Every teacher probably says this...

Mark wanted to title this post Unexpected Joy, but I though that might start some talk about that thing..... It starts with a B and ends with an aby. Ha! So I scrapped his title and made my best attempt at being creative. I simply wanted to share my good mood. Today at school, I received the best birthday gift! I'm sure every teacher says this, but I really have the best, most thoughtful students! My classes surprised me with Happy birthday wishes, complete with balloons, presents, balloon animals (who doesn't love those!), hand written cards and the happy birthday song of course.  Today was a good reminder that when it comes to celebrating milestones, the old saying is true: it's not how much you spend, but it's the thought that counts. Here are some simple things you can do to bring a smile to someone's face. Why make a simple gesture? Because it will make someone's day and requires almost no effort.  When you read these, you will laugh at how easy they are, but it's amazing how often we forget to follow through on the little things.
1.  Call a grandparent just to say hello
2.  Put a note in your spouse or children's lunch to remind them they are special
3.  Call an old friend and catch up!
4.  Bring home flowers for no reason at all :)
5.  Mail a card for a birthday (mom, dad, siblings, whoever! Everyone loves to get snail mail)
There are lots of other ideas out there.  If you have a good suggestion, post it to the comments!

Thank you to the wonderful staff and students at HanMi for making it a memorable birthday. I wanted to share the smiles! Happy Tuesday!

The PLACE, Seoul Tower: Review

Happy Birthday to us!  We decided to take a trip up to Seoul this weekend in celebration of our awesomeness.  Since we had not yet seen the Seoul tower, it seemed like the perfect place to celebrate.  The Seoul Tower is located in the center of the city, atop a large hill making it the highest point in the city.  Be advised, taxis can not drive to the tower so there are only two ways up: walking or taking the Gondola.  Regardless of which method you use, there will be some walking involved so I would recommend comfortable shows (no stilettos!).  If you take the gondola, a round trip ticket will cost 8,000 won, or a one way ticket will cost 6,000 won.

We decided to walk one way, and take the gondola one way.  The walk up to the tower is uphill, and it takes about 30 minutes, but the park and the views make for a scenic and enjoyable walk.  Below are a few pictures from our trek up to the tower.

Once you arrive at the tower, there are three restaurants to choose from. We opted to eat at The Place (Italian food), which is only on the second floor of the tower (not the top), but the views were still great!  I would recommend showing up a bit early in order to spend time taking pictures and looking at the sites near the base of the tower.  If you want, you can bring a lock to mark your visit, and attach it to the fence around the tower along with the 1000's that are already there!

After a few minutes of photo taking, we had a great meal at The Place.  On to the restaurant review! The views were great from every table in the restaurant.   The atmosphere was nice - a mix of couples and groups of friends.  I did not see many children, but I would say this place is child friendly. A long with pasta, and steaks, they also serve pizza!  There were four options of set menus or you can order a la carte.  We ordered one of the set menus, and we were not disappointed.  The food came out quickly, the portion sizes were just right, and it was delicious.  I would like to note that they only served beer and wine (no cocktails) which was fine by us, but may be a consideration when you choose which restaurant to eat at.  

The view from our table :)

 Course 1: a bite sized caprese salad

 Course 2:  Home made bread served fresh and warm

 Course 3:  Pan seared scallops over sauteed zucchini and squash

 Course 4:  Choice of Pasta.  I had the spaghetti with meatballs and Mark had the Pesto Pasta.  Both were good.

 Course 5:  Chef soup of the week.  Squash soup for us, and it was great!

Course 6:  Choice of main courses included Steak, Lobster, and Fish - Note there were no chicken options, if you are a picky eater.  The Steak was a little over cooked (ordered MR, but came more on the side of M or MW), but still delicious.  The Lobster tail was well done. 

 Course 7: Coffee and Chef's Choice dessert.  We had green tea ice cream, with a toasted nut crumble, and a lemon macaroon.  A delicious and refreshing way to end the meal.

We would recommend this restaurant to friends.  The food was good, it was priced fairly, and the views were great.  However, it does take some effort to get to and from, so make sure you have a few hours to spend if you want it to be worth your while!  After our meal, we took the trolly back down the mountain and there were taxis easily accessible to catch a ride to our next destination.  I would recommend going to the tower in the evening, so you have a chance to see the sites in the daylight as well as at night, all lit up!

 The tower and gondola lit up, from the bottom of the mountain. Pretty!

If you are only in Seoul for a short trip, the tower is a great site to see.  If you are going to take the time to get up there, you may as well enjoy the views over a beer and some good food! 

- The Vahle's

Lunch Date!

