Thanks for the Christmas Presents!

Grandma, Thanks for an other box of chili, pudding, and vitamins!! Thanks for the camera Mom and Dad! We love it! We'll be able to post videos now!

http://www.teacheslkorea.com/NewsLetter/GetInGwangju-December.pdf

We also got mentioned in "teach ESL Korea," if you're curious about what life is like here check out the link:

By the way, sorry we didn't mention it earlier--- but thank you to Sarah's Mom and Dad who sent us a box full of goodies back in October and thank you to Sarah's Grandma and Aunt Grace who sent us a care package in September!!! You guys are the best!

Mudeung-san and Geumdang-san

One of the coolest things Sarah and I have started to like since we've been in Korea has been hiking. The differences between hiking in the States and hiking in Korea is this:

Hiking in Korea is always straight up the side of a mountain.

There are many trails in the many mountains throughout Korea, and we plan on going on as many as we can. We are proud of our accomplishments so far, cause like almost everything else that is a "hobby" in Korea, hiking is serious business.

Here are some pictures of the pretty things we've seen.





































Now if I only had some hiking boots......

Anyong-hi shipseyo!

- Troy and Sarah

Other foreigners in Gwangju

Just to show that we are not the only "waygooks" in Gwangju, here are some pictures of a house party to welcome back 2 loveable people: Mel and Jullian. They are a couple from Australia.

Along with Australians, we now have friends from:

China
Canada
South Africa
England
Zimbabwe
Greece
Ireland
Scotland
and of course, the United States

who are all teaching here.









More to come.

Annyong hi-kyeseyo!

- Troy and Sarah

Pet Turtles

One thing I forgot to mention was this:

Sarah and I have pets!

Of course, they are some of the cutest pets ever. We got 2 turtles...

Yurtle



and Yoshi




We feed them everyday. They are only a couple of months old now. We have found out that they do not like to eat rice or lettuce. We let them walk on the floor, and they actually move very fast. They dig through their rocks in their little turtle house, and don't really smell.

We can tell them apart by the markings on their underbelly. But for Sarah, she knows that Yurtle is bigger than Yoshi.

Don't worry Jo jo, they aren't replacing you.

- Troy and Sarah

4 Months already...Wow!

Annyong Hashimnika everyone!

Soon to come:

Pictures of all the mountainous mountains we have conquered.
Halloween goodies.
Thanksgiving surprises.
Parties for people who came back, who left, and well, just for the sake of having parties.
The best TV channels in Korea.
Trivia nights.
Christmas goodies.
Problems with Phone Companies.

within 3 days, a lot of stories will ensue once again. Sarah and I haven't had much time to sit in front of a computer and get all of the pictures up on here, but you can head over to here:

http://missouri.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2214387&id=15904450

and here:

http://missouri.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2214386&id=15904450

to see some of the neat things we've been up to.

I swear, every day out here has been a blast. We really enjoy what we do, and love a lot of the people we have met, and all the places we have seen.

Anyhow, stories will come very soon, with a lot more detail, a lot more action, and well, a lot more Troy and Sarah.

We hope everyone back home had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. I know my family ate quite a bit. :)

Love ya, and Miss ya!

- Troy and Sarah

Daily Life - Lotte Mart Style!!!

We call this post Daily Life - Lotte (Loh-Tay) Mart Style! Lotte Mart is the best place in the world. Ok, not really, but when we first came to South Korea, we only heard of the place. The fellow teachers talked about Lotte Mart for weeks before we ever went. We first went to Fresh and Quality, a smaller grocery store that was down the street from Oedae. Then, we went to Lotte Supercenter, thinking it was the grocery store everyone told us about. It really wasn't though. About a month into our trip in Korea, we finally found Lotte Mart. HOLY COW IT'S HUGE! Located in the "World Cup Mall", Lotte Mart is 3 stories high. First floor - groceries, bakery, deli, kim-chi shop, and household/health care products. Second floor - electronics, clothes, toys. third floor - Alaska restaurant - a seafood Buffet place that tastes alright.


One of the promo girls selling coffee. Sarah almost bought some. They have promo girls for everything, from coffee, to milk, yogurt, candy, pasta, fruits, veggies, alcohol, makeup, dental care, purses.... they are everywhere!



This is the Spam aisle at Lotte Mart. Not kidding, a whole aisle dedicated to Spam. They really love it here, and often give it as a gift in a gift set for holidays. Along with the spam, you normally get olive oil or sauce. We got a spam gift set for Chuseok, it was good!

The Ramen Aisle at Lotte Mart. I have really grown fond of Ramen since I've been in Korea. Not because it's cheap, but because it tastes really good! I would barely eat the stuff in the states, but here, it's a real delicacy!

As I said earlier, there are a lot of promo girls, even one for shells, dried fish, and other sea foods. The food is really fresh in Korea, almost everywhere you go.

