent acts in the trees around Ubud. At first we were a little apprehensive wandering down the path, heavily populated by all sizes of monkeys—some were quite large. But they don’t really seem to care that you’re there—unless of course you are holding a banana or you’re staring at them in the eyes.

We left the village of Ubud for the peninsula of Nusa Dua on day 3. We were a little sad to leave Ubud for the more touristy coast, but we soon found that there was still plenty of authentic Balinese culture to experience.

All along the shore, there are structures like the one below for resting and getting out of the sun. It has a simple wooden platform that you can lay on while the wind from across the Indian ocean blows all around you.

We were sitting in one of them when we noticed a troop of kids banging on a gong and performing a dragon dance down the beach. They were Indonesian children trying to raise money for their orphanage.

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The beauty of the island and the friendliness of the people made our week in Indonesia so memorable and special. Even though we were there for only 5 days, each one seemed long and full. We have come back to busy Seoul feeling as though we have been away a long time and with a very fond place in our hearts for Bali.

Beijing

2009-03-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

This week, I (Ryan) went to Beijing with a big group of students for the annual Beijing Model United Nations conference. It was a good trip. There were some unfortunate incidents along the way (four boys got into a little trouble, but nothing too serious), but for the most part, everyone had a great time and spirits were high. On Monday, the group (below, minus the aforementioned four) went to the Forbidden City.

It is really hard to describe the size of this place. It was built in 1406 and served as the imperial palace until the communist take-over.

At the back of the palace is a large garden filled with very old trees that have been cut and mended into strange and interesting shapes. There are also a lot of sculptures and formations in this area which are nothing more than lake stones that have been excavated and hauled from far away to be displayed in their original state. We were lucky that the day we visited the palace was warm and sunny. For most of the trip, it was overcast, and the air hung thickly between buildings like grey curtains. It was nice to be among trees and flowers.Of course, it was pretty crowded, and the dominant fashion seemed to include matching baseball caps:

In this ancient city, it is easy to get lost in the history of the place. However, there are frequent reminders of the realities of a more present history.

Mao Zedong's image hangs over the entrance to the old imperial palace, and his body is embalmed and on display in a mausoleum just outside in Tienanmen Square:

The trip also provided a really good opportunity to hang out with students. There were eighteen on this trip, along with three teachers, including myself. One of my students never really felt comfortable breathing Chinese air, and rarely put down his book:

We also did a lot of shopping at the silk market and pearl market. For the most part, prices in these markets are about 90% higher than they actually should be, and you have to do a lot of haggling.

As is expected when dealing with teenagers (and myself) there was a lot of eating going on. I know I had duck on three different occasions, but for the most part I didn't ask what I was putting in my mouth.

A lot of tea was consumed as well, which helped wash down all the oil. Notice the glossy shine on the dish below.

The conference itself went really well. We have a very bright group of students, and MUN provides a great opportunity for them to sharpen their communication skills and develop a diplomatic character.

After long days of debate and sight seeing, everyone was exhausted, and much of that fatigue has carried over into the rest of the week as we are getting back into the swing of things. The scene below is similar to my 6th period economics class.

Winter

2009-02-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

During lunar new year, it snowed, making the two day break very beautiful and lovely. We visited the old Palace and saw a photography exhibit from Korean war times. The pond was frozen over and after we slid around, we stood in line for some hot "corn" beverage.

It is the year of the Earth Ox according to the Zodiac.

Seasons passing in Seoul

2008-12-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

An apology to those of you who have checked the blog in hopes of an update. We just never seem to have enough time in the day to post here. Thank the Lord, we have been sustained through the first half of our school year and made it to Christmas break! Here is a brief little update I am writing at 2 am trying to get a head start on the jet lag. We leave tomorrow morning for TN for the Christmas holiday.

We enjoyed a beautiful autumn here with lots of yellow ginkos.

Experienced a U.S. election from abroad and much preferred it this way

the changing of the guards in front of one of the royal palaces

Crab truck that has been hanging around near our apartments lately. There is also a

clementine truck, a dried squid truck, a roasting chickens truck and many more.

Cabbage piled in front of the grocery store in preparation for the rush of winter kimchi makers

Very tasty dumplings full of meat, kimchi, etc. Good food for the cold winter days.

Merry Christmas from a subway station in Seoul!

