Guess What?

Monday, March 9, 2009

Well... the reason I haven't posted in a while is because when I went to do it my mind suddenly was preoccupied with something else. After a trip to the clinic we found out that.... we are pregnant. Kyle and I are 7 weeks pregnant and the baby will be born in late October.

After I found out, I wasn't really able to write about anything on here because that's really all that's been on our minds lately. We are super excited, but also really anxious to get home and be able to see an English speaking doctor. The doctor we see hear barely speaks English and the stuff that he does speak is pronounced very strangely and takes us a while to understand.

We went for a checkup last week on Tuesday and heard the baby's heart beat. Kyle had the biggest smile on his face. Usually here they don't let the husband come in the room with the wife and see/experience anything because guys here don't want to and it's just really uncommon. But, the doctor understood the second time we went that I want/need Kyle there with me and accepted the fact that we foreigners and it's different for us.

I haven't been that sick as of yet. A couple time last week in the morning, but I am still figuring out what my body will and won't allow me to eat. I can't eat yogurt right now. Make me sick... really fast. I really can only eat peanut butter toast in the mornings. I don't mind. But, I am craving Cap'n Crunch Cereal and they don't have it out here.... very sad :(

It is also really hard to avoid smells that make me feel sick out here because there are such strong smells everywhere, one in particular is the smell of Kimchi. Thinking about it even triggers my gag reflex. Yuck.

We are both well... and we are both excited. We can't wait to come home and see everyone. Only 38 more working days to go!!

On another note... work is good. Well, as good as it can be for Kyle. He has a new coworker who is from South Africa and her and her husband are Christian and our age, so we have been hanging out with them a lot. It's been amazing and uplifting for us to have them here. Nice to have another married couple our age who have the same sense of humour and enjoy the same stuff. We had them over for dinner last night and it was great. Kyle made his specialty - spaghetti - and we just hung out and chatted and played some killer bunnies.

My work is good.... I am getting tired of it a little these days. I just seem to be picking things apart that I don't even want to and getting annoyed with them. I blame it on the hormones and since I am tired more often now, I just feel like the days are dragging on. I still love my kids and coworkers though and I am so happy to be here and to have done this, but there comes a time when everyone wants to come home :)

We told our families today that we are pregnant. Kyle's Dad was "tickled pink", his Mom screamed in excitement, my Mom was speechless and then couldn't stay still on the webcam cause she was so excited, and my Dad threatened to punch Kyle... but was really excited about it.

Side note: my Dad broke his leg last night or the night before in a hockey game. Some guy tried to fight my Dad and fell on my Dad's leg and now it is broken in two spots, one right below the knee and the other behind the ankle. The ankle one is bad, he basically shattered his bone and is getting surgery on it tomorrow. JP's Dad is also going in for surgery tomorrow on his neck for his cancer, so there is a lot going on. Prayers are more than welcome!!! I didn't believe my Dad when he told me about his leg, but once he showed me on the webcam I had to believe him. Silly Dad. So, now my Dad is off work for 8 weeks. Not good during a recession and when my Mom is going to school, I am worried about them. Hopefully he will get sick pay.

Hmm.... well I am going to run and watch criminal minds reruns and eat some food. Love to you all. I will add pictures from a while ago to here soon.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Update and photos coming soon... sorry been very busy. We love and miss you all very much.

Korean Cooking

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

So, the other day I decided to finally, after 9 months, attempt to make Dak Galbi. I wanted to make sure that I knew how to make it before I came home and made it for other people. I went to the grocery store and got all the ingredients and then came home and sat down at the table.

First I made the sauce, fairly easy to do, and the rest was downhill from there. It is actually really easy to make and I made WAAAAAAAAAAY too much of it for just Kyle and I. It tasted pretty good, but it was pretty hot as well at the same time, well not too hot for Kyle and I, but I guarantee too hot for people at home. So, I am going to try and figure out a way to make it less hot for everyone at home. I can't wait to make it for you!!!!!!! I will post a picture of my cooking next time I post. Hopefully it won't be as long as you waited for this one....

Since we got back to work, I am just to unmotivated in the morning and then when I get home at night I just want to watch my TV Shows from home that aired the previous day and since I have started studying Spanish, I have been doing that as well.

On another note; I am still waiting to speak with my parents. They are not back from Newfoundland still at this point. They held the funeral on February 1st (I think) and then have been helping my grandparents arrange things for themselves and take them to doctor's appointments for a few days (along with all the other siblings). Unfortunately, after searching for more than a few days, the search and rescue team was unable to recover my Uncle's body. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for the family at home. I have been thinking about everyone non-stop.

