Merry Christmas from Korea!!! Ok, so it's a bit late. I wanted to post these photo's of the beautiful Christmas lights.

Just before Christmas, Woogi and I went away to Jeollabuk do in the south for a break. We stayed in a traditional clay house in Naesosa.

This is it. The doors were just paper and it had just snowed that week. I'm grateful to have been born in a time with heating!


Our room. The floor was heated by a fire at one end of the house with the flue running under the floor and a chimney at the other end. The floor was hot but the air wasn't!

The fire which doubled for cooking. We baked sweet potatoes and sausages for our dinner one night.


The chimney at the other end.

One day we went for a hike in the Byeonsan Penisula National Park. It was good to get out into some fresh air though as you can see, it was CHILLY!


Woogi and I
A nice sunset on the way back home.


The following day we went to Chaeseokgang where the cliffs are like pancakes.


We ate seafood on the beach. The octopus was so fresh it was still wiggling. Once is enough!

I woke up this morning to a very snowy, view. It was so gorgeous. It has almost disappeared now but I took some pics before it melted.

The view from my balcony.

Icy!

Cotton like puffs!

To compare .....

Above is the path I walk along to work in spring, autumn and winter.

This is also along the same path - spring, summer, autumn and winter.

An ex-coworker got married this weekend. It was a church wedding and pretty much like weddings back home except that we ate first. Above is the beautiful bride (who sits in a room with a couple of friends and waits for people to come and say hi and take a picture with her, before the ceremony)and teachers and staff from work.

An innocent older Korean women you think? Watch closely.

Good food. Ah but I can't eat it all so.....

......I'll just put it inside the plastic bag I prepared inside my handbag.

She piled up 3 plate loads, some of which she ate and the rest went into the doggy bag. Most amusing to watch.

The happy couple. Thanks for the invite!

Woogi got this Christmas tree for an unbelievable $10 - everything included. So my apartment is looking a bit seasonal now!

Crazy Gaku came to stay for a couple of days. This is a self potrait he took. It was good to see him after nearly 2 years!

A friend of Woogi's belongs in a band which had a concert, two weeks back. It was good. Most people just sat in seats all lined up like in a movie theatre.

We went to the national museum. It was full of pottery and paintings. I enjoyed the paintings but I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get more of a visual impression of life here years ago and years and years ago. I did find out that I have been misled in thinking Guttenburg first invented the printing press. The Koreans got there a few hundred years earlier.These ducks are one of my favourite things in Korea. They cute!

I also like the paintings of men. I don't know who they are or why they were painted but they have a lot of character.

First snow

It didn't last long but we have the first snow for the winter. It's mighty chilly!

I know I haven't written much lately. When I get home from work I'm tired, yes, excuses,excuses! I went to a friend's ceramics studio in the weekend. Next time we are going to make something!

These are things you put into the kiln to give you the temperature. They remind me of little yachts.

The artist himself - Sang duk

Autumn bugs

I don't know what this is but it seems to like tree trunks.

A cricket. They have really long feelers here, no I mean antennae.

Spiders! These spiders appeared in autumn in Japan also.

And a pretty butterfly. I didn't realise their face were a little creepy.

Ji woo

This is Woogi's nephew. He cried when I held him. I was sad too. He's a cutey with great cheeks!

추석

The first place I visited in Seoul a few years back now was Geoungbukgung, this palace. At the time I didn't realise it was the palce on the 10,000 won note (about $10) Woogi and I trying to go to all the places on the money and I wanted to go back.. This is the second place we've got to. It's a nice place in the middle of Seoul. A security guard told Woogi he was a trouble maker cos he lay down on a bench for a rest! Maybe a trouble maker but a very nice one!


The trouble maker in a Chinese styled room.

The next part of our Thanksgiving holiday (추

적) was with 13 others on an island about an hour and a half away from Seoul, Dokjokdo. Ah, beach, relaxation and fun!


Chatting on the beach.


Lizzies gone up a couple of cup sizes!

Our potluck bbq. We had so much food that we had another bbq the next night.

Toasting marshmellows on the beach.

The next day we went for a hike.

Ian found a very long snake skin but no snake to be seen.

We met a Korean family at the top and had photo's taken together. They were very nice but a bit hesitant about the snake skin.

Woogi and I

Woogi and I went for a walk to see the people fishing. We came across 3 older people and they invited us to eat sushi from the fish they had just caught. It was delicious. They then took us for a spin on their boat. It was such a nice surprise. There are kind people everywhere.

Woogi on the boat.

Leigh, Lisa and Bianca giving themselves a bit of mud!

Ian, Lizzie and Carla relaxing.

It was really good to meet some new people and hang out. I was absolutely stuffed when I got home. Lots of sun, food, alcohol and not much sleep. Back to work now :-(