Gyeong-ju, Gampo & Bulguksa

By now everyone that knows me knows I can't sit still on a beautiful Saturday (or any other day off) when there's a whole big world out there to explore. I know some can't stomach my op tempo, but when exposed to the thrills, it's hard to turn back. My sister, Tiffany, and my sister-in-law, Alicia were introduced to my need for fun and accompanied me often on outings. Let's just say they were hooked and now they miss having me around (at least that's what I keep telling myself :).

Last week we had a day off of work and school and we headed down to a city called Gyeong-ju to a National Museum and a few other stops along the way. The museum was free on that day so it was filled with throngs of school children. They were more intrigued with our family than any of the exhibits. We all got a taste of the celebrity life. Remember that Alphaville song, Big in Japan, well, we're big in Korea. The kids were all running up to us and asking us questions and wanting to take our pictures. It was unnerving and simultaneously delightful. They especially loved Brian because of his height. They asked him his hobby and when he said basketball, all the boys started jumping around saying, "yeh, yeh, also me, also me!" When they found out he was a doctor from America he was immediately the coolest person on the planet. Below is a picture of a swarm of preteen girls that wanted his picture and to find out about Chloe and Gwynyth. The kids were eating up the attention.

These cement pillars are called TOPS. I personally find that fitting for me, being a TOP myself (Jessica Top is my maiden name if you didn't already know that). They really are very cool and they sell miniature versions to decorate one's balconies and gardens.

In the above picture Sophia is eating a Korean ice cream cone. The cone encases the ice cream and the chocolate sauce--personally, I find that brilliant!

We also visited an artisan's folk village. They had such amazing stuff I wanted to buy all of it. But contrary to popular myth, nothing is cheap here. I didn't come prepared for the prices for souvenirs that I am going to have to pay, so I guess I will have to make sure I get the stuff I want very most. I love the green glazed pottery.

Next we drove through the windy hills of eastern Korean to get to the east sea, or the Pacific Ocean. We didn't have time to find the beach, so we just pulled over in a sleepy, little fishing
town and made our way down the rocks to the water. The water was crystal clear. We hadn't intended to go to the ocean, but that was one of my impromptu, ADD decisions. It was slightly too cold to swim, but Gwynyth and Chloe got in in their underwear and tank tops and swam a bit around the rocks. The other kids collected shells and chased crabs. They were happy as clams (ha, ha, I thought that cliche was especially fitting--but probably one of my stupider jokes to date!).

Last on our journey we went to Bulguksa Buddhist temple. It is one of the oldest temples in the area. It was interesting to see and extremely peaceful. Unfortunately, it has been illkept and we were not overly impressed. I think that the first few temples we saw were super exciting and now, I have to admit they're getting to be less so. It was like that in Israel--the first archeological ruins we visited were great, so were the next five or six, by the tenth, fifteen, twentieth, somehow they'd lost their charm. I'm not saying the temples aren't cool, there's just an awful lot of them.

This picture below is funny to me because I guess I didn't realize how much taller Brian is than me, or maybe I didn't realize how my oldest three children are getting very close to my height making me look like a very little mama. Two more years and I'll be surpassed by all three of them.

The VERY steep stairs separating the different portions of the temple.