Everland!

On Labor Day we decided to get out of the condo and headed for Everland.  Everland is sort of like the Korean Disneyland.  With hills.  We went with our good friends Dave and Kristi and their 3 boys (do the math--that's SEVEN kids all under 9 years old).  Anyway, we had a blast!  Since it was Labor Day, all the US service-people had the day off, but it is not a Korean holiday.  That meant the US to Korean ratio was about 5:1.  We didn't go for more than 15 minutes without running into someone we knew.  There was no wait for any ride, except for one.  And the 40 minutes Jacob and I waited in line for The Express was worth it.  The best roller coaster I have ever been on.  All in all, it was a successful day.  Only lost Owen once, and that was only for a minute, and he was right where we had last seen him.  He had spilled his slushy all over the jogger (see the last photo), so I had taken him out to clean it up.  Once it was clean we headed out the gate.  Halfway to the van I asked, "Where is Owen?"  We looked through the fence into the park and he was right where I had put him.  He hadn't followed because his pants were soaked with slushy juice and he didn't want to walk.

The Lipskis arrive at Everland!  Hooray!

Owen and his buddy Eric.

Anna Grace trying to catch a snack.

The Express.  Does it look steep?  That's because it is!

Anna Grace, chillin'.

Owen and, shocker, a lollipop.  He got the pop from an attendant because he was too small to go onto a ride.

A performing bear on our Safari ride.

Jacob up close and personal with Aslan.

Owen and Anna Grace spilling their Slurpy Drinks.  On second thought, ice cream would have been much smarter.

Ethan's self portrait.

ROKing the DMZ

On Saturday, Sam and I took a bus up North to the DMZ.  I'll be honest, some of the stops were lame and very Touristy.  In fact, I'd say the only stop that was really worth the money we paid was the trip to Panmunjom.

This picture tells the story of modern Korea better than I can express.

A few pictures from the drive along the river, still well within the ROK.  The fortifications begin almost in Seoul and get stronger the further north you drive.  I recall seeing similar fortifications along the coast in June when we went to Sorak.

A view of North Korea.  The visibility stank that day.  We were 2km away at the time of this photo.

I felt this was a significant development in North/South relations.

The last stop on the line (for now)--Dorasan Station.  In theory, someday you will be able to continue north.  Not at the moment, though.

Last chance for photos until inside the JSA.  For security reasons we can not take photos while on the 2km drive through the DMZ from Camp Bonifas to the Joint Security Area, aka Panmunjeom.  Wouldn't want you to see the mine fields, fences, razor wire and tank traps that stretch unbroken for over 150 miles, from coast to coast.  Click here to learn more about who this camp was named for.

ROK Army guards in the JSA.  The concrete at the bottom of the picture is the Military Demarcation Line.  The dirt side is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the gravel is the Republic of Korea.  Note that the picture was taken from the North looking South.  The building the picture was taken in is the same building the armistice was signed in back in 1953. 

Supposedly, if you get too close, the ROK guard will kick your ass.  I chose not to test this.  Interesting note--when the ROK JSA guards walk around, they make TONS of noise.  Apparently they put ball bearings in the bottom of their trousers.  The bearings make all kinds of noise.  The reason for this is to create the aural illusion of superiority in numbers--they sound like more troops than they are.  Or so we were told.  The sunglasses are for intimidation only.

The big building is in North Korea.  The blue ones are United Nations buildings.  We were in the one on the left.  You can see the "border" between the blue buildings.  If you look closely you will see a guard outside on the bottom level.  He is the only North Korean I have ever seen.

Those crafty North Koreans have dug several tunnels under the DMZ, looking to infiltrate into the South.  This is the 3rd tunnel that was discovered.  The North claimed it was a coal mining tunnel.  All they found was solid granite before they were discovered.  Oh, I don't know where this picture is from.  You are not allowed to take pictures in the tunnel.

Happy Suwon--Sam Kulla visits

The thin wisps of cloud high in the sky gave a false glimmer of hope that the sun would not be a negative factor as we set out through the front gates at Osan on our way to explore Happy Suwon.  We walked the 1/4 mile to the Songtan Station and purchased our train tickets--1800 won, one-way.  The train ride was quick and fun.  We even got evangelized by a Korean evangelist.  I had no idea what he was saying at first, but he was very much into whatever he was saying.  At one point he looked at me and said in English, "Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour."  I smiled, nodded and gave him a thumbs up and he said, "God Bless you," then without skipping a beat got back to his original task of spreading the Good News to the rest of the car.  After 2-3 minutes he wrapped up his presentation and moved on to the next car.  We arrived at Suwon Station and deposited our tickets in the machine again and got 500 won back.  Basically it was $1 to go from Songtan to Suwon--a great deal!

We set out with only two real destinations in mind, and only the vaguest notion of a timeline.  As we slowly began to wind our way into the depths of Suwon, we stumbled upon a bit of a wall.  The Great Wall of Suwon, as it were.  Or is.  Or was.  Whatever.

We climbed up the trail alongside the wall.  Steep doesn't begin to describe it.  The view from the top of the hill was excellent.  We could see downtown Suwon, a huge cathedral, and in the distance we could see one of our destinations for the day--the World Cup Soccer Stadium.  As it turned out, the wall we had followed was part of our other destination, Hwaseong Fortress.

When we got to the top of the mountain, we found the most interesting attraction!

After ascending the fortress, we wandered along until we came to the World Cup Stadium.    By this time we had begun geo-caching and were searching for several caches that were near the stadium.  As we began to walk around the stadium, an elderly Korean gentleman waved us down and asked in English what we were doing there.  He was not upset with us, rather he was very curious about what two Americans were doing wandering around Suwon [end note--we did not see any other Western-looking people at all throughout our Happy Suwon adventure].  He asked us if we wanted to go into the stadium, and said that if we wanted to go, he would take us.  We accepted his offer and he led the way.  I'm not sure what was said during his conversation with the girl working at the gate, but I am pretty sure it came down to something like, "I'm a 70 Korean male, you are a 20-something Korean female, shut your pie hole."  At any rate, he led the way through the bowels of the stadium and we emerged right on the playing surface!  It was awesome!  Here we were, standing right where the Suwon Blue Wings sit during matches.  I'm definitely bringing the boys back for a game.

After finding a few geocaches, we were getting a bit hungry so we wandered toward the business district and sat down for a delicious lunch of bibimbap.  I love Korean food.

Following lunch we slowly began working our way back toward Suwon Station.  We knew which direction to go, and decided we would completely avoid main streets while we made our way back.

For some reason, as we wandered the streets of Suwon, all day I had an inner feeling of harmony and happiness.
We made it to Suwon Station and did not have to wait.  The train pulled in as we walked onto the platform.  After a 30 minute ride, we found ourselves in Songtan once again and headed for home.

School Year's Eve Party

This is a fairly lame blog entry. We decided to throw a last minute "School Year's Eve Party". We invited a few friends to our apartment tower's community room and all brought our favorite lunchbox snacks. We brought several games for the kids to play and eventually ended up going to the park because they got wild. We brought the following snacks:

Homemade Goldfish

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

School Year's Eve Party (we didn't get too many shots of the actual fun!)

The next day, Owen & Anna Grace wanted to bake too...