Middle Schoolers and a movie set

2008-09-29T04:23:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, Ryan and I accompanied the middle schoolers of YISS to Yong Pyeong resort, located about 3 hours south of Seoul. The bus ride revealed a green, beautiful and mountainous Korea. This resort is famous as the filming location for the Korean movie "Winter Sonata." This cardboard cutout of the actor and actress is on the top of the mountain.

All these precious children are my Spanish students.

A highlight of the trip for many was the "mountain coaster." A ski lift takes you to the top and then you ride down through the forest on it.

Ryan agreed to come along with me to this middle school event and stayed in the cabin with six of the rowdier eighth graders. He couldn't remember when he'd seen more ramen noodles and mountain dews consumed in a single weekend. On the last night, they bonded over a dried octopus. I was in a cabin of sixth grade girls. We still haven't recovered and it's now Thursday, but we had a good time.

Dobonsan

2008-09-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we went with Will, JungMi, Cara, and Toby to hike Dobonsan, a mountain north of the city. Hiking is like a national sport here in Korea. When we got off of the train to walk to the trail head, we found ourselves in a swarm of people. Pretty much everyone, young and old, was decked out in the latest outdoor fashion. All sorts of hiking gear, from low to high grades of practicality and relevance, were able to be purchased from the many mountaineering shops that lined the road to the mountain. It was easy for us to feel inadequate and intimidated in our comparatively pedestrian getups, but we pressed on.

At one point on our hike, we came to a cliff and were able to see a Buddhist temple across the valley (above).

The scenery on the way to the top was gorgeous.

About halfway through the hike, we began to wish we had some high tech equipment of our own. For much of ascent we were scrambling up steep, smooth rocks, grasping for weeds, branches and tree trunks. At one point (below), we had to use some footholds chiseled into the rock and a rope to ascend a steep part of the trail.

We finally made it to the top, and rested for a while among the other hikers. Evidently, it is the tradition to carry exorbitant amounts of a type of rice wine called Makoli up to the top of the mountain when you hike. There were a lot of people filling and emptying their tin camping cups. I worried that a few of them (including the two gentlemen below) might have trouble safely making the descent. The face of the man in the background pretty well sums up the mood at the top of Dobonsan (worth zooming in).

The trail down the mountain took us by a little temple under a cliff. We stopped for a while, taking shelter from the rain, and were given some bananas by the monk who lives there.

The rain continued to pick up on the way down the mountain. Most of the Korean hikers were, of course, well prepared with rain jackets and plastic bags. We ended up pretty wet.

Breakin' around

2008-09-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Chusok break is almost over. This week we have tried our best to ignore the inevitable pull towards planning for next week's lessons. On Monday and Tuesday, we visited an island off of the coast of Korea with Will, JungMi, Cara, and Toby. It was good to get out of the city for a while and see the Yellow Sea.
Yesterday, we went to Namdaemun market, a well known shopping area north of our neighborhood. There are many interesting things to purchase and consume in Seoul.
For example:

Below are many jars of pickled items and preserved items, including Ginseng, a very popular health supplement in Korea.

Later on, we took a tram to the top of Namsan mountain, where the North Seoul Tower is located. It was a little unnerving riding the tram. They herd as many people as they can into the little box, and unless you get packed in next to a window, all you can see are the backs of the people around you.

There is a great view of the city from the top of Namsan mountain. You can either pay more money to visit the observation deck at the top of the tower, or sit in the traditional gazebo and enjoy some bondaegi (steamed silk worm larvae).

We also visited our local iPark, a huge structure containing a department store, shopping mall, cinema, train station, food court, and E-Mart (similar to Wal-Mart).

Grocery stores in Korea feature a wide variety of Kimchi, the ever present side dish:

There is also an abundance of the other Korean staple, fish, which is available in many shapes, sizes, and states of decay. Here are some frozen:

And some dried:

Chuseok holiday

2008-09-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

Students and teachers alike are rejoicing that we have made it to Chuseok holiday and have all of this week off school! On Friday, the middle school went on a field trip to Olympic Park. Abby had to keep track of nine sixth graders with three subway transfers to make on the way there. The day began beautifully but took a turn for the worse when one of the kids asked to buy a gatorade. Soon, the whole group was in line, disregarding Abby's instructions to put their items away and hurry. They got left and had no idea where they were going. Luckily one of the kids had a cell phone, so they were able to communicate with the other group and find their way. Abby's group bragged all day to the other groups that "we got lost! it was really fun!"

A lot of our students will probably have to go to hogwan all week during the break. Hogwan is an after school academic supplement which most of the Korean kids attend. A lot of the students in my Spanish class are also taking Chinese at hogwan and they are already fluent in English and Korean. There is tremendous pressure on these kids to succeed academically.

