Easter Weekend - sunday brunch

Scot and Kim hosted a Easter Sunday Brunch and Egg Hunt after church. Lots of our Sanbon friends joined us for the day.


Reuben was incharge of smoothies - making these treats is just one of his many talents.

There is always time for a little water chugging contest.

Here is the host, Kimmers, and her wonderful helper Kathryn. We feasted on crepes, omeletes, fruit, smoothies, chocolate fondu, and of course lots of chocolate and candy.

We had an Easter egg hunt all through Scot and Kims apartment building. Reub and Scot are explaining the rules for the game - they were the hiders of the candy and chocolate.

On your mark. Get set. GO!


The first stage was the eigth floor hallway. Then the elevator. After that came the lobby and following that was B1 parking. Finally it ended in the courtyard. This is where the big ones were hidden. Kathryn won with a woppin 89 and second was me, Sarah Jane with 68.

We followed the hunt and eating of the candy and chocolate with a game of ultimate frisbee.

What a great day. Priase be to God for sending His son for us. We remember Jesus' sacrifice for us, and rejoice because He Has Risen!

Easter Weekend - the blossoms

Our wonderful friend JiWon had us over of lunch Easter Saturday. We enjoyed some Korean cooking and a beautiful walk in the forest of cherry blossoms.
Note: that is not actually superman!


They dont kid around with the blossoms here - everyone in Korea seemed to be out to enjoy the beauty.

We all tried the textured walking footpath - hurtful, healthy, and healing all at the same time.

Reuben and I under the snowing blossom petals.

Smiles all around - it was a beautiful day!

We bought a tree in Seoul - we just couldn't pass up the deal. We had to trek throughout JiWons town, to the subway, through the subway, through another town for TGI Fridays for dinner, and then back on the subway, finally through our town and home.

Reuben, Dave and Scot we troopers carrying the sucker all around Seoul. And... our new little baby survived the trek as well. It looks great in our home.

Sunday Night Dinner

Here are some pictures from our sunday night dinners. We always have a faithful few, with some new faces every week. We have turned our meals fully mexican. Mmmm it hits the spot everytime!
Jenna, Melanie and Tiffany

Koetje, playing Kong Gi.

Guys vs. girls in pictionary. Do we even have to mention who the winners were?

One of our biggest crews: 14 people. We love being squished into tiny spaces - this is nothing compared to the subways here. We actaully forget what personal space is.

Chillin and relaxin after a great meal.

Ping Pong Class

Here is Reuben and his Sen-se-nim. Look at that form! His teacher is quite good at ping pong, but every once and a while Reuben stumps him with a shot he just can't return. He responds with a laugh and a "nice" because that is the only English word he knows.

A shot of the whole academy. There were mostly women getting lessons - from the three male ex-pro instructors. There were some seriously good female pongers!

It's a girl!

Sarah and Aron just added another one to their family of three. Tianna Joelle Vriend Zuidhof. At times like these we wish we were home. Give her a little hug and kiss and squish from Aunitie SJ and Uncle Reub.

THE DMZ

We took a trip to the DMZ - The DeMilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. There is a zone 2 km on either side of the border that is a no mans land. We learned that land minds cover this area still, and that there are a number of endangered animals that have made this area home.
This is is as close as we got to the border. We could pay 50cents to look through binoculars at the North Korean side. We saw the propaganda city with the tallest flag pole in the world.

We took a picture of the South Koreas at a check point. We are about 4 km from the DMZ, but these men are still on guard - camauflaged with painted faces and even leaves on their helmets.
Reuben, trying to get as close as he could to the men and their jeeps. We weren't aloud to take any photos of the military during our tour, there were only photo opts in very select designated areas.

This is the Bridge of Freedom. When the DMZ aggrement was signed, the South Korean prisoners of war walked to freedom over this bridge. All these cloth, flags, and ribbons hanging are wishes from people in South Korea to their family and friends who were separeted during the war.

We had our chance to have a photo taken with a soilder. He is stationed here for the sole reason to take photos with tourists.


Our final stop on the tour was this train station. They have finished contruction of the station and the tracks that run through North Korea, China, Russia, and into Europe. North Korea has broken the agreement and is now demanding more money. But with more negotiations South Korea hopes this will soon be running. Their only hope is to see North and South Korea united - "they are our brothers."

Zuidhof Family Visit Korea - the city

We were so blessed to have Mom and Dad Zuidohf, Jesse and Shannon visit us. We just over a week with them. We showed them all we know about life here. What a great time touring the city and other parts of S.Korea.
First time in Korea, and first time in a taxi for shannon and dad.

Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad. The kids treated them to a night in Seoul, with dinner hotel, and tickets to the famous Nanta - a non-verbal Korean cooking show.

Building 63, the tallest building in Korea.

A day at the National Seoul Museum. A little bored? ... started getting creative with their own photography.

Day in Insadong - a quaint area of Seoul full of traditional, modern, and most beautiful art.

Zuidhof Family Visits Korea - sanbon

Out for lunch with our boss Sione, his wife Sarah, and son Moses. We are eating bulgogi. The visitors were brave and tried almost everything. I think Mom Z did better then i did my first time. Thank you Mom for bringing all the goodies. We are now stocked with taco seasoning, fuzzy peaches, and our most favorite - home made granola. Wow - the bag must of weighed about 3kg. We will savour every bit!


Mom and Dad tried from another busy day of touring the city. Thank you for coming all this way to visit us!



Dad really wanted to try Korea's national alcoholic drink: Soju. A 275ml bottle of 20% alcohol is about $1 here, and back home you can find it for $15. The men drink it like its water here. Our last night together in Korea we each enjoyed a shot of Soju and eachothers company.

Zuidhof Family Visit Korea - gyeong-ju

A weekend getaway to Gyeong-Ju. If you want to learn about some history of the korean people, this is where you need to go. We took friday off to have a long weekend with the family. Gyeong-Ju was the capital of Korea about 1000 years ago.

We are waiting to the KTX speed train. It travels at a speed of 300 km/hour. In just two hours we went from Seoul, at the northern end of the country, to Gyeong-ju, at the southern end.

Inside our condo. Coudn't expect much more from the brothers. There were also some good wrestling matches between Jesse and Shannon, Reuben and Sarah Jane AND Shannon and Sarah Jane.

We strolled through a park of tombs. In each of these tombs only one King or Queen is burried. They are from the Silla Dynasty 50BC - AD1000. There are hundreds in the area, and they have only dug open 6. One is on display for the public to view and the other five have been put back into their original state.

We went to a Folk Art Village. It was a little inactive at this time of year, but we did see a master of pottery at work. This artist is world renowned because he mimics his creation process after that of the Silla Dynasty.

Reub and I are standing infront of an observatory - Cheonsangdea. It was a little shorter than we expected, but a beautiful sight. It is the oldest observatory in Asia.

Dad, taking a few moments meditating.

Bulguksa Temple was our last stop. It is the most well known temple in Korea. There were several monks worshipping and meditating in the various buildings. We tried to make the moment lighter with some fun pictures. Mom, you finally got a good one!!!
It was a wonderful weekend away, especially for Reuben and I as we had some time to relax with the family. We played a lot of Kong-gi, (a korean game we taught them), cards and did a lot of sitting around and talking. Thanks for coming family!!!