Lotte Mart does have some American style food, but forget the hamburgers. Beef is really expensive, but ground pork is a nice substitute. And Pringles are 3000 won a can (over $3.00 US).

Korea has been treating us pretty nicely so far. We are always finding things to do, people to see, and new foods to eat. Sorry we haven't posted in a while, but we hope this will all be good for you to see.

We love ya, and miss you all! Happy Halloween!

Love,

Sarah and Troy

Daily Life

This is Sarah with her favorite class at Haba for our Chuseok party. The kids absolutely love her! She sometimes tells them that she is a ninja...I believe her!



This is the "President of Sangju Beach", Spiderman! He makes sure that no one needs to be saved, and also to tell us that he is our new friendly neighborhood camping nut. He really dresses like that everyday, and in the advertising for the beach, you see all of this stuff like boats and volleyball, and then you see a big Spiderman logo... very interesting!



I am very curious about the "Baby Fair" going on at Lotte Mart, Koreas version of Wal-Mart. Looks like I can save 30% on a new baby stroller next week! What else could I buy?



This is the national flag of South Korea. We don't normally see them this large, but this one was found at Lotte Mart, about 10 mins walking distance from our house.



Ahh...Troy's favorite kids. We have, from left to right: Jin Woo, Hyun Gyu, Tae Hoo, Shi On, Yeo Min, Woo Jin, Joo Hye, and Seung Yeon. Since that picture, 3 new kids have joined my class. Su Kyung, Hyun Ji, and Young Mok. Really bright kids.

Well, there's some tidbits of our daily life. Hope all is well!

Love,

Sarah and Troy

Gwangju Sports Festival

The 88th Annual Sports Festival was held in Gwangju about 3 weeks ago. Sarah went on the very first night for the opening ceremonies, and took some great pictures! You could hear the fireworks from half a mile away. Her favorite part was that she got to sneak on stage and take pictures of the big drumming guys. There were a lot of policemen doing a march, and all kinds of places to get food.

When we went back later in the week, Sarah brought me to try and get on stage, but they wouldn't let us on. Lucky Sarah though, she had a great time!

During the whole week of the festival, about 20 different sporting events took place, from volleyball, to swimming, to Tae Kwon Do, to wrestling...We didn't go to any of them, because we were teaching, but Gwangju was pretty crowded that week.

We hope everyone is doing well back home, we'll keep posting some good stuff.

Love,

Sarah and Troy

Sangju Beach

At the beginning of October, Sarah and I went to Sangju Beach, with our friends Mark, Clare, Bob, Rebecca, Eddie, Daniel, Tessa, and Brian. We camped out on the beach, played some football and soccer, talked to the president of the beach, Spiderman, and ate a lot of BBQ. Spiderman had many things to say to us, such as:

1. You cannot camp under the trees in the grass next to the beach. If you want to camp, you must camp in the gravel-covered parking lot just 20 feet away from the trees, because that is where people camp.

2. You can take a picture of me, but if you tell anyone my real identity, I will run you over with my ATV.

3. Yes, I really am Spiderman.

He said all of this in Korean, so we really couldn't understand him. We followed his rules though, and had a good time.

My bloody mouth. Here's the story. During our football game on the beach, I went up to catch a pass, my friend Mark jumped at the same time, and elbowed me right in the face. Sure enough, I was bleeding a lot. As boys do though, I was proud of my pain, and showed off my battle wounds.

Camping really is fun here! We do it a lot. We didn't have the best time at Sangju because of the camping laws, and Sarah likes Ssangye-sa a lot better, so we will probably camp there a lot more often now.

Take care!

- Troy and Sarah

Jinju Lantern Festival

Ahhh Jinju, a nice place to see in Korea, but don't stay overnight there. Festivals are always huuuuuuuuge in Korea, and this was the first one Sarah and I experienced outside of Gwangju. The Lantern Festival went on for 2 weeks. We went on one of the last nights, and made our own lantern (you see it sideways in the picture) with our wish of 70 years of happy marriage, written in Korean of course. There were so many lanterns there, in the river, on the sidewalks, on bridges... very nice!

Also, there were some games we played when we weren't looking at lanterns. I tried my shooting skills and sucked, but Sarah nailed a few bullseyes to help us win a flute! Later on at night, me, Sarah, and a lot of our new friends (who are also teachers) went to the little tent where they were serving some nice Roast Pig. it was excellent! Then, as a little treat, in the picture with the black stuff, some of us ate...........whale. I will never eat whale again. But, I did try it this time. Very spongy, very fatty, very salty. There's a picture of me eating it somewhere.

The lantern festival was really cool, but we don't know if we'll go next year. If we do, we'll just go for the day.

Annyong Hashimnika!

- Troy and Sarah