Fond Memories

Both Lauren and I were saddened that we were unable to attend the memorial service for Grandpa Haws recently. The sharing of stories and great memories is such a wonderful practice. In the spirit of that…

I believe everyone at one point or another wonders about their ancestry. What kind of people were they, what does the family tree look like, what citizenship have my ancestors held? Around the age of twelve I became keenly interested.

In a quest to discover my racial, national, and ethnic background, I began to ask family members. I received some pretty clear answers from the maternal side but my dad was fairly clueless. He suggested I shoot Grandpa an email and ask him.

Easy enough…being fairly certain of the vocabulary I wanted to use and how to phrase the questions, I sent an email anxiously awaiting reply (my true identity couldn’t wait!).

The next day my dad beckoned to me for a chat. My Grandpa, the loving man he was, wasn’t sure how to respond to my email, so he contacted my dad instead.

The following is a loosely interpreted message from my Grandpa to my Dad:

“Christopher sent me an email yesterday, saying you told him to contact me. I’m not really sure how to answer him. He said he was doing some research regarding whom he was and where he came from. I think you should have a chat with him. He asked what gender I was in order to determine his.”

I may not ever escape the teasing because of a simple word mix-up (Gender vs. Genealogy), but I will never forget the joy it brings to everybody else. Thanks for the laughs Grandpa, your reaction was priceless.

Thankful Thursday

Today we are thankful for...

• eating in
• Tide Shout Wipes
• a Saturday to do what we want
• the last day of intensives!
• sunshine (even if it's still cold)

Thankful Thursday

We are thankful for...

endless hours of child impersonations
dreams
flexible schedules (for the most part)
international relief
Grandpa Haws' Memorial Slideshow

Official Extension

South Korea is an amazing place. We have recently officially decided to extend our stay and renew our contract with BIS. Being here has taught us so much and showed us so many things, but we still have so much to do, learn, teach, and see.

We moved out here with a one year contract starting March 1st, 2009, and so we will renew our one year contract on the same day for another full year. We prayed heavily on the decision and God graciously spoke to us the same day and told us what we needed to do.

It was a challenging decision because of how much we miss everyone back home in the States. It is hard (especially during the holidays) to be away from so many people we love so much.

The GOOD news is that for those of you didn't get a chance to experience South Korea first hand, you will have personal tour guides available to you for another full year!! So we fully expect to see many of you in the Eastern Hemisphere in 2010 :)

Thankful Thursday

We are thankful for new friends.
We are thankful for old friends.
We are thankful for the weekends.
We are thankful for new students.
We are thankful for old students.

Fish!

Sorry about the lack of activity on the blog recently. With the holidays, guests, friends, excessive teachering (teaching/planning), and a plethora of new reading material we have unfortunately not updated as often.

Our friend 종한 (Jonghan, English name Peter) took Lauren, Kasey, Laurel, and I to the 노량진수산시장 (Noryangjin Fish Market). There we picked out a few fish for our meal that night.

Peter spotted a red snapper (적도미) and a flounder(가자미) that would do the trick. The man and woman who were running the shop were extremely friendly and threw in two octopus for "service"!! We had heard about eating live octopus before and were a bit fearful after watching this intense scene in the incredible Korean film, Old Boy.

The octopus was about that same size...
...however we didn't consume it like Dae-su. The owner of the station nicely prepared the flounder and red snapper into a nice spread for us.

We took the 2 octopus (still live, in a plastic bag) and the plate of fish to a nearby restaurant. The restaurant staff promptly chopped up the octopus into small bites for us. The chopping of the octopus did not make the octopus cease to move. They continued to wiggle, wriggle, and suction to the plate and anything else they touched...including the inside of Lauren's cheek, haha!

The food was delicious and we look forward to returning.

Thankful Thursday

This past week Chris and I have had so much to be thankful for...

• We have friends in town visiting from home!
• We find peace knowing that our family is together in Arizona, remembering the life of GP Haws.
• We have eaten a ton of delicious Korean food, including "live" octopus!
• We had a snow day! The heaviest snowfall in Seoul in 70 years.
• The first week of intensives is nearly over!

Thailand NY

Lauren and I spent the past week in Thailand (Bangkok & Koh Chang) with some good friends of ours, Kasey & Laurel. It was a pretty fantastic trip, to say the least.


We arrived in Bangkok on Monday afternoon to meet up with Kasey and Laurel who arrived very early that morning. We went out that night to Khaosan Road in the Banglamphu area.

The next morning we left Bangkok and headed toward Koh Chang Island. It took a bit of transportation to get there. 1)taxi to the bus station 2)bus from the Bangkok bus station to the bus station near the port 3)taxi from the bus station to the port 4)Ferry from the mainland to the island 5)taxi from the port to the resort.

These coordinates were during our bus ride: N 12° 22.311' E 102° 23.256'

Waiting for the Ferry: N 12° 11.236' E 102° 18.070'


The taxi rides around the island and near the port on the mainland were pretty wild. They were basically small trucks with benches in the bed and open on the back.


Arriving at the island: 12° 8'28.59"N 102°16'51.36"E


The resort we stayed at was very nice and the scenery was breathtaking.





These shots are taken from the patio where we ate our meals: 12° 3'19.45"N 102°17'38.71"E





From our resort we could take a small motorized gondola to the nearby beach: N 12° 03.517' E 102° 17.402'






We also ventured our way down the west coast to check out a local herbal spa and another beach. During part of our walk an enormous grasshopper was battling Lauren for my attention:


The other beautiful beach we visited: N 11° 59.272' E 102° 17.879'






After too many UV rays the herbal spa provided quite a treatment...


For New Years our resort hosted a Gala dinner which turned out to be fantastic.
The fire spinners:





A couple of other creatures we captured along with the clam:
A stick bug roaming around The Swiss Family Robinson style resort


We also spotted this spider outside our deck. From leg tip to leg tip it spanned about 6 inches.


All in all we had a fantastic, relaxing vacation in beautiful Thailand. We would definitely recommend it as a travel destination.