The DMZ tour - heart and seoul

The sofa in our Korean stype hotel room!! (everything is on the floor)

Our little balcony - so cute!!

There's my bed!! Sorta padded...sorta not...but quite warm! (floor heaters)

The DMZ - DeMilitarized Zone between North and South Korea - this is a SK soldier on guard in the TaeKwonDo position to protect us. Yikes!

Blue buildings - SK Big gray building - NK Yeah, that close!

Taking a closer look at that North Korean border and the soldier spying on us

A NK watch tower - we were told not to point, gesture, "or otherwise communicate with the North Koreans"

Looking into NK territory

That's a NK Propaganda Village in the DMZ behind me.


The Bridge of No Return. After the Korean War, people could choose which side they wanted to cross into, but once they did, they could never go back.


My ID pass!!


Photo Line: You can't take pictures of NK from as close as that wall, so the soldiers make you stand behind the photo line, which means you can barely see anything with your camera.


A view from behind the line. Hazy NK.


Anna Tam and Jennifer Hutchinson - both Canadian, and lovely friends!!


Sarah, Sarah, and Mike - some other friends on the trip


Everybody on the bus traveling back from the DMZ!


Restaurant in Seoul - these are Sarah's leftovers...the waiter laughed at our Oompa Loompa creation.



Playing a little game while waiting for food.


Coldstone Creamery!! Only in Seoul, not in our town of Daejeon. A real treat!!

More actual text, thoughts, and words coming - I'm tired tonight. Enjoy!

Pic Link

This is a public link to some more pics that I posted on Facebook.
Copy and paste into your web browser! :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013812&l=6c431&id=118900378

Soccer Jamboree and Canadian Thanksgiving are the orders of the day.

Some pics for my family!!

Anna's birthday!! I made banana cake with homemade cream cheese frosting!

Lighting the 25 candles....

Up on our apartment roof later to celebrate - with fireworks and sparklers!!!

And bowling to top it all off. I definitely had the lowest score. :)

Anna, Jen, and there's Sarah grinning happily.

Anna, bowling a strike for sure!!!


My weekend with the dear Erin Curley - enjoyed every minute of my time with my college friend!


Let me just tell you. Noodles are NOT easy to eat with chopsticks!!!


At a little theme park in Daejeon, playing around on a playground.


Roaming the downtown streets of Daejeon....and pondering life together...

I still am not very good at keeping my camera with me at all times. But I'll try to keep posting for the benefit of those who can't get on Facebook!!

Mind and Emotions - a tumbling

I saw a souped-up, tricked-out Mini Cooper today, all bells and whistles. Oddly, it was the first Mini Cooper I’ve seen here in South Korea.

There was a freshness to the air tonight, walking home from school at twilight. With twilight coming earlier and earlier, it is a nice, homey thing to walk home in the gathering dusk at 5:30pm, thinking of dinner in my apartment and a quiet evening. I think it must have been cleaning day in Daejeon because everything seemed picked up and organized. The street corners were passable, the kagaes were swept and stacked, the recycling bin areas were straightened and spiffied up. All in all, it felt like a new beginning to the week. And yet, even with all the freshness – in the air, in the cleanliness – there was a sense of familiarity, as if this cool air had been here last autumn, had gone around the world and now was back, carrying with it all the scents and memories and happiness of fall leaves and family dinners around the world. It was a well-worn and comfortable air.

Certainly a relief from the usual general odor of Korea!

I walked to school this morning with a sense of dread, knowing that I am overwhelmed and not knowing what to do about it. But I always seem to shrug that feeling off by the time I walk home. It’s certainly not conscious because I still know that I am in over my head! But coming home, wherever home is, has always been a relieving thought. Will it continue to be this way, all my life?

But I'm tired, oh so tired. Can I keep living this way after all?