Halloween, Surgery the Holidays and Vacation!

Hello from the Orient!

     Its been a while since we have posted, please forgive us. A great deal has been going on. When we last posted, Neal was heading to the hospital to have shoulder surgery. He was in the hospital for two days and boy was it an adventure. It is free to stay in the hospital if you dont get your own room. So he opted to stay in a group room. This means he shared a large room with 8 other, snoring, smelly men. Needless to say, it was two of the worst nights of sleep. They wanted him to stay in the hospital for two more nights but he begged to leave. This procedure in America doesnt require an overnight stay but here in Korea they are very cautious.....In fact, a broken leg or arm can get you like a week in the hospital haha. He is doing much better and hopefully this fixes the problem so he can get back to the gym in a month or two.
      Thanksgiving was a sad time since we were away from our families and missing the Clemson-USC game but we made it through it. We ate at a military affiliated restaurant that opens to civilians on the holidays and had a turkey and ham buffet with American friends and also some Korean friends. It was delicious. As far as the USC game goes, it was still a ton of fun to watch. Fear the thumb!!!
       The weather has been very cold and one of the coldest winters in Busan ever. However, we will be escaping it and heading to the Philippines from December 26- January 1. It will be 88 there and we are going to a rather remote area with crystal clear waters. We arrive at the airport at 1 am and will sleep a bit before taking a 5am bus three hours south. Should be a nice adventure!!!
       At the time of typing this, it was Christmas Eve and we are at work. We are having a nice dinner of Sushi tonight to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple. Tomorrow on Christmas we will go ice skating with friends and then have a large pot luck in our building and play games. Should be a ton of fun. We will have people from America, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Korea. Pretty nice collection of people.
       We are also counting down until Austin and Aubrey come visit us for a week in mid January. Neal signed us all up for this large Busan event- the polar bear swim!! Should be memorable. From there we will will do lots of sightseeing, eating and all the other fun things Busan has to offer!!
       While its been a lot of fun, its also a very sad time since we are away from our family and friends. We miss everyone very much and you are always in our prayers. Enjoy your holidays, good luck to the Gamecocks in the bowl game and God Bless!

Halloween at our school. Batman and Superman!!

Our first Busan basketball game of the year. This was at halftime and they gave away huge bags of rice to the winner. Yes, you read that right.

Scenic pics of the city. (Courtest of Elliott)

Scenic pics of Busan. (Courtesty of Dillon)

The largest gaming expo in Asia was held in Busan. The pics cant do justice the amount of people and craziness.

The had girls dressed and posing as figures from the game.

Some hardcore fans dressed up!

My food in the hospital. All Korean, all day. 

Taco Bell in Seoul!!!!

Fleming and I having our pictures drawn, to the display of many gawking people at the Christmas festival.

Its uncanny!!!

The Christmas tree festival!

Santa Con. A way for us teacher to raise money for the Philippines.

Fleming and Lee Ann

Singing Christmas Carols in front of a convenience store and having our pictures taken by tons of Korean college students.

First Christmas as a married couple!

The view from Seoul Tower. Crazy how big that city is.

Visiting an old fort in Seoul while it snowed.

First snow we had seen in three years!!!

Subway in Seoul!!! I ate it three times in two days.

My thanksgiving plate at the buffet. Well the first of many...

Festivals, Medical Issues and Vacations!!

Annyeonghasayo everyone,

           At lot has happened since we last posted. This is Halloween week and boy has the weather changed. Its still nice during the day but its getting very cold at night and in the morning. I am no fan of cold weather to say the least. However, we are still having too much fun to complain. We are looking to forward to Christmas for more than the normal reasons. We booked an amazing vacation from December 26-Jan 1 in Cebu, Philippines. We are leaving the crowded tourist areas and heading off the beaten path a bit. We arrive at like 1:30 am and will be taking a 5:00am bus, three hours north. From there we will be taking a ferry to a small island and staying at an amazing resort. This place is like a postcard- white beaches and crystal clear water. We have the option of riding horses on the beach, kayaking, diving and fishing and many more things. Its all very cheap and we plan to take advantage of it all. We are going during the peak time and its still only like 40 dollars a night. Victory! Below is the website of our lodgings. Feel free to check it out.

http://www.stafebeach.com/

         There has been a great deal of amazing festivals lately and we have been taking advantage of them. At the beginning of October we took a bus about an hour north to a place called Jinju. This was the site of the Jinju Lantern Festival and one of Korea's best festivals. Words and pictures dont do justice to the sights, lights and beauty of this. There are hundreds of lit up decorations in the river, miles of games, food vendors and events, and handmade tunnels of lanterns hand created. We even rode a boat on the river to really take it in. The city also has an ancient fortress that was amazing. The city was attacked and under siege for two years in 1591. Loved the place. We have attached a few pictures in the hope of showing you.

          Busan also had its two largest festivals of the year in October. First was the International Film Festival in which many movies are screened, including movies that show at the Cannes Film Festival. I bout tickets online the minute they went on sale and many were sold out in between 40 seconds and 2 minutes. We got lucky and got tickets to the winner of the Cannes Film Festival called "Blue is the Warmest Color" and a movie with Robert Redford called "All is Lost." I highly suggest seeing them both. They have red carpets all over town, festivities and lots of fun. Quentin Tarantino even came to visit. I wish we could have gone to see him though. The Busan Fireworks festival was also held on October 26. This takes place at the beach 5 minutes behind our house. Over 3 million US dollars are spent on fireworks and over a million people come watch. Its easy to see how much tourism comes to the city as a result. It was packed but amazing. The entire show was basically a grand finale.

