Trick-or-Treat

For not celebrating Halloween in South Korea there was sure a huge turn out for the Well County Trick-or-Treating event.  I think the Korean kids may have heard about free candy and decided they would give it a shot.  One of the parents had put up sign up sheets in all the elevators for those who were interested in handing out candy.  She then broke all the kids up in groups and gave them a card with a specific order on what apartments to go to.  It was no Nevada Court but the kids, and parents sure seemed to have fun.

Grant bounced around with a few ideas for what he wanted to be and landed on the mummy idea.  I would have to say he made a good choice.  No store bought costume for him.  One queen size sheet, a pair of scissors, and some medical tape and we were good to go.  By far the best costume out there.

The Hevland pumpkins.  Not quite like Oregon but they still looked cool

A day at the park

We took a family bike ride today since the weather was WONDERFUL!!!! Discovered a park with a bike track, bicycle merry-go-round and whales coming out of the ground. We had heard about it but this was our first adventure there. Grant was able to wrangle himself an orca.



But only after wrestling with the tail of a humpback.


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Location:Songdo-dong,Incheon,South Korea

Tokyo

Our weekend trip to Tokyo Japan started out quite smooth last Friday afternoon.  We left Korea around 11:00 and arrived two and a half hours later at Narita airport, just to the NW of Tokyo.  We hopped a train from Narita to the Shinbashi train station and walked a short few blocks to our hotel, the Sunroute Shimbashi in the Ginza part of town.

Well the reviews for the hotel were pretty spot on.  Clean, up to date, conveniently  located with 100s or restaurants within walking distance, and small rooms.  Small is accurate. I guess they are considered big in Japanese terms but tiny for Americans.

But they were spot on about food being close.  There was everything you could imagine to eat quite close.  We found a little noodle place the first day and boy was it good.  Ate there a couple of times.  By the time we left I think we had the "slurping" down to an art form.







The train and subway were the main means of travel and very easy.  We were on and off the train numerous time and had the ticket machines perfected.  Watch your wallets though.  They aren't kidding when they say Tokyo is the second most expensive city in the world.  Once ticket just to go one stop was 130 yen per person, about $2.00 us.  We pay about .90 cents here in Korea to go pretty much anywhere.  And yes that is me asking for help.

Now that is a gigantic pillar.  To the left is the entrance of the Meiji Jingo, which is a Shinto shrine.  This one was dedicated to the divine souls of Emperor Meiji and his consort Empress Shoken.  Above are tubs of beer from all over the world.  Emperor Meiji felt if his people were happy then all would be good.  So he brought in barrels of wine and beer from all over the world, unfortunately no Portland Micro brews.  Funny thing is that none of it was open.  Not sure just having it there would make me happy.  Need to tap that keg!

Kelly hanging up our votive tablet around the tree pictured above.

 Here we are at the Shibuya Crossing in Shibuya. Or as Kelly and I say it... "Shi BOOOYA!"  This is the world's busiest intersection.  http://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1897812_1897772_1897742,00.html

 

After the crossing we hit another Japanese place for lunch.  These ladies were just out for the day and were very helpful in show us how to order and make up our tea.

The Tokyo Tower, which is 30+ meters taller than the Eiffel Tower, was just out our window.  It unlike the Eiffel tower, was built for the purpose of being a communication tower.  At night it was lit up with different colors and during the day it is open for visitors to view the city.  More pics from the observation deck to come later.  We thought this pic was neat at sunset just prior to the lights coming on.

The Shinjuku Shrine was quite popular with everyone visiting this part of town.  There was a gigantic outdoor shopping area leading up to the entrance.  The "pot" on the right is where people would burn healing incense and swirl the smoke around their body.  It smelled great. 




.

This one if for the boys at work.  True "Blue Hairs" do exist.














Here we are after visiting the Shinjuku Shrine.  And what you can't see is the ice cream place we went next. It was a tough choice.  Asahi brewery on one side of the river, or ice cream on the other.  We went for ice cream.

Our Official First Visitor

Sharon Geib arrived in Songdo Monday as we were returning from Tokyo.  Sharon's kids went to school with Grant and Kelly had her son as a student when she taught third grade. We met with Sharon tonight for dinner at a banquet hall of the Ramada in Songdo. We were even lucky enough to meet the mayor of Incheon.  Sharon will be traveling around Korea for the next couple of days and will then be spending a night with us the day before she flys home to Portland. She gets to experience a ride over the Incheon bridge in Mater. Lucky her.

She wanted to make sure a Hi went out to Rick, Will and Renee.

14 Years of Happiness

Last night was our first wedding anniversary away from the US.  It was the mark of 14 years.  Please tell me the correct gift is a weekend in Japan and not diamonds or wood or glass, since that is where we are heading this weekend.  Thank you everyone for your cards, emails and text messages, we enjoyed every one of them.  We enjoyed a relaxing evening at home with home cooked tacos (Glen Wallaces's recipe) and some fresh guacamole.  The pictures here are of the sunset out or window.  It was a beautiful evening.  Tokyo is the plan for this weekend.  I have to leave Korea to do a bit of visa status change so I can start working for the school. Since I had to leave we thought the timing was perfect and we would make a weekend getaway out of it.  Grant will have his first sleep over weekend with friends, so will Watson, and we will be leaving Friday afternoon and back Monday.

Then on Monday we are very excited to welcome our first guest from the states, Sharon Geib.  She is in Seoul on business and will be in Songdo Monday through Thursday.

Words can't explain. Part 2

For those who were waiting with anticipation, here are the "Golden Boys" in full action.

American food in Korea

We have been craving a dinner that wasn't Korean food, we have had our fill over the last few months.  Our friends John and Jessica had heard about an American/Italian place that was suppose to be really good and near by.  The six of us, including Grant and John and Jessica's son Finn ventured out Thursday night after a long day of in service training for the girls, chasing Finn around the house for John and me helping out at the Kids Club with all the teachers' kids.  We were told everything was reasonable priced, except the steak.  They were right.  A USDA T-Bone was approx. $135 US dollars.  We all went with pasta.

Every thing was tasty and huge "American" portions.  Most Koreans are very concerned about their weight and size so there is very little cheese in meals and deserts are rare at many restaurants.
Kelly's meal was by far the fanciest looking.  It was a curry rice with crab, and they used the WHOLE crab!

Words can't explain

We took a bike ride through Central Park the other afternoon and came across a very interesting fountain.  It's times like this I wish I could read Korean.  I would really like to know what the sign says about this about these four.  And yes, when the tour boats go by all four lovely characters have a very powerful... and steady stream flowing.

More on Central park can be seen at these links.

http://www.songdo.com/songdo-international-business-district/the-city/lifestyle/central-park.aspx

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/06/281_49677.html

Watson isn't so mean

Not everyone in Korea is scared of the big dog. I took Watson to
school on Friday and he had a great time. The kids have no fear,
neither did MOST of the parents.