Christmas Letter

We ran out of stamps...and time, but we wanted to share our Christmas letter with all of you.
 

Christmasify

While decorating for Christmas this year I decided it would be fun to make a short time-lapse video of the transformation to share. I put it on Facebook a week or so ago and was surprised by the number of likes and comments it received. I just thought it would be fun to project but it turned out to be quite a success. I wanted to share it here for those who don't do the Facebook thing and thought I would explain a little about it as well.

I downloaded a time-lapse app (Timelapse Pro) on to my Windows phone a few months ago. When I downloaded the app I thought there were not very many uses for a time-lapse function on a phone because you always have your phone on you, but it sounded cool and it was free (every smartphone user has been there). Since I downloaded it I have been looking for a way to use its function and, with this idea, I finally found it.

When it was time to set up our Christmas decorations I made a little mount for the phone on the wall out of tape and a letter envelope using pencils to angle it where I wanted. I set the record time to one frame every 15 seconds, gave it a few trial runs to make sure the angle was right and pressed go! 214 pictures later Bee and I were finished and the house was Christmasified all set up.

The next thing to do was to add some nice Christmas music to it the video and post it. That is when I discovered the catch. The free program will let you make videos but it will not let you share them. You have to pay for the full version to get the videos off the phone. I was committed at this point so I paid the $3 and loaded all of the pictures onto the computer.

I was not satisfied with how fast the video the app made was so I decided to make my own video using the pictures. The original movie sped through all the pictures in about 14 seconds, I stretched it out to about a minute adding a little zoom on the end of effect. Bee helped me pick out some music that we liked and thought went well with the pace of the video. Put it all together and, PRESTO! Movie! I had fun making it, Bee and I had fun decorating for Christmas, and from the looks of it many enjoyed viewing it. We look forward to finding another opportunity to share more videos with you.

Merry Christmas! We wish you the best this season and always and, as always, we are glad we could share our experiences with you.

We left our sandals in Indonesia!

What an adventure we had together in Bali! We sped around the island on a little scooter, were crawled over by wild monkeys, got soaked to the bone in a torrential downpour, visited many temples and markets, watched several sunsets, enjoyed a variety of sands on a number of different beaches and at every turn encountered somebody that wanted to sell us something. We were there for both Bee's birthday and Thanksgiving but unfortunately Bee started getting sick toward the end of our visit. We still managed to have a delightful and relaxing trip though.

Here are some pictures from our trip with a little caption detailing each one. (I could not slow down the speed of the slideshow so you may have to pause it occasionally to read. You can also view the entire album at your leisure clicking on the picture above.)

Birthday, Bali Style!

It is becoming a tradition to travel for Thanksgiving and my birthday. Growing up I didn't like my birthday being so close to Thanksgiving because it tended to get wrapped up or glazed over with traveling to family's for Thanksgiving. But Hunny has taken what used to bother me and made it into one of the best parts of my birthday. If it were just my birthday or Thanksgiving we probably wouldn't travel to some fun vacation, but having both near the same times makes for a good reason to go on an adventure.

Last year we went to Thailand. This year we went to Bali, Indonesia! It was originally supposed to be India, we had tickets and everything...everything except a visa! We kinda forgot until last minute that we needed one and then because of busy schedules and the embassy making Visas so difficult to get, we missed the deadline. So, Hunny thought of places that allowed Visa-on-arrival and Indonesia was one of them. We have had a lot of friends go to and love Bali, so...ta da! We decided we were going to Bali! In one morning Hunny switched the tickets and changed all the paperwork he had to to now go to Bali. Switching tickets was a TON easier than expected and we actually saved a bunch by going to Bali instead. I think the Lord was trying to say something because I was having uneasy thoughts about India anyway.

The time came and we packed up, left and made it to BALI!!

I think we got to our hotel around 1:00 am. And because it was technically Sunday when we got there, it was my birthday and the hotel had a cake lit and waiting for me at the hotel in our room when we went in. But little did I know there was MUCH more where that (Hunny's thoughtfulness) came from. We are not early risers...especially when you go to bed at 2am, so we started off slow. Right before breakfast, a small package and letter showed up on my pillow. An adorable necklace made by our friend's little girl. I loved it and wore it ALL day! During breakfast I got a note written to me from my parents. While we waited for our $5 a day motorbike I discovered another note. Scattered all throughout the day, I got precious letters from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday and sweet thoughts. I loved it!

Our first stop, eventually was to church since it was Sunday. I love that the church is all over the world and it can be found most everywhere we go. We drove by where the GPS said it was two or three times without seeing it before Hunny went so slow and actually stopped in front of this store front where the map said it was. We were about to drive off in defeat when Hunny caught view of the small hole in the wall with a little sign next to it that said, LDS. The meeting had about 15 people and the room was about the size of our living room with two small offices/classrooms attached to it. We found out after that there were only about 5 or so people that actually lived there and the rest were visitors. My favorite part was as we were leaving and saying goodbye, one fellow said, "Today is your birthday?" I smiled and nodded and glared at Hunny. "Well, then here ya go." And he handed me a letter! IT WAS AWESOME!! Perfect! Like out of a movie! Hunny had asked him to give me a letter from a friend of ours that now live is Colorado.

We found the beach and put our feet in the water for a while. We then when to find a place to get flip flops since I didn't bring any. You can't put your feet back in shoes after being out in the sand. And you can't enjoy paradise without flip flops! We just wanted to buy flip flops but down one of the alleys this older lady immediately grabbed us and drug us to her shop announcing to the other shops along the way that we were HER customers. I appreciated her confidence, it was pretty impressive. She had such nice stuff and since it was our first day we hadn't built up our resistance/bargaining tactics so we probably walked out with more than we should've, paying more than we need have. For good luck she rubbed the money we paid her with on all her stuff; not sure who it was good luck for.

We drove around a bunch on our scooter to see how well we could navigate and get around. Scooter is THE way to get around on Bali. It was so much fun getting to see all sorts of sights. At only five dollars a day it was the best idea. I loved holding on to my Hunny and just being close to him and getting to spend all that time with him. We could talk fairly easy and we would point out sights to each other as we rode.

For dinner Hunny picked out this great seafood place, because he knows seafood is a specialty for birthday dinners. And it was on a beach so we could watch the sunset while we ate with our feet in the sand! Oh how gorgeous! I loved digging my feet in the sand as we sat. Beautiful weather and great seats to watch the sun. It was perfect! After we ordered our food and the waiter took the stack of menus, there was still a white paper on the table where the menus had been. Sneaky husband! A sweet combo letter from Lost Boy, Starchild, and Baby2Flowers! I love them so much! The food was different but plentiful. We had 1kg of king prawns and a whole red snapper with very Balinese flavors and sides. Oh, and you cannot forget the watermelon juice! A kind lady we met at church that morning mentioned it was a must have while in Bali so we tried it and it was fabulous!

Towards the end of dinner a group of singers moseyed over and started to sing Happy Birthday to me. I'll admit, I was embarrassed, but I guess that's the point of those employs singing Happy Birthday to you in a restaurant. I don't know very many people that go in on their birthday wanting to get sung to, they are just there for the free dessert. By the way, their lyrics were amazing! If you ever think you made stuff up while singing a song, you have nothing on these guys. I started to wonder if they started singing a different song part way through. They sang us a few more songs before we tipped them and they moved on to the next table.

After dinner we walked along the beach some. It got dark pretty quick so we weren't out too long. But when we did turn around there happened to be a letter just lying on the ground... We found a spot for me to read them and one mentioned how she thought it was precious how Hunny planned this because he knew my love language was words; that they speak more love to me then gifts do, so to celebrate and express love for me, I received many words of affirmation in the form of these letters. Oh, I bawled. Not only do I love words, hearing the whys of things mean even more to me. When I saw and understood WHY Hunny had gone through all this, my heart was overfilled with joy and love. It was the best birthday gift I could ever get. How did I ever manage to get such a sweet, loving, and thoughtful husband? I am so grateful to all my friends and family that took the time to write to me to celebrate my birthday with me in word. I could not have asked for a better birthday. It was truly memorable and special.

