It's Wednesday (again!)

Funny How Wednesdays come once a week and all.
Well, have been rather busy - worked at ACAP all last week. Then this weekend I went to dinner with Tyler and some of our friends. We also sang a few songs at notabong (remember the hotel like karaoke rooms?) then on Saturday Tyler and I went shopping (hey everyone I have someone to Shop with!!!) and I think I spent about 5 bucks. Nothing too outlandish anyway!!

Then Sunday we went over to my friend Lenka's for a dinner party, and there were four couples... It was very nice to be at a dinner party. We ate some really good food (Lenka and Dan grilled these awesome shrimp which somehow re-wired my brain and I now like shrimp. I even ate some at a restaurant on Tuesday night too for dinner, I know, can you believe it?!?) and we drank a lot. I had some really amazing liquor from the Czech Republic made from plums. Pretty cool stuff. Somehow we all ended up going to notabong again. Twice in a weekend is a little much for me, but what can you do?? Then Monday Harland and I went to visit Seoul. We pretty much stayed in the hotel (ahem, eating jellybeans and watching movies, Hi Mom and Dad!!) and we ate at the restaurants in the hotel. The Dragon Hill Hotel has some great places to eat.

We also went to see the Davinci Code, well, we wanted to actually see X-Man3, but even though they say they released it here, it isn't coming to theaters until June 15. DaVinci Code was kinda lame, so much for the summer blockbuster it was supposed to be. But it was even less fun for us, since the characters speak French and Latin often in the film (and did I hear some Italian maybe?) and the subtitles were all in Hangul. D'oh! Teach us to see an American film in Korea!

So anyway, here are some pictures.

Here is a sunset from Camp Casey from Friday...


Here is a picture of some movie posters, including DaVinci Code.

It's Wednesday!

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit - yesterday and today I spent the bulk of the days trolling the websites for jobs. Haven't really found a WHOLE lot of jobs that fit me well, but I have applied to some anyway. (hey if you are reading this, are hiring people, in the DC, Tampa, or Chicago areas and need someone who has excellent communication skills - let me know).

Harland has been hard at work planning our summer. If you haven't seen our travel itinerary - it is pretty extensive. It looks like this ----> Hawaii, Los Angeles, Dayton, Birdsboro, Manchester, DC - all in three weeks. Of course DC could really be Chicago or somewhere else Harland finds a job. We will see... won't we?

Today I met a guy named Michael Schmitz. We had quite the talk about our names. He was clearing through ACAP and so there was a lot of "Here's your form, Schmitz", "Thank you, Schmitzer". Ahhh it was fun. He's from Kansas. Really, meeting him was one of the fun-est points of the day.

Did I mention my friend Tyler is here now? Hey Ty(if you're reading this)!! She is lots of fun and it is sooooo good to have a friend here. We'll probably start having sleepovers soon and eat lots of M&Ms and do each other's hair. Well, maybe not... but I finally have someone to watch girly movies with. Yeah Tyler! Three cheers for Tyler everyone!

And so - because I know the great (and possibly only) attraction people have to reading my blog is the pictures... here is a picture from the art museum, it is a picture of a buddhist temple bell from back in the day.

Blah.

So not much really going on. I am in a contest for knitting blogs, it is called the amazing lace. So I spent a lot of time on my blog over there tonight. If you are interested there is a Korean totem pole and a picture of my lace and me stuck in Seoul traffic. I don't think it will win, it isn't as creative as I would like. Blogger is hard to deal with when you want to do something other than stick with the format and you are not really all that familiar with HTML code.

It is a blah day. The Red Cross was hectic today and a little stressful. I guess that is the way it goes somedays. Also it has been pouring since about 10am. Here is a picture of today's dreariness. You can't even see the top of the small mountain. You can barely see the bottom of it. Yuck.

