Merry Christmas from California!

Sorry for the infrequent updates of late! We've had a fairly eventful December, the events of which have landed us in California for a few weeks. Keeping in mind that this blog is an Internet publication, I'll refrain from the details, but the bottom line is that we ended our contracts at the school that we worked for this fall and have entered into a new contract at another school (still in Korea). Because there's a bit of a time lapse before we begin our new contract, we decided to come back to the States for Christmas (and just in time!), and we'll be here for the month of January.

It has been so great to be back in California! We arrived on Thursday the 20th, after an uneventful flight across the ocean. We got to stop over in Japan on our way here, so now I can say that I've been to Japan, too, although the airport hardly counts. Our flight from Korea to Japan was especially comfortable. We flew in the upper deck of a 747--a totally new experience! The plane was already huge, and it felt even huger (thanks, great English, I know) being on the top deck of a plane. Our connecting flight to San Francisco was more cramped, so we were grateful to get off the plane after 8 hours. I'm still working on the finesse to get upgraded to business class...I tried, but no luck this time.

We've been enjoying sunny California so far. Don't worry, Washington people, we'll be up that way after the holidays to pay a visit. We plan to return to Korea sometime in February. So that's the Hanes update. I'll post pictures if I can get it together! We'll see most of you soon!

Thanksgiving and First Snow!

Despite being away from our families, we had a great Thanksgiving. We celebrated with some new friends we met a couple of weeks ago, as well as with some people who were new to us. When everyone is away from home, you know that you just need to take them in so all can celebrate. We were particularly blessed because one person who ate with us was a "friend of a friend." We'd never met him, and I know that he felt welcome because he told the guy who brought him that we were "the nicest people he'd ever met." I believe that Jesus worked through us this weekend to show this man Christ's hospitality. That's worth being in Korea to me!

Take a look below at the meal we accomplished with two stove burners and a toaster oven! Pictured are two new friends: Jennie (L) and Maritza (R).
Here are some visions of the first snow in Anyang. It's averaging about 25 degrees at night and 40 in the daytime. This snowstorm arrived with thunder and lightning, too!
Below: you can see where the market food comes from! This man is loading cabbages on to his wheelbarrow.

This is a family gravesite. You can see these all over the hillsides when you hike through the woods.



That's all! Thanks for the phone calls and packages we've received. It's a special feeling to feel "thought of." We love you!

Some Technical Difficulties + Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had problems with our internet this past week, so if you haven't heard from us yet, it's because we've basically had no internet. We're working on getting that remedied, but the sense of time is a little different here, so I never expect things in the time they'd be done in the US. "This week," was the estimate for when the internet guys would come, and it's Friday tomorrow. We'll see!

Also, happy Thanksgiving to everyone at home. I miss not being able to have a family celebration this year. However, we're gathering some of our new friends here to celebrate, so we'll have a bit of Thanksgiving spirit here this year. But it's not the same as family, and we miss you!

We've had a first snow here, and I will post pictures when the internet guys have come. Snow (at least this week) has been accompanied by some pretty violent weather. Michael and I found ourselves in the middle of a lightning/hail/snow storm the other night. Lightning came again when it snowed the other day. It made us notice that all the highrises around us (including ours) have several lightning rods on them!

More to come when our bandwidth increases, and Happy Thanksgiving again!

Beautiful Fall!

We are having a beautiful fall! Enjoy the fall pictures on Gwanak Mountain.Sorry, this one is sideways...




Open market. The vegetables are always really clean and already prepared. They're beautiful!


These are some of the farm ladies.


An outdoor workout center. These things are all over the place, especially in city parks.

Fall Colors and Daily Life

Fall is here! We've really been enjoying the fall colors, all the leaves piling up on the ground, and the cold weather. For a city, it's quite beautiful. Enjoy!



The little dot in the picture is a baby stroller--occupied by a baby. We sat here for about 5 minutes wondering where this child's mother was. Turns out she was taking laps around the park while he took a nap! We had to go out to lunch with our boss yesterday, and this time it was to Korean/Japanese food. A lot raw fish, let me tell you! This plate here has live octopus in it. I could see them actually squirming around like worms in a bait can. The last time I saw this kind of eating, it was on the "Strange Foods" show by National Geographic! I did not try it, but Michael did. He merely tried a tentacle, and it "stuck to the the roof of [his] mouth!" I took a short video on our camera, and I'll work on getting that uploaded soon!