Fall Colors

The two most beautiful times in Korea are for about two weeks in Spring and two weeks in the Fall. Fall is upon us and we are coming up on the end of the enjoyable part before it gets too cold. But enjoy the colors we do, and did when we had a delightful day trip with some friends to a get away river island. It is called Namiseom and it is northwest of here. About an hour and a half?? We had out friends meet us at the crack of dawn so we could spend as much time as we wanted enjoying the island park before it got too late for camping back in town! (yes, camping in town...really not a bad spot though)

There were two options to getting over the the island. You could either take the ferry... or ZIPLINE!! So of course, you know we zipped across water to get there! And it was freezing! Way up in the air and zipping through, my fingers and teeth were iced over! But wohoa!~ It was fun! And once on the island, it was like a get away! There was so much nature and trees and quiet. We had a map of all the places but we just mostly wandered the island enjoy the nature, the colors and being outdoors; you don't get much of that in Seoul. I mean there were trees and leaves and trials everywhere! It was great. I heard that the island was much smaller and the built up to what it is today. And they did a marvelous job by lining the all the paths and trails with trees. And each path had a different type of tree. There were Ginko, Pine, and even Tulip trees! Among our meanderings (and my favorite find) was a fenced in flock of ostriches!! Talk about random! We continued along and enjoyed the scenery. We arrived on the north end of the island but on the south end we found a scenic bridge around this cove. It was mostly just random longs tied together with gaps between them, but very rustic and quaint.

It was so nice to get away, to see the beautiful colors and enjoy nature. I think it was the best way to enjoy the fall. And since the island was pretty small we were able to see most of it on foot by mid afternoon.

But that wasn't all we had in store for this day. No, we have to make the most of our days off in the nice weather! We went home to gathered everything we needed for a camp out that evening and waited for another of Hunny's coworkers to show up to go with us and then headed through town to a camping spot we have used several times in the past. It is like a little camping oasis in this gigantic city.

We got to the grounds after sunset because of traffic and got to put up our tents in the dark. It gets dark super early here now. :( But Hunny is awesome and got our fire going. I swear he performs magic getting a fire going. A few times he would blow on the embers and poof, flames! And he was able to keep it going with minimal smoke. Magic! Hot dogs and smores! My kind of dinner! We mostly sat around and chatted for the rest of the evening. We had a very enjoyable and very long day and we were glad we got to spend it with some good friends, even though I am sure they are tired of us now. :-D

Carving Pumpkins

I have noticed that we aren't much celebrators of holidays. Hunny likes to think we are but he also says that children bring holidays to life. I agree that holidays are better with children; their wonder and joy is magical and we adults live each holiday vicariously through them. Without children some holidays don't/can't mean as much. So we decided to steal some other people's kids this Halloween! Not really. But we did take the opportunity to visit a friend's home and their three children, ages 5, 3 and 1. We brought two tiny pumpkins for them to paint and one big one for us adults to carve. The two husbands went to work carving the pumpkin we brought and since it gets a little crowded with more than two carving a pumpkin I helped the children paint as their mom made delicious cookies! Honestly, she makes the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have EVER had and NEED the recipe before they leave next month. :`(

 The big pumpkin was destined before we went to their house to be an adorable owl. My favorite! And slightly ironic since I didn't get to work on it. And the two children's pumpkins were absolute precious! I can't wait to have kids and celebrate with them and see what they will create. I hope to be as open and allowing as their mother is. I love to see the love and interaction she has with them. I am grateful for their friendship and the times we have shared together.

Thanks to Hunny's imposing nature we were afforded a second opportunity to carve pumpkins with another family whose friendship we treasure. :) We enjoyed a Sunday dinner with them the Sunday before Halloween. After dinner their three children each designed and carved a pumpkin. Their youngest, age 5, was too young to carve by himself and since I missed the chance to carve my pumpkin his mom offered me the opportunity to help little Sam carve out his design. :) I was thrilled to. I think it was the first pumpkin carving I have ever carved. We made a pretty rockin Batman symbol.

After everyone was done they lit them up and took pictures. They looked great. It was interesting to see the different personalities and ideas the children used.

Carving pumpkins might be a simple thing but I decided you can really tell about a child by his or her pumpkin.  And I learned a lot about everyone, those that carved and those that didn't. I learned a lot about wives, mothers, children, and family. I am grateful for the simple pleasures and the joy and happiness children bring and that I got to participate all of it this Halloween even though Hunny and I do not have children of our own. I am grateful for the families that invited us to share in the joy with them. It might have seemed a small thing to them but every act of kindness and friendship is appreciated and cherished. Bless the children, remember what is truly important, and share that love.

