Typhoon Bolaven (28.Aug.) . . . the morning after

Hi everyone. Praise God that HE kept HIS ever-protecting hand over me. Nothing happened to me or my apartment.

Around 2am or so, the typhoon was at its peak. The wind was wailing. The windows shook as though they'd break off. I think the apartment even shook a little because of the force of the wind.

I'm not going to lie: I was VERY scared. I prayed as hard as I could; I even prayed in my sleep.

I told God that I had faith HE could protect my apartment and I by not letting any of the windows break. I checked. None broke; they look just as they did before the typhoon. I didn't put up tape or newspapers (didn't have any of either) to protect my windows; yet none were broken. Praise the LORD!

This morning, I went out for a bit to see the damage in my area. These pics are what I saw:

Tiles from my roof ("my" 'cause I live on the top floor).

A tree torn down by the Special Education building just a block down and around the corner from my apartment.

This is to show how much rain we got. This gorge is normally dry. This is the first time I've seen a river here.

another blown tree along the now river.

Just up the river, you find another torn tree. There really weren't that many blown/ripped trees.

Domino effect.

The recently made, raging river.

This is it. The winds of the typhoon were still felt up until around 6pm today. It's now gone. It went north to Seoul, but it wasn't as strong there, Thank God.

Thank you for your prayers. We're ok.

Praise God Almighty!

Typhoon Bolaven (27. Aug.12)

Hi all, this is Joann coming to you live from Typhoon Bolaven that just hit Jeju Island earlier today. This typhoon started in Guam and has been making it's way north since last week. It passed through Okinawa, Japan yesterday. Now, it's passing through Jeju Island. Tomorrow, it will hit the mainland of Korea. It should pass the country by tomorrow night or Wed. morning. I really hope so. Our term break just started and I'm planning on flying up to Seoul on Wed.

Wow, what a way to start off my 3rd term break in Jeju: with my 1st (real) typhoon! They say this is the biggest typhoon that's hit the country in the past decade. Don't know how big it is, but the wind is supposed to be going about 160km/hr with rainfall from 150-500mm. It will cover the entire country tomorrow (just read an article that says it has a 450-km radius).

I ventured as far as to take a few pics from inside my apartment (behind 2 layers of windows--I was brief. I'll try not to do this again until after the storm has left).

I'll just show 2:

This was a little after 18:00. It's not this dark, normally. You can also see the rain on the outer-window.

It's really not pretty.

This is just beginning. It's supposed to hit its climax sometime tonight. Many prayers are welcomed. We'll see how it looks like after. If you're in Korea, please take care and don't go outside. If you're not in Korea, please pray for us.

Thanks.

God bless.

Sunset & Yacht

Hi, just wanted to share 2 pics from a sunset I was able to catch and 2 from a yacht I got to go on.

First, the sunset.

Ok, I didn't say it was a good picture, just 1 I was able to get on top of a hill looking down the city and, eventually, down the island. You can see the sea behind the buildings.

The really bright lights are from ships. This is how they catch squid.

A little further back from the sea. I thought the colors were cool, but being bitten by tons of mosquitoes wasn't. I promise you, in the 3-minute space of time I was there, I was bitten at least 10 times! I HATE mosquitoes!

Ok, off to the yacht . . .

This belongs to a family from the church (they've saved a lot). More church members arrived and this place had a lot of people (kids too).

Unfortunately, we weren't able to leave the port 'cause a typhoon was on its way. We just stayed there, but it was still fun. I got to swim around a bit. I had fun.

Yeap, I'm on a yacht. (I remember there was a big deal about "being on a boat"; I guess here's proof I was "on a boat"). This was before the rest of the church arrived and I jumped into the water. Fun times, indeed.

Ok, the end. Just wanted to share. You can go and do your homework now.

Random excursion on Korea's Liberation day (15. Aug.)

On Wednesday, Aug. 15th, we had a national holiday--and no class. On this day, I didn't really have any plans, but a few ideas. Fortunately for me, I was able to carry out most of those ideas.