Ryan got sick this week so we had our first experience with the Korean pharmacy. There is one right near our house. I went in and acted out the cough that he had and the pharmacist came back with this green box of pills and said; " 3 x a day. no smoking!" Also in the picture is a bottle of vitamin C tonic, an orange popcicle and some o.j.

Ryan has begun to develop good relationships with his students. It is already evident that it would be really hard to have to leave the school to teach somewhere else. On Saturdays, he practices with the varsity soccer team. It's really interesting to see kids from Mexico, Spain, Nigeria, Korea, and Japan, all of them with their own styles of playing, learn to work together as a team. Many of the sudents have asked how long we plan on staying in Seoul. It really seems to mean a lot to many of them to hear that we don't plan to just put in our time and leave. There is a strong sense of community here that benefits from commited teachers who have invested in the students over many years.

Seoul is emptying out as families leave to return to the place their ancestors are from for Chuseok. Those are Asian pears in the first box.

These pictures are from last weekend. This area is called Myeongdong; it is a yet another fashion district.

Our camera has since broken. Hopefully we will get a new one soon. Tomorrow, we plan to go to a nearby island for a night with some friends for Chuseok. Maybe we will cook some rice cakes over pine needles and eat them under the moon.

2008-08-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell from the lack of updates, we have been very busy with lesson planning and school. It is going very well; we are starting to get to know the students a lot better and are really enjoying them. Ryan's students, being highschoolers, are especially inquisitive about his views on certain issues and will often stay after class to discuss. We are beginning to feel a lot more at home in Seoul. A big part of that is that our friend, Will Cote, is back in town along with his little sister and brother-in-law, Cara & Toby Kellogg, who are here to teach English. We are very thankful to have them near by. Today we all went to an afternoon church service in what is hands down the best looking church we've attended so far.

The other night we all went to play darts together. The boys befriended some Koreans there and played a darts tournament. Here are Ryan and his partner (making the kimchi sign) after their win.

A few weekends ago, our friend, Sarah Huffines, from Chattanooga came through Seoul with some friends. She introduced us to Lisa (in the green) and we got to enjoy some "mexican" food with her before she returned to another city where she attends law school.

We've been enjoying walks along the Han river. In Korea, there are community workout machines in public parks. The elderly especially frequent the parks and exercise. There was a heated game of senior croquet going on near here as well.

Happy Independence Day, Korea!

2008-08-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

After only two days of teaching, we already got to enjoy a much needed holiday weekend for Korean Independence Day. We heard fireworks from our apartment, so we rushed down to the river walk along the Han to watch. We came to this park once before, but it was completely flooded from monsoon rains. The river park is a very peaceful place with many unique happenings along its route. Our side is pretty quiet, but we did pass one group of people lighting candles, burning incense, clanging bells and chanting what we think were Buddhist prayers. On the opposite shore, we could hear the occasional sound of fireworks and other evidence of merry-making.

We took a trip to Dongdaemun, a section of Seoul with multiple high rise shopping malls, street vendors galore, stages with most entertaining teen dance performances and an artificial river walk. On the subway ride there, Ryan stood up to offer a lady and her son his seat. The little boy began adorably practicing his English with Ryan; "Where are you from? I'm from Korea." Then the father joined in and told Ryan; "you are handsome man." It made us very happy to have a conversation with a Korean family because this was one of the only times since we have been here that a stranger has spoken to us. We've learned that, in general, Seoulites keep quiet and to themselves on the subway/bus. Typically no one smiles at us, nor do they smile at one another. I've been told it's more of a Seoul thing than a Korean thing. I think because Ryan got up to let them sit down, we had officially acknowledged each other's existence, and so we were able to have had a nice few moments together until the family got off at their stop.

At Dongdaemun, a Korean T.V. station was shooting some kind of variety show that had something to do with the Olympics. These two boys were waiting to go on and perform. Ryan asked to take their picture, and they happily obliged, making the "kimchi sign." Koreans almost always make this sign in pictures; Instead of "cheese" they say "kimchi."

On the way home, we noticed that an unusually large number of people were watching the Olympics on their cell phones. When we got to our neighborhood, all of the shopkeepers in our little neighborhood of Bogwangdong were glued to their television sets. The excitement was all about baseball, and it wasn't just any matchup. Korea was playing Japan: a rivalry of epic and historic proportions. Korea won, and when the last out was called, we heard our neighborhood celebrate their independence for the 2nd night.

