Every Friday, I will post a photo from our life. Enjoy!
Feeding the birds at Everland, South Korea, November 2009
Showing posts with label Everland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Everland. Show all posts
Friday, July 27, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Photo Friday
** Every Friday, I will post a picture from our
life.... enjoy! **
The girls at Everland, South Korea, April 2010
Korea is lovingly referred to as the land of the not quite right. Everland is the largest theme park in South Korea and, conveniently for us, it was about an hour's drive from us. They have a little bit of everything that you need/want in a theme park - zoo, roller coasters, kid rides, and the best caramel popcorn! Of course, they also had things that would make you turn your head and go "huh? Lost in translation..."
The girls were out for Spring Break, so we went Everland for the day. From the blog: "It was a beautiful day and the park wasn't that crowded, which was really nice. The tulips and other spring flowers are starting to pop up and most of the flowering trees were in bloom. I discovered they had a times guide in English printed up, so we were able to hit a few shows. The girls really enjoyed the seal show and they have a new festival square show complete with some magic tricks. Mostly we just walked around, enjoyed the flowers, and played until the sun went down."
Looking back now, it was a really nice day... as summed up by the cheeky expression they gave me on the way out of the park (the picture above) :)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
한국 행복 설날 (Happy Lunar New Year!)
Hangug haengbog seolnal! My Korean is getting better huh? Actually, it's amazing what you can find on Google.
I'm still amazed at how many things are different than they are in the good ol' USA. In general, Koreans don't celebrate Valentine's Day (or Hallmark-stock-boost Day) like we do. But there wasn't lack of interesting things going on. This year, the Lunar New Year is the same day as Valentine's Day.
After careful consideration, we decided to gamble and head to Everland for the day. It was a gamble, because as we heard through the grapevine, Soellal traffic rivals what we see on Thanksgiving. Luckily, we have a really nice back way to go that avoids the major interstates, and is just a more peaceful drive. And doubly lucky, there was hardly any traffic that way.
Everland did a very nice job; this was their first attempt to bring in something cultural for Soellal. They had a celebration planned that included traditional Korean dancing, traditional games, and foods. The performers did a Samulnori (or farmers' dance). The dance was beautiful and was really distinctive because of the long, flowing tassels worn atop the dancers' hats which followed the music. Music is produced by 4 instruments: drum (buk), hourglass drum (chang-gu), and two types of gongs (ching and kkoenggwari). We were amazed at how they could play their instruments while whipping the tassels around.
During the show, the mistress of ceremonies asked if there were any "foreigners" in the audience. When scanning, she saw us sitting there and said, yes, there are some right there. Guess we stick out like sore thumbs. Ronnie was invited down to try his hand at beona, or spinning plates on a stick. He did really well. A little while later, there was another opportunity for audience participation and I was invited down to try out the spinning tassel hat. I don't think I've laughed as hard for so long in a while. There is a video, but you'll have to bribe Ronnie if you want to see it.
After visiting some of our regular haunts, we set out to find Tteokguk (pronounced duck gook). Tteokguk is a traditional meal that ages you another year, but also is to bring you good luck in the New Year, while warding off any evil from the previous year. It's made with tteok, or rice cake noodles that are sliced into coins, in a beef broth and is traditionally topped with egg, seaweed and slices of beef.
Lucky for us, we discovered one of the restaurants in the park was serving it. After some pantomiming with the restaurant staff, attempting a really bad pronounciation, and about 5 minutes of prep once they figured out what those crazy Americans wanted, we received our bowl of steaming hot soup. I can't begin to tell you how delicious the soup was. The tteok was chewy, but not gummy; the beef, egg, and seaweed were a nice compliment, but the star of this show for me was the broth itself. To describe it as velvety would not do it justice; so, I will just say that I WILL be adding this to my repertoire of cooking, as it was a family favorite. Holly and Sarah completely forgot about their pork cutlet and curry rice in favor of the "noodle soup" and it was gone before we knew it.
Normally, Everland would have fireworks to end the night, but not during "Winter Story" since they set off the fireworks on the same hill as the sledding. But they did have a light parade, complete with lit characters and booming music.
I'm still amazed at how many things are different than they are in the good ol' USA. In general, Koreans don't celebrate Valentine's Day (or Hallmark-stock-boost Day) like we do. But there wasn't lack of interesting things going on. This year, the Lunar New Year is the same day as Valentine's Day.
After careful consideration, we decided to gamble and head to Everland for the day. It was a gamble, because as we heard through the grapevine, Soellal traffic rivals what we see on Thanksgiving. Luckily, we have a really nice back way to go that avoids the major interstates, and is just a more peaceful drive. And doubly lucky, there was hardly any traffic that way.
Everland did a very nice job; this was their first attempt to bring in something cultural for Soellal. They had a celebration planned that included traditional Korean dancing, traditional games, and foods. The performers did a Samulnori (or farmers' dance). The dance was beautiful and was really distinctive because of the long, flowing tassels worn atop the dancers' hats which followed the music. Music is produced by 4 instruments: drum (buk), hourglass drum (chang-gu), and two types of gongs (ching and kkoenggwari). We were amazed at how they could play their instruments while whipping the tassels around.
