Family Time!

My family has finally arrived! I've been anxiously awaiting their visit, and it's been wonderful so far. Our visit started up in Seoul - where my mom ran the Seoul International Marathon. It was quite a sight, with 30,000 runners... and no spectators (see the picture of the empty street below - this was one minute before the lead runners went by). Not like anything I've ever seen before!

Maman ran a 4:08 marathon, which is especially impressive considering that she was still jet-lagged (my family arrived 38 hrs before the start of the marathon), and had spent most of the previous day on a walking tour of Seoul, including climbing Namsan Mountain (Dad's idea).

We all took the bus down to Yeosu on Sunday evening, and the fam spent the week touring the surrounding area while Alden and I worked. They covered Odongdo Island, Hyangiram Hermitage (a temple on a seaside cliff), Naganeupson (a Korean Folk Village), came for a visit to the school and managed to spend a day walking to the next town! In short, they covered pretty much everything there is to do in Yeosu.

Our next weekend outing was to Boseong, where there is a tea plantation, a beach and a 'sauna' - with various small pools, including both sea water and green tea pools. It was a very enjoyable unplanned weekend, though I think the food is starting to get to two of my family members. (Ask them about the instant noodles, fried chicken, chips, popcorn and hamburgers.... while my Dad eats bowlfuls of bibimbap and rolls of kimbap. Actually, Dad also managed the entire school lunch, which is a feat I have yet to accomplish.)

They're now exploring the volcanic mountain (Hallasan) and lava tubes on Jeju Island, the "Hawaii of Korea". I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing Jeju in May, when it'll be warm enough to go swimming.

And of course, I'm looking forward to seeing my family again when they come back to Yeosu on Friday.