The weather is warming up, and the farms are beginning to turn a rich shade of green.  Pretty soon the Cherry Blossom trees will be blossoming around Eunpa Lake! Spring is in the air in Gunsan. We took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend and got a delicious lunch full of colorful side dishes and steamed Crab! Yum! It was a delicious afternoon, washed down well with some cold beers :)

It was a great start to the weekend! Although I admit I am not the biggest fan of kimchi, Korean food has proven to be both delicious and exotic.  Other than that, We enjoyed some down time this weekend with not much to report.... The calm before the storm.  It's off to Thailand on Thursday! You can be sure that we will have tons of pictures to share upon our return! Peace out pea sprouts! 

Jeonju!

Sorry, this post is a little overdue!  We had the pleasure of visiting the town of Jeonju recently.  Our Korean friends showed us a wonderful time!  Jeonju is located about 30 miles south east of Kunsan City and has 1000 years of history.  1000 Years!  To give it some perspective, that is more than 4 times older than our country.  The city is filled with culture, ancient buildings, and some of the best food in all of Korea.  The city is known for having the best Bibimbap in the country.  Bibimbap is a hot bowl of white rice, topped with various vegetables, beef (usually), and a fried egg.  Naturally, this is what we got for lunch, and it was delicious!  It is  normally served with red pepper sauce on top, but we often get the response "ohhh foreigners! too spicy, we will put on side".  I don't think Korea is aware of Bdubs Blazin wings..... don't worry, we can handle it.

We also enjoyed some delicious soup, made with octopus, beef, and vegetables.  It is brought to your table raw, and then it cooks on a flame and served hot.  The first picture is the raw soup, followed by a picture of the finished product!

After a delicious lunch, we headed to the Hanok Village, which is a Korean traditional village. The village contains houses and structures featuring traditional architecture, as well as many restaurants, stores, and plenty of places to get a sweet treat.

This street vendor was selling a traditional sugar candy called Ppopgi, which is made out of brown sugar and baking soda.  It tastes like burnt marshmallows!  Each candy is branded with a shape.  The goal is to break the candy in such a way that you keep your shape whole.  I broke mine almost immediately :( but Mark and Jessica were successful with theirs!

 McGyver showing us how it is done!

 Success for Mark and Jessica!

There is no shortage of sugar at the Hanok!  After our traditional candy, we got a more modern treat....cotton candy.  GIANT cotton candy!

I was in a full on sugar coma!  Next it was time to walk off our sugar highs with a walk over to the Jeondong Catholic Church, which is over 100 years old.  Unfortunately we couldn't go inside, but we still enjoyed its beauty form the outside.

 Next, we tried another traditional Korean snack, Strawberry Mochi.  It is a fresh strawberry, surrounded by red bean paste, and wrapped in rice dough.

 We finished up the day with a visit to the home of our Korean friends.  We relaxed for a quick pre-dinner snack of fresh fruit.  Then we headed out for some dinner of Sam Gyup Sal, or grilled pork, and copious amounts of Soju and Cass.  As with many of our Korean meals, it is served with onions, garlic, kimchi, and red pepper paste.  Mark made lots of friends - they seem to be fans of his blue eyes and dimples.  I can understand why!  :) We had a great time exploring historic Jeonju.  Thanks to our Korean Friends for their hospitality!  

Peace out,

The Vahle's

$ Night and Seoul

Last weekend was my first trip to Seoul! The weather was beautiful and mild which is uncharacteristic this time of year.  We took a bus from Gunsan to Seoul, which takes about 3 hours.  Korean buses are awesome! They have Giant leather seats that recline nicely and they have foot rests! It's not a bad way to travel for a few hours.  We spent Saturday night with the Pantons, pushing it up for money night! Money night consists of an awesome dinner, copious amounts of wine and booze, with shenanigans to follow.  Mark got an awesome 6 course dinner for his meal, while I opted for a steak.  The food was great by American standards, and Outstanding by Korea standards!  Check out some pictures of our night below :)

The Korean toilet is an interesting piece of technology! I never knew using the restroom required so much decision making!

 Seoul at sunset, from the window of our hotel room.

Mark's yummy dessert! 

Chilling with some after dinner drinks :)

The girls with Bill!

Following an awesome night, we regrouped the next morning over tacos and beergaritas...... Naturally booze was needed immediately after waking up, to nurse the hangover :) delicious! 

After lunch, Mark and I pushed off on our own to explore the streets.  We decided to spend the afternoon at the Korean war Museum, which ended up being pretty cool! There were tons of aircraft, tanks, and guns to climb on. The museum was huge.....you could easily spend 4 hours in it, or more if you are a real War buff.  The best part is, it's free! Here are some pictures of our exploration:

Mark in front of the museum

A mosaic from one of the memorials

Korea's ENTIRE Navy

Fun fact of the day: it seems there is an aversion to liquid hand soap here.  The preference is a bar of soap on a stick in the public rest rooms.....I have invested in hand sanitizer.

Peace out! 

The Vahle's