The Life and Times of Ken Schrock

Stress to Rest in our Faith

2011-11-22T01:15:00.002-05:00

I have just finished typing out probably the hardest sermon I have ever worked on and I've had a few doozies over the years. It wasn't until just a few minutes ago when I typed in a few last thoughts that I have felt peace in two weeks. I've been thinking about it and chewing it over and over and over in my mind. The problem is that it's such a HUGE! topic and I have 1/2 hour in which to preach it in. :-P This could easily be a 4 part sermon series or more but it is what it is and I have been given the time that I have.

May you use me Father, may I speak faithfully and true. May it not be the thoughts of Ken, but may your Spirit speak through me. May the people hear what you have for them not just what I'm saying. Speak to us Father, live in us Jesus, guide us into all truth Holy Spirit! Have your way within us!

I picked up some great lines from another blog I came across from Matthew McDonald.

Overcomers may fail…but they try again.
Overcomers may get knocked down…but they get back up.
Overcomers may lose the battle…but they win the war.
Overcomers may suffer some set backs…but they rise up and recover all.
The Bible does not call us survivors, it calls us overcomers.
The Bible does not call us just a conquer…but it calls us more than a conquer.

How very well said. It was a posting on some of his thoughts on Prov 24:16, for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again...

Interesting note about the Jewish mindset of 7, it is not just 7 times, but going well beyond. When the disciples asked Jesus about forgiveness, the standard thought and teaching was that you would forgive someone 3 times and that was being very gracious. So the disciples thought they were saying something pretty hefty by suggesting forgiving 7 times. And Jesus knocks it out of the park when he say, 70x7, ad infinitum! What I wouldn't give to see the looks on their faces. :-)

Well, it's late and for the first time in several weeks, I have peace. Oh how nice it is. To be sure, I had peace, was feeling good in the Lord, but still my heart carried this pregnancy. It would be like the giving birth feeling and the after effect of feeling light and free. :-)

Thank you Jesus for your empowering amazing awe inspiring love and for your incredible faithfulness. May your servant be a blessing to you.

Peace!

Ken

Heading Home

2010-03-31T09:32:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been a wonderful trip to Japan. I'm sad to be leaving. It's been great getting to know Eiko's family. I wish we weren't so far apart and it was easier to spend time with them. It makes the time we do have very special indeed. I could easily see myself living here, of course then I'd be in the same situation with my family.

Today we gave Eiko's parents the "Passion of the Christ" movie and the Magna Bible we brought for them. We had a great talk with Eiko's mom about Christianity and what it means. It's a very simple thing really that is often made very complicated. We talked a bit with Eiko's dad too and trust in the working of the Holy Spirit.

If you feel prompted, please pray for Eiko's mom's hands and right ear. She said her hands were feeling better after we prayed but she still can't hear out of her right ear. I'm asking for a miracle as evidence in her life that God is at work with her.

Many blessings and thanks for the prayers and support,

Ken

Sunday!

2010-03-28T10:13:00.002-04:00

Today we went to Church. It was great to see Japanese brothers and sisters in Christ. What a blessing it is to see their perseverance and love in the face of the cultural difficulties. There was one older man there that had been a member since the Church started some 40 years ago. Let's just say there weren't many of his generation in Church but the Church is on their 3rd generation now and lots of kids are there with their parents.

One girl we met today was an early childhood friend of Eiko's who had been a member of this Church all her life. They were quite surprised to see each other. In fact, Eiko's mom new quite a few people there. Her mom was really surprised at how friendly everyone was and how she could even talk with a Dr. and University Professor on an equal basis. I guess Japan still has a bit of a cast society feel to it at times. For sure, I was really blessed that her mom wanted to go with us :-) and doubly blessed that she enjoyed herself. The free lunch after the service wasn't a bad touch either. Eiko's mom even talked about her experience with the rest of the family over dinner tonight.

After Church Eiko, her dad, and I went to another traditional village to do some shopping, visit an art museum, and take some more great pics. I look forward to getting them posted.