I took over 180 pictures. I'm sharing just under 60 here. It was a bit difficult to choose, but hopefully they are the ones that portray my day the best.

A bright way to start off the day.

Down at Tab-dong. Where do you want to go?

A walking path along a man-made river near the sea.

Typically Korean: exercise equipment on a walking trail.

1st stop: a museum the shape of a Chinese Junk.

It's big, but very small for a ship.

It's in honor of the Chinese refugees who came to Korea.

The entrance.

You can choose which language suits you better.

A map of the popular refuge routes from China.

On deck.

Looking back to the cabin.

It was very hot that day. I kid you not.

A shopping street in Tab-dong.

This is called "Theme Street". It has tiled-posters of many different movies (mostly Chinese and Korean).

Too bad I don't know any of them.

See any familiar brands?

One street separates this shopping boulevard. Here's the entrance to the "other half".

Fish market!

Hmmm . . . fresh seafood . . . exactly what I don't eat.

Oh! Jeju had a fortress!

(not surprising, just haven't read about it before)

Same marker with what's left of the fortress wall.

Yes, a street.

I haven't seen brick streets (painted over or not) since Europe.

Next stop: Jeju's Folklore & Natural History Museum

Go up those stairs to the very top and you're there.

It was really interesting. It had a lot of geological and geographical information about Jeju. It also had lots of scenes from the typical everyday life of the people of Jeju from way back in the day. I was quite camera-happy . . . then I saw the "no photography" sign.

Hmmm.

I kept on taking more pictures. But I won't post them here, just to be safe.

Going down to the Marine section of the museum, I see a water lily.

and another.

An interactive hologram. See my footprints?

This is the end of the Folklore and Natural History Museum

Walking out on some random trail, I came across this interesting work of art.

It was dedicated to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

A sad yet normal sight in Korea: playgrounds without children.

That day was basically Korean Independence Day. On any national holiday, you will see tons of Korean flags everywhere.

Ooooo! On a sidewalk?! I want to meet the artist!

That's the end of Jeju city, now off to Yongduam (Dragon-head rock)

The area where the dragon-head stone is. Can you see it? It's that odd-shaped stone on the top right.

Close-up shot.

That's it?

I wasn't impressed.

I'm so glad I didn't pay a thing to see it.

Some info about Yongduam (in English) if you're curious.

This is how they dry squid. It's very popular here. I kid you not, you see squid everywhere.

The Ramada Inn

If I can, I'd like to explore it some. I hear the buffet is great (and expensive).

Behold, a natural masterpiece.

Don't know the name of this bridge, but it was better than the dragon-head rock, that's for sure.

Another angle.

Ah, it's a hanging bridge--the kind that you feel the bridge move every time you take a step. I liked it!

From the bridge, looking at the pagoda from where I took the previous picture.

Marks of the Jeju Olle Trail.

This is a network of trails that go around the perimeter of the island. There were about 20, but I've heard they're making more.

Here, I'm beside the Ramada Inn, looking at Halla Mountain with its regal crown of white clouds.

End of Tab-dong, now entering Sarabong.

Horses!

Real live horses!

Too bad I don't know how to ride'em.

According to a friend who took me here, this cave was the "village refrigerator."

A map of where we are. I've been here about 3 times before, and I've always taken the yellow trail up to the top of the hill.

I always have to pause and take this pic as I'm hiking up the hill.

From the top of the hill.

Same place, part 2.

and part 3. That's Halla Mountain, by the way.

The next hill and the city right beside it.

The Buddhist temple is actually further than it looks.

Who goes there?

The ferry port.

Strange yet very interesting flower.

Ah, lovely.

I go and swim there sometimes. The swimming pool is great, although I was shocked at the depth. It's the same exact depth everywhere in the pool. I thought it would be like the others I've seen and swam in, where there's the shallow end and the deep end.

An Independence Day Parade that I had no idea of until it passed my bus.

Jeju has quite a few known foods that are grown here.

That's the end!

Come back and see where I'm off to next!