Visiting Ruth

We headed over to Daejeon this past weekend to visit Rob's cousin, Ruth. Daejeon is the 5th largest city in South Korea (I think). Ruth is teaching English Literature at Woosong University and it playing a Korean musical instruments (that I still can't spell) and taking voice lessons from a famous Korean Opera singer --- so, imagine her disgust when we all go to Noribang (Karaoke). ha ha....

Anyhow, Daejeon was really cool and it was great to see family!!!! I have some cute pictures and unfortunately, Rob took video (with audio) while I was singing. Yikes. Don't worry, I won't share that with anyone!

Here we are just wandering around Daejeon where there is a free concert going on outside. Can you find Rob???????? Even the famous Korean singers / groups come and perform out here.

A quick stop at Wa Bar. Lots of international beers, and an open air layout. A great people watching location. It was funny because almost everywhere we went, someone was yelling "professor" because they have Ruth as a professor!

I'm fairly certain that Ruth - the opera singer --- does NOT want to re-live this night... Rob and Allison with a microphone.

And an even bigger nightmare....Allison tries to sing along with Ruth. HA!

After Noribang, we stopped by THE best bar we have been to in Korea yet. It was called "Ethnic" and I'm sad to even pass these pictures along because the flash on the camera ruined the ambiance. This place used candles for about 90% of it's lighting and then a few, very low colored lights from the ceiling. They served flavored Soju, which we think was nicely blended with fruit juice and ice. This night we tried the Peach Soju and it was delicious.

Rob and Ruth putting on their best "Korean" pose on the street.

We were a little tired after the night of Noribang and flavored Soju, so on Saturday we went to a DVD room. This is a room that seats 4. The screen was about 6 ft. x 6ft. tall. There is a large selection of DVDs ( including pornography) that you can watch. We skipped the porn and went for the movie "Perfume", which was demented enough. Interesting movie. It was a nice, relaxing time at the DVD room. Ruth did promise that they wipe the seating down with cleaner between each use, so hopefully it was as clean as it looked.

Enjoying a potato on the street with one of the guys that also teaches at the University.

Saturday night we are back at Ethnic because we just love the place. Once again, the flash of the camera ruins the experience. This night we tried the Pineapple Soju.

Ummmmmm.....

That is most of the trip. It was great to see Ruth and get out of Geoje Island for a weekend. We hung out with Ruth's friends and they suggested that there was nothing to do in Daejeon. Little do they know the life in Okpo... Talk about nothing to do!!!!

Well, it's about 10pm here, so we are signing off.

More updates later!!!!

China

China was a blast. It was a guided tour, so everything was very fast...wake up call, breakfast, pack, get on the bus, show up at first place, tour it, get on bus, next stop, tour, lunch, bus, tour, dinner, check in to hotel, wake up call next morning... you get the drift. We were worn out by the end of the trip. But bargaining with street vendors was SO fun... The group we travelled with were all expats living in Seoul. The Korean tour guide was the ex-assistant mayor of Seoul and he spoke perfect English and was a lot of fun. Here is the shutterfly link to see the pictures. I took tons (over 400), so I am separating them by city. We went to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.
Anyhow, back in Geoje. The weather is GORGEOUS today (Saturday), so we are about to take a hike and then BBQ on the rooftop tonight. There's a guy in town from Seoul selling furniture, so we'll probably try to bargain tomorrow as he packs up and there's a better chance for discounts because he doesn't want to drag it all back to Seoul !

We hope everyone is doing well !

Beijing Pictures:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IcOWbJm3bsTw

Xian Pictures:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IcOWbJm3bsUO

Shanghai Pictures:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IcOWbJm3bsUs

Typhoon WIPHA

As if one weren't enough...Typhoon WIPHA is going to blast through the East coast of China approximately 1 day before we leave for China! Hope it doesn't do any real damage.
http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/

Typhoon Nari came through last night and wasn't bad at all. Got some nice winds (not enough to blow us off the rooftop during our quick visit). Some tree branches and trash blown about, and the wind whislted by the building and shook the windows, but that was it!