Well, it's 11:30 pm again and I'm cooking breakfast for everyone again tomorrow. My pancakes have been a big hit. :-)

Me

Golden Temple

2010-03-27T09:27:00.011-04:00

So here is a short but funny story. :-)

Eiko and I were at a pretty famous place here in Japan near Kyoto, (where Nijo Castle is). Like most public restrooms here, the bathrooms have cold water only and no soap or towels or hand dryers in them. It was pretty much the same for me in S. Korea. This public restroom was even worse. I did at least have cold water to wash my hands with. As I was walking back up the stairs towards Eiko I overheard to caucasian women talking.

The first woman apparently had just returned from the women's bathroom and was more than disgruntled as she reported to the second woman. All I heard was, "there's no toilet paper at all just a hose on the ground!" Well, lets just say that I'm glad as a man I don't need toilet paper to empty my bladder.

So, back to the pics. :-) It was a rainy day but it was still a good one. As such, I only took a few shots with my nicer camera and mostly used Eiko's smaller one. Sadly, I had forgotten to take the date stamp off from the last time I used it to document some things. :-P None the less, I hope you enjoy the pics.

Like us, this crane simply was staying out the rain. Wasn't a whole lot going on. We did see it bob for a fish once though. You can't tell from the photo but there is a roof covering the bridge and out over the crane as well.

This "Golden Temple" was actually a home for a wealthy lord or at one time. It was then taken over as a summer home by one of the emperors I think. Eventually it was donated and turned into a Temple.

We weren't allowed to go in but from some of the pics I've seen the floors are covered in a black lacquer. The walls are covered in a gold foil and the reflections both inside from the floors and outside on the water are quite impressive. Doesn't take much light inside to light it up!

If you google it you can find out more info. I'm sorry that I don't have it all together. It's 11:30 pm here and I need to get to bed. We are going to a Japanese Church tomorrow. :-) I'm quite excited!

Update

2010-03-21T20:57:00.002-04:00

It's Monday morning and we are about to head out for another castle. :-) I'm very excited. I've seen some pretty cool things here already. Yesterday we met up with some of Eiko's friends, one of whom was at our wedding. It was good to see her and her new baby. From there we went to the home of one of them and walked around their village. I got some good shots I'm looking forward to posting. There is a traditional village set up and it was pretty cool to see the old style of living.

Well, we are about to go so I need to go.

Blessings,

Me

Nijo Castle

2010-03-21T10:44:00.043-04:00

Hello and it's good to finish one post!

This was our first stop after our long trek of getting to Japan. The pics below are pics of Nijo Castle in Kyoto Prefecture which at one time used to be the capital of Japan. I have included a brief history of Nijo from Wikipedia to give it some context.

"In 1601, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, ordered all the feudal lords in Western Japan to contribute to the construction of Nijō Castle, which was completed during the reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1626. Parts of Fushimi Castle, such as the main tower and the karamon, were moved here in 1625-26.[1] It was built as the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns. The Tokugawa Shogunate used Edo as the capital city, but Kyoto continued to be the home of the Imperial Court. Kyoto Imperial Palace is located north-east of Nijo Castle."

One of the cool designs of this palace are the wooden floors of the hallways. I could not take any pics of inside the main building as it's not allowed but let me explain a bit anyway. Inside are many rooms of course, but as Japan was a cast society, certain rooms were for certain casts. There were rooms for just the Shogun ruler and attendants as well. As you walk through the hall ways the floors squeak. Thin metal inserts were put under every floorboard and set in such a way that as weight was put upon the board, the metal would bend slightly causing a squeak making it impossible to sneak up on the Shogun. No Ninja sneaking up at night to kill anyone inside and the way it's designed, you can tell exactly where the "intruder" is at location wise. Pretty clever!

This is the outside moat leading to one of the main gates. The idea being that if attacked, the attackers would be funneled into a narrow area for easy killing as there is but one bridge. Pretty much the same idea for every moat ever made. Got to love the art of war. :-P

In case you are wondering, it's a fish. All the castles I've seen so far have giant fish as decorative additions. Not sure why a fish.

