Walking Around Town

Most of these pictures were taken while we walked around town.

Sometimes we will just start walking and see where we end up. We haven't done that for a few weeks now that is is SO hot!  But it was fun when we did it.

A crazy truck we found--Looks like it was still being used!

This is a picture of a cool house above Lucas.  Wheeler has grown a lot since this picture!

I love the stairs leading the the house.   

I really think this is a cool doorway!  So pretty. Love the bricks and the door!

This is a resting area--wonder what they are called in Korean?

They have their trees grow up the support poles and weave the branches through the lattice roof so it provides natural shade and rain protection.

This is a good example of "garage" doors.  See one is really cool and decorative, the next one is bent, warped, and moldy!  Totally the way it is here!  One house will be totally falling apart and the next one will be really nice!

We decided this was a evil ladybug.  Really cool.

An alley way.

I couldn't help taking a picture of this--

He was as Dead as A Door Nail!

first thought that went through my mind when I saw it.

Pepper wants to know why they parked a boat here!

Actually we all wanted to know why!

It is a spa.

This food is a little more .... tasty!?

They use every spot of earth they can find.

Electric Towers are everywhere.  People just work around them--I have a picture of a house build right uner one--gotta find it!  

Next picture you gotta scroll down--Spider Picture Warning for my mom!!

this one was on the other side of a glass door so I had no chance of getting touched.

There are these really ugly spiders with really fat bodies (not the ones pictured).  I almost had one land on my head walking home!  That did freak me out a little. 

Some of the coolest spider webs are in the the signs that say "walk" and "don't walk" at the street lights.

Lucas says he remembers seeing hand sized spiders---I think I will be ok not seeing any of those! Ever!







Church & "Mormon" lingo



We are active in our religion so we were so happy for find a Branch in Suncheon!

If I feel up to it I might add a glossary at the end of this post.

The people in the Branch are super nice.  There are a few English speakers because of missions and a few have lived in English speaking countries. 

We have Sister Missionarys and Lucas said we just got Elders in our Branch too!

Pretty cool. 



At one end of the hallway look at the front door--About 2 classrooms and the bathrooms on the left, a *Branch Presidents office and another 3 classes on the left.  Wheeler is heading to the stairs which lead upstairs--I didn't get any pictures of upstairs!  Upstairs is more classrooms, a kitchen, and the *culture hall/chapel (totally forgot the word chapel for a minute!!)



We have eaten with a few members, and they always invite the sisters so they can translate for us.

Another sister, Sister Kim, gives us rides to and from church which is way cool!  She even helped us get our cell phones--she really is a wonderful member.  She has a son who is about 14 and mentally about Wheelers age--literally watching her son walk around the church was like watching a 5'9" Wheeler.

Sister Kim is a child phsycologist.   

There are about 30 active members.  Our Branch President is President Choi--he is a very kind man. 

We were asked to speak in church about the 4th Sunday we went.  I only spoke about 5 minutes and had it translated by one of the Sisters-so I spoke for about 10 minuites.  Lucas spoke completely in Korea and did an excellent job.  He had some really strong emotions to be speaking Korean infront of a Korean Branch again. 

The church members have made this trip a lot easier to handle since my Hogwan hasn't really been helpful at all!!  The members have been a great place to ask questions and find out information. 

This is upstairs --I believe this is the Youth Sunday School/YW room. 

The adult Sunday School meets in the Chapel.  Primary meets downstairs.

Relief Soceity meets in the Chapel.  Priesthood meets downstairs, then breaks into other rooms.   

This is what the classrooms look like.  I think this is the room where the Priesthood meet, but it looks almost like the Primary room.  I have other pictures of the church, but they aren't downloading!  So I might update this post when I take some more! 

Ward: The word we use instead of Congregation. Don't know why-we just do. The leader of a Ward is a Bishop, and the leader of many wards (and Bishops) is a Stake President.

Branch: When there aren't enough members to have a Ward (about 75-250 members) they make a smaller congregation called a Branch--again, don't know why, just is.  Branches doen't have a Bishop or Stake President, they only have a Branch President. 

Branch President: The spiritual leader in the congregation. He has an office in the church.  Because we are a non-paid clergy, the Branch President will change every 5-10 years. (same with Bishop and Stake President).  

Primary, Young Women, Young Men, Relief Society and Classes:

In our religion we meet for 3 hours.

The first hour we meet all together, we sing, take the sacrement, and listen to talks. This is called Sacrament Meeting.

The second hour we are split into age groups. 

 All kids 3-11 go to Primary

Youth ages 12-17 go to Youth Sunday School

18 and older go to Adult Sunday School

The third hour we divide for classes according to not only age but also gender.

Primary kids stay together--no splitting.

Young Men 12-17 

Young Women 12-17

Relief Soceity (woman) age 18+

Priesthood (includes the Young men) 18+ 

Priesthood:  This word has two meanings  BUT mostly I used it to talk collectively about the men in our ward over the age of 12.

still working out the wrinkles!

Life in Korea is GREAT! 

The girls are now on Summer break for one month and I get 3 days off of work this week~ BUT
it is SOOO hot! 

We are going to go to the ocean this week and the Aquarium sometime!  My biggest problem is the heat is a major energy zapper!

I have been taking pictures but I have a few problems.  We don't have an adaptor and converter to recharge our camera and the pictures I take on my phone have no way of downloading to the computer, but I think I found a way to put them to facebook first and then to the Blog, but no luck with doing video that way!

Always something!!

I have a whole page of blog ideas to write so I hope that soon I can get pictures and ideas BOTH on paper!

