• Here is how they deliver in Korea... and even at McDonalds! I think the US should consider moving in this direction - Wow!

Here are pics from Lukas' BD - Korean style- We

didn't make him eat Sushi...He had fried chicken and flavored ice chunks!

Here we are trying to buy school supplies - These are some of the streets right out from our campus. Notice the bandage on Anja's head...She had a little run-in with the water drinking machine and burned her forehead...hmmmm......

Here are the 4 munchkins outside of the HS - front entrance to campus

Anja first day of school - 3 weeks earlier than all of you! No fair!

This little guy isn't ours, I just don't know how to delete the pic. too funny!

Hi Everyone - My attempts to add pictures are slow going. I bought a new camera - a few days before coming over here and my attempt to put them on this blog via this computer has been unsuccessful. I will try using a new computer soon. Our week/weekend has been busy. It was Lukas' BD last Thursday. We celebrated by going to McDonalds. It was good - but got late as we turned it into a walking grocery trip. We got ice cream as his BD treat. Andrew and I split a malt - we went to Basken Robins....we tried a flavor coined as "Grandma's secret recipe" shake. It tasted like sawdust. We can't quite figure out what the secret incgredient was - we won't be ordering that one again anytime soon. We then went to school on Friday then headed to the baseball game in the evening. We watched the professional baseball team for Daejeon (the Eagles) play in the evening. It was exciting. There were 2 cheerleaders doing some interesting dances... lots of people cheering and dancing. They cheer for every little thing and stand much of the time. We had a good time. We bought fried chicken outside of the stadium and may have gotten ripped off for prices - but the experience was worth it. We then got home at 10:30 - taking the city buses. On Sat. we went to Songtan - and shopped near an army base there - we could use American dollars.. It was good, but extremely hot and our 2 younger children didn't have their listening caps on! Not good. The children in Korea are better listeners than our children seem to be---but we still love them! I keep telling them to take lessons from the other kids - it hasn't sunk in quite yet. We shopped all day - dripped of sweat - were tired when we returned on the bus around 6 p.m. We decided we needed to go out that evening to try to get some bread - this turned into a shopping trip -long walk - no bread - home around 8....eating dinner then. YIKES. We finally got the kiddos to bed then headed off to bed ourselves. We woke up and went to church on Sunday. We then go out for lunch. We found a quaint little place called Jin and Kinnos. They are 2 very hard workers who serve some fantastic 'western' pancakes. YUM> We then went on a walking trip to HOMEPLUS - our new Target in Korea. We were on a search for play table and chairs for Anja and Lonne. We found our 'stuffs' plus groceries. We are trying to be brave and try many different items to see what we like and don't. The food thing is slow going - but we definitely aren' starving. Don't worry about us. There is plenty of icecream treats to go around! Anyway - today was a long day at work. We have PD on Monday's until 5 p.m. It is a lot to learn. Open Houses are coming - there are quite a few requirements. We once again are getting observed which brings us back to our first years teaching. We are definately learning - albeit slow at times - we are trying to do our best, but this at times means preparing minutes before the block.... Anyway- I've got to correct some journals - Andrew is working on his stuff. We finally have the kids down for once which is a success - it has been tough in that regard - This journey is a test in patience that is all I have to say - God truly has a master plan for us in Korea! Anyway - take Care - when I get the pictures up and running - I will post as many as I can.

Hello Everyone - Long time no chat - Sorry. Andrew and I have decided to post once a week - maybe we got off to a little too ambitious start! Life has been crazy for us this past week. We started school last Monday, Aug. 9th. With all the kids starting and finding school supplies in Korea, along with trying to learn new curriculum and many other things - we have been busy. So highlights and some pictures. We didn't have our camera until this week as we left it on the kitchen counter back in Watertown. My parents sent it to us and this weekend when we were trying to be adventurous and take the city busses to climb a mountain - we took out the camera and no battery. If this one sentence doesn't sums up our experience so far - I don't know what does. It has been a rocky start. Anja - Lonne - Lukas and Ailsa have been on top of each other here at the apartment. We can't figure out how to be quiet. Go figure! It has been quite rainy - so the kids can't get outside much - we fight about who carries umbrellas daily.... They only have one day of gym a week, so we have taken them to the track at Hannam University (located right by our school) and run them...much like that one commercial where the guy takes the kids and runs them up the hill so he can have some peace and quiet. This is where Andrew and I are at! We have been stressed trying to get daily lesson plans done, help kids with homework and haven't had a lot of success in cooking! Our first cooking experience was with rice that was mushy - then pancakes that were burnt - no syrup - grape jelly - meal number three was spaghetti korean style - VERY tomato based!!!! Let's see. The people are very nice - and cultural elements/differences quite funny. We have been trying out restaurants and foods galore to see what we like and what the kids can - or should I say "will" eat. Most of the food is quite spicy...Yesterday, we went to a restaurant for lunch and there wasn't a lick of English on the menu. We pulled out a menu from our lunch experience after church the week before where we had written the English translation for some of the items. Needless to say, none of these items were on this particular menu. So, I asked if there was beef bulgogi (sp?) their national dish...and the waitress said something, I said OK and then she brought out an extremely spicy dish of meet with vegetables. This was served with Kimchi (this will take a long time for me and everyone else in our family to aquire the taste, but my goal is to try it in every resaurant we go in.) They bring a ton of side dishes in addition to the main meal - it is always the same side dishes,...pickled radishes, kimchi, onion, peppers, soup, some other pickled stuff...ha/ha interesting. Anyway - the main dish was way hot...then the soup needed salt - I thought she told us to take a pinch of some salt and put it in..so we did with our hands as did Lonne :) Well, after getting yelled at, we realized that this wasn't the way to add salt...The waitress went on to taste our soup with a spoon, dump one bowl into another to mix the soup and put it back on the table - CRAZY, but funny. Anyway, after this, we met another couple...took the busses for the first time to the main train/bus station and then got some English maps and went on a journey to a mountain - can't remember the name...(Andrew just looked it up - Bomunsan MT.)we hiked straight up a trecherous mountain side (my gut said this wasn't the only way - ultimately, at the top we found there was a road) dripping of sweat in like %100 humidity = made it to the observation deck to oversee the city - quite cool, but we were so hot - we could hardly stand it....then we attempted to hike more to see a temple - this didn't happen - for fear of one the kids sliding off the hill and becoming seriously injured....all in all it was a great day - we ended up having ice cream down the MT. and then taking the bus back and eating at Pizza Hut - Lukas was in heaven! Anyway - I will try to post some pictures. Today consisted of church - lunch - meeting with some colleagues - Lukas' first Rugby practice (there are quite a few teachers from New Zealand and Australia here) - Ailsa tried, but complained that no one passed her the ball - so her Rugby career was very short lived. Andrew is playing basketball on Tuesdays- the guys are quite competitive. I attempted Volleyball this past Wed. I couldn't walk for 2 days - but it's all good. Anyway - we miss you all terribly - we are fine and definitely having an experience of a lifetime. Will write soon.

