Olympic Park, Seoul

I spent a couple of hours today wandering around Seoul's Olympic Park. It is a beautiful place to go to walk, bike, picnic, or just relax. I would have liked to have gone there a few weeks ago when the cherry blossoms were still in bloom. Oh well. There are still plenty of flowers to see.

The park is what used to be a fortress. Now it is basically just a hilly area with a moat around it.

The main entrance to the park is marked by the World Peace Gate.

Within the park, there is an archaeological site. It is now within a building to protect it. All you can really see are a bunch of post holes on a dirt floor. There were several dwellings in the area, some built on top of others (so they overlap) One of them has a visible hearth.
There were many birds in the park, mostly sparrows and magpies. I did see one ring-necked pheasant. I could be wrong, but I don't think they are native to Korea. I also saw two rabbits. The black one seemed to enjoy being a distance away from the people (some guy was trying to get close enough to take a pic with his handphone, and scared it away). They other one seemed fairly tame. You could go right up to it to take it's picture. It even jumped up onto a woman's legs when she was taking a pic of it with her phone. As I was leaving, it was getting handouts from a family that was sitting on the nearby benches. I guess that would be the reason for its behavior... tasty handouts.

Construction...
In Korea, when they build an apartment building, they don't just build one; they build 50 or 100 or so, all at the same time. All around the city, there are sites where apartment buildings are going up. (Those are cranes that you can see in the distance.)

notebook

"The Dream Of Tea"

Tokki

Just plain CUTE!!!

That is her little tunnel that she likes to chew on and run through.

more about Egypt

Here is another great pic from Egypt (taken in November 2005)...

Ehab is washing lettuce.

That is a gamoosa (water buffalo) on the left... gotta love that expression.

If you don't remember (or never knew), Ehab is from a small village called Tabloha, sort of near Tanta (somewhere between Cairo and Alexandria). This is his uncle's little plot of land. Both tractors and more traditional methods are used in the fields.

An amusing little bit of info...

Ehab picked the lettuce from the little garden behind where the gamoosa are standing.

He then proceeded to rip off all of the green parts and throw them on the ground.

Then he washed the crunchy middle part for us to eat.

That is what they do in Egypt; they eat the middle part of the lettuce leaf (the part that a lot of people at home throw away), and throw away the nice green parts that we usually eat.

Here is Ehab with the two gamoosa, in front of the little animal shelter/barn (?). In Egypt, they use the gamoosa for meat and milk, as well as (I think) for farm work.

Congo (Angelina Jolie)

An interesting site. To do with the situation in the Congo, in the form of a journal by Angelina Jolie, and commentary by John Prendergast. Ripples of Genocide: Journey through Eastern Congo

eagles

Here is a cool website if you love eagles... it is a hidden camera aimed at an eagle's nest in BC. I guess the eggs are expected to hatch sometime this weekend!!!

One of the first things a Korean kid learns is how to pose for a photo.

This is a standard pose for Koreans. :P

He is one of my many favorites... well, they are all my favorites!

He is in the youngest group at the school.

According to Korean age, he is 5 years old, which means he will be 4 sometime later this year.

Korean age:

When you are born, you are 1. After that, you add one year every New Year (Lunar New Year, generally). So, between the Lunar New Year and your birthday, it is a 2 year difference. Between your birthday and the following New Year, there is a one year difference. That means, if you are born in December, within a month or two, you are considered 2 years old.

field trip

On the way in.

(that is only some of my kids... as far as you can see)

Today I had the morning off, because all of the kindy classes were going on a field trip to a zoo/park/garden. I think it is called Seoul Children's Grand Park. Well, I volunteered to go on the field trip. Who wouldn't??? :P Think... around 250 to 300 kids all dressed in the same little track suit and same little backpack... Throw in hundreds of other kids, all wearing their own matching outfits (every kindy school has their own colors/designs)... and you have A LOT of little kids!!! We had 4 full sized tour buses and two of the school buses (all with about 3 kids per seat). The classes split up a bit when we got there. Each class had two teachers to look after them and take them around. The youngest class also had two of the school bus drivers/swimming teachers/TaeKwonDo teachers to help. We walked around for a while, looking at the animals and the plants and taking some pictures. Then they sat down for a snack and started to head back to the buses, taking more pictures along the way. Lunch was ready for us back at the school.
I'll post a pic or two tomorrow... now I am tired and need sleep!!!

underwear anyone???

Maru Innerwear

Yes