Seoul Mates

We're Moving...

2014-06-05T06:29:00.002-05:00

to a different blogging platform!

http://olopezadventures.com/

We've been blogging here at Blogger for the last 7 years, but it feels time to move on to a platform that will work better for the ridiculous amount of photos that we like to share with you. All of our content has been transferred so head on over to http://olopezadventures.com/ from now on. Change your bookmarks, subscribe to posts, add us to your Feedly, whatever you need to do...just please don't stop reading! ;)

Throwback Thursday: Aunt Kathy Visits

2014-06-05T01:00:00.000-05:00

Hey, remember last year when Aunt Kathy came to visit us in Korea and we never got around to blogging about it...?! Throwback Thursday to last spring!

Kathy actually took an incredible sounding trip to Japan with some other textile interested people (she finds the coolest trips around the world that relate to all things weaving and textile). Korea was a short extension of that trip. I mean really, if you are flying all the way to Japan already, you should definitely hop over to see us in Seoul! :)

We managed to cram in all sorts of fun Seoul sights during the extended weekend when Kathy was in town. We visited Gangnam and forced her to take a touristy picture with the Psy sign, we hit up Changdeokgung Palace just in time for cherry blossom season, we ate some delicious Korean food and we also made it to the National Museum, an excellent collection of artifacts sorted chronologically by the dynasties of Korean history (Silla, Bakjae, Koryo, Joseon, etc).

It's always excited to have friends and family come visit us. We love to see our loved ones in person! It also gives us an opportunity to play tourist in our own city, something we should do far more often than we have. On this particular visit, both the Changdeokgung Palace and the National Museum were sights that Alex and I hadn't had the chance to see yet. I highly recommend both of them. The palace has traditional Korean architecture and beautifully manicured gardens (that we need to go back and see as they were closed the day we went) and the museum is really well done and is also free!

We were thrilled that Kathy made the journey all the way to Asia. Now we just need to move to Africa so that visiting us will get her her last continent!! ;)

Aunt Kathy in Gangnam

On our way to the palace--this spot on the sidewalk specifically tells you were to take a picture from.

This is the picture from that very specific spot. Not too shabby advice!

The gates at the palace

Most of the palaces in Korea are of this similar architectural style. Changdeokgung felt much more spread out than Gyeongbokgung though. I love the juxtaposition of the old architecture surrounded by the new architecture.

The flowers were just starting to bloom the weekend Kathy was here. Spring is Seoul is absolutely beautiful!

30cm Coil Pots

2014-06-04T00:34:00.000-05:00

This year's group of Ceramics I students made some absolutely fabulous coil pots! I'm not sure if it's my teaching (doubt it) or the group of kids (maybe?) or the excellent examples I get to use from previous years, but I feel like the pieces my students make are more and more impressive each year that I teach ceramics. The pieces that my students made my first year at SIS are here and while I still think those students produced impressive pieces, the frustration level goes down each year and the students find more success. There is less breakage and starting over so most students are able to excel at adding details and glazing instead of frantically remaking their piece two or three times right before the due date. Here are a few of this year's 30cm Coil Pots:

fyi that's a crab claw :)

Central Serengeti

2014-06-03T08:12:00.002-05:00

And the posts continue to slowly roll out. Sifting through a bunch of Safari Photos had made me slightly cross eyed and I needed a break from going through and then editing them. So I have now seen enough non animals to come back to finishing off the Africa photos.

After the amazing day of cats we knew the next day would be a struggle to impress us, but as we learned early on in the Safari, each day provides something different that will be amazing in its own way. The day started with a drive out to a watering hole to see a bunch of Hippos. I was super excited, as hippos had become one of the animals I wanted to see closer. What I had not expected was that we would get out of the jeep to view them. As we stood there watching them we got a chance to see how the alpha male made sure that the other two other males kept their distance from his harem. Every time they crept a little to close the alpha male would rumble and bring his head up above the water and the two other males would creep back. The hippos were more entertaining than I expected as they are normally a nocturnal animal. They fought, snored, grunted, and even crapped on each others heads while sleeping. After leaving the hippos we game drove around the park, we saw a lot but I'll merely cover the highlights.

We came across a group of female lionesses who had recently killed a cape buffalo but then were tired of dealing with all the flies and the heat so were hanging out nearby in a tree. Prosper explained that they would wait until the evening to eat. We would roll by later in the day and see them slowly walking over to the buffalo to start tearing at the buffalo.

