Guess you can say we Bees are continuing to expand our food horizons. Ha,ha,ha…we really are not sure what type of sausages these are from Lotte Mart. But, we are just about to find out….
Foodie success! The green ones are our favorite! Bet you never would have guessed that they are the spicy ones.
Dinner this week in the Bees kitchen. I guess its pretty obvious, we really dig Korean foods 🙂
What’s cooking in your kitchen tonight?
We shot this video driving through Seoul the other night. Saturday night was AMAZING out, perfect weather and a nice breeze. Seoul tower looked amazing and so did all the buildings, the temperature was perfect to have the windows down and enjoy the cityscape flying by as we drove. Even the rain could stop Sarah from taking some amazing video that I was able to edit together. We hope you enjoy it!
Wait, is there such a thing as the perfect summer day in South Korea? Typically a summer day consist of heat, heat, oh yea more heat, and throw in some major humidity! Today however was absolutely perfect! Yes it was HOT but we were able to get out and enjoy it with some new friends in Dongjeom. Dongjeom is only 7km (5 miles) away from Dongducheon and is very popular among Koreans on days like today.
If you viewed the pictures already you will see that we cooled off in a stream. We loved it! We were the only Americans there and the Koreans welcomed us right away. For as little as 50,000 KRW you got to order/grill all sorts of great foods, have your own personal cabana-style set up all day, park for free, and soak in the rays. We were surprised at the soaking of rays part because usually Koreans avoid exposing there skin to the sun at all costs.
There was a sweet Korean family that squirted us with water guns and got into a splash fight with us too….(Don’t worry we learned a valuable lesson recently and we safe guarded the camera from water with our lives). Meaning Mrs. B took one for the team and got soaked!
After some time spent cooling down we decided to towel off and head to Herb Island. Those of you familiar with our past blog post know that we have been there multiple times now. Each time we go back we see or try something new. This time we can add blueberry herb ice-cream, boy’s in bubble, full body chair massages, and tasting herbal teas to the list. We are telling you that you’ve got to visit Herb Island if you are ever in the neighborhood.
As an answer to a previous post question, YES, Herb Island sells pre-potted herbs and flowers, so bring some won. The prices seemed reasonable.
After Herb-Island our stomach’s were all grumbling. Our new friends asked if we wanted to join them for dinner and we gladly accepted! We drove into New City (Dongducheon) and went to a place that we have wanted to try out from our numerous night walks. The restaurant is Twae Rang Such Ur K/Go K/GI. Such means basically to grill or charcoal, and K/Go K/GI is the meat. We were all impressed with the Kal-mege-Sal (We might have butchered that spelling, many apologies). Basically we had seasoned meat that was not oily and grilled perfectly right at our table! We had sprouts, kimchi (and this kimchi would be a perfect beginners kimchi to try, not too much fish sauce), rice, and bean soup. Mmmm! We left stuffed and will definitely go back again!
We both got home saying what a fun filled day we had with such awesome company. We look forward to many more great adventures into the future with them both!
Okay, so Dongducheon is completely underwater, the rivers and streams are rising and the worst of the storm is ahead of us. Highway 3, 88 and all major highways around Seoul are closed. All roads not on high ground are under water; water is up to the bottoms of bridges. The side of the mountain by our apartment washed out and is flooded but we are on high ground so we are okay.
Now the city sirens are going off… We have to make it back home for Beanicus.
We are very lucky and pray for those who have been injured or killed by this massive storm.
Of coarse we had to risk it and take pics, so we will upload when we get home.
After service our church held it’s summer picnic today, and it was a gorgeous day for it!
It was pretty warm but that didn’t stop anyone from enjoying themselves! The food was excellent and plentiful, and there were games, and all sorts of activities for everyone to partake in.
You will see photos of great friends captured. Sam, Susanne, and their precious baby girl S. I can’t get over how much baby S. has grown since first meeting the family. Children really put life into perspective sometimes. Life goes by so quickly and there is so much yet undone.Â
This couple will be leaving South Korea in the next few days to move back to the states. We pray for a safe journey and that they will always know they have friends located on the other side of the world. You will be greatly missed! We look forward to watching baby S. continue to grow!
Today,Food, Fun, Fellowship and Friends. A GREAT day ; )
Â
Today on June 2nd, four years ago, I Married …
My Best Friend.
My Soul Mate.
My True Love.
My Confidant.
My Worker-Bee.
My Protector.
My Encourager.
My Companion.
My Traveling Buddy.
My Partner for Life.
And I can’t imagine my life without him!
Here’s to many, many more years of joy, happiness, and health together!
XOXO
Today is a very overcast, rainy day in Dongducheon. Staring out the living room window I had a thought, we recently Skyped with a 3rd /4th grade class located in North Carolina that has been learning about Korea and following our blog site. They requested that we take them on a tour of the inside of our place and also wanted to ask us different questions about our experiences so far. There is a major time difference so we had to Skype at night allowing us to catch them during their regular class-time. We were not able to show the class what our “backyard” looks like due to the time of night.
We snapped some pictures of our “backyard” and learned a bit of more of traditional Korean culture. As you can see in the pictures we have three Korean burial mound sites and a large garden.
In Korea, it is very common to bury people above the ground, cover the body with rocks/dirt, and then grow grass over the body in a semi-circle mound shape (as captured in the pictures). It is said that in traditional Korean burial culture, the size of a grave mound increases proportionately to the social status of its owner. The ones that are located on the hillside in our “backyard” are a nice size but in doing research we came across what royalty mounds look like… HUGE!
The graves in Korean cemeteries are curved to reflect the belief in reincarnation. Basically, it’s like the Earth is pregnant with those entombed and is almost ready to give birth to them once more.
We learned that there is a bit of a difference in comparing graves to that of the US. Koreans traditionally buried the dead under mounds standing upright in coffins made from six planks of wood. These wooden planks represent the four cardinal points on the compass plus a plank for heaven and the other for earth. The corpses either face south or toward some important spiritual part of the landscape such as mountains because these are said to be homes of the spirits of the land and sky.
We also snapped a picture of part of the garden that is off to the right side when we look out our windows. We have been watching this garden get bigger and bigger every day. The Korean family that is planting is working at it daily and continues to expand into new earth. We can’t wait to see what grows in it!
Another major difference in Korea we recently discussed on a walk is just how many gardens there are. We love the fact that Koreans really utilize and take advantage of any grassy area, field, or strip of dirt that can be used for growing something. We are not kidding when we say they are everywhere!