Waiting for the Typhoon

It's starting to rain and I went out in search of butter, but the 2 nearest stores don't have it, so I gave up. Since I'm locked in the apartment I'll upload a few more pictures from the last week. We played softball against the departing Chevron project and they whooped us. We had a few Brits who were asking what to wear and how to play...I didn't take them too seriously, which was a big mistake. It took me 2 innings to convince one of them in OUTFIELD to WEAR A GLOVE... frustrating. Agbami (the other team) hit straight to him every time and they scored quite a few runs off of that. Others didn't know to touch the base when they were runners or to stand on the base after catching the ball to get an out. Lesson Learned -- cultural differences are not only with the Koreans!! :) But we had a blast playing and I'll get pictures of the game later. Here were the post game pictures when the two teams went out for ribs afterwards.

Rob needed to go out into the fab yard the other day and long sleeves are required. Unfortunately, he didn't have any readily available, so he borrowed Bomi's jacket!!! It was a tight squeeze, but it served it's purpose for a quick visit to the yard. Here's Rob & Bomi while he wears her jacket.
Mitch was also heading out and borrowed on of the other girls' jackets!!!!
Friday night we had dinner with some folks that are here with Transocean building a drill ship. I love this group.... a couple of younger folks and we can't talk about OUR project team when we're with them. Our group has a tendency to continually talk about work after work. With this group, it's a different project, so there's no work talk. It's great!
Sharmaine and I.
Here, Sharmaine is explaining the signs we see for "Box Sets" on the street. Apparently, it's a karaoke room with a girl for about $120 -- for an hour, I believe. But, if you pay more...well, you know....

It's nice to get the real story from a Korean who knows what is going on!

After dinner, the boys played poker. Rob won about $20.

That's all I've got for now. I'll post pictures of the storm later!!! The big part should hit around midnight tonight.

Typhoon Preparation

Well, we are buckling down for Typhoon Nari. It's currently a Category 2 (I think) and it should pass almost right over us. It may be down to a Cat 1 or Tropical Storm by the time it comes, but it should still be a neat display of wind and rain. We will take some pictures. Here's the bay right now (2pm on Sunday). By tomorrow morning, the Typhoon should come through. What makes it even more exciting is that I can't go into work until we get a phone call saying it's okay - so I get to sleep in. :)

BBQ on the Beach

We had a beach BBQ this past weekend as our monthly teambuilding. The kids got in the water and the rest of us relaxed. Well, I didn't get to relax, as I am the "Deputy Business Services Coordinator", so I had to plan everything, take pictures, lead the games and not drink in case someone needed a ride home. However, I think everyone else had a good time, even the kiddos. Here were some action shots during our day. :) The ladies at the office helped me think of some games -- I was not previously familiar with Chicken Fighting. As you will see below, the object of chicken fighting is to stay on one leg and knock down the other team. The last team standing wins! It was hilarious!!!!!!

The start of the 3-legged race. I handed over the camera so I could participate in this one. Here we are before the start.

And here we are about 5 seconds after the start. Luckily, our boss is in the background since he and his wife didn't even make it for more than about 3 seconds! We beat someone!! yeah!!!
Here is 1/2 of the winning horsehoes team. We drew names from a hat and paired people up. Rob and another guy won the tournament. We had to change the rules and play to 5 for the Korean ladies...it was a loooong game. They need some more practice. I think we actually called the game at 3 points.

Hanging in the shade and having some GREAT BBQ. We were all very surprised at how good it was!!!
Andy is cooking up the chicken, shrimp and sausage. Branden was on the other grill with the beef, which was delicious!

The late crowd.

The beautiful sky around sunset. We taught everyone the way of the Austinites and clapped at sunset.

