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 :)