Public transportation is the only way to travel here in Korea. Korea is one of the safest countries in the world apparently, as long as you don't drive! I could not imagine driving here, the roads are crazy all the time. Nevertheless, taking public transportation is not without its own set of adventures. Generally, the subway is calm and not crowded, and taxis are cheap and fast, but taking the bus is another story. Jon and I take the bus the most of all, because we are on very good routes and it is very cheap. It is certainly an adventure though!
Today for instance, I was taking the bus home from downtown after Jon went to the school. It was raining out really hard so everyone and their MANY umbrellas were dripping wet and the whole lot of us smelt slightly like wet poodle. On top of that, it was incredibly hot and humid inside the bus, and very crowded. It felt like being in a giant moving steamroom with a bunch of fully clothed people. The crowd was impressive. All the seats were full and those of us standing were three deep. There is no room for personal space issues on the bus. Basically, you work together with everyone else to stay standing. That means leaning on whoever is behind and beside you as you accelerate and turn.
The thing that always adds to the adventure of the bus, especially when you are standing, is the fact that all the busses here are manual transmissions. Manual transmissions generally driven badly. No matter how skilled you have become at leaning into the turns and balancing during the acceleration and deceleration, nothing prepares you for the clutch pop. At least once a ride, the bus driver pops the clutch and everyone looses their balance. Today on the bus it was a pop clutch while going over a speed bump, right before turning. You simply do not have a hope!
So the wet poodles in a steam room, falling all over each other when the clutch pops is always quite a sight to see, but it is an endearing part of daily life here in our new home!
Stay tuned for more anecdotes from our life in this crazy and marvelous place!
signing off for now, Emily Reesor
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Pictures from our Trip to Daejeon
Here are some pictures of the amusement park in Daejeon:
This was a marching band from America. They were so cute!
Our Trip to Daejeon
August 17, 2005
Greetings once again from Korea!! For those of you who are reading this on your email, I just want to let you know that you can access all of our updates at our blog. The address for our blog is www.reesorsinkorea.blogspot.com . All of our updates are at this site, as well as additional posts and pictures!! You can also leave us little notes there too!
This is the last week of summer intensive -- Alleluia! We have only three more days and we are very happy about that. Then we go back to having our mornings together again, and I can't wait. This has actually gone a lot better than I thought it would though, we have really made the best of it and it has gone pretty fast.
Every day Korea is starting to feel more and more like home. We are starting to build routines here and things are more familiar. We have a walk that we do every night through the neighborhood and a nearby park. They have exercise equipment there for adults so we are doing inclined situps and chinups every night. Then we usually go for ice cream... We have earned it by then right?!?! You can get ice cream cones from a place kind of like McDonald's for less than 50 cents Canadian. Or you can get ice cream bars from convenience stores for about 50 cents. Its a great deal!
This past weekend was a long weekend here in Korea. It was independence day from the occupation by the Japanese. It was a very interesting holiday to be a part of. It has only been sixty years since Japanese occupation. Its crazy when the history is so recent. Lots of people would still remember what it was like. Independence day was also interesting because it became a real rallying day for the reunification of the two koreas. They were waving flags with a picture of all of Korea reunited (north and south). They have a long way to go before that could ever happen but they are taking steps every day. A telephone line has just been established between the two Koreas, as well as work on a railway. And on independence day there was opportunity for video conferencing between families on either side who haven't seen each other in many decades. It was very emotional. I imagine it is quite a bit like east and west Berlin.
On the long weekend we took the bus to a city about 2 hours away called Daejeon. We wanted to go there because they have a costco, and we heard that costco has a lot of western food that you can't get anywhere else. While we were driving into Daejeon though, we drove past an amusement park and decided at the spur of the moment to go there. The amusement park was called "Kumdori Land" and it was so much fun!! Daejeon hosted an expo and so they have amazing facilities all in one area. We went on a big rollercoaster (Jon's first big rollercoaster ride!) as well as a bunch of other rides. It was ridiculously hot that day though but we bought some sunscreen and drank lots of water. And if we got to hot we would just go on the water ride to cool off!
