This weekend was Lunar New Year and we got a three day weekend. On Saturday I went to Woogi's house and had a nice lunch with his family. Lunar New Year is kinda like Christmas in the West in the sense everyone spends it with their families eating! On Sunday we went snowboarding with some friends from church. The snow was more like peices of ice and it got a bit slushy by midday but it was fun!

The mad crew! Actually there were eighteen of us in all. We somehow missed the crazy traffic jams on the way back that would've made our hour long trip closer to 4 hours.

I finished up adult classes this week for the semester. My students came over for lunch bringing with them some gorgeous flowers and fruit and cookies.

I had a class of 7 guys and 1 girl. They were a great group.

Farewells

I've nearly been here a year now and it is time to say goodbye to many of the people who I have really enjoyed working with. The year has gone so quickly. Above are teachers and staff from work.

Above is the one and only photo I have of Simon which looks like him. SO often he has his eyes rolled up or some strange expression on his face.

The next night we went to Ian and Lizzie's farewell. Lizzie has been my office mate for the year and her and her husband have been wonderful friends. They will be sorely missed. The restaurant that we went to served fruit soju in the fruit! It was a very popular place. The pumpkin dish which had seafood inside was really good.

Lisa, me and Andrea.

Eun jung and I

On Sunday, Ian, Lizzie and Woogi and I went to a basketball game. It was first for all of us. The players had some good shooting skills and it was fun to watch. I don't like the time out's much though. Our team didn't win ( the team in white)

Two weeks ago Woogi and I met Woogi's brother and wife for a seafood meal. It was good to see them again.

These are some students from one of my adult classes who came over for lunch. They were a good group who I'll miss teaching.

Kazuya came over from Japan this weekend. It was good to see him again. Thanks for the beer and snacks Kazuya!




There is a big bell that is rung at 12pm everyday. I don't know if they have a ceremony everyday for it but when we were there these guys were all in the finery for it.

The big bell. It was dark where it is hung so I couldn't get a good photo. The day was gloomy and cold too.

There is a park where lots of older men gather for karaoke and to play Korean chess. It's quite fascinating. These two were among many playing this game.

My sister Delia was in Busan for a few weeks teaching English so Woogi and I went down to catch up. Here we are with Dee and her friend.

They had Huskys outside the aquarium. A couple of them had a blue and a brown eye. Quite freaky.

This cute dog had 'Welcolme to Haeundei Beach on his ears' A lady came along and asked his owner (quite seriously) if he had bad eyes. Poor dog!

Ice fishing

On Saturday, Woogi, Lizzie and I took the bus to Hwacheon where we went ice fishing. Before going to festivals here and also when I was in Japan I always imagine them to be like something I knew from home. On getting there they were always different than I had imagined - noty bad just not what I had imagined. This one was no exception - 10,000 people on ice all hoping to catch a mountain trout.

Dangerous foreigners spotted at a cafe.

Woogi and me.

There were really little people fishing up to grandpops and grandmas.

My ice hole.

Didn't catch a thing though some of the people around us did.

There were other activities like sleding and ice skating too. Fun for the whole family! The spot was part of a canal which was frozen and we suspected that somehow the ice had been formed with a bit of help from man. It was a fun day. Going back the traffic was at a snail's pace. To our alarm the bus driver turned the bus around heading back to where we had come from (alarming as it had taken 40mins to travelling 400 metres) but he took us down a very windy but clear road and we got back to town about 8.30pm. It was a good day topped off with a very fine spaghetti dinner made by Lizzie's husband Ian - Thanks Ian!

It snowed again in the weekend. As I was going to visit the folk museum, it was a good chance to see the biggest palace in Seoul, where the museum is in the pretty snow.

A cute Korean snowman.

Me cold but enjoying the scenery!

The folk museum was good with lots of small models showing how life once was. This lady is making kimchi. Her face has such a nice character to it.

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!