You & Me & Kimchi

2008-08-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

This week we have been spending most of our time at school getting ready for class to start on the 13th. Our class rosters posess the names of our future students from all over the world and we are getting very excited! We have found some time in the evenings to roam around Seoul. We went on a bread run to Paris Baguette last night. It is good to have a bakery so close by with bread that is so F-Style and Fresh:

Food shopping in Korea is never boring.

Nor is traveling via subway. Here is a Korean woman, exemplifying what is a pretty standard fashion trend at current; strappy high heels with anything. It has been very hot here this week; the subway wind is very refreshing.

We walked over to beautiful Insadong, a long cobblestone street with cultural Korean items, including calligraphy shops and traditional dress shops. There are many foreigners and a lot of tourist traps, but the winding side streets are peaceful and charming. Here are kimchi pots lining the stairs. Various vegetables and chili paste are placed in them and left to ferment outside until they are sufficiently pickled. There are many different kinds of kimchi, with cabbage being most common.

Seoul is a very modern city with sleek, new architecture. However, much of the old still stands.

While in the Insadong vicinity, we went to Kyobo, the largest bookstore in Korea. While we were there, we ate dinner at the Korean "fast food" establishment inside. Abby enjoyed some vegetable Kimbap (bap is rice; kim is seaweed). 10 pieces and some kimchi was the equivalent of $3 U.S. dollars.

Ryan had noodle (Udon) soup, accompanied by the ubiquitous kimchi.

From Bukhansan to Agra

2008-08-03T06:04:00.001-07:00

This weekend we went with the entire staff of our school to a mountain at Bukhansan National Park just outside of Seoul. We took a nice hike up the mountain, stopping at peaks to look over the valley and admire the numerous cranes and skyscrapers of Seoul. It was a beautiful spot none-the-less.

When we got home we went suit shopping for Ryan. All the suits fit him perfectly here and the shop keepers hem the pants for you right in the store for no extra cost.

We ate dinner at Agra Indian Restaurant in Itaewon. We had Veggie Curry, Chicken Tika Masala and Garlic Naan. There was no spice scale, but i'd say it was very. It was a little steep in cost but we couldn't deny our hunger for Indian food. The ambiance, with all the brass furnishings, hookas (from which we did not partake) and Billie Holiday music made it worthwhile. Also, there is no tipping or tax in Korea.

After dinner, our aim was to hike to the North Seoul Tower. We had a nightmare taxi ride, once again ending up somewhere entirely different than where we intended (Namsan Town apartments rather than Namsan Tower). We made our way back to the park by bus. Then we wandered around the park for a long time, enjoying the trees and catching glimpses of city lights through their covering.

The park is beautiful and there are endless trails and winding footpaths. Unfortunately, we couldn't ever figure out how to get to the Tower tonight, so we took the bus home. It's very enjoyable...setting out to go somewhere, getting lost and then wandering around trying to find the bus stop, enjoying what we see along the way.

World Cup Stadium

2008-08-01T00:32:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to World Cup Stadium to watch Korea play Australia. We were a little late getting to the game, and when we got out of the subway station, we could hear the crowd singing and cheering from the stadium. It was really confusing to figure out how to get tickets, and we wandered around for a while amid vendors and scalpers trying to find a booth. Eventually, a man approached us with tickets and hurried us along with him toward the gate. We thought he was legitimate, but when he tried to shove us through, the security guards stopped him, ran him off, and tore up his tickets, which were evidently fake.
We eventually located the ticket booth, and on our way there we heard a tremendous cheer come from the stadium. Korea had scored the first and only goal of the game.

Sunday in Itaewon

2008-07-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

This is the view from our back balcony. That big tower on the hill is one of Seoul's most famous landmarks--called the North Seoul Tower. Our school is nestled up against that hill, but it's out of view in this picture. The Eiffel Tower looking structure to the left of the N. Seoul Tower has something to do with the Korean department of defence.

A family across the street enjoying the summer evening on their rooftop.

We awoke at 3:30 AM and started busying ourselves around the apartment. We learned to work our gas stove and oven and had a bagel and eggs.

A note on Korean coffee . . . We were told that we might have some trouble finding coffee in the same manifestation as what we enjoyed in the States. Actually, as far as grabbing a cup on the go goes, we discovered a pretty good coffee shop on our street. We've had a little more trouble finding stuff to make at home. Most coffee is instant and comes pre-mixed with a lot of sugar and creamer. It's convenient because we have a nice water dispensing unit (pictured above) which has a boiling hot water tap in addition to a cold one.