Monday - Aug. 2nd. Today we were at the school by 7:30. We were in division meetings all morning. I will be at the HS and Andrew at MS. We are both going to be challenged to say the least. The expectations are high. I am teaching mostly English - writing (to be exact) to 10th graders. Andrew will be teaching 6th and 7th. He is mostly doing Social studies but also was lucky enough to get a technology class thrown in there - MYP or advanced tech - I can't help smile a little! Anyway....we went to Costco today - picture us drenched in sweat - the last ones in the store with a Costco card stuck in a locker and no money - credit cards were not accepted only a special SAMSUNG card - go figure. It was embarrassing and only something we would pull off. CRAZY?!!!!!... The rest of the staff are returning today. We had dinner with many. Tomorrow we are heading to Suwan - our sister school to meet and greet - signing off from Korea - LALALA

Hi - day 4 - full day in Korea Sunday. August 1. We woke up at 4 a.m. and are getting over jet lag. We decided we needed to get out of the apartment and get some exercise before church at 10:30. We decided to go for a walk which turned into a get-lost adventure holding the 2 little munchkins on our shoulders. We thought we would go to the river and on the walk/run on the trails by the river. This didn’t happen. We went through the neighborhoods - saw a lot of houses/pots/flowers/smells/animals ( a small kitten on a wire chain in a shop along w/ a Chihuahua w/ mom and daughter trying to talk to us in Korean/fires burning in the street/garbage/lots of stores - cell phone stores/restaurants/coffee shops…it was a bit crazy.- it was also very hot. It happened to be the hottest day yet in our experience and actually sunny. It felt like 100 degrees with high-high humidity. We were just dripping. We constantly switched kids from shoulder to shoulder and or back. Lonne isn’t able to hang on to our back )piggyback style) so it is a bit difficult. The days so far have been gloomy with maybe 5 - 10 minutes of sun - if that…. They are overcast and very humid. Today was unique with the sun/but it was sooooo hot. Anyway, getting on to my story. We finally made it to a bit of a river - it was interesting - not the river we were supposed to go to. We then made it home and jumped in the showers. We went to church. This was held in at TCIS is their auditorium. The music was good as was the service - it was long and the kids got a bit antsy - but made it - both Lonne and Anja fell asleep during the service. Lukas/Ailsa were good. We then loaded onto busses - we went on a 15 minute drive to the new campus. There were many shops/apartments/etc. there - it is a very nice part of town. We went into this department store - more up-scale and ate brunch. It was a huge brunch - a lot of food - all different kinds - a lot of seafood - crab legs/kim che/great sushi/ ice cream and deserts/etc…it was nice - we ate way too much then got back on a bus and headed to the new school site. Here we looked at the site and went on a tour w/construction hats on. It was a bit crazy. Extremely hot. Beautiful new campus - it will attract a lot of individuals - it must cost a lot. We then drove back to the school and went to another co-workers apartment to use their internet quickly. They bought us soft drinks along the way and then we cooled off in their apartment and they filled us in on the way of life in Daejeon, South Korea - we had lots of questions from how to get garbage bags to where to go for different things. It was interesting. They were very nice. I now am sitting on the couch while the kids are playing on the playground by our apartment. Lukas was invited to join in a neighborhood baseball game. We do have air conditioning and a fan -it is good. You can cool down quickly. We will write more soon.

Day 3 Saturday - full day in Korea. July 31 We woke up and had to be to the school by 7:30. We went into policy statements by the Headmaster. The school is Christian school so they definitely expect professional behavior - attending church regularly/lead by example/etc. There are quite a few responsibilities and expectations - interesting. We then had a break and got on a bus to go on a longer bus tour out to the other side of Daejeon. This was fantastic because we got to go to see the mountainous county side. It is very green - a lot of trees - a lot of agriculture or growing fruits and veggies. This was interesting. It is very pretty outside the city. We then went to this Japanese/Korean style restaurant. It was beautiful. We entered the restaurant in the countryside and took off our shoes (part of the Korean culture) we then sat on the floor on pillows to eat they had boiling pots of water inlaid to little tables. These were heated by hot rocks…they then gave us thin beef and lettuce wraps. We boiled the beef in the water and then laid it in the wraps. It was fantastic. We had many side dishes which is traditional Korean. This was cool. They had raw shrimp which we boiled. They also had kim che (not really liking this one) they have some type of root, spinach - it was good...