Good things could be happening!

These pictures were downloaded on our computer at HOME and this was typed at home!!

Get ready for a lot of blog catching up!!

Sitting pretty--no pictures :(

So I am very sad because I found a great no smoking PC bong really close to my school.  Walk in, very clean, not filled with pre-teen boys, clean looking computers, very comfortable chairs, a place to put my feet up---I am sitting pretty!  It is even called FLOWER PC BONG!  AND my wonderful PC bong host lady just brought me some juice!  WOW!  I might come back here just to get the free drink  ;) 

 At the light festivals--they turn the lights off at 10:30 SHARP! as we found out seconds before taking this picture.

And then BANG! 

My pictures aren't showing up.  I click on my thumb drive to organize and sort---and nope.  I have to click on each picture individually to see them--sorry--but that is NOT going to happen. I have tons of pictures and I have to see each one at a glance to see which ones are blurry, wrong direction, and all that---I stink at taking pictures already--so anything I can do to make them better--trust me--you want me to do! 

Free horse back riding!  These poor Ponies--round in the same SMALL circle all day!

(remember that game that came on computers---MINDSWEEPER or something--where you try to avoid the bombs and the numbers next to the bomb told how many bombs they were touching?  I did that with my pictures--When I "hit" a bad picture I stopped--so that is why I have added a few pictures on here-I couldn't see them until they uploaded and when I hit a blurry picture I stopped clicking random pictures to upload.)

You will have to wait till I go back to the smoky, pre-teen filled, and dirty old PC bong.

an angel art project--Pepper wasn't strong enough to hold herself up so dad had to help

SO here is a random list....

1.  My "2nd boss" (the 1st boss owns the school) is retiring today!  They told me at 5:30pm.  I am sad, cause they are not replacing her so I will have to work through the 1st boss, who doesn't speak english :(  Good thing Lucas is amazing!!

2.  Lucas and I are posting lots of post and pictures on Facebook---add us for more "up to the minute" information.

at our shipwreck park!

3.  The girls are both in school which makes "little Larsons" blog very difficult since they leave as I get up and they return as I am going to school.  I will have to wake up extra early to do it--We don't have internet at the house STILL (maybe Monday?)  and even with Internet our computer blocks half of the websites I use--like Blogger!!

4.  I am not sure what you want to see picture of?  Really I don't have a wide variety of places I go--but Lucas is better at that then I am.  But what are you interested in seeing, or hearing about?

This outfit is normal for the men--They are staring at the kids and I am staring at what he is wearing.

PS: short skirts and short shorts are EVERYWHERE!

5.  I (and the girls) used the hole in the floor toliet the other day---kind of strange, but great for camping training!!  

At the Suncheon Garden Expo--one day I will post pictures from this!

6.  I have some students that I love and some I can't stand!  The kids here are either super loud or falling asleep!  2/3 of my students are here because their parents make them go--poor kids.  It is teaching me a lesson.

7.  I would say about 1/3 of all signs are in English--it is funny how few people can speak it, but most everyone can read it.

More Lighting pictures--see the lights out (the heart) :(

8.  I have no idea why I made this into a list, but now I feel like I have to get to #10!

9.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints translates into the end of the world church of something like that--so they have "changed" the name so it will translate correctly--YES the proper authories know.  I am pretty sure they were the ones that changed it so people would stop being scared of it.

10.  It rained yesterday--more rain in one day then I have ever seen in my whole life. The air would get very heavy/wet--like breathing in a steam room, then get chilly, and then POUR--then the air wouldn't feel so heavy and it would get hot again--it was very strange, but I loved it!    

I think Suncheon Bay--everything here is green---if there is an inch of dirt something is growing out of it!

Ok One more thing!

We are going to visit Yeerah tomorrow!  She was our exchange student from 2010-2011--I was prego with Wheeler and she went home the week he was born.  We are super excited, but we have to leave by 6:30 am to catch the train and travel 2 hours to get to her home town---not sure what will be planned, but I really hope it doesn't rain so we can enjoy time outside so Wheeler doesn't ruin their apartment!

Or and another...

We now have bank accounts---Only in Canada and America can a husband and wife have a joint account.  In Korea we each have our own.  Strange!!

a quick highlight of the week!

i started this post the 1st week of 
July
~ sorry


we went to the light festival
 it is so pretty
!

a truck parked on the side of the road when we were walkinh around town
~ before it got crazy hot
~ which tonight 
Aug. 15th the weather 
(after 5pm
) was livable
!

Aliens
~ its whats for dinner    ok maybe stingrays
?

a very pink house

japanese dancers at the lighting festival
~ we didnt see them perform but i love the costumes

we went to 
Suncheon expo which is a big deal here 
and on the way we see these guys
~ come to 
M
Y show says the guy in front with the skirt
ok
~ so we follow them and the whole time the girls are asking 
Wheeler to marry them  
~ we will wait for you
! is what they told him  so we go to the show and the skirt guy is one ofthe main characters in a very cool stage play           glad we went

back to the light festival
~ there are framed pieces of art under a bridge
~ some pretty talented people just leave their artwork under the bridges which reminds me
~ i have yet to see any homeless people anywhere

so pretty
~ as i am typing this i wonder if i already posted these or if that was on facebook
?

more under the bridge art

Taking a Break

I am trying to empty my thumb drives of pictures I brought with us from Home---be patient, I will hopefully have a few hours to spare at a PC Bong (a place you pay to use a computer) and get all caught up before too much more happens here!!

Pepper took this on the corner of a street near us

 

 

Any one know what this gross, living, breathing thing is?