Why are mothers important?

A few words from the 6th graders:

"Mothers are people who made us. Therefore, they are important. They spend money on us. They have to feed us so they buy some food. Also, we have to wear clothes so they buy us some clothes. And, we need money because we have to eat or buy something so mothers give us money. Mothers help with all things. They help with studying. They help some problems and they give money to lots of academies. Also, when we have some problems in society, they give some advises and when mothers help us the problem will be solve."

"There are many things what we can do with mothers. First of all, we can talk about one's daily work. Me and my mother can exercise together.
First of all, my mom and I can talk about eachother's daily work. I can talk to her about my school, friends, or academy. My mom likes to play ping-pong and she talks about funny stories about what happened in there. Often, we talk about my father, and my younger brother. That is one of the big funs to me and my mother.
Also, mother and her offsprings could exercise together. For example, my family loves exercise. My mom likes ping-pong, my father likes cycling, my brother likes ice-hockey, and I like skipping rope. My brother and my father likes to play together, and my mom and I like to play together. This is a good thing, too.
In conclusion, there are many things that we can do with mother. We can have conversation about each one's daily work. In addition to this, we can exercise together."

"Moms make us and devote her life to bring up us and looking after us. I think moms are important to us because of that reason.
I like to shopping with my mother and talking about friends and drama. My mom and I like to watch some drama. Some time my mom change to coach and we have to study. End of the vacation, Korea has a lot of homework in vacation (I don't know American's vacation), and she made a homework very well. I think her ability is good at art.
I guess Ryan Teacher's mom and first I think she will similar with Ryan Teacher. Blonde hairs and easy to be red face. Good eyes so no glasses and he told she is 47 years old. I want to see her."

"Ryan Teacher said that tomorrow is his mother's birthday, so we talked about 'mother' and 'birthday.'
I think mothers, who made us, is very important because, mothers and their children are similar because all people have half of their mothers gene (It is not romantic, but it is truth!!) Also, I want to go on a trip with my mom because we can talk for a long time, eat delicious food. Therefore if I earn a lot of money, I will go on a long trip with my mother except my father and brother.
I guesse Ryan Teacher's mom likes short people because her son is a little bit short! So I think she will love short people because she loves Ryan Teacher's everything. Also, I think she is short and has brown hair.
In conclusion, I think Ryan Teacher really loves his mother because he promised that give these topics and send our writting to his mom."

I couldn't have said it better. Happy Birthday Mama!

Fun with Language

On Jeju-do, we had another bit of a mixup due to the whole language thing. Jeju is well known throughout Korea for a few local delicacacies: tangerines, chocolate, black pork, and pheasant. It was a little early for tangerines, and the chocolate was good, but, well, let's not kid ourselves: Korea is not really known for it's chocolate. The first day, we did the black pork, and it was quite delicious. It's similar to sam-gap-sal, which is basically thick pieces of really fatty bacon. You cook it at your table, cut it into small peices, and eat it with garlic, red pepper paste, a peice of marinated turnip, green onions and kimchi, wrapped in a sesame or lettuce leaf. We were able to find a resturant fairly easily since they have pictures of big black pigs on their store fronts.

Pheasant, on the other hand, is a nicer, more expensive meal, and as a result, was a little more difficult to find. After an afternoon of wandering around Jeju's World Cup stadium and Jungnum Beach, we decided to search it out. We found many resturaunts that served duck, and each time we went into them to ask where we could find pheasant they tried to convince us that pheasant and duck were the same thing. So after about an hour and five or six attempts at duck resturaunts, we decided to just get into a cab and ask the driver to take us to a pheasant resturaunt.

So here'e where things got a little confusing. I had looked up the word in Korean a few hours earlier, "kkweong", but, unfortunately, I misremembered it and asked the taxi driver to take us to a "ddang" resturaunt. "Ddang," in Korean, means ground, earth, or real estate. So he was a bit confused at first. Then, I thought I was just mispronouncing it, so I asked for a "ddeong" resturant. This word officially doesn't mean anything in Korean, but it closely resembles "dung," which, I think, is pretty universal in definition. To make things worse, Jackie, an outgoing lady from Minnesota, did a little chicken dance, which should have worked, except she also put her hand over her butt like a bird tail. Along with the word "ddeong," I think this confused the driver even more. Well, after about 5 minutes of laughing and confusion, we finally figured things out and made it to a "kkweong" resturant, which, ironically, ended up being located about 3 blocks from our hotel.

The pheasant was simple delicious. We had it barbequed (kkweong gui), cut into thin slices and cooked in soup (kkweong shabu shabu), in meatballs (can't remember the name), and the most interesting, kkweong hwei, or raw pheasant. In The States I don't think I'd ever eat raw poultry, but when in Rome....


The raw, thinly sliced kkweong, which you mix into boiling soup right at your table. Called shabu shabu.

Jackie and Tony with a plate of kkweong hwei, or raw pheasant. And they're doing the chicken-pheasant dance.

Some funny pics...

A promotional ad for Jeju-Do, an island off the south coast. You can't argue with this ladies.


Our favorite convinience store, Family Mart (or is it Famiy Mart?).


Baby buns are cute in every culture.


This is Jackie and Nicole riding the subway home on a Saturday morning after a long Friday night. We didn't know the Korean lady on the left, but I don't think any of them mind.


At least Jackie and Nicole made it further than this guy.


Do you remember that Tom Cruise thing? It seems they just don't get it.


Simply refreshing.

Scootahdulnun jejodoeh tago itnuhn!!! (Riding scooters on Jeju!)

We recently visited the "Hawaii of Korea", Jeju-Do. Great time. Lots of relaxing, beach, food, and friends. And scooters. We rented 50cc scooters from Mr. Lee, a 30 something motorcycle mechanic (who works out a lot!) in Jeju City. Over the next couple of days, we cruised the East coast of Jeju at about 30 mph. The sea breathed from our left and Jeju's fruits and forests grew to our right. The roads were empty and windy, and the times were the best I've had.
Goggles. Badass.

Pink scooter. Not badass.

Too cute.

Some love photos...

Our friends Jessie and Alison just got married (Congrats!). Here's a few of our own love photos...



From the Eastern Coast of Jeju-Do.


A waterfall in Seogwipo.


Sunset at Manlipo Beach.

Happy 70th Gramps

"Happy Birthday Grandpa Chuck!!!"
We love you and we miss you grandpa. Have fun with the rest of the family.
By the way, the kids don't think 70 is that old. Most of them say they have grandparents in their 90's. Wow!