Nicola's visit May-June 2014 ~ trip to the east coast of Korea

Nicola made another trip to visit us in May/June, arriving just in time for Alice's graduation, and spending time exploring Seoul with Alice and her friends, and travelling with us to the east coast for a few days.

This is the second trip Nicola has made to South Korea, and it has been wonderful to welcome her each time!!

Our trip to Sokcho on the east coast included a visit to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) on the border of South and North Korea, a wonderful art gallery, and a LONG drive home....... it was a long weekend, so EVERYONE was travelling back to Seoul at the same time.

Here's some photos of our time there:

Alice Graduates!!! May 30, 2014

At last..... and 8 months after her friends in Australia, Alice has graduated from High School!!!

Leeton High School was a wonderful start in high school, and Korea International School (KIS) was an amazing experience to finish her secondary schooling.  She now has great friends in Australia and around the world!

Graduation day at KIS was worlds away from Leeton High School (LHS), which was much smaller, much more familiar and absolutely lovely!  KIS was still fun, just very different from our previous experiences.

All the graduating students wore gowns and graduation hats, walked in to music by one of the school bands, and lined up at the front of the ceremony area.... just like a university graduation ceremony. It was special because it was Alice's graduation, and she has made some wonderful friends here in Korea while she has completed her high school education.  We are grateful to her teachers, both in Australia and in Korea, for their commitment and care in helping Alice grow and learn.

Sara, Alice and Shea!

Nicola came to visit for the graduation and a
couple of weeks of fun with the girls!

Alice and her lovely friend, Jasmine!

Alice's very special friend, Cecilia, with Cecilia's parents and us.

Sara, Shea and Kathryn helped us celebrate after the
ceremony at our favourite Italian restaurant
(the owner is between Russ and Alice)

May 2014 - Our 26th Wedding Anniversary Adventure!

Leading up to Prom night for Alice, she suggested (strongly) that Russ and I might like to go away for our Wedding Anniversary - how sweet of her to think of us like that...... and she thought it would be good to have her friends over to stay after the Prom (while we were away!!).  As it happened, we DID go away for a night, left her the apartment, and had an adventure!!!!

My research lead me to discover a pension (like a B&B, but this one didn't have any of the 2nd B) over on the east coast of Korea, only about 2 hours away, that looked very CUTE!!!!  Of course, MANY things look extra good when you see them online. The website was entirely in Korean, but that didn't dissuade me, neither did the fact that once I had worked out how to book a room, the website wouldn't accept any of my cards (Korean or Australian!).... so off we went, without a booking, and (at best) a vague idea of where we were going.

As it happened, the website was accurate in its directions, to within a km or two (surely that's close enough....).Even our car navigator was a little confused....at one stage, after we had caught sight of the pension, the navigator thought we were following a well-established road.....to us, it looked like we were driving along a sand track next to the beach..... slowly so as not to run over any tents or small children!! We made it back on to bitumen road down the track a little, and located the pension..... found the ajumma who ran the place, and negotiated a room (in Korean.....no English for miles around!!).  DONE!!!

The bed was hard (normal in Korea), the bathroom was minimal (that's being generous....but there was a handbasin, a toilet and a shower nozzle, so it was basically all there!!), the underfloor heating was on (in May....well into Spring, and certainly short sleeve weather), and there was no coffee (again, standard in Korea).  What could possibly go wrong with our Anniversary adventure??

We found dinner, bought coffee, walked along the beach next to fireworks, and campfires inside the tents.....and headed to our home for the night.  We couldn't work the TV, couldn't turn the underfloor heating off (centrally-controlled, so we opened the window), and the shower didn't have a hot water option.......hehe.

After a fitful sleep, Russ was ready for his first coffee...necessity is the mother of invention, so a cereal bowl was equally as good as a mug for the first coffee of the day! We did find a coffee shop on the way home that day, so all is well.

A fun adventure!

At least there were rice fields just next door, so Russ was happy...
sort of.