As the day wound down we got lucky again and got a chance to see another leopard hanging out in a tree. Shortly after spotting the leopard another jeep spooked the leopard, causing him to run. We took it in stride as we had been lucky to see as many leopards as we had and continued to drive around. After checking out the lionesses again we headed back to the lodge only to be surprised when the same leopard was calmly meandering down the road toward us. Prosper pulled over and we got a chance to see him walk right at us. Prosper was leaning out the driver's side window looking at the leopard as he kept walking toward us. Caitlin and I were watching from the roof. It was at this point I couldn't believe how close the leopard was from us but then got spooked when Prosper quickly rolled up his window. Caitlin however was still video taping and starting to lean out because he was underneath her. It was at about this point where followed my philosophy of "Do as the guide does' and pulled Caitlin into the vehicle. Caitlin seemed a little perturbed at my concern, because it messed up her video. I was also slightly worried that the temptation to reach out and pet the leopard would be too great for her to resist. It seems that only in Africa do we switch roles of risk taker.

As the day came to an end, Tanzania had made me realize that every day impresses just a little bit more.

Lilac Breasted Roller

Topi Antelope

Crocodile

Smiling Hippo, Caitlin's favorite hippo because it stayed like this for about 20 minutes.

The scratches are from the brush when they go foraging at night.

Still smiling.

Love the eyes on the one that looks like she was just woken up.

Me.

Crazy looking tongue.

Just showing off.

Their legs look so disproportionate.

Still smiling.

Giraffes strolling.

Had to stop for the straggler.

A hawk that we failed to write down the name of.

Lioness trying to get comfortable.

This one had gotten her nose cut up at some point.

Flies still pestering.

Don't pick the swinging fruit.

Agama lizard chilling at our hotel.

The view from our hotel, kind of in the middle of nowhere.

Caitlin was smart enough to wear sunglasses for her photo.

Baby Baboon getting a ride.

Leopard

We watched him climb up into this tree.

The tree seems to make a natural hammock.

Leopard posing with elephants in the background.

The sky was spectacular.

Reedbuck Antelope

Unlimited salad bar.

Cool clouds

Marabou Stork

Sunset

Lionesses going to town.

This photo is not cropped, two steps later all the shots are just spots.

6th grade Architecture

2014-06-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

After a change in scheduling this year, I now have my 6th grade students for then entire year instead of just 9 weeks at a time. The added class time has provided lots of opportunities for bringing back some of my favorite projects that we just didn't have time for over the last two years...like the aluminum armor project and this architecture project that I also taught in Honduras and Ecuador. The students researched a variety of different architectural styles and then designed unique buildings with lots of windows, doors, roofs, textures, etc. We painted watercolor backgrounds to enhance the idea of space in the scene. Check 'em out!

The unwritten travel log: #1

2014-05-30T08:16:00.001-05:00

Caitlin and I have recently been reminiscing about some of our favorite travel stories and we realized that many of these stories are not on the blog. The reason we did not put them up was to save loved ones undue worries, however as it has been long enough we figured we would start blogging about them as we felt enough time had passed. So here begins the first in the unwritten travel log series. Warning many of these may not be for the faint of heart.

Lauren and Ethan Brodsky visited us in Ecuador our second year and we headed to the Amazon so we could enjoy the wildlife in the Amazon. The whole trip went fairly well with just the minor bat flying over head and the squishing of a cockroach as one tried to scare the bat away. This story deals with the leaving of the amazon.

The day we were to leave we believed we had a ride waiting to pick us up from the river where the lodge was to drop us off. So we went out for a morning piranha fishing expedition and enjoyed our day. Our guide then took us down the river to catch our ride. When we arrived at the bridge where our ride was supposed to be waiting we discovered that there was no one there. We waited, but as time passed we realized that it was looking like no one was coming. Our guide started to look mildly worried but came up with the quick solution of catching a bus. The bus he hailed picked us up and seemed to be in a hurry of its own.

The bus seemed to be making good time, but I was still unsure if we would be making our flight back to Quito which was concerning as Lauren and Ethan had a morning departure back to the States the next day. As we swerved back and forth through the jungle back toward civilization I continuously checked my watch. After about 30 minutes on the bus we stopped in a small town where we jumped off and our guide haggled a deal with a 'taxi'. More of a pick up truck with a tarp over its back. At this point I wasn't too concerned.