Okay, I am tired still because I just got out of bed... so toodles for now and I will talk to you all again soon!

Jeju Photos...

Sunday, February 1, 2009

The lobby of the hotel... you can see the koi pond all through the lounge








Me feeding the fish in the koi pond in the hotel
They are crazy fish!!








The lava cliffs at Black Beach












Kyle hugging a palm tree, happy to be in Jeju















A beautiful rose blooming on Jeju Island.








It's the only picture of us together from the trip and it has to be with the wide angle and my face being stretched by the wide angle lens... ugh. Oh well... we are at Cheonjiyeon Pokpo.




Standing in the water at Hyeopjae Beach. It is January and I am in the Pacific Ocean and my feet are not even cold. Look how clear that water is!!








Kyle picking a Jeju Mandarin right off of the tree! We both had to do it before we left.










Kyle walking on Hyeopjae Beach

















Palm Tree on Hyeopjae Beach









Ssangyong Lava Cave... ahead of us about 200m is where the dragons in the ceiling were (read below)









Kyle being a dork










Dragon Head Rock










There are more photos at these links to my facebook albums...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213539&l=b67eb&id=652110787
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213559&l=af5a9&id=652110787

Jeju: Day 3

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Saturday, January 31st

Today we were both in weird moods. I am still having a hard time sleeping because I wish I was with my family and Kyle just isn't sleeping well in this bed. We ended up having a good day in the end though.

We woke up today around 9:00am and ordered a cheaper breakfast that we didn't see on the menu yesterday. I got French Toast (no where near as good as my Mom's and I still have not tasted french toast as good as my Mom's anywhere) because it is my favourite food and Kyle got cripsy waffles with berry compote and it came to $16 total. Not bad! Each came with fresh fruit and maple syrup and coffee. So good.

After breakfast we caught a taxi from our hotel to Cheonjiyeon Pokpo (pokpo = waterfall) and that took us about 15 minutes or so to get there. We paid 1000won each to get in and then walked the short distance to the waterfall. It wasn't busy there at all today so we were quite happy with that. The waterfall was beautiful and it really reminded us of waterfalls at home (but we don't have to pay to see them at home). The cliffs were amazing and the waterfall was actually quite large. I would recommend for people to go and see it when they come here. There is another waterfall close by, but we didn't make it there since we had a lot of other things to do on our list.

We wanted to go hot air ballooning today, but we weren't able to because we didn't see anyone around where the balloon was, but since we were in the area (about 10 minutes ride from the waterfall) we decided to check out the 2002 World Cup Stadium. We were thinking we would only be able to see it from the outside, but it was open! We were even able to walk down to almost the lowest level in the stadium to see it. It was amazing. I thought about Matt the whole time we were there and how much he would have loved it. I also thought about one of my students, Rio, who is always talking about soccer.

After that, it was about lunch time so we headed to E-Mart which was next door to the Stadium and we bought some precooked and warmed chicken wings and drink and came back to the hotel to map out our afternoon and eat. About 30 minutes later I was in the lobby feeding one of our breakfast buns to the Koi Fish. They are sooooo funny. They push their lips out like no other fish I have ever seen and they are so entertaining. I love the koi fish and the koi pond in the lobby. Kyle took pictures of me feeding them so I will show them to you at a later time when I get back.

We then tried to go catch a bus to head to Hallim park, but we were told by the hotel to go to a certain bus stop across from a scooter rental place which we could not find, but found the post office she talked about. We waited there and then were told by the bus driver that this was not the stop, so we went into a store to ask for help and after 20 minutes of them trying to talk to us (they were so nice and helpful) someone came in off the street and took us to the right bus stop, but then a bus came by and told us no again.... ugh. As we were about to leave another bus came and it was the right one. We wasted about an hour waiting around and doing all of that... then we had a 90 minute bus ride.

We got off the bus and went to Geumreung beach which was really nice. We stayed there for a few minutes and went to my favourite stop of the day. We went to Hyeopjae Beach and it was white sands and clear blue/green water. It was amazing. I stood in the water for a picture and considering it is the end of January, the fact that the water was not too cold to swim in was amazing. And yes.... it is the ocean still at this beach. I loved that beach and could have stayed there all day, but we had to get going. I look a lot of pictures there. Kyle says this was his favourite stop of the day as well. We wish we had a whole day to stay there.

