Seoul Lantern Festival

Every year Seoul holds a lantern festival on the Cheonggyecheon in late Autumn.  We went on a Friday night, and the line was like a Disney line except a lot more efficient.  We got in after about a half hour and got to test out our new tripod.  It worked pretty well, and we ended up with some very nice pictures.

Look at all those people...

Emily with her students' favorite cartoon character Pororo

Marriage ceremony

This is where you enter the Cheongyecheon, but you can't take a picture until you're on your way out

Election!

I try not to get into political debate on the internet, because let's face it, it just causes a lot of resentment and no one ever gets anywhere.  I'm just going to post a few things I've observed on Facebook.

So, in all races: presidential, senate, and congressional - $6 billion was spent (http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/07/politics/5-things-election-night/index.html).  As of November 5th, Obama's supporters had spent approximately $931 million and Romney's supporters had spent approximately $1 billion.  What did we get out of it?  We got an even more divided and hate-filled country that I'm not sure I want to return to.

This link will show you why:
http://jezebel.com/5958490/twitter-racists-react-to-that-nigger-getting-reelected

Barack Obama is our president once again, and people are going to have to live with that.  George W. Bush beat Al Gore by a narrow margin in 2000, and Democrats were told to suck it up and live with the result, because the people had spoken.  It's 2012, and the people have spoken.  What scares me almost as much as the blatant racism from teenagers witnessed above, is the way that some religious people have used the vail of being a Godly person to criticize others for their political views.  Voting for Obama was not voting for the devil, and voting for Romney was not voting for "God's candidate."  They were both men the last time I checked, and I don't think God was running for president of the United States this year.  If I'm wrong, please let me know.  For them, please read this article:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/11/07/politics-and-our-eschatology/

If you are Christian, your political affiliation does not change your responsibilities to God or to each other.  Voting for Obama does NOT make you less Christian.  I am sorry, but the greatest responsibility you have as a Christian is to believe in Jesus Christ as your lord and savior.  So please, stop using religion to criticize those who don't have the same political ideas you do.  It just gives people even more of a reason to dislike organized religion.

Night at the Palace

Once or twice a year, the Seoul city government decides to open two of the palaces for extended hours at night.  We made a last-second decision to make the trip to 창경궁 (Chang-Kyeong Palace) to check it out.  We didn't have a tripod with us, and the lighting was tough to deal with in some places, so not all the pictures turned out well.

You can see how crowded it was from these pictures.  Funny enough, it's not the most crowded I've ever seen the palaces.  During the summer months, with all the tourists coming in from China and Japan (mostly), there isn't room to move in some parts.

Us at the end of the night. :)

태풍 (Typhoon)

We've been hearing all week about how a huge typhoon (the biggest in over a decade apparently) was supposed to rip through Seoul.  Needless to say, this didn't happen.  Instead of landing with a roar, it kind of landed with a whistle.  We got some high winds that knocked over a few signs, and a billboard or two, but nothing too serious.  It was more serious out on the coast.  There were some deaths, as well as a lot of damage.

All in all, it was nothing compared to the snow storm two years ago (most snow in 100 years) or the flooding that happened last year (the waterlevel in the Han River rose so high that it was within meters of touching the bottom of the bridge).  Last year the flooding got so bad that I was stuck on a bus for 45 minutes, and in that 45 minutes the water went from being at the top of the wheel wells of cars to completely covering them.  That was storm!

Just the Two of Us

As most people already know, we celebrated our first year as a married couple on Monday!  It's been a great first year.  We have travelled all around the world, settled back into Korea, and I've started my master's degree.  We had dinner at the same restaurant we went to the night I proposed and then followed up with cupcakes at Good Ovening, which we also went to the night I proposed.

It was our paper anniversary, I guess the cupcake wrappers count.  Right?

The happy couple.