After an awesome day at Kumdori land we took a taxi to costco. Costco was like a big party! We were able to get cheese, tortillas, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese etc. It was awesome! Then they had costco hotdogs and pizza just like at home! As we were leaving we were looking for a taxi to take us home and discovered that costco is about half a block from the train station. We walked in to see if we could take a train back to Gwangju and we could. We decided to splurge and take a first class train car! It was awesome! Our seats were so spacious and we got free drinks. The train could travel to up to 300kms an hour. It was definitely the way to go!
There is a blog posting with pictures from our trip if you would like to take a look at them.
We have found an amazing Italian restaurant here. It is a sister restaurant with another restaurant in Rome, Italy. It is absolutely beautiful inside with a loft and a grand piano and big couches that you sit on. The food is also incredible, and not very expensive. It is definitely one of our favorite places here in Gwangju.
Smoothies. I haven't told you about smoothies yet. Everywhere here you can get fresh fruit smoothies for a dollar. They are made right in front of you and they are incredibly delicious. You can get pineapple, strawberry, kiwi, orange, nectarine, melon etc. We get smoothies almost everyday at lunch. We already know we are going to miss the smoothies when we get home.
Anyway, this is really long so I will send it now. I hope that all of you are doing well and we would LOVE to hear from you!
Love, Jon and Emily Reesor
Greetings once again from Korea!! For those of you who are reading this on your email, I just want to let you know that you can access all of our updates at our blog. The address for our blog is www.reesorsinkorea.blogspot.com . All of our updates are at this site, as well as additional posts and pictures!! You can also leave us little notes there too!
This is the last week of summer intensive -- Alleluia! We have only three more days and we are very happy about that. Then we go back to having our mornings together again, and I can't wait. This has actually gone a lot better than I thought it would though, we have really made the best of it and it has gone pretty fast.
Every day Korea is starting to feel more and more like home. We are starting to build routines here and things are more familiar. We have a walk that we do every night through the neighborhood and a nearby park. They have exercise equipment there for adults so we are doing inclined situps and chinups every night. Then we usually go for ice cream... We have earned it by then right?!?! You can get ice cream cones from a place kind of like McDonald's for less than 50 cents Canadian. Or you can get ice cream bars from convenience stores for about 50 cents. Its a great deal!
This past weekend was a long weekend here in Korea. It was independence day from the occupation by the Japanese. It was a very interesting holiday to be a part of. It has only been sixty years since Japanese occupation. Its crazy when the history is so recent. Lots of people would still remember what it was like. Independence day was also interesting because it became a real rallying day for the reunification of the two koreas. They were waving flags with a picture of all of Korea reunited (north and south). They have a long way to go before that could ever happen but they are taking steps every day. A telephone line has just been established between the two Koreas, as well as work on a railway. And on independence day there was opportunity for video conferencing between families on either side who haven't seen each other in many decades. It was very emotional. I imagine it is quite a bit like east and west Berlin.
On the long weekend we took the bus to a city about 2 hours away called Daejeon. We wanted to go there because they have a costco, and we heard that costco has a lot of western food that you can't get anywhere else. While we were driving into Daejeon though, we drove past an amusement park and decided at the spur of the moment to go there. The amusement park was called "Kumdori Land" and it was so much fun!! Daejeon hosted an expo and so they have amazing facilities all in one area. We went on a big rollercoaster (Jon's first big rollercoaster ride!) as well as a bunch of other rides. It was ridiculously hot that day though but we bought some sunscreen and drank lots of water. And if we got to hot we would just go on the water ride to cool off!
