Are We Spoiled or What?!

Occasionally Cory and I find ourselves "in need" (although that is not always really the case) of something we can't get here in Korea. We will sometimes ask a close friend or family member to help us out and send us a few things. This is what was included in our most recent package:

My good friend, Tana, has been selling me Mary Kay for years and since it is usually pretty lightweight she still sends me things occasionally. That was the original intent of this package. Just after I ordered we found that Cory was out of an essential - deoderant! (He thinks Koreans don't need it because of all the kimchi they eat.) All these other treats were a surprise AND blessing! Thank you, Tana!

Sports Day 2008 @ Geumgye

These are all the pics and videos I took today. Pretty sad, but enjoy them.
(One of the 6th Graders trying to warm himself up by hugging the flagpole.)

(Students participating in the National Warm-Up exercises before Field Day)

Happy Chuseok!

The Korean holiday Chuseok is often called the Korean 'Thanksgiving.'
Korean families gather together, eat huge feasts of traditional Korean food, and those who follow tradition give thanks/pay homage to their ancestors for the good harvest that they are about to reap.

We, on the other hand, took it as an opportunity to head south to the port city of Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. (It is an interesting note that Busan is one of only 3 cities that was not overtaken during the Korean War.)


Songjeong Beach (much quieter than Haeundae Beach)

We explored Haeundae Beach, visited the Busan Aquarium, swam in the sea, and managed one last sunburn for the summer! One night, we camped on the beach . . . it was a wonderful sound to sleep to, but I have to admit I got a little nervous in the wee hours of the morning as it sounded like the tide was rising!


(Camping just south of Songjeong Beach)


View from the cliffs along Taejongdae Resort

We also did some hiking around Taejongdae Resort and made a few stops on the Busan City Tour Bus. We wandered around a fish market (we didn't last long against the smell) and spent a night at the coolest hotel I think I've ever stayed at in my life. It was the only hotel I think I've ever seen that was built to look traditionally Korean AND 16 stories tall! It was beautiful inside and out!


Hotel Commodore, Busan


Port view from our room on the 10th floor

Our last stop was a city a little further inland called Changwon. One of Cory's high school buddies, Andy, has recently moved there to teach English. Although it had been since high school that they had seen each other, they easily caught up over a Kansas City football game!

Cory and Andy watching KC Chiefs

Just Can't Help Myself

Cory and I warming ourselves on the bow of The Poseidon

We've only updated you on the first 9 days of our trip and I'm stuck! I've got more pics from our day on the Great Barrier Reef to show you! :)


Snorkelers head out to see the Reef


Cory looking hot!


A beautiful end to a wonderful day!

The Great Barrier Reef

One of the highlights of our trip was scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world, visible even from outer space. Although Cory and I have both had the opportunity to dive in amazing places, this was definitely one of the best experiences! We spent an awesome day on this catamaran, The Poseidon.

One of the first things we did when we boarded was sign up for some highly recommended, prescription strength, motion sickness meds. We were told the waters had been quite rough lately, and were expected to be worse on this particular day! Awesome!



We enjoyed an hour and a half ride out to the Agincourt Ribbon Reef drinking coffee and snacking on muffins. And although Cory and I were both ok, several others made their way to the outer deck of the boat with a paper bag, or two.



We dove at 2 locations along the reef, New Stonehenge and Turtle Bay. Both dives were about 40 minutes in length and we dove to depths of 14-18 meters. Most of the reef can be seen at very shallow depths, so many others enjoyed snorkeling from The Poseidon as well.





We enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch between dives, as well as the opportunity to warm up! The waters were relatively warm, but as soon as we hit the deck of the boat the wind tore right through whatever we had on, and of course, being wet didn't help. We were tired but totally satisfied at the end of the day to be able to witness this amazing part of God's Creation.

Happy Anniversary to Us . . .

For our anniversary I wanted Cory to have the opportunity to go golfing. Here in Korea the game of golf is most often played by businessmen - they are either spoiling their clients or being spoiled (or patronized). For the average Joe, it's several hundred dollars for the privilege to play.

Cory has been the only one suffering from the lack of opportunity to golf. I'm terrible, and therefore, don't enjoy playing. I tried my hand at his Christmas gift, the Tiger Woods x-box game. Yup, just continued to prove the fact that I stink at golf.

Here in Korea, Cory and his buddy Eddy have managed to fit in some time at the driving range and even screen golf, a more recently discovered past time.

For our first year anniversary gift I forewent the traditional paper or more modern gift of a clock and went for a few golf necessities and the gift of 18 holes of bliss while on vacation in Australia. It was really a beautiful location and I think although Cory had to play alone while I drove the cart, he was thankful for the opportunity to play again!


Finishing off a hole

Cory loved their grass.

As he finished up the 18th hole he had to
dodge the sprinkler system.

There was supposed to be a croc in this hole,
but we never saw him. Sad.

Comment Verification Words

I hate to make it harder for people to comment, because we don't get that many comments to begin with and making you all go through an EXTRA step to talk back to us will probably kill all comments altogether. Unfortunately, we've had some...ahem....crackheads leaving comments on our blog that link to lottery and gambling sites. So before other surly types start leaving linky comments to other sites, we're taking this step. All you have to do when leaving a comment is type the verification word into the box and click "submit." Sorry to do this to you, but it's necessary.

Take care everybody, and check out this gambling site i found...

Taking in Some of the Scenery (The Story Continues)

After a wonderful day on a motorcycle, we decided to bite the bullet and take a guided tour. One of my aunts has an incredible love for trains, and ever since I was a child some of the joy has rubbed off. With lots of family members I've enjoyed the ride on Cass' Scenic Trains. Because of all the great memories over the years I was naturally excited to take a scenic train ride north to a village called Kuranda.

Kuranda is surrounded by rain forest and has tons of shops and markets with lots of historical and cultural influence. Here's a link if you'd like to learn more.

We enjoyed milling around the village shops and bought some souvenirs, including an aboriginal print, then hopped on the SkyRail that takes you over the rain forest. We had beautiful weather and a wonderful, relaxing day.

After returning to our hostel later in the evening, we picked up our stuff and made our way North to Port Douglas, where we spent the next 3 days of our vacation. We'll show you some pictures and tell you some of those adventures in the next few days! Please keep reading!