Korea 2015 -2016 December

KOREAN FACT

North Korea's ruling dynasty has always cast itself as somewhat supernatural. Founder Kim Il Sung was known as Korea's "sun," and claimed control of the weather.

Kim Jong Il's mythology is no less extensive. His birth was hailed as "heaven sent" by propagandists, and state media has often touted impossible feats: He scored a perfect 300 the first time he tried bowling, and shot five holes-in-one the first time he played golf. Upon his death in 2011, the skies about the sacred mountain Paektu in North Korea allegedly glowed red.

US

Christmas has, as usual, been cool, but with blue skies.

We have been enjoying ourselves, with a Christmas party at the school where we ate turkey and roast vegetables.  Here in the West we eat, enjoy and relax during this season, but life in many places is a lot tougher for people. We have been praying for:

......  the millions of people in war-torn countries, who will have no peace this Christmas.

......  persecuted Christians in prison, who will have no freedom this Christmas.

.....   for those who are grieving after terrorist attacks, who will have no joy this Christmas. 

...... for refugees, who will have no home this Christmas.

....... for those who are starving, who will have no food this Christmas.

 ====//====

We have not shared much about our Church here.

It’s pretty big, with about 2500 people and church services are quite formal.  I wear a suit and tie.

It has a coffee shop and serves lunch after Sunday church for about $AUD1. 
The photos give you an idea.  In 2015 they have been active sending financial aid to Syrian

refugees and sending a couple of groups of people to Myanmar/Burma on a short term mission trip.

We have visited some beautiful international gardens in a nearby city, walked along beaches and did

 a three hour walk around part of a beautiful island, saw some traditional dancing and had a traditional Chinese medical diagnosis (after the diagnosis they 'cured' us with a cup of Oriental medicinal tea!)  The diagnosis was only by a computer --- very oriental!  Probably a Samsung computer....

Medical diagnosis

On the less pleasant side we have had a visit to the dentist.  Robin had a broken tooth repaired.  Aileen had lost a filling, and assumed it would be a simple replacement job, only to find that the dentist decided that it needed a root canal and crown - much cheaper than Australia, but no less pleasant!

 FOOD

Mud skipper soup

A picture is worth a thousand words and we have eaten some interesting meals:

Mud Skipper soup

If your kids watch the TV program, “The Octonauts”, you may be aware that the mud skippers (2-3 cm. long fish) saved the ”Octonauts” from an evil crocodile.  They also make excellent soup. Actually that should read; excellent soup is made from them.  Koreans cut off their heads as they feel uncomfortable having lots of eyes looking out from the soup…

Charred Short-legged Octopus

This also tastes good.  Unfortunately “Professor Inkling Octopus”, a short legged octopus, is also one of the stars of the same kids' program. 

Cooking the Short-legged Octopus

 It is very spicy but is served with a soup full of shaved ice and also mint tea so that you can cool your mouth.

MTI

We continue to be inspired by and fall in love with our students.  There is a mix of age groups, families, and a few children. This is a smaller group than usual with only 21 in total.  Some of the children are learning knitting from Aileen and relate to their Australian "grandmother".  The children have a global view.  Some 6-7 year-olds speak 3 languages. 

I, Robin, am still trying to learn Korean and have a teacher twice a week.  I seem to be making progress and then hit a new situation like the dentist…..

Well, I can say, "Where is the toilet?"  " More mud skipper soup please."

Aileen is teaching the beginner class, although only one lady in the class is actually a beginner.  The other three students (a very small class of four) have a reasonable grasp of basic English.  Robin has a higher level and theylaugh a lot.

In three weeks we will be home.

We hope to see you all soon.

Peace and grace

Robin and Aileen

Mud skippers

Korea/ France 2015 - France October 23

FRANCE OCTOBER 23, 2015


JOKE!!!!

French fact:

Us:  We have started on our trip to Normandy.  A french couple we know offered to take us on the 5 day trip.  We are staying with other members of the family.

We stopped in Bordeaux and bought wine ..... doesn't everyone?
Then Nante  where we visited Les Machines de L'ille ( The machines of the Island )
I took a video ..... OOPS it does not read it so ........