During the show, the mistress of ceremonies asked if there were any "foreigners" in the audience. When scanning, she saw us sitting there and said, yes, there are some right there. Guess we stick out like sore thumbs. Ronnie was invited down to try his hand at beona, or spinning plates on a stick. He did really well. A little while later, there was another opportunity for audience participation and I was invited down to try out the spinning tassel hat. I don't think I've laughed as hard for so long in a while. There is a video, but you'll have to bribe Ronnie if you want to see it.
After visiting some of our regular haunts, we set out to find Tteokguk (pronounced duck gook). Tteokguk is a traditional meal that ages you another year, but also is to bring you good luck in the New Year, while warding off any evil from the previous year. It's made with tteok, or rice cake noodles that are sliced into coins, in a beef broth and is traditionally topped with egg, seaweed and slices of beef.
Lucky for us, we discovered one of the restaurants in the park was serving it. After some pantomiming with the restaurant staff, attempting a really bad pronounciation, and about 5 minutes of prep once they figured out what those crazy Americans wanted, we received our bowl of steaming hot soup. I can't begin to tell you how delicious the soup was. The tteok was chewy, but not gummy; the beef, egg, and seaweed were a nice compliment, but the star of this show for me was the broth itself. To describe it as velvety would not do it justice; so, I will just say that I WILL be adding this to my repertoire of cooking, as it was a family favorite. Holly and Sarah completely forgot about their pork cutlet and curry rice in favor of the "noodle soup" and it was gone before we knew it.
Normally, Everland would have fireworks to end the night, but not during "Winter Story" since they set off the fireworks on the same hill as the sledding. But they did have a light parade, complete with lit characters and booming music.
Saehae bok manhi badeuseyo
Many blessings for the New Year
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Under 100cm Not Allowed
Hope everyone had a great MLK holiday. We decided to take the girls to our favorite Korean theme park for sledding and whatever else we could get into.
Going to theme parks is a lot of fun, but also really frustrating. The girls are different heights, so there are some rides that Sarah can't go on, but Holly can. Leaving us with a 3 year old who insists that she's a big girl, not a baby. You can see where I'm headed with this situation if you've ever had that child.
But not anymore - we have now entered the realm of we don't have to ride with them! By some miracle, Sarah has magically grown 5 cm in 3 months. We didn't realize this until we went back to the sledding hill where Sarah was measured last time and they let her through to the "big" hill. I read the sign this time and we figured out that she was hitting that 100cm mark finally. Really, we think it's a combination of her shoes and her hat, but we'll take what we can get.
We tested our theory with the Merlin's Magic Carpet ride. The girl working the ride took out the stick and even had Sarah take her hat off and - TADAA!!!! she was "tall enough." Sarah was so excited; unfortunately I didn't get my camera out in time to video the cheer she gave out. But she jumped in the air, waved her arms and said, "Hurray, I'm big enough. I can ride with Holly now!" It was a good ride for her too - kind of like a pirate ship back and forth, but it spins too, goes fast enough that you know you're moving, but not too fast that it's scary.
Then, we let the girls loose on the Flash Pang Pang and the Pirate Ride to ride by themselves. I'll tell ya', this watching from the side thing is great!
Going to theme parks is a lot of fun, but also really frustrating. The girls are different heights, so there are some rides that Sarah can't go on, but Holly can. Leaving us with a 3 year old who insists that she's a big girl, not a baby. You can see where I'm headed with this situation if you've ever had that child.
But not anymore - we have now entered the realm of we don't have to ride with them! By some miracle, Sarah has magically grown 5 cm in 3 months. We didn't realize this until we went back to the sledding hill where Sarah was measured last time and they let her through to the "big" hill. I read the sign this time and we figured out that she was hitting that 100cm mark finally. Really, we think it's a combination of her shoes and her hat, but we'll take what we can get.
We tested our theory with the Merlin's Magic Carpet ride. The girl working the ride took out the stick and even had Sarah take her hat off and - TADAA!!!! she was "tall enough." Sarah was so excited; unfortunately I didn't get my camera out in time to video the cheer she gave out. But she jumped in the air, waved her arms and said, "Hurray, I'm big enough. I can ride with Holly now!" It was a good ride for her too - kind of like a pirate ship back and forth, but it spins too, goes fast enough that you know you're moving, but not too fast that it's scary.
Then, we let the girls loose on the Flash Pang Pang and the Pirate Ride to ride by themselves. I'll tell ya', this watching from the side thing is great!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Worth the Price of Admission!
Even though the high was in the low-20s yesterday, it was a sunny day so we decided to head to Everland. We got everyone bundled up and packed warm blankets for the girls to cuddle under in the jogging stroller.