          As of writing this, tomorrow, on Halloween, I will be having long overdue shoulder surgery. Its called an acromioplasty. The doctors will cut a bone in my shoulder in half so that it will stop the friction on my muscle. I have not been able to workout at the gym in four months and have trouble lifting heavy items. If I didnt enjoy working out and being active in my PE classes, I probably wouldnt have it done as it doesnt interfere with my daily activities. However, I am doing it for the future and hope for a smooth recovery. Im told like 6 weeks I will be good but it will be like 4-5 months before I can do heavy weights and things. Im pretty competitive so Ill see if I can beat those tables!

          We miss everyone and hope all is well. Say a few prayers for us. Have a great Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Fireworks show. Amazing. 

What the streets looked like for the fireworks show. Restaurants and coffee shops were charging like 200 dollars for a table by window.

 

Dillon and I went to opening night at a soup place. This "lady" groped us while we posed.

Jinju lantern festival. Behind us is the fortress on the river. So pretty.

Fleming's action shot in a tunnel of lanterns.

Another tunnel of lanterns. All handmade and set up.

Coming out of the tunnel.

The lanterns were creative. Ranging from Spongebob to the flag.

Decorations in the river. They were themed from around the world.

This festival was quite crowded...That is the street and the lit up river.

This fountain just before it soaked that little girl.

Friends we made at the Oktoberfest. Yes, in Korea...They were from Kazakhstan!!

The best money I ever spent on a shirt.

Das married couple.

Beer and Brats!

The shark tank that we will be scuba diving in at the Busan aquarium.

What I do on Sunday afternoons after church and watching football online, all night.

We did some surfing and it was awesome. Cant wait to get back out there.

Red carpet at the film festival. 

Amazing buffet. We killed that sushi!!

Fall is here and time is flying

         Hello from Busan! Time is flying. We have already been here for 3 months and have seen summer come and go. Fall is creeping in and so is the weather. It was once the hottest summer that anyone can remember and now it is back to early fall temperatures of around 78 degrees. The beach is empty now and baseball season is finishing this weekend. However, there are still tons of outdoor activities to do. Volleyball is still being played on Sundays at the beach and now on Monday nights with a bunch of Koreans thanks to a friend of mine. Fleming and I can also start hiking now that the weather is cooler. Busan and all of Korea are mostly mountains. It is a national pastime and we are eager to start climbing those trails.
           School is going well and we are set for a nice chuck of vacation starting soon. September 18-22 will be a five day weekend thanks to the holiday called Chuseok. This is basically Korean thanksgiving. We are have some other random days off in September and October and we are not complaining. We had hoped to take a weekend trip to Tokyo or Hong Kong in October but it is not looking like it will happen due to some school stuff going on. This is also a busy time for projects and things. However, we will get there soon.
            We continue to meet more and more awesome people from all around the world. This is one of the best parts of living abroad. Over Chuseok break, we will be attending a church retreat for one night and also possibly traveling outside the city to visit another area. We had hoped to maybe visit Seoul or another area but tickets on trains and buses and flights are impossible to get and have long since been booked. Nevertheless, there is so much to do that we will stay busy!
            There hasnt been much going on in the past month other than work and enjoying the weekends. Now that football has started, I have found myself watching the games on the internet in the middle of the night. This has wears my out but I refuse to miss a Gamecock game. Fleming, however, has remained snoring and in bed during our games. We should have some much more interesting stuff ahead of us with vacation times coming up and the weather changing. We will continue to pray for everyone and think of you. Take care and Go Gamecocks!!!

Beach season is officially over. This is a picture of the biggest beach in Busan. It holds the Guinness book of records for the most umbrellas on a beach at one time.

What better than a free dinosaur park on the top of the world's largest department store????? Fleming only allows me to go once a month. She is so mean. She was embarrassed when I played the Jurassic Park music on my phone when we walked around.

A pirate ship at the dinosaur park. Fleming said I could be captain. Only me, not those kids. I am a bigger than them and its my ship.

I have implemented an incentive program for my classes. They can earn Neal dollars to be redeemed for candy, Ramen noodles, stickers and American coins. 

Birthday party for Fleming's class!

A lesson on pilgrims by Fleming. One chunky boy must have thought it was ninjas that came to America.

One of my classes making restaurant menus. 

A church event for married couples in which we played games, had dinner and enjoyed fellowship.

An area of town of great color but lower income. Photo courtesy of Elliott Klinger.

The teachers at my school were all given Chuseok holiday gifts. I received a wine set while my Korean teachers received smelly, dried fish. USA 1 Korea 0

An evening picnic at a hidden part of the city. We went there with two Korean friends. Amazing view.

Same place but behind us is one of the nicest areas of the city. Those apartments are like 40 stories and veryyyy expensive. 

For our dinner picnic, we had raw fish. He is a little fish market nearby where we purchased our fish.

Here is our dinner. One halibut and two smaller fish made the ultimate sacrifice. Their sacrifice was honored with soy sauce, spicy sauce and beer. 

The freshest raw fish you will ever have. Literally 5 minutes from swimming to filleted. 

Fleming and some friends going 7 am yoga on the beach. Not many better ways to start the day.