Chinatown

Emily and I decided to take a day trip to Incheon's Chinatown.  This isn't like Chinatown in New York.  There are pretty much zero Chinese people there these days, but it was historically the place where Chinese immigrants would settle.  South Korea's main port was (and still is) Incheon, so they would live there and work on the docks.  It's also the birthplace of what all Korean people consider the quintessential Chinese dish: jajangmyeon (noodles in a black bean sauce).

The entrance to Chinatown.  I think every single Chinatown I've been to has had one.  New York's is on the bridge, Boston's is right there the second you get in.

This is the entrance to a very nice park.

This sculpture is supposed to represent US-Korean co-operation...

it kind of looks like a big piece of poop.

That is General Douglas MacArthur.

At my insistence we had to seek out the giant statue of General MacArthur.  He was the mastermind behind the Incheon amphibious landing after all.  That's about the only good thing he did during the Korean War, but that's a lot of history stuff that would just bore everyone.

Songs About Rain

At the beginning of July we went to Jeju Island with Emily's parents.  It rained a lot, but we still had a lot of fun and got to see most of the east side of the island.  Jeju Island is often times called Korea's Hawaii.  In some ways it is, in most ways it isn't.  Jeju has its own unique culture and parts of the language are massively different from what's spoken on the mainland.  The island is volcanic, just like Hawaii, so agriculture is difficult to sustain.  They also rely heavily on tourism, and are known for their beaches.  The big difference is that Jeju gets all four seasons.  Apparently, it snows a lot in the winter.  Way more than on the mainland.  At least that's what I was told by a friend of mine that grew up on Jeju.

We got into Jeju on Friday night, so we just ate at the hotel and relaxed.  The next day, we lucked out.  There wasn't a lot of rain, it was more of a sustained mist.  So, we decided to take a taxi tour of the island.

This is a 돌하루방 (tol harubang), or stone grandfather, we encountered at our first stop (these guys are everywhere).  We found out that these always come in sets of two.  One has his left hand over his right hand, the other has his right hand over his left.  The one with his left hand on top represents the warrior, the one with the right hand on top represents the scholar.  Every man was supposed to be a little bit of both.

The real appeal of a trip to Jeju is definitely the island's natural beauty.  They have three large waterfalls.  The one below is apparently one of the only waterfalls, if not the only waterfall, that goes directly into the Pacific Ocean.

Emily and dad Pryzlucki!

This is at the edge of a volcanic crater.  It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site just a few years ago.  Usually, you can see all the way to the bottom, but as you can see the fog was a little thick when we were there.

The last thing we saw were these naturally occurring pilars that were formed out of volcanic rock.  They were pretty cool, but the tide was starting to come in, so you couldn't quite see the entire thing.

And of course, no Jeju vacation would be complete without a trip to the beach.

Dale is camera-phobic

Pete the Cat Comes to Korea

At the end of June until the beginning of July, Emily's parents came to Korea for a visit!  They had a nice side trip to Taiwan for a week, where they went to Taipei, Taroko Gorge, and the northern shore.  Upon their return, we went to Jeju Island, and then spent a few days with them in Seoul.

On Tuesday, July 3rd, Emily's parents went to Emily's school, Pre-School Academy (PSA) to see where she works and to hang out with the kids for a little while.  After a short tour of the school, we sang the 'snack song' together with the kids, asked everyone, "How are you?", and then read a story together.

Mom Przylucki brought some books with her to read to the 4 year old students.  She brought, "Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes".  The students sat on the mat, entranced with these new visitors and the book.  We read about the adventures of Pete and how he keeps turning his white shoes all new colors.  The students played along, danced along, and sang along with the story.  They loved having Emily's parents there!

The next day, one of the students told Emily a story.  She told her mom that Emily Teacher's mommy and daddy visited the school, and her mother didn't believe her.  She asked Emily's co-teacher Heidi if it was true, and Heidi said yes!  The parent was happy that her daughter was able to meet Emily Teacher's parents, and that they read a story to the class!  The students enjoyed it and talked about it for days afterwards :)

For My Father

This is my first post in a long time, and it comes at a difficult time in my life.  My father passed away two weeks ago.  I haven't posted about it, because it's all still sinking in.  I try not to think about the things he'll never see me do, get my masters degree and have children, because he was able to see me do so many other things.  He got to see me graduate from New York University, move to Korea, get married, and live what is to this point a full and happy life.

