date night.

ryan and i went to one of the larger department stores here.  (it's similar to a super target.)  we each had $20 and 45 minutes.  our mission: to by the other person the perfect gift without going over budget.  we needed the 45 minutes, because this store is 5 stories high.

the end result:

ryan got me a sketchbook, sketch pencils, a pocket journal, pencils, an eraser, pencil sharpener, indoor fuzzy socks and a contraption to hang all my jewelry on.  well done.

i got ryan a pedometer that tracks distance walked, the amount of time that has been walked, speed, steps, calories burned, and it tells time.

currently reading

ryan's book.

katie's book.

musical english at school.

 the children put on a musical at school.  they performed peter pan, snow white and two popular korean fairytales.  this is me with peter pan, tinker bell and captain hook

snow white.  the kid in the dress is a boy who had to play the witch.  he cried when they tried to put a wig on him.  poor thing

this is peter pan with a magical gate and a parrot.  maybe they ran out of characters to cast, so they made up a magical gate and parrot.  i don't know.

an atwosome day

today we decided to go ice skating.  it had been years since both of us had.  the outdoor rink was packed with people- mostly children flailing their arms all around and diving all over the ice, which made it fun.

it only cost a little under one dollar per person for an hour.  we lasted about 45 minutes until our toes started tingling and going numb.

also, there was this crazy red pigeon.  a lot of the children were chasing it around like it was carrying candy or something.  poor thing.

we ended the date at a cafe called a twosome place, (or as we like to call it, atwosome place) where we enjoyed some hot beverages, lunch, and protection from the icy wind.

we then played "ugly face", and i won, obviously.

burgers the size of my face

we finally found burgers, and they are good.

war memorial

south korea has an amazing war memorial.  it was unlike anything we have ever seen.  in the states, you just don't see history like this.  they have documented and collected weapons and uniforms from wars dated back in the 50A.D.  in some display cases they have built miniature replica war scenes that play out a battle.

they already have on display the north korean torpedo that attacked the south korean ship, cheonan.

we were able to go to the 3D movie that allowed us to get a feel for what it is like to fly a fighter jet.

we also go to shoot this gun, (duck hunt style), at a bullseye on a digital screen in order to know what it's like to shoot a gun used in war.  it had a pretty hard kick-back.

future warrior suit:

this is an art piece made of dog tags in the shape of a tear drop.  there is a plaque below the drop that reads:

In remembrance of the Korean soldiers and UN military participants who lost their lives in the Korean War, the respect towards the warriors (1,300 identification tags) has been embodied as tear drops. The iron thorns symbolise the horror, suppression and danger of the tragic war. The circle on the sand below represents the wave of the drop.

we're rich

korean won makes us feel like we are loaded.  but we're not.  it's just an illusion.

in today's explorations we saw...

we went to one of the artsy neighborhoods of seoul.  there were tons of great restaurants, cafes, bars, shops and a lot of wall art.  it reminded me a lot of portland.


a burger joint dedicated to justin timberlake.

i want this on a t-shirt!

a used clothing store with puppets and stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling.

floor 1: cafe
floor 1.5: coffee shop also serving cocktails
floor 3: hair salon

bunny cupcake flavor titles included:
blue: "bunny that sipped coffee"
yellow: "bunny that ate a banana"
pink: "bunny that swallowed an apple"
white: "bunny that tasted vanilla"

to end the day, we found a "fun photo shop."  This place was great!  you walk in, pick out your wig or hat, hop into a photo booth, (try to figure out what the directions are since they are all in korean), and start posing.  after your finished making your best faces you get to edit the photos by adding little cartoon decals like bows, sunglasses, crowns, hearts, ears, etc.  then it's printed as a sticker.  we will definitely be frequenting this place.

all-seasons wreath?

this is a wreath i made out of paper for our apartment.  our walls are so bare, it needed something.  i'm hoping it can be a year-round wreath, but we will see how i feel after march.

date night.

it's hard not to buy one of these every time we go into our local bakery.  especially since they come with poppers.  but just this one time, we decided to have date night with one of these lovely cookies and cream cheese cakes and a movie.

tokyo part 3

we were fortunate to be able to go out to a fancy japanese dinner with the hinos while we were in tokyo.  we sat in our own private room and we definitely ate things we have never before eaten.  it was a great dinner.

this slate that they cooked all of our food on is actual lava rock from mount fuji.

our table was in the ground.  so we sat on the floor and our legs were able to hang down into the floor.

everything was so beautifully prepared and in the most gorgeous dishes.  this was a pallet-cleansing salad.

and then came time for all the meat.  ryan was so excited.  our cooks were beautiful japanese women dressed in traditional kimono. we had pork, shrimp and beef.  when they prepared the shrimp, they cut off the tail, but kept the rest of the body on the grill to make it nice and crispy.  it was the first time that we had eaten an ENTIRE shrimp.

the location of the restaurant was in the middle of what could have been paradise.  it was surrounded by cherry blossoms, hugged by a tiny stream that released a small waterfall hovering above flowers.

we had a wonderful trip visiting the hinos and tokyo.  we taught them how to do ugly face, shaky face and to play our favorite card game, 1400.

proud parents

we woke up this morning at 5 a.m. because our hamster broke free from his home and crawled into our bed and snuggled with us on our pillow.  his squirming woke up ryan and freaked him out.  once ryan put power ranger back in his home, he crawled back in bed and we both agreed that we have the coolest hamters ever.

we were also delighted to find some avocados at the foreign market!  we are just hoping they will soften and be eatable.