2012.03.19 - High Society

High Society

Last week Paula was included in the high society when she during a traditional tea ceremony got to meet one of the most famous actors in Korea. Although only known to the locals, he still managed to add a bit of flavour to the Dado ceremony at the clubhouse. We have still no idea what he was doing there, but when Paula sent the photo to Ms. Lee in my office afterwards, the girls almost fainted !!! I guess that he's the man !!

I have started mountain biking again, but we have not been too lucky with the weather so far. Well ... lucky within some pretty poor weather. We haven't been rained on but have had to ride on pretty wet trails. Still happy with my new bike and the old bike has now been repaired after I broke the rear derailleur. I ride with a couple of colleagues. They seem to enjoy it, the masochists ! Saturday we were out for almost 5 hours and my legs are still heavy as concrete! Next weekend we will have to take it a little slow as we will be running in Busan on the Sunday. I signed up for 10km so I hope the legs have recovered before then.

Our weekly bowling night with our friends is still going strong. In other words, we are still doing it, but some of us (most of us) appear to be getting worse and worse at dropping the pins! I am chuffed that I can now throw a curve ball, but unfortunately it has done no good to my final score. Quite the opposite.... But we enjoy it anyway.

I have also started playing table tennis with my colleague, Mr. Oh. We have only played once so far, but 3 years ago we played regularly. In the meantime he has been working in China.

Last weekend we went to Busan to buy a pair of jeans for Paula (and a Cold Stone ice cream for me!). We came back with 3 jeans! couldn't resis it when we saw Quicksilvers for USD5 ! I got my ice cream so the day was a success. We had driven down with Ms. Lee and had a nice Vietnamese lunch on Gwangan beach before leaving her at the metro station (her parents live in Busan). It's nice to go to Busan once in a while to see something new and metropolitan!

New was also the restaurant that Dawn and Robert introduced us to last Friday. A Moroccan restaurant in Ulsan ! Who would have thought that ? It was quite good, but I guess we should have picked a different day that a Friday for our date, as the traffic was horrific and it took us 1 hour to get to downtown. But ... the food was nice and the company so nice that we ended up back at their apartment for a glass of Chile wine after the dinner.

Saturday was Saint Patrick's day and the clubhouse was the place to celebrate. Big party goers as we are, we celebrated between 7 and 8 before anybody else had turned up. Then home to eat and later share a beer with Pietro!

Yesterday John and Asami visited us with their baby Shin. It was our first time together after we came back and after the birth of Shin. He is quite a happy camper, but unlike most other babies, he did not like auntie Paula! Nor uncle Peder. At least not up close - when he was in his parents arms the world seemed a little safer, I think.

After John and Asami's visit we met up with Asli and Erkan for an early dinner. This was probably our last chance to be two on two with them, as Asli will give birth any day now. She seemed to manage fine, considering the inconvenience of a large belly. We went to the Turkish restaurant in Bangeojin - their home turf!

Today (Monday) we had a bit of a scare. Paula woke up feeling not so good, and before long she was writhing with abdominal pain. I left for 30 seconds to find a bucket for her as she had nausea, and when I came back she had passed out from the pain and was convulsing. It was pretty scary. After a painkiller and a bit of vomiting the pain subsided enough to go to the hospital. Here they ran all kinds of tests before letting us go back home after almost 6 hours. No conclusive diagnostic but most probably it was a kidney stone that passed and pain shock that in turn made her pass out. Hope that's the end of it ....