May 27th 2007 - Buddha's Birthday
May 27th 2007
Celebrating Buddha
Summer continues and the temperature is rising. It is still not unbearable, because we are blessed with a cooling breeze most days. I have still not been able to kick the cold I caught two weeks ago, but at least now I don't feel sick anymore - just coughing a lot.
Work brought me to Busan for a day last week. We had 344 lengths of stainless steel pipe to inspect. With an average of 4 welds per pipe length, we had around 1500 welds to inspect - inside as well as outside ! We didn't got back to Ulsan before 8 in the evening - with sore knees ! Apart from this trip, I have been busy with paint inspections and stability issues. The ship is meant to be finished this coming week (heard that one before!).
Paula was meant to go to Busan for shopping on Monday, but Sunday evening she ran into a dental problem, and had to swop a day shopping for a day with the dentist. She wasn't too cocky to begin with, but all went well. They gave her two shots of anesthesia, which shut her up! Wednesday we had two colleagues over for lasagna as Thursday was a public holiday in Korea. As it turned out, I was the only one who didn't turn up for work that day! Thursday was Buddhas 2551st birthday, so, as the good Buddhists we are, we went to the temple. There were a lot of people, live music and several dance shows. Quite a cheerful experience. At night we went bowling with some friends and had dinner at our place afterwards.
Friday we took the car to Ulsan University to see a Spanish movie. After one hour driving, we were told that the show had been canceled ! Not too happy with the situation, we went to the cinema to see a movie . Saturday we hooked up with some friends for dinner after which we went to salsa night at the new foreigners compound. It was good fun - the Korean salsa style is slightly (!) more mathematics than the Latin American ! Today, Sunday, I got up at 7 to play tennis. This was the first time I played in Korea, but hopefully I will be able to join the same guys at least once a week from now on. After the tennis Paula and I went walking around the Brazilian training camp. This is only about 5 min drive from our apartment and is a very pretty place to go for walks. On our way back we came across a gym with potential ! I think we will go get our memberships tomorrow.
Y aqui vamos otra semana reportando desde este lado del mundo. Las temperaturas han subido un poco, para mi ya es un horno ...Peder sigue diciendo que todavia no hace calor !
Yo esta semana tenia pensado un viaje a Busan ,una cuidad mucho mas grande y a 1 hora en tren de aqui con un grupo de chicas , pero tube que suspender ya que , por comerme un chicle se me partio una muela ! si los chicles aqui son bien duros parece ! pero bueno para resumir la visita al dentista fue todo un exito , despues de 2 anestecias me arreglaron y no hubo problemas ( entiendase que le tengo bastante poca simpatia los dentistas )...y el viaje estubo tan bueno que lo repetiremos incluyendome a mi este martes !
El miercoles preparamos Lasagna y vinieron unos companeros de Peder a comer con nosotros, lo pasamos bien y la comida quedo rica, asique Super ! El jueves fue el cumpleanos 2551 de Buddha ,asique Peder tenia libre y partimos a ver un templo , luego fuimos a tirar una pelotas de golf y en la tarde salimos a jugar bowling y luego vinieron a comer unos amigos.
El viernes despues de que Peder volvio del trabajo partimos a la universidad ( 1 hora manejando , un trafico increible ! ) a ver un ciclo de cine en espanol y al llegar alla nos avisan que habian SUSPENDIDO la pelicula esta semana....buuuuuuuuu pero bueno partimos a buscar un teatro y vimos una peli de estreno , asique no perdimos el viaje al centro .
El sabado fuimos a comer con unos amigos y luego en el compound de extranjeros habia una noche de salsa ,asique partimos a mostrar nuestros dotes...ji ji y volvimos a casa medio tarde.
Y hoy domingo Peder se levanto a las 07.00 para ir a jugar tenis y luego fuimos a ver el Campo de entrenamiento de brasil en el mundial Corea Japan, luego encontramos un gimnasio super bueno que nos gusto a los dos , almuerzo coreano y luego cafecito con amigos que volvian de un viaje a China.
