Back on English soil

David and I arrived back in England early in the morning. We were greeted my David's family at the Airport. They had made a banner and had some delicious English goodies for us in the car  (amazing!) When we got back to David's house there were more banners and a Korean flag. David's Mum and his sister had also put together a very scrumptious buffet, with Union Jack plates/banners/napkins ect. The buffet contained all of David's and my favourite foods. It was sooooooooooo GOOD! I have missed you English food!

After spending a few days in Birmingham my brother took me back to the Wirral. I was spoilt even more as I got another welcome back party! My sister had made me cute signs and again my brother and sister provided another delicious very English buffet with champaign!

THANK YOU EVERYBODY :) 

26 months...

Including our first contract we have been in Korea for 26 months. How time flies when you are having fun! I (Becky) am excited to go home and see all of my family. I wonder how long it will be until I start to miss Korea? I don't think it will be very long at all! ;(

Perfume from China Town

I bought a new perfume from China town, Malaysia. One of these are fake and two are real. Can you guess which one is the knock-off?! I think it is difficult!

Malaysia

David and I went back to England via Kuala Lumper. We are just a few days stop over but this was enough to see the sights, shop, eat some delicious food and meet up with some long lost relatives! All in all a great city break. 

Russian Korean Geisha Doll!

I received an amazing gift today! This cute home-made Russian Korean Geisha Doll!!! I love her. Thank you soooooo.... much Mary and Andrea (plus helpers!)

Saying goodbye

It's time to say good bye :( I have enjoyed my time at Paju English Village and I wish I could stay a little longer. I have met many nice people and I will miss them all!

Japan-Tokyo

We couldn't leave Asia without popping to Tokyo. At the last minute David and I decided to take a short trip to Japan. It was a very short visit but well worth it! We had an amazing time. I HEART Japan!

Clean Clean Clean!

I have been cleaning our apartment for a couple of days now. I have realised that I have last it too late to clean everything and pack etc. I am getting a bit nervous now. I have so much to do. I think I will be staying up all night tonight to make sure it gets done!

Last week of teaching

It has finally came. Our last week of teaching! It has been a relativity easy week. The student's are really nice and seem to be happy to be here. When the kids obviously enjoy it the weeks fly by. This makes it a great week to end on! Bye bye Gyeonggi Paju English Village, bye bye co-workers & friends, We will miss you!

Chuseok Holiday- Korean Thanksgiving.

We are off work now for one week. English Village is like a ghost town because most people have gone away on vacation. David and I have decided to stay in Paju and sort out all of our stuff. We still have a lot to pack. It seems never ending! As we are going to Japan and Malaysia on our way home I don't want to have to carry to much in my suitcase. I have decided to post more boxes home. I am posting them by land. I just hope they make it back to England.

A Diary of what we done with our week off.....

Day 1: Foreigners car boot sale in Seoul. Had lunch in Shinchon and went shopping in Ewha and Hongik.

Day 2: Went back into Seoul window shopping at the electronics market.

Day 3: Went on a ride on our scooter! Went to Geumcheon and shopping in Ilsan. Had some delicious donuts. Finally started to pack some items.

Day 4: Had a lazy morning then decided to head into Seoul even though it was raining. The bus journey that normally takes 40mins took over two hours due to the main road being flooded! When we eventually got  the subway it couldn't  take us to where we needed to go as it was flooded! After a gurgling walk and a taxi we finally got to our destination. At this point we were soaking wet. It was the wrong idea to spend the day Seoul in torrential rain!!! What do you do in Seoul when it is raining? EAT...They only thing we could think to do is cafe hop! We started off in Smoothie King. Then we moved onto Korean Cafe, Kebab/Snack Bar, Mister Donuts, GS 25 then we decided to head home with full bellies and soaking wet, everything. What a day! At least it was productive?!

Day 5:David spent the night in Seoul. I went on a ride on my scooter and went to Munsan. I walked around the shops for a couple of hours and bought some bits. Then had a variety of donuts and coffee in Dunkin-Donuts. I came back home and went for a long walk with David. Then went to a budae jigea restaurant in Paju. In the evening we came home and watched a movie.

Day 6: Went into Ilsan on the scooter and had lunch in Mc Donalds. Then went to Tesco/Home plus and David and I both bought some shoes. We done some more shopping and got a coffee and some donuts. After this we went into Geumcheon and looked round the shops and bought more items. I bought a dress and David bought a coat. After Geumcheon we headed back to Paju and had dinner in a Chinese restaurant.

Day 7:Went for a walk around Paju/ Heyri and done some packing.

Day 8: Today we had to work in ODP (one day programme) This was a nice relaxed fun work day!

Day 9:Attempted to do some packing!


Well we didn't really stay in and pack all of our stuff but we did have a great week pottering around! :)

Final Day in Insadong

As is it near the end of our stay in Korea I am really appreciating everything! I have been shopping in Insadong and I just know how much I am going to miss it when I am home. I love Insadong as it is a little different from the other shopping areas in Seoul. It is more traditional and certainly has a lot of Korean character. Insadong I will miss you!

