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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Lindsay's visit

Watching rugby


Me, Lindsay, Gen, and the DRUNK bar manager


At the Indian restaurant


My old university friend, Lindsay, who came to Korea in February, came up to visit me last weekend. Some of you might remember her, she came to spend a weekend with us in Magogong some time ago.
She brought her girlfriend, Gen, with her. She's lovely and the two of them are very in love!
We had a fun weekend, although the weather was not great so we couldn't do much outside.
We watched the Boks get beat again on Saturday (what's new?) at Scrooges (favorite South African bar), followed by many cocktails, shooters and dancing! Was suffering on Sunday a bit, but at least that only happens when old Rhodes friends meet up! I'm very happy to be off the drink these days :) Hangovers are not happy.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Boryeong Mud Festival

We went off to the Mud Festival at Boryeong Beach this weekend, in what was the start of monsoon season! It started pouring on Friday and didn't stop until Saturday night, then we had a glorious, sunny day on Sunday and got fried! Everybody is suffering from extreme mud sports injuries and sun burn this week, but it was FUN, totally worth it!

This is us in our army gear on the mud beach in the rain, playing rugby, mud wrestling and many other dirty, wreckless things...


At the mud festival, getting painted in the various shades of mud. The mud is really good for your skin by the way, so it is a treat doing this!


The fireworks display done over the ocean - amazingly beautiful! We also got to see some of Korea's pop stars perform, followed by a beach disco!


Tatoo art on the beach on Sunday, my butterfly was very cute but got washed off as soon as I went into the sea :(


The gools, covered head to toe in mud.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Seoul Grand Park










Sangyeon and I went to the zoo in Seoul yesterday. It was amazing, I felt like I was really out in the wildnerness, and not in one of the busiest city in Asia! It was tranquil and scenic and there were so many interesting animals to see. Also, by the way, everything in Korea is so well designed to entertain children....I sometimes wish I was a child here! So if any of you moms and dads want to come visit me (wink wink), the kids will have a great time!
But I must say, I'm not crazy about zoos...I don't like the idea of these animals in cages, and some of them look genuinely unhappy to me. But at least Seoul zoo is massive and the animals seem to be well taken care of. Unfortunately my camera's battery was running low after our beach trip on Saturday, and died during the seal & dolphin show :( so I don't have too many pics. Will have to go back and experience it all again!

Gangneung

Ciara and I decided to do went in search of a good beach on Saturday, so we hopped on a bus, travelled to the other side of the country in 3 hours, and found exactly that!
The east coast of Korea is lined with gorgeous beaches and beautiful blue ocean water which is just cool enough to enjoy a refreshing swim. The little town we went to was called 강릉 (Gangneung). There was so much to do there and we had just one day! So after relaxing on the beach and a delicious lunch, we rented some bicycles for next-to-nothing and cycled a few km's up the coast. It was so pretty and made us decide to go back and spend a weekend sometime this summer.



This friendly family took to us, and the lady even insisted on being our personal photographer...instructing us to 'just have fun', and she'd take some 'action shots'...lol!


Going for a dip


The pensions (self-catering accomodation) right on the beach!



Gangneung is called the Pine city, because the coast is lined with Pine trees. Here you can also see the barbed wire, which runs all the way up to the border with North Korea...It was put there some years ago to protect against army attacks from our friendly neighbour...

Friday, July 9, 2010

Saying good bye to friends and football teams

One of my most favorite friends, Sanjib, is going back to India. He is taking a bit of a vacation and has some work to do there, but there is a chance he might not come back to Korea. If he doesn't, he will surley be missed by everyone here! He is a great guy, and we are all really fond of him. We had some leaving drinks with him on Wednesday night, the night before Germany played Spain - and got kicked out of the World Cup ;( I had fun taunting all the Spanish supporters anyway, and with my home-painted shirt! I'm starting to enjoy this clothes-painting business...
So on that note, I'll be supporting Holland in the final, even though I said Spain would win at the start of the World Cup. I just don't think they deserve to win.

Oh! We also got to see Korea's very own Elvis impersonator...He was great, although I'm not sure what language he was singing in, or if he was even singing Elvis songs?!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Samgyetang!

Sangyeon came to cook Samgyetang for me today. I have never eaten it because I've heard it's not very nice, and it contains ginseng which I hate the taste of!
But Korean people love it, and it is supposed to be very healthy, so I'm going to give it a try...

This is what it looks like, just chicken stuffed with rice and boiled in water with ginseng and...well I'm not sure, but it looks like wood to me? Apparently we'll take it out after words, it's just used for medicinal purposes...and there are some other precarious looking things as well. It has to boil for a while so we'll eat it tomorrow. Can't wait...

A little something from 2009

I found 2 CD's with photos that I took right after I got here last year. I wasn't able to upload any of them, and it feels meaningless to do it now....but I thought I'd put up a handful of my favorite ones, just for fun...

Kimchi Pots at the Folk Village


Mushrooms growing wild at the Folk Village


Spring flowers at Gwanghwamun Plaza


Korean baby deep in thought


Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul


Skate park near my home


Kids cooling off under a tap


Watching soccer - South Africa U/20 v Korea U/20 (Korea won 4-0)


The first time I climbed Gwanggyo Mountain


Sona and I being silly on the subway


Romantic Cheonggecheon stream in Seoul



Tyler Kyle is 1 years old! I can't believe how time flies....
Happy birthday to you my dear little niece. I hope you had a fun-filled day and your mommy and daddy spoilt you rotten! I'll be seeing you in December :) Can't wait!