Update of photos

Cirque Du Soleil was incredible! The talent and work they put into that show is absolutely amazing.

Korean Karaoke. Belting out some classic Backstreet Boys tunes.

A temple in Gyeongju

Some of our fellow Trinity folk in Gyeongju.

Cruisin through Korea.

This was our hotel arrangements.

So... all these Koreans in Gyeongju couldn't get enough of the 6 white people in the park. We were famous for about an hour while we had our pictures taken non-stop. Mark was a bit hit.

A beautiful day in Gyeongju.

A Weekend in Gyeongju

We finally made it out of the city. We've been here in Korea for 2 months and have not seen outside of Seoul. However, Seoul is rather huge, so it's not terribly surprising.

This last weekend we went on a trip through Discover Korea travel agency with some friends and had an incredible time. It was a long 4 hour bus trip down to then get our bikes and tour around the area of Gyeongju, which is known for it's beautiful Cherry Blossoms. We had gorgeous weather and even have sunburns to prove it! The best part was just the time spent with the two other couples we went with (all of us our of Trinity origin).

We discovered new foods to experiment with at home and ones to left be in the past. We hit up the sauna beside our hotel. We slept at an authentic Korean hotel (6 in one room, hardwood floors, no beds, blankets & lowsy pillows only). Our buns were worked to the core trekking around on our bikes. We mosied through the Silla Dynasty museum. Acted as photo subjects for dozens of Koreans with fancy camera's who must have never seen a white person before. We posed for photos in meadows. We toured a buddhist temple on Sunday morning. The two day weekend felt exceptionally long and the little sleep was well worth it.

Here's a couple photos we shot of the weekend. I'm terrible at remembering to take photos, so I have the brunt end of the batch, but once we swap I'll post some better ones on facebook :)

The boys in a majestic meadow with a pink bike

Doing typical girl poses

Classic couple shot in the meadow

Observations in Nowon

We've had a great week, which has again flown by! First, we want to give a shout out to baby Lana. We now have our first niece and we can't wait to meet her!! We just can't believe she'll be a year old once we finally get the first chance to hold her. Thank goodness for skype and being able to witness Tobin meeting his little sister for the first time.

Being away from home has been a bit harder lately, but 10 more months in the grand scheme of life is really not too long... at least that's what I have to constantly convince myself of.

We decided to put together a little list of some of the many observations that makes Korea unique. Hope you enjoy.

1. Kimchi heals all.

2. You can wait at a crosswalk for 5 minutes and no cars are in sight, yet still no one will even dare jay-walk.

3. Like Thailand, pedestrians here have absolutely no right of way.

4. The food tends to be ridiculously expensive. Case and point: one bottle of maple syrup costs $40!

5. Koreans think that unless they're standing with their nose to the elevator, subway, or any other door in a public place... that they will be trapped on it for life.

6. Kids go to school here 6 days of the week from 8:30am to sometimes 10pm. It can be a challenge to keep them awake during class.

7. We have people deemed the 'Trash Fairies'. Basically an early morning cleaning crew that consists of little old retired folk to hide the chaos from the night before.

8. Watch your step: you might step in puke. It's common to see extremely drunk business men walking the streets or swaying/belting out a nice tune on the subway.

9. Everywhere in Seoul we've been looks pretty much the same.

10. There are octopus tentacles on the pizza here.

11. In most Korean restaurants you are required to dine without your shoes on.

12. It's true that of all the asian foods Korea has the least amount of flavor, but the BBQ here is superb (Nathan would definitely attest).

13. When we go to Costco, we get a hotdog and salad, while the Koreans load up their plates with free onions, ketchup, and mustard... mix it up and gorge. They even use foil for onions to go. You'd think they were starving here by having to get free onions for an entire meal at Costco, but then you look at their cart, which is completely full, and realize they must just really like onions.

14. Kidney beans are used as a dessert.

15. Kids have no shame and will just come up to stare and point at the 'foreigner'.

16. Radiation rain is a big concern. If there's the slightest mist in the air all umbrella's and face masks are out... and that's for those that have the nerves to step outside of their homes.

17. If you ask for directions somewhere and they're not sure how to get you there, they will claim it simply does not exist.

18. Everyone and their MOM dresses ultra trendy. 

19. Oh, and you know you're still in Korea when you go to an Indian restaurant to get curry, yet kimchi is still an important sidedish.


None of these are meant to be taken in a negative way. We've found the people here to generally be quite helpful; however, we do run into those that shoo us away (especially taxi drivers). Nathan is slowly learning to read the language and I'm a bit behind, but we're recognizing more things/phrases and just feeling more and more comfortable here. We often forget we're halfway across the world in a tiny country and surrounded by people who we have no way of communicating with... other than pointing and nodding.

Well, that sums it up on our end. Keep us in the loop back home!

Sincerely,
The Pogue's

March was good, April will be better!

Almost 3 months since we've been gone from home. It's amazing how time flies, yet there are those moments where home seems a lot further away than just 3 months ago. I find it amazing how comfortable we can be here in such a short time and with everything being so foreign. I'm thankful this is the case.

Nathan and I are now beginning to step out and get involved in other extra-curricular activities, which will only deepen the value of our time spent here. Nathan has joined a soccer team, which plays on Sundays. It's apparently the best league to play in for the foreign population and can be a feeder league into the semi-pro/pro teams here in Korea. Don't worry, we don't have any intention YET in getting Nathan into that level. Although... I'm sure he's capable.

I've been able to begin doing hot yoga again, which some of you know I have missed desperately. I cherish it as my time to get away to think, work, and sweat. I think I'm probably the only 'white girl' that attends there and no one speaks English, not even the instructor, but I love having the opportunity to get involved here.

This next week we are beginning a bible study with some friends of ours here... all of whom went to Trinity. We all are scattered throughout Seoul, so we'll be meeting in the middle to start discussing the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Great book and the reread will do Nathan and I both really well. We're excited to be able to dive into the word with these people God has placed in our lives.

In other news... I had my Korean birthday just last week! I've skipped a year and have now turned 25 in Korea. Apparently you turn 1 as SOON as you're out of the womb here, and if your birthday falls before the lunar year, you jump forward another year. Yes, it's strange and I have NO clue what the reasoning is. So some of our 4th grade kids say their 11, when in our counting years are actually 9. It was a great birthday filled with Nathan showering me with gifts, the kids telling me 'congratulations teacher', receiving cards from home, and dinner out at a newly discovered Vietnamese restaurant. Love the Pho'!

April is looking like it will be a nice and busy month. We're heading south for a weekend bike trip with some friends, we're going on a fieldtrip to some ancient ruins with the kiddo's, AND we're going to Cirque Du Soleil on Apr. 23 here!! Then May comes and we have an entire week off!!

I'll try to get some photos of our school this week so you can see where we spend most of our time.

We miss you all back home. It's been wonderful to be able to Skype with many of you. If you have a Skype account let us know and we'd love to schedule a date :).

Have a happy weekend. Here are some pictures below of Nathan's first soccer game (yes, he's wearing basketball shorts and one black and one blue sock) and me just after I received my birthday cards in the mail!