All in all, I think the adventure was worth it, just to say we've been there!!!  ....not sure Russ agrees....

Working at Korea International School, Seoul campus - May/June

Pre-Kinder (PK) at Seoul campus, were the wonderful group of 3 and 4 year olds that I worked with for 6 weeks in May and June, while their teacher, Ms Anna, was on maternity leave.  This was an exhausting, but amazing time!!

Fun learning is the aim of the game with PK, with lots of times for snacks and play!!!  The children are full of life and energy, and love unconditionally.  I really wish I had photos of our earthquake drill!

With help from Grade 6 and our reading buddies from Grade 4, we talked about the Sewol ferry disaster, and joined the whole school in one minute silence and to tie yellow ribbons on the soccer field fence.  The children, from youngest to oldest, we very respectful, and the PK students, some of whom can't sit still for 5 seconds at times, we silent and still the whole time.

In Korea, following the disaster that claimed the lives of around 300 people (including almost an entire Grade 9 class of one school), the repercussions have been felt at all levels.  Schools have spent a lot of time talking to students and families, and overnight field trips/excursions are now almost non-existent across the country.  Parents want to keep their kids close.  I find myself, even now, coming close to tears thinking about it.

I loved working with the staff and students at the Seoul campus of KIS!!

Off to PROM - May 17

What can I say.....Alice and her friends looked absolutely gorgeous, and had a wonderful time!!!

April - the Nobles and the Western Sydney Wanderers come to town (...well, to Ulsan...)

Jenny and David Noble arrived for a week of fun and frivolity!!!

The 'family' sign made a reappearance!!

Their first meal in Korea was CRAZY - the chef (yes, that man
sitting far too close to Jenny is the chef....) was a little TOO
friendly..... but a great cook!

I love walking around Bukcheon Hanok village in Seoul -
beautiful old houses.

Found a cute Korean couple there.....

Sejong-daero - one of the most popular tourist
photo spots in Seoul!

Meeting the gorgeous girls - Cecilia and Alice - for
Korean BBQ.

The BEST pension I've found so far - in Gyeongju, near Ulsan
in the south-east of Korea.  CUTE is a word made for this place!

And the highlight of the week (!!!) - watching the
Western Sydney Wanderers win against the home team,
at Ulsan World Cup Stadium!  This was the
entire Australian cheer squad, and the loudest! Our kids saw
us live on TV in Australia, and kept texting us to tell us....

...and the team came over to thank us for our support at the end
of the game - how cool is that team!!!!

These photos are in front of our individual 'doll-houses' at Gyeongju - Jenny and David can form a lovely love-heart.....I'm just half a love-heart (Russell, where were you????).

On our way home, we visited one of my favourite national parks in Korea, Songnisan - the cherry blossoms were magnificent!!

Visiting the British Commonwealth War Memorials at Gapyeong

Well..... this was one of the most special days in our time in Korea....a time, admittedly, full of special days and moments.

On April 27 2014, a group of our Aussie, Kiwi and Canadian friends set off to find the British Commonwealth War Memorials at Gapyeong, north-east of Seoul, and around 2 1/2 hours drive from our home. These are the only war memorials that I have found in Korea, specifically for the British Commonwealth troops, apart from the memorials at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul, and at the memorials at the DMZ, both on the west and east coasts of Korea.

We visited 4 different memorials, all of which commemorate the troops who fought in the Battle of Kapyeong (K and G are often interchangeable when translating from Korean to English) in 1951:
 

The British Commonwealth Memorial in the middle of Gapyeong

This is all of us, behind a sign thanking the Commonwealth troops!

The Canadian Monument

The New Zealand Monument

 The Australian Monument 

This says "Australia Battle Monument"

These banners were everywhere, and specifically thanking each
country!

Picnic lunch right next to the NZ monument

The Australian and New Zealand monuments share
a beautiful little park.

This is one of the things I am very happy to say that I have done while living in Korea.  It cemented friendships whilst honouring our countrymen.