Gamers

You might say we are gamers. But not your modern day, electronic gamers. We don't own any fancy, gee-wiz gaming console.  No Ex-box or K-nect or Wheee! But, Bee and I do love playing games with people. Board games, card games, dice games, you name it. Even party games that don't require any props or pieces. We have always loved games.

We have gained quite the collection and continue to find new games we like and want to share with others. As you can see, our game closet is getting pretty full. Our latest addition brought our count to 30 games. I was walking through the second-hand store and founds Wits & Wagers which some friends of ours introduced us to. I thought it was pretty fun, and it wasn't pricey, so I picked it up.

When we went to the states in September for my training we came back with three games to add to our collection and yet another to add to our wishlist. One of the games we brought back was a card game called Blink! we knew nothing about at the time but since it was on clearance for $1.60 we thought we would give it a try. Turns out it was a good buy. I think it is a good game for kids because it is a matching game with colors, shapes and numerical values. Bee is a pro at it but every now and then I am able to get one up on her.

There are some games I don't really play with her anymore, one of those is Skip-bo. She doesn't just win every time, she crushes me! I don't know how she does it, it is not like there is much skill to that game, but without fail I will still have half my deck left when she goes out. It is so frustrating! Another game that does not go so well is Chess. She wants to be good at Chess but gets easily frustrated when her pieces start disappearing. I think the last game we played together ended in a swift arms sweep across the board and pieces all over the room. She does not lose well some times.

The game we play most frequently together is a connect five game we started playing online together while we were engaged and in different countries. We play it now with white and black stones on a Go!  board. We are pretty equally matched so we take turns winning. That is probably why we play it the most. Monopoly Deal is also a regular in our house.

Among our favorite games to play with others are Rummikub, Kill Doctor Lucky, and The Settlers of Catan. Even with our filling cabinet there are still many games we would like to get but don't have yet. A few games that we really like but have not had opportunity to add to our own collection are Bang!, Ticket to Ride, Gobblet, and Dominion.

Let us know what your favorite games are and we will have to investigate.

The Great Candy Exchange

Who doesn't love candy? Because I knew there would be a lot of candy circulating last month I decided at the beginning of October I would do a candy fast (no store bought candy) for the month. It was a challenge but the good news is I made it all the way to the 31st. The bad news is I only made it to the 31st. One day shy; but some months only have 30 days in them, right? so that means I did go a whole month...just not the right month. :~D

I survived our church activity earlier in the month because it was mostly a chili cook-off with a small truck-o-treat afterward. I got full on chili and cornbread before the candy came out. It was a good party with lots of chili and I think even more cornbread. Bee made some very tasty green chicken chili. It did not win but it was all eaten up which is always a good sign, especially when there are so many other chilies around.

I survived our several trips to the store, especially the one where we went to buy candy for our own distribution to the chilinz. I even survived Bee's many offers to share whatever candy she happen to have. When she is trying to eat healthy I always offer her junk food so this time it was her turn, and I'm sure she enjoyed it.

What I did not survive was what I have dubbed The Great Candy Exchange. We had a big work party on Halloween for all the employees and their families. Part of the event was a trunk-o-treat. There was a good number of cars there, and even more little kiddos dressed up as superheros, princesses, witches and even a few zombies. Bee and I were planning on decorating our car but with a few other things we had going on that day the car never got decorated. So instead of our car in the truck-o-treat we just sat on the ground in our parking space and claimed our car was decorated as a ghost, or that it was invisible. Most of the kids just took some candy and moved on but one evil spirited kid decided this was her opportunity to pick on our poor little car and ran around in the parking spot and jumped up and down where our invisible car was parked. Kids these days!

So why the Great Candy Exchange? The obvious fact that we were all sitting around a parking lot distributing candy to children but beyond that when Bee and I got low on our supply I would take our bag and wander around to the other trucks to fill back up again. Then I would walk right back over to where our invisible car was parked and sit back down on my chair and hand it out again. I only had to do this twice, but it was amusing to me that it was even and option, and then that it actually worked. Some trucks were LOADED with candy, some trucks were left unattended. It was fun to participate with many co-workers and see all the different costumes.

Gone Camping; not a Seoul to be seen

The weather is turning cold and we have not gotten the camping in we wish to for the year. We enjoy spending time in the great outdoors. Waking up in a tent far away from civilization greeted by a serene morning fog and the echoing sound of chirping birds. Planning and cooking quaint meals for two on a tiny camp stove. Hiking up inconspicuous mountain trails to look out over quiet vistas. There is something truly peaceful and majestic about nature, it is sad so many people never quite grasp it.