Side note: as beautiful as these beaches are, anyone from BC who is used to the strict rules on cleanliness would be shocked by the amounts of garbage that there is on the beach. Not that the beach is covered in garbage, but it is not nearly as clean at the beaches we are used to and people at home would not stand for glass, torn up life jackets, ropes, nets, and food leftovers laying around. But.... the beach is still beautiful, they all are, they just need a small face lift or someone to pick up the garbage which could probably be done by about 5 people in one day.

After the beaches we headed to Hallim Park. We visited Palm Tree Avenue, the Subtropic Botanical Garden, the Jeju Stone & Bonsai garden, the Bird Garden and the two caves there. The first cave was Hyeopjae cave and the second was Ssangyong cave. They were formed by the eruption of Mt. Halla and are very unique in the world of caves. They have limewater enmeshed into the walls of the cave. Since it formed it has transformed into a golden lime cave and there are some really amazing things to see inside. In the first cave (Hyeopjae) there is a rock that fell from the ceiling of the cave that is callied "the living rock" because since the limewater drips from the ceiling from the hole where it fell it drips onto the sides of the rock causing it to grow. And when the limewater hits the sides of the hole in the ceiling it makes the hole shrink.... so it makes it look like the rock is living and growing because it no longer fits in the hole.

In the second cave (Ssangyong) there are marks on the ceiling from where two dragons lived in the cave before the escaped into the ocean. First, we only saw the "tail hole" which was not too amazing, but then you could see the outline of the body and head on the ceiling. The second dragon was even more fascinating and confusing and amazing... there is a hole where the body was and you can actually see the spots and lines and spine of the dragon in the hole that leads out to the ocean... we were amazed. The stories and the history here on Jeju are breathtaking and they just have so many spectacular sights to see. Also, in this cave there is a natural rock formation that depicts a woman holding a baby... no one carved it, it fell from the ceiling of the cave and you can see the face and the arms and the baby in the rock. We weren't able to get many good pictures because the lighting in the caves was awful and everyone else's cameras were flashing....

There was actually a rock in the cave yesterday that also fell from the ceiling of that cave (you can see the hole it fell from) and it is shaped like Jeju island. It is almost 100% acurate. There is a marking (lava shelf) around the edge of it that is exactly where the island road is and goes the whole way around like the road, there is also a big rise in the middle that is shaped just like Mt. Halla in the middle of the island, and there is also a Dragon Head Peak.... weird!

After Hallim park, we caught the bus to Dragon Head Rock and took some pictures. It was great to see. Smaller than expected and only takes a few minutes to see as well. When we were driving around the island we got to see some amazing things, Mt. Sangbang and Yongmeori Cliff (shaped like a dragon that is just going out into the sea) and some beautiful harbours.

It was a great day. We did a lot, but unfortunately didn't make it back to Sunrise Peak for Sunset, but we got most other things done. We just finished dinner here at the hotel and I am going to go take a bath.... I love that this place has a bathtub because I have only been able to have showers for the last 9 months. So not relaxing. Alright.... Kyle wants the compie... so bye for now!

Jeju Day 2: Exploring

Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Today was difficult for me, I found myself having a good time and then suddenly being overwhelmed by thinking of home and my family. Everything seems surreal to me. I guess because I am here it doesn't seem like anything actually happened and when I go home things will be the same as they were when we left, but I know in my heart they won't be. I am just still have trouble realizing all that is going on with my family, with my closest mentor/friend from home having stage 4 or 5 ovarian/uteran cancer and JP's Dad being sick again... I really thought about my parents all day and wish how I could have just taken them away from where they are and bring them here with us....

It was raining this morning when we finally got ready to go out around 10am or so. It was a bad rain or anything, just a mist. We started off the day by walking around to the back of the hotel to the walkway and beaches that are back there. The first beach we went to today was our favourite. The coastline and the smells just reminded us of home so much. And... a first in Korea... we were the ONLY people on the beach!!! Amazing! We do have photo evidence that I will post when I don't have to pay for internet anymore. Black Beach is so named because it is covered in lava stone. The cliffs are completely made of lava stone and then are extremely high. It was absolutely amazing to see the waves rolling in off the water and crashing into our feet. For those of you from Manitoba/Saskatchewan, you will understand when I say I got a booter, but for those of you from further west you will understand when I say I got water in my shoe. I was looking through the camera to take a picture and standing a rock that worked for the previous 50 waves and then when I wasn't looking, the wave came right up over my rock and got me wet.

