Buddha's Birthday

I celebrated Buddha's Birthday,May 15th at Hwaonsa, a 1,000 yr-old temple in the mountains of Jirisan Nat'l park, located in the Southwestern corner of the country. The temple was beautiful, there was activity and lotus lanterns everywhere, and it was hot.

we didn't stay long, because we were itching to hike. these pics are of the gate guardians of the temple. They supposedly shoo away the evil spirits. In the final picture, he is shooing away Michael, an irish tourist.

Snack Time with Banana Class

Childrens' Day Celebration Friday May 2nd

The Holiday's actually on Monday, May 5th.

This is Edward---------------------->
I think he kindof looks like Totoro
















<--Water Relay Dissipates into a good old-fashioned all-out water brawl
























"My name is Eric. I like Transformers. My brother is Tommy."

"Hi Eric, how are you today?"


"My name is Eric. I like Transformers. My brother is Tommy."







This is pretty much the cutest picture in the history of Pictures. Kelly Teacher and Sunny Student.
















Grace, Me and Eric taken juust as Kevin was dumping a bucket of cold water on my backside. you can almost see his ting little head working behind me.

1 hour, 10 minutes!

I apologize for not writing in so very long. It's funny thing about being abroad. at first, everythign is so new and I am writing all the time and I then I settled into a routine, a mood, and started being at home here. so man times i want to write and tell you all whats up in my life but i'd rather be outside because it's so beautiful, or I don't have my computer, or i'm so busy writing monthly reports. but here, now, I have something so exciting to write about.
i have now been runnin in the gym for 6months and got the opportunity this Saturday to run in my very first ever race with other people and numbers and medals and everything. I started out running with Noel and Josh, two other redheads, and kept up with them for the first 10 mins of the race, but Josh was pushing thru in order to pull a good ranking, I was just interested in keeping a good pace and finishing at all. so I dropped back, turned on my ipod and settled myself into a steady pace.
The countryside was very...well, korean. We were running alongside a river and surrounded by foothills, as Korea is a country of foothills. construction was everywhere, there were pockets of korean ajimas and ajashiis waiting along the trail cheering us on. A steady trail of runners snaked in front and behind me on the path, and the runners' flow kept me running--mostly.
It was soooo hot today. I made sure to cover myself in sunscreec, but i def. burned my neck, and the elements made the race interesting. I pushed thru the last kilometer to the tune of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the encouraing words of one of the Waygooks I had bussed with, who jumped in and ran the last bit with me.
I remember that last kilometer the best, as I was running up a hill and I started to get a buzz of adrenaline when I realized i was going to finish this mother of a race and that this is a huge accomplishment for me. it summarizes for me a whole lot of work i've put in on myself--emotionally and physically--and worked thru by runnning.
and now i sit at home, showered and smelling of honey-vanilla, and I can say, I did it. I can do it again, and I am capable of setting my goals and accomplishing them, even if they seem possibly impossible.
I am looking forward to the unknown ahead and trying to push toward it with the same kind of determined enthusiasm that I put into my running.