“Long time no see”

As my students and other teachers love to say to me when we see each other intermittently during vacation, “long time no see!”.  I haven’t blogged since New Year’s because we have been so incredibly busy!  Planning and going on two vacations and taking care of our new cat, Oliver, has been super time consuming but this week I’m getting back into the swing of things.  We took a two week trip to Thailand and another shorter trip to the Philippines which was rather spur of the moment, but still great as we got to celebrate our anniversary on an island.  I will be posting about these two trips soon as we are sorting through tons of photos and it takes time, but I wanted to write a short post now and share some winter pictures I have handy from Yeongwol.

During the winter, many towns hold a winter festival and Yeongwol is no different.  This year, the winter festival lasted a few weeks long, at least.  Yeongwol is perfect for the winter festival because the Donggang River goes right through town, allowing for the water to be dammed for ice fishing and sliding around on ice on these little sled things.  Not sure what they are called or how to explain it really, but it’s like a mini sled with blades on the ice and you use sticks to push yourself around.  When Dannie and I went with her students for winter camp we tried it and it was actually super fun!  There’s also a big hill leading down to the river on which they built up snow for children to snow tube down.  Besides all this, there are snow statues, food stands, and other random activities to participate in.  Josh and I enjoyed walking around for a day soaking in this part of Korean culture and then I returned for the middle school winter camp.  Here are some pictures for you to enjoy:

 

Ice fishing on the Donggang River.

Cute dog we saw everywhere! Parents encouraged their children to pet him but most were a little scared. Not many people own bigger dogs like this in Korea.

There was an arm wrestling contest that Josh joined! They gave us some coupons for food from the vendors. We got some spicy fried chicken!

Some kind of game for children–they have to hold these pads together, throw them in the air, and depending on what side they land on, it means something or gives a certain amount of points? Not too sure, and it was hard to pick up what it all meant from watching. But super cute!

You can leave notes at this little hut.

Made this bridge from mud and branches…Felt a little weak at some points but it stood the test of time, for the duration of the festival at least.

Ride a tube attached to a snowmobile in circles a few times!

This little girl needed a lot of encouragement to ride her snow tube down the hill.

Ready…set…

Go!!!

Holding on for dear life.

Even the adults were having fun!

Some older men who wanted their pictures taken. They were funny!

View of ice fishing and one of the bridges over the river.

Parasailers landing near the river!

Choo chooooo!!

Icefishing. Doesn’t look like he’s having fun…

Catch a fish with your bare hands!

Woo!! Caught one!

Ice fishing. Lots of sitting and waiting.

Creepy snow sculpture.

 

I promise that I will have pictures posted on Facebook and in a blog this coming week of our Thailand and Philippines trip!  I just really wanted to post these before winter was over, and we have so many pictures to go through from our trips!  But they will be worth the wait 🙂