July 26th 2009 - Bye W&T

July 26th 2009

Birthday party, delivery and rest !

These last weeks we have been fortunate enough to have a few friends visiting from far away. First it was Loli and Luismi, and three days after they left Tom and Noelia arrived (this is why I missed last week's entry - blame them!). We have of course been busy showing them the best of Ulsan and surroundings, so after they left last Wednesday, it took me a few days to recover. I should add that Tom and I had been playing table tennis, biking and playing squash while he was here - an overload of exercise for me in the physical state I am presently in ... On top of that we have been scheduled to receive a ship from the shipyard ever since the 10th of July. So I have been pretty busy at work also. Yesterday they managed to "finish" the ship - only 2 weeks late!

Anyway - we had a really good time with Tom and Noelia ... something I will write about at a later stage, so keep an eye out for it on the visitors page.

The rain continues here in Korea. Friday it was coming down in buckets, and I had to spend the whole day on deck inspecting pipes. I feel sorry for myself but we should really feel sorry for the workers who had to spend even more time in the rain (and had to deal with a grumpy inspector at the same time !). Doing it right the first time is most times the quickest way !!!

The week before last we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Wayne and Teresa. They were going back to Oz for now, and so we went to say goodbye to them at Chez Nous on Friday. We were arriving from a company dinner, so when we got there, things were already happening!

We weren't too late to join in some nasty plans for the following morning though. So Saturday morning at 7 o'clock we all gathered at their apartment with our BYO breakfast. It was unexpected, to say the least! Wayne wasn't expecting it at least, but I don't think he ever really got his head around having us there at all!! haha .. he was pretty hung over from the night before. But at least we were able to send them off with (hopefully!?) some good memories from Ulsan. ... See you in Tasmania !!

Sunday we went over to Jamie and Colin's for movie night. Do I need to say that the food was excellent and that Gokhan and Mari were the last to arrive ?? Some things we just take for granted !! hehe ....

This week Saturday I had to work in the morning, but in the afternoon we finally had time to go see our friend Mr. Kim at the hospital. On July 2nd he broke his collarbone in a bike accident (came screaming down a mountain road and couldn't stop when the road had washed away during the rains). He is still in hospital here at the end of the month. In Korea the doctors keep you for observation much longer than in Sweden/Denmark. Could it be that here you have to pay for medical treatment, so it's good for business to keep the patients longer. Whenever we go to the doctor, we always have to come back 3-4 times for check-up. Even for minor things. In Denmark we have to wait 3-4 weeks for the nurse to answer the phone!! Anyway - Mr. Kim didn't seem to be suffering too much .... the lack of exercise had resulted in a few kilos extra!

In the evening we were invited to Marilyn's birthday at ocean View Hotel. 50-60 people of all trades of life turned up for a feast of Asian food (and caramel potatoes!) and live music in the bar afterwards. It was a good party, but as always when we are in a bar, we miss the smoke-free Scandinavian venues!

Loads of food - here the Korean section

From the party ...

Carlito and Paulita !

Flemming looks a little scared ! It is a pretty big cake knife also !!

The girls swarming like bees around the birthday cake!!!

Our agent Mr. Son with his family. The kids have their summer vacations at the moment, but have themselves decided to spend half of the time in the summer academy! Mr. Son would rather see them play with their friends or do some practical work, but he'll just have to accept that they are book worms !!!

Today I went for a bike ride with Ingo early in the morning, leaving Paula in wonderland. She had a good long sleep, 'cause she was still at it when I got back 3 hours later! Carlos had invited us for a late lunch, so there was no hurry. At 1:30 we headed down there for Spanish delicacies and ended up with our bellies so full that the remainder of the afternoon was spent in front of the telly watching Shogun !!