American Thanksgiving in Korea

Our first year in Korea (2008), we celebrated thanksgiving with Kimchi and squid pancakes. Last year, we were at my Aunt's house in Houston surrounded by family and homemade traditional eats. This year, our last in Korea, we weren't lucky enough to be home with family so we wanted to do Thanksgiving in Korea right--this time with a real turkey. We bought a pre-cooked 14 pound gobbler from the US Army base's restaurant for 50 bucks to share with 4 other friends. Everyone contributed several side dishes and we ended up with two tables overloaded with food that included two kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, squash, cranberries, carrot curry soup and for dessert, cranberry ice and pumpkin ice cream. The party came to an end 14 hours later, but not before we enjoyed some traditional pre-dawn, post-karaoke turkey sandwiches. Here are some pictures of the epic celebration:

Chris arrives from Central Seoul with our guest of honor in a cardboard box and we all get a little emotional.

Chris posing with the turkey.

What a delicious spread! Great job guys! A round of applause for ourselves.

A framable picture if I ever saw one.

We paused eating to give Kicky some pets.

The gang!

The gang experiments with the camera's timer.

Meet Meg and Alyna. With our powers combined, we are....Alaureg. Love these girls.

Can you find Kicky? She can find you.

Next stop, karaoke. The men serenade us.

The ladies class up the joint.

Richard and Alyna show us how its done.

Laura, Chris and Adam have their thinking caps on searching for song titles.

This year I'm thankful for 14 hour Thanksgiving parties, friends and family back home who I miss this holiday season, and for my friends Richard, Alyna, Meg and Adam for making my last American Thanksgiving in Korea unforgettable.

The Coco Family in Seoul

This post is so incredibly overdue, its embarrassing. But it is about a topic very deserving of a blog post, so it cannot be left out.

Over the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday, my parents came to visit Korea for one week. We were so happy to have them and excited to show them what had become our home for the past 2 years. I am so proud of all of the new and strange things they ate, what good sports they were about all of the walking we had to do (even with a hurt foot), and how excited they were to experience a new culture.

Later in the week, by a wonderful coincidence, we were joined by my brother, Kevin. He was on his way home to New York after a vacation in Vietnam. Kevin has been to Seoul before so he was a great help to me showing our parents around. Plus, as much as the weather tried to get us down, we still managed to show Kev some new stuff he hadn't seen before.

I am so lucky to have had my whole family in Korea at the same time. I will always treasure the opportunity I had to share Korea with them.

Here is a picture story of some of the things we did:

We tried new and strange foods including kimchi and Korean style BBQ.

We sat on the floor while eating the strange food. We struggled at first, but eventually unlocked the secret of using chopsticks.

We saw a really funny non-verbal dance performance called Nanta.

We saw the changing of the guard at Gyeongbukgung Palace.

Inside Gyeongbukgung palace.

Chris and Mom at the palace.

Dad, Laura and Chris in front of the palace.

We saw (but passed on eating) some pigs feet at the market in front of our apartment.

We checked out the nice view from our apartment balcony.

We took a nap with the foster cat, Kicky.

We went to a baseball game to experience the unmatched Korean fan spirit.

We went to Bongeunsa Temple which is a Buddhist prayer sanctuary in the middle the city, surrounded by huge skyscrapers.

You can see the buildings in the background.

We played some badminton at a park near our home.

Then we got schooled by Mom in badminton.

Then our presence was graced with my brother, Kevin. We all went to eat Korean style ribs and had a great time!

We took advantage of us all being together by taking a billion family pictures.

The Coco family in Seoul.

We went to Joygesa temple on the actual day of Chuseok.

We got our meditation on.

We are a little washed out by the flash but happy and having a good time at Joygesa Temple.

We played some screen golf.

Then my whole family visited 2 of my third grade English classes. The kids had tons of questions like, "Kevin, what's your favorite coffee drink? Is it caramel macchiato?"

Here they are with my little angels.

A big "kamsamnida" to my parents and brother for their patience, love, and excellent company during their visit to Korea.

An Alliteration Assignment Accomplished by Astute Adolescents

Today I (Laura) taught a lesson on alliteration to my 3rd graders. Here are some of the poems they came up with:

S by Sally

Sally sells shells

Sally asks her parents

Shall I eat shells?

Sally's parents said, "Certainly not, silly!

Let's eat spicy salmon."

"Smart solution," Sally said.

Poem Formed with F by Billy

Francisco finds a friend in France

But Francisco flies to Florida

He finds french fries for a friend

A fly that flies in France finds frozen fajitas

That the fly finds fantastic

Happy Hoonie Hates Henry by Hoonie

Happy Hoonie hates Henry having a huge house

Happy Hoonie has Hacky, a hat, and a hatching chick

Happy Hoonie sees the egg hatching

And hears the chick say,

"Hello Hoonie, I am Hoonster."

Who Said Like This? by Ann

Ann ate an apple after academy

Dain's dad drives in the desert

My mom made melon milk

Francisco finds fish in France

Chris likes chocolate cake

Lemons by Lyn

Laughing lions love living lemons

Lemons don't love laughing lions

Lemons love lovely pigs

Lovely pigs love lions

Flying Flowers by Jessica

Follow flying flower

that tries to meet her handsome husband

Follow flying flowers

That are trying to find their fantastic baby

Follow flying flowers

that are living happy long, long lives

With their fantastic families

Summer Vacation Extravaganza: Philippines Edition

A 2 week vacation was more than we ever dreamed of as former academy workers. But with a new and better job came much more vacation time, and even allowed us to go to both the Philippines and Thailand this August. In the Philippines we ate grilled bananas on the beach and went island hopping. In Thailand we took a cooking class, rode elephants, went hiking to a waterfall, went white water and bamboo rafting, and drove a motorcycle up a mountain to a temple. It was an amazing vacation to say the least. Here is a picture story of what we did:

10 days in the Philippines: Manila, Puerto Princesa, and El Nido


First stop: Manila. Delicious food everywhere you look.


And this restaurant, which we didn't try, where all of the waiters are midgets.


We rode around in some awesome jeepeneys.


The view from the open back of the jeepeney.


And we went to a bar where a dude had a wild cat as a pet like it was something normal people do.



Then we headed to Puerto Princesa, which is really just a jumping off point to other more beautiful places in Palawan. Among its many charms, the city boasts a large crocodile farm with minimal interest in safety and security. So if you're in the market for having a limb gnawed off by a baby croc, Puerto Princesa is your town. This crocodile is saying "Hi, I am your future."


Baby crocodiles in a bathtub.


Some Philipino guys airing out their bellies.


And finally we arrive at the city we were journeying towards this whole time: El Nido. We stayed at this wonderful guesthouse in a cabin right on the beach.


This is the view from the balcony of our cabin. (10 bucks a night, yall.)


El Nido at dusk.


Most of our meals were at restaurants that set up tables on the beach.


Most of my meals ended with a grilled and sugared banana.


Livin the life.


One day, Chris and I kayaked to a private island. It was beautiful and we even saw some wild pigs come to the ocean to take a bath. But while kayaking back to the mainland, a storm was quickly chasing us and we thought we might be on the next episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive".


This is Chris' face when we saw the wild pigs.


Fun in the sun on a private beach.


Laura and Chris.


Another day, we took an island hopping tour.


Our guide grilled up some delicious fish at one of the stops.


But mostly we just did a lot of nothing.

-C/L