It's been a long summer!

Hey Guys!

We're so sorry that it's been so so long since we last updated. We have had a jam packed summer !!!

We were busy almost every weekend since june and so we never had the time to really sit down and do a proper update.

Since so much has happened, and it's impossible to remember all the little details, I thought I would give you a brief update on the things we did all summer and then follow with a handful of some of the best photos to illustrate.

Last time we wrote, summer was just beginning. Korea was just starting to get hot and we were counting down until we finally got some much needed vacation time..

We worked through June and most of July (Korean schools don't let out till mid July for summer vacation) and finally came to the time we had looked so forward to, our vacation!

On July 18th, we headed out of Korea, and into the Middle East.

We took a direct, 11 hour flight to Tel Aviv, Israel, where we met up with all of Andrews family for a pilgrimage trip to the Baha'i Gardens in Israel.

We got a total of 12 days off. It was an amazing trip and very much needed. It felt so good to get out of Korea for a while and be out of the classroom.

We arrived back in Korea in August, and had to head right into English Summer Camps.

Although the children are on their 'summer vacation', many are still stuck attending private english schools or english camps all summer, as english teachers, we are responsible for running some of those camps.

Andrew and I were both put to a middle school camp on the island, which was only the BEST english students from each school on the Island.

The experience was amazing! We finally felt like we were getting somewhere with our teaching and the children were sweet and got involved and excited about the activities we had planned for them.

We both left the camp saying it was the most rewarding teaching experience so far.

We had another small elementary school english camp afterwards, but it was short, uneventful and hardly as fun as the first.

As for now, we are gearing up to go back to teaching. Both our schools start classes again next monday, and we'll be fully into our second semester of school here.

We also just celebrated our one year wedding anniversary !

Andrew surprised me by taking me up to Seoul Tower for a fancy steak dinner in the rotating restaurant there.

It was a great night :)

I'll leave you with a few choice pictures from the mentioned events. We have many more posted on facebook.

We're over halfway done our year here in Korea surprisingly, How time flies!

Only 5 months more to go until we head home and go back to some familiar surroundings finally!

Miss you all terribly!

Andrew and Eryn 

xo

(The pictures loaded backwards, so they start from the MOST recent and go back in time)

WITH FRIENDS AND AT AN AQUARIUM IN SEOUL

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY DINNER

MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH CAMP

ISRAEL TRIP

MOBILE!

Hey Guys!

Well this week we made an exciting addition to our life here on the Island!

We decided to go ahead and buy a scooter for ourselves! 

Andrew did some shopping around for the best deal (Many dealerships wanted to give us a bad deal, thinking they could fool us)

Eventually Andrew found a used scooter in good condition for 300 bucks. We got the guy to throw in 2 free helmets, a free bottle of oil and he put in a new battery as well.

We decided to explore the Island all weekend and we found some pretty amazing things!

Here's our little scooter:

Check out the tassle's they added to the handlebars!

On saturday morning we went for a ride through the country, with no map, just to see what we found, we actually stumbled across the river that is between us and North Korea, and we had a PERFECT view into North Korea! We could even see their roads and shoreline!

It was heavily guarded on our side by barbed wire and lookout posts and soldiers, but we could get right up to the fence and look over (The small) river to N.K !

We didn't have the camera with us, but we're going to go back this week and take some pictures so we'll show those soon.

Then sunday we decided to scooter to the south of the Island to Dongmak Beach, which is a touristy area, but we've never seen.

The beach is a huge mudflat, but everyone walks out barefoot in the mud (Which I think is supposed to be good for your skin?)

We took our shoes off and walked out into the mud, had a lot of fun, but crabs were nibbling at my feet and it felt creepy so we didn't stay in long.

Anyways, more updates soon, this was just a quick post to update everyone on our cool new vehicle.

Off to the gym now!

XO

Summer, and It's HOT! phew..

Hello All!

I have been sooooo bad with keeping up with the blog, and I'm so sorry!

We've been running around trying to keep busy every weekend and so I end up being to exhausted to make a new entry for the blog, and in the week I'm on my computer more than enough...

There has been so much going on here, and I waited so long to write about it, so most of the little details have slipped my memory already.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking for this entry...

The first pictures are from Jill's birthday, us three girls from Ganghwa went into Seoul for a nice Thai Meal and some dancing

Jill and I:

Laura and I:

Jill and Laura are amazing girls, they have really been our best friends on our small secluded island. They're so fun to hang out with and Andrew and I felt so comfortable with them right off the bat.

The four of us get along so well, and having them in our lives here in Korea has been vital!

Next bit of news is LOLA! A teacher at one of my schools was trying to get rid of the puppies that her Dog had just given birth to. Dogs are treated really badly in Korea, and so Andrew and I decided to take one in and get it on its feet and find it a good solid permanent home..

Little Lola is a tiny puffball of cuteness. Andrew and I fell in love with her and have had a couple great weeks with her. She is actually going to her new owners tomorrow, and we're so sad to say goodbye to her, but we know she's going to a good home.

Here's some pictures of our adorable little pup:

And a pic of us, hey, why not!

A few weeks ago, Andrew went on a school trip with his students and co-workers to the old Capitol city of Korea. The exact name escapes me, but it's something along the lines of Gyong-Ju (?)

It was a bit tedious since he was stuck with pretty much NO english for 3 days straight, and had to sleep in a room full of snoring korean men, but he got a free trip out of it, and got to see some beautiful sights.

Here's a few pictures from the trip:

That's about it for the big events in the last few weeks. We've been super busy at school exhausted on the weekends.

Teaching here is very tiring and challenging, but we're trucking through and learning along the way.

Seoul, Incheon and Ganghwa have become completely familiar now. We can navigate our way through the cities, know the buses and subways. That helps us a lot in our day to day life. 

On the weekends we try to get out of the isolated countryside of the Island and we go into Seoul or Incheon and get a hit of the city and familiar western things. (I LOVE my weekend starbucks in Seoul!)

Andrew and I feel SO BLESSED to have each other for this journey. We truly are best friends and a support system for each other. Bad days happen at our schools, and we always know we have the other person to come home to. We listen to each other's struggles and give each other advice on a daily basis, and it makes everything so much easier.

We couldn't do it without each other! We honestly say that to each other everyday.

Missing home like crazy... Can't believe we've already been here 4 months!

Love you all tons

xo