After an awesome day at Kumdori land we took a taxi to costco. Costco was like a big party! We were able to get cheese, tortillas, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese etc. It was awesome! Then they had costco hotdogs and pizza just like at home! As we were leaving we were looking for a taxi to take us home and discovered that costco is about half a block from the train station. We walked in to see if we could take a train back to Gwangju and we could. We decided to splurge and take a first class train car! It was awesome! Our seats were so spacious and we got free drinks. The train could travel to up to 300kms an hour. It was definitely the way to go!
There is a blog posting with pictures from our trip if you would like to take a look at them.
We have found an amazing Italian restaurant here. It is a sister restaurant with another restaurant in Rome, Italy. It is absolutely beautiful inside with a loft and a grand piano and big couches that you sit on. The food is also incredible, and not very expensive. It is definitely one of our favorite places here in Gwangju.
Smoothies. I haven't told you about smoothies yet. Everywhere here you can get fresh fruit smoothies for a dollar. They are made right in front of you and they are incredibly delicious. You can get pineapple, strawberry, kiwi, orange, nectarine, melon etc. We get smoothies almost everyday at lunch. We already know we are going to miss the smoothies when we get home.
Anyway, this is really long so I will send it now. I hope that all of you are doing well and we would LOVE to hear from you!
Love, Jon and Emily Reesor
Monday, August 08, 2005
Life in Gwangju - August 8, 2005
Hello Everyone!
I thought that I would do a quick blog update today at the fresh beginning of a new week here in Korea! We were very excited to find out today that Jon's last day of summer intensive is August 19th, a lot sooner than we thought it was! We are very happy about that, and it means soon our schedules will go back to being a bit more normal!
We had a good weekend, it was fun to hang out with some of our new friends here in Korea. We hosted a bible study at our house on Saturday, attended by two other foreigners we have met, as well as two Koreans. We had a great time together, and afterwards we ordered in Pizza and Fried Chicken and played games!! It was such a treat to play games again. As our Canopy friends can attest to, we are big game lovers!! We still do miss poker night, and settlers though. Lee and Holly, if only we could somehow snap our fingers to have you here!
It was very nice to have a Korean in the house who could order food for us to be delivered. It was such a treat! They come insanely fast here, and all food delivery people drive motorcycles like crazy people here!! You will often get cut off on the SIDEWALK by motorcycles who are trying to get out of traffic :)
On Saturday afternoon we went to a coffee shop with some friends and one of our friends ordered this very fancy looking drink...Isn't it beautiful??
I have made friends with some old women who sit on benches beside our apartment building. They speak no English, but they are totally fascinated with this foreigner who comes and sits with them. They touch me a lot, fan me with their fans, look through my bags, and speak a lot in Korean, but I really want to show them Jesus' love even if I don't speak their language. They are so precious.
Jon and I are planning on starting Korean classes in September and I think that will really open up a lot of doors . Its strange having no clue what people are saying most of the time.
We bought some really cool shirts here the other day. I got one that has a picture of Bambi on it looking guilty and it says "Bomb!" on it. I don't know what it means exactly but it makes me laugh. I also got a Pippi longstocking shirt. Jon got a Batman shirt and some other comic book shirt. The clothes here are really cool and REALLY cheap!!
Its funny the combination of things that you see in buildings here. Everything in Korea is built "up" because there isn't any space, so in one building near us the main floor is a convenience store and hair salon, above that is a church, above that is a boxing club (sounds like the canopy) and above that is "Dr. Kim's internal medicine" weird eh??
When we had the bible study on Saturday, one of the Korean fellows, Phillip was getting ready to leave. It was kind of late so I said to him in a very concerned voice "are you sure you are going to be okay to get home??" and he said, "um yes, I AM Korean!!" I forgot that he could actually talk to people and he knows his way around. I am so used to us being so clueless!