I don't think I've ever seen my father happier than when he was at my wedding.  Part of the ceremony is pictured above.  It's how I'll always remember him.

I love you dad.  You'll be missed by us all.

Spring Has Sprung

Hello all!

We've been back for two months already!  Hard to imagine.  In these past two months we've been busy with work and study.  Emily loves her new job at Pre-School Academy Apgujeong, teaching 5-year old students.  Unlike her previous school, she has one classroom of 9 kids she teaches every day with a bilingual Korean teacher.  The kids are fantastic and pick up English very quickly!

Richard has midterms next week, so is busy studying and preparing for those.  He is also working as a docent at historical sights and palaces around Seoul, educating kindergarten and elementary school children about Korean history in English.

The past few weeks has seen the arrival of spring!  Cherry blossoms are out in force, and the weather has been sunny and in the 60s during the day.  We finally put away our heavy winter coats and sweaters.  However, knowing Korea, this lovely spring will last only a few more weeks and the heavy humid summer will set in.  Happy Spring!

And We're Back...

I haven't been here in a while, because I am studying my ass off.  I couldn't help but post this though:
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120318000381

I do not support this law, but I am glad that people are starting to take a serious look at the rights of adopted children or children to be adopted. What's missing from the article is the fact that these changes were at least proposed by adoptee organizations (I knew about their involvement) and the Korean Unwed Mothers' Families' Association (missed theirs somehow).

Homeward Bound

We are finally back in Korea.  After nearly six months of traveling and living out of suitcases, we have a new (to us) apartment in Cheongdam.  We can get back to a regular schedule, and settle back into work and school.  We'll have pictures up soon enough.

Wild Rovers

We took another short trip, this time to Sedona.  We didn't get pictures of the drive down, but it was awesome.  You lose elevation extremely quickly coming from the north through a series of switchbacks on 89A.  We got into Sedona before noon and did a little shopping.  We didn't go into the museum, but they had a Sedona film museum detailing all the westerns that were shot in and around Sedona.  We saved the hiking for the next day.  These pictures were taken around our hotel.

Sunset from just outside the hotel.

The view from the hotel room.

We did two big hikes for the day.  The first one was at Red Rock State Park.  It's a nature reserve, so it was more of a long walk than a real hike.  The second hike was to see Cathedral Rock.  This was more of a true hike with more gains in elevation over a shorter distance.

After the two larger hikes, we drove back via scenic Highway 179 where we did another short hike.  It's one of the shortest scenic highways in Arizona, but the views are great.  Sedona was definitely worth the trip and we would like to go back in the future.

War and Peace

From Wordpress

At over 1700 pages including the two epilogues, War and Peace can seem like an insurmountable read.  It took me four months of on and off reading through Russia, Turkey, Greece, and finally the United States to finish it.  I'm sure everyone knows the title, but I'm sure not everyone knows the story.  It's a sweeping epic that takes place during the Napoleonic Wars.  War and Peace mainly follows the Rostov family and their acquaintances from prior to the war, through the war, and then into the aftermath.  The bulk of the book is like a serial soap opera.  There is love, betrayal, political intrigue, war, and passion.  The only parts I could imagine someone getting bogged down in are the very technical military parts (which I enjoyed) and the parts where Tolstoy starts self-aggrandizing his views and why they are right and why other historians are wrong (which I found tedious).  Overall, it is a pretty good read.  It just takes a lot of time and patience to get through.

