What's new in Yeosu? 29 March 2011

Hello again.
Korean Joke
Actually a true story.
A Korean was on a working visa.  The only job he could find was as a kitchen hand in a big restaurant.

The head chef was a difficult man and was known for his temper.  One day the head chef was carrying a large tray though the kitchen, " Watch out! Watch out!" he was calling.  The poor Korean with his broken  English was terrified with this shouting.  " Watch out! Watch out!" shouted the head chef.

In desperation the Korean took off his watch and threw it out the door....

Korean History:
 The Japanese, after murdering the Queen in 1896, annexed and occupied Korea from 1906 to 1945.  After WW 2 the USA introduced the concept of democracy which the Koreans took to immediately.  Unfortunately their choice of Presidents has not been good.  The first died in exile, the second was murdered by his head of security.  Of the next five, two resigned under coercion, two were imprisoned for corruption and one was disgraced by financial crisis.    Two years ago another former president committed suicide because of investigations into his possible activities when he was in power.
Daily life for us.

 Church is from 11.00 a.m.
This is the singing group before church actually starts.  They sing CCM (Contemporary Christian Music).  The church service is Presbyterian hymns.  The service is, of course, in Korean but there is a translation into English.


Actually our weekends are free so we travel around a bit.  We visit the local markets which are always amazing.

 Street food is always tempting.
This stall sells "fish bread" (on the left) which is a sweet pancake mix with red bean filling, and Odang, processed fish on a skewer.  This lady is close to the school on the way to my gym.  I often buy something from her.

Street markets stock all the things you need to make a delicious meal.
Seaweed - about 8 types here
 Roots from plants and bushes -  about 3 types on display.
Spring onions and different types of plants.

 ..... and pig's heads, feet, fish by the dozens of types (these vary in size from darning needle size to normal large).
There are a variety of sea .... things? ... many of which I don't recognise, but they include sea squirts, echinoderms, shells of many different species etc.





Last weekend we went to visit a very small island where there are dinosaur footprints.  We thought we would be basically alone but it was Spring tide which exposes a band of land between the island and another.  There were some 300 people on the island for the day.

Here you can see the connection between the two islands and the hundreds of people collecting sea weed to take home.

We were told it is GREAT on rice!

They may not have the giant pineapple or banana but they do have a life size dinosaur!

This is a First World country with everything we have and more (eg they now have mobile reception anywhere in South Korea), but sometimes, you still see this.

As you can see, it's still cool (7- 12 C)

Greetings from us both.

We miss you all (especially our family).

Lots of love.
R & A