About Me

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Hey Hey! My name is Catherine Lee. I am a born and raised southern gal from AR that is now turned into a Colorado-an! I am a 2nd grade teacher and love my job more than anything! I am deeply in love with my husband Jonathan. He is Half-Korean and we hope to have some little quarter Koreans someday soon;) I love life and know that in Christ I can be truly content and can truly show His light and love.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

One month later -_-

She was teaching me how to eat with "gusto!"

Kimchi eating party;)



Seoul Forest. Such a natural, beautiful place in the middle of such a gigantic place.



The newly opened artificial floating island! Amazing at night...and very romantic:) There might have been a lot of kisses that night:)


Chansoon teaching me how to make homemade Gimpop!!! MMM.

Waiting at a little coffee shop for the Hillsong Concert to start



It was just a LOT crowded.





Sunday, June 5, 2011

Daily life

Jon and I have truly been enjoying the daily life here in Korea. Other than sightseeing, we have been enjoying some of the peaceful aspects of our stay here.

Chansoon has been teaching me how to cook Korean meals (yay!!!!!) and I am planning on getting the recipes/cooking on video so that I will always remember the way you cook them.

She has taught us many Korean tips on eating healthy, such as:
  • Eating cabbage EVERY morning to help digestion, skin, weight management and cholesterol
  • Eating tomatoes to prevent cancer and get the needed nutrients and antioxidants. (Also helps with digestion)
  • To increase blood flow...have WARM water EVERY night. Also, avoiding cold water as much as possible because of it's ability to lower your internal body temperature, which in turn, can impact your immune system.
  • Eat Korean sweet potatoes as much as possible. Again, just for the nutrients that it provides.
So, we have been snacking away at all of those things....:) It's nice because if you do eat healthy and eat as much raw vegetables and fruit...you can AFFORD to have some luxury snacks every once in a while:) (dark chocolate being my FAVORITE!) 

Study time! Chansoon helping me with lesson planning! Fun with phonics!:)


Bus ride...These buses are out to kill you. You LITERALLY have to hold on for you life. Not even kidding. THANKfully we got a seat for this ride lol. whew

Another restaurant. This time: All you can eat Kalbi. Jon and Jim were in heaven

Time is flying!



I can't believe it has already been two weeks!

It's crazy. I found out that I have been averaging over 100 pictures per day when we go out sightseeing. This in fact makes it very difficult for me to have to choose which pictures I'm going to include on my blog, and furthermore, have to decide which ones I'm going to write about.


So you can see, it has been quite perplexing;) With how busy I have been over here it has been amazing that I have had time to even blog at all, so that it at least something lol. EVERY time I go out of the country or travel around I seem to always forget that I need write things down or take pictures, and then when I get home...I'm like "man, that FLEW by and I have already forgotten so many things!" So this time around I'm trying to carry a notebook with me so I can at least jot a few things down so that I won't forget them.

Journaling is way out of the question because although I have always loved journals (they way they look-their main purpose) I just never hit it off with them. This has provided me with literally dozens of journals over my lifetime that have maybe 1-10 pages max written in them lol. I'm thinking blogging or just jotting down a few notes here and there might be my better bet.

I of course say to myself that I will be one of those moms someday that will blog every detail of my child's life and will be of course the most talented of all, but alas, I must be realistic lol. Sigh....we'll see though;)

Jon and I have having the best time ever. His parents are MOST generous and we have loved getting to get to spend this time with them. Living so far apart for so many years has made it difficult to spend time together, so this trip has been a real blessing in allowing for some quality time!

The culture here continues to surprise me and I learn new things every day. Chansoon continues to explain signs and banners as we travel along and is a wonderful translator. I can't imagine being able to do all that we are getting do without her language abilities. Jon and I would probably have had to stick to the main tourist spots and to those famous tour buses;) haha

This weekend Jon and I are getting to see Hillsong United live in the Olympic park in Seoul. We are VERY excited to say the least and are determined to get Hillsong T-shirts:) Then the next weekend all four of us are going to be taking the Air Force guided tour to the DMZ border between North and South Korea. This is probably one of the things that we are most excited about it. It is literally witnessing history because Korea is the last place to have a DMZ. Germany's wall came down of course in the 80's so that the line between North and South Korea. I am particularly excited to find out that the DMZ will stamp your passport when you go there so that is exciting.

We planned this trip as soon as possible to get it out of the way...haha..JUST in case North Korea does something stupid again. This way we don't run the risk of not getting to go if they shut it down in between now and then.



We enjoyed lots of touring and sightseeing with Chansoon's high school freind Mrs. Young Ae Yoon. She was very sweet and treated us to this ice-milk-fruit dessert!

At a Korean flower market. Literally building after building of beautiful flowers. I could have spent WEEKS there!

Somebody was just a little sleepy;)
Dr. and Mrs. Lee treated us to a gourmet lunch that was out of this world. They were the sweetest couple. I enjoyed visiting with him about Korea's history. A brilliant man!
At the grave of 3rd President Chung-hee Park. Ruled from 1961-1979 A most revered president responsible for changing the Korean Economy for the good.
My new pair of earings:) They were so beautiful;)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Anyon Haseyo!!

This was my superb meal: mandu, kimchi, Korean cake, and cucumber salad.
This is why I don't want to drive in Korea!

Having a lovely conversation in Korean;) 


The South Tower that overlooks Seoul. This is our 4th famous tower to visit! Empire State Building, London Eye, Eiffel Tower, and Seoul Tower.


Standing on the Geographical Center of Seoul



Tradition Korean dress. I personally think their hat looks like a pilgrim hat. funny huh?

mmm...dukbokki. The noodle looking things in the red sauce is dukbokki. Hot and spicy rice cakes in a Gochujung sauce.

One of the few phrases/words I have learned in Korea so far is "Anyon Haseyo", Korean for Hello. I may not be able to converse with Koreans, but hey, at least I can give them a nice greeting right? lol:)