Rachel goes to Hawaii

Rachel got paid to go to Hawaii with one of Chris' coworkers to watch her 12 yr old daughter. Rough job, huh? Getting paid to sit on the sand, do some surfing, eat some pineapple...
She put some pics up on the website, including some of her in her new kimono, her new bedspread and some other stuff, so here they are.

Europe

I flew out to meet Chris in Garmisch, Germany-he was there on business, so we thought we'd get in a vacation while he had the opportunity. A couple days later, we flew from Munich to Rome, so Chris and I could attend our friends Fernando and Laura's wedding reception in Capestrano, Italy. We had a great time with his family, and just hanging out and having a good time. It was an unbelievably beautiful place and we'd love to go back. We spent an extra 4 days there, we loved it so much! Then we headed to Venice for two days, which was great. We had fun wandering around the canals and getting lost :). We took a sleeper train to Vienna, stayed there for two days where we hit some unfortunate weather, but ran into some friends we had made on the train and had a good time anyway. Then we were off to Munich and Darmschtadt to visit Beth, Rich and their two kids, and soon we were back in Munich and flying home. It was a great two weeks, but we really needed at least another two. We had planned to visit Eastern Europe, but the trains were long and we stayed in Italy about 6 days longer than planned! We're pretty happy with our trip and enjoyed what ended up being a pretty good honeymoon (long overdue!). But, here are some pics to show what we did. I didn't get too many of the reception cuz I was having camera difficulties, but the rest came out okay.

Visits from the fam...

Well, the big day finally arrived! We had been waiting for the family to visit for so long, we couldn't quite believe they were here. I'll just give a day-by-day account of how we spent the next two weeks (to make it easier on me), and hopefully the pictures will make the commentary a litle more interesting. Mom and Em arrived on the Tuesday before Rachel's last day of school. Chris, like his usual sweet self, made dinner while Rach and I picked them up at the airport. No one was too jet-lagged (adrenaline and all that), so we stayed up for a few hours talking and planning. The next day we had to get everyone access to post, and afterward Mom and Em had their first Korean meal! We went to Woori Garden in Itaewon, and ate samgyupsal (pork belly) and bulgogi. Everyone loved it, and we had a blast. In fact, the waitresses remember us now, because we keep bringing in large groups of people and I keep asking for my favorite side dish odang, which means "fish cake". Yummm.
Friday was Rachel's last day of school and Mom had some jet lag, so Em and I went to check out Planet Doota in Dongdaemun. This store is awesome- 9 floors of shopping. We also checked out a building across the street that was rumored to have American-size clothing. It was all closed but one floor, and Em found a really cute dress :).
Saturday we got up really early and with my friend Becky, drove down to Yeoju pottery town. It's about a 2 hour drive, and we spent about 4 hours shopping and haggling prices with the shopkeepers. We got some pretty good deals! I'll include pictures of the pottery when I put up the photos on the website. After a long, tiring day of shopping, we ate at a Chinese restaurant on the edge of town that was incredible. There aren't too many good chinese restaurants around, and this definitely had a more Korean flavor, but it was fantastic, and I think the restaurant owner was shocked to have 5 white women walk in! Haha... they were really nice though.
Sunday was the day we were all looking forward to though-our visit to Myeong-dong. This is hands-down Rachel's and my favorite place and we knew Mom and Em would love it as much as we did. We always start the shopping at a department store we found that has fantastic deals-super cheap, cute clothing-4 floors! We hit jackpot, and Em (our main shopper) found quite a few things she liked. Rachel and I had found a store she calls "the fairy store" 'cuz most of the clothes are very feminine, and soft, and sparkly. "Action SSA Vissage" I think it's called. So of course that was the next place we hit, with great success there as well. We ate at the best restaurant in Myeong-dong, that serves Jimtak- steamed chicken that is cooked with sweet potato noodles, carrots, onions, potatoes, and lots of red peppers! They serve it in a large, wide bowl, with scissors to cut the noodles. The first time I ate it was with our friend James, and his then-girlfriend Jo, who ordered it regular (with bones). We always take the easy way out now and order the boneless. It's quite a feat getting chicken off the bones with a slim pair of metal chopsticks!
Monday, while Em came to Tae Kwon Do class with me, Mom and Rachel went into Itaewon and talked to our tailor. He was able to make a nice leather jacket for Mom, and it's a stunning red color!
Tuesday we went into Dongdaemun and visited the fabric market. We spent a few hours in the labyrinth looking for fabrics for the church, and just wandering around. The market we visit there is a series of 4 interconnected building, each with 5 floors, and each filled with individual vendor's booths. They sell every kind of fabric, fur, leather, beads, and craft supplies you could imagine! We spent a lot of time looking at the silk fabric used for the hanbok, the Korean traditional costume. Rachel and I plan to each have one made before we leave...
Wednesday we visited Namdaemun, and Mom and Em shopped for souvenirs. There is a building that sells Korean traditional gifts, and we spent a couple hours wandering around in there looking at little soju cups, embroidered compacts, business card holders, and tons of other things.
Thursday Dad flew in, and Rachel and I went to pick him up. He wasn't too tired that evening, so we all went to Yongsan Electronics Market to look around and get some dinner. There was a new Korean restaurant that had opened up there, with a beautiful view of the Yongsan neighborhood. We had a great time introducing everyone to kalbi (beef barbeque), mackerel stew, and all the little side dishes that come with the meal. There were only a few of us who were brave enough to try the raw squid though :).
Friday, Rachel had graduation practice-the big day was almost upon us! I don't think anyone could believe that "the baby" would finally be out of high school. The rest of us played at the Electronics market while she was busy. (see post about Rachel's graduation below)
Saturday, after graduation and eating at the Navy Club, since it was such a beautiful clear day, we headed down to Namsan Hill, to Seoul Tower, to get a look at the cityscape. Unfortunately the tower itself was closed, but we still had a pretty great view from the top pavilion before we decided to head to Namsangol Folk Village. In Korea, you can find traditional folk villages that are set up displaying Korean culture throughout the centuries, have live shows, and traditional games to play. Anyway, we happened to be visiting this one during a festival, so it was packed with people and there was plenty to see.