Check ------>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrTnYOWi1RI

 Robin and Aileen

Korea 2015 December 10

Korea December 10 2015

We have settled into MTI once again.

We had 10 days in Seoul and then headed south.  We were here a few days and Aileen's coughing got worse and worse.  She visited a local doctor who is a friend of MTI.  He checked her out, took an X-ray, examined the x-ray and then put her on a saline drip which was administered on a warm, jade (that's stone!!!) bed. This all took about 50 minutes. Unfortunately there are no photos of the drip or the stone bed..... sorry.  No improvement so back to the doctor and finally a specialist, antibiotics and the diagnosis, pneumonia.  She's fine now and we are out again visiting the local restaurants, food stalls, shops and going on bus trips.

Korean Fact

A few weeks ago the English newspaper "Korea News" reported an international survey that found that the Japanese picked Korea as the "most hated" country.  59.7% of the Japanese people surveyed hated Korea the most. The reasons:  Korea claims they own the tiny, tiny island of Dokdo in the East Sea.

Dokdo Island

  In addition the Korean people want the Japanese government to apologize for forcing 200,000 young Korean women into prostitution/sex slavery during World War II. The Japanese find they cannot do this. In Seoul each week, for 1105 weeks, these Korean women (there are about 45 left)  have rallied against the Japanese denial of 'Comfort Women'. 

Us
Well, as usual the students are great.  They are charming people  aged from 21 to 54.  We are so fortunate/blessed to have people like this around us.  They are like our English class in Brisbane: dynamic, young, positive, motivated. I'd like to say it "makes" us young when actually it deludes us to "think" we are younger.

We have done some interesting things.  Last Saturday we visited a small island off the coast.  We walked around and met an old lady (our age - so not SO old). 
 
She couldn't speak any English but we had 2 students with us.  She invited us to have sweet potato at her house.  We said we were sorry, but we had a bus to catch.  However, the bus stop was near her house so she rushed home and set up a table outside with sweet potato and kimchi.  Last year Robin visited the same island alone and got oysters.



Friends:

 

Food:

PLUS it's oyster season....

Seoul Lantern Festival:
In late Autumn this lantern festival is held at a beautiful stream that runs through the centre of Seoul

There are dozens of "lantern" figures from traditional to modern, floating in the stream.

We also visited a prison used by the Japanese during the occupation to interrogate and torture Koreans who were fighting for independence - very sobering.

An ad for a restaurant

Culture :

The entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace
 

So that's the news.  As we seem a bit more organised we hope to do a few more blogs.
Kimchi is being made as are Christmas plans.


Peace and grace
Robin and Aileen

Korea/ France 2015 - France October 14

FRANCE  OCTOBER 14 2015

 One Frenchman asked another, "Who were the Englishmen in the semi finals of the World Cup?"
His friend replied, " They were the referees."

French fact
There are chain supermarkets in Paris in every neighbourhood, but there are still traditional bakeries, cheese shops and butchers everywhere.  Even if the French don't shop traditionally all the time, they know how to!

Us

We have  been busy visiting different places.  We have been into the mountains and across to Arles (about 600 kms) twice.  We have also had the chance to visit people and places new and old.

Food has been a constant joy.  Amazingly Robin has lost 6 kilos.  Considering the amount of bread, cheese and food he has been eating it seems impossible. 

Of course we ate together when all the family arrived.  Here we ate at the campsite, but unfortunately Lexie was unwell and Meg was with her.

How the waitress managed to get the order correct was amazing. We didn't manage to finish the wine!!


Below is breakfast at a boulangerie.  Coffee (see Aileen's hand) and a croissant - 1.80 euro.

Breakfast: coffee and a croissant/pain au chocolate  1.80 euro

  

When we travelled to Arles we stopped at Carcassonne. This is an amazing double walled city, very famous for a dish called Cassoulet.  Of course you can get the recipe from the net but I'll give you my run down,
Leg of a "fat" duck cooked in its own fat, beans, sausage of Toulouse which is very fatty, bacon pieces, pieces of pork skin and fat ... and probably any fat that may be laying around the kitchen.

The result ---- delicious. 

Ducks are very important in the food of the South West.  They make sure they eat every bit.

