ZooZoo

Our school took a field trip to a small zoo / petting zoo (appropriately named ZooZoo) nearby. Although the zoo itself was a little sad, it was great to watch the children's reactions and interactions with the animals.

Buddha's Birthday

May 2nd was Buddha's Birthday, so in thanks of our three day weekend we visited Jogyesa Temple in Seoul.


A 500 year old white pine.


Many of the streets, parks and temples around downtown Seoul with strewn with lanterns, all leading to Jogyesa. Cheonggyecheon river was particularly pretty then.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Built in 1395, Gyeongbokgung is the largest palace in Seoul and served as the main seat of government until late into the 19th century. This was the first place we took my parents to.

Mom and Dad Visit Korea!

In early May I was lucky to have my parents come visit. We spent the weekends relaxing around our city (Goyang) and spent the week sightseeing. We saw some new sights, showed my parents our favorite spots, and had a wonderful week together.

Ka Brew BBQ

After being in Korea for six months we've been missing good beer, so on Saturday we toured what seems to be the only craft brewery in the country. Ka Brew sits up in the mountains, about an hour and a half North East of downtown Seoul. Due to Korean law, they are unable to distribute their beer so travelling to the brewery is the only way to get some, for now at least. While it might be the smallest brewery we've ever been to, the beer was good, and we enjoyed a a great day of all you can eat and drink American BBQ.

Yeouido Park

While technically an island on the Han, Yeouido sits in the Southwest corner of the Seoul, functioning as one of the main business and financial centers of the city. The park is known for its cherry blossoms, so we took our sushi from the fish market over and had a picnic in the park.

Noryangjin Fish Market

South of the river near Yeouido is the largest marine products market in Korea. With over 800 different booths from 15 ports across the country, the market fills a massive warehouse with almost any sea creature you could imagine.

Yongsan Park

Spring seems to have turned the corner, so we spent this past Sunday afternoon in Yongsan Park, enjoying the first Cherry Blossoms of the season.

Easter

On Easter we took a hike through Namsan Park up to Seoul Tower. It sits more or less at the center of the city, so the view is impressive, despite the usual Seoul smog.

Fire show

Some friends we ran into at the bar on Friday night convinced us to take a $30 taxi to a random town on the border of North Korea. Twenty minutes of driving through desolate Kimchi fields had us doubting our decision, but any second guessing ended with the promised "fire show" and subsequent late night that followed in Geumchon.

Kindy Easter

We colored eggs, made baskets and had an egg hunt at school on Friday for Easter. Eric snapped a few photos. Enjoy!


My homeroom class: Mercury Class.




She found a lot of eggs, which means a lot of chocolate.





Note the shoes on the wrong feet.

Yum.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It was a little difficult explaining this holiday to our students and co-workers but at least they have Guinness on tap in Korea.

Happy Birthday Eric!

Eric's birthday was this past Friday, the 12th. We had an easy day at school getting ready for Seollal and spent the night celebrating with some other English teachers at our favorite expat bars in Islan.

Seollal - Lunar New Year

The three day holiday of Seollal is one of the most important traditional Korean holidays. Typically, each family visits their grandparents in the country and honors their ancestors. We celebrated Seollal in kindergarten on Friday by having each student dress in the traditional hanbok and playing traditional Korean New Year games.







Because Korean's are required to give gifts to so many people, most opt for conveniently pre-wrapped gift packages. This was our favorite.