Koreans as a people do a pretty good job at it though. There are trails all over the mountains that dot Seoul and they have camping sites both in and out of the city. They flood the trails every day of the week like a determined column of bright florescent ants zigzagging up and down the stony mountain slopes.

There is this spot up north which I pass by frequently for work and every time I do so I have thought that it would be a nice place to go camping and hiking. It is well north of busy Seoul, situated on the side of a hill west of Cheorwon Valley several miles south of North Korea. The opportunity finally presented itself a few weeks ago when I had a Monday off so Bee and I packed up and headed out. We left Sunday afternoon for an overnighter. It was a nice drive up there, not more than two hours, with me pointing out points of interest on the way. We made it to the dirt road that climbed the mountain to where I wanted to camp. I did not have a specific place in mind to camp, I just knew that I wanted to do so somewhere up the dirt road. So we took it! Our little car handled the bumpy dirt road beautifully...I wish I could say the same about Bee. Every little bump or rock or rut I negotiated she had this tendency to stop breathing and squeeze whatever she managed to grab. Rest assured we made it safely to the top and I found a convenient little clearing with a spot for us to park and camp in. It was atop a wide mountain saddle where the hill fell away from us to the east and west with high ground to the north and even higher ground to our south.

We still had about an hour before sunset so we went for a little hike before setting up our campsite for the evening. It was a short hike which started on a small trail but we ended up in a dried stream bed. The trees were just starting to fade into warm yellows and orange and reds and fall. And with the long rays of the evening sun it made for a beautiful scene. The best part though was that there was not another soul to be heard or seen the entire evening. Just Bee, me and nature!

After deciding we had hiked far enough and should turn around and head back to camp I decided I would take the high ground to the east to get a better view of the surrounding area so I ran up it. It was a nice view and while I was up there I found a trail up that spur which I decided would be the trail we would explore in the morning, because it provided such a nice view off to the north east. I followed the trail down as Bee made her way back along the trail we had followed in, shouting at each other occasionally to make sure we were both still near.

We got back to the car and set up camp just as the sun was setting. We set up the tent and then turned our attention toward dinner. I should mention that on the way out of our housing complex at the start of our journey Bee asked me if I had grabbed the tent. I told her that I had not but remembered that there was a little tent in the trunk that I have had there for a while. What I had failed to recall was that the tent I did have in the trunk was one man tent. Be it, it was a decent sized one man tent, but a one man tent none the less. Ooops! We have snuggled together in tighter places before though, like our first year of marriage were we only had a twin sized bed.

We cooked and ate dinner using a tiny camp stove we borrowed from the scouts. A box of shells and white cheddar, with some broccoli and tuna stirred in. We realized a little late that we forgot to mix the broccoli in early to let it cook some but it was still good added in at the end. Camping has a special way of making food taste better because it was delicious!

After that we sang a hymn or two, cleaned up and climbed into our tent to stay warm. It was chilly and I forgot to ensure Bee brought her jacket. I decided I would be okay with just a long sleeve shirt but Bee was so cold she had on my long sleeve shirt and a light blanket that I keep in the car. Needless to say, she was eager to climb into her sleeping bag. The tent was snug but manageable. It was colder than I anticipated during the night and I only packed my summer bag so it actually probably helped that we were nice and tight; besides, it builds character.

In the morning we had oatmeal and bananas for breakfast, broke down camp and prepared for a hike. We started up the trail I came down the night before so I could share with be the vista I had witnessed. Since we were already pointed in that direction we continued our hike up that trail. As we hiked we found trenches and bunkers and tunnels all up and down the side of the mountain we were on. It was neat to explore them and humbling to think that we were hiking in the very same spot where more than likely hundreds of Korean's fought and died. Many of the bunkers looked newer than Korean war era, built for defense in anticipation of some future provocation, but I know that the trenches that weaved across those slopes were dug in a time of war and stained with the blood of honorable men. It added a measure of reverence to our journey.

