Jen & Jeff's Adventures

So I had my birthday yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised when my gang of friends showed up at my front door caroling with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."  As great as their singing was, they had arrived to celebrate my birthday, having conspired with Jen to surprise me for dinner.  And a great job they did.  I had absolutely no clue what was going on and I was definitely surprised.  It wasn't anything extravagant, but it was exactly how I would have wanted to celebrate - spending good times with my closest friends and enjoying good food.  Shout out to Sara and Kelly for finding pecan tarts here!!  And to Vanessa for bringing a freshly baked strawberry bread too!!  Thanks guys, you're the best!

Last weekend, we also went to Lotte World (like Disney World) for a joint celebration for myself and Richard, who had his birthday on the Sunday.  So here are a few pictures from the past few days.

Vanessa, Becky, Sara, and Laina outside Lotte World.  How can you not be excited for Lotte World with expressions like these?  Becky's enjoying her ice cream and Sara is showing off her ticket to fun!

Note the logo in the background.  Does it look familiar at all?  Hmmmm...

This picture pretty much speaks for itself.  Yep, that's my wife...

Richard has a very concerned look on his face.  We're next in line for the Gyro Drop.  I think he's scared.

Looks a lot like Disney huh?

My peeps here in Seoul.  Kelly, Richard, Jen, Sara, Vanessa, and Becky.  We're enjoying a very yummy meal prepared by Kelly and Jen.  We had bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and feta in a pesto sauce over spaghetti, followed by homemade strawberry bread, pecan tarts, and vanilla ice cream.  Awesome!  I couldn't ask for better friends.  These guys are the main reason that Jen and I are having such an amazing time here in Seoul.

A few weeks back (October 27) we went to the DMZ (demilitarized zone).  It was a really interesting trip, and even after having crossed into North Korea itself on another tour the subsequent weekend, I'd still say that it was a worthwhile trip, since we were able to visit the JSA (joint security area) and learn about some Korean history.  We've got lots of pictures here.  But for those of you who are too lazy (you know who you are!!!), I'll post a selection of them here.

The blue buildings are the UN negotiation rooms and they actually straddle the border between the South and the North.  You can see a horizontal line just beyond the middle ROK's (Republic of Korea soldier) head.  That raised concrete is the actual border between the South and North.  The two ROKs on the sides are half behind the buildings for cover if the North decides to do a little target practice and I guess the guy in the middle is just out of luck and has to take one for the team.

Vanessa, Becky, myself and Jen standing next to a ROK in one of the UN negotiation rooms.  We're actually in North Korea in this photo!  This guy's standing guard (see the door behind us?) so that soldiers from the North don't storm the room and kidnap any tourists.

A view of check point 3 (which is no longer in use) from check point 4. This is where the Axe Murder took place in 1976 (2 US soldiers and 1 Korean national were killed) when the UN tried to cut down a poplar tree that was obstructing view between CP 3 and CP 4, where we are standing. If you look closely at the very lower left of this photo, you can see the stump to the said poplar.

Also, to the right of the CP 3 in this photo is the Bridge of No Return, where Koreans at some point had to choose on which side they wanted to reside (decision was final - no further border crossing was allowed, hence the name).

Gijeong-dong in North Korea, a propaganda village. It used to broadcast propaganda messages over a loudspeaker system telling everyone in the South how great the North was. It no longer broadcasts. Also, the village is not populated.

The flag pole is supposedly the tallest in the world at 160 meters, and the flag is so gi-normous that it's dry weight is 600 pounds!!!

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Yeah, so lots of neat stuff.  Go check out the rest of the photos.  We had an awesome time and if any of you ever make your way to our neighbourhood, we'll take you for a look-see.  How many times in your life are you going to get to visit a demilitarized zone where there are thousands of armed soldiers all around you ready and waiting to fight?  Ok, it sounds more dangerous than it really was... though, we did have to sign a waiver saying that our tour operator (USO - United States Overseas) could not guarantee our safety and that we understood that we could be killed on this tour.  Hmmm....

I've been feeling sad that we haven't posted a lot of pictures recently. I always find blogs more interesting when there are pictures to accompany the post. Upon downloading pictures from my camera today I realised I haven't taken pictures off my camera in a really LONG time!

So, here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

Jeff finally got his engagement lens. He figures that since I believe in equal rights for women that he deserves a present for the engagement since my ring cost so much... I have to agree with him. It's not fair for the girl to receive a gift and the guy to be left with nothing (except a beautiful bride..!) So, here he is with the guy who sold us the lens. It was quite the experience!

We went to the mushroom festival - it was pretty lame. Sara is sad because her butt is wet.... the next day was much more fun.

For more pictures check out the link on our picture page.

Corporate Hoes and CEOs party night at Kelly's. This is Kelly, Dan, and Richard. It was a fun night that ended at a Norae Bang (singing room...)

E-Mart bunnies make me happy... I always make Jeff stop and look at the bunnies, they are SO cute! It takes everything I have not to come home with one....

Our Thai food was DELICIOUS! We ended up at Buddha's Belly in Itaewon. Mmm... the food was so good.

So, from now on we'll try to post more pictures with our blogging... hope this tides you over for now. Peace out.

~Jen