a muddy day

Last week we went to and island called Jebu to learn about the sea life. We got to the island by driving on a road that 'goes under' when the tide comes in. The west coast here has the second largest tide in the world.

Our students sure enjoyed themselves. For about 2 hours the played and wrestled in the mud, dug for crabs and helped our guide with his catch for the day.

Reuben is helping one of the students get free from the mud. This wasn't the only student that neede his assistance - many had their boots stuck.

Seong Hyun gave up trying and sat down to get his foot free.

I stayed pretty clean, just one little mark on my cheek from Yun Young.

Our guide cut up a bunch of fish caught in his nets so we all tried some of the freshest sushi you will even eat! The students went ape over the little snack and tried so hard to get me to try it. Reuben was braver then me.

After being out there for serveral hours we were all ready to get cleaned up and dried off. Some lucky ones got a ride back... some desperately hitch hiking for a ride.

Teacher's Day - May 15

The Mother's Committee prepared a wonderful 'teacher's day lunch' for the whole school. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet and sour chicken and some other goods.
Lots of schools in Korea are closed for the day. I guess gifts to teachers have gotten a little out of hand in the past.

Welcome to Korea

Welcome to Korea Hannah and Raquel! Reuben and I knew these girls from university and here they are in Korea!

wAcky DAy aT SchOOl

its wacky day at school! almost every student participated in our fun dress-up day. even the teachers!

here is our whole school - all 40 students and 6 teachers.

this is my co-elementaryt teacher, miss cho.

the 'girl' in the middle is one of our grade 5 male students. he won first prize for wackiest outfit!

mr and mrs zuidhof and their funny faces.

theses are some more of my elementary students. from the left is gyeong won, yeong uk, ju ho and hyung jung.

JAPAN

We had a litte 4 day trip to Osaka and Kyoto last weekend. Here are some pictures from our trip. There is more to come!!!

Osaka Castle - one of the popular things to do in Osaka is tour the castle. so we did!

watching an IMAX film called 'into the deep' (or something like that).

Spent a few hours in an aquarium with over 35000 species in it. as you walked thru the aquarium you went deeper and deeper down into the sea, seeing all the sea life at their different levels. The glow in front of me is a dolphin. under the sea... under the sea...

here is a massive ferris wheel... yes, for ony 9.99 you can have a 15 min ride on it. and yes, we splurged and did it!!! it is 125 meters at the highest point, one of the tallest of its kind in the world. during your ride you get a history class from an automatic recording inside your car. yes, quite romantic i must say.

more of JAPAN

here is a little taste of japanese culture.


there are lots of cute little japanese tea houses and restuarants. this area of town is what you would picture when you think of old japan - with little geishas jumping from roof to roof!!!

we waited and walkted along this one street for a long while trying to get some pictures of the beautiful geishas. my first 4 attempts at getting pictures were unsucessful. there were many walking by themselves and many trailing behind men in suits. all very cute, just like in the movies. they wont stop for pictures, but they'll smile and nod at you.

bikes everywhere! just like in china, it seems that most people travel this way. whether in a suit, dress or mini skirt, everyone is travelling on their speedy little bikes.

some pictures of us eating in a cute little restuarant. we had to try the sake... we opted for peach flavour... mmm mmm good! it was a wonderful trip, great to get away together and visit another country.