Once we had decided we had climbed high enough I saw a small rock face that I wanted to climb to the top of and look out over the trees to the north. So I climbed it as Bee waited patiently below. At the top it was beautiful and clear and I could see several mountains of North Korea off in the distance and invited Bee to join me on top of the rock. She obliged and I found a trail for her to hike up (which happened to be the same trail we decided not to go any further on) so she would not have to climb up the rocks. We sat up there for a while relaxing and enjoying the scene. I pointed out North Korea to her to her amazement that we were close enough to actually see it. It was amazing! We sang a few more hymns as we sat there looking out on a still Korea and then slowly made our way back down the mountain to the car. At the car we made sure our site was clean, hopped in and followed the dirt road down the other side of the hill to enjoy a new and scenic drive home.

We had a wonderful time and were very happy to escape the hustle and bustle of busy, congested Seoul and spend a quiet day on the side of a secluded hill. I miss that kind of camping and look forward to doing it again sometime.

-- More Pictures --

Name that rabbit

So guess what?! We got a rabbit!!

But here is the thing; we have had her about a week and have yet to come up with a name... I like names with meaning. I especially like naming my pets after temples. Because we think she is a New Zealand black I thought it would be stellar to name her after the New Zealand temple! Except, it's Hamilton. Not quite a girly name... Australia is close enough right? But all they have are Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Hunny doesn't like any of those. I like Sydney or Adelaide. But I know people with those, or similar, names. My next thought was Gertrude from a book I was reading, call her Rude for short. I thought it was cute, but it doesn't quite fit.

Hunny on the other hand keeps coming up with silly names like 'Turtle Spit' TS for short. Bones, Zipper, and his favorite, Clarence, which Totally is a boy's name. When I asked about maybe a name from how we got her and her condition he said "Dumpster", Stir for short. I had a pooch named Tank, short for septic tank for similar reasons. Not sure how I feel about Dumpster. We found out that she LOVES cilantro. She belongs in our family by that alone!

So here it is. We need your help and thought it would be fun for you to help us name our rabbit.

On the right side of the page is a poll. Select the name to like and we will take your votes into consideration. May the best name win!

What do we name her?! 

A little about her!

I have been wanting to get a rabbit again for a while now, since Hunny doesn't like dogs, and we can't have one nor a cat, a rabbit was my next bet (sense the likelihood of a hedgehog was slim). We had been waiting more then looking when someone posted on our community Facebook page that someone had left one behind the dumpster in a tiny cage. I jumped at the opportunity to save the poor thing. She is a black New Zealand, we think. They are supposed to be 12lbs but she is about 5... we don't know if it is malnourished or if we are wrong. She also has a funny thing going on with her right legs. The back one slides out, like she doesn't have much control of it. I think it is muscle dystrophy from being crammed in a cage too long. But it doesn't seem to bother her. In fact, she is quite awesome! I had read up a bit on them before picking her up, mostly wanting to litter train her asap. I watched her slowly explore and move around. I needed some droppings to set up the box. When I thought I had some I realized I had plenty, and more on my bookbag she had been sitting on for a while. Well, at least I knew the perfect spot. So I set her up and she has been amazing about using it ever since. She even holds it all night when we put her in her cage! Ok, maybe more info then you need but I just want to let ya'll know how wonderfully we have been blessed. :) She doesn't really chew anything and she loves to be petted and follows us a lot. She also likes Hunny more then me. She jumps in his lap and lets him hold her more then me. :p

I like to ride my Bicycle!

As some of you may know I got a bicycle a while back. However since I have been stateside there have been a few things neglected, one of them was my new, blue bike. Before I left I talked about riding it from where we live to where Hunny works. It was simple; just cross the river and follow it down, then...we were still working out the kinks at the end but I decided I would just figure it out once I got there.