Gyungbukgung Palace (bless you!)

On Sunday, we played tourist and went to visit one of the national treasures of Korea--Gyungbukgung Palace. This palace was once used by the kings of the region about 1500 years ago. It's been well maintained, despite having been burned to the ground by the Japanese about 500 years ago and then rebuilt. The South Korean government has hired its most skilled craftsmen to maintain this building. Each and every post has intricate, hand-painted designs painted on them, and there are many, many buildings. It's pretty amazing!

This is the front gate. It's the biggest gate and is guarded by, well, guards. They are the guys in red.
Here's Michael.
And me.
This is a picture of the changing-of-the-guard ceremony. We were lucky to catch it. The guy beats that big drum, and they have a whole ritual. The painting that you can see on the drum is the kind you see throughout the whole palace.
These are the new guards, coming to replace the old ones.
This is the throne room of the king. He would sit in here and conduct official business.
Me. You can see that fall is here! The leaves all over are changing to to red and beautiful orange.
I don't know what this is, but I thought it was pretty neat.
The Palace is also guarded by sculptures of the 12 zodiac animals. This one is crying bird poop tears.
Another amazing structure!
We were also able to visit the Korean Folk Museum. You may wonder what Loofing Tiles are, but they are in fact supposed to be Roofing Tiles. I get no end of mild pleasure over the R/L problem here.
It started to rain. Heavily. There was also a lightning storm directly overhead.
In the front, the throne room, in the background is that tall pagoda.

An excellent trip overall! This place is truly amazing!

Gyungbukgung Palace (bless you)

I have posted this posting so many times I almost wish we hadn't done this trip, but here is my last and final attempt to upload these pictures!!!

Last week, we went to a place in Seoul called Gyungbukgung Palace, the biggest of the palaces in Korea. I don't know much about Korean history, but from what I've learned, Korea used to be 3 separate countries, all ruled by different dynasties. This palace was the seat of the biggest country, called Chosun. It's about 1500 years old, and they maintain it all the time, using only the most talented craftsmen in the country. You'll notice that the painting on the buildings is incredibly intricate. It's pretty amazing! At one point, this palace was burned to the ground (about 500 years ago), and it's been rebuilt since then.



This is the main gate to the palace. It's guarded same way that Buckingham Palace is guarded, so we got to see a changing-of-the-guard ceremony. Michael A. Hanes

Changing of the guard. The guy who is bowing got to beat that drum.



Eryn E. Hanes
This is the throne room of the room where the king conducted his official business. He had other rooms similar for common business and where women got to entertain him (of course!), but this was the biggest and most ornate.


This is Michael kissing one of the 12 zodiac animals that help guard the palace. It is crying birdpoop tears. This pagoda is the roof to the National Folk Museum of Korea. Not sure if it's an original structure.

Ahh, one of my favorite photos. This plaque, located in the museum, is supposed to be talking about Roofing tiles. Just a representation of the valiant struggle to learn and use English in this country! ...Makes me laugh every time...In the foreground, the throne room, in the background, the museum pagoda. Notice that it is raining. We were just leaving!
And more rain! We were soaked, and since the lightning was directly overhead, we thought it was a good time to get underground and take the subway home!

Hiking in the Mountains

Our city of Anyang is surrounded by low mountains, many of which are available for climbing. The trailhead to one such mountain, Gwanak (Gwanaksan--san=mountain), is a short bike ride from our house. Enjoy!

The farming concept is very different here. The side of this mountain is covered in farms and greenhouses that grow chiles, cabbage, carrots, vining plants like pumpkin, zucchini, etc. You often see older women squatted in the rows harvesting food, and it's later seen in the nearby open market.




Here is a garden that's been cultivated at the beginning of our climb. It's really beautiful.


A view of Anyang. The two towers you see are very near our apartment. In fact, our apartment is technically visible from here.



Straight ahead in this photo is the peak we summited. We ended up a bit to the left of the big peak.


Views from the top!