Familial Ties

...I have been fortunate enough to create many families for myself in Korea. I have my work family (Janet, Loren and Baby Pinson), my Seoul family (Tallia, Saska and Brian) and my Saudi Family (Ahmad (who I lovely nicknamed "Big Bear") and Enazi. We went out one Saturday for pizza and mild mannered joy riding in Daejeon and realized that we looked like we were family. Big Bear and Enazi have both been here for almost two years, are fluent in Korean and ridiculously kind.

Can you guess who is "Big Bear"?

Why is this picture in this post?
In Korea in restaurants and coffee shops 9 times out of 10 there will be a computer with internet access for all to use. While at Papa John's I showed the boys my blog and they saw this picture of Dad and they fell into a fit of hysterical laughing. Once they calmed down they explained that Dad looked just like a typical Saudi man. From the way he stood, wore his pants and tucked his shirt in his pants. They should have seen him when he had a beard was all I said.

Trinity Cafe...

...offers you a latte with a bit of fish nibbling on the side. Trinity Cafe is a quaint cafe in Dunsan-Dong that has a pool full on tiny fish that will nibble the dead skin off of your feet. For less than two dollars you can soak your feet for an unlimited time. It tickles at first and if you are distracted by a conversation then you actually forget that you have fish eating away at your flesh. You feet come out soft and smooth and stay that way for a day or two. I took Baby Pinson to try "fish feet" and it is safe to say that an addiction has resulted. Thank you Chan Won at Trinity Cafe for the life experience...hehe.

Ireland December 2007-January 2008

The following are pictures from my trip to Ireland. I went as part of an Agnes Scott College Global Connections group. We traveled all over Ireland on a bus visiting locations immortalized in Irish literature. It was one of the most amazing and enlightening trips I have ever taken and it was spent with some of the most intelligent women I know. On that note I would like to state that Maggie Greaves is by far the best person to visit IRELAND with!
I could not have taken the trip without a generous scholarship from the Department of International Education at Agnes Scott College and the generosity of my mom. Thanks again!

Random shots...

...out and about in Ireland.

with a heavy hitter W.B. Yeats

reading Patrick Kavanagh poetry to a statue of the man himself

Only would yours truly visit Ireland and drink cider at a pub. In my defense my throat was fussy nearly the whole trip

At Waterford Crystal I won the Superbowl.

This is supposed to be a two way street

The River Liffey in Dublin

River Liffey

In Dublin

River Liffey...AGAIN!

The Political Murals of Belfast...

are extremly revealing and highly insightful.

The Bogside Murals...

The murals, created by the Bogside artists, capture the events of "the Troubles" during the 1960's and 1970's. The Bogside is an area outside of the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland.

Newgrange...

is a prehistoric tomb in County Meath. During the winter solstice the sun shines through the passage inside the tomb. Photos were not allowed inside the site thus all my photos were taken outside Newgrange. I was able to take a photo of the special triple spiral motif.

aerial shot courtesy of the Newgrange brochure


Triple spiral

Coming out of the tomb

Looking at Newgrange with the lush Irish landscape behind us