The Roberts in Korea

Busan Trip #1

We are home from our Chusok week trip--it was a good one.  We arrived back in Daejeon late Friday afternoon.  Saturday we spent the day unpacking and recovering from being gone all week and Sunday we went to church, had lunch and went shopping at Costco, spent the afternoon at home and Becca and Sarah went to Youth Group in the evening.  While Becca and Sarah were at Youth Group, Ryan and Dina went to a local ping-pong pavillion and played ping-pong--Four games were played, Dina won three, Ryan won one....sad story.

Over the next few days I will post updates about our trip this past week to Busan and Gyeongju.  Last Sunday we took the KTX to Busan, South Korea.  We checked into our hotel, the Westin Chosun, and were pleasantly surprised to find that we had an excellent view of the beach from our 7th story window.  I have posted a daytime and a night time picture of the view out of our hotel window.

Sunday was a little bit rainy but that didn't stop us from hanging out on the beach.  We walked the beach, got our feet wet and spent some time at the rocks looking for starfish and finding some amazing seashells.  Later in the afternoon the rain started coming down pretty hard so we spent a couple of hours in the incredible aquarium that is located on Haeundae Beach.  We ate dinner at a nearby Indian Food Restaurant call "Ganga." 

In the evening Becca and Sarah went swimming in the hotel indoor swimming pool--swim caps are required in most Korean pools.  It was a great first day of vacation.

부산 and 경주 (Busan and Gyeongju)

It is Chusok break here in South Korea so....we have all of next week off from school.  We are planning on going on a little excursion to the Southern part of South Korea.  Sunday we are jumping on the KTX Bullet Train and heading down to Busan, the second largest city in South Korea.  We are a planning to do some sightseeing, relaxing and playing on the beach of the Sea of Japan.

After three days in Busan we are planning to take a 50 minute bus ride towards the North-East to Gyeongju.  Gyeongju is said to be the most historic place in all of South Korea.  We are hoping to see some very old Korean castles, shrines and Buddhist temples.  We are planning to stay two days and then take the train back to Daejeon on Friday.

I will be taking my laptop computer with me on the trip.  If I can find internet access I will keep you updated on our trip.  If not.....I will post in a week.  Happy Chusok!

Typhoon Update

Sorry for the delay in update.  No, we weren't overcome by a Typhoon, just a flurry of activity and busyness. 

I did get up at 3:00 a.m. and I looked outside and I even stuck my hand out to feel the conditions.....it was calm and dry.  I wondered at the time if we were in the midst of the "calm" in the eye of the storm, but I didn't wonder long and crawled back into bed.

The next morning I checked the internet weather site and it reported that the Typhoon moved over South Korea much faster than they anticipated and was already subsiding far East of South Korea, in the Sea of Japan, by 3:00 a.m in the morning.

Typhoon Nari did hit the South-Western coast of South Korea very hard and it caused a lot of damage and approx. 15 people lost their lives as a result.  Here in Daejeon we are somewhat buffered from the intense weather as we are well inland, located very nearly at the center of South Korea.

Typhoon Nari

Well, we are in the midst of a big typhoon.  We don't have many of these in Idaho (like none).  A typhoon is a tropical storm composed of high winds and an immense amount of rain.  It started raining here in Daejeon last night and it hasn't stopped since (I am writing this Sunday night 8:35 pm Daejeon time--5:35 am Sunday morning Idaho time).  The amount of rain falling from the sky is amazing to me--it is giving me a whole new definition of "pouring" rain.

We are in the midst of Typhoon Nari.  Take a look at the weather update at this link.  It says that Daejeon will be very near the center of the typhoon at 3 am this morning.  (That will be about noon on Sunday  in Idaho.)  I am going to get up at 3 am and see what it looks like outside. 

I will keep you posted.

Orphanage Visit

Here is a picture of Hyung Bin, a TCIS student, standing in front of the Village of Peace Orphanage.  This past Saturday we accompanied the High School Key Club on a a service trip to the orphanage.  We had a good time.