It is so shocking to think that same Ocean that we are in at home is the same Ocean that I put my feet into today. The Pacific Ocean. You never really imagaine how big the Oceans really are, but today it came more into perspective for me. It's really amazing. The water is much much warmer here though than in Victoria.

I was able to collect some rocks from the beach that I am bringing back with me. I have 5, so if any one wants one just let me know!! There was also a waterfall on black beach that came from a stream beside our hotel. It was really beautiful.

After Black Beach, we headed to Jungmun Beach which is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It was huge and covered in really nice sand. Actually, it is a bit strange all the sand here because there are little pieces of lava rock all through it so it is almost speckled black on certain beaches. We didn't stay long at Jungmun beach because we had other places that we wanted to see.

We tried to find the tourist information centre here so that we could get bus information on how to get to the lava caves on the exact opposite corner of the island from where we are, but when we did find it, it was locked and not a soul was there and it was 12:00 noon!!!!! Ugh, T.I.K.

After a call to the tourist information line, we figured the easiest and cheapest (not the shortest) way to the lava cave we wanted to see was to catch the bus back to the airport, then catch another bus for one stop to the ciy bus terminal, then switch buses one more time and stay on there. The bus, after 50 minutes, was supposed to take us right to the cave entrance, but the bus driver made us get off the bus about 3km from the entrance and made us walk in the rain. Not a big deal, but we did pay to go all the way there.

We paid 2000won each to get into the cave. It was spectacular in there. I just thought about how my Dad is always in tunnels for work and thought about how interesting he would find this tunnel since it was where lava used to flow to form Jeju Island. We walked for about 1.5km into the tunnel and reached the main attraction which was the (I forget the technical name so you have to listen to my name for it) "tallest-overhead-lava-pouring-through-a-hole-in-the-ceiling-hardened-rock-formation" in the world! Right now, I just read my name of it to Kyle and he is laughing at me and shaking his head from the bed, ha ha ha ha. He couldn't remember the name either, so he left me with no choice but to be creative and ultimately embarressing. Ha.

The walls in the tunnel were so smooth and you could see all the different levels on the wall (lava shelves, I remembered that name) of where each of the different levels of lava flowed through the tunnel at different times. There was stalagtite growing on the ceiling of the tunnel and it was just something to remember. I didn't get many good pictures because they didn't have all of the lights on in there, but I got a few. Kyle got the clearest one of me in front of the TOLPTAHITCHRF (long name from above shortened, and no, that is not Korean) and I seemed to be shaky today since I hadn't eaten in about 6-7 hours. Ugh... so hungry... we forgot to bring our snack with us.

It was a great day because I got to see Kyle relax for the first time in 9 months. When he was walking on Black Beach I could just see how much he was enjoying himself and how all his stress was just disappearing. That, for me, make this whole vacation worth it even if we didn't do anything else. We have made a point not to talk about work while we are here, so I am happy about that!

So, all-in-all, we walked about 10kms today and did 2 hours of bus riding around the entire island. Taxis and buses are crazier here than in Wonju or Seoul... hard to believe but it is true.

We just got back from the lounge downstairs where we decided to splurge and buy ourselves the semi-baked tomato mozzarella salad with alceto balsamico, kalamata olives and fresh parmesan and mozzarella that melted in our mouths, fish and chips and tortilla chips with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. We also each had a nice glass of wine and toasted to relaxing and being together.

Tomorrow we plan on going to a few more places before we have to leave the next morning at 8:00am for the airport... we are trying to see "12 Cave Beach", "Dragon Head Rock", "Sunrise Peak @ Sunset" and a couple waterfalls. I will let you know how it all goes.

Jeju Day 1: Arriving and Sleep

We arrrived in Jeju last night around 5:45pm and caught the limousine bus to our hotel. It took about 50 minutes. We walked in the front door (which just happened to be my first automatic revolving door) and the lobby alone was shockingly beautiful. It's basically a big lounge and has a koi pond weaved throughout the entire thing. The koi fish are huge!!! I keep going downstairs to see them and when you walk up to them all of the koi fish, definitely over 200 of them, all come swimming over to you looking for food. Imagine goldfish in the fish tank staring at you with their mouths wide open and then think of fish over a foot long doing that.... it is quite entertaining. There is also live music downstairs in the evening.

