Great Olympic Games!

Well, I intended to re-start my blog entries last Thursday. The weather was beautiful and probably the most clear of the entire Summer. Since I didn't get my entry completed...I decided to give it try for Friday...but then it rained the whole day..so it messed up my initial weather report! :-) One reason I have been a bit behind with my postings-The Olympic Games. I have always enjoyed watching but for some reason this year was even more special. Maybe it was being away from home and feeling even more patriotic thinking about all of those fine athletes representing the USA....we really enjoyed catching any events...especially ones in English. We were happy to see the Koreans being so excited about their teams also...you could walk down the street and see almost all of the little shops and taxi drivers (yes, while they drove) with TVs going....all on the Olympics! There are some large screen TVs positioned in some of the malls and on the streets...with usually a group of people gathering to watch. The most popular for the Koreans....Judo, Baseball, Ping-Pong, Archery and swimming. The Korean swimmer who received a Silver is SO popular over here...they are going crazy over him! They also love Kobe Bryant. We have about five Korean sports channels...EVERY channel replayed the Gold Medal Baseball game today from last night! We really enjoyed the swimming, gymnastics,fencing, track&field...all of it...especially the sand volleyball and basketball. Of course we like all of the basketball players...but especially Tayshaun Prince! I enjoyed watching the swimming so much that I attempted to re-enact Phelps gold-medal sweep by doing a few laps at the pool...I was even more impressed with his wins...and also realized I need to exercise more! :-) One of the cute German kids from the pool hung on the lane rope and said "You are a good swimmer"...I didn't want to disappoint him...so I really went for it! haha I had actually been watching these kids at the pool...usually 'fists are flying' but that day they appeared to be re-enacting Olympic diving...it was hilarious and so cute. They seemed so serious as they quietly studied the water and planned their maneuver..then ran really fast..did a half-twist/half-flip in the air...and landed usually on their back with a loud "smack!" But of course the pain didn't slow them down...it went on for what seemed like hours. As the kids got a little tired they reverted to their old standby games of taking turns throwing each other into the pool, fighting, then beating each other with flippers (that had been provided by the lifeguard staff...along with goggles for everyone!) :-) Finally, all eight kids were given ice cream cones by the lifeguard (imagine being handed a bag of gold and how happy your would be). The most aggressive fellow (and smallest of the group) is always where the action is...and that includes getting first in line for ice cream.

This weekend was HUGE for Fantasy Football...and after a rough start we were thankful to watch the activities in Michigan with the web cam...it almost made me miss attending more by watching....but we enjoyed it! The subs sure looked tasty! Peyton is my QB AGAIN this year...so we will see how the season goes!

Today we went for a little hike on a mountain nearby...it was hot but worth the awesome view from the top. We scouted around the Harley Davidson shop. If you are a Harley fan...you would love Seoul...lots of Harley's and motorcycle clubs who really know how to wear their gear! I told Chris I would enjoy seeing 'Orange County Chopper'....live someday...I'll let you know how that little plan works out! Those guys are so patriotic...I wrote a letter to Discovery Channel complimenting the show and they responded with a great note back! They do some really cool things for morale and encouragement for our soldiers.....it almost chokes me up just thinking about it. After our visit to the Harley store we went to a little Korean restaurant near our apartment. We spoke almost all Korean (just basics) to the nice people. It seemed to really entertain them...and we got a kick out of it also. We find that even though you don't want to make a mistake the Korean people really appreciate that you gave it your best shot!

Well, we just watched the Olympic basketball game and hope to catch the closing ceremonies. We thought the players and of course Coach K did a great job! One of our neighbors went to the final week of the Olympics and will return tonight (Sunday). I'm really looking forward to hearing about her trip to the "Birds Nest"....:-)

In closing tonight...the sky is a beautiful lavender/pink and so clear you can almost see the leaves on the trees! It's been a good weekend...and we hope for a great week. Now, to study some Korean!