I have some quick funny Korean anecdotes for ya:
at church the man who does announcements says "okay everyone, big hands" when he wants people to clap.
at a different church we went to the announcement guy was talking about some sign up form and he said "I will pass out after the service"
they have a brand of clothing here called "Canadian woodcutters" and their slogan is f***in' freezing! Its written on all of these shirts. I don't think people realize what their shirts say :)
the TV shows that are in English that you can get regularly here are Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Nanny.... I have no idea why!
we went to a board game cafe the other day and people had these giant orange toy hammers they kept hitting each other in the head with (see picture below)
sometimes, in those crane games (you know the ones where you can win stuffed animals at home) there are live hamsters as a prize!!! I have also seen phones, bras, and alarm clocks in crane games here.
there is a "Alien" themed Dance Dance Revolution room here in Gwangju!
Alright, I think that is about all from us here for now. We love you all and we miss you so much!!
Love, Emily and Jon
I thought that I would do a quick blog update today at the fresh beginning of a new week here in Korea! We were very excited to find out today that Jon's last day of summer intensive is August 19th, a lot sooner than we thought it was! We are very happy about that, and it means soon our schedules will go back to being a bit more normal!
We had a good weekend, it was fun to hang out with some of our new friends here in Korea. We hosted a bible study at our house on Saturday, attended by two other foreigners we have met, as well as two Koreans. We had a great time together, and afterwards we ordered in Pizza and Fried Chicken and played games!! It was such a treat to play games again. As our Canopy friends can attest to, we are big game lovers!! We still do miss poker night, and settlers though. Lee and Holly, if only we could somehow snap our fingers to have you here!
It was very nice to have a Korean in the house who could order food for us to be delivered. It was such a treat! They come insanely fast here, and all food delivery people drive motorcycles like crazy people here!! You will often get cut off on the SIDEWALK by motorcycles who are trying to get out of traffic :)
On Saturday afternoon we went to a coffee shop with some friends and one of our friends ordered this very fancy looking drink...Isn't it beautiful??
I have made friends with some old women who sit on benches beside our apartment building. They speak no English, but they are totally fascinated with this foreigner who comes and sits with them. They touch me a lot, fan me with their fans, look through my bags, and speak a lot in Korean, but I really want to show them Jesus' love even if I don't speak their language. They are so precious.Jon and I are planning on starting Korean classes in September and I think that will really open up a lot of doors . Its strange having no clue what people are saying most of the time.
We bought some really cool shirts here the other day. I got one that has a picture of Bambi on it looking guilty and it says "Bomb!" on it. I don't know what it means exactly but it makes me laugh. I also got a Pippi longstocking shirt. Jon got a Batman shirt and some other comic book shirt. The clothes here are really cool and REALLY cheap!!
Its funny the combination of things that you see in buildings here. Everything in Korea is built "up" because there isn't any space, so in one building near us the main floor is a convenience store and hair salon, above that is a church, above that is a boxing club (sounds like the canopy) and above that is "Dr. Kim's internal medicine" weird eh??
When we had the bible study on Saturday, one of the Korean fellows, Phillip was getting ready to leave. It was kind of late so I said to him in a very concerned voice "are you sure you are going to be okay to get home??" and he said, "um yes, I AM Korean!!" I forgot that he could actually talk to people and he knows his way around. I am so used to us being so clueless!
I have some quick funny Korean anecdotes for ya:
at church the man who does announcements says "okay everyone, big hands" when he wants people to clap.
at a different church we went to the announcement guy was talking about some sign up form and he said "I will pass out after the service"
they have a brand of clothing here called "Canadian woodcutters" and their slogan is f***in' freezing! Its written on all of these shirts. I don't think people realize what their shirts say :)
the TV shows that are in English that you can get regularly here are Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Nanny.... I have no idea why!
we went to a board game cafe the other day and people had these giant orange toy hammers they kept hitting each other in the head with (see picture below)
sometimes, in those crane games (you know the ones where you can win stuffed animals at home) there are live hamsters as a prize!!! I have also seen phones, bras, and alarm clocks in crane games here.
there is a "Alien" themed Dance Dance Revolution room here in Gwangju!
Alright, I think that is about all from us here for now. We love you all and we miss you so much!!
Love, Emily and Jon
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