I had just missed the bus and needed to meet Hunny down at work to go to dinner with him and some friends. Instead of riding the public bus I figured now was the best time to try to bike. So I said a prayer that all would go well and that I would want to do it more, that I would be safe, and that I would not get lost. Excited, I donned my helmet and set off. A brief seat level change and crossed the bridge. Almost. My chain had fallen off the gear because I accidentally changed gears too fast. Distraught but not deterred, I attempted to fix it. No luck! I desperately call Hunny to get his help. He calms me down and I get it working again. Instead of turning back I am determined to keep going. After that it was pretty easy going. Just cross and follow the river. I occasionally pull out my phone to make sure I'm still going the right way. But for some reason I am constantly being passed, and when I am on flat ground I should be able to go buzz...when I stop pedaling, but I'm not.  It really shouldn't be THIS hard to go! I am getting tired fast; and discouraged faster. But I keep trudging on using my map as an excuse to take breaks. I start looking at my tires, maybe they are low. They do seem to bulge a bit. And when tires are low there is more drag. I can definitely attest that. Low tires take more gas! I was beat. An hour down and I still have almost four miles to go. It is after work and I call Hunny to come get me. I can't go anymore... We decide to meet a little ways down near a bridge. Finally I see him and he takes my bike up some stairs. I am wore out physically and emotionally. I pretty much ball right there at the car. I was so close! But I couldn't do it. I wanted to accomplish this great task, and failed. But Hunny looked at the tires and exclaimed that they weren't just low, they were LOWW! He pushed on the front tire and it went all the way down. He was surprised I went as far as I did on such low tires. It didn't really help, I still felt defeated. Hunny did a marvelous job playing Tetris with the bike and got it to fit in the back seat of the car, by putting me in the windshield... :) We had a great dinner with our friends, shabu shabu (I highly recommend it) and I felt better by the end of the night.

Then about a week or so later, after we got the tires filled, I decided to try again. I would go and have lunch with Hunny at work. I looked at the map, prayed, and turned on the tunes. I was gonna do it. I was gonna bike from Hannam to K-16. As I went I passed all the places I had stopped to rest on my first attempt. I think I only stopped 2 or 3 times this time. It felt great to go buzz... My gears didn't jump from straining. There weren't as many people this time. It wasn't super easy but it was definitely easier then the first time. But I still had the problem of where do I get off the bike path? Toward the end I did stop frequently to look at the map. Every bridge; Here? No, the next one. Here? No, the next one. Here? Finally I went farther then planned and decided it was good. Technology being awesome as it is, I would send Hunny a message on Voxer, (a walkie talkie app) and it would give him my location and he directed me. As soon as I popped up from the bike path I knew immediately where I was and took off, ignoring all the bings from Hunny wondering if I was good. I just wanted to go! I took off! It took me and hour and a half to bike the 11.1 miles! And I did it! Not only did I bike the 11 miles, but that is the LONGEST I have EVER worked out. I think. I might have hiked longer but DANG! It felt like forever! I don't see how people run marathons. I really don't. It's probably more mental training then physical.

But anyway! I did it! I felt awesome! I think heavenly Father had made my first trip so hard that any time after would be so much easier. That I would be more willing to do it. Isn't it funny how He answers prayers. I love Him. And I know that He loves me. :)

Now I just have to go to K-16 sometime and bike home....

Moving Plate

So every year there is a little festival that goes on right down our street. It is called Global Village. It is apparently where different countries are represented and there are shows and things to do and see. I don't really know because we have never been before. The morning of the festival was a 5k Fun Run on base. Yongsan does one every month. We hadn't been in a while and had more or less been training for one so we went. There were lots of people and we saw many of our friends there. Hunny ran with me and my slow pace put us right behind a little girl we know. Turns out it was really a win win scenario. We totally pushed each other. I told myself if she could do it, I could do it; and we found out afterwards that if it weren't for us, she wouldn't have made her goal time. :) That's us, helping little girls everywhere.

So after the race, and getting our hand out of caramel popcorn (right!), we thought we would check out this Global Village nonsense. The schedule said the parade was at 3pm. Yikes, Hunny had to be at a meeting at 3, so we just looked around at what was already set up. Mostly just little booths of different countries and most of the booths were food, and...funny enough, manned by Koreans. We were seriously considering trying some of the foods offered, especially a Turkish kebab, as they are my favorite.

The last set of booths was a massive spot for Korean food, and that's where we saw it. We had heard about it before. People joke about it, but we saw it first hand. Eyes only though; that is not the type of thing I ever wish to try. There is was, the moving plate. I don't mean the plate was moving, I mean what was ON her plate was STILL moving! We were shocked. "She's not really going to eat that?" we thought. It was octopus legs, pretty sure. I don't think they were alive, I think they were just SO fresh that they had just been cut off and the nerves were spazing. Or maybe I am just trying to rationalize it in my brain. Hunny doesn't think they were octopus legs. We should have taken a video but we were so in awe that we could do no more then stare. It was worse than car wreck rubber necking. No, we stopped walking, faced her and watched, waiting to see if she was really going to eat it. Eventually she did manage to keep one on her chopsticks... and then ATE IT!!! GAH!!! We practically Ran away! after that. Yeah, we didn't get any food after that.