We piled into the back of the pick up truck and he took off. This man was on a mission to get us to the airport. Only later would I learn that the guide had promised him double the normal rate if he got us there in time for the flight. As he hauled ass through the jungle I started to wonder the sanity of this ride. I'm pretty sure the pick-up had the same tires that the '94 tercel I drove in high school did. As he rounded corners at 60 mph it was no shock that we saw two wheel motion that would have made Snoop proud. It was about this time that I started to think about what would happen if a cow walked out into the middle of the road. As we continued barreling towards what I was sure would be my final cab ride I started to think about if it was worth the small chance of making the flight. I decided to inform the driver that it would be ok if we missed our flight, however the squealing of the tires and his race day focus didn't allow him to hear either my banging on the roof or terrified shouts of 'slow down'. It was at about this point that I think Caitlin started to realize that it wasn't just her normal car sickness and fear of cabs, because when she looked at me she saw what I can only imagine to be the look of 'this isn't good'. I don't usually have any concerns with cabs but this time I thought I had pressed my luck too far. As I held on to the back of the pick-up and wondered if this was it, we sped through the Amazon. The only person in the back of the pick-up who seemed unfazed by the whole trip was Ethan so the video and pictures are courtesy of him.

Since I am writing this entry, you can imagine that we made it to the airport without any major mishaps. In fact we even caught our flight home. The cab driver got his doubled fair and seemed quite proud of himself for covering what usually takes an hour and a half in a mere 45min. As I shelled out the fair the glint in his eye didn't allow him to see Lauren stumble out the back of the pickup and proceed to puke everything she had in her stomach onto the parking lot. We paid and wandered into the airport and checked into our flight. The prop plane felt like the safest place on earth after what we had just gone through. My forearm would hurt for another 2 days from hanging on so tightly during the ride.

Lauren trying to hold it together.

Falling out of the back of the pick up truck.

The look of a job well done.

Unified Tile Series

2014-05-30T00:15:00.000-05:00

My Ceramics II students start each year off by creating a series of tiles on a topic of their choice (how far behind in blogging am I that it's June and I'm telling you about the first project of the year from last September?!...whoops!). I ask them to choose between an architectural theme or a socio-political theme and to include significant additive and subtractive relief. The rest is up to them! I find that an open-ended project like this is a great way to start off the year for my II's...they get a sense of freedom, have a chance to express themselves in a creative way, and basically set themselves up for what the rest of the year will be like in terms of planning, research and creativity. A few of this year's pieces:

Commentary on the consumption of fast food and increased obesity among people in many cultures.

Bullying

Plastic surgery

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture from another angle

Throwback Thursday: Jaisalmer India

2014-05-29T07:34:00.002-05:00

As frequently happens when we travel we fail to blog all of the pictures/places/events that we intended to. So for the next couple of weeks we are going to post Throwback Thursday posts to catch up on the stuff that is sitting in the draft files of our blog.

The first post comes to you from Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer was the last city we stopped in on our trip through India a couple of summers ago. It was referred to as the 'yellow' city as its buildings are made of a yellow stone and it goes with the theme of the colored cities of Rajasthan. We had decided that this would be our western most point, but we started doubting our choice as every time we told someone we were headed to Jaisalmer next they gave us a look pity/fear/you must be crazy and responded with 'too hot, its too hot this time of year, nobody goes there now'. Apparently we were the only ones who thought it would be a good time to visit the desert in the middle of summer. They were right about it being hot, but it was still one of the highlights of our trip.

The town itself surrounds a fort (which we stayed in and spent a lot of time hanging out in) and has a very laid back feel. We enjoyed Jaisalmer as the level of chaos was more subdued and felt like we could wonder the streets without getting run over. We spent only a couple days exploring Jaisalmer, from here we headed via camel into the desert towards the Pakistan border. But that is for another blog entry.

One of the views from our room.

Entering the fort.

I enjoyed wandering through the fort, it felt like I was in a different time.

The entry to our hotel.

A cow looking for a handout.

Colorful truck.

The Lassi shop that Bourdain visited.

Caitlin trying the lassi.

Breakfast on the roof of the fort.

The View from our room.

Caitlin hanging out on the roof. The carving of the building was impressive.

Getting lost in the alley ways.

Meandering through the fort. There were ally ways that would lead every which way.

The fort was like something out of a story.

The view of Jaisalmer.

Caitlin trying to not melt.

Hanging out reading in the hotel.

As you can tell we spent a lot of time on the roof.

Caitlin enjoying the bench seat on the roof.

Sunset over the fort.

Dinner. Boy do I miss the nan. This was a regional dish, made of cactus.

Sunset over the roof.

Watching the night venders come to life.

The night view.

6th grade Suits of Armor

2014-05-28T20:47:00.003-05:00

We're finishing up the year over here in Seoul and one of the final projects my 6th graders have been working on are these suits of plate armor. We learned about texture, relief sculpture and aluminum tooling foil repousse! This is a project that I taught in Honduras, but it's been awhile since I've been able to squeeze it into the curriculum again. I'm glad I found time this year. I love how they turned out! And I also love that all of my high school students have been oohing and ahhing over them for the last week. It's fun to be able to tell the 6th graders that the high school kids are impressed by their work.