I also have had a lot of computer problems today. My computer wouldn't send Red Cross e-mails today and it also was spazzing out on the other Red Cross programs. Then I came home and got frustrated with this computer! They certainly know how to gang up on us. Current score: Computers 2, Jessica 0. Whew. Such a day.

Most of you know my cousin was supposed to be here, but unfortunately Bobby couldn't come. I think that might have added to my bad day too. Not that hanging out in soggy Dongducheon is the pinnacle of fun-ness... But I think he would have liked it. I am hoping he'll be able to come next month instead, so cross your fingers (and toes if you're able) for me. I really like it here in Korea and would love to share it with someone. I don't think I am ready to leave yet... And it looks like we are out of here July 13th. I know Harland is tired of being here, but I could stay here for a couple of years and be happy. Sigh.

spring

Okay here are some pictures from last week when we went to Seoul. It was sunny and clear - probably something we won't see very often once the haze season starts (or maybe it already has!).

Not much to report - been working at ACAP.
This is a picture of Seoul Tower



Here are some flower pictures.




Here is a picture from the hotel room:


And this is a picture taken of a park on a rooftop!

This one's for Susan (Korean Museum)

My dear friend Susan makes the most beautiful pottery. If she was here right now she might try and protest, but I am here to tell you it is beautiful. Susan had a birthday on Saturday (Say it with me, Happy Birthday!!). I have not been very good about putting birthdays in my blog. I had high hopes I would be up to speed on *something* that has to do with birthdays... But I am not.

I am terrible about birthdays. I don't know why. People tend to remember mine because I start reminding them over a month in advance and then tell them every time I see them. (BTW, my birthday is coming up at the end of June). For some reason, no one else seems to do this unless they are 8 or younger. Probably I am around 8 mentally. :)

Anyhoo... When I went to the Korean museum I saw many beautiful pottery arts. Here are two of my favorites. The bird one is one of the earliest Korean Pottery from like back in the Stone age. Literally. The other one I am unsure of when it was made but I think in the 1400s when Celadon was popular. And I thought dearly of Susan and her pots.

National Museum of Korea

Last weekend we went to the National Museum of Korea.
I took some pictures - because they actually let you! (no flash, of course).

This weekend seemed to fly by. I have no idea how. We rented all kinds of movies and only got to watch one. How does that happen? I don't know. But it was really relaxing. I wish I had more weekend. Oh well. I did finish the second sock to the orange one. You can see the pair of them over on my knitting site.

Anyway - here is the outside of the museum - it is pretty.





And here is one of the crowns... it weighs a lot. I forget what the exact weight was, but I certainly don't think I would like that on my head for any length of time. Looks beautiful, though.

helicopter pictures

Harland went in a helicopter the other day with the General. So here are some pictures (as promised) from the trip. I am also going to briefly mention that I wish I could go in a helicopter someday and go so often that I no longer thought it was cool (like he now does). Working at the Red Cross and ACAP is a lot less glamorous.

So here you go. I don't have a lot of comments because I don't know the area well enough to tell you what various landmarks are.

Happy weekend y'all.









And this is why I need some allergy medicine (which has not yet been restocked) look at this big cloud of pollen. No - it is not smoke. no - it is not chinese yellow dust. It is TREE POLLEN.

what a day!

Whew I am wiped out! First take a look at this article. Be sure to read it all the way through!


Okay enough fun - I am tired. I think it is because I ran out of allergy medicine and they have none at the PX except for Benedryl which if I took it - would only make me more tired. Whew. That PX seems to never have what I need. Remember when we had no forks? No sets of silverware? Not hot pads? well now they have moved on to run out of other stuff - like fans and allergy medicine.

It is going to rain... very dark outside. I know I said I was going to post about H's helicopter ride... but I am too tired. I need to take a nap before he comes home.
(yes I realize it is already 6:15pm... but I need a nap in the worst way.)

To pooped to blog properly

Friends, I am just too tired today to post a real message. It took me hours (about 4) to post my resume to two jobs. I don't even feel like looking at this computer anymore. Or any computer.

I'll be sure to post tomorrow. Since Harland is the General's Aide now, he gets to fly in helicoters sometimes... So he took some pictures that are wicked cool. I will post them tomorrow.

But for now? I think a good book.

(and for AMY, MOM and SUSAN your packages are now officially in the mail and officially on thier tardy way).

Part 6 - the night parade

Well I had a really nice weekend. Friday we went to a really nice barbeque restaurant in the middle of nowhere called "Beaver's". It was a really nice night - not too warm or cold. There were still some blossoming trees around... and we sat outside on the porch. Because it is in the middle of nowhere, there is a great view or hills and farms. We had American style pork barbeque, baked potatoes, pasta salad, corn, and cole slaw. All very tasty. It was a dinner for Abigail who is leaving here for Iraq (she is in the Red Cross). So Later on I will have some pictures of that for you... they are nighttime cell phone pictures so they aren't the best.

We went to Seoul (in the pouring rain) saturday afternoon. It poured from friday night at 10 until about 5pm on saturday. And it isn't even monsoon season yet. But yesterday was beautiful and clear. We stayed in a different part of Seoul called Kang-num and it was neat to hang out in a different area. We also saw Mission Impossible 3. We have been dying to see an American Movie in A REAL MOVIE THEATER... and so it was okay. Koreans don't always get American humor so there were a couple of times we snickered and no one else (in the sold out theater) laughed. It was a huge theater and in Korea you get assigned seats. we had terrible seats - second row... but that is because we only bought our tickets 3 hours in advance (hey - it was saturday night!)

But enough blabbing - you're probably only here to see some parade pictures anyway. :)

part 5 - happy birthday buddha

Today is officially Buddha's burthday. His birthday changes every year because it goes by a lunar calendar. And the lantern parade is always the sunday before. I am afraid I will have to postpone the lantern parade until sunday, unless I have some spare time magically appear.

Anyway, the pictures for today are a diverse lot.

First up - lunch.
We had a very lovely lunch in Insa-dong... I don't remember the name of the restaurant. It was a very nice atmosphere, they had a little courtyard with bamboo and they served our meal very fast.
We had a ton of food, but what I took picture of was the chigae (soup) the kimchi (lots of pickled side dishes) and the pancake which had green onions and mussles inside.




Then we took a little trip over to the COEX mall. It is huge and I think we were only in about 10 percent of it. We were hoping for a good movie, but there were none in English that we wanted to see. And it was very very crowded. Crowded in Asia is way different than crowded anywhere else. So we abandoned that plan and got a snack and watched this:



kids playing indoor virtual soccer. They were having a blast and I think that this could be the future of home enertainment for kids. Hey kids why don't you go downstairs and play some soccer while I read this book? Wear out your kids easily!

when we returned from COEX Mall, we participated in some more street sights and sounds... we even saw a mime in a segway.


here is me...



and here is Harland giddy in anticipation of the parade. Isn't he just adorable?


And finally just so that you can sleep at night I will give you one parade picture. Here is a lantern made to look like buddha.

part 4- more of the fair

So when you are cooking dinner for a military man, you never know if he'll be home to eat it. I'm just sayin' is all.

Anyway - more photos from last weekend. Don't worry there are plenty more where these came from. Depending on what we do this weekend, these might go into next week! Wow!

1st up today - Fan Dance pictures. This is a very traditional, beautiful dance that Korean women are known for.







Here are some pictures of some traditional weaving and basket making.




And this little guy turned his head as I was trying to snap the shot. He's like the Philly Fanatic combined with a Chinese New Year Dragon.

part 3- mini parade

During the day there was a little mini parade that had traditional Korean costumes, instruments, and dancers. I am not sure if "parade" is really what you would call it since there was only this one dance troupe/band... but here are some pictures from it. It was interesting and well, very loud.