We did however stay and watch some traditional dancing and an awesome Taekwondo performance. Try, blinded apple kicking! Home-dog was blinded, choreograph fought, then ran to someone holding an apple out and kicked it out of his hand! After all the board kicking and chopping and breaking there were a few bloody feet. I was impressed. Plus, they yelled ALL the time. It was like their source of power. They yelled before they did anything, even tying their belts on. It was great.

We left soon after and heard later that the little bit we saw was pretty much all there was to see. And that the streets were packed full during the actual times of the festival.

Firework Festival 2013

Every year there is the firework festival where four countries come to Seoul and offer spectacular firework displays. This is our third year attending. The first year was practically happenstance, at least it felt like that for me. We were walking around that evening with some friends when we heard them going off so we hopped up on a pillar and watched from above everyone else. Last year, some members from church invited us to their home where they were going to have food and a party sense their window looked out at the river from a ways up. Both were nice in their different ways. Since this was our last year we wanted to see it close up. Yeah, I said it, our last year. It is starting to be that feeling where you think, "Oh, this is the last time we will ___"

So this year we decided to go along the river close to where they shoot them off. It was a good two hours, maybe, before the show started and there were people already picnicking a ways from the center of the action. Then along the river it just got more and more crammed. I do not do well with Korean crowds. I cannot stand their rudeness...rude to me anyway. They were taking up almost the entire pathway! There was just enough room for one lane of walkers. That may have been fine except that there were TWO lanes of pedestrians going opposite directions...not to mention bikers. We found a spot on and a hill and had the launching pad in front of us. We settled in and waited, and munched on our Korean treats. A lone old man offered Hunny five circles of these rice disc things. I don't know really how to explain them. I have seen them all over but have never had one before. They are very light and thin. Airy but flat. I bit in and was cracking up the whole time! They were delicious and so fun. They would stick to my lips and I was flapping them at Hunny while he is trying to explain something about work or something semi serious. All I could think about was getting my hands on some more and what all I could do with them! Oh the dips and spreads they needed, these rice discs!

And the Korean chocolate milk in those little white cartons, GET ONE! They are the BEST chocolate milk I have EVER had! I might just have to walk down to the GS25 and grab one right now....

Eventually the show started. Canada was first. Hunny was worried it would be really loud since we were so close but it didn't bother me until there was a stint of one MASSIVE one right after the other. Guys, this is no 4th of July Firework Show. The tourist site says, "the Seoul International Fireworks Festival is an annual event of extravagant firework displays by firework masters from home and abroad."

After Canada was Japan. And talk about stellar! O.O Wow! I mean they were FANTASTIC! They had a theme I felt. It seemed like it started with It's Not What It Looks Like. There were some that would start off looking like a regular firework but they would either change color or direction halfway through. It went with the music and was beautiful. Not just throwing up whatever looks cool. Then my favorite were these floating spirit looking lights. After the explosion, a light seemed to float like a fairy or spirit, think Japanese. Hunny pointed out they had little parachutes that held them up longer. Man, their whole show was just astounding.

France was next and their show was okay. They had some typical French music and pretty straight forward fireworks. Korea's, I have to say was pretty disappointing. About half of their show was on a small barge or something just off to the side from us that if you were in a building or on the other side of the river, there would have been long breaks between the fireworks. Meh... it was okay. We all just waited around for the bridge to light up like last year. :) And then everyone gasps like it was new or unexpected. ◔_◔

If we thought getting there was hard, getting out was a nightmare. We ended up climbing straight up the hill to the road where a few lanes were closed off and there were a few parked cars...some empty. We walked and waited for the bus, of which we may have been able to out run. We fell asleep on it and an hour later we still had a long ways to go. We figured, maybe we could try the subway now that we are far enough out of the area. But we picked a station where the train only ran every 15 min and we missed one car because there wasn't enough room. But just across the street was main post. Hey, we could take a taxi :) So we walked on base a ways and called a cab. Finally one shows and we slowly make our way home . Four modes of transportation, if you count walking, and about three hours later we get home. I passed out upon walking in the door.

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