Ceramics II Place Settings

2014-05-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

Each fall, my Ceramics II students refresh their memory about wheel throwing. As I's, they learned to throw basic cylinder shapes and turn them into mugs. As II's, I teach them bowls and plates to go with their cylinders and they make an entire place setting. Here are last year's and here are a few of this year's:

AP Art History Website

2014-05-13T00:54:00.000-05:00

I made a website:

http://apah.yolasite.com

In an attempt to organize all the documents I used to teach art history this year, I created a website that could potentially be used by students or other art history teachers. Here at SIS, we use Moodle so I also have everything there for my students to access, but I wanted a way to keep all of this stuff when I move to a new school at some point and this website was my solution. It has quite a few clever art history and history types of videos on it so check it out even if the thought of clicking on a syllabus makes you want to stab pencils in your eyes! ;)

AP Art History

2014-05-12T02:22:00.000-05:00

I realize this makes me a huge art history nerd, but I just came across this video and I love it!

Art History is such a fascinating subject and this video encompasses so many of the reasons why I love teaching it.

Hiking Namhansanseong

2014-05-05T19:57:00.000-05:00

We're on the tail end of a four day weekend here in Korea and amazingly, Alex and I have stayed around Seoul for it. While I love the trips we take, this weekend at home has been a nice opportunity to relax and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. We've managed to eat some delicious food, drink some delicious beers and spend some time with good friends. Monday's beautiful weather took me and Alex and our friends Jenny and Ben up to Namhansanseong, an old fortress wall on a mountain just a short distance from our house. The weather was a bit breezy, but the sun was shining and we got some great views of the city, while still feeling surrounded by nature. Here's a look at our day:

Flags along the wall

A view toward the southern part of Seoul

Ben, Jenny, me, and Alex

There are several gate houses and lookouts along the fortress wall, most of which are built in the style of traditional Korean architecture that is common at palaces and temples.

Alex practicing with the camera

Alex doesn't take all the pictures around here! This was my contribution from the day. :)

Ben getting a close up of the brightly painted lookout post.

AP Art History - Museum Curators

2014-05-01T03:16:00.000-05:00

As a culminating activity in the art history class I'm teaching this year, I asked my students to "curate" a museum exhibit. They were asked to choose 25 works of art from across time and to become an expert in those works. They could then present their information in any way they saw fit. I got a lot of hard copy print outs of information, but a few students went digital.

Here's a tumblr that one student made:

http://timetravelthroughart.tumblr.com

and a video that another student made:

Art History - 720p from Grace Lee on Vimeo.

I hope they remember at least some of what they've learned and that they keep studying before the big test next Tuesday! I think I'm more nervous than they are!!

Cats, Cats and more Cats!!!

2014-04-30T07:28:00.001-05:00

The cub with lunch.

As frequently occurs after a vacation I start by posting a lot of our photos but then slowly lose my momentum and don't post the last days of our vacation. This time I am going to try to push through, so while it has been months since we were in Africa I will try to post the last photos from the trip.

The day we left Ndutu lodge we headed into the park to see some more animals. Our hope was to see some large cats. We were aware that it was going to be unlikely but held out hope. What would follow would be an unbelievable day of cat sightings. We started out by seeing a couple of lionesses which Caitlin had mentioned wanting to see as we had only seen male lions up until this point. After which I asked her what she wanted to see she mentioned a leopard, half joking. Little did we know we would see a leopard with her cub after the lions lounging. We watched the leopards eat for some time, eventually Prosper asked if we had seen enough, while I think Caitlin would have been happy spending the rest of the week there we headed out.

I had to request a pit stop to pee, I had figured any tree would do, but to apparently Prosper was a little bit more cautious and drove into the middle of a field with short grass. His apprehension and location of choice made me more than a little worried. I had the mental image of me trying to out run some large animal while peeing on myself and dying that way. It did not make for the ideal eulogy. Thankfully that did not happen for more than one reason.

After the bathroom break we continued game driving and came across a couple of cheetahs. At this point Caitlin was on cloud nine. I didn't think it could get any better. But after spending a long time with the cheetahs we headed out and came across a family of lionesses and managed to spot another cheetah in the distance. The day was becoming more and more amazing.

