Proud parents of a red belt :) 

This is the Tae Kwon Do demonstration team. Master Lee is far left, and Master Choi is front right.  

This is Rachel doing a flying sidekick over 3 people. 

This is Anthony doing a roundoff back layout. 

Saturday in Icheon

Saturday we went down to Icheon, childhood home of Master Lee, for Rachel's Tae Kwon Do demonstration. It was a long trip, and since the team is not school-funded, it involved taking the subway to the bus station, then getting on a bus for an hour, then walking 2 km from the bus station to the spot for the demonstration. They actually had two demonstrations Saturday, one at the festival grounds of the 3rd Annual Ceramic Bienale, which is a festival that displays Korean pottery, traditional and contemporary, and also teaches you how it's all made. The second demonstration was downtown Icheon, on a street corner basically, in a shopping area. The first demonstration went so well! Everything went so smoothly, no one made any mistakes, and the crowd was huge (lots of kids) and loved every minute! Master Lee's mom made everyone lunch, and we feasted on kimbop, pickled radish, bbq and fried chicken, and lots of fresh fruit. It was yummy! While the kids were taking a break (resting their feet which were pretty battered from performing on brick), Chris, James and I walked around and looked at all the pottery, and checked out the square where they were having what we guessed was tea tasting. Either that, or they were just serving tea! Don't know for sure, but I didn't get a picture, because Rachel kept the camera. There was a large square of fabric set down and there was a tea "station" every couple of square feet, where a woman in a hanbok (traditional Korean garment) was kneeling with a little wooden table and a hot plate, and making and serving tea. There were also lines of fabric in the middle of the square-totalling maybe 50 women serving tea. Families of 3 or 4 would kneel in front of the woman, talking while the leaves were steeping. In the background, a band of women were walking in a circle and playing the Korean drums. The loud banging of the drums seemed to clash with the peace and calm of the "tea party", but no one seemed to mind.
We headed back over to the group and found out we were going to be walking the 2 km back into town for the next demonstration. We walked to a cute little shopping area where 2 roads converged into one, and the triangle that was formed as a result was the spot for the next show. All of the kids were pretty tired by this point-I think this was the first time they had done 2 in one day. They were good sports though. While the kids were taking a short break on the sidewalk, a crowd had started to gather. The TKD uniforms do stick out quite a bit. Almost immediately after the kids had started warming up, the crowd doubled, then tripled in size! There were over a hundred people there-young kids, twenty-somethings, and older men and women. There were also restaurants on the 2nd and 3rd stories of some of the shops, and people were watching from the windows. Several of the stunts had to be performed a couple times, because the kids were too tired to get it on the first try, but they laughed it off and the crowd laughed with them. Everyone enjoyed the demonstration, and overall they were great!
This might be the last big demonstration of the year, so I'm glad we got to go, and glad I took lots of pictures. I put a couple on this blog, but you can click here to see the rest!

and the yellow dust comes rollin in...

The last week has been hell for the sinuses! Yellow dust has been blowing in from the Gobi desert, and instead of the customary smog as far as the eyes can see, swirling clouds of dust have taken its place. It's quite a site to see the Korean police stationed every 100 feet on the pavement, wearing masks so they don't suffocate. Of course, its not a good idea to stay outside for too long, as we've learned by the many splitting headaches we've had this week.
In other news, the teacher of the AVID class I work with has finally gotten her own classroom! Rachel and I sewed some drapes and got some plants, and along with the rest of the class are trying to cheer the place up a bit. It was an old book storage closet, so it's rather unorthodox for a class room. First of all, it's L-shaped. A bit awkward, but oh well! Second, it's rather tiny... But it's all ours! It's nice not to be shuffled from classroom to library and back again.
I got my green belt last Friday! I'm well on my way to black (haha, yeah right). Rachel on the other hand, is expecting to get her black belt by the end of the school year. Speaking of Tae Kwon Do, she has another demonstration this Saturday-in Icheon at the Ceramic Biennale Festival. They are actually having two demonstrations-one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. Hopefully, we'll get some good pictures and I'll post them as soon as possible on the website.
Chris is working nights again this week, so he's enjoying sleeping late, and I"m enjoying seeing him more during the day :). We've got big plans to do some plant shopping this weekend, to brighten up our apartment with some plants. Hopefully, the dust will take a break and let us get out and about this weekend.

New pics

Well, I said I'd post a link when I finally put some pictures up, so here it is. Here is where you'll find pictures from Cocoa Beach (plenty of pics of our godchildren playing on the beach!), and a couple of new ones of us in the "Family Shots" album. Enjoy!

Back in Seoul

We're back home, after two weeks in the States! Florida was rather cool and windy, until the last two days I was there-then it was extremely muggy and overcast. Oh well, I still had a great time relaxing with a book on the beach while Chris worked (poor thing!). I also got to see my best friend and my godchildren-Shy, her husband Eric, and their kids Eric and Sally. We took the kids to Disney's Animal Kingdom, and they came down to Cocoa Beach one day to play at the beach .
I flew into New Orleans on Easter Sunday, and went straight to eat shrimp poboys with Mom and Emily. Ahh, I miss those... The next fews were spent relaxing and eating more good food-all the faves. Believe it or not, there was a cold snap while I was home. So much for the warm Louisiana weather I was craving. I got to see some of the cousins, and spend time with a friend I've had since 3rd grade, who I hadn't seen in about 5 years! It was a great week.
It is getting warmer here now, though, so that's a relief anyway. We're still feeling a little jet lag-just going to bed around 8 or 9, and getting up at 6 or 7 am, so it's not too bad. It does take a couple days to get used to the pollution again. My lungs just need to be recoated with gunk, and I'll be fine...
Rachel's TKD demonstration was cancelled for today (Saturday). She's just enjoying the thought of an entire week off of school. Spring break started on Friday, so she's enjoying sleeping in. I think Chris works nights next week, so we might all three be home during the day! That never happens.
Well, sometime this weekend, I might put up some pictures of our Florida trip. I'll put a link here to them, when I finally do it.