수 덕 사 - Suduk Temple

A visit to another Temple. This temple was origionally built in A.D. 500. Its name, 수덕사, is pronounced 'sueduck sa' - sa means temple.

A Jolly Budha, with not just one, but two fingers in its belly.

Group picture on the jolly Budha - Eunju, Fred, Davey, and Reub and I.

Here is one of the oldest buildings that still remains. We had the opportunity to watch a portion of a service taking place in this temple. There was a womens choir and a full congergation sitting on mats worshiping and bowing to Budha. After the service one of the monks walked away talking on his cell phone. We were too slow taking the picture.



Here are some of the Budha statues we passed on the walk up to the temple. They were all either very mad or scary.


All the buildings on the temple grounds are painted with these same vibrant colours.

Spa Castle

I dont think we have anything like this back in Canada. The $40 entrance fee is totally worth every penny. The resort is solely heated by natural hot springs and is complete with a pools, hot tubs, water slides, swim up bars, restaurants, and we must not forget about the heating beds -incubator like.
Here is a picture of Reuben and I in one of the many hot tubs. This particular one was in a cave setting - it even had dry ice machines for effect.


Here are the guys, enjoying the slides and pools outside. It was a nipply day at the park but the water was warm. We couldn't believe that everything was open the weekend before december.



The whole gang, Fred, Eunju, Reub and I, and Davey. Check out these bathing caps. We HAD to wear them. Fred said their purpose is to protect the water from everyones dirty hair - ??? - dont ask, its just the korean way. Every korean was complete with spedo, bathing cap, and goggles.


Eunju and I relaxing in our personal jacuzzi's. I have never been so pruney in my life. A whole day of running back and forth between the water slides and hot tubs - this lasted for a good 6 hours.


Here is Reuben in one of the personal hot tub beds with jets. Each bed's jets were equiped with different presure and positioned jets. It was a dream world for hot tub lovers.

Suh family over for dinner

We had our boss, Sione Suh, and his family over for dinner. Sione, Sarah, Moses (12), and Daniel (8). We cooked them the Korea traditional meal of Bulgoki, which happens to be one of our favorites! Dinner was followed by a 'western dessert' - freshly baked cookies with a scoop if icecream. Mmmm, they were impressed and wanted the recipe. We had a great time. What a loving and gracious family they are.
We ate, chatted, viewed homevideos, and played a traditional Korean game 공기 (gong-ki) - similar to what some of you might know as jacks. The kids play it all the time, but traditionally it was a game for girls. Sarah (the mom) is the champion in the Suh family. Reuben is the champ in the Zuidhof family, but i am determined to overcome him.

The oldest, Moses, is home schooled. He spends all his days at the academy, studying and playing. Reuben tutors Moses one hour everyday in History and Geography. And a couple minutes out of each class i'm pretty sure Reuben tries to sneak in a little Korean lesson from Moses. I teach Moses English listening class once a week. This is one bright kid. Danny is still schooled in the pubic system, and when he is of middleschool age he will be home schooled as well.


Here we are all together after a evening of great fun and fellowship. God has blessed us with a great Christian boss and family!

Happy Pepero Day

November 11th: Happy Pepero Day!

This day was created solely by a candy company. The eleventh day of the eleventh month - 4 sticks 11 11 - now thats something to celebrate! So they manufactured a candy that represented the date's shapes -1111.

Reuben and i received many pepero's from our students. The biggest one i received was from reuben - how sweet! I woke up to a huge 3 foot pepero on the table. The packaging was covered with pink and red hearts and the words 'i love you'.
This is what a typical pepero looks likes. The taste is ok, nothing too special. Some are a little more delicious then others. The candy is a chocolate covered waffer. They are typically covered in dark chocolate, but we had some that were strawberry flavored and some with a cookie crumb coating.

*Please excuse the early morning sleepy eyes and weird looks.

A Fall Day

Reuben and I skippped our morning workout to take a walk and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.

We also took some time to do some serious and very interesting people watching from this bench.

Here is a picture from our apartment of central park. Check out the surrounding trees - they are an array of such beautiful colours.


I took a hike up Surre San - Fall is the busiest time because of the 'changing leaves'. Koreans talk about this so much - its the one piece of nature they can still appreciate in the big city setting.

A look at the city of Sanbon from the top of Surre San.


This is a typical delivery truck. Most small, hole in the wall resturants have a little delivery person thats rides a scooter like this around town. It seems that road and vehical rules dont apply to scooters here. They will drive down the wrong side, thru red lights, in an 's' pattern, and even on the sidewalks with great speed. You always having to be watching out for a moving scooter.

Our Students

Here are some pictures of the little monkeys that we teach everyday. These students are in the Meysen program - Kinder, Preschool, Grade 1, 2, and 3. Reuben and I were trained for one month to teach the Meyson Curriculum and these little cuties.

This is Sarah Jane's Kinder class - 4 year olds. Tina, Sam, Alice (who apparently knows how to wink at the age of 4), and Kevin.