After staring at the lions sleeping we had lunch and headed toward the Serengeti. I asked Caitlin what was left to see and she mentioned baby lions. Enroute to the Serengeti we stopped at a rock outcropping that looked like something from tremors and as we rounded the rock we came across another family of lioness with about 14 cubs. It was like Caitlin made a wish list and everything on it was coming up. After looking at more lions sleep we started heading back to our Lodge. On the way I asked prosper what cats we hadn't seen. He said only 2 that were in that region and showed them to me in the book. The first one looked like a large domestic cat and the second one a Serval he said you didn't usually see in the Serengeti. As we were running late he started to drive a bit faster to make it before dark, but low and behold a Serval ran across the road in front of us. Unfortunately I had packed up the camera and didn't get a good shot by the time I got everything out. I had figured there was no more to see. So Caitlin got her day of cats and saw just about every type imaginable. We thought it couldn't get better but the days just kept on building.

We watched this elephant tear down a tree. He then ate one leaf and walked on.

Marabou Stork.

Wildebeest.

The stereotypical Safari shot.

The cub wasn't so agile and kept dropping the bird he was trying to eat.

Mom sleeping above.

Trying to hang on to lunch.

Starting to lose it.

Bath time.

Mom going down to retrieve the bird.

Cheetah yawning.

Look at those teeth.

Caitlin liked the scruff of their neck.

Doesn't look that ferocious.

Looking at something.

Absolutely stunning.

Walking around.

Got distracted by a hawk.

Lionesses lounging. Clearly not too worried about predators.

The flies were bothering them.

Not quite asleep.

Looks very comfortable.

Thats how close we got.

They didn't mind us at all.

I loved the scenery and sky.

I miss wide open spaces.

Cruising across the park.

Lovebirds hanging out at the lodge.

Flamingos digging up food.

Their wings are so much brighter.

Wildebeest, apparently this isn't very many.

Looks like a real life Farside comic.

Rock formations that jutted up in the middle of the Serengeti. Made me think of Jesse and how I'm sure he would explain this to his students for a lesson.

Amazing skies and scenery. No creative editing, this is just what it looked like.

Sleeping mom.

This guy had climbed to the top of the rock.

The little guy had a faux hawk.

Bath time.

The mothers share the duties of raising the little ones.

No problems climbing over each other to get some food.

Passed out on the rock.

Feeding time.

Pile of lions.

The view as we rounded the rock.

As we drove away.

Out of focus Serval.

Also out of focus but you can kind of make out the cool design of the ears.

Nina in Busan!

2014-04-21T08:52:00.000-05:00

WARNING: This is the first post of the blog that will feature Alex's watermark on his pictures.

The trip to Busan was lots of fun. We got there by KTX, which is the Korean Bullet Train. It only took two hours. It is amazing: you can go from the top to the bottom of Korea in two hours! It was surprising to see that Busan looks a little like a smaller Seoul. The buildings are like Seoul's only smaller. But the beach was nice. The weather was not good the day we arrived, but Saturday and Sunday were nice and sunny.
At my request, one of the activities Alex had planned for Busan was eating freshly killed raw octopus. I had read in this blog a post in which Alex wrote about how he went to a fish market and had some raw octopus. It seemed exciting so I asked if we could have try that. So after some breakfast on Saturday morning, we went to the fish market. We wondered around and took some pictures of the outdoors and indoors markets. Finally, we ventured to the upstairs part of the indoors market where the restaurants were. We had an assorted fish plate that included, amongst other raw seafoods I cannot name, raw octopus (Caitlin posted a video of our moving food). I was warned that the octopus might stick to my tongue and the walls of my mouth, and it happened. It was odd. The texture was odd as well; it was like watery jelly that involved some serious chewing before it was swallowable. But I must confesse it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I actually liked it.
The outdoors fish market was even bigger than the indoors one. Towards its end you could also find a bunch of restaurants and a handful of vendors who sold veggies, fruits and even socks.

A cool shot of a fish stall in the outside part of the market. I told Alex this picture sort of looks like it could be Alaska.

These guys were part of the raw dish. They weren't that bad but they tasted a bit like sand.

These fish looked silver. Most of the vendors outside were old ladies.

You could choose one of these and then have it cooked into a soup.

My reaction after having some raw octopus.

Caitlin's reaction.

The fish sellers in the inside market were dressed in bright colors, mostly yellow. Here is a seller showing his customers different kinds of fish.

Alex and me by the ocean just outside of the fish market.

Boats all lined up.

This man was casually fishing sitting on a couch.

A monk outside the fish market.

A lady serving some fish stew.

