First Day of School

you can find just about any kind of academy here: art, math, piano, science, basketball. we teach in a English acadmeny. we go to Korean academy. and now, Reuben goes to a ping pong academy. since our decision to move to Korea his dream was to learn from a ping pong master. and that is exactly what he did today.

i bought him equipment at Christmas in hopes of a willing English instructor. we found a willing instructor... who doesn't speak any English!

Reuben's getting warmed up before his first ever ping pong lesson. he's feeling pretty good here.

he's getting his game face on.

he's on his way. he's a little nervous. go get'em baby!!!

costco

we gave in, today we got a costco membership. costco has things that we have managed to live without so far, But dont want to anymore. We went for sour cream and cheese. We came home with many more things including cinnamon buns, a big apple caramel pie and a very large bill!

this is the bus that took us there in only 35 min.

after an hour of costco we are ready for home. Korean shoppers tend to make us furious and frustrated. we might have said some choice words while being pushed around, ramed into with carts, budded in front of, and worst of all had taste testers snipped from our very hands by little Korean children.

me, infront of the costso sign - still frustrated!

one of our most exciting purchases, which made the zoo exprience worth every hit - a caramel apple pie. mmmmmmm. we are going to share this pie at our sunday night dinner tomorrow night. our foreigner friends will love us forever!

If you look closely you can see that these sausages are made and packaged in Langley BC. You can always find a little bit of home here.

valentines day

a very simple valentines date. reuben surprised me with some beautiful flowers and gifts of lotion, choc and other things...
and i surprised him with his dream picnic: cheese ritz, peperoni sticks, nut mix, beef jerky, hi chew, mentos, strawberries and chocolate, and kahlua and milk reuben stuffed
sarah jane hungry
sarah jane happy
. mmmmm. looks good hey?

thailand: bangkok

Arrived in Bangkok to spend just a day here before leaving for Koh Chang Island. We stayed on Koh San Rd - the center for backpackers. We did a little shopping and exploring here.

A taxi to take you around the city.

A very early morning...

A busy late night...
Here is a picture of a typical house where a family lives.

thailand: the life

This is one of the places we stayed - bungalow on the beach.



Here we are lounging on the beach - what a life for a week.




We got some thai massages done right on the beach, and as the sun was setting. They were so cheap ($15 for 1 hour) that i went back the next day and got a foot massage.


A lot of our time was spent eating. The food was incredible - we ate like queens and kings, feasting every night. We ate Canadian breakfasts, Thai food, and meat and seafood bbqs.

We had snacks and drinks under the stars. Almost all the restuarants on the beach allow you to sit under the stars.

Here was our entertainment at night - the fire guys, flame twirlers, muscle men... whatever you want to call them!

thailand: transportation

We traveled by bus, plane, another bus, then this ferry. We were not sure what the maximum person capacity was, but we were sure that we were over.

Traveling by motorbikes was a lot more enjoyable then bus, plane and ferry. We enjoyed cruising on the motorbikes so much that we rented them for two days. We drove around the whole island, exploring waterfalls and finding more beaches.

Tied for first with the motorbikes was this mode of transportation: Elephants. These friendly, and very very large elephants took us on a little trekk through the jungle. They ranged in age from 15 to 80 years old.

thailand: the views

Here is the view of White Sands Beach, Koh Chang Island. This is where we spent our week in Thailand.




We watched beautiful sunsets everynight.


Palm Tree lined beaches...

A view at sunset and during the day.