First Europe Adventure: Trier, Germany

We finally had all the kids at home and were settled into our house, so we decided to do a family adventure before school started.  After asking around and getting suggestions from others, we made a day trip to Trier, Germany on this rainy day.  We found an underground parking garage right in the city center.  Trier is a city that was founded by the Romans and contains many well preserved structures.  It is also one of the oldest German cities and we found out that it has eight UNESCO sites.  We made the Porta Nigra our first historical Roman stop.

The Porta Nigra is actually a Roman city gate and is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps.  The name actually comes from the dark stones, since Porta Nigra means black gate. Originally the city had four gates, but this is the only gate that remains today.  This is largely due to the fact that it was turned into a church in the 1200s.  But then when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power, he dissolved the church in 1802.  Word has it that he wanted to completely tear down the building, but the locals convinced him to turn it back to its Roman origin.

The Porta Nigra was turned into a UNESCO site in 1986 and has been protected ever since.  Cars are not allowed to drive through the gate, but tourist, like us, can buy tickets and walk all around and through the gate.  The halls, columns and archways were simply beautiful.

The views from the top were really pretty awesome too.  It was great getting a full city view.  From the window, we saw a huge church in the distance and made that our next destination.

After descending the circular staircase, we walked in the direction of the church we had seen from the window.  As we were leisurely walking we came across one of the cutest town squares we have ever seen.  It was like something from an old fairytale, complete with a clock tower.  We found out that this is called the Hauptmarket, which is the market square.

As we continued walking we turned the corner as came face to face with a gorgeous cathedral.  We learned that this is called the Cathedral of Trier or St. Peter's Cathedral and is the oldest cathedral in Germany and also a UNESCO site.

The oldest part of the cathedral was built in the fourth century. This church boasts of Romanesque towers, Gothic vaulting, and a Baroque chapel.  It was really neat seeing all the different architecture and works of architectural art all around and intertwined.

One of the most impressive sites and sounds was the organ.  While we were walking around, we found out that an organist was going to play the organ in only a half hour, so we decided to get tickets and stay for the organ performance.  The sound of the organ in the church was super impressive.  It was incredible hearing the echoing of the pipes.  Monster had enough pipes after about 10 minutes, so I took him out and we walked around the church while Kevin and the girls enjoyed the rest of the music.

It was well past lunchtime when the organ performance was completed, so we went on hunt for food. A friend recommended a restaurant called Kartoffel Restaurant Kiste, so we went on a hunt for the restaurant.  We found it and sat down to our first German restaurant.  German's love their potatoes, so we had some carb stuffed food.  It was good, but very very heavy.  We didn't have a reservation, but luckily the let us have an outside table.  We have learned that it is important to have a reservation for any restaurant in Germany.

We left the restaurant and made our way back to the Hauptmarket.  We enjoyed walking around the market and seeing all the shops and the products they had to sell.  We found a gelato store and decided to end the day with gelato.  There are still so many more things to see in Trier and I know we will be going back soon to hit them up.  We enjoyed our day out in Germany and are excited to be living here for the next few years.

A Fond Farewell to Friends

We spent our last week in Korea spending as much time as possible with our amazing friends.  The kids loved going to the pool and seeing friends, and I loved it even more when we would go and I would see my friends.  If friends were at the pool we would spend up to four hour at the pool.  Here is Adreann Liddell, Corianne Shwarts and Holly Rust posing for this picture.  I love my friends. Monster also loves his friends, especially Rhett.  It was always hard to get him out of the pool when Rhett was there.  Friends make life so sweat.

One of our final times before we left, we made sure the kids told their friends that we were going to the pool and they had a small pool party.  They loved having fun in the sun one last time with all their best buds.  

We had a girls night right before Holly Rust and I left and we got together and went to my favorite cafe, CF Cafe.  We talked and laughed and just had a great time.  After CF Cafe, we decided to say Good Bye to Korea through Karaoke.  So we went out in search of a large Karaoke private room.  We went down one of the SED side streets and saw a sign that looked like a microphone and decided to try it out.  As we were walking down the walkway there were neon flashing lights that made it look as if it were a strip club.

We were a bit nervous as we reached the top of the stairs and came to a closed door.  We didn't know if we should walk in, knock or walk away.  Someone ended up opening the door and it was in fact a Karaoke place.  We rented a large room for an hour and had the best time just singing our hearts out.

The girls also had a final Young Women night with their friends.  They loved being able to say good bye and bake with their friends.  They sure have made some life long friends here in Korea.  It has been such a great place to live and we have loved calling it home for the last two years.  Kevin and I had one last final Minute to Win It Party with a few friends.  We had a blast playing games, talking trash, and just being with our favorite peeps.

Two nights before we left Korea, we finally found the most amazing restaurant.  We had a final farewell and amazing dinner with our neighbors and good friends, Jin and Will Chung and their family.  They not only treated us to the best Korean BBQ, but they taught us how to eat it correctly.