After the raw seafood experience we visited what someone in Trip Advisor called 'The colorful cousin of Santorini'. It was a neighborhood in Busan that had small bright color painted houses. Caitlin tried doing a scavenger hunt which involved getting seals from different spots in the neighborhood, but we didn't finish that. If you finished it you could get a postcard; we would've gotten a third of a postcard. The view was beautiful and the place was quite fun because all of the quirky elements it had, like murals or statues. Alex mentioned that the neighborhood would probably soon be transformed into a less local more massive commercial area, and he might be right. It is sad to think that this peaceful dong could grow into what the most of Korea is all about: bright lights and shopping.

That reminds me, I forgot to mention that on Friday night we went to watch a movie in the biggest department store of the world. Guinness certified and all.

Creepy birds with human heads.

A house full of creepy bird people. And azaleas.

I have some new creepy pals!

Looking at the non-bird people.

Caitlin posing with the first of the big fishes that could guide your way through the hood.

A view of the neighborhood.

Old folks having a rest after their hike.

Cool alleys, huh?

Alex admiring the view with the Little Prince and the fox.

Who doesn't want to be part of a Saint-Exupery novel?

I didn't know Cinderella had to clean the pumpkin after using it. And that Cinderella was a man.

Selfie!

The Korean Santorini.

Alex being a master with the field depth.

We got here by bus but some people hike their way up through a path in the woods.

Houses, houses, houses.

Nina in Seoul

2014-04-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

On my first official day in Seoul Alex took me around the city so I could see how to move in the city (a.k.a. how the subway works) without getting lost. My first impression was: Seoul is the kitsch capital of the world. It also has a load of hi_tec / posmodern buildings; they're everywhere and they're all very tall so the skyline is saturated. But, let us go back to the kitsch. First we went to the Trick Eye Museum (Caitlin had recommended it) because Alex figured it was one of those attractions which I couldn't do all by myself another day. The museum is full of different paintings and sculptures that play with perspective through shadows, their position and distance. It is a museum for you to go and take silly pictures. I love that, a museum meant to be for taking pictures. Here are some of the silliest photos Alex chose.

This guy was outside the museum but I find everything eschatological funny, so I had to pose like this.

Here is a renaissance man having a go at my guts.

Alex being sneaky!

Jackpot!

Alex doing the Dong chim which apparently is a game Korean children play in which they clasp their hands together and pretend to stick their fingers into other people's butts.

Hello there.

Alex must be super strong!

And I like floating around.

Hee hee.

Fun with dinosaurs.

All the beer he could get.

Me and my new best friend.

I had to save Alex from a sea monster.

And then he had to save me from a dragon.

The Korean version of the Angel that is in Reforma in front of the museum of archeology.

Did y'know Alex was at the Olympics?

I can levitate.

I made some chinese friends

This is a picture so my dad can see that Alex is taking good care of me and keeping me out of danger. And it also looks like I might fart on his face.

With the admittance to the Trick Eye Museum came the Ice Museum which literally was a very big freezer with a bunch of varied ice sculptures that sometimes were lit up. Good thing we had jackets (I'll count the flannel as a jacket).

There was this slide and I just went down it and my butt froze. Later I realized that there were some 'pallets' otherwise known as mats that you could use to keep your butt dry. Needless to say, Alex's butt didn't touch the ice.

Call me Nanook.

It looked so bad-ass. I could not just not do this.

Icha would love this.

I think all of us as kids were told by our aunt Mariza that at 15 or some age we were going to have to go take a ride in a pumpkin carriage. Mariza will be glad to know that Alex actually (sort of) did it.

That was a comfy bed.

.... not!

The freezer was frozen. And the background looks very much like acid trippy visuals.

NOSFERATU! But I'm not bald.

After the museums Alex remembered that the famous Sheep Cafe was in the same dong (Korean for neighborhood). So we went. There were two fluffy sheep in a pen next to the tables. And there was one lady who was taking pictures of them with an iPad for around 20 minutes. I only saw her pet the sheep twice. Those silly Koreans! I understand that coffee with animals around is a fad in the city which I guess comes from the fact that people don't normally keep pets in Seoul. I assumed this because I haven't seen people walking their dogs (which is good because the boardwalk is very clean), and then Alex pointed out that it is not common for Koreans to have pets.

I had a jasmine flower tea.

And coffee with sheep.

We also went to Gagnam that day.

Yep.

Hoi An

2014-04-05T02:59:00.003-06:00

While in Hoi An we hung out at the beach but also explored the town. The town is absolutely amazing, as it was not destroyed during the war it still has many of the old Chinese style houses. In addition, each evening the shut down the center of town so you can walk through without motor traffic. The lack of traffic along with the copious amount of lanterns hanging in front of buildings and over the streets gives the town a feeling of going back in time for as long as you can avoid seeing a cellphone. So about 5 seconds but at least you can imagine.
As you walk through the streets there are shops and restaurants catering to tourists, one of the most prevalent is clothing shops that will tailor make just about anything you can show them a picture of. Caitlin had big plans of having a new wardrobe made but in the end settled on having just one dress made. It is always amazing to me that they can have anything made in about 24 hours so that you can have adequate fittings before you leave.
We spent most of our timing wandering around or stopping for a drink or bite to eat as we people watched. The city is on a river that used to be used for shipping before it became over silted. There are still boats that move up and down it and make for good leisure watching. Hoi An is probably my favorite city in Viet Nam thus far.

Sara having a drink over the river.

Lanterns, Lanterns everywhere.

Boat jam.

The entrance of the night market.

Mopeds are always part of Viet Nam.

The O'Neals checking out a shop.

The view from across the river.

The Japanese bridge.

A couple heading out to leave lanterns. Got a unintentional halo reflection on her, but I liked it.

Women selling lanterns.

Lantern market.

Gail and Bill in front of the lanterns.

Us in front of the lanterns.

Playing with Bokeh.

Sara being a good sport about it.

A couple of girls out rowing.

Moored boat.

Special thanks to Andy Faulk for showing me some photo magic.

Funny Kids

2014-04-02T20:13:00.001-06:00

This is how high school boys keep their pants clean when throwing on the wheel.

The Life of an Art Teacher

2014-03-31T22:50:00.001-06:00

There's nothing quite like rounding the corner of a shelf in your classroom and running into this:

Submitted one of my photos to Nat Geo

2014-03-31T07:23:00.001-06:00

Decided to submit one of my photos to Nat Geo and see if I win anything. I am including the link but have already posted it to the blog before.

A story written on a face - Traveler Photo Contest 2014 - National Geographic

Kitten Photo of the Week

2014-03-30T07:16:00.001-06:00

Olive has really been working on her computer skills lately.

Green Bamboo Cooking Class in Hoi An

2014-03-29T07:01:00.007-06:00

A couple of women chatting at the seafood area of the market.

While one would assume that on our first full day in Hoi An we would head straight to the beach, we did not. Instead we took a cooking class on how to make Vietnamese food. I love Vietnamese food and was super excited. The first time we came to Viet Nam we took a class as well and the food was amazing so I had high expectations for this class and Green Bamboo did not disappoint.

The class started by us heading into the market to pick the ingredients for our recipes. Each person chose the meal they wanted to learn how to make but all would watch and taste, which with a group of 8 meant that we were going to have a lot of food. The market as always was full of sounds, smells, colors and goings on that are quick to distract the eye. While in the market I have to admit I was not the best of students as I was taking it all in. I think my favorite part was after purchasing the pork for the meals the lady proceeded to shave the pieces of meat to get rid of the pig hairs. Talk about fresh.

After the market we headed back to Van's (our cooking instructor) house to start the preparation. The first step was to peel, chop, devein, etc. the ingredients so that they would be ready to cook. We then started the dishes that need a long slow boil period (like pho and cau lau) so as to maximize time. Then we watched everyone cook the dishes that took less cook time as we finished prepping ingredients for our dishes. As the class went on we learned about the dishes and got a chance to get to know the other students in the class as well as our teacher. The day as a whole was absolutely amazing and the food was impressive for a bunch of first timers. Van was a great instructor. We learned a lot about Vietnamese food and she even gave us a mini-language lesson. It made for a great time to hang out with family and eat some good food.

Headed to the market wearing Non La.

Prickly cucumber. We didn't eat these but they looked cool.

A woman peeling pineapple to sell.

Getting all the necessities or selling them?

Man walking through the market.

Meat for sale.

Woman selling vegetables while chewing beetle nut.

Caitlin.

Sara.

Fresh chicken anyone?

Sara chopping shrimp that were so fresh they were still squirming.

Bill and Gail deveining the shrimp.

Caitlin at the start of making pho.

Sara thinking something was funny.

Gail breading her eggplant in panko bread crumbs that were multi colored.

Gail learning to use cooking chopsticks.

The final result. They were delicious.

Caitlin and Gail tag teaming it. Notice the tongue out for concentration. Both of them make the same face when cooking, it must be genetic.

Caitlin and Gail.

Bill with his green mango, papaya, and shrimp salad.

My Cao Lau recipe. The noodles for this dish are only made in Hoi An and made by only one family. Apparently the recipe is a secret. The chips in front are fried flat noodles.

Van helping Sara with the Vietnamese pancakes. Probably the trickiest to cook of all the dishes.

As you can see it was definitely worth it. The pancake is rolled up in a rice paper. They were delicious.

Gail getting the hang of the Vietnamese pancakes. She is using a green onion as a brush and dipping it into oil to cover the pan and add extra flavor.

Caitlin finishing up her pho. She used the big spoon to fill with broth then dip thinly cut beef to quickly cook it. Also absolutely amazing.

Heading from Hue to Hoi An

2014-03-27T23:07:00.001-06:00

A woman selling lanterns to put on the river and let float away.

From Hue we headed to Hoi An. We took the slow route to get there via the Hia Van Pass. It gave us some great views and a chance to take in a little bit of the country side as it was our first sunny day of the trip. The lush vegetation with a quick drop to the ocean gave us great panoramas.

When we got to Hoi An wasted no time and went to the beach to see what it was like and then headed into town for a beautiful evening of lanterns. Hoi An at night is gorgeous, it is nice during the day as well, but at night it is lit up with lanterns and the center streets are shut down to traffic to allow you to walk and gawk without worrying that a moped will run you over. We took advantage of the streets and the lights every night we were in Hoi An.

A view of Lang Co beach.

A view right after we crossed the pass.

Rice terraces and temples.

The woven fishing boats that are used in Hoi An.

They use them for getting on and off larger boats as well. They are completely round like a large woven basket.

A modification of the design.

Sunset as we biked back from the beach.

Lanterns everywhere.

The lanterns were absolutely stunning. We watched people paint them.

Fun with the shutter speed.

It was nice that so many of the buildings put lanterns up, it created a wonderful atmosphere throughout downtown.

Girls selling float in candles that you could put on the river.

Tombs, Tombs and more Tombs followed by a Pagoda

2014-03-27T21:01:00.000-06:00

The second day in Hue we had cloudy rainy weather once again but it looked like it wasn't going to pour on us so we piled into a car and went sight seeing at the tombs of former emperors. The tombs ranged in style due to French influence. The first tomb we visited was the tomb of Minh Mang which was the oldest and from around the 1840s, the second tomb we visited was that of Khai Dinh which was from 1925 and the newest we would visit. It had an interesting mix of Vietnamese and French influence. This one may have been the most interesting simply because there are pictures of the Emperor and of his funeral procession. The last one we visited was more of a combination tomb and temple, the emperor Tu Duc built it and used the gardens before being buried there.

After the tombs we visited a pagoda on the Perfume river. The pagoda itself was similar to many we have seen in Asia but it gave everyone a chance to see a buddhist service being performed and see some relics. I found the relics interesting, because one of them was a car from the famous photo of the monk performing self immolation as a protest in Saigon. It was interesting to see a relic that is a relatively modern piece of technology as well as from a recent time period. Usually I think of relics as ancient pieces of wood or crosses not so much a car. The day turned out to be a good one for not having ideal weather.

The entrance to the Tomb of Minh Mang.

Looking across the tomb in one direction. Unfortunately the clouds hid the mountains surrounding the tombs.

Caitlin posing at one of the gates.

Caitlin trying to open the emperors door.

Gail and Caitlin imitating the carvings of Ankor.

One of the dragons on the top of the buildings.

The landscaping was impressive and would be amazing in full bloom.

Caitlin and Bill on the bridge.

Then everyone joined in. Notice how everyone has a bluish rain jacket.

Doors that were opened at most of the temples.

Sara posing.

Fun with statues.

More fun.

Hide and seek.

Got some delicious bananas.

More fun with statues at the second tomb.

The tomb of Khai Dinh.

The dragons at the tomb had marble eyes that looked a little bit like goggly eyes.

The view from the tomb.

The building that has the emperor's bronze statue. On the walls of the building were a engravings of Asian designs next to still lifes.

We stopped at a roadside stand and learned how to make incense. Gail's incense was not as thin as the other ones.

Caitlin giving it a go.

The bamboo before the incense is applied.

The last tomb, which was a combination tomb/palace.

I loved the doors.

Sara touring around.

Designs on the buildings.

The royal insignia made out of broken china.

The alter at the tomb of the emperor.

Looking throw a broken piece of pottery.

Caitlin and Sara posing.

Gail and bill posing. The mosaic behind them is all broken pottery.

Gail posing with one of the warrior statues. Interestingly these had hair incorporated into the statue.

The car that is a relic. You can see the photo in the background.

Dragon boats that you could take a river cruise on.

This guy was selling dumplings on the back of his moped. Notice the open flame. I love that anything can be done on a moped in Viet Nam.