Time's a flying'

How is everyone doing? We are doing 1, 2, 3...excellent!!

We have been practicing for open house with our kids at school for 2 weeks now, and have another 2 weeks (until we leave) to practice the same thing every day. 1, 2, 3, excellent is something we say after every section of the open house, so many many times throughout a day. Besides the kids getting slightly bored and rowdy from doing the same thing for 3 hours a day, it has been fun. There is no stress from trying to get the kids to learn phonics… it’s just singing, dancing, and practicing a script.

Last weekend, we had a group of 7 foreigners going to Jirisan, a large mountain range about 4 hours from where we live. We left early Saturday and when we got there at 1pm, it was down pouring sideways. We sat around for awhile, waiting for it to let up. It didn't. Instead, it was classified typhoon weather. Since we were still in a beautiful area and there was chance of the next day being nice, we decided to get a minbeok for the night. Its just a large room that has blankets and pillows. They also had a restaurant there, and we were all hungry. We ate a long, relaxing late lunch, accompanied with beer, rice wine, and some really sweet grape wine. After that, we went for a short hike in the rain. Then we bought some cards, went up to our room and played card games for the rest of the evening until about 830p when we were hungry again. We walked down the stairs, intending to make some ramen on our stoves on the front porch, and 3 of our climbing group were standing there, like they were waiting for us. They decided they were going to night hike, get up to the mountain hut and surprise us in the morning...except that alarms for mudslides were going off when they arrived. They figured we were smart enough not to go, so they called all the hotel places around there and asked if 7 foreigners checked in...then they found us, and walked up to it just as we were coming down to cook. It was such a trip! They cooked us a huge meal and brought more drinks..

Then next day, we got up early and took a 2 hour drive to the other side of the mountain. The climbing guys had brought a large van that could uncomfortably fit all 10 of us. Everyone besides Maureen and I, who were not feeling well, went on a 2 hour hike, and the rain finally stopped. On our way home, we stopped on the side of the road at a little park and made ramen. It was so nice of them to show up, take care of us, then drive us home...a fun time!

This weekend, we had plans to go to a different mountain with some friends, but instead decided to stay here in Ulsan, get some delicious pizza and take it easy. Today, we took our scooter for its longest ride yet, about 40 minutes away to a temple. It was a beautiful ride through lush mountains, then we took the coastal rode back following beach after beach.

We are starting to get organized for packing. I can't believe it's come already. I've been waiting for this for a long time, but now that it's here, I'm getting a bit sad! But ofcourse we are really looking forward to Europe and exploring!