Lunch in the hills...

On Sunday afternoon we were treated to a homecooked traditional Korean lunch at the home of one of Brian's students. What a treat! They have a summer house on one of the small mountains just outside of Taejon and, when we arrived, we found an incredible lunch waiting for us on a low wooden platform outside, surrounded by pear trees and gardens. It was so beautiful. All of the food was homemade and delicious, and Brian and I asked many questions about how things were made. Mrs. Shon, the mom of Brian's student, has offered to teach me to make kimchi later in the fall, which I am very excited about! Here are some photos of the lunch and the surrounding landscape. We spent the afternoon chatting and strolling through the orchards and hills. It was fabulous.

Village of Peace Orphanage

On Saturday (Sept. 16) we travelled to a nearby orphanage called Village of Peace with about 13 members of our student service group at TCIS, the Key Club. We spent the entire afternoon playing with children outside the orphanage and at a nearby school playground: kicking soccer balls around; playing Duck, Duck, Goose; and sharing time. We learned there are about 90 children who live at the orphanage and that, generally, conditions at Korean orphanages aren't very good. So it was a blessing to be able to hang out for the afternoon, hopefully giving the kids a pleasant change of pace and a diversion from their regular routine. I pray they will somehow see the love of Christ in the time we spent with them, and we look forward to returning in one month's time. Brian and I spent extra time tucking in our girls on Saturday night, reminded of the amazing gift our family is to us.

Remnants of war...

While at Daecheon beach this past weekend (Sept. 8 - 10) we explored an abandoned bunker from the Korean War. The bunker was on a cliff overlooking the sea and wasn't blocked off at all - we were able to wander around it and explore inside, too. This bunker was used during the war and apparently there were battles fought here, too. It was all quite surreal and we had trouble wrapping our heads around the fact that in this serene and beautiful place war was a reality just 50 years ago.

Mudding it!

At Daecheon beach there is this amazing spa that features a typical Korean sauna/public bath (warm pool, hot pool, cold pool, sauna) with the added features of a salt water pool, a mud pool and a mud-painting station where you paint yourself with sea mud and let it dry, allowing the therapeutic minerals to absorb into your skin before you rinse off and start soaking in the hot and cold pools all over again. It's pretty heavenly!! The men and women are separated in Korean saunas because you do all of this completely in the buff! (strangely it feels pretty normal after the first 10 minutes or so...)

Off to the ocean!

This past weekend, September 8 - 10, we travelled about 2 hours west of Taejon to a place right on the Yellow Sea called Daecheon Beach. It was beautiful and very peaceful, with a lovely long sand beach, sunsets and pine trees (as well as some neon signage and lots of fireworks down the beach to add some zing!). Hannah and I went as part of the school's middle school retreat and Brian and Cora stayed in a nearby cabin with some other families. Rebecca opted to stay in the city so she could play volleyball on Friday and Saturday (her team won both games!). Swimming in the Yellow Sea was fantastic and we came home with some gorgeous star fish!

More ginseng pics...

More images from the ginseng market...

yum yummm... ginseng!

This past Saturday (September 2/06) we travelled by bus to the nearby city of Geumsan (pronounced Kumsan - it's about the same size as Peterborough and is 50 minutes away from Taejon). There we went to a huge market that featured ginseng in every manifestation possible: candy, chocolate, tea, bottled drinks, gum, deep fried and served up at concession stands with a honey dip and much more. We had no idea ginseng could be processed into so many products! This town is where 80 per cent of Korea's ginseng is harvested and marketed, so the entire downtown area had a market feel, with lots of outdoor stalls and umbrellas and crowded alleys where vendors sold all kinds of things (including live chickens, one of which met its end while we happened to be walking by - we think Cora is still recovering from that one!).

The city is gearing up for a big international ginseng expo, and in preparation for that there were some demonstrations going on, and we were interviewed by two Korean television crews, which was hysterical. The first featured two young women in matching outfits who were exceptionally energetic and the second crew bought us rounds of deep-fried ginseng and took all kinds of footage while we talked about exploring the market. It was all very entertaining and we felt like celebrities.

We travelled to Geumsan with another family (from Alaska - the Lindemans), a couple by the names of Steve and Sue from Toronto (Trent grads, too!!), and a young teacher from Minnesota named Nikole. It was a great day!