We're Off to See the Wizard!

I thought it was about time for another 'blast from the past', so I went pre-digital and scanned this picture from Spring 2001. Melissa and Amie were both munchkins in the Hazelwood Central HS production of 'The Wizard of Oz', and had a blast! Amie was 8 years old and Melissa was 12. Has it really been eight years ago? Wow!

Danc'in Up A Storm

This year Amie is taking 'dance' as one of her classes at SAS and loves it. She participated in the after school dance group last year because it wasn't offered as one of the course selections. It was mostly jazz and hip/hop, with some lyrical ballet as well. Here are some pictures from her 'dance concert' (as they called it) last fall. She did such a great job!

Fun, Fabulous Fabrics!

So, you may have wondered what all the excitement was about for my trip to Korea. Here it is! My personal 'stash' to use for quilts for my family, and any other fun projects I come up with.
Fabric, glorious fabric!

Textile Procurement Adventures!

March 6-8 I had the opportunity to fly to Seoul, Korea with this great group of ladies, all quilters - "Team Korea" as our fearless leader Deb called us! There were 11 of us, all on a mission to buy the beautiful quilting fabrics made in Korea that are imported to the US - all at a fraction of the cost. Altogether, we purchased about 1550 yards of fabric and did our share to stimulate the world economy!

Deb cleverly posted the following on her blog:

"The Korean Won took an unexpected turn upward this weekend. Economists are baffled as to the sudden rise in spending..... "

:)

After checking into our hotel, our first stop was at 'Itaewon' - a famous market street just a five minute walk from where we used to live in Seoul 24 years ago! It was so fun to see it again! Some things have changed . . . and there are a lot that is much the same. Great memories of this place! Below is a street vendor selling fun, colorful socks.

These are the two fun ladies I roomed with - Kandy on the left, and Ruth on the right. Ruth is the friend who told me about the quilting / sewing class I have joined with many of the friends who came on this textile procurement adventure with me!

This is a shot looking down the street from Itaewon to the apartment complex we lived in, Chung Wha! We lived in building 2, apt. 502 - Chris and Ryan, do you remember that? Many fond memories of the 4 years we spent in Seoul!

Me standing in Itaewon.

After our brief trip down memory lane for me, we went out to eat at a Korean restaurant and had a delicious traditional meal of bulgogi, along with kimchi and all the fixin's. These ladies were so fun to be around! Beth on the left is from the US, and Jeanette is from the UK. We had such a great time together!

At dinner - beginning in the front left and working around the group: Deb Spofford, the class instructor and leader of Team Korea (she is one creative lady!), Jane, Jeanette, Thelma, Ruth, me, Deb, Kandy and Kathy. Sorry Beth and Angelus weren't in the pic. :(

Our yummy meal - the bulgogi (sweetly marinated beef) is under the amazing stack of fresh veggies ready to be cooked!

The side dishes that come with the bulgogi, kimchi and all, as well as the various types of lettuce leaves to wrap it all up in.

The next morning we left the hotel bright and early, eager to get to the real reason for the trip! We were picked up by two big vans that drove us about an hour south to get to the 'Happy Quilt' warehouse! It was only about a 15 min. drive from Osan, where a US Army Base is. Below, some of our group sorting through their picks to narrow it down to 60 pkgs., 2 yards each. Deb had it down to a science and had figured out that that would weigh 20 kgs. - the weight limit for our checked bags!

The 'Happy Quilt' warehouse.

After 4 hours of choosing, picking, sorting and finalizing our purchases, we posed with Mr. Happy Quilt for a group shot! I love these crazy ladies!

Deb and I posing in front of the 'Happy Quilt' sign. What a fun way to spend a weekend. Thanks Deb, for all your hard work planning and organizing this great trip!

Shanghai District Conference

A few weeks ago we had our District Conference, on Feb. 28 and March 1st, 2009. It was only the second one since the formation of the Shanghai International District almost exactly a year ago to the day - March 2, 2008. It was a wonderful, uplifting conference! Below is a picture of the District Presidency with our visiting General Authorities. Lloyd loves working with these men!

Left to right: Hugo DeCampos (Executive Secretary), Lloyd George (District Clerk), Elder Subandriyo (visiting Seventy from Indonesia), Elder Hallstrom (Asia Area President), Ken Parkinson (Counselor in Dist. Pres.), Pres. Stayner Lewis (District President), and Joe Hoskins (Counselor in Dist. Presidency)

Amie played in a string quartet from our Pudong Branch for the youth session of conference. They have played together a few other times in church, and sounded beautiful! (Yes, that's me hiding behind the piano - I accompanied them.)

Left to right: Aaron Christensen (violin), Ashley Dyer (cello), Amie George (viola), and Whitney Bang (violin)

Wat Phra Kaeo, วัดพระศรีรัตนศาสดาราม, and the Grand Palace

Our next stop during our day in Bangkok was the Grand Palace complex. This famous palace complex was built in 1782. There are many magnificent buildings including Wat Phra Kaeo, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and the Grand Palace itself. Below are some of the amazing sights we saw while touring the palace complex.

There is bright, shiny gold everywhere you look! With the heat of the sun, it can be pretty intense, but gorgeous!

There is a very strict dress code for those wanting to tour the palace grounds. I remembered this from years ago when we were here, and thought Amie and I were fine in our 'below the knee' length carpi's. But we were stopped on our way in and asked to put on the sarongs you see us in in the photo above. We had to pay a 100 baht deposit which was returned to us when we returned the sarongs as we left. I didn't mind because it was kind of fun wearing those around! :) And we definitely weren't alone! Many ladies had to put on blouses over their bare tops. And of course there were those who intentionally 'slipped' by the guards in their short skirts and other clothes that were much less modest than us. Below is the sign at the entrance showing what is prohibited. Click on the picture so you can read the captions! My personal favorite - the tight pants! Funny!
A mythylogical giant, or yak, guarding the entrance.

Click on this picture to see it closer and look at the beautiful colors and detail in the flowers - I love it! (you should be able to do that to each picture)

The Royal Pantheon

One of the demons holding up the gilded chedi

The Emerald Buddha - I have to say I was surprised that it wasn't bigger, but glad I have a camera with a good zoom to get this shot because you were not allowed to take pictures of it once you got inside. I took this looking in the doorway. This Buddha dates back to the 14th century.

On 'guard' in front of the Grand Palace

The Grand Palace - the King doesn't actually reside here at the time.

Sights in Bangkok

On our trip over the Chinese New Year holiday we had one full day in Bangkok before heading to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We started out in the morning with a boat ride up the Chao Phraya river which flows right through the heart of Bangkok. Because the traffic in Bangkok is so bad, travelling by river can be one of the fastest ways to get around. The picture below is one of many Buddhist temples you can see from the boat ride, Wat Arun, วัดอรุณ, the Temple of Dawn. (a wat is a temple)

Another temple along the Chao Phraya river

A 'long-tailed boat' along the river


This was the guide on our boat. He was so funny, and wanted Dad to teach him how to say 'Happy New Year' in Chinese. We had a lot of fun conversing with him!

After exiting the boat pier, we walked through a market on our way to see some temples. We saw lots of interesting things, most which were new to me!

These below looked like hairy strawberries!

Some more strange looking things!

A hat vendor in the market

This is a huge pile of fireworks. Afterall, it was Chinese New Year!

My all-time favorite photo - walking through the market. I think it speaks pretty well for itself. :)