This afternoon, the Parrishes (Ryan's principal and family) showed us around our neighborhood and helped us identify items in the grocery store. It's been funny to read all the funny Engrish on t-shirts and notebooks. Remember, "punctuality is the most important virtue among the professionals. Don't hesitate to push yourself. The bitterness becomes your strong energy."

After walking around the neighborhood for a while, we were pretty hungry. We picked up a pizza from Pizza School. We were happy to learn that, in addition to academics, Koreans are very serious about their pizza. We ordered a cheese pizza, which also had a mandatory corn topping.

Later in the afternoon, we attended our first Korean church, which has 55,000 members and services all day long. We went to the English service on the 3rd floor. When the bus pulled up, we saw a giant sea of people leaving a previous service.

Safe in Seoul

2008-07-26T03:06:00.000-07:00

We have arrived safely in Seoul and have been half awake and half asleep for our first few days. Our first night we woke up at 3 am (2 in the afternoon in Chattanooga) and were unable to go back to sleep. We were fortunate enough to have some Korean-Americans as our tour guides for our first two days in Seoul. Jewon, a fellow teacher at our school, and her husband showed us around. We have been learning some basic Korean, how to get around on public transportation and some places to do our shopping. We spent the first two nights in a hotel before moving into our apartment. We were very happy to see that it had two (small) balconies. This is a picture of our neighborhood as seen from our front balcony. Looking the other way, we can see the Han River, which runs right through the middle of Seoul.
The next picture is a street level shot from a block away from our apartment. Our building is the one in the distance with the green writing and brown stripe running down it. The apartments are called Shin Dong Ah. We learned the correct pronunciation of the apartments when we took a cab on our own for the first time and told the cab driver where we needed to go. He didn't understand our Korean so we showed him the address written down. He laughed at us and pronounced it correctly until we got the hang of it.

It's a bit overwhelming not knowing how to read Korean. Ryan is very zealous about learning and has already learned much of the alphabet. Early this morning, he tried to take a cab to our apartment. In his eagerness to learn the language he tried to give the cab driver directions. Instead of our building, the cab driver took him to the wrong place . . . another Shin Dong Ah apartment building in a different neighborhood. Fortunately he met some friendly Koreans who helped to point him in the right direction.

My method of orientation is more simple. I find any store or landmark that i can read in English and find my way from there. My landmark of choice is the Paris Baguette (right in front of our street.) Inside is all sorts of yummy pastries and bread. Our first purchase was a delicious green tea and cream cheese pastry.

Our apartment is very nice. We are very comfortable here and were surprised by how roomy it is. We have a livingroom/diningroom/kitchen, office, wardrobe room, bedroom, two bathrooms and two balconies. It is also pretty quiet, even though we are in the middle of the big city. But when the windows are open, the sounds and smells of Seoul come pouring in. Right now the neighbors below must be cooking dinner. The aroma of garlic and chilies waft in from time to time.

On our first full day here we went to a food court in a large shopping center. Our guides told us how to pronounce what we wanted and we were successfully able to order in Korean. This is sanje bibimbap (sounds like "beep and bop.") This is a very common Korean meal that is made with rice, vegetables, usually beef, an egg and some hot pepper sauce.

One thing that we have learned to know and love in our first two days here is this coffee vending machine. These things are everywhere--as common as coke machines in the States. You get a little cup of coffee (instant) for 30 cents. We have only tried black coffee but there are many varieties, including cafe mocha (50 cents.)

Memphis

2008-07-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

We left our beloved cabin home on the first day of summer. The sadness of departure was somewhat diminished by our mad scramble to pack, clean, and destroy (we set fire to an old loveseat, mattress, and bookshelf). Though we are still excited about our upcoming move, we are somewhat jealous for the ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and greenbeans we left behind in our garden. Silas Jose and Bobby Kennedy seem to be adjusting well to their new home. They are busy exploring new territories and trying out new scratching posts.

We finished our two week "pre-field orientation" and have been spending a lot of time with various branches of the Ewing family. Adam visited for a few days with his girlfriend Cori, who prepared a tasty Thai dinner for us one night. Mr. Ewing used the opportunity to deck his family in ethnic garb.

Jessica and Will Stone are also in town for the week. We all braved the brunt of the hottest day of the year yesterday during a trip to the Memphis Zoo.