Somebody had to do something...

 

OK, I think the pressure of doing this blog is getting to me... the pressure of trying to come up with interesting and new things to write about every couple of weeks, it is NOT easy, especially when you are as completely boring as we are.  And so this weekend we decided that Somebody HAD to do SOMETHING.  And of course, that someone (or some twos) were these two.  Who decided, on this overcast Sunday, that they wanted to learn how to water ski.  So we walked up the hill again... remember we live in a valley, so everything involves walking up one hill or another, up to the lake (yes, the running and Wipeout Lake) where there is a boat place that will drag kids around for a while, for pretty cheap.

The first stage of the lesson goes something like this... Guy in red shirt holds a rope with a water ski handle on it and is trying to get R-Man into position.  There are actually a lot of pointers to remember:  head up, butt down, heels on the floor, arms straight, let the boat pull you up... it just goes on and on.  This guy is doing his absolute best, but finally the bog boss has to come over and do some positioning.  They finally give up... uh.. I mean, teach him....

Next up for the lesson is Pooks, who gets some help from this kind guy on the right.  See how he is squatting?  (OK, side story... this is how most older people in Korea squat when they are picking vegetables, waiting in line, or even if they are naked in the ladies shower room... try not to picture it....).  Anyway... he is trying to get Pooks to do this, but you all know how she is always up on her toes... she CANNOT do this, so finally they give up.... uh.... well you know.

R-man is first in the water. He is getting fitted for the skis.  See the rain? That is just a momentary downpour caused by all of us being on one side of the houseboat.

To start, instead of a rope dragging behind the boat, they have this pole attached to the boat for the newbies to practice with.

It works!

Pooks is next.

This guy loved her!

Success!  I guess the lessons DID work!

After a brief rest they throw R-man out behind the boat... this poor kid has like 1% body fat and he has been wet for about 1 hour... he is FREEZING and shivering like crazy, but, what the heck... SOMEBODY HAD TO DO SOMETHING!

He lasts about 3 seconds before sinking back into the water...

Up next... Pooks.

She nails it, and makes it all the way around and back to the dock.

Who knows what we'll have to do next weekend... HA!

Wipeout!

I don't know if you have ever seen the show Wipeout, but if you haven't I would really recommend watching it before reading any further. 

http://abc.go.com/shows/wipeout/

Because today we LIVED Wipeout, in all it's splashy, loss of body control glory... although, without the punching wall.

This course is set up in Bong-mu park, in the lake by our house.  Yup, the same one that I run around each morning.  And I have been looking at this set-up longingly each day. 
 

So basically there are all of these floaties out in the lake, tethered to the shore and to each other in one long floaty, undulating course.  And if that isn't hard enough, it is wet.  And slippery. 

And WICKED fun! 

Part of the W25,000 entrance fee also pays for one boat ride each.  Here are the kids and Mr. Jolly, the grade 3 teacher.

And here I am with the big kids. 

Our boat guy was crazy, and whooped us all over the lake.

How do I always get roped into going on these things?  Oh yeah, it is because I volunteer to go :)  Hey, someone has to be a little crazy!

So FUN!  Also, behind us you can see the new apartments they are building.  When we left last June, they were just starting these.  Hopefully next year we'll be living in one of them.

It is hard to tell from the picture what I am doing, but can you sort of see the three floatie gray rectangles?  Well they are about the size of couch cushions, and there are 9 of them tied together.  The point is to run across all 9 without falling in. 

I can only get to 4.

This one is like two floating trampolines with the long blue tube connecting them.  Again, the point is to run across, without falling in.  Keep your eye on the guy in the life vest...

Whoops! 

We spent four hours playing on these crazy things, and by the end we had just about lost control of our limbs.  It is really tiring trying to haul yourself up out of the water all day, and eventually you just beach yourself like a whale and wait to be pushed back in.

On the walk home the kids used these- they are air jet shoe cleaners- to dry themselves off. 

R-man is double fist blow drying his shorts. 

And a good time was had by all! 

 

Hi All!  We are back in Korea, but I wanted to share this last picture that I took in the US, at Stop and Shop in Bedford.
You can see a bit of HomeGoods in the background.  I had a last minute craving for French Onion dip, and so Gary was nice enough to humor me and run in to get some.  So I had time to watch this lady park.  In the van access.  Twice.  She actually backed out once, and I thought that she was scooting her car into the correct spot, but no, she just straightened out her car.  And then looked around to see her spot, got her green bags, and left.  I am sure she was thinking, What are they gonna do? 

We had been to the Yousu World Expo in June, with the summer school students, but I couldn't put pictures on there, because they were all pictures of students.  This time, it was just all us teachers and families, so anything they do is fair game... These are the cute welcome ladies.

The Expo has this huge display called, can you guess???

The Big O.  No joke, that is what it is called. 
The theme of the expo is saving our seas, so maybe O for ocean?  or Odom?  

There were also these three ladies on tall bendy poles.  They did all this cool swaying and they would push each other back and forth.  It looked really fun, but they wouldn't let us try.

There was also this big puppet thing that was operated by a crane.  Now, if you saw a show titled The Big Man show, wouldn't you think it was this guy? 

So did we. And we waited for about 15 minutes for the show to start, but... nothing.  So instead we got in line to go into the Posco building, an exhibition put on by one of the steel companies in Korea.

Inside the exhibition was this huge circular room, and if you stood in the center you made a light shadow on the wall.  This is R-Man.

Then there was a crazy movie with this really big bubbly guy, and he melted into butterflies, and they turned into fish... I know, just like a Dead show... 



and then out came this big guy dancing, it was HILARIOUS!

R-man, Pooks, and their new friend...

The World Expo was really an amazing experience, and if you ever get to go, I would recommend it.

We were special guests at the USA pavilion, which meant we could cut the line.... OK, that was actually better than it sounds, the line was over an hour wait.  Our video was beautiful, and had images from lots of places in the US. 

Our fabulous teachers and families.

After the USA pavilion and lunch we headed over to the China pavilion, where we were NOT special guests, and had to wait about 70 minutes.  Luckily we had great company to talk to.  As we neared the end of the line we met this friendly guy, who's name is not Bob.  However, the initials for his security company are B.O.B.  so we called him BOB.  He was super friendly and let the kids stand in the A/C gushing out of the building. 

And this is Bob's friend, Bob.  They wound up calling over the China photographer who took about 50 pictures of the kids, and is probably telling everyone in China about those crazy Americans who call everyone Bob. 

Because the Expo was ending in three days the place was packed.  So we didn't get to see as much as we would have liked, but we did get to the kids place, again, and it was just as much fun.

The first room of the kids pavilion is a room filled with flour, which you are supposed to sprinkle on the floor and draw cute little bunnies and butterflies in.  Unless you are US.  Some got more into it than others...

Making a flour angel.

Doing barrel rolls...

Wicked FUN!

The next room is grain.  Don't ask me how the Koreans come up with this stuff.  I mean, who thinks... hmmmm... let's get a big room, fill it with grain, and let kids in.  And why didn't WE think of it?

because it is really fun to play in, and a great way to end the day.

Tomorrow we start year 3 of DIS, and we are so happy and thrilled to be here.  This place is amazing, and if you are ever in the neighborhood, please drop in and say, HI!"  You don't even have to call first!

xoxoxo 

PS, please remind RGP that it is Oktoberfest time!  :)  xoxoxo