Family visit, cont'd

Sunday we all went to Insadong and had tonkatsu (breaded and fried pork cutlet with a dark sauce) and smoked chicken at the cutest little place that was filled with plants and tucked away over the shops at the beginning of the street. We just wandered around and explored this area known as the artists' district-filled with art galleries, ancient brass figures, wooden carvings by monks, pretty fans, handmade paper, and more.
Monday was our last day with Mom and Em, and Rach and I took the two of them to Changgyeonggung, a palace and shrine in northeast Seoul. It was an incredibly hot day, so we took our time exploring, and finished out the day in Itaewon looking at antiques.
Tuesday was sad, as we had to put Mom and Em on an airplane home. We had such a good time while they were here. It was so nice to finally be able to show them the places we had talked about for so long...
Wednesday and Thursday we checked out Kim's club, a Korean grocery store, to pick up a few items to cook, and Namdaemun market-so Dad could do his souvenir shopping. It was a rainy couple days, so we were hopping from awning to awning checking out chopsticks, t-shirts, and lots of other stuff.
Friday we visited another palace-this time Gyeongbokgung. This is the only palace in Korea that has a pavilion over water. Absolutely beautiful place! That evening, Dad took us out to eat at Sancheon Mountain Village. This restaurant was incredible! It serves Temple food (food that monks eat, basically), and they serve you full meal with an array of vegetarian dishes, and there is a live performance as well. It was pretty amazing, and we had a great time. They even pulled Dad and I up on to the floor with some other people to participate in a traditional dance thing. It was so cool. We had a blast. :)
Saturday was another cool day. We took the subway down to Suwon, about 50 min. Suwon is a city-fortress. Back in the day, the entire city was surrounded by a wall complete with archery towers. Now, the city has grown outside the walls, and you can walk the length of the wall, about 5.7 km (less than 3 miles). We walked about 1/2 the wall, which just happened to be the only non-level part! Very steep, good workout :). We also payed a couple thousand won to ring a huge bell that looked out over the city. Three rings symbolize a prayer for the health of your family, for peace for your ancestors and for the happiness of your descendants...or something of that nature. We didn't realize how symbolic it was until afterward, because the placquard that explained it was around the corner-so there might have been some irreverence on our part. Whoops...
Anyway, it was lots of fun, and we finished off the day by eating at Woori Garden, which Dad claimed was the best meal he had had yet in Korea.
We had such a wonderful time with our family, and it felt so strange not to have any guests in the apartment the next day. Oh well, back to normal I guess. Check out all the pics here.