Best Western Squire Inn - Tusayan, AZ

For the first time in our lives Emily and I got upgraded.  When we first went to check-in the room wasn't ready.  So, we went to the Grand Canyon.  By the time we got back to the hotel, the room we were supposed to get was undergoing maintenance.  Therefore, we got bumped up to a business suite.  The business suite was great.  It had a small kitchen area, a sitting area, a very nice bedroom, and to top it all off, a jacuzzi.

We ate lunch, dinner, and breakfast at the hotel in that order.  The lunch was pretty average.  I got a pastrami sandwich and Emily got sliders.  Neither was terrible, but neither was amazing either.  For dinner, we ate at their other, nicer restaurant.  They offered local fare like buffalo and elk.  It was much better and well worth it.  They had a fairly decent wine list as well as a bar out front that you could order drinks from.  The breakfast was a standard American buffet.  They had eggs, potatoes, pancakes, fruit juice, fruit, and oatmeal.  It was fine for a hotel buffet, but again nothing amazing.

The hotel is in a prime location just like all the other Tusayan hotels.  I wouldn't necessarily suggest this hotel over any of the other options.  It is a five minute drive from the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park just like all the other hotels in the area.  I would suggest this particular hotel if you can get a better rate in relation to the other Tusayan hotels.

Get Your Kicks, On Route 66!

When we started working out how we were going to get to the Grand Canyon, we discovered that we would be driving a pretty sizable stretch of the Arizona section of Old Route 66.  Unfortunately, I-40 covers almost the entire road, but a lot of the kitch remains!  We were able to see Twin Arrows and Two Guns from the road, but they were in horrible disrepair.  I read on one site that you can't even get to Two Guns anymore, because the buildings are on the verge of collapse.  We were still able to get off the interstate and hit some of the old Route 66 staples though.

That is the Meteor Crater site.  It's the second famous hole in Arizona's landscape.

We also stopped off to see the World's Largest Petrified Tree (left) at Geronimo.  Emily decided to climb inside of a teepee while we were there.

We even got to see the Wigwam Hotel in Holbrook.  They have been photographed a lot, but they probably seem familiar to most people because they inspired the Safety Cone Hotel in the movie Cars.

On our way through Holbrook, we hit up one of Route 66's staple restaurants: Joe and Aggies Cafe.  It is also the oldest restaurant in Holbrook.  The food was tasty.  I would recommend the red chili.  It's got a nice kick to it.  Emily got the Navajo Taco.  The waiter told us that it was very popular in the area.  Basically, it's taco fixings inside of Navajo fry-bread.  In a word: delicious!

An American Tale: Richard and Emily Go West

Emily and I took a two-day trip to the Grand Canyon.  Just like everywhere else we went, it was low season.  That means, it was nice and quiet.  They haven't seen much snow this year, so the roads were nice and clear.  All in all, I would say it was the perfect time to go.  The entire southern rim was open including the Desert View road, which can close if there is heavy snow.  We'll get to that later.  

I really like sitting with my feet dangling off edges.

The pictures above are from our first afternoon there.  We tried to check-in to the hotel, but we were there too early.  So, we got some lunch and drove out to Grand Canyon National Park.  It really is awe inspiring.  The cold weather makes the sky clear, so you can see all the mountain ranges to the north and the east.

We decided to hang out until sunset.  We walked a little under a mile back to the shuttle bus stop.  We checked in at the hotel around 7PM.  We ended up getting really lucky.  The room we were supposed to be in was undergoing maintenance work, so we got upgraded to a business suite.  The room was great.  It had a bar, a small kitchen, a sitting area, a king-sized bed, and a jacuzzi.  The jacuzzi was definitely the highlight.  We woke up the next morning rested and relaxed.  We decided to drive out on the Desert View road and take the eastern exit out of the park.

I would recommend that route to anyone that has a car.  The Desert View road offers unique views of the canyon and the Little Colorado River.  It also has the Tusayan ruins and museum, which is worth a quick look.  The road to the east runs through Navajo country.  When you hit the descent out of Grand Canyon National Park, you can see the Painted Desert.  The road gets very little traffic, which means you can take your time if you want to.