Unexpected but welcomed

Well the month of June is here along with its mosquitoes and sunburn. Since the last writing much has happened. The end of the semester was much welcomed. We had an unexpected 9 day vacation with our Institute, so no complaining there! :) A perfect break for both the students as well as teachers!

So I spent most of the vacation catching up on the "To do" list and crossing out as much as possible. Overall, pretty productive. I was able to spend a good deal of time experimenting with my much neglected camera. I enjoyed a good game of Monopoly with some friends---over a nice brownie and ice-cream while I built houses and motels on Boardwalk.... I forgot how long that game takes... We were at it for 2 hours and just starting our infrastructures.

This picture I was just experimenting with water...and how to take pictures of it.... Still need to work on that :)


Anyways, there was also a good deal of exploring Seoul more. The city continues to surprise me. There are so many people. So many places. So much construction!

I was also able to stay up and watch the United vs. Barcelona game with some buddies without having to feel the effects of the 4 a.m. game too harshly. Unfortunately the results didn't come out as wished or hoped, but such is life. On the up side I was able to work out my play station, fussball, and photography skills that night.

This picture was taken in an alley way near my friends' place....around 2 in the morning....or three.... Still working on night shots as well.
Enda jamming on the guitar. Me, jamming on my camera.

Enda and I were also able to hang out in a couple parks in Seoul. The weather has been nice out and it was great to finally be able to enjoy it rather than just see it.Enda took a nice picture of the bee below. The guy kept hidding from him, but Enda found him eventually :)

Anyways, that is about all for now. My third semester has begun. Let the games begin!!! :)

pics

So for some reason the pics are uploading fine now so here are some from this month.
It's a rainy day. Perfect for posting up pictures... :)


Let's begin with Busan. Enda and I took the train down (the slower...roomier one...that took 6 hours :)

Us chillin at the Busan Giants game. It's fun to be a Busan fan. Even though their team was losing by 6 in the 8th inning, the fans were still strong. Cheering away with their newspaper pom-poms....ahhh

Can't go wrong with Baskin Robins....mmm...chocolate.... :)





Here are are some pictures of my experiments with the camera last night... This is of a flower on the overpass...working with random zoom experiments..That's all for now folks...Adios-Aufwiedersehen....Ahnyeong

May Heat

May is making its swift exit, similar to its entrance. It's hard to take the much needed side-step from life. The time where you can reflect on where you are in life. Your Joy. Your pain. Your Faith. God is good through it all.

May had a great start. The crutches are not a part of my daily life anymore! Took my legs for granted. My left leg had to learn how to walk again though...weird feeling...

anyways Enda and I took a trip to my birth-town, Busan. I did a little more research on my birth family search, but unfortunately to no avail. The search continues God-willing.

The beach city contrasts Seoul in many ways...which is nice. Life seems to be more laid back...slower paced. We did some couchsurfing with some folks there. (Actually it was coincidentally another Calvin Grad! We are everywhere!)

Free place + great company= no complaints here :) I would upload pics, but for some reason the Blogger won't let me....

Now the new semester is about to begin. Looking forward to it. Another 6 days/wk work schedule, but it's a blessing to have a job. It would help if the exchange rate was a little better though....can't have everything in life. Anyways, I'll try to upload some pics soon. Until then, Blessings--

Spring is coming...

Well to start off the great month of April, I decided I should do it in style, i.e. on crutches. Yuppers. As of a couple hours ago I'm officially stuck with aluminum crutches with a wrapped left leg. Thank you Taekwondo. I had decided a couple hours before the incident that I was going to run a half marathon too.....there goes that idea. Anyways, such is life. Take the good with the bad. Become grateful for what you do have I suppose :).

Last week I was able to accomplish a 10k with my friend Brittany. It was a beautiful day in Goyang and a lot of fun. Hopefully later this spring/summer I'll be able to do some more. (Got a little lost finding the place but all is well :)

I haven't been doing too much this month besides working 6 days a week, running, taekwondo, and chilling. But hopefully the month of April will bring nice cherry blossom photos (hopefully not covered with yellow dust :)
Blessings.

March already....

Well, I've been slacking on blogging these past few months. No excuse. But here I am now. Making the most of my Tuesday morning :). Currently I'm training for my first 10k. I realize when I run I feel like I'm going at a snails pace, but I suppose it's a better pace than none. It's been good for me though...not as nice as the fresh country air, but it'll have to do.

