황사! Hwangsa!

We've been a bit lagging on the blog as of late, but with good reason...

Hwangsa, or yellow dust, is the pollution devil that comes from China. Feel free to read about it here. Well, we have been affected this year (we were last year as well...in retrospect we realize this) and have succumb to this...

Fall, don't go...

Fall is by far my favorite season and I have always thought it to be too short. It seems as if the trees change colors right before our eyes and a switch is flipped that makes the air instantly crisper, and then, before you know it, the trees are barren and the air is biting. There are countless reasons I adore autumn, a few being the color orange, scarves, afternoon coffee runs, the sound of crunching leaves, boots, crisp morning walks, decievingly warm sun, the color red, cider, open windows, morning coffee with cinnamon, anything pumpkin, fresh air, light breezes, did I mention harvest blend?

Because we're from the wonderful state of Colorado, you think we'd be used to cold winters. Not the case at all, cold springs, yes, but not cold winters. We are not happily awaiting the winter solstice in Seoul, however we won't mind it as much seeing as we will not have to drive to and from work in snow traffic and the floors in our apartment are heated!

I know our fallish days are numbered so here are some autumn pictures that keep my spirits up...

Fall is here!

The weather is finally cooling down here in Seoul. Christopher and I made it through the practically unbearable humidity of monsoon season and are beginning to enjoy the delightful days of early fall. The summer weather was hard on us; our bodies never quite adjusted to the moist weather. Coming from the dry heat of Colorado and Arizona, humidity was not in our vocabulary and we liked it that way. Although we often found ourselves frustrated with the constant moisture, we made some adjustments and all was well. We are wondering if our disdain for humidity will influence future endeavors, we like to hope not but maybe it will.

Lantern Festival

April 25th marked the beginning of the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. The lantern festival takes place to celebrate Buddha's Birthday (Seoul: Birthday in 2009 takes place May 2nd). The festival lasts for a week and you can find the lanterns strung throughout various parks in Seoul.

Lauren and I are not buddhist, however this has special meaning for the both of us.

Freshman year of college at ASU was quite an adventure for Lauren and I. I was so head over heals in love with my future wife I actually went to classes I was not enrolled in to sit and listen to lectures I would not be tested on. A freshman in college, the world at your fingertips, and you are in a class that will have zero impact on your future. Love is the only word that can explain such bizarre action from a 19 year old, "I know everything there is to know", novice college student.

The class I attended voluntarily was World Religions. The instructor was a small (no taller than 5'1) white-haired, vibrant professor. She embraced her lectures like a convicted pastor of a Southern Baptist Church.

The middle of the semester brought Buddhism to the table. Like any typical Wednesday afternoon, you could find me in Neeb Hall (ASU alum you know what I'm talking about), oogling over my wife-to-be while trying to block out the lecture. This particular day though I was drawn to her words. As Lauren took notes and I listened attentively, the professor was building up to an enormous climax. She had been going on and on about Buddha and the world for some time now, when she slowly peered across the full 300 seat auditorium and proclaimed for everyone to know "SO, the thing is...Everybody in here, is... BUDDHA!". At that point I turned to my beautiful girlfriend. With loving eyes, I exclaimed "OH! Hello Buddha!"

From this moment we have lovingly used the pet name - Buddha. Our closest friends know this to be true. It is a name we use more often than our given names.

So, in honor of this loving nickname, we attended the opening of the Lotus Lantern Festival (Buddha's Birthday).

A Walk in the Park

We think Spring may have finally arrived in Korea! Chris and I were able to spend a very relaxing Sunday afternoon at Olympic Park this past weekend. Apparently, this was the plan for thousands of other Seoul residents because the park was packed. People watching has become one of our favorite activites since we've been here and Olympic Park was the prime spot to get our watch on. Although we saw many very interesting people, our favorite was a very tortured Cocker Spaniel. I can honestly say that every dog I have seen in Korea to date has been wearing clothes. This poor dog not only wore a hoodie, but also a diaper, and elfin shoes. It was obvious the poor thing hated his life. This is the best picture we got.


After walking several different paths, we decided to take our watching to a bench and relax our feet. We bought some delicious corn dogs and found the perfect bench to soak up some much needed sun. Within ten minutes of sitting down, we got a lovely surprise. Out of all of the millions of people in Seoul we never expected to see anyone we knew at the park, and who decided to stop literally right in front of our bench? Sophia, from Jupiter class! I couldn't believe my eyes! I jabbed Chris in the side and told him it was Sophia and of course he said "oh no it's not, it's just someone who looks like Sophia". Now I was pretty positive that it was Sophia because I have labeled her as "my favorite student". She is the cutest little kindy who has such a boisterous personality; the last time I had seen her she had her arms wrapped around me and was giving my belly a million kisses saying "I love you, I love you". I said her name and nothing happened, I said it again and still nothing. Finally, I got her attention (they were only ten feet away) and she looked up, right at me, direct eye-contact. There was nothing, her face didn't change at all. She just stared at me expressionless. So of course, I was completely embarrased and realized that Chris was once again right. Then her mother in broken English said that her name is Sophia, ah ha! I was right! But still no reaction from Sophia. Chris and I quickly got up and introduced ourselves to her parents as Mr. and Mrs. Haws from BIS. They obviously knew who were and seemed so happy to meet us. We got down to Sophia's level and tried everything we could to get her to say something to us. Nothing. Fail. She didn't make a peep (even in Korean). We had a short conversation with Mom and Dad through 8-year-old sister, Julia (she spoke beautiful English) and then parted our ways. Chris and I were so bummed Sophia didn't talk to us, we were also embarrased and didn't want her parents to think they were wasting their money on English school when she doesn't even speak any. A few minutes later Sophia and Julia came running up to our bench - redemption! I knew Sophia was obviously running back to tell me how much she loved me. Wrong again, they each gave us a bottle of grape juice, which was incredibly sweet, but still no words from Sophia. Her parents came back and asked for our picture and of course we got one too. Still no words from Sophia, we barely got a smile from her. Fortunately, we did get a wave goodbye.


I went straight into Jupiter on Monday morning to talk to that girl. As soon as I walked in the door, Sophia, along with all of the other children, ran up to me. With her arms wrapped around me, Sophia began to kiss my belly like usual. She was so excited to see me that she practically knocked Nicky, the smallest of the bunch, over while he was attempting to reach up and kiss my lips (what's up with all the kissing in this country?). Well, Sophia was definitely not quiet this time. She quickly rambeled off something in Korean to the other children. They all started laughing and jumping and saying "Teacher, you see Sophia at park!". Sophia then said, "I'm so happy" - aw, she speaks! I guess this teaches me to not be so shocked when I see a child outside the classroom and they don't speak to me. The idea of us teachers being anywhere other than at their school is just too much for their precious, little brains.