I would've added more commentary, but it's Monday night and we are worn out. Time to hit the sack. Oh yes, and I huge thanks to Beast and Amanda for Skyping us at 1 or 1:40 am this morning!!!! Just remember, revenge sucks!!! I think I had crazy dreams after that because I rushed out of bed thinking it was an emergency of some sort. You guys are in trouble!!! :)

Going to the Doctor Overseas

I haven't been feeling well this week. Started with body pains and now I practically feel like I have the flu. So, I broke down and decided to go to the doctor today. Luckily, one of the secretaries also needed to go, so we headed over to Daewoo Hospital together. You don't find "general practicioners" around here - you just go to the hospital when you are sick. I only put this post on here for one reason - to gross you out, so don't look below if you don't want to see it. :)

I saw the doctor and told him my symptoms and based on my internet research, I was a little scared about a kidney infection. He also thought I might be pregnant, so he suggested a test for that. The secretary and I start laughing because another secretary just found out she is pregnant, so we were saying "no way" and I said "I can't be!". The doctor then proceeds to ask if I am married. I ask YoonJoo (who is with me) "what did he say?", because his English was not so great and YoonJoo says "he asked if you are ready?". And I'm thinking ready for what??? Is he about to pull my pants down or something?? Finally, I repeated "Am I married?" he nods. I say "yes". He must've thought I was a Russian hooker in town and was scared that I was pregnant and probably didn't know the father. It was a rather odd question to me, but then again, I'm in Korea.
I left this doctor to go upstairs to provide a urine sample. I walk in the door of the small, non-ventilated room and what do I see (and smell). Yes, folks, it's the urine samples. But they don't do it like the USA. Here is the first thing I see right when I walk in the room. Luckily people were speaking loudly enough that you couldn't hear the camera click sound that my cell phone made when I took this picture.

Anyone want some lemonade??? or orange juice????
The secretary and I are DYING LAUGHING. How disgusting!! And she's even Korean. The gentlemen prints out my barcode with information, sticks it on the side of a small dixie cup and then DRAWS a line with a ball point pen to show me how much he needs. HA!!!!!!! I then walk down the hall, around the corner to the women's restroom to provide my sample. I fill 'er up and then walk back down the hallway past everyone while holding my pee in a dixie cup. Good thing I didn't get thirsty and forget what I was carrying.

So, I went back later this afternoon to receive my diagnosis. He pulls up the computer screen to something that shows "pregnancy test = negative". My secretary and I clap and let a sigh of relief -- which must have been very traumatic for the doctor, who then asked "What were you doing to do if it was positive?" I then felt bad and said I wouldn't "do" anything, but I just wasn't planning on having a baby in Korea.

That's about all of my story, I thought it was funny. Disgusting urine samples and a doctor who thought I had no baby-daddy and would've gotten rid of it. No kids yet, but did get some antibiotics. Hopefully no trips anytime soon to the urine culture lab!!!!! Makes you almost appreciate the extremely long waits at the US doctor's office.

Michael Jackson Ribs

Did you know Michael Jackson had a restaurant in Korea??? Well, at least the expats think he does. We were told about "Michael Jackson Ribs" by another Chevron person who has spent a wonderful 2 years in Okpo. We decided to check it out last Saturday and see what all the fuss is about. Obviously, they serve ribs here. The nickname Michael Jackson Ribs came about because the restaurant provides a glove for you to eat with. I never could figure out if this was because of the temperature or the level of "spicey". I think the answer is both. Here is our crew:

Tom - on rotation, so he goes home every 6 weeks to see the family

Mitch - His wife is coming over in September

Dale - His wife is coming over in Sept or Oct

Lindsay - Here with her husband, who was in Houston with Rob on a business trip

Allison - Here with her husband, who was in Houston with Lindsay's Husband.

As you can see, all of the lonely people gather together each weekend just to get each other out of the apartment for dinner, hiking, etc.