Trips to the orphanage are always full of unknowns.  There are about 40 children (ages 5 to 15 years old) living in the orphanage and it appears that there are two adult supervisors in the facility.  When the TCIS Key Club (consisting of 15+ students and 4 adult sponsors) arrives at the orphanage it seems that the adult supervisors of the orphanage disappear.  We are in care of and in charge of all of the orphanage students of various ages.

At times it is like supervising chaos.  The children emerge from their dormitory rooms and gather in a large room on the 2nd floor of the facility.  The Key Club brings books to read to the students, coloring books and crayons and craft activities for the children to be involved in.  I bring my guitar each time and end up involving some of the children in singing songs and listening to music. 

On Saturday, many of the boys in the orphanage were anxious to get outside and play soccer with the high school boys.  So we walked a group of children over to a nearby school playground to play some soccer.  It was a good time but a bit concerning when it came to crossing the busy city streets and making sure that all of the students were accounted for upon our return to the orphanage.

When 4:30 pm rolls around and it is time to leave we are exhausted....but it is a good exhausted  The kids are so precious.  We are thankful for the opportunity to spend time with the children at the Village of Peace Orphanage.

Sarah At the Dentist

When we were back in the US over the summer we went to the dentist and found that Sarah had a baby tooth that was cracked.  It wasn't hurting Sarah so the dentist decided not to do anything with the tooth as it was a baby tooth and would be coming out soon.

Unfortunately, the tooth began giving Sarah some problems a couple of weeks ago.  She got a sore on her gum below the tooth and it began to take on the tell tale signs of infection.  We took her to the Sun Dental Clinic here in Daejeon.  After x-rays and a very jumbled Korean--English language exchange of information it was decided that the baby tooth should be removed.

Sarah was a trooper.  They sat her in a chair, prepped her and pulled out the tooth.  It was a good thing that they pulled the tooth--it was showing lots of decay.

Oh, by the way......they did use novocaine.

Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW)

Becca and Sarah just had an awesome week at school.  Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW) in the Middle School.  The three days of SEW are a lot like three days of church camp--except the "camp" is during the school day.  The SEW directors for the week are the TCIS Student Life Ministers--Mike Loween and Virgina Hood--they did an excellent job. 

All classes are called off for the three days of SEW and the teachers serve as small group leaders to the middle school students.  The days of SEW are filled with fun, games, activities, workshops, and chapel services filled with great messages and incredible music and worship.

The special speaker for the week was a man named Justin Waytt.  The theme of the week was "Transformers" and Justin spoke to the kids about about not being conformed to the world around them but rather allowing their lives to be transformed by God.  The week was a great time of spiritual growth for many of the middle school students.

The special music and worship for the week was led by a group called Station 2.  Travis and David are the two guys that make up the group, Station 2, and they are wonderful.  Please take a look at this link.  Station 2 led music and worship each session and did a great job of hanging out with the kids throughout the week.  On Thursday night Station 2 held an evening concert and Sarah was called up on stage and sang "with" Station 2.  They do a lot of really cool things with their music--they use a computer and do "looping" and the result is that two guys with two guitars end up sounding like a full band and group of back up singers.  It is really fun to watch them add the sounds and create the music right before your eyes.

Becca and Sarah had a blast during SEW.  They hung with friends, played in the games (Becca was in the hair gel game), laughed a lot and grew spiritually. 

Glimpse .... #2

This past week was a full one here in South Korea.  At the high school we celebrated "School Spirit Week."  It was a fun time--there was a theme for each day of the week and the students would dress up according to the theme (i.e., hat day, nerd/geek day, twin day, etc.).  The week culminated with a big pep assembly, a Friday night dance and volleyball and tennis home games.

