We made it to Spring..... again

After an interminable Winter, Spring has once again arrived in South Korea, and it is SO worth the wait!!!  This is my favourite time of year, by a long way, partly because we are tired of the cold, but also because this place is so pretty at this time of year.  It isn't hot and humid yet, so that's a bonus.

Here are some of the pretty places around where we live:

This path runs just below our apartment building, along the creek.

Our creek.

Koreans love statues, and this is a particularly cute one - note the doves on top of the tree.

That's me giving a 'cute' Korean look for the photo!

Along the creek near our home.

The gardens and playground in our apartment complex.

That's our building in the background.

Right near our bus stop.

Grandpa Reinke

We said farewell to Russell's Dad last month - a wonderful, kind, gentle person, who was always thankful for his life, his family and friends and the experiences he had.  He passed away at the age of 91 on April 12.  The whole of his family, as well as many friends, gathered to say goodbye and celebrate his life. We are grateful that we have known and been influenced by such an amazing man.

It was very special for us to have our family with us - Russell, Alice and I flew back to Australia, and Hayden, Mitch and Peta-Erin come up to Maleny (just north of Brisbane) to join us for a few days.  We really love these guys and it has been a long time since we have all been together, so that made it all the more special.

Hong Kong in March

Spring brought with it the promise of warmer temperatures.  Now that we are into April, the temperatures are warmer, but not quite at the level we are looking forward to in the next few weeks.....

We decided that we needed to head somewhere where we were guaranteed some higher temperatures, so in the first few days of Alice's Spring break from school, off we went to Hong Kong.  Russ met us there from The Philippines, and we had 5 days relaxing and exploring.

The thing that stood out to me was that Hong Kong is not just wall-to-wall buildings and people (although, there are a LOT of buildings and people).  There are plenty of green areas and the scenery is magnificent in it's contrasts.  It is a beautiful place and somewhere I'd love to go back to.

We stayed out of the city, in the New Territories, with about a 30 minute bus ride into the city.  This meant that it was quiet (we could sleep with the windows open at night, with little noise!), and the bus trip was a great way to see more of Hong Kong.

The city is amazing - very modern and well-kept, beautiful contrasts of buildings, mountains and water.  We loved the harbour! You could get lost exploring for days and days..... what fun!!

Here's a few photos of our trip:

A mix of old and modern buildings, and LOTS of shops - from high end brand shops to cheap markets!!

Despite the weather being hazy, the harbour was lovely!

Looking towards Hong Kong Island from Kowloon (on the mainland).

Alice with a friend.....

Another one on the harbour.  This Chinese junk just goes up and down the harbour, presumably paid for by the city for tourists to have photo ops!!!

Don't think I really need to say anything here.....

Russ and Leanne waiting for a bus (of course, we always wait for buses just like this...)

On our way into the city....

Russell was very excited about his coffee shop!!!

At Hong Kong Park

Part of the skyline at night - very pretty!!!

An interesting shop - not sure what they are selling...

After much searching, we finally found the shop that sells dragon bait!!!!  Phew!!!!

The entrance to the Temple Street Market - a fun little market that was worth seeing!!

The beach near where we stayed - not quite an Australian style beach, very very pleasant.

Me being creative....

The little 'house' where the lifeguard sits while watching the swimmers.  There was one of these every 100 metres or so....

We shared this 'treat' on our last day - it's an egg made out of white chocolate, filled with cake, vanilla custard and cream, with a mango 'yolk'!!!  Very yummy - almost 100% sugar and fat!!!

Sammi

At the beginning of March, our lovely little Maltese dog, Sammi, died.  She was the most wonderful little thing, with a fun-loving, bright personality, and we enjoyed many years with her in our family.

When we moved to Korea, Sammi was adopted by the Frost family - Julie, Bill, Alisha and Nicola, and was loved equally by these wonderful people.

She had a great life, and gave us all many happy moments.

A New Year begins....

Twelve months have come and gone, and we are finding our feet in South Korea.  It has been a year full of adventures:

Russ has completed a year of work.  It has been fascinating for him to see the contrast between his old workplace and new.  The are many more people working on rice research here than at Yanco (there's a surprise.... not!) and more resources directed towards research here.  He has had lots of fun (and many challenges) with the language differences, but with the help of his lovely office manager, Sunny, and his scientific colleague, Dr Kim, he is able to communicate. He has enjoyed seeing the full cycle of research with the rice here, and the next year will bring a few experiences that aren't new to him. He has also visited some interesting countries (Vietnam, Turkey, The Philippines, Japan) and met some very interesting people.

 

Alice finally finished Year 10..... after 18 months (12 in Australia, 6 in Korea!!). She is now half way through Grade 11, and has done a remarkable job settling into her new life - making friends, working hard at school, having a little look around Korea.... she misses her friends in Australia, but has found a whole new group of friends here.  She has had some great experiences playing sport and meeting people from other international schools, and has had a trip to Jeju Island for a theatre camp.  This month she will visit Japan with the school basketball team.  The best thing is that she is building relationships and growing in maturity and tolerance.

I have had a lovely year.  The first few months were a great adventure in  having coffee and exploring, along the way making some great friends.  I have had some work at Alice's school, relieving for the Elementary ESL teacher's position while she was on Maternity Leave.  This was a wonderful experience, and a great opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.  I will continue to do some substitute teaching in the next few months, and also look forward to spending more time with Pam, Paula, Leanne, Heather, Kelly and others....

We have had many visitors over the past year: Brett and Bronwyn in April, Cathy Dando in May (for 1 night..... hopefully they'll be back), Christine Ford in early September, and Rob and Catharina later in September. 

     

A highlight was Nicola Frost (one of Alice's extra special friends from Leeton) coming for 2 weeks in late September/ early October.  Mitch was here in November, and it was great for him to see where we live, and for us to see him too.

In between we have spent some wonderful times with the Gobius family, great friends from Leeton who now live in Daejeon (just 2 hours to the south of us)!! It has felt like we have family right here in Korea.

We are making friends and building relationships as we acclimatise to living in our new country.  The Freeman family have been great companions on our journey, and have become fast friends (Bob is missing from the photo). 

Korean language is slow, and we are having a break until February.  I have moments when I feel like I'm getting somewhere with the language, and many more times when I despair at my inability to remember the simplest words or phrases....  at the very least it is a lot of fun, and our class and teacher are wonderful to spend time with (I fear that they will have progressed far beyond us by the time we return, and so we may be in a new class....).

Our Korean class on a recent trip to a 찜질방 (Korean Sauna/Bath house)
 - those are little towels on our heads, with the ends rolled.

Our year finished with a visit to Australia - great to see both our families and to have a few days at the end at Kiama (NSW south coast). We celebrated Mitch's 21st in style in Canberra.

The climate here in South Korea is the most extreme for its latitude of any country in the world - we have experienced this first hand, and it's quite amazing!!!  HOT and humid in Summer, COLD and dry in Winter, the most beautiful Spring and Autumn (only a bit too short for my liking).

September 2012

September 2012

January 2013

               

January 2013

And now, to start our year perfectly, Hayden is visiting for 2 weeks on his way home to Australia.  He has had an amazing 12 months in Sweden, and is now looking forward to his new adventure - University in Canberra.  It has been just wonderful listening to the piano and guitar, and Russ and Alice have enjoyed a few 'jams' with him since he has been here...