Spring into Summer- Daegu

In May, the plum trees were blooming and everything was getting greener in Daegu...

...Now it's June, and the plants have grown so much, it's hard to believe that 
these two pics were taken in the same place.
Now I know why Korea is considered a subtropical climate... 
check out the muggier summer atmosphere :)

I hike a lot around our local lake and have recently started 
venturing farther, to the 7-mile hike up the big mountain.
Here's a view from the top with our lake, Dansanji, in the background.

The view on the other side of the summit...

... and, another angle with Mt. Palgonsan (the end of the Taebaek mountain range) in the background.  Breathtaking!

At the summit, there is a traditional Korean workout area and 
a sacred pine tree with nine trunks.

Pine trees are important symbols to Korean culture; 
they have been used in much Korean life of the past.
It's also really peaceful to walk under them and just listen to the wind blow through.

We celebrated Mother's Day May 12 by going to E-World, 
an amusement park in Daegu.  
What a fun place!

On May 20 I traveled to Jeonju University with my Art students and 
the DIS Music dept. and students, for the SKAC Fine Arts Festival.
My students' artwork was a hit. ☺

Levi played viola in his first ensemble concert at the SKAC Fine Arts Festival 
with the DIS 7th grade Orchestra, here with their marvelous director, Mr. Hutchings.

In May we also went to Seoul for a co-worker's wedding.
On the bus ride there we passed miles of flooded rice fields- getting ready for the summer crop.

Doyle's wedding was at Myeongdong Cathedral, built in 1897.

The cathedral was beautiful, and it was a lovely ceremony with a full mass.  

A nice day for hanging around with our friends and seeing new things. :)

The beautiful bride and handsome groom greeted guests at the dinner reception 
in their traditional Korean clothing.
Marly looked a little silly, too much plum soda I think!

Back in Daegu, here is the view from our living room May-June... 
Roses and daisies on the hillside in full bloom!

The fences around DIS were all covered with roses May-June.  Just Beautiful!

The neighborhood is also showing lots of signs of growth... some of the high-rise apartments are finished, many more are under construction, and new stores and restaurants are being built in the neighborhood all the time.  The development is astonishing.

The kids both played in a couple of final soccer tournaments- some home, some away.
Here's Marly in action in a home game.
Levi's 6 on 6 middle school team won at an away tournament, he even scored a couple of goals!

The DIS Elementary Spring Concert and Art show was May 23rd.  Marly sang her heart out.

Here she is with her self-portrait (on bottom) and her loving brother. ♥

The DIS High School/Middle School Spring Art & Music Show was May 30th
and my students' artwork looked amazing!!

Levi did a wonderful job playing viola again for three songs with 7th grade orchestra at the concert.

On May 3, all 4th graders presented a Biography fair where they dressed up and acted like a famous person.  Marly chose Galileo Galilee.
Here she is explaining astronomy to a younger student. 

June 4th, DIS had a fun carnival day to wrap up the end of the school year. The day ended with a huge water fight.  Everyone was out to soak and get soaked... See Levi in front in his teal shirt... 

Mr. Hinkle came prepared. Those cups are not for drinking,
they are for filling and dumping on people.

It was all-out war on Mr. Jolly!

The kids had a soaking good time.
Great way to end the school year.

School's out for summer and I'm enjoying walks in the park,
especially since Bongmu park has a big garden with a profusion of flowers!

Lilies, poppies, bachelor's buttons- the view is intoxicating.

The coffeeshop at the park is displaying my students's artwork for a month.  ☺

Happy Summer from Daegu! Love the black-eyed susans.

Joyce's Trip to Korea

 My mom flew from NC to visit with us over our Spring Break week, April 5-14.

After recovering from her jet lag, we took Joyce on a crazy, fast city bus ride to downtown Daegu.
It was an experience she won't soon forget.   

We dined at Bennigan's for Levi's 13th birthday...

...and walked around & shopped downtown.

I think some of the most fun Mema had was just hanging with the grandkids.

The next day we went to Bullodong Ancient tombs park which is very close to our school.
 There are over 200 burial mounds here, all dating to the 5th century.

The cherry blossoms were in bloom everywhere.

We rode up to my favorite local (Bongmu) Park.  Mom liked this little lending library there.

We walked around part of the lake...

Along the way were lots of lovely magnolia trees in bloom.

"Stop poking me!"  "Cut it out, you two, or I'll smack you with this cane!"

We stopped for a cup of coffee, and this helicopter took off on a practice firefighting mission- it has a bucket dangling under it.

The cherry trees were blooming everywhere and they looked and smelled beautiful!

Even the magpies came out to greet Joyce.

The next day we went to the Oriental Medicine Museum in downtown Daegu.

..fun with the Chinese statues out front...

This is a wonderful FREE museum with lots of interactive displays in English, explaining about Oriental medicine. 

There was even a dress-up area.

...one of the best things there was the hot herbal foot soak- ahhhh....

...we all loved it. 

After the museum, we walked one block over to the Hyundai department store,
which has some tasty restaurants on the 8th floor.
Nice mouthful of pizza, Mar.

...view of the city from up there.

On Wednesday we rode out to the ancient village of Hahoe, two hours away.
The river on the right here loops around and encircles the village on the left and is quite lovely,
 with cherry trees growing all along the bank.

The homes there are all preserved in their original exterior form from the 1600's, with thatched roofs.
 Families from the same clan still live in all the houses (with modern upgrades inside).

This is a very famous place in Korean heritage and some notable scholars and prime ministers came from Hahoe village.

The entire village is open to paying tourists, to walk down the streets.
The streets are like walled corridors and we enjoyed walking through and looking at all the beautiful traditional Korean architecture.

Hahoe is beloved by Koreans and is a well-known tourist spot.
Queen Elizabeth visited here in 2007 and planted a commemorative tree in the village. 

After shopping for souvenirs, the highlight of the trip was the legendary Hahoe mask play.

Each mask is portrayed as a different character through dance and some talking,
with Korean drums playing in the background.

Some characters are funny..

... and some are proud.  It was all really entertaining, even without understanding the language.

The next night we went out for traditional Korean barbecue, or Sam-gyup-sal. Nice mouthful of that, Mar.

We finished up the week with Mema with a cake to celebrate both kids' birthdays in April 
(Levi's 13th & Marly's 10th).
We're so glad Mom came to visit and plan to do it again next year! ☺
* Side note: at the time, North Korea was making threats against the US, but no one seemed a bit worried, and we never heard anything about them!