Kevin and I have had Korean BBQ a few times, but we always ate it wrong.  Jin shared with us that you are supposed to put the entire thing in your mouth because it hold the goodness of the person who made it. The sides that they put all around the table are unlimited free re-fills, which I never knew.  We also tried some amazing side dishes that I was always scared to try.  Will taught us how to use the sauce to make it taste even more amazing.  And we tried some excellent soup.  The food was so amazing.  The best part was that the restaurant had a play place, so when Little Monster and Little A were done eating, they just went to play.  We had a great dinner and a sad good bye to our great friends, the Chungs.

Sulbing Korean Dessert

While out near the Pyeongaek City Hall area, we found our new favorite dessert restaurant, Korean Dessert Cafe, Sulbing. I saw on the Spouses Facebook Page a post about an amazing strawberry Korean dessert, and went on the search to find it.

Sulbing lived up to my expecations.  The bowl was this gigantically huge bowl filled with a super fine shaved ice flakes, sweetened condensed milk, ice cream and strawberries.  It was unlike anything I have had before and was so delicious.

Since finding Sulbing the first time, we have come back many times.  Each time we try a different flavor.  The chocolate was surprising because it was straight cocoa powder on the top of the shaved ice flakes.  We got this one with the kids, and they went to take a bite and each of them ended in a coughing fit because they had breathed in the cocoa powder.  It was so funny because they all did it at least five times before they learned to take a bite without breathing in.  It wasn't my favorite flavor, I like milk chocolate better, but it was still good.  If you are ever in Pyeongtaek, stop at Sulbing, you won't be disappointed.

Cambodia: Hotel Swimming and a little bit of Haven

This is M&M here. I am going to tell you all about our favorite restaurant Haven and our hotel pool.

We had a pretty large pool in the front of our hotel, and we had friends there too. The Fillmores were also in Cambodia and we had fun swimming with them in the pool almost every day. It was exhausting ever day to go to a temple in the blazing hot weather. So the pool was pretty refreshing.

We always played tag in the pool and had competitions  to see who could jump the highest and the furthest. It was great to have fun with friends for hours every day in the pool.

Tuk-Tuks were the main transportation in Cambodia, so we rode them almost everywhere. We would just chill in the shade of the Tuk-Tuk while the driver took us where we wanted to go.

We were always trying out new foods at different restaurants every day, but we had a favorite. The restaurant was called Haven, it it was an amazing restaurant with amazing foods.

Poverty was really bad in Cambodia, and Haven provided more jobs for people and gave them opportunity's to work and run the restaurant with amazing care. The food was amazing and so was the service. It was always the highlight of the day to go there.

Chamber Escape Room- Suwon

For my birthday, I wanted to do something exciting and new!  I searched the internet for things to do around Pyeongtaek, and a lot of people where talking about the Escape Rooms that they have around here.  It sounded super fun and was definitely something I hadn't done before.  Alyssa and Rob Mayo and Dustin and Corianne Schwartz joined us!  We decided to take the subway, since driving and parking can be a little crazy here.

We stopped and got dinner before the Escape Room.  We found a nice Italian restaurant in the
Suwon Mall!  They even had a dessert pizza that we all tried!  It was a blueberry pizza, with cream cheese and mozzarella cheese sauce, covered in blueberries and blueberry sauce.  Definitely something I never would have thought to make, but oh so delicious.

We walked down the street just a few hundred yards and found ourselves at the Chamber Escape Room.  We arrived a little early, so we were able to talk and visit for a while before we began our adventure.

Kevin and I have never been in an escape room before, but the other two couples had!  They explained that everything in the room while either be a clue or a link to a clue.  We were to be locked in a room for one hour.  We weren't allowed to bring in our phones or bags.  We chose the 'Pirate's Revenge' room, since it seemed to be the most entertaining, without being scary.

We started to hour by being blind-folded and brought into a room.  We were instructed to watch a short film, then proceed to try to solve the clues.  The door was locked, we took off our blind-folds and found ourselves in a small room about 8 feet by 10 feet.

Dustin and Rob were super smart!  They immediately were finding clues and linking them together.  I wasn't exactly sure what to do, everything just seemed jumbled.  As our time clicked on, and as we continued to find clues and locks and props, I finally was understanding that absolutely everything in the room was there for a purpose!  So, I was beginning to get the hang of it.  Within 15-20 minutes, we had figured out all the clues in the room and found the key to the door, we opened the door and walked into another room full of clues!  This room was only about half the size of the first room.  In about 10 minutes we figured out all the clues and were able to find the last key to open the door and escape the room!  We ended up escaping the room in about 36 minutes!

It was a fabulous date/birthday night!  We had great friends to share it with!  We will definitely be planing another Escape Room night!