This weekend was one for the memory books! But first, Saturday. Saturday we went to Haeundae beach for the Sand Festival where they had all kinds of activities involving sand, the highlight of which was sand sculptures. It's amazing what people can carve in the sand! They had 3 professionals from Korea and USA and they carved a real sand castle, the Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer, Statue of Liberty and many other things that were simply amazing! We saw one artist hard at work on his piece when we arrived and when we left later on he was still working and STILL not finished! Now that's dedication, considering we were told that the sculptures get taken down every day and re-done the next day! Let me just tell you about the beach phenomenon in Korea ... read more

Hi everyone!! Today has been one of those days here when I could do without people talking about me in Korean without telling me what they are saying or the constant stares from passerbys. In Korea you quickly learn that the word for 'foreigner' is WAYGUK and it can often be heard no matter where you are. From kids, form adults, anyone! Sometimes it gets to me and other times it doesn't but I seriously think you would never hear someone in Canada say "Look, Mom, a foreign person!" - unless of course the kids was like 3 and didn't know better. I came across this great website today (www.roketship.com) that has comics about Korean stereotypes and it's so hilarious! It gave both of us a good chuckle and we thought we'd share some of our ... read more

Well it seems as thought Korea has managed to skip spring entirely this year. The weather went from cloudy, rainy, cold and winter-coat wearing one week to short sleeves, endless sunshine and soaring temperatures! And no one is complaining here!! Once we got off the high from our family's visit, life quickly went back to normal here. The weekend of April 24-5 was a big weekend of festivals in Yangsan. Firstly was the Gyeongnam province Sports Festival which features mostly university-aged athletes in over 20 different sports competing for a chance to represent the province at nationals. We went to check out the taekwondo, on the suggestion of our master, in hopes of learning some good sparring techniques. These athletes were amaaaaazing! There is no way we can do close to the moves they can do, ... read more

No trip to Korea is complete without a tour of Seoul, the bustling capital of Korea. With a population of over 11 million (17 million during the work day) this place is as frustrating as it is amazing! The experience began with the frustrating as Mike and family attempted to drive to Seoul at 9pm on Friday evening. Taking the train from Busan to Seoul, I was faster than they were going a third of the distance by car! Finally they arrived and we found a hotel that looked nice enough...at first glance! As we were checking in and told them we'd be staying 2 nights, the receptionist said "Oh, people don't usually sleep overnight in our motel"...great...So we go into our rooms, which were huuuuuge, with 2 big screen tvs, a couch, nice bathroom...and a ... read more

That Friday seemed like the longest day ever. We couldn't wait for school to finish as we had a busy night ahead of us, concluding with the welcoming of our highly-anticipated visitors from Mike's family! Mike had spent the day checking the flight status of the family's flight from Detroit to Japan to ensure that things were on schedule for their 9:30pm arrival in Busan. After confirming time and time again that the flight was ON TIME, we hopped on the subway to pre-check into the hotel in Haeundae we had reserved for them for their stay. After getting checked in (and being upgraded to an ocean-view room complimentary for Larry and Christine!) we took the subway to the airport and anxiously awaited their flight's landing. Checking the board, we see that their flight has landed ... read more