This is just inside the castle gate. Just trying to show the size of the place. It was pretty impressive in its size.

Looking back at the gate from the inside.

The Guardhouse is below.

Here you are looking just past the end of the Guardhouse at an inner wall that you saw in the pic from just inside the gate.

The doors are actually pretty big. I have some shots using my wonderful assistant to show some size in scale.

Eiko is just over 5' so as you can see, these are no small doors!

This is the inside of the outer wall. Some nice shots coming up.

The Chery Trees and other flowering trees are just coming out. We got some good shots at the Palace we went to. I'll get those up later.

Just to give you some idea of what you are looking at pic wise. We came in at the bottom left entrance and you'll see pics from all the way around. :-)

Again, just trying to show the size and scope.

This is another gate leading to the inner areas.

Here we are just inside the last gate looking at the main building housing the Shogun. This is where he would hold court and conduct official business as well as live.

This gate was on the other side after having walked through the maze of hallways on the inside.

Another large court yard

I played a giant version of find the pea and got to keep the prize! =) Ok, really, we are just passing through another wall following the path that takes you to the rock garden.

click on the pics :-)

If you remember from the map pic from earlier, there were moats on the inside as well. We are
getting close to the back gate of Nijo Castle. We walked all the way around to get back out though.

2010-03-19T18:40:00.002-04:00

Hello :-)

Well, today is the last day of our sight-seeing and tonight we go to Eiko's parent's apartment. Once there I will have some time to post some pics and at least one funny story. :-)

We've been running running running and it's been fun but I look forward to slowing down a bit and staying in one place. So far we've been to the Golden Temple, the Nijo Palace, a famous park that at one time used to be an Emperor's estate, and a movie set where traditional movies and commercials are made, the Samurai and traditional village stuff. It was pretty cool. :-) I was offered a role in an upcoming film as the hero but had to decline as we were moving on. :-P

Ok, so I'll get some good stuff on here soon. :-)

Me

My First Morning in Japan!

2010-03-17T18:09:00.002-04:00

Good Morning!

Well, Eiko and I finally made it to our hotel after traveling for nearly 24 hours. Exhausticated was a good word to describe our condition. Exhausted but excited. We had a great nights sleep after a couple of wonderful showers and the room we have is pretty nice. It's even got an air purifier in it. :-)

Now it's the first morning and we are getting ready to head out and hit some museums and yes, some very old castles that were strategic during the Shogun era. I can hardly wait! (I want to buy a Samurai Sword but me wife won't hear of it!)

So, I have to keep this blog post very brief. Now it's my turn in the bathroom to get ready and then out the door. It's nice to have things to blog about again. :-)

Me

Need to make a post

2008-06-06T10:31:00.002-04:00

You can basically ignore this post as I'm doing it just as a safe guard. I realize it's been quite some time since I've posted anything and I just received an email asking to buy my post. Since I don't know anything about it I thought I would safeguard myself from either having my blog taken away or deleted from the lack of activity. So, anyone wishing to buy my blog, the answer is NO!!! It would be like selling my diary. Sorry.

Me

The Engagement

2007-05-19T00:46:00.000-04:00

Tah dah da dunt da DA!!!! Yes! It’s true, I am now engaged. :-D Eiko, my fiancée, :-) is such a wonderful woman. For those of you who have met her, I know you agree. For those of you who have yet to meet her, well, a meal and an invitation should do the trick. ;-P lol Sadly, we are living in the Chicago area so it makes it a little harder to get out and see all of you most incredibly wonderful friends of mine. Some of you are saying, pictures, we want pictures. Yes yes, I understand, and soon. (shhhooooossssshhhhh it will be soon!) As advertised though, this post is the telling of how I proposed to Eiko. :-)

When I began working on finding that one special ring, I quickly realized that if I was going to buy her that special ring that she would absolutely love, I needed her input. Not a bad idea to carry with me into marriage I’d say, the getting her input thingy. ;-) So I had to give up on the idea of making it a complete surprise.

