Last night around 11:30pm I arrived at my home once again after a trip to the south of South Korea. This time the trip was for Business as well as pleasure. We went to Handong Global University and shared about ILF and invited students to participate and volunteer with us!

Along the way we had time for sight seeing and enjoyed a trip to Ulsan where we meet Minji's parents, enjoyed a bamboo forest, fields of flowers and an incredible meal of Sushi or Sushi mi. I was glad to find I enjoyed some of the combo's that the waitress put together for me. I have to admit some flavors were a bit too much for me and I didn't go for a second round but all together I was glad to have the experience!! I also found the chefs and everyone at the restaurant to be very kind and more pleasant than usual which made for a nice experience.

Our first night of the trip we stayed at a Korean Military Hotel reserved for Military members and family. It was empty while we were staying their, except for us of course and we enjoyed a nice view over, nice rooms and a great breakfast. After breakfast we walked along the shore and enjoyed the cool of the morning.

First Camp Out of the Summer

I invited some friends over from church and we enjoyed talking, eating, setting up camp and sleeping under the trees! This camp out included a new friend from Hawaii, a Korean friend and a friend from Myanmar and her Cousin!



These pictures were mostly taken in the morning! I am happy to say, the hammock was a fairly good way to go, I really liked it but next time will bring an extra blanket or two if it gets cold!

Next time, we may also try to go a little farther from home and hopefully avoid all the roosters and other morning noises!!

SamIL Sports Day

This event was really quite spectacular, I was especially impressed by the dance teams and their very involved routines. After I participated in a surprise relay race, volley ball was my main event. Now I say a surprise relay because it was not until a few minutes before the race that I knew about it. Thankfully I held my own, but sadly another racer bumped into our third runner and they both went down. Nobody was hurt but it was kinda a let down.

When volleyball get going, things got a little more interesting :) It was ultimately fun to play and be on a team again. It made everything that much better when we won all our games and came away with the victory! It turned out that girls volleyball was the only game/sport that our Camp(Team) won. That is a little sad, but at least we won something.

And yes, I was wearing a skort and ran in that!! not my ideal.




The Games were many and widely varied!!

Ya, I am serving over hand.

Our team and coaches :)

Our Team Flag

Maemueal do Trip :)

This was my first vacation that didn't involve family! That mostly meant, I missed my family but also realized things like this cost money! All in all i had a great time with my friend Grace and after all was said and done was glad to have spend my time as I did and fully enjoyed the beauty and the refreshing atmosphere of our island.

Our room was perfect, our food was good and all self made, our timing couldn't have been better and at every turn we saw Gods grace and his guidance.

Our little vacation was toped off by a perfectly timed bus trip back to Seoul in order for me to play volleyball on our church team. We won both our games and that means june 6th we play in Jamsil Olympic stadium for our church's big "Sports Day" event :)

I don't have any pictures of the games but lots of everything else!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water Skiing on the Han Gang

This outing was fairly off my radar and didn't really expect to be going water skiing until they gave me a my gear and we were off!!! The main plan or so I thought was to check out a section of the river for a canoe program. We did end up canoeing around and I was able to bring both my students up to speed on the art of stearing. After many circles and laughs we were able to go in a straight line.

When we arrived at the dock, it was just employees and one club member hanging around the stove area inside the office/practice area. As we walked up the wind was whipping through the valley and the waves were small but very much in existence and larger than I would like to skii over. I soon learned through translation that the wind just picked up before we arrived and was likely to soon die down, I was not so sure...

In the end they were right and after about 20 minutes the water was calm and the sun almost shinning. Yet it was still cold and the water looked even colder to add to the interest of the whole affaire I was not given any instruction, because I have done it before and was deemed fit for the line as soon as it was my turn!

It was good to watch my companions have a go at it first, I was able to remember the challenges and techniques I had used in the past to have a successful go on the ski's. When my turn did come I was nervous to be sure but found courage and was soon in the water and shocked at just how cold it really was.

The good news is I got going no problem and only face planted once when I tried to maneuver back into the wake zone and my ski edge hit the wave causing me to lose balance and find myself face first in the water. That was when the cold really hit. After I communicated how cold I was, had my ski's back on and the driver/instructor was on a course for the dock we launched off once more and this time the cold seemed to go right through me but thankfully adrenaline was also kicking in and I was yet able to enjoy the flying sensation and the pleasure that comes with a good water ski.

Back at the dock I was cold and shaky but happy to be their and grateful for the experience!

Gardening

This spring has been spotted with farming and gardening :) Part of my job is as a director for a twice a month Nature School and in between our saturday meetings we have been working to prepare the land and plant our own ILF Garden! As part of the Nature School each student has their own garden so we have been planing all sorts of vegetables and such! We are always in suspense when we go to check on the land. Neither myself or my partner Daeboum have had much first hand experience with this much planting. We are currently mystified over the sweet potato process and how it seems to be working! I am looking forward to watching our peanut plants grow and all the rest looks very promising. I have also had my hand at some beautifying gardening around our office. I am even more surprised and excited about my success on that front. Our flower beds are thriving and all sorts of plants that I have been taking care of and that appeared to be near death are quite happy!! I was especially happy to see our office orchids begin to bud again and now it looks as though we will have a number of new flowers to grace us with their presence