Korea photo update

                                  Here are pictures of our adventure so far!

 

Dr Fish. These fish eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickled so much!!!

It was recently Buddha's bday so every street was lined with paper lanterns

The bay that leads to the Pacific Ocean

So far this is our favorite iced coffee cafe 

Home of the 2018 Winter Olympics. You could see the ski jump from our hotel.

Enjoying Korean night life. (Go out at 8 or 9 and stay out until 4ish. We only made it to 3...)

Korean folk village. This is the 1988 Olympic mascot. Zoe and I thought he was just a funny looking character.

Coffee on Easter.

Xoxo

D & A

He is Risen! Easter in Korea

Our time in Korea has come to an end and while most of you are waking up to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Danyale and I are packing and getting ready for bed. We've been here 9 days and seen almost everything you possibly can. 

Today we took a day off and celebrated Easter, just the two of us. We started our day with some local coffee and pastries to enjoy while worshipping through Saddleback's online campus. Our day then included shopping on Gangham street, watching movies, dinner at CPK (we needed some American food) and is ending with coffee from a different cafe and a movie in bed. We are so blessed to be able to spend Easter together in another country. Korea doesn't make a big deal about Easter. The Christian lifestyle is very different here. So we made the best of it but can't wait to maybe dye some eggs when we get home.

We've been to temples, villages, historical landmarks and some of the most breathe taking national parks. Neither one of us expected this country to be so clean and so unique in the way it's built. There are no suburbs here. You live in the city in a high rise apartment or out in the middle of nowhere in a family village. The east coast is beautiful with a fabulous hiking trail through the cliffs along the shoreline. The mountains are a lot like ours except for the hiking trails are built with cool bridges over the river that runs through the mountains out to the ocean. We kept saying all week how much we would love for our trails at home to be as nice as they are here.

 Amidst all the sites we've been to, we are loving the coffee here! Seoul is a city that literally sleeps for about 2 hours so there are cafés all over the place. Just about every other store is a large 2-3 story cafe with wifi, coffee roasting, and plenty of seating for work meetings, casual dates, or playing games with the kids we are with. Cafés have been a highlight!

Well we are headed out to Bejiing, China tomorrow until Friday (Thursday America time). Hopefully we'll get so,e wifi there and we'll update you more.

Xoxo

D & A

Korean Culture

Day two of being in Seoul was all about culture. From learning about the chosen dynasty to flee market shopping it was a good day. We also have discovered some things about Korea that are both entertaining and odd.

     -The toilet seats are heated & get warmer the longer you sit.

     - Pine trees are sacred because they demonstrate how you life should go. Straight and narrow without going off the beaten path.

     - Everyone points with their middle finger. It's not offensive here. They use their middle finger like we use out pointer finger.

Anyways here's a list of some places we went along with some pictures.

First stop: the Korean Palace & Museum. We learned about the fallen dynasty, the life of the dynasty while they lived in the palace. The details of the buildings were stunning. Everything here reminded me and Danayle of the movie "Mulan"

Second stop: Tradional Korean homes. Most families now live in apartments so it is rare to find a neighborhood of tradional homes. The grandma we are with was so excited to see these. She grew up in a home similar to what we saw. When you walk in the front door you are in the living room which is surrounded by 3-4 bedrooms. She said there was and is no privacy. It's very easy to notice when someone comes home late at night :) 

Third stop: Korean flee market. This happens only on Sundays so it's a big deal. Talk about flash back to the 90s and before. They had TVs that my grandparents talk about. VHS tapes everywhere right along side every kind of antique junk finds you can imagine. It was crazy! 

Fourth stop: The Han River & Hangang Park. This is a park that Danyale found on Pinterest and we were so glad we asked everyone to go. It's a beautiful park that you can rent bikes, fly kites and of course picnic at. More importantly, The Avengers was filmed here! We played on the exercise equipment and enjoyed some fresh air along the river. It was a good way to end our city tour for the day.

After a rest and some dinner we got this crazy ice cream thing. Danyale and I just enjoyed a bit since it didn't look super appetizing to us. The cone tasted like corn flakes, the ice cream was very rich. 

It's been another great day! It's only 7am on Monday here and we are wide wake...thanks jetlag. So it's time to watch church online since it's still Sunday at home :!

Xoxo

Alaina & Danyale

Korea adventures Day 1

Hello!

**disclaimer - if you had no idea I was going to Korea & China with my sister, and a family we've become great friends with...well we are and I'm sorry you are just finding out.

After a long but somewhat restful 12ish hour flight, Danyale and I made it to South Korea. With only a couple of hours of sleep & it being 5:30am here, our group decided to start the adventures right away. 4 hours into the trip & we had already been to one of the largest fresh fish markets, the top of the highest point in Korea, and to a street market. We are tired but having fun so far. 

The Harts & The Prstajkos after out flight. 

A famous lock wall. It is believed that if you and your loved one place a lock here than the gods of the mountain will give you everlasting love for each other. 

The Cherry Blossoms are in bloom!!

                       Fish Market

That's all for today. Off to dinner & maybe some karaoke with the locals. 

Xoxo

D & A 

2014 - A ripple effect

The ripple effects of events from 2013 have quickly filled my calendar. It's only three months into 2014 and I have 4 weddings, multiple bridal showers, a handful of baby showers, birthday parties, work events, and a family reunion on the books. Some of those include my love for planning while others I get to just sit back and enjoy. Needless to say, the plans are beginning to unfold for several of these large events which leaves me with little time to sit down and update you guys on life. As my job now includes overseeing all of our events, and I'm quickly getting asked to assist in everyday life events for family and friends, I'm learning that Pinterest is my best friend. If you don't know what Pinterest is Google it, your life will forever be changed. With each pin, I get more and more excited to help create opportunities for people to fellowship and for students to meet the Lord. From cakes to silly games, it's exciting. My life has become one giant event! I love decorating my home, making dinner for guest, planning trips to Disneyland, and even simple crafting. It's refreshing to sit on my couch and dream of what can be done to make a friends' birthday party special.
+This past weekend I hosted a baby shower for a former student, now friend. Here are some highlights.

++Can't wait to meet Zadok

xoxo A