Como veran no nos aburrimos para nada en nuestra nueva cuidad, por supuesto se extrana suecia y su verano poco caluroso,pero aprochamos de disfrutar el tiempo aqui tambien .
Paula got a tour of the shipyard on Thursday morning. Coincidentally, this day they lifted the deck house on to the 3rd ship. This is done using a floating crane, as you can see in the background.
Aqui estoy en un tour que me hizo Peder en su astillero. Justo ese dia estaban poniendo la cabina de mando en uno de los barcos. Lo hacen desde una area flotante como se puede ver en la foto.
Here the lift is under way. The vessels are launched without cargo tanks and deck house - these are lifted on board with the floating crane.
Aqui se ve como va en camino al barco.
Thursday I also managed to get an hour in practicing my swing. There is a driving range only 500 m from our apartment. Unfortunately, playing golf is outrageously expensive here, but you will find loads of driving ranges.
El jueves Peder pudo practicar su "Swing" en un driving range muy cerca de la casa. Lamentablemente jugar golf aqui es super caro , pero hay muchos de estos driving range en la cuidad para practicar y no son caros.
Arriving at the temple for Buddhas birthday, we were met by these kids. They were really going for it, although not all had momerized the steps !
Al llegar al templo para el cumpleanos de Buddha vimos a estos ninos haciendo coreografias. Eran muy buenos ,auque no todos se acordaban bien de los pasos que tenian que hacer !
Apart from dance shows, there was live music at the birthday celebration.
Ademas del baile habia musica en vivo para la celebracion.
At night we went bowling - please notice the technique displaced in the background .... !
El jueves en la noche fuimos a jugar bowling con Renata , Valeria y Ole, lo pasamos muy bien , sobre todo viendo los diferentes estilos !
The girls enjoyed the night out. Valerie, Renata and Paula.
Aqui Valerie, Renata y yo .
Salsa a la Korea - they love line dancing here and have somehow managed to "reinvent" salsa!
Salsa a la Corea. A ellos les encanta bailar en linea y lo hacen hasta para bailar salsa!
Paula at the Brazilian training camp. This was the training camp of the 2002 soccer world cup champions. Notice the trees in the background - almost all trees are supported in some way, to withstand the typhoons. It seems like we've got a blast ahead of us !
Aqui estamos en el Campo de entrenamiento Brasilero. Este equipo estubo entrenando aqui para el mundial Corea Japon en el 2002.
Si se fijan atras los arboles estan sujetados por palos de coligues , es para el viento .
In the area of the training camp there are several nice walks. The Koreans are keen trekkers and you are rarely alone on the trails.
Esta es el area del campo de entrenamiento .
Here's Paula at a grownup playground, up past the training camp. You might by now have wondered about the highway robber sitting behind Paula ... well, it's just your average friendly Korean protecting herself from the sun. On a hot day it's impressive to see how they cover themselves in masks and towels in order not to tan.
Aqui estoy jugando en los juegos , generalmento los parques tienen juegos para grandes y chicos. Si miran detras mio se ve una senora toda tapada ....bueno aqui la gente se cuida del sol casi en extremo y se cubren hasta con guantes para no tomar sol !
I remember the hoola hoops as being somewhat smaller .... and easier to use!
Peder jugando con un Hoola Hoops, aqui se encuentran en los parques, aunque son mucho mas grandes de lo que nosotros los conociamos.
Head up and feet down ... or how was it ? Playground / open air gym in the mountains past the training camp. This is only a few minutes away from our house.
Cabeza arriba pies abajo.....o como era ? Aqui Peder en uno de los jugos del parque . Este queda solo a 5 minutos manejando de nuestra casa.
Y aqui un regalo para mi Benjamin , esta es mi amiga Valerie con dos jugadores de Futbol. Un chileno y un brasilero......sabes quienes son Benja ?