Now...the owner of the restaurant comes to our table and mumbles off some Korean at 100 miles per hour. we all look at her confused and say "Ribs?". Finally she says "Regular, Spicey or Salty". Every man begins with "I'll take spicey". But she cuts in and says "Spicey is veeery spicey". So we start to rethink the situation. Maybe she knows what she is talking about??? These Koreans don't play around with the level of spice - this stuff gets HOT. Luckily, we find someone at the next table over (small town) that we know from another project. I ask him -- what do you order? He says half regular and half spicey -- and this came from a table of all men. So we decide on 3 regular and 2 spicey orders. Then, the gloves come out. We get a bucket with gloves and the guys think they are funny, of course. Here, the ribs have been laid out to cook on our little coal pit in the middle of the table. "Korea Style"

Lindsay and I give them a thumbs up... Can we get these with every meal??

Yum, these were great! All gone now... check out the abundant amount of side dishes. I wasn't doing so well with the metal chopsticks this night. Talk about frustration. Typical side dishes include: kimchi (rotten...I mean...fermented cabbage), a bowl of onions, a bowl of garlic pieces, a bowl of skinny green beans easily mistaken for St. Augustine grass, a bowl of seaweed, a bowl of green jalapeno shaped peppers that turned out to be hot this night. Most of the time, the peppers are not hot and you dip them in chili paste. Unfortunately for Dale and Mitch --- they learned the hard way that some actually are hot like a jalapeno!

And, finally, this little joint is a piece of outdoors brought inside. Check out the flooring! Rocks!

The best part was that we fed 5 people ribs and had numerous cold beverages and the bill was under $50. We will be returning soon!

Teambuilding In Korea

Now, there isn't much to do around here. Especially for a large group of people. So, we decided to go bowling as a team building a few weeks ago. Too bad the finger holes in the USA are often too small for me - these were tiny -- and they were only about one inch deep, so you couldn't even get most of your finger in there. I don't know what that was about. At least it gave us an excuse for our poor scores. That, and the fact that after they repaird the ball return, there was oil everyone, which had the ball sliding all over the lane. Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y.

Now, the bowling alley was in the next town, which meant an estimated 15 minute drive. We wouldn't want anyone to have a beer and drive home, so we hired the bus for the 15 minute drive. Luckily, the bus comes complete with cordless microphone for our entertainment!

Tom belted out a nice tune or two....which was then completed ruined by another co-worker who sang to the tune of "walking in a winter wonderland", while singing the words "why is korea so darn hot"...or something like that. He was HILARIOUS.

When you go bowling in South Korea - there is no food or beer at the alley. Therefore, you carry your own cooler to the bowling lanes! Sometimes, I'm glad I'm not a guy.

Of course, you can't bowl all night -- or maybe the Teambuilding coordinator (yours truly) should have booked the lanes for a longer time, because we had a lot of fun. Below is the after-party crew. And, yes, I work with all those skinny, cute girls every day. Talk about depressing!! These Korean chicks have some serious style - they wouldn't be caught dead wearing the boring stuff that I wear. They are always very fashionable. Of course, when you wear a size 1, anything looks hot on you. In fact, just because I work with them, I was bound and determined to start trying to look just a little bit cuter, more fashionable, more accesorized everyday...and then I woke up to the alarm for another dreaded day at work and decided to forget about it. :)

Next up for teambuilding is going to be a Beach BBQ next Saturday. We will even have all the required activities... Horeshoes, 3-legged races and Gumoshin throwing. I probably have the word wrong, but apparently you hang your shoe off of your foot. Someone counts to 3, and you throw your shoe (directly off of your foot) as far as you can!! I'm sure only the most talented person will win this one. I will have to think up an appropriate prize for the winner. Any cheesy suggestions for this, or other competitions are appreciated.

The Highlight of My Vacation

I completely forgot to mention the ONLY American that we met in Thailand. Thailand is a very popular vacation spot with the Europeans, but no Americans.
Anyhow, we met JOE. Joe came to Thailand to stay for 2 months and play frisbee golf. When we found him, he had been there for 14 months and the only frisbee golf course on the island was shut down 8 months ago. But here is a little picture to show you how we found Joe. His business was the most important business on the island --- remember I haven't been to the USA in about 3 months.
Joe ran the Big Fat Taco Stand. The only mexican food I've had in 3 months. We visited Joe for a few days in a row. :) Too bad we found him so late in the trip. And too bad he was a little kooky. If you have played frisbee golf, you "have to have heard of Joe". Can't remember the last name - starts with a "N". So, if you've heard of him, please let me know. He was taking a trip to New Zealand soon, but the highlight of his trip was going to be a hop over to Antartica to play on a frisbee golf course there! Interesting.............or not.