This is Sarah Jane's Preschool class. These students will start grade one in the Korean School System in January. Eric, Chris, Diana, and Brian.

This is Sarah Jane's Grade 1 class. Kelly, Susie, Ruby, Jenny and Jane. In every picture you say 'kimchi' instead of 'cheese' and you must give the V sign for victory.

Reuben's Grade 2 and 3 class. In January this class will be split into two.
Back row: Peter, Emily, Rina, Annie, Sarah, Sue, Andrew, and Andy.
Front row:Nick, Willy, Kevin, Max, Mr. Reuben Teacher, Daniel, and Lewis.

These are some of Sarah Jane's grade 4 kids. Top: Kevin, Nicole, Donna. Bottom: Melanie and Jenny. Exceptional students - they enjoy learning english.

Reubens grade 2 girls - Annie and Rina - two bundles of energy!

Before class we always spend about 5 minutes playing - in hopes of tuckering the wild kids out a bit. Most days it just stirs it up - but at least they're having fun. We use balloons because they cause the least amount of casualties.

Seoul Land

Reuben and I spent a Saturaday at the famous Seoul Land amusement park. A wonderland of rides, games, cotton candy, and shows. We experienced crowds of people, mostly parents with young children and teenyboppers. Reuben and I were the only foreigners to visit Seoul Land on this day - and sometimes felt like the only foreigners some of these kids had ever seen. It is still a strange feeling at times, when every kid we pass stares at us or says 'hello' just because we are English speakers. The odd parents will hit their kid for staring too much - we just smile.


We snuck a camera on so that we could take some picture while we were riding. Korean roller coasters dont compare to Canada's Wonderland but there was still much fun to be had.
Reuben, enjoying the thrill of the ride - and preparing himself for the approaching double loop-di-loop.

Here is a picture of the entrance of the park. In preps for halloween - which they don't really even celebrate here, they have props and decorations galore.
This was my favorite ride... for 50 cents you can ride these furry little animals for about one minute. I'm not sure why, but we were the only ones on this ride.Reuben exceeded the height limit on a couple of the rides we went one. He just slouched so no one would notice. And despite his size, Reuben enojoyed this one too.

Bulgogi Feast

This was a Korean Feast in every way. We ate the delicious dish of bulgogi, rice, leaves and bean sause. We ate with chopsticks. We sat on the floor around low tables. And we made the meal last a good two hours.
Bulgogi is beef, with onion, carrots and other veggies in a tasty broth. It is cooked in the middle of the table on a gas fired pan. And this is how you do it - You take a leaf in the palm of your hand, put some rice, bulgogi, bean sauce in it, fold the sides of leaf in as best you can and shove it in your mouth. Many choose to also pack the bite with kimchi, radish, or a whole garlic clove for extra flavor - but i go for the simple bite.
The majority of our guests this night were Trinity Alumni. No kidding! Nathan and Lydia Skulstad you can see there in the orange and black. Jamie and Jennica Graham are on the couch on the right. Dave Symonds is sitting far left with Reuben. Eunju and Fred, our most precious Korean friends joined us as well.
Here is a picture of our friend Eunju and I. Isn't she beautiful? Reuben and i enjoy the friendship of Fred and her, as they have helped us with the transition of new culture and language.
Davey and Reuben - Davey has been a great friend to us as well. He has taken time to show us the ropes and teach us all the things we need to know about being a foreigner in Korea.
Fred, Jennica, and Jamie. What are the chances to running into some old Trinity students. They too were married this summer and moved to Korea to teach English.
This picture was taken at the famous Pirate Bar. On any given night, or even early morning you are guaranteed to see some foreigners here having a good time. We were taken here our very first night in Korea to meet other foreigners in Sanbon. The draw of this bar is the sport of ice throwing. Each beer comes incased in a glass made of ice. When you finish your beer you stand behind the line a throw at the target. There are many prizes to be won, including more beer, food and orange juice. Reuben won on this shot. He is 15 for 20!

Seorak San - East Sea

reub and janers enjoying the view from the peak of soerak san mountain
we and 4 other friends headed to the east coast for the weekend. we enjoyed hiking seorak san with what seemed like 50 thousand koreans. our second night we travelled to the east sea. beautiful ocean coastline. the koreans feared even touching the water until us foreigners showed them how to jump and dive into the waves.
fred in the beautiful river
reub and janers enjoying more of God's creation
if you look close you can see mountain climbers on this rock face
this resting spot was crowded with korean hikers

Seorak San Pictures

the leaves were just starting to change - how beautiful
sj, jenna, and eunju by river side
even 5 miles up the trail there are still crowds of people
giant budha
jenna, reub, sj, davey, eunju, and fred

Seorak San Pictures

view of coast line
fred taking a break from the chaotic waves
reub and davey frolicking in the east sea

the only people in all of korea that are brave enough to tackle these waves
good friend freddy hogging all the fresh water to rinse off