The food here is ridiculously expensive. We decided to splurge and get a good breakfast to start off our time here so, we ordered breakfast to our room and we get grapefruit juice, croissants, coffee, fruit, yogurt and omlettes; all for the amazing combined price for two meals of 42,000 won (which is about $40 cdn). Wow. You should see the room service menu. It is insane. Right now we are up waiting for our breakfast. We ordered it to be here between 9:00am and 9:30am.Before we left we saw Phil and told him that we were coming to Jeju and that we were staying in the Hyatt and he said that he stayed in the Hyatt in Morroco. He said that walking in there he felt rich for being able to stay there, but once he was in there he never felt so poor in his life after looking at the menus and just the hotel itself. We can definitely relate. We brought food with us and made ramen last night and had some nutrigrain bars and drank the free water in our room.

We didn't do much when we got here last night. We listened to some live music in the lobby, explored the hotel and hotel ground a little bit, watched a movie and tried to decide what we should do today. I was so tired by the time we got here that I didn't feel up to doing very much.

In Korea they have a lot of automatic toilets and the one in our bathroom here is no exception. But, the exception is that last night I felt brave enough to press the buttons on the toilet. Not so brave to be sitting on it when I did, but at least I pressed them. I pressed the "rear cleaner" while Kyle was in the seperate shower and it sprayed all over the shower door... ha ha ha. I then pressed the "front cleaner" and was completely disturbed. I tried out the air dryer and the seat heater and all the fancy gadgets while standing s safe distance away.

We are not sure what we plan on doing today. Both of us had a hard time sleeping last night. I kept dreaming about my family and I had a nervous feeling in my stomach because I really wish I could be home right now and Kyle just has a hard time sleeping when we go to hotels (usually only lasts for one night).

The smell of the water and the sound of the birds here really reminds me of home. Also, the rain definitely reminds me of home. Right now it is raining quite a bit, but we are not going to let that stop us. We are going to go out anyways and get pretty much soaked. Oh joy! I am really happy though that Kyle talked me into spending some extra money and coming down here for our vacation because it actually feels like we are vacation.

One thing I don't like about this hotel though,and pretty much the only thing, is that they charge you to use the internet. So, I am writing my blogs in another program first and then posting them very quickly when I am done.

Alright, I am going to run since breakfast just arrived and I am starving and I will write again tonight and maybe post some pictures.Love to everyone.

RIP Uncle Morris & Aunt Mildred

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I am sitting in a Starbucks in Seoul right now and a little while ago I signed onto MSN to try and speak with my parents. Unable to reach them again today, I attempted to speak with my brother. I saw his status on MSN said something about a death in our family. I immediately became worried and called my Aunt in Winnipeg.

She told me that on Sunday, my Uncle Morris (my Mom's brother) and Aunt Mildred were driving home on their ski-doo across the ice over the water at the cabin. A path they have taken a thousand time before when white out conditions hit. I guess they became disoriented and overwhelmed and lost their way. They accidentally went off the side of the ice and they drowned. My heart is aching for my family right now and I wish with all that I am that I could be home with them. My Aunt and Uncle have two sons and I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through.... I don't want to imagine. I just wish with all I am that I could be home right now.... feeling almost guilty for going on vacation and relaxing while knowing the upset that is home.

I loved my Aunt and Uncle and even though I did not get to see them very often since they live in Newfoundland, the times that I did get to spend with them I made many memories. I will miss them.

Rest in Peace Aunt Mildred and Uncle Morris, you will be greatly missed. We love you very much.

Update: as of right now, they have only been able to recover my Aunt Mildred and are still searching for my Uncle Morris. The weather in Newfoundland is really awful right now, so they have had to call off the search until tomorrow.


A news article for those who want: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/01/28/snowmobile-search.html

Vacation Part: II

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Last night, Kyle and I booked a last minute vacation package to go to Jeju Island. We are leaving tomorrow at 4:30pm and we will be in Jeju from Jan 29-Feb 1 and we are staying at the Hyatt Hotel. We are very excited and we will have our computer and webcam and phone with us so we will try and talk with everyone from there since internet is free with the room. Just to give you an idea of our trip I gave you the map!!

We might do one more thing on our vacation when we get back, but I will keep you posted on that and will give you updates from Jeju!!!!

Dr. Fish Video

Sorry for the screaming in this video.... but it was the weirdest experience in our lives thus far. At one point Steph screams and scares Jennell who is taking the video!