updates in bullet points

hello all!

sorry for a lack of updates these last couple weeks.  just to let you know what's been going on with us....

-I am officially employed (as of the beginning of last week) as a sub at the school on post.  I've been teaching primarily high school and middle school kids which has been a lot of fun.  After teaching kindergarten I have forgotten what it's like when to teach kids who can be so independent.  Although, I must say at times I miss helping tie shoes or soothing away tears from a cute little 5 year old face. : )

-Our apartment is lovely and full of all of our things.  we just have to hang a couple paintings and we'll be done.

-both pete and i have been driving almost everyday to get to and from post.  it's not nearly as scary as i thought it would be.  you just have to drive with an expectancy that you'll be cut off or honked at.  the use of the horn in korea is not as aggressive here as it is in the states.  people honk all the time.

-peter has been golfing and hanging out with some buds.  this morning he left for a baseball practice for a korean league.  he's really excited.

-we've been attending a friday night worship service on post, which is lead by chaplain ed choi who is a korean american.  the music is really upbeat--they have a 15-20 person worship team.  the people we've met are really cool and we hope to get to know them better.

-my aunt, bowling como, and cousin, kyung jin, came to daegu (for the first time!) to visit our apartment.  my aunt wanted to be sure we were settled in a comfortable place and see if we needed anything.  she and my cousin helped us figure out things with our apartment.  pete and i got to show them around seomun market for some light shopping and snacking.  they arrived in the late morning and left early evening.  it was a really nice visit.

-right now i am forcing myself to watch tv.  i know, that sounds strange, but watching korean television is an excellent way to learn korean.  i would actually much rather read a book, but i need to buckle down and watch at least two programs to keep my korean vocabulary growing.  i never knew watching tv could be such a chore : )

kitchen

master bedroom/bathroom pics

a couch never looked so good..

we received all of our household goods and we officially have everything we shipped from the states.  our apartment looks much more like a home now rather than a storage unit : )

now we have our couch, our bed--our glorious bed!  since now, we've been using the military bed we've been loaned.  it's nice to sink into a mattress rather than bounce off it. : )

now, here are some pics of our place...

Seollal

peter and i have successfully returned from seoul again from another glorious weekend of family, fun, food, food, and more food.  we went to seoul to celebrate the korean lunar new year, which is probably the most popular korean holiday.  they celebrate seollal for three days: sunday jan 25, monday 26th and tuesday 27th.  monday is the actual lunar new year day.  peter and i participated in our first ever traditional bowing ceremony to our elders.  

the young members of the family bow to the elders, in our case all of the nieces and nephews bowed to the aunts and uncles.  while you bow you say, "say heh bohk mahnee bahdoo seh yoh."  which translates: "wishing you many blessings this new year."  after the children bow, it is tradition that the elders hand their children an envelope of money full of crisp bills of cash.  it's a pretty rockin' tradition, especially if you're the kid. : )  side note: mom and dad, why have we not celebrated this holiday in the US?  well, i gotta tell you that i've calculated all the years you've missed and let me say you owe me a ton of money : )

the day before seollal, pete and i went out with our cousins: kyung jin (bowling como's daughter), kibohm oppa, so jung unee, and sohee unee (my dad's older brother's kids).  we had a really great time together.  first we went ice skating.  pete and i both surprised ourselves by staying on our feet the entire time.  i guess my dad's hockey ice skating skills have been passed down to me : )  we had so much fun.  it was snowing ever so beautifully and they were playing all of this charming (and repetitive) christmas music--which i must say was a balm to a homesick soul who kind of missed christmas.  pete and i decided that once all of our stuff arrives from the states we'll celebrate christmas for reals, but that may not be until march.  : ) fine with me!  we took tons of pics, laughed, and skated around this crazy crowded rink.  there were lots of cute little kids wearing these animal hats, which are all the craze here in korea.  

also a funny story: there was an older man standing on the side of the rink giving kids a high-5, thumbs up or sometimes a thumbs down while they skated by.  I assumed he worked at the rink because i spotted him helping some kids who had fallen.  well, peter and i skated around the rink and the stationary grandpa was leaning against the rink wall and held his hand out for me to give a high 5.  i slapped it and he left his hand out for peter, but as soon as peter extended his hand, the grandpa snapped it back.  we laughed about it and kept skating.  well, a little while later, after pete had done some solo laps, he came by and said the grandpa was doing some strange things as he skated by like giving a thumbs down, scowling, and even drawling a line across his neck with his finger.  horrified, yet intrigued, we skated past him together and sure enough he was yelling some kind of korean profanity with thumbs down.  pete and i just looked at each other which shocked expressions but we couldnt' help it.  our second time around, we saw the grandpa extend both middle fingers and yell profanities at some young children.. we immediately realized this disgruntled behavior was no longer a personal disdain for peter but this grandpa was, in general, disgruntled, with a little crazy mixed in.  all in all, it was pretty funny.  we knew we'd run into some korean crazies at some point.

after skating we walked around a plaza area where they had an ice sculpture exhibit.  the cousins and i explored, took tons of pictures, even made friends with koreans in costumes.  if you'd like to see the album of photos, let me know, i can send you a link to facebook.  

afterward, we went to the world cup stadium and explored.  the admission fee was only 1000 won, equivalent to $.75 and you were free to explore the whole stadium.  being the holiday weekend, hardly anyone was there, so we practically had the whole stadium to ourselves.  we walked the same halls the soccer players walked, sat in their locker room, relaxed in the coaching room and saw their practice areas.  after our tour, we played virtual soccer games. 

icescapades!