Green Month Update: Weeks 2 and 3!

Wow it is already the 4th week of Green Month! Here is an update on our riding:

Week 2 seemed to fly by and the weather was perfect! Conveniently that bee farm I discussed in the last posting disappeared so we no longer had to worry about being stung or swallowing a bee (hey I have done it before and it is not fun!) Neither of us seemed too exhausted from traveling around by bike. More and more people were wondering why Zak and I were riding our bikes everywhere and I had a few people say they saw me biking around, most people's jaws drop when we tell them that we commute to and from our house on our bikes but in all honesty it isn't much of a bike ride at all and is faster than taking the bus and about 10 minutes longer than taking the car. 

For the past year or so of riding my bike I have had to carry it up and over the train tracks on the other side of our apartment complex. It is about 4 sets of fairly vertical stairs but I always looked at it as a good upper body work out! Although I have found myself saying "I wish they would have a bike assist on these stairs" and bam what do you know:

Yay!!! 

Now on to week 3: This week has good news and bad news. Good news is that Zak is still riding bad news is that I had to give up riding due to a stomach bug that I had picked up somewhere during the week. I normally would have just stayed home and avoided driving while recovering but unfortunately I had to attend a mandatory "mock evacuation" on the base. I am still currently battling whatever this foreign microbe is that I picked up and it sucks to have had to quit. I am still rooting for Zak and proud that he has made it into the final week, looks like good weather for the rest of the week as well. 

Here is his week three wrap up:

No gasoline/ Bike Month

Still riding... 
349 Miles
17536 calories 
36h:23m:6s of travel

Zak is also planning his third bike trip from Seoul to Pyeongtaek which is approximately 60 miles. He has a few friends joining him this time and they are riding for the American Diabetes Association! Here is their page: 60 Miles For The Cure. 

I will check back in next week to wrap up Green Month!! Thanks for reading xx

Birthdays and Holidays!

As you know Zak and I celebrated my birthday at Tokyo Disney but my awesome friends came over after we got home from Japan and we celebrated some more with cake and wine! One thing I love about living overseas is being able to meet and make friends with people from all over the world. Having friends to spend birthdays and holidays with is great.

My ice cream cake!

And soon after my birthday comes Christmas!! I hope everyone enjoyed their's, we sure did! We spent Christmas Eve drinking some delicious mulled wine and playing games at our friend's house. It snowed the day prior to Chritmas Eve (Christmas Eve..Eve?) so we had a beautiful white Christmas! 

And the only picture I have of Zak and I.. lovely I know..

As you can tell, we had more than enough fun!! 

And here is Pip in the snow!!!

Thanks for reading xxx

Out of hibernation!

So now that winter is officially over here in Korea (longest winter of my life!) I can come out of hibernation and catch you all up on what we have been doing since the sun has come out. There has been a lot of bike riding around the city lately, and we have met some great friends who enjoy biking as well!

Here are some pictures of us biking through Pyeongtaek (the city we live in):

This is a lake we like to bike to, it is in an area of our city that is expanding.. surrounding us were about 30+ cranes building new high rises.. if you can believe it!

(Oops! Flat tire!)

(The tall high rises to the right are where we live!)

When we are done biking we usually hit up the local Baskin Robbins for some ice cream, or in this case the ice cream fondue!

This would be our biking gang; Andy, Tyler, Bobbie Jo, Zak, Me and April!

Oh and did I mention there is also some late night biking involved to get fried food?!

And the best way to cure cabin fever during the winter is going out for some drinks, here is a photo diary of our nights out locally and in Seoul... and oh yes, here in Korea you can pull the ice out of your beer and throw it at a wall for a chance to win another beer...

...and that is exactly what Zak did! 

 Drinking on the train.. one of our favorite past times..

Soju Bowl!!!!!! 

Oh and Pip made some new friends as well! Here she is with Einstein and Vamp :)

Her best defense is kicking big dogs in the face, and well, its her only defense!

Another update soon! Thanks for reading

xxx

January in Korea = COLD.