Just to give you a little background information, we had long been talking about getting married. We both agreed that there was no point in being in a relationship if you weren’t working towards marriage. I love her. :-) So, I decided that we should start looking for rings. I spent hours and hours on the internet and went to different stores but couldn’t really find that one special ring that we both really loved. We found about a dozen rings that would kind of fit what she really liked, but it wasn’t the one.

One of her co-workers suggested a place that he and his wife have been going to for several years and have been very happy with. The owner custom designs jewelry and has many unique pieces on display. The very first ring that we looked at was the one. I saw it in the case and asked if we could look at it, and immediately Eiko loved it. So we spent the next 1 ½ hours looking at the other rings and talking about details. :-P lol Nothing else really even came close to this ring though and the more we looked at it the more we loved it. I really felt like God had brought us to this place and had the ring just waiting for us. :-)

So now I had the ring that I was going to buy. Now I just had to figure out how to give it to her and still be a bit of a surprise. I’m happy to say, I did just that. :-) I picked the ring up a few days before our anniversary and kept it quiet and hidden. ;-)

For our anniversary we had decided to go to the shores of Lake Michigan and have a picnic. After some searching and conversations with a friend, we settled on a beach. I was really hoping that with it being still a bit early in the year that there wouldn’t be too many people down on the beach.

When we finally got there, the traffic was unbelievable, :-P we quickly set up our picnic blanket, beach chairs, and food. I had hoped to have already eaten and be sitting cozy and close when I gave her card as we watched the sun set which would then lead to the surprise discovery of her ring. Sadly though, the sun was already setting (yes, the lake is to the east, but this beach curls around so that we could actually sit parallel next to the water and watch the sun set through the tall and beautiful buildings) and we had to eat yet.

To make things even more non romantic, another couple had walked up from behind us and stopped about 25 feet in front of us with their dog. There was a good 200 yards of beach behind us and another 300 yards of beach in front of us. But noooooo, they had to stop 25 feet in front of us and play fetch with their big wet black lab in the water throwing the ball towards us! Shhheeeesssssssssssshhhhhhhhh!!!!! (for those of you who struggle with English, a yard is about the same length as a meter ;-P lol)

Of course, as Eiko busily opened the food, I was helping and all the while praying that the couple would move to another spot. The sun was disappearing and with it the light necessary for the reading of the card and notes. Uhg! Well, it got down to the wire and I decided people or no people, I have to do it now. So, I gave Eiko her anniversary card and as I did the wonderful dog ran over to our picnic area. :-P lol The dog was very friendly but this made the other couple decide it was time to move on. Thank you Jesus and thank you nosey little dog. :-)

Eiko then started to read her card. In preparation for this moment (the idea of which I have to say came to me while in prayer thank you Jesus :-) I had bought a little stuffed monkey (Eiko loves monkeys ;-) and tied the ring onto the monkey with a sparkly white ribbon and a red ribbon. I then hid the monkey and ring in my cameral case and under the monkey I had a piece of paper which said, “Will You Marry Me?” :-) After she finished reading her card, I then gave her a little note that I had written, and on it, after some very lovely words, ;-) I asked her if she would open my camera case and give me my camera so that I could take her picture and remember this moment for the rest of our lives. (I had purposely placed the camera beside her and away from me as we were sitting down.) She opened the camera case and much to her surprise, took the monkey and ring out. I asked her on my knee if she would marry me. She said yes (can you believe it!!!) and I put the ring on her finger. We were now engaged.

We spent the remainder of that evening joyfully talking and eating and watched the sun disappear, soon to be replaced by the dozen or so starts that are bright enough to be seen in a Chicago sky. lol It was quite a romantic and memorable evening. I never did take a picture, didn’t need to, it’s burned in my memory forever. :-)

Cuba Anyone? Excellente!

2007-05-15T23:09:00.000-04:00

This blog comes to you from our good friend