Jeju: It's No Hawaii

But it is a good time.

Jeju Island is always referred to as "the Hawaii of Korea". If Hawaii is like Jeju, I will be sorely disappointed.

However, Jeju was a very nice place to visit, even if it was a bit tourist trap-y. (Much like Niagara Falls. After you've seen the Falls, everything else around is quite gimmicky).

My boss' family were lovely hosts.

We all took the ferry over together. The entire 4.5 hour ride over "a three hour tour" echoed in my head. But we made it safe and sound. I was especially proud of Mike for riding the ferry despite his fear of water.

We drove all over the island and saw the beach,  caves, waterfalls and climbed a small mountain. We visited the chocolate museum and the shooting range. We considered riding ATVS but it was awfully muddy as the snow was melting.

Chocolate Museum 

We visited a body museum at my boss' instance and it was a huge waste of money. Think several preserved body parts. The main attractions seemed to be preserved pubic hair and a fetus hall, which thankfully I was able to see the small sign before I entered. We passed on Hello Kitty Island, Teddy Bear Safari, Mini-world, Memory Theme Park and Greek Culture museum.

We also went into a really cool cave cafe.

Jeju island is famous for its citrus and wild boar meat. We went to a popular restaurant and tried the wild boar. It was delicious! 

Statues of this man are everywhere on the island!

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Moving to Mokpo: Another Example of God's Grace

We recently relocated to Mokpo. It is a much smaller city than where we were before. There are a lot more parks and places to enjoy nature. There's a hill by our apartment with a nature trail as well as plenty of bike paths and places to explore. I really like it here.                           


Getting here was a bit of a different story. About a week in advance we bought bus tickets for a 3 hour bus ride.

When we brought our suitcases down from our third floor apartment, we realized that an apartment on the second floor was flooding with sewage. It was cascading down the stairs!

We had to physically carry the suitcases down the stairs and try to avoid the sewage waterfall.  Yuck!

We had a lot of suitcases and a small cooler with perishables so we had to take two taxis. My husband took 2 suitcases and I took the other 5. We showed our taxi driver the bus tickets, which say the name of the terminal at the top and repeated the phrase "We want to go to the bus terminal" that we studied. My taxi driver nodded, and repeated bus terminal-ok.

So, we take off. And my taxi takes me to the train station and keeps repeating bus terminal and insisting we are there.  Fortunately, I know that we are only about 10 blocks from the bus terminal so I give him the last of my cash. Unfortunately, I have 5 huge suitcases to take with me.

I started praying. I knew we had an hour before our bus left. Surely, I could make it in an hour. So, I started walking.  And kept praying. I walked with 2 suitcases until I could just barely see the others, went back for them and kept repeating the process.

2 construction workers stopped and asked me in perfect English if they could help me. They carried my suitcases about 3-4 blocks, to a major intersection.

I started wheeling two bags across the intersection when a random German man and his Korean girlfriend appeared. They each wheeled a suitcase across with me. That left one suitcase on the other side of the street. As I stood watching it a small group of school children appeared.

"Is this yours?" They yelled across the lanes of traffic. I shouted back that it was and they formed a little ring around my suitcase. When they light changed they took off running and met me in the middle of the large intersection.

I crossed another small street. I could see the bus terminal and I could see my husband frantically pacing around. I knew he was worried. We don't have cell phones here so he couldn't call to check on me.

I screamed and hollered his name. I jumped up and down. I waved my arms.

Nothing.

So, I started walking, still about 4 blocks away. After 1 trip with the suitcases I shouted his name again. Nothing. And then the idea came to me.

And so I shouted my name.

Instantly he turned and saw me at the top of the hill. He came and we carried the suitcases down together. We still had 25-30 minutes before our bus left.

Halleluiah!

So, long story short, we are here and happy to be here.

Here are some pictures of our new place:

our apartment...we've since upgraded to a full size fridge and a trundle bed

 the park a few blocks away

the view from the top of the hill

 

hiking a small mountain

out and about

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Visiting Changwon

When my husband taught in Korea before he lived in Changwon. He met some very good friends there, one of whom we try to visit on a regular basis.

We usually take the train down and visit for the day.

We eat lunch, go to the flea market and check out the nature scene.

We went to a brunch restaurant. I had a mushroom Panini with a salad and pickled radishes. Pickled radishes are a Korean favorite and I always pass mine along to my friends.

 

On our first visit we went to the marsh.

 

On our last visit, we went to the South Sea. We collected shells and drank tea at a German tea house.

 

 

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How We Got Here

If you read my first post, you may remember that I mentioned that my husband and I are currently teaching English in Daegu, South Korea.

                                                        (Our trip to Suseong Lake)

I would like to share with you the story of how we came to be in South Korea.

In 2009, my husband and I were dating. He took advantage of the opportunity to teach in Changwon, South Korea for one year. Before the year was out, we were engaged and I spent my summer vacation visiting him.



We married in 2010, moved to PA and tossed around the idea of moving back to South Korea pretty continuously.

In 2013, we were seriously considering either moving to sunny SC or back to South Korea.  One day, Mike looked at me and asked, "Tell me what you want to do. South Carolina or South Korea?"

Instantly, in my gut, I felt that I should answer South Korea. However, I spoke out of my own desire to move back to my home state.

Before bed, I did a Bible study in my Charles Stanley Life Principles  Bible. Throughout the Scriptures he highlights consistent life principles. Throughout my study,  one principle kept standing out. Basically, it said that to obey God means to obey the initial promptings of the Holy Spirit. (Side note: if you don't have one of these Bibles I highly recommend it. He explains things so clearly.)

I started to feel as if I should have gone with that "gut feeling" and told my husband we were going to South Korea. I prayed and asked God for a sign that this was the right decision. I turned to the next page in my Bible, and there it was- the same principle again!

The next day, I told my husband we should go to South Korea and explained why. We started looking and applying for jobs.

Nothing was coming through, yet we still felt this was what God was calling us to do. So, we put in notices at our jobs and with our landlord.

We packed up and moved out.

The day after we moved out, my husband found and applied for a particular job. Within days we had interviewed and accepted the job.

And, here we are 8 months into our first year's contract.





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