Duck stomach is delicious and often served as salad.  Obviously the stomach is a tough muscle so it is cooked slowly.  Duck hearts are also popular and served as brochettes.  

Duck stomach

Bread is a must and is used to clean your plate of any sauces or juice (usually blood from rare meat).
You also clean your eating utensils with the bread as they are only removed before cheese so you use them for entree and main meal.

Duck hearts

The food is delicious and ... fatty.  Butter seems to be used on everything but I was reassured when I was told that salted butter is " the problem".

Mushrooms from the forest are found in the markets.

Buying cheese. It was on special..

These are great mushrooms.
I recall eating them before. They have a very tempting name.

Les trompettes de la mort .......



trumpets of the dead......










 

Breakfast at the market.

We are continually moving but enjoying ourselves.

We will update our blog again soon. Actually the next will be mainly a video of the "Grande Elephant."  It is amazing!

LOVE

R & A

Korea/France 2015 ----- France September 2015

France.  September 2015

We arrived in Paris on September 9th.  We caught the Roissy bus into Opera.  This is the common drop off for tourists.  When we arrived there were 3 police cars - arresting 5 pickpockets.  By the time we met the owner of the appartment we'd rented and had something to eat we realised that we were actually going to bed at 4.00am according to our body clock.

Our accommodation was a tiny one room appartment on the 7th floor - no lift and the stairs were spiral.  Just as well we are only in our early seventies!  But we did have a view of the Eiffel Tower from one window and Sacre Coeur from the other window.

France fact

In an average year in Paris 600 people break a limb slipping on dog droppings or trying to remove the mess from the soles of their shoes. There are 60 green motorcycles travelling around Paris sucking up the droppings with vacuum cleaners.  This was recorded in a book called "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't be Wrong" and the writer had a conversation with a policeman regarding a fine for not cleaning up the mess.  

"Do you know how many fines the police handed out last year?"

"500 maybe?"

"Four!"

==//==

Us

Gradually the family arrived in France.  Katy, Emily and Max arrived a few days after us and took over the tiny appartment.  We assumed the guy who owns it just moves out when he has a booking, because the place was absolutely full of his stuff.   The fridge  even had out of date food in it.

We took the overnight train down to the Pyrenees and moved into our cabin.  It was great to catch up with our friends the Calestremes and their daughter's family the Guerins. 

We had some lovely friends visiting from the U.K. and Australia.  Then all the family arrived for one week, which was fantastic.

  We have had some moments where we have been so impressed by the French people.  

I had a flat tyre and a couple stopped and helped me fix it.  

The people at the cabin site were extremely helpful and were in no hurry for payment. 

We would appreciate any of you that are praying people (and those who don't mind doing it) to pray for our friend Annie.  Today, Tuesday, she and I were picking apples and she slipped and broke her ankle, a bad break.  She is being operated on Wednesday.

We are staying in her house with her family.  Her husband and daughter are both doctors.

We will put up another blog soon and talk about food and culture - mainly food.

Peace and grace

Love

R & A

A new outlook - Java

We arrived in Java a few days ago.
We are on the "usual"  helping some miss. candidates with their English.

We are here for only 2 weeks as that was the only time they had and they requested we come.

My thoughts were that I could not see the point and I just hoped the person in charge knew what he was doing.  He did........ surprise?

It is a new training initiative with W.  Just 5 candidates but mature.  As usual they are amazing and happy people.

We have settled in.  We are in the base which is situated in a lower middle class area.

• narrow, clean streets
• cold water
• lots of small shops
• a million motorbikes
•  friendly people
• haven't seen another European since we arrived 5 days ago
• great spicy food

So what's different?  Well.  The free music.

1. Call to prayer.  There must be 5-6 Mosques in  close proximity.  The first call to prayer is some distance away at 3.40am.  The Mosque across the street is about 4.00am.  It is quite beautiful but not quiet.
2. The back fence neighbors are a Javanese wedding "hall".  Last night was a wedding.  We assumed it was a wedding for the hearing impaired. It started at about 5.00pm.  At about 8.30 pm all the people with hearing problems must have left as they turned down the music.  They sing very beautifully so we have no complaints.

We are well and enjoying our selves.   I'll need to get some photos.

Please pray for us.
Peace and grace
Robin and Aileen