August Already??

Okay, so it's been a month since I updated the site. So sorry! :)

Things have been so busy and I just haven't been online. I know that everyone is devastated. Quick update. We went to Koh Samui (Thailand) in late July. Then we came back to work. Wow, what a surprise! We've been having fun on the weekends are are lucky to have people we like stuck here in Okpo, too. The cycle seems to be work, hang out, work out (a little) and plan for vacations. That's about all there is to do. Next up is going to be China. I found a group that provides tours around Korea in English!!!! We were going to head to Japan for an upcoming Korean holiday (Chuseok, week of Sept 24th). We lucked out and got the last seats on the ferry to Japan, but we just haven't had the energy to research the trip. Then I ran across the Royal Asiatic Society and they give all of these tours. So, we will hop onto their trip to China during the Chuseok holiday and probably go with them to Japan in October. Mike and Amanda (houston) are coming through Korea in 2008, so we'll do Tokyo or other places in Japan at that time also.

By the way, Rob is in Houston now for work right now. He left for about two weeks and the creep is going out and eating mexican food without me!!!!

BUT, lucky for us... Lindsay (one of the ones we hang out with) researched home made tortillas online and is now a PRO. Mitch and I told her we'd put together a tortilla fund so we can get some every week. I brought tons of taco seasoning, too! We are in business now!!!!

Here are some pictures of Koh Samui in late July. Very very very hot place. All of the restaurants (Except for McDonald's) are open-air restaurants, so there may be a fan blowing, but you never got dressed up in this place. No matter what, you will be sweating and it's a beach town, so no need to get too dressed up. Here is a picture of our resort pool, cabana bar and the beach in the background.

What a beautiful picture. So serene... But checking into our resort was hilarious. I did TONS of research for available resorts. The only requirements were pool, breakfast included and spa at the resort. Well, we finally found the place that fit the bill. Now, to decide on a room. None of these resorts had too many pictures online. It was amazing at the variety. You could get a room for $40 a night or $250 a night. So, we searched and searched and decided that the "superior deluxe room" looked like a winner. That sucker was only about $67 a night. Sweet! We arrive in Koh Samui and the resort is picking us up from the airport. We start to get nervous that maybe we cheaped out and this place sucks. The shuttle bus pulls up and there is our name with the driver. He then runs off to get the Resort Van -- this is a good sign - they have their own van. It's raining at this point as we head off to the hotel. Along the way we pass TONS of people on motorcycles (or scooters) and it's raining?!?!?! Then, we make a turn onto a little side street with junky houses. Could this be the way to the resort? And finally, we dead end into a tiny parking lot and we're there. It's looks a little sketchy. We get out to go to the "Front Desk", which is an old desk with roof, but it's all outside and there's not even a computer! They finally show us to our room. We got a semi-detached cottage, so we only shared one wall with another cottage. We walk in and Oh My Goodness - what a sh*thole!!!!

What's even better is that our giant garden tub that "blends with nature", doesn't even have a shower hose long enough to go above your head. You had to squat to wash your hair and it didn't have a shower holder high on the wall, so you had to hold it the whole time. Here is Rob demonstrating our shower technique (with clothes on). Too bad the place was too gross for me to consider sitting and bathing in there. Not to mention that you have to brush your teeth with bottled water because their water is bad. That makes you feel even more dirty that you aren't bathing in "good water". Well, the room sucks, but back to the positive. We're at a gorgeous beach in a place where you can't spend money if you try (unless you get an expensive room)! :)

So, we are in shock with disappointment over our room but we decide to wait until daylight to see if we need to change hotels. We ended up staying there - I guess you can just about get used to anything. Although we were thrilled to get back to our own clean bathroom and large shower after 9 days of this!