Sarah has been busy this week with school and tryouts for the high school musical.  Mrs. Zickefoose, the director, kindly gives middle schoolers an opportunity to be involved in the musical.  Sarah made the cast and is very excited about her upcoming involvement in this activity.  The the fall musical is "Godspell."  I will keep you posted with pics.  On Friday, Sarah jumped in a car with her friends and headed to a sleepover. 

Becca is also going to be involved in the high school musical but not on the cast.  Becca will be playing bass guitar in the musical band.  She is excited about this opportunity and Mr. Wong, the director of the band, is a great guy and will be teaching Becca a lot of new things when it comes to playing the bass guitar.  Yesterday, Dina said she walked outside after school and saw all of Becca's girl friends standing off to the side while they watched Becca  compete in a basketball "bump" game with a group of high school and middle school boys.  Becca is a good shot and often wins at bump.  I am sure the guys cringe when they see her coming.

DIna is keeping busy with her kindergarten class.  The last couple of weeks they have been studying colors so each day they all wear a different color shirt and bring in their favorite items of that color.  The other day after school I saw one of Dina's students ( a boy ) jumping rope and when I commented on his jumping he said, " Go get Mrs. Woberts so she can watch me jump!"  They love Mrs. Roberts.

The rain has finally stopped here in Daejeon and the sun is drying things out.  For Koreans the fall season is a time of preparing pepper pastes and kimchee for the upcoming winter.  It is beautiful to see the large spreads of red peppers laying out on the sidewalks drying in the sun.....spicy hot!

Sam-gae-tang

The other night we went on a little dinner adventure with a bunch of people from TCIS.  We walked (quite a ways) to a restaurant here in Daejeon that is famous for serving Sam-gae-tang.........otherwise know as chicken in a pot. 

The restaurant was a nice roomy place however, all of the seating was the "sit on the floor" Korean style.  This is painful for me with my long, very un-limber legs (that one night of Yoga didn't help) but it was worth it because the meal was great.

We placed our orders and soon thereafter a full chicken (Cornish hen size) in a boiling pot of rice and broth was placed in front of each of us .  The chicken was stuffed with a whole ginseng root, a chestnut and a date.  It was delicious.  The meal was accompanied with side dishes including kimchee (of course), salad, large chunks of pickled radishes and vinegar soaked cucumber slices.

We washed it all down with some good old Coca Cola.  The meal was delicious and could become a staple meal for us.  The cost of each meal was 8000 won--a little steep but it was oh so good and healthy. Come visit us and we will take you out for some Sam-gae-tang.

A Glimpse At Our Week

The days are passing quickly, too quickly.  We are nearly finished with our fourth week of school here at TCIS.  Last Thursday night we held our parent open house.  It was an evening event.  To the left is a picture of the high school building all lit up for the occasion.

One day last week Dina and Becca jumped in a taxi after school and headed downtown for a haircut.  Sarah and I followed later in the afternoon and met them for dinner.  Here is a picture of Sarah just as we exited from our taxi.  I know it looks like a carnival but in reality it is just normal life in this very big and active city.

After haircuts and dinner in the downtown area we wandered around for a while looking at shops and people.  At one point we stopped and bought ice cream cones from a vendor on the street.  Here is a picture of Sarah, Becca and Hannah (Becca's friend) holding their mile high ice cream cones. They were 1000 won each (less than $1.00 each).

Last Saturday we piled onto a bus with many other TCIS employees and travled an hour and a half to the city of Songtan.  Songtan is the Western shopping area outside the main gate of the Osan US Airforce Base.  It rained all day but we had a good time carrying our umbrellas and wandering through the shops.  The highlights of the day included a wonderful Thai food buffet for lunch and....oh yeah, Dina bought a purse.  The picture to the right is a glimpse of the "black market" in Songtan.  It is a place where they sell Western food that isn't commonly sold in South Korea.  We always go to the black market when we get a craving for rootbeer floats because they don't sell rootbeer in South Korea but they do at the black market!  The lady in the picture was the owner of the market and I don't think she appreciated me taking a picture.  oops.

Well, there it is....a glimpse.