The Roberts in Korea

Life Memories

Life is made up of mostly ordinary days composed of ordinary events.  It is a shame to let the ordinary moments of life slip by unremembered.  Here are few pics that won't let us forget the important things.

Sarah is getting pretty good at playing the drums.  Last week she accompanied Mr. Miller and the MS worship band in the morning chapel gathering.

The other night we so enjoyed attending the TCIS Drama/Musical production of "The Sound of Music."  It was a fantastic presentation under the direction of Heidi Zickefoose and it was fun to see see Brittney and Kallee Miller in the program.

After the show we went with the Lavenders and some other friends to a coffee shop near the school.  It is a unique place as it has lofts built into it where people can climb up to a table and have coffee in a spot that is up and away from the crowd. Sarah and Cora enjoyed a loft spot and the rest of us hung out together at the lower tables way too long.  We stayed until midnight!  We found Cora and Sarah asleep up in the loft.  Good memories for which we are thankful.

The End of MS Bball

Last Saturday Sarah played in her last Middle School Basketball Jamboree.  She will be heading into high school next year and she has her sights set on making either the junior varsity or the varsity team.

Sarah is about two millimeters taller than her big sister, Becca, and it looks like she is going to give her sister a run for her money on the basketball court.  Sarah handles the ball well, she is good at pulling down rebounds and she is a strong shooter.  By the way, she made the shot she is taking in the picture.  We are proud of Sarah and have enjoyed cheering her on over the years middle school sports.

Quite a Job

Our first two years in Korea we lived in an apartment building.  The apartment complex that we lived in was called, Hansup Apartments.  This apartment complex is made up of about fifteen 18 story apartment buildings.  It is a huge complex that takes up blocks and blocks of space in the city and houses thousands of people.

Lately we have been noticing some changes in the colors of the apartment buildings and the other day we saw what was causing the changes.  They are painting the Hansup Apartment buildings and it was surprising to see how they do it.

Painters rappel down the side of the building and swing/traverse back and forth across the outer walls of the structure with spray guns in hand.  The spray guns have really long hoses attached to them.  It is quite a job.

APAC Soccer Wrap Up

The APAC Soccer Tournament was a great event that included a lot of tough competition.  The TCIS girls' competition rose to the occasion and so did the fans.  They were tough too.  The TCIS Girls played an excellent tournament and ended up playing in the championship game against Hong Kong International School.  TCIS lost 3-1, but they were very pleased with a second place finish in the International Tournament.

An important part of the APAC tournament experience is the opportunity for the visiting teams to stay with families from the host school.  Over the past couple of years Becca has visited both the Philippines and China on APAC basketball and volleyball tournaments and she has stayed with host families in both places. 

It was our privilege to host a couple of girls from Brent International School in Manila during this year's APAC tournament.  It was so fun to make some new friends and to hear about their lives and experiences in the Philippines.  The four day APAC tournament was a great event and we were glad to see the TCIS team take home a second place trophy, but we were sad to see our Brent girls leave.

APAC Kickoff

Over the past couple of years Becca has participated in APAC tournaments in varsity basketball and volleyball.  APAC is the Asia Pacific Activities Conference.  TCIS is a member of this conference and many TCIS students in sports, forensics, drama and music have enjoyed the opportunity to travel to places like Manila, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong to participate in various APAC tournaments and activities.

This year TCIS is hosting the APAC Girls' Soccer Tournament.  Five teams have come into Daejeon, South Korea to participate in the soccer tournament.  The teams are from Brent International School of Manila, Hong Kong Internationall School, Shanghai American School-Puxi Campus, Shanghai American School-Pudong Campus and the Western Academy of Beijing.  The TCIS Lady Dragons are the home team and round out the six teams in the tournament.  Becca does not play soccer and thus is not participating in the tournament, but we are hosting in our home two of the girls from the Brent team.  It is fun for all of us to hang out with them and hear their stories.

The TCIS soccer facilities are currently not adequate to host an event of this size so we are renting the fields of the nearby KAIST University.  It is a wonderful site.  The teams flew into Korea on Wednesday and on Thursday morning the tournament kicked off with a very nice opening ceremony that included speeches, student choirs, a Korean traditional drum performance, a parade of teams and even a pep band.

David Miller is directing the pep band and they needed an alto saxophone in the band so David asked me (Ryan) if I wanted to play and I gladly jumped in.  It has been awhile since I have played, but it was fun.  There was quite a variety of instruments in the band.  I have played in lots of pep bands, but this was the first time I have ever played next to a violin.

The weather has been great for the tournament and the games are currently in full swing.  I will update you on the results.