Now to the good stuff. I made poor Rob do everything they had to offer, so we went on a quite a few adventures and even had a few days to shop and lay around doing nothing on the beach. We started on the first day with a 3.5 hour spa package. I think we spent about $100 total for both of us to get a mud wrap, steam room, massage and facial. Sweet. Then it was off to snorkeling, fishing, kayaking, canopy tours, elephant rides, etc. So here are the obligatory action pictures. Sadly enough, the picture below was the biggest catch during the "Big Game Fishing Tour". ha ha...Here we are, just swinging in the trees. Rob was hot in his tree swinging getup.

Kayaking out at the Marine Park.... a dreadfully boring 2 hour boat ride from the island. Should've taken the speed boat tour. Lesson Learned!

A hike up the uninhabited island.

The people behind us on the Elephant Trek. We bought our picture, but I can't scan it right now, so you get to see this family. What a gorgeous trek through heavy forests......or not. Maybe it was just a circular path. oh well, I got to ride the elephant --- which also rid me of my previous desire to take a elephant safari in Africa. Can you say uncomfortable.

Okay, another funny story. We are walking along the beach at night and we see this bright light in the sky, but it's moving slowly. Must be a small private plane coming in. Wait, there's another one. They sure aren't moving fast, but that is bright. What is it?? That one is moving around in crazy directions and the other light just went out. What is going on????!!!! Then, another night we see them and listen intently. Definitely no engine. Finally, on yet another night, we are at the restaurant on the beach and these guys walk by and are trying to sell this "bag". Then, we see them light one and off it goes into the air and burns for 5 or 10 minutes. THAT'S WHAT THOSE LIGHTS WERE! Boy do we feel dumb. Anyhow, we bought some lamps while we were there and had them shipped back to Korea, so the owner of the store gave us two of these "hot air balloons" (can't remember the Thai name). He said that you send it off with all of your bad luck. We are so excited because I wanted to do one and now it's free. :)

That night we are ready to set our bad luck free. Too bad it's windy and I go first. We set the core on fire and I'm holding the thing because it's not ready to lift and the wind is very strong. Then my dear husband says "let go of the top".... fine, I'll listen to him because I don't know what I'm doing either. So I let go of the top and it blows over, lights the side of my balloon on fire, which I then have to let go before it burns me. And it crashes to the beach and burns. GREAT. Guess I'm doomed. Then, the guys who sell the things come help us with our second one (good advertisement for them). Rob gets to successfully launch his bad luck out over the ocean.

Finally, I will leave you with the most interesting part of the trip. We had to go see a ladyboy show while we were in Thailand. We tried to decide between taking the Baht Bus (too tired to insert the picture) to Chewang - the nicer beach - or staying on our beach (Lamai) and going to the show we could walk to. We decided on walking. Lucky for us. :) We got to the show early and were the only ones in the whole place while this "lady" (or boy) danced on stage in lingerie and stared us down. Geez, are there any other weirdos on this beach that want to see a lady boy show? I thought we were going to be the only ones. Finally the place fills up and a lady from Australia sat next to us and we had a blast with her all night -- her husband refused to come out for such an event. The reason I say lucky for us that we stayed in Lamai for the show was definitely not the costumes or stage props -- this place was a junker and the poor ladyboys had costumes with holes, etc. They definitely need to increase the price of their drinks to buy some new costumes! But we were lucky because the show was fun and it had one chick/dude that did a comedy portion, so it was hiliarous. In between the shows (yes, we stayed for the 2nd show), they would come hang out with the crowd. So, here is Rob getting to know them and also the hilarious one, who proposed to Rob during his/her skit and picked on the crowd. Great show! We had a blast!!

I would upload more, but this took me an hour. The picture are the slowest part. It's past my bedtime and I've stayed up just so I can call Bank Of America - now that they are open - and transfer money for our next trip to China! The tour group only accepts money orders or wire transfers -- what happened to the great credit card!
I will try to post more soon. We had a fun teambuilding last week with plenty of good pictures.

We hope everyone is doing well!