It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Hannah played in a Christmas concert on Thursday evening last week, and Christmas lights are going up all around the city. We even had a few snow flurries yesterday (for a brief five minutes, but they still added a nice feeling to the day!). Brian has been in Hong Kong all weekend, at a conference, and the four of us girls spent Saturday afternoon decorating our apartment for the holidays. To celebrate our successful decorating session, we went out for dinner (with a last course of donuts and coffee at Krispy Kreme), and then did a bit of shopping. The Christmas season really feels like it has begun, although I think we're all in shock that the year is almost half-over!

Traditional Korean Dance...

On Thursday evening, LeeAnne and four other wonderful women from TCIS attended a traditional dance presentation. Six traditional Korean dances were presented, some featuring the most famous dancer in Daejeon. It was a truly cultural event. LeeAnne and her friend, Rachel Dewey (a fellow drum dancer from last year), could appreciate the complexity of the dances as the result of their dance lessons from 2007. Korean dance looks simple but the movements are very complex and measured, with every movement involving intricate poses of the feet, knees, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and head. It is tricky, indeed!

Faces from the orphanage...

On Saturday afternoon our Serving Hands student service group traveled to the Peace Village Orphanage for a visit. We spent the afternoon playing and making crafts with the kids, and it was a wonderful time. Here are some beautiful faces...

Family & Work Photos...

We spent part of Sunday afternoon enjoying some lovely fall weather with the Willoughbys (our friends and neighbours who live directly below us in our apartment building), taking family photos. I thought I'd post a few of my favourites, along with a few photos of me dressed up with two of my colleagues to introduce Macbeth to my IB students today. Very fun. Fair is foul, and foul is fair...

Hanging out downtown...

In a rare convergence of cosmic energy last night, all five members of our family happened to be home at the same time. Taking advantage of this miraculous moment, we all went downtown to enjoy some fancy drinks at Starbucks and wander around the brilliantly-lit downtown area. It is a fun place to be in the evening. Crammed with people, with neon shining everywhere, you never know what may happen. In fact, as we stepped out of Starbucks, a crowd was gathered in the plaza and a young man was down on one knee, holding a big bunch of flowers, proposing to a lovely young lady. Everyone cheered and clapped for them. One photo in this post features a bunch of colourful boxes containing pepperos (little cookie sticks that resemble mini baguettes, dipped in chocolate). Tuesday is Peppero Day here, and these sweet little treats will be distributed with wild abandon as people declare their love for one another.

We're Back!

The month of October was a bit on the hectic side with work and school, and I just realized a few days ago that we did not publish one blog post the entire month! Unacceptable, indeed. For Rebecca and Hannah, October was busy as volleyball season ramped up, culminating in our regional tournaments at the end of the month and, for Rebecca, an Asia Pacific Athletic Conference tournament in Manila, as well. Both high schoolers are now involved in basketball. Rebecca made the varsity team and Hannah is playing on the junior varsity team. Cora wrapped up her cross-country season with a 5-kilometre run at a US army base on Saturday (Nov. 8th), and she'll be part of the Middle School swim team in a few weeks. Clearly, the girls are enjoying athletics these days! As the last photo in this post shows, the weather these days is clear and sunny, with daytime highs around 16 - 20 degrees. The leaves are turning colour and it's perfect hiking weather.

Marvelous masks...

On Sunday (Sept. 28th), Brian and I drove about three hours away to the small city of Andong for its annual International Mask Festival. In downtown Andong there were hundreds of vendors set up, along with a bunch of stages for various performances (including a big indoor theatre that hosted many international dance presentations). About 25 kilometres away another part of the festival took place at a traditional village called Ha-hwee, and this part was really wonderful. We saw a traditional dance and play that originated in Ha-hwee in the 11th century and the masks used in the performance date back to the same era. A craftsman at the village makes these same masks by hand, and we picked up a male and female set that is very beautiful. You can find these masks all over Korea but it was special to buy these at the village where they were first made. As well, the village features only traditional houses where families from one particular clan - the Ryus - still live and work and farm. It was a magical place. The girls all had homework to do, so they opted to stay at home while we enjoyed our road trip. We're hoping we can convince them to go with us next year!

Bring on the Brazilian Beef...

For a couple of ex-vegetarians, Friday night proved to be quite an adventure! We were invited to join the middle school teachers for a meal at a brand new Brazilian beef barbeque restaurant that has opened on a beautiful lake just outside of Daejeon. Owned by one of our TCIS families, the restaurant boasted a gorgeous view, a big firepit and bonfire outside, and every kind of meat you could imagine. We had at least two tours around the barnyard, to be sure! It was a fun evening with lots of good fellowship and we'll have to see if we can convince the girls to join us some evening down the road for a return trip. How far we have fallen... :)

Frannie comes to Korea!!

Mom arrived in Korea on Sept. 12th and we've been touring her around, adhering to a whirlwind schedule, ever since! Here in Daejeon we have explored several parts of the city, visited "Dr. Fish", hung out at the school, and paid a visit to nearby Daedunsan mountain. We also enjoyed a beautiful barbeque with colleagues on Tuesday at the home of the Smith-Jangs. It has been a wonderful visit, complete with sunny, July-like weather! Mom has even been sampling Korea food, and has found several dishes she likes! We think she wants to move here very soon.

Seoul with Fran!!

When Mom first arrived in Korea (28 hours late because of Air Canada delays!), we spent two full days in Seoul and one day in Suwon before coming down to Daejeon. Highlights in Seoul included shopping in Insadong (a traditional and lovely shopping area with tea shops and beautiful rice cake shops), touring Chandeokgung Palace and Gyenbokdong Palace, a traditional tea house, Seoul tower and Namsan folk village (where we learned to make songpyong, a traditional half-moon rice cake enjoyed at Chuseok - the Korean thanksgiving).