Auditions!!!

What you see here is a business card for a modelling and acting agency. Why do we have our hands on this? .....

Here we are, 6 in total, relaxed and ready for a fun day being extras in a movie of some sort. The details were vague - come between 12 and 5, there will be some pay, bring foreigner friends. I said okay to my friend and recruited 5 including Reuben.

After a 45 minute subway ride, we met my friend. Riding up an elavator of an apartment building we think, what kind of movie is being filmed here? As the elevator door opens my friend says, "Well, are you ready for the audition?". "Audition?" we responded with panic in our voice. Within seconds we were handed a script with two scenerios to memorize and perform infront of a camera.

We all did it, we all kept a straight face, and we all had fun. We auditioned as best we could, trying to find the actor and model inside of us.

"Give us your sexy model look," they asked as we were getting our pictures taken at the audition. Here they are, without shame. We walked away thinking this could only happen in Korea. We are not expecting any phones calls, but it's a good story to tell!

Korean War Museum

A day out with some friends. We met for breakfast at an all Canadian restuarant for bacon, eggs and hashbrowns. The museum was not far, so we decided to tour it.

This is the first monument you see as you walk onto the grounds. The plaque states "Two brothers reunit on the battle field. Each fighting for different sides".

Here is one big tank. Reuben and Rob couldn't pass up the opportunity to play.

Reuben, sitting in the captain's seat of the tank. It was a tight squeeze, but he made it in and out!

This ground to ground missile travels an amazing 180km at mach 4.5. Wow!

Who looks better behind the gun? Or, maybe a better question, who looks like they could survive a day at war?


These are pictures of a ceramic mosaic illustrating the war. The mosaic was 30 feet in length.

Surprise Visit to Taipei

It's for these people that we went to Taipei, Taiwan. For Scot and Kim Sustad, and Danny and Kathryn VanDyken. We planned the surprise with Kim - arrived Dec.26 and had 6 days to soak in the laughs and chats with good friends.


Scot, Kim, Reub and I enjoying the hotsprings. It's not a holiday without a trip to the hotsprings!

The two best buds enjoying Taipei's famous Beef Noodle.

We are eating at Taipei's voted #1 beef noodle restaurant. Mmmmmm Good!!!

I have never seen more scooters in my life. There are parking lots exclusivly for scooters. They have their own stop line at traffic intersections. And there are at least 20 lined up at every red light, drag racing their way out of the traffic. Scooting around the city is the best mode of transportation here.

Surprise Visit to Taipei cont'd

Traveling in Taipei was no problem at all. They speak a different language than in Korea, but its still not English. We are now pros at getting around in big asain cities.


We spent our Saturday with the two couples - walking along this beautiful river trying to find a bike rental place. After over an hour of walking we found it - and it was worth the trekk!



Reuben?

Cool Scot on his cool bike.

My cute husband Reuben.

Kim and Me.

Taipei 101

The tallest building in the world. You are viewing it from a city block park.


Kim, Scot and I on the 89th floor looking down at the city.

Taipei 101 has the fastest elevator. Reuben is really excited about this.

Here is another shot of the building. It appears to be the only building the city - but trust me - they are many more really tall ones. This one is just crazy tall.

This building also has the biggest damping system. It is 800 metric tons - it hangs at the 89th floor. It counters the buildings movement in hurricanes, typhoons, and earthquakes. It can sway up to a meter and a half.

One more picture. Everynight the building it lit up with different colour lights.

New Years Eve in Taipei

Happy New Year from all the Taiwanese people in this picture. The streets were crowded with people - I've never been in such big crowds. They all wanted high fives from the foreigners. The peace sign means Victory - it is a must in every photo!

Here we are enjoying the night with our good friends Kim, Scot, Danny and Kathryn.

Reuben is taping the fireworks that they shot off of Taipei 101. This is the tallest building in the world.

Our first Happy New Year kiss. Just thought I would share it with all of you.

We are trying to get a picture of just our friends - no such luck. They jump on the opportunity to have their picture taken with foreigners.

Taipei Zoo

Here we are at the Taipei Zoo. What a fun day!. We Spent a whole day here while our friends were at work. We were amazed by many animals, especially the ones below.

Here I am trying to be a penguin.

Reuben is the midst of a rainforest. They have created very true environments for these animals.
The Lion. Wow! Can you see that he is grawling. He is looking at Reuben. Everytime Reuben grawled the Lion would grawl back. He charged at Reuben twice - the first time Reuben almost crapped his pants. Why Reuben? - I think it was the hair. What a fierce and strong animal. The second time we were waiting for it and got it on tape.

Chimpanzees - wow these are smart cookies. We showed him the view finded of our video camera so he could see himself. He started scratching his head and touching his nose to see if it was really him.

spaghetti dinner

we invited some friends over for spaghetti dinner. mi kyoung and her family. we met her at the gym. lewis, her son, is one of my students at the academy. her daughters name is annie.


in class yesterday i told lewis and his classmates as sercret - that it is mr. reubens birthday on thursday and that he is going to be 23. lewis told his mom and they came with a cake and candles to celebrate with us.
reuben blew all but one candle out - i had to blow the last one with him.


this is mi kyoung and me. she has been a great friend. she has us over for dinner often. she also takes care of me when i get sick. she prescribes homemade apple tea to cure sore throats and coughs. in the west this apple tea is known as apple cider!


here we are after dinner playing snakes and ladders. lewis won. even mi kyoungs husband was able to make it for dinner. he took the evening off just for us. we felt honored because he usually works until 11 or 12 every night (like most working koreans)!

Christmas!

We enjoyed our first Christmas together in our little apartment. We found a tree, decorated it - and even shared the stocking experience. I must boast that my husband is a great stocking stuffer.
I got to open two stockings this year. I did a stocking exchange with three other girls here. We enjoyed a Chirstmas eve lunch at TGI Fridays - a good old western restaurant.
Christmas eve night we ate Italian food in a candle lit restuarant and saw The Nutcracker ballet. We celebrated with two good friends, Andrew and Anna, from Scotland.
This is a picture from our apartment window. You can see the beautifully decorated trees in Central Park. Aparently the top tree looked too small, because they added another one on top - now it looks like a rocket!
Here is our festive aparment! Christmas together was wonderful - Praise God for the birth of his Son - whom we remember on Chirstmas day. And may we continue to give praise for the grace we have through him.