We were lucky that the park wasn't too crowded, we even got a great parking spot (ie easy to find when you leave the park) and we were able to walk on to most rides. They also had heaters and warming tents set up around the park which made it nice to enjoy our popcorn and hot chocolate.
They've put most of the Christmas decorations away, and are now in the Winter Wonderland theme, complete with a HUGE snow hill! The 5 minute wait was so worth it! So, for your viewing enjoyment, I give you Holly and Ronnie versus the hill:
We were lucky that the park wasn't too crowded, we even got a great parking spot (ie easy to find when you leave the park) and we were able to walk on to most rides. They also had heaters and warming tents set up around the park which made it nice to enjoy our popcorn and hot chocolate.
They've put most of the Christmas decorations away, and are now in the Winter Wonderland theme, complete with a HUGE snow hill! The 5 minute wait was so worth it! So, for your viewing enjoyment, I give you Holly and Ronnie versus the hill:
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Weekend Excursions
Well, it's the last day of the four day weekend. Besides our big turkey day with the squadron, we didn't plan anything big for the weekend. They don't do Black Friday like we do in the States; besides, all my Christmas shopping is done anyhow.
We decided to head to Everland yesterday. The weather was really nice albeit a little chilly and the park wasn't all that crowded for a weekend. The girls had a great time feeding the parakeets, seeing the monkeys (who were just as curious about the people looking at them), riding the festival train, and then playing in the ball pit. We also got to go on a few different rides than before, our favorite being Flash Pang Pang. It's a tulip seat that bounces you up in the air, but you can push on this lever and start spinning too. The girls started fighting over who would ride with daddy, since mommy can't spin too fast.
The day was topped off with a ride on the "Teacups," which at this park is a flower. Both Holly and Sarah rode with daddy who spun them so fast they both had slid over to his side by the end.
Today brought a slow drizzly rain, so we went to the bowling alley. The lanes on base are really nice and they have 4 shorter lanes dedicated to little kids. Holly narrowly edged out Sarah, who was leading until the 8th frame. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera, else we would have some great video of the two of them cheering on the ball to knock down the pins.
We decided to head to Everland yesterday. The weather was really nice albeit a little chilly and the park wasn't all that crowded for a weekend. The girls had a great time feeding the parakeets, seeing the monkeys (who were just as curious about the people looking at them), riding the festival train, and then playing in the ball pit. We also got to go on a few different rides than before, our favorite being Flash Pang Pang. It's a tulip seat that bounces you up in the air, but you can push on this lever and start spinning too. The girls started fighting over who would ride with daddy, since mommy can't spin too fast.
The day was topped off with a ride on the "Teacups," which at this park is a flower. Both Holly and Sarah rode with daddy who spun them so fast they both had slid over to his side by the end.
Today brought a slow drizzly rain, so we went to the bowling alley. The lanes on base are really nice and they have 4 shorter lanes dedicated to little kids. Holly narrowly edged out Sarah, who was leading until the 8th frame. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera, else we would have some great video of the two of them cheering on the ball to knock down the pins.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Everland!!!!
This week has just flown by! We have been unpacking boxes, sorting and organizing most of the week. But, Wednesday was Veteran's Day, and since we all had the day off we headed to Everland.
Everland is the largest theme park in South Korea and, conveniently for us, it's about an hour's drive from us. This place is amazing! They have a little bit of everything that you need/want in a theme park - zoo, roller coasters, kid rides, and the best caramel popcorn! They just started their Christmas Fantasy festival, so the park was decorated with Christmas trees, wreaths, and ornaments galore! We were greeted at the front by Santa who gave us Rudolph noses.
First, we headed to Aesop's Village. Holly and I went on the Tortoise and the Hare train ride, while Ronnie and Sarah went to scope out the "ball pit." Let me tell you, the ball pit is fun for ALL AGES and I challenge you to find anything like this in the States.... Loads of small soft foam balls with tons of compressed air shoots that either shoot the balls up in the air or at someone.
The rest of our day was spent riding rides, watching the parade, riding even more rides, then going into the zoo area and Safari ride.
Everland is the largest theme park in South Korea and, conveniently for us, it's about an hour's drive from us. This place is amazing! They have a little bit of everything that you need/want in a theme park - zoo, roller coasters, kid rides, and the best caramel popcorn! They just started their Christmas Fantasy festival, so the park was decorated with Christmas trees, wreaths, and ornaments galore! We were greeted at the front by Santa who gave us Rudolph noses.
First, we headed to Aesop's Village. Holly and I went on the Tortoise and the Hare train ride, while Ronnie and Sarah went to scope out the "ball pit." Let me tell you, the ball pit is fun for ALL AGES and I challenge you to find anything like this in the States.... Loads of small soft foam balls with tons of compressed air shoots that either shoot the balls up in the air or at someone.
The rest of our day was spent riding rides, watching the parade, riding even more rides, then going into the zoo area and Safari ride.
We had a lot of fun! Good thing we bought season passes, the girls are already asking when we can go back!
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