Intensive and fun days with Valerie and Claes!

Now that Valerie and Claes have left the peninsula, my house is empty and I feel lonely.  But we've enjoyed their company very much and are grateful for the time we had together!

 

 

Happy, happy mom!

 

 

It really has been fabulous to have Valerie with me for the past eleven days, for she's an amazing woman but also after Claes’ arrival we continued to have fun, for all of the 168 hours they were here.

 

And here the........  happy, happy couple!

 

I don’t think they were all that rested when their vacation in Seoul ended but I’m sure that not only Anders and I, but also the young couple had fun and plenty of impressions. The days have been filled with being together, to visiting cultural sites, to having sportive activities and social events. Below you’ll find a small selection (they made hundreds of pictures….) of the active fun time we enjoyed together!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day after Claes’ arrival the Swedish delegation had the UNC/NNSC spouses luncheon. Present 29 women from all different nations and one man…Claes. He took charge of the organization for “tipspromenad” I made (13 multiple choice questions about, UNC, NNSC, Korea, Sweden and Switzerland). The buffet luncheon was finished with a beautiful coffee table with lots of home baked cookies and of cause announcement of the group that won!

"The winner takes it all"!
Well done!

After the luncheon, Valerie showed Claes Itaewon and he ordered a tailor made suit and some shirts. As we call it they had “own time” for the next day was with us!!!

Eight o'clock and they kicked the day off with a 5K

FUN RUN!!!

 

They all ran fast for within 35 minutes they were back at the house for breakfast! Claes run best of the NNSC participants!

FUN???

 

 

North-East of the Hanriver to .....

 

 

Waterski!

SD & KD posing before the real thing but first.......

 

 

some instructions!

 



Valerie

 

 

Jaeyeon

 

Claes

 

Jaeyeon's sister, who arrived from New York, were she has been living for the past 9 years. We really enjoyed being with her too!

 

 

 

 

Two out of three here are just....

                        spectators!

 

 

 

 

 

A well desered luncheon (for some of us at least) and then back home for a nice homy evening.

 

 

 

 

Sunday was reserved for Valerie and Claes and they did the Seoul City tour with “hop-on, hop-off” bus tour.  And they did “hop-on, hop-off” ; Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul Tower, Insadong, Myong-Dong and more…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A wonderful dinner, offered by Gen. Lee and his wife Nam-Hwa at Itaewon finnished this day.

 

Monday, we had a small taste of the typhoon Sanba, with heavy rain and wind. Claes worked on the last alterations of his thesis and Valerie and I went to I-Park and e-mart shopping malls :)

 

Tuesday, Valerie and I had the American Forces Spouses Club, vendor shopping and luncheon! A taste of America!



 

 Korean Spa

 Bulgogi at our restaurant!

 

Insadong

& Namdaemun

 

Valerie and Claes ended their time here in Korea together with Anders spending a full day at the DMZ... 

 

and I well I look forward to their next visit, for there is so much more to see and talk about!

First 100 hours with Valerie!

Can’t say how very happy we were picking up Valerie at Incheon Airport. Time was travelling fast before she came but now………..

 

A visitor’s 24-hours pass for coming on Yongsan Base should do the trick to get her home and the real stuff she and I would handle next day. We talked, had a late dinner and hoped she wouldn’t have too much problem with the jetlag for we had plenty to see and do the four days before Claes would join us.

So here a small composition of what we've been doing..…..

Four young woman and I............
 

 

 

 

First 24 hours we had adventure in getting her 12-days visitors pass. This mainly caused by me for I drove wrong. So she had some sightseeing of downtown Seoul..... and if you’ve followed me you understand the traffic situation  alone in this immense city, is an experience.

When we finally fixed the ID we came back to Yongsan and went to the PX for some American shopping, had lunch, a pedicure and a manicure. The day we finished with a “girl” dinner!  

 



On our way to Dongdaemun

Purse heaven market, first stop

 

Shoe street next......

Lunch break with Korean fish soup bowl

 

 

Fabric market, department store a coffee break and scarves, gloves and so forth to finnish first day of shopping. And she did shop.....







Wednesday morning................1 hour body sculpting and..........

 

1 hour Zumba, to kick the day off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anders took the day off to join us on our.......shopping round to Itaewon :)

 

The day prince charming would arrive, we went to Namdaemun.

My Hanbok friend liked meeting Valerie, very much!
And yes I bought a Hanbok and am sure I'll show up in it one day....

Scarves, Korean honey candy, assesories, cards, decoration material and much more before we ended with the flower section.

 

Happy colors, happy daughter for Claes is joining her within 3 hours!

 

Busy, busy, but..... FUN!

For this Sunday we'll pick up Valerie at Incheon Airport!

Soon pick up time!!!

 

It will be so wonderful to be able to hug her again and to talk about everything between heaven and earth. Of cause I’ll take her to all the places around Seoul I know are worthwhile seeing. But we’ll also visit sites I heard about but haven’t been, I’ll take her to luncheons and introduce her to my friends. We’ll be eating and drinking traditional Korean dishes and drinks and when Claes (her partner) comes on Thursday I’ll be a nice mother and give them some time together to explore this exciting city!

 

While planning, cleaning and preparing for Valerie’s arrival I also have been finishing up my job as the editor for the Chosun Chatter.

 

It was interesting, fun, a lot of work but I'm glad I had the experience!  

 

 

A new board has been installed and wishes a different type of Chosun Chatter. I felt that that everybody would benefit for a new editor to take over. I learned about American spouses’ leadership, have been putting all material together for the new editor and finished up with a luncheon at home for the Stringers 2012-2013 and felt good that my successor will have a great group to support her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the meanwhile, Anders was giving a speech at the Korean National Defense University and it thing you're all as impressed as I am for he did it in…….Korean J

 

 

 

Typhoon Bolaven, hitting the Peninsula of Korea, at the beginning of this week….

A powerful typhoon called Bolaven pounded the peninsula of Korea with strong winds and heavy rain. Last Tuesday it reached South Korea, and churned up rough seas that smashed two fishing ships into rocks, killing at least five fishermen and forcing the coast guard to perform a daring rescue for the survivors.
 

 

Typhoon Bolaven was most powerful in the South of South Korea, leaving a trail of destruction, 25 people killed or missing and it knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of South Koreans, more than 200 canceled flights and temporarily halted joint war games by U.S. and South Korean military forces.

The government of South Korea issued a storm warning for the capital, Seoul, (where we live) as Bolaven battered the country’s south and west.

More than 15,000 school cancelled classes, businesses and homes taped their windows or paste the glass with wet newspaper to keep them from braking.

We prepared mainly everything in our gardens, putting away loose items....

 

 
 
In spite of all the tragedy it caused for many people, the more then 20 million living in greater Seoul, were fortunate that the Typhoon had lost a great deal of its strength before it reached this area.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...but typhoon Bolaven still leaft a trail of damage behind!

Strong wind gusts left the streets of Seoul covered with leaves, garbage and branches. Over 330,000 South Korean households lost power and more than 70 were left homeless because of floods or storm damage.

 

 

In North Korea, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency reported gale force winds and heavy rain in many parts of the country. Big rainstorms often mean catastrophe in the North because of poor drainage, deforestation and decrepit infrastructure.

Until this day, North Korea is still trying to help people with food, shelter, health care and clean water after heavy flooding in July, according to a recent United Nations situation report. More than 170 died nationwide, and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed in the floods.

This peninsula, is in many ways a territory of extremes!

Well....where was my darling husband during all of this? Not here but on the Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington!