Fray Adventures: June 2011

Hangover Food of Choice in Korea!

During my time in the Incheon Airport here in Seoul, I ran across either a more-than-literal translation or something awesome.

"Non- Instant Ramen for Drinking to relieve a hangover and Rice Roll"

Two great things about this menu item...
1) They are being very specific that this is "non-instant" ramen
2) Recognize that hangovers require good food to help relieve them!

Where Americans choose greasy Diner food, White Castle Sliders, late night Taco Bell or Skyline Chili in Cincinnati...Koreans want their Ramen!

Gotta love Korea! and their Food!

Things that make you go hmmm.... (Part Deux)

These signs I post below are official signs posted in public areas, not something handwritten. I would hope that someone was spell-checking and grammer checking.

But, then again, I my Korean consists of mono-syllables and even taxi drivers continuously correct me on my pronunciation!

This is the Emergency Hammer in the Seoul Public Bus...It says "Embergency Hammer"

"No Forget them!...Your Personal Belongings!" (that is).

Summer is the season for Base....ball!!!

Summer in any American City means Baseball games.Things like the Tigers games in Detroit with some cold beers and the fireworks at the end are something you miss when you live overseas. So, we decided to try a Korean Baseball Game.

There are 8 teams in Korea. LG Twins, Doosan Bears, Samsung Lions, SK Myverns, etc, all of which are owned by the large Korean corporations...in case those names didn't ring a bell to you.

The Doosan Bears are our local team...with their stadium in the Jamsil Olympic Park, just about 6km from our house. So, we joined some friends and decided to cheer on our local team.

Great things about Korean Baseball games:
1) tickets are only $8-$12 for good seats
2) stadiums are completely accessible (as is everything else) from the subway, so no worries about drinking and driving
3) no ridiculously priced food or beer...beer $3, kimbab $3, ice cream bar $1.50, KFC family pack $6 or any other Korean food...priceless that you can actually afford to take your family to a baseball game and have a few drinks and without breaking the bank!!
4) choreographed dancers!
5) sing-alongs in Korean to American music (like "Surfin USA, etc)

Yes, this guy is selling beer from a keg on his back...and
it is only $3.

We'll be back to support our local Doosan Bears...although I hear they aren't doing so well this season!

Chillaxin' on the Roof!

Great part of an ever-transient expat community is the someone is always leaving for another foreign country assignment and has great things to sell.

So, Mike and I got this great patio set from a friend that is moving to Singapore...and are enjoying the heck out of it :-)

This was a Saturday afternoon (after a long run) enjoying the sun on our roof, a great view of Seoul, some burgers on the grill and some good music. It almost felt like we were back in Warren, MI in our backyard...minus the grass and the loud neighbors!!

Maddy was loving it too.

You all have an open invitation to visit us anytime and enjoy some beers and music on the roof!

Queen's Birthday Ball

Spring in Seoul is the season of Balls here in the expat community of Seoul. This is what I have been told...and I am telling you, you should all experience the Balls! What woman would miss a chance to get all dresses up and Mike loves the chance to wear his tux.

The theme was Alice in Wonderland and the Hyatt did an amazing job with the food to match the theme...

It started with a potion..."Drink me." The deserts included. some crazy mushroom and other crazy shaped sweets

Even ones with lights inside.

The lovely ladies of the tennis team.

And some of the husbands as well..

Thanks to Sarah for letting me borrow the beautiful dress and thanks to Shannon for inviting us. We will be back next year!

A quick getaway to Maui

Thanks to the Deverys and Masons and of course, my brother and sister-in-law's willingness to have me crash their Hawaiian vacation, I left Mike and Maddy to fend for themselves in Seoul for 10 days and took off for Maui.

It was a great time. Here is the group at the pool at the Mason's condo. Rob cooked up a Hawaiian BBQ feast.

We did some paddle boarding...

And took a drive to Hana...

And an awesome snorkel trip thanks again to the Devery's connections on the island!!

Awwww....so cute! Would you believe she is actually pregnant here :-) Thanks again Dennis and Rita for letting me crash your Hawaiian Getaway! I had a blast. Can't wait to do it again.

And...thank you Mike for being such a supportive husband and letting me take these crazy vacations on a whim! I love you!!

Lovin' the good ole U S of A!!

I have to admit...I did not know Guam was even a real place, let alone a US Territory until about 6 months ago. If it was mentioned in one of my grade school history books, I missed that page.
As kids, we used to joke about "It's not like I am moving to Guam...", meaning that I am not going that far. We said this without the knowledge of what or where Guam was. It was a metaphor, for all we knew. I asked Mike if he had this same joke as a kid...he did now and his History books were not-so-surprisingly superior to mine (as it always is with Mike) and he did know about Guam.

Well, with all of that out of the way, Mike and I vacationed in Guam a few weeks ago and it was actually a real place, only about 5 hours from Korea and a very nice tropical island. We had planned on a trip to Japan, but unfortunately the effects of the earthquake and tsunami made us change our plans. So, in a last minute effort to find another vacation spot, Guam popped up. The most appealing part of Guam was...it is a US Territory. Who knew? It is like the lost land over there.

Some great shots of the beaches in Guam...

Guam is part of Micronesia (no, that is not those Micro-mini cars with the commercial where the guy talks really, really fast). Micronesia is in an area between Hawaii and Japan, basically. That is the best I can describe it. Guam is next to the Marianna Islands, which includes Saipan. Note cool history here: Saipan is where the plane carrying the second nuclear bomb took off from.

Guam was originally founded by Magellan for Spain and was under Spanish rule for a long, long time. The Japanese invaded and Guam became a center of the War in the Pacific during WWII. And there are lots of War Memorials to remember the fallen soldiers there.

A few remnants of the Spanish rule of the island for many years.