Anyways, I'm currently in my second semester of working with CDI. I have some upper levels students which is a nice break from the little ones. Interesting students that work way to hard! Yesterday I had a student tell me he didn't get to finish all his online homework because he was in the hospital getting is gallbaldder taken out. But his mom was kind enough to bring him his CDI homework while he was recovering at the hospital....wow.

The weather has been warming up slowly but surely. Just when I decide to pull out the spring jacket it decides to be blustery. I also purchased a tripod so I've been trying to pull it out around town a little at night...but my fingers tend to become numb.

We took this picture downtown Seoul. Just messing with shutter speed and f/stop settings...Needs improvement. Practice practice practice... :)

This traffic picture is taken close to the apartment.

This past weekend we also went with some friends to a B-Boy battle (Breakdancing). Very cool. Amazing things people can do with their body. Supposedly Korea has a pretty good reputation for quality B-Boyz. Talent. It's nice to see some variety of people in Korea as well...


Anyways, for Enda's birthday/Valentines Day, we headed downtown for some ice-skating and dinner with friends and then took off to see Nanta! (Cooking/drumming/comedy/non-verbal performance). He was pulled up on stage, dressed in some whacky costume, ate some soup and was 'hypnotized'. Good stuff. They always find the foreigners in the crowd. At least I get to blend in a little :)

Well, I guess nothing else major has been happening around Korea. The relations with N. Korea are getting worse..but no surprise there I suppose. Some airlines have had to change their flight route as to not fly over N. Korea....oi. Time continues to tick away. Life continues to pass all too quickly. God has been good. Even through turmoil and joys..He is my constant.

Blessings-

Lunar New Years... ;)

Well this month has been a hectic, but good month. Beginning with work: It's frustrating at times. Seems like it is being run more with money in mind rather than the betterment of the students English.

Anyways, for the Lunar New Years I had Monday off (even though it is celebrated over Monday and Tuesday), so it was nice to have a small class size on Tuesday. I definitely would prefer to teach 5 students rather than 18 but what do you do. The intensive month is finished though so I am free on Wednesdays again...ahhh... Next term though I will most likely be working 6 days a week rather than 4. For our Lunar New Years present from our manager we all received 2 bottles of red wine. Unfortunately I'm not a huge wine girl but whatev I suppose. Enda received some instant coffee and coffee beans...unfortunately we don't have a coffee maker. It really wasn't our holiday for receiving useful gifts. Oh well.


Anyways, on the way to Church this past weekend, we passed a Mc Donalds, and seeing that they don't have drive thru's here, they deliver! I had no idea this existed...maybe I've been in a bubble though. Anyways, I thought it was class. Thinking about getting one...hmm...



Anyways, on to the weekends. Nothing too crazy has been happening. We went with some friends to watch Incheon vs. Seoul in a basketball game. Good times. The cheerleaders did YMCA as one of their cheers. Class. Anyways, it was a good time.Then headed to On The Border which is just as expensive (if not more) in Korea as it is in the States. For some reason I was hoping it would be cheaper....disappointment. But amazing food as usual.... :)

This past weekend Enda and I went Ice skating. His first time...I just assumed everyone ice skated on frozen fields in the country when they were young (thanks dad) but ah, not so in Ireland...Anyways, it was fun to teach him how to skate. I didn't realize how hard it is to teach someone to skate. My instructions were something like this: "Push off of one foot and glide and continue altering feet.." Not extremely helpful...

So this upcoming week I will finally be starting Taekwondo! Ahh...finally...I'll be in bits I'm sure, but it will be good. The weeks continue to fly by as usual. The weekends don't seem to exist. Anyways, that's about all for now. Nothing too crazy :)

January events...

Well after bringing in 2009 we began our Intensive classes. No rest for the students. School. Computer games. School. Kimchi. Study. School. Sleep. oi.

Anyways, for adventures in January...not too many to take note of. Enda and I did some hiking in Bukhansan National Park which was nice. Good to be out and in Nature again. The view was rather depressing though. Pollution. Fog. But regardless it was a good day. Enjoyed some Kimbap at the top of one of the summits. The signs for trails aren't laid out the best, so we ended up exiting the mountain in the backyard of some apartments. Hey whatever works I suppose :)

This past weekend we decided to take a snowboarding trip. Enda's first time! :) Yay! It was a lot of fun. Some bruises and aches, but well worth it.. A familiar position for both Enda and myself for most of the day...A couple hours though was plenty of time on the slopes for us though.

And to top of January thus far, one of the teachers at my school did a runner and headed back to the States so I spent all yesterday moving furniture from one apartment to another...finally getting settled...

Well that's all about it for now. Will write more in the near future....