Every time I have heard someone describe the winters in Korea they would always say that I have to experience it to know what they mean by "bone chilling cold". It is the type of cold that will creep into any layer of clothing and attach itself to your body no matter how hard you try to keep it out! Which is why today I am sitting happily inside our warm apartment typing this blog :)

Over this past weekend I have learned that water which is spraying from a faucet in the laundry room in every direction can in fact freeze in less than an hour. I spent all yesterday listening to icicles falling from the ceiling in our defrosting laundry room because somehow our Korean rigged washing machine hose decided to break loose. It was such a lovely thing to wake up to, especially because we just thought the noise was our neighbors taking a loud shower. :X

Luckily we had a friend of Zak's over this weekend who is Korean and he helped us accomplish all the things we have had trouble doing due to the language barrier. We managed to fix our washer in the right way this time, so hopefully we wont have any more water explosions. Joe (aka Zak's friend) also helped Zak get his Korean Immigration card which allows us to buy things online, since most Korean websites request a foreign ID number to purchase items like movie tickets, train tickets, pizza, etc. Joe also informed us of the great "bundle" deals Korea has for internet/cable/phone but we needed a Korean bank account to take advantage of the deal since they need direct deposit, so we signed up with the bank right downstairs in our building (how convenient!) So now we have digital cable with movie packages, high speed internet, and an internet phone all for a whopping 45,000KRW (about $40) woo hoo! 

Here is a photo of Joe, Zak and Pip when we were out looking for parts to hook up the washing machine:

Last night a bunch of friends and Zak's co-workers headed up to Seoul to enjoy some great Mexican food at On the Border. It was definitely worth the trip and the margaritas were aweeeeesome!

Here is one of me all bundled up in the negative degree weather outside of Seoul Station:

And the night ended with a yummy Soju Bowl:

So all is great in Korea-land, we are enjoying the fact that we don't have to move anytime soon.. considering we have moved every 6 months for the past 3 years. But I am definitely ready for it to warm up around here!!!

I will leave you with some awesome cell phone pictures that I uploaded that have been taken at various moments in the past 6 months:

Trying on some native wear at the Korean/American Friendship Festival

Some more shots of the Korean/American Friendship Festival

Crazy Crepes! I think this had tiramisu and ice cream in it

I was taking advantage of Zak while he was still recovering from his surgeries he he

This was some sort of Korean American Idol contest at the I'Park Mall in Seoul

Thanks for reading!!! xxx

Hiking Trip in Pyeongtaek!

This past weekend Zak and I met up with our friends Brett and Kathy and went on our first hiking adventure in Korea! We went to Buraksan Park in Songtan. Throughout Korea there are many areas to hike, and most are set up with work out equipment in different areas.. as you will see in our photos. We had the motivation of an all you can eat meat buffet at the end of the hike! Score! Here are some pictures:

Zak on a workout machine before we started our hike!

And Brett doing the same... lol

While hiking in Korea you will find these pile of rocks all along the trail. You try to stack the rocks as high as you can without letting them fall! We saw some very high stacks along the way!

A view from one of our stops

Zak doing his famous "K Kick" lol

Brett and Kathy hiking.. see the cool workout equipment? 

And a video to show you how to use the equipment.. please note the awesome stretch being demonstrated by our fellow Korean hiker..

Thanks for reading! ;)

Pip's first bike ride.. and house hold goods! YAY!

Zak and I have been super busy lately! I feel like I have been doing school work non-stop...well... because I have been. And Zak is busy with his crazy work schedule at the moment. We did however manage to find time to take our little Pip on a bike ride with us down by the river here in Pyeongtaek. I wasn't sure how she would react to being put into a basket on my bike, but she seemed ok with it and I felt comfortable enough to bring her with us. It was such a beautiful day and the weather has cooled down so much. I fear that before I know it it will be snowing! Here is a picture of Pip enjoying her ride:

And Zak while we were taking a break:

I am so happy to announce that Zak and I are no longer sleeping on the couch! Our house hold goods have arrived!! It has been such a mess the past couple of days but we had to kick it into high gear because Zak invited some friends over for the weekend, and I wanted our home to be presentable! I didn't think we could do it judging by the disaster we started with:

But we did! Our friends came over and we enjoyed lots of food, drinks, and played on our Playstation Move. Take a look at how pizza delivery boxes come in Korea! Ribbons and all!

  I still have a lot of work to do sorting out the bedroom and all of our clothes, but it will get done and it is soooo nice to have everything here.

 I have a mission this month, to figure out what to do on Zak's birthday! He said all he wants is for me to take him somewhere he hasn't been to before in Korea, so I need to get creative! His birthday is November 1st, so I have a few weeks to decide. 

Did I mention that I am soooo excited that the holiday's are right around the corner? I am currently burning my spiced pumpkin candles mmmmm they smell so good!