Buddha's Birthday

Last year for Buddha's birthday the boy and I flew to Thailand to receive our sak yants and stuff our faces with pad thai.  We decided to stay a more traditional (and financially safe) route this time around and rented a car with some great friends and explored Korea.  We drove a few hours outside of Pohang to Cheongju, located in the center of the country.  There lies the biggest golden statue of Buddha located within the country. 

Our Saturday started off a little dreary but soon turned to a summer-like state as we traded our rain jackets for shorts and tank tops.  We had a lot of time to kill after our visit in Cheongju and we ended up making our way down to the beautiful town of Gumi where we went on a little hike and took in more stunning temples. 

The mister leaves Korea in a few days and the weekend was such a nice way to end his two year love affair with the country.  We were able to drive around freely, take in the sites that we love so much, and hang out with some lovely people.  And here, ladies and gents, is our weekend in pictures...

Twas beautiful, no?  Every year around Buddha's birthday thousands of lanterns are hung around the temples.  They're adorned with prayers and good wishes.   I wish I could have gotten a few pictures of them at night.  Most of them are lit and it makes for a beautiful sight.  Makes me wish they kept them up all year round.

And don't worry guys, I've still got a week and half left here and with the boy (and cat) leaving before me, I'll have more than enough time to catch up on my blogging.  So I'll leave you with these two pictures until my next post.  They absolutely slay me.

Some things never change.

Our Sunday in Pictures.

Sunday was absolutely glorious.  It could have been a little warmer, but the sun was out in full force and we were able to get in a picnic and a soccer game at the beach.  We had delicious food, fun bicycles, and even better friends. 

I wanted to get pictures of the delish western food that we found hidden in the basement of a local department store but I shoved it all down my throat before my hands could get my camera out.  Maybe next time... since there will be a next time.

Oh and P.S.
Master Sim informed us this morning that we passed our 2nd degree black belt tests!  w00t w00t.

Our Weekend. In Pictures.

This weekend the boy and I headed to Seoul for our good friend Corey's birthday.  We indulged in Mexican and Thai food, yummy adult beverages, a wee bit of shopping, a picnic and some quality time at the zoo.  I'm exhausted and have hapkido in the morning so I'll probably post only a few pictures tonight and follow up over the next few days.  Hope everyone's weekend was just as special.

P.S.  The weather was beautiful!  I swear it was 70 degrees when we got back into Pohang this evening.  Nice weather makes for a very happy Captain and Clark!

A peek at our Saturday.

 

From our apartment we've always been able to see this mysterious pagoda at the top of a very steep hill (see: mountain).  After almost 2 years, we finally made it to the top.  The view did not disappoint. 

 

We really want to soak up as much of Korea as we can before we leave.  My current plan is to stuff my face with as much kimchi, samgyupsal, and galbi as humanely possible.  I also plan on crossing off all of the things that we've wanted to see since we've been here.  Finances permitting, we might even make our way to the annual sea parting festival.  Yes.  You heard that right.  Sea parting festival.  Not sure if Moses will be attending or not, but I'll have my camera ready just in case. 

Le Weekend.

Sorry it's been a few days.  We've been uber busy lately with friends leaving Korea, the boy changing schools, and Master Sim becoming a daddy.

YES!  Our beloved Hapkido Master is now a dad to the most beautiful baby girl that I've ever seen.  She was born on Thursday and we were able to watch videos that Master Sim took of her an hour after her birth.  She was so alert and following everything with her eyes.  She's going to be a smarty pants, that one.  They still haven't named her yet, but I'll be sure to post pictures along with her name as soon as we find out. 

We desperately wanted to help out Master Sim and his wife Eri any way we could.  We asked if they needed anything and his response was, "No.  It's okay.  Wait, we need baby panty.  No flowers.  Never.  But many, many baby panty".   Ah yes, diapers. 

The boy and I headed to E-mart and found ourselves in quite the predicament.   There were so many different kinds of diapers!  There weren't any sizes, but they were all in kgs.  As in, grab a diaper that matches your childs weight.  It's hard enough being an American and working in the metric system, but add Korean on top of that and you've got one confused couple. 

We were finally able to use my phone to translate 신생아.  It means "newborn".  I now understand why Master Sim wanted diapers so bad.  Those suckers are expensive.  I think we decided then and there that if we ever have kids, we'll definitely try cloth diapers. 

When we weren't on the hunt for newborn diapers, we were sending off another friend.  We went out with some friends last night to send off Landis Lee.  She actually arrived in Pohang a month after we did and she's been on more than a few adventures with us.  We're sad to see her go but she left us a bunch of goodies.  We inherited a lovely couch and a sheet ton of spices.  Ares and I even tested the couch out today with a little nappy nap.

