December 2013, Yeosu

Interesting:
Crossing the road here is ... challenging.  Of course there are pedestrian "walk" and "don't walk" signals.  However cars can drive through (or at least they do drive through) if there is a break in pedestrians ... as long as they don't break the pedestrians!  The Zebra crossing give you no priority.  It was explained to us that in the "Soap TV" programs this is the common way they kill off characters that are no longer needed.  The Soap star tries to cross without looking and  ......... out of the series - dead!
You may know that every able-bodied Korean male must spend 2 years in military training.  A friend told us that her brother had been promoted.  He is now allowed to turn on the TV and change channels.

Won15000 = $15 a bag

 Food note:  Oyster season is here.


 We sometimes go to an oyster restaurant. It's basic furniture and only serves oysters.
There is oyster porridge after all the oysters are finished.

The basics that come with oysters are :

• an oyster knife, chop sticks and a spoon
• a glove
• chilli sauce
• Kim chi (2 types)
• a small plate of raw oysters to eat while the oysters steam open.

Cultural:

North Korea: Last year there was a fire in a building in the capital Pyeongyang.  Some small children were trapped on the 4th floor.  They cried out to their father, in the street, to save them.  He rushed into the burning building and rescued not his children but the pictures of their leader Kim Jong Il.  The children died.  He was praised as a hero.

Restaurants:  Here it is common to firstly decide what you want to eat, e.g. noodles, chicken, raw fish, dog etc..  Then you decide which restaurant you will go to, as many of the restaurants are quite small and each one specialises in a particular type of food.  The menu is often on the wall with only the 5/6 dishes that are sold in that restaurant.  To eat a simple meal of noodles, dumplings or even a rice dish is the same price or less than a cup of coffee.  The average price of coffee is about $3.80 a cup.

Christmas lights - but no Santa or Baby Jesus?

Us : We are well.  We try to go to the gym (one month cost $10) and walk a lot.  We have caught up with friends in nearby cities and visited some interesting places.  We visited a bamboo forest and the memorial to an 1980 massacre of 200 civilians by the South Korean army. Sobering to think about such a thing happening in a democracy.
We thank you for your prayers and thoughts.
The students inspire us.  They work so hard - in fact it is difficult to get them to stop and relax.
They are going to the corners of the world. Their courage and passion is beyond measure.  We are blessed to serve them,
Christmas lights are here and enjoyed by all. 
Fortunately there is no snow!

Weekends are the time we walk in the countryside.  We have again started to catch buses, basically at random, and start walking.

Peace and Grace
R & A

Coastal scenery is very beautiful.  Usually as one looks out to sea there are large areas of fish farming, oysters, shell fish, small fish and prawns, sea weed, etc.