One Rainy Saturday Afternoon

What happens when it rains all day, cool and oh so nice to stay in bed?




Buttons slept with Daddy while I played on my computer (on Farmtown in Facebook). I thought it was so sweet that I took a video of them snoozing together. Buttons had a happy dream where she was running (her little legs kept twitching and moving). Unfortunately, that I didn't catch on the video.


Aren't they too precious? :)

Billy's First Model Kit Assembly - The Hwacha

Remember the Korean seige weapon that the Mythbusters that tested and proved it could work?


Mythbusters "Hwacha Episode"

The Korean Hwacha fired multiple arrows into an approaching army and was used by a Korean king during the Joseon Dynasty. Billy and I had a chance to go to the National Museum of Korea in Seoul a few weeks back. Billy bought a model kit of a woodcut Hwacha. It was laser-cut and the pieces could be assembled together easily (although one broke while Billy tried to get it out of the kit).

Here's Billy's Hwacha and it's about 4 inches X 6 inches wide.

The Rose Garden in Lake Park (Ilsan City)

One of our favorite places to visit in Ilsan City on our vacation is Lake Park. Lake Park has the largest man-made lake in Korea, with the lake covering almost 73 acres. To walk around the lake at a brisk pace will take almost an hour. Good thing on one side of the lake is a dragon tram that will take you halfway one side of the lake. There are a lot of fun things to do at the park such as biking, inline skating, walking, renting those family bicycle carts and there's even a jogging trail that encircles the entire lake.


If one wants to just go sight-seeing, Lake Park also has a cactus arboretum, botanical gardens, and a toilet museum (?!). What we also enjoy is the area surrounding Lake Park which is really large and sprawling commercial district. You can find Lotte Department Store, Grand Department Store as well as the huge La Festa shopping complex and the Western Dom that has hundreds of stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, and bars.

But our favorite place to stay in the park is the Rose Garden. It is a circular garden which has over a hundred varieties of rose plants and it is breathtaking. There is a mini-gazebo in the middle of the garden, with wooden benches dotting the garden for those who just wants to rest and take in the rose splendor.




This is exactly what we did. Hubby and I sat down to rest (it was a fairly long walk to the garden from the park entrance). Billy took this picture of us. Isn't he becoming a budding photographer? After promising to be careful of my camera, Billy asked permission to take pictures of the roses. So I agreed and let him wander off but only within our gazing distance. Billy then set out to take pictures of the roses.



Here are some of Billy's rose pictures.












Then we did what tourists did at the garden, pose and take pictures...






Billy took a gazillion more pictures while hubby and I just sat there (again) and inhaled the rosy scent surrounding us. It was an overcast day and it was perfect for picture-taking (something I learned from Photography 101). The overcast sky bathe the flowers in a soft, muted light. I have more rose pictures to post but I think it will use up all my alloted image space on Blogger. So here's me waving goodbye and the next post will be the World Flower Festival...

Ilsan Vacation (April 2009)

My family regularly goes off to a 2-day to 3-day vacation to Ilsan City. Ilsan is a satellite city about 45 minutes away from Seoul using the subway. We go there for our winter and summer vacation days. Why Ilsan you may ask? Well it's a relatively new city with lots of parks, malls, restaurants and places to sightsee. That is also where hubby got his first job here in Korea and we really enjoyed our first year of living in Ilsan.

To quote Wikipedia: "Ilsan is the name of two districts or wards (Ilsandong-gu, literally “Eastern Ilsan district”, and Ilsanseo-gu, literally “Western Ilsan district”) in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Ilsan-gu has been divided into two wards of Ilsandong-gu and Ilsanseo-gu in May 16, 2005.

Compared to Deogyang-gu, which makes up the rest of Goyang, the recently developed area of Ilsan-gu is more organized and planned, and its residents are generally more affluent. Ilsan is located northwest of Seoul. Like other satellite cities in the Seoul National Capital Area such as Bundang and Pyeongchon, Ilsan was planned in order to alleviate housing shortages in the city of Seoul. Ilsan has experienced phenomenal growth in the past 15 years, usually drawing in younger generations of upper middle-class Koreans."


Now everytime we go for a vacation, it's a choice whether to go to Seoul or to Ilsan (usually we go for the latter). This time, the Biennial World Flower Festival was being held again in Lake Park (Hosu Park). The previous festivals were held inside trade exhibition halls and we didn't think it was going to be as beautiful and as fun.

So off we went to Ilsan for a 3-day vacation. Here are my men enjoying our hotel.


Here's hubby mugging for the camera. He usually parks himself at the free computer that is provided by the motel. That is the neat thing about motels here in Korea. Inside the rooms, you get a computer with speaker and free internet connection, 24/7. Some of the computers are even hooked up to the TV should you want to watch a DVD played on the computer and then watched on the TV screen (usually an LCD Plasma screen).



And while Daddy is on the internet, Billy plays with his PSP (Sony Personal Playstation). If you're looking for me, I am usually stretched out on the bed, watching tv or taking a nap. It's that time when we recharge our batteries and just have fun.

For pictures of Lake Park (specifically the Rose Garden) and the World Flower Festival, let me post that in the next few posts.

***The Rose Garden

***The World Flower Festival

Words of Wisdom from My Father

"As for mortgages, office intrigues and other worrisome things, keep in mind you can't do anything about them at that time of night. So why worry about them? It is best to get the bad blood out of your system before falling sleep. This way, your sleep will not be marred by frightening dreams."

"Every person is unique and what is a chore for one will be an uplifting experience for another. Take the time to look into yourself and find out what is good for you. If something or someone leaves you drained either physically or emotionally, then that is an activity or a person to be avoided whenever possible."

Thanks Dad. I really needed this today.

Why a Boy Needs a Dog

The Cycle of Abuse

Last night was a harrowing night of tears and misery. Not from me but from a Filipina neighbor friend of mine. She sought refuge in my home when her hubby tried to strangle her. She has been a victim of abuse before and the violence is escalating.

I tried my best to counsel her and warn her about going back to her korean husband. I called our church and our pastor came over late last night to whisk her away to a safe house somewhere out of town. Her husband already told her that she is not welcome to come back at all.

My friend is 50 and after a decade of marriage to this bastard, she is cast away like these old pair of boots.