And yes, I'm sleeping with my jacket on because it's still freezing in Korea. 

I believe that the remainder of our weekend will be spent making plans for our big expedition.  We won't know what countries we'll be visiting until we have the letters in hand, but there's still so much that we need to get worked out.  We also want to incorporate some form of volunteer work with every country that we visit.  Please feel free to offer any suggestions.  We'd love to hear any of your ideas!

And one more picture, just because we finally captured Ares rolling his eyes at us. 

Steppin' Out Sunday

Our weekend's been pretty relaxing.  We had originally planned to go up to Seoul for some New Years celebrations with our good friend Ryan Sheldon.  The bus schedule had other plans for us and we found ourselves stuck in good ol' Pohang.  I spent today hanging out with some a my favorite ladies.  We had coffee, ate lunch, did a fair amount of shopping, watched Harry Potter (again), and ended the day with some games at the arcade.  Here's what I wore...

cap: Style Lab

shirt: UGIZ

long tanktop: Style Lab

pants: Forever 21

boots: Some random shoe store in Korea

cat: found him in a pile of my clothes

We wanted to try out a new place for lunch and we decided that we had to go here.  If only because of the name.

And it wouldn't be the usual day out with the girls unless some shopping was involved.  Today we sought after warm hats since Korea is freeeezing.  Almost as cold as Kim Jong-Il's heart. 

Not a bad way to spend the weekend.  It was exactly what we needed as we haven't fully recovered from our whirlwind trip to the Philippines.  Now I'm going to kick back, relax, watch some CSI or NCIS reruns on the tele and prepare myself for another week with the kiddos.  Cheers!

Our Weekend in Pictures.

We had yet another amazing weekend.  We spent the majority of our weekend hanging out with our amazeballs Korean friends.  We've been so blessed to meet the Korean friends that we have.   They're all extraordinary.  Seriously.  For example, on Friday night we met up with a young Korean man that we happened to encounter at our favorite local hof, Fish and Grill.  His name is MJ and he's a 27 year old physicist.  A PHYSICIST.  Um, the man is quite literally brilliant and he speaks amazing English.  We went out to our favorite samgyupsal restaurant and then fittingly ended the night over soju cocktails at Fish and Grill. 

Saturday was spent eating and drinking with our Hapkido Master (Master Sim), his wife Eri, our good friend Sarah Willey, and Master Sim's hapkido buddy, Mister Park.  We went to three different restaurants and just ate and drank and drank and ate and drank.  That's pretty much what happens every time we go out with Master Sim. 

Delicious and spicy dokbokgi

Everyone needs "goog frinds"!

Sarah Willey is a black belt now!

Round 2: chokchok galbi

Congratulatory shot for passing her black belt test!

Eri has such tiny hands!

Round 3: Wrapped fish (a Pohang specialty) and galbi burger.

So yeah.  We end up drinking quite a bit when we go out with Master Sim.  You know... the whole, "don't refuse a shot from your superior" can get you pret-ty drunk when your superior loves his soju. 

Today (Sunday) was pretty low-key.  We headed down town to try a new Italian restaurant that we've walked by a few times.  Pohang has a ton of Italian restaurants.  It's a little ridiculous.  We lack any Mexican, Thai, or Indian restaurants which happen to be my favorites, but we have Italian coming out of our ears!  The place was good and relatively inexpensive.  I can foresee many a meals being had at Mary's Italian.

He's a looker.

It was deeeelicious. Yummy yummy nom nom nom.

And I quote, "Lead a life full of tears and regrets"

Not really sure what my drink glass was supposed to mean.  I'm not too sure that I want to live a life full of tears and regrets.  Actually, I'm positive that I don't want to live a life full of tears and regrets.  Where do they get that shiz? Seriously.

After lunch I did a little shopping for an orphanage in Gumi.  Gumi is about 3 hours away from Pohang and the mister and I were asked if we'd like to sponser a few children for their annual Christmas party.  Um, duh.  We jumped at the chance.  We were asked to buy Christmas presents for a girl (age 16) and a boy (age 11).  It was actually a lot harder than I thought.  I wanted so desperately to give them both something amazing but there was a limit on what we could spend on each child.  We grappled with the idea of going over, but we didn't want any of the other children to feel left out.  In the end, we only went over a little (come on, how could you not?) and I think they'll enjoy their little gifts of love. 

Someone thought all the gifts were for him.

And yes, we ended the day with some delicious and easy ramen.  Mmm tastes like college.  Hope everyone had a great weekend as well.  Oh, and get ready... the boy and I want to have a little "giveaway" sometime soon!

Cheers!