Sorry, no nude photos...

This week we received an e-mail from our new headmaster advising us not to post any nude pictures of ourselves online, so sadly I will have to do a post about other interesting thinks happening here in Daegu...
... this weekend we had the pleasure to taking a professor from Los Angeles to see one of my favorite places, DongWhasa.  We visited there last year, when R-Man used his first ever squat pot, but this year it was decked out with hundreds of paper lanterns and statues.  These two jolly fellows welcomed us.



The lanterns are offerings for wishes.

I'm not sure of the significance of these three rocks, but they sure look cool.



This is kind of an eclectic collection of paper statues:  Pororo, Jesus, a serpent and a boar.  Hmmm... kind of reminds me of Sesame Street... 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FClGhto1vIg&feature=related



Isn't this guy the cutest?

This tunnel was filled with paper lanters.

Pooks loves tigers, so of course I had to take a picture of this... then she decided he looked too weird.

St. Elizabeth Seton might get more donations if the basket passers looked like this guy!

You may recall seeing this Buddah from an earlier post, but what you did not see before is the handicapped ramp.  In Korea there are ramps at most places, but they are definately not ADA approved.  This ramp is, like, a 30% grade!

Climbing up the tunnel.

This is the road out of DongWhasa.

Today we went to the IAAF World Championships Track and Field Meet at Daegu Stadium.

That little cartoon guy is all over Daegu.

Try to get away with this in the US.

We sat in the orange seats, right next to the media and athlete families.

This is the inside of the staduim.  It has a cool half roof, so it is like being inside one of those squeezy mouth coin holders (with the squeezy mouth open).

Between events they did fun activities, such as kiss time...

and dance time.

This is the finish of the 100 m women's race.  Jeter is in first place.

This is the concession booth for the IAAF World Championship.  The booth is filled with ramen, squid jerky, and  rice stew.  It was not exactly an international menu... notice the complete LACK of nachos with day-glo orange cheese.  BOO! 

On our way out...

we almost signed up for the free CPR lessons they were doing in the parking lot...... ummmmm... no thanks.

New Pets and New Adventures

The kids wanted so badly to get a pet, so I caved and got each of them a fish... of course they will also be "class pets" so that I can get one of my students to babysit them during vacations.  This is R-Man's fish, Redhead.

Pook's fish is named Tigress, but another teacher here said that the black spot makes the fish look like Hitler.  And he does have some dominance over the other fish.... they all may be organizing rebellions against oppression this weekend.

After another harrowing trip to HomePlus for the fish we decided to go for a walk in the drizzle.  There is a small monastery near here, but we couldn't figure out how to get up to it.  Instead we took this winding path that went beside these caves.

There were squash, peppers and mint leaves growing along the path.

A plywood bridge spanning the drainage ditch... not too sturdy.

Korean food is very spicy, so these peppers are grown on every spare inch of soil.

This is the monastery we were trying to get to.  One of the most amazing things about Korea is the dichotomy of the culture.  The past is revered...

... and right across the street the future is embraced.

Later that night we heard music playing and, of course, had to investigate. 

These people are signing up for a night hike of either 10, 30 or 50 kilometers (do the math, times .62).  Now it was already 6PM and these folks were going to walk somewhere between 6 and 30 miles, yet they were PSYCHED! 

These were some snacks you could buy to energize you on your walk. 

And some kind of energy water...

This is a whole team of walkers. 

In order to get ready for his 20 mile walk, the guy behind R-Man needed one more cigarette.

These ladies were dancing to the band.  It was 80's song night... Pat Benetar (Love is a Battlefield) and  Journey (Don't Stop Believing) were two crowd favorites.

All of these people were walking.

The kids, too.

These girls were NOT walking.  They were there for moral support, and to show offf 6 inch stilettos.  Well, being Korean, maybe they were doing the 10 K.

On Sunday we went to the Bullo Mounds which look totally different when it is not fall or winter.  It was really jungley.

This man is farming near the mounds.  Yup, more peppers.

These pots are for making Kimchi, a korean staple.  It is fermented cabbage and spices, and is an acquired taste.  http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20410300,00.html

I'm guessing the path up to the Bullo-dong was closed, but we couldn't read the signs and so walked up next to the construction of brand new stairs... progress :)

While we were climbing up the hill there were soldiers from the Korean army practicing some maneuvers.  Well, you know me... I am getting pictures... so, at the end the head guy comes over and wants to take some pictures with our group, talking, not pretending to be prisoners of war, and I had to get pictures of that, too.  BUT, he then said that what they were doing is... shhhhhh.... a secret.... and not to put them on facebook.... so, drat, no pictures here.  But somewhere hidden in the foliage are about 50 soldiers.  I'll show you all this summer :)

Last stop of the day, downtown, where we finally found a hair salon...

And Gary got a frozen coffee sippy drink.