A lot has been happening here in the past month. Russell had a week in Vietnam in March, and at the same time Alice had a week off for Spring Break. He is involved in a project there on the Mekong Delta, and enjoyed going from quite cold weather here to warm weather there......
Alice and I had a very quiet week here at home, venturing out to the movies, shopping and wandering, but generally just relaxing.
Bronwyn and Brett arrived on Wednesday 28th of March for 10 days of fun and frivolity!!! We visited the Korean Folk Village, Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, Seoul, the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), Quilt shops and museums, markets and restaurants. Bron and Brett went down to Busan for a couple of nights and met us back in Seoul for a comedy percussion show - very Korean and a lot of fun!!! Easter isn't celebrated here, but thanks to Nan and Bron we had some fluffy chickens and chocolate rabbits and eggs. Work and school continued as normal for Russ and Alice, and on Sunday we joined some friends to an English-speaking church service.
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| At Incheon Airport, with the sign we made to greet Bron and Brett |
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| Alice with the new quilt Aunty Bron made and delivered! |
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| Checking out our first coffee shop. |
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| Brett explaining to me how to 'build a bridge'..... |
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| Mr Toilet House - yep, you read that correctly! |
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| At Insadong in Seoul - these guys sing while they cook. |
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| Bron made time for a survey....... |
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| Typical Korean restaurant meal. |
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| At the Korean folk Village - a well-kept, interesting look at Korea in days gone by. |
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| A traditional Korean wedding - we wondered if this one was a real wedding... |
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| Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon |
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| Brett having a cuppa with his new best friend.... |
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| Bronwyn's birthday - lots of fun! |
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| The Happy Quilt - you wouldn't believe how much money we saved.... |
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| At the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ - that's 'Zee', not 'Zed'). |
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| Right on the border of South and North Korea - the building in the background is in North Korea, and had a guard there watching us all the time (with binoculars!). And we had 4 guards near the blue buildings (and 2 more behind us) as protection - they were VERY strict about what we could and couldn't do. This is a very interesting and sobering experience. One of the ladies on the bus tour with us was born and schooled in Pyongyang, escaped with her father (leaving her mother and sister behind) and has lived for many years in the US - she told me that she just feels such a great sadness for North Korea. A very brave thing for her to go to the DMZ. |
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| The train station at Dorasan - not used much and only by trains coming from South Korea, but it's ready to go when North Korea are ready. One day, the plan is to join Korea up with Europe by train. |
So.... Brett and Bronwyn have moved on to the US, and we are back to normal..... well, Russ is having a few days in Australia with his Mum and Dad and Alice and I are enjoying the slightly warmer temperatures here. It's wonderful seeing the buds on trees and blossom starting to come out! The grass is even starting to green up.