First Birthday Celebration

Last Saturday night we had the privilege of attending the first birthday party for little Hangyeol.  We work with Hangyeol's mother, Ms. Hyemi Jo, at TCIS.  I few years ago I (Ryan) enjoyed the opportunity of singing in Ms. Jo's wedding.  See HERE.  The one year birthday party is quite an event in South Korea.

Traditionally, there is a big celebration on the baby's one hundredth day of life.  In the early days of Korea many babies didn't live long after their birth.  The first one hundred days of a baby's life are considered the most fragile.  Beyond one hundred days there is great hope that the baby with thrive and move on into extended life.

The one year birthday party is a celebration where the baby and its parents wear the traditional Korean Hanboks and they celebrate with family and friends the life of their growing child.  It serves as a type of baby shower and is a big moment in the life of the baby and the family.

The party was very eventful.  There was singing and gifts given out, lots of pictures and a buffet meal hosted by the family of the baby.  We had a great time.  Happy Birthday Hangyeol!!

Celebrating Britt

The other night we went out to Vietnamese food with the Millers.  The food was delicious.  The focus of the evening was on Brittney as we were celebrating (a month late) her 18th birthday.  It has been so great having Brittney here in South Korea these past two years.  Happy Birthday Britt!

Girls In the House

The other night there was a whole bunch of girls in the house.  Dina was there, and Becca with her friend Brittney, and Sarah with her friend Sharon.  It was quite a time. 

There was a lot of singing, dancing, laughing, talking and eating.  The eating time included making nachos and laughing, singing, dancing and spilling milk.

Poor Sharon ended up spilling her milk.  She felt bad and Sarah laughed.

 

We cleaned up the milk and then....Sharon spilled her milk...again.

 

 

And Sarah laughed...

The other night there were girls in the house and we sang, danced, talked, ate and...laughed.

 

Easter Memories

Easter Sundays are memorable days.  If I go back through my photos over the years I am sure that I can find a photo from Easter Sunday going back many years.  Here is our photo from this year.  We are eating dinner with our friend, Mr. MacDonald, at a samgyetang restaurant.  Samgyetang is boiled chicken and ginseng soup--a whole chicken.  In the bottom of the bowl there is some white rice.  It is delicious.

On Easter Sunday our family led the music and worship at the Christian International Church (CIC).  Usually, Ryan leads with the guitar, Dina plays piano, Sarah plays the congas and sings, George Zickefoose plays drums and Becca plays the bass guitar; except, this Easter Sunday Becca was gone.  She was helping to lead the music and worship at a weekend spiritual retreat in Seoul. So, Mr. MacDonald played the bass. He is a great player.  After the service we went to lunch together.  It was a fun and memorable Easter Sunday.

Spring Break in Busan #2

We did do a bit more than just lounge around while we were in Busan.  Our good friend, Jaeyoung, the man who owns and runs our favorite restaurant in Daejeon, is originally from Busan.  He wasn't able to go with us to Busan and act as our tour guide, but he did ask his friend, Ms. Bang, to show us around the city for one day.  It was a great.

Ms Bang picked us up at our hotel and took us directly to Seung Jeong Beach--one of the best kept secrets of Busan.  It was a beautiful beach and we enjoyed the sights and a "traditional" and delicious cup of sweet Korean coffee from a beach side coffee stand. 

From the beach Ms. Bang took us to a famous beach side Buddhist Temple.  It was an amazing sight to see.  Throughout the tour of the temple I was on the cell phone with Jaeyoung back in Daejeon.  He was telling me in English about the sights that we were seeing.  He wanted to be there with us.  It was fun to at least have him there via cell phone.

 From the temple we visited a shop in Busan that is famous for making various kinds of Korean rice cake--otherwise known as "duk."  We enjoyed a nice little snack of this delicious traditional Korean food.  We learned that when President Clinton and President Bush visited Busan they ate some of the duk from the very shop that we visited.

From the snack stop we went up to the top of the mountain that sits in the middle of the city of Busan.  Busan is the second largest city in South Korea with a population of over 3.6 million people.  The 360 degree view of the city from the top of the mountain was amazing.

Our tour with Ms. Bang culminated with a visit to the Shinsegae Mall.  The Shinsegae Mall is known to be Asia's largest shopping complex.  According to the Guinness Book of World Records the Shinsegae Maill is the world's largest mall--even bigger than Macy's of New York City.  We walked around the mall a bit with Ms. Bang and then she left us on our own.  We enjoyed looking at the ice skating rink that is located inside the mall and we ended up visiting a theater located in the mall.  We watched "Avatar" in 3D.  It was cool.

Our time in Busan was full of a lot of relaxing and a little bit of sight seeing.  It was great.  We are thankful for Ms. Bang...and for Jaeyoung.