Posting it all home :(

Oh dear I truly hate packing. I have accumulated a lot of crap in the past 2 years! I think I have posted 10 large boxes home in total. The photograph on the right is what was left after I went to the post office. I am only allowed to take 20kg on the plane. I think I will have to send some more boxes home!!!

All of my Korean stuff

We did it all come from?

A sad day!

David bought an AMAZING remote control helicopter from Iteawon. It was huge and it cost less than 10 pounds. I think I have seen him play with in every day since he bought it. He loves it! Yesterday I decided to watch the helicopter in action. Some how the helicopter flew too high and went out of range. It disappeared behind our apartments, over the mountain, off the cliff! David lost his toy. Sad times...here is what I got on camera before it died...

Scooters

Bye scooter

I sold my scooter to a friend at work. I will miss my scooter. I hope the new owner, Rita will enjoy riding it around Paju. 

Nature Cafe

I love Cafes with animals in them! This cute little sheep lives in Nature Cafe in Seoul!

Cat Cafe

                                                  

               

                     

Couple underwear!!!

Wonderful and quirky Korea. In Korea they have many items for 'couples'. They have 'couple' sweaters, 'couple' bags, 'couple' jewellery AND they also have couple underwear! I guess when your in love and a 'couple' you want to tell everybody!!!!  

Car Boot Sale

On Saturday David and I participated in a foreigners car boot sale. We collect all the junk we had around our apartment and headed into Seoul. It was a hard journey carrying it all. After 4 hours of hard selling, it was realised it was well worth the hassle. Even after donating a shuck of our earning to charity we still earned ourselves nearly 100 pounds! Awesome or what? It was such a fun day. David and I have been to many Flea Markets/ car-boots in Korea and have always liked them. Now we have done our own. There was a lot of media there interviewing us and recording us! I wonder if we will see ourselves on TV or in the paper?!

Photo Booth Fun

All night shopping!

I love shopping. On our day off David and I went into Seoul in the evening. We decided to go to an all night shopping mall. it was open until 5am. We got there around 2am and it was extremely busy. I love the fact that Korea never sleeps!

Temple Stay

*A temple stay is a two day trip were you experience a 'monks way of living.' You are expected to dress, act and pray like a monk. You much do what they do in their normal day.

This weekend, David and I went on a 'Temple Stay'. This special two day trip was at Geumsansa Temple, which is in Jeollabuk-do provience. This temple is apparently one of the most famous temples in Korea.

When we arrived at the temple on Saturday afternoon we got allocated our rooms. (David and I had to stay in separate dorms of course!) We got given our funky monk monastic wear. After a short orientation with the monks we explored the grounds of the temple. The whole place was extremely beautiful, even in the rain.

 

For our first activity we made a lotus lantern. After this the 'main' monk told us how to greet people and walk gracefully. He generally showed us the good manner all monk should have. 

At 6pm we went to dinner. All of the group had to walk in two lines in silence to the cafeteria. Whilst eating our food we had to maintain our silence. After dinner we took part in Yebul chanting. Then the monk showed us how to bow to Buddha correctly! 

After this everybody took part in Zen meditation and silent asceticism.

Lights out where at 10pm. At around 3am - 3.30 in the morning everybody woke up and took part in more Yebul chanting.

In the early morning we had free time. David and I explored the grounds for a few hours and then I had a shower before going to Balwoo Gongyang. After breakfast we walked through the forest and seen a love tree and had a group chanting session. David hugged the main monk!

After this we went back to the temple and made our own Buddha beads. This was challenging because we had to perform a Yebul bow 108 times!

Next we had a closing ceremony and then ate lunch together, again in silence. After lunch we said our goodbyes and headed back to Seoul.

What an enlightened experience!

 

  

I like

They have arrived!

The pottery bowls that David and I made in Naksan have arrived in the post today. We are incredibly happy because they arrived in one piece. We thought that at least one of the bowls would have broken. Yipeeee!

Baby Sitting Marley

A girl in our apartment block has gone on vacation so I am looking after her turtle. He is soooo cute. Marley enjoys swimming and eating shrimp. I think I am feeding him to much. David doesn't like him because he pooped in his lasagna dish (swimming pool) I think he doesn't like him because his head looks like a snake!

Getting in the mood

To get in the mood for our JAPAN trip I went to a Japanese shop in Ewha, Seoul and bought cool Japanese stuff. I am going to go crazy when I am there!

4 weeks left!

There are four weeks left before we leave Korea. I am extremely sad but at the same time tremendously excited. On October 2nd David and I will go to Japan for a short trip and THEN on our way back we will have a short stay in Malaysia. How perfect!

The set is complete!

As you can see I have gone Mini Me CRAZY! I have all FIVE of the perfumes now. They look right at home on my dressing table surrounded by other cute geisha dolls! Every time I bought a perfume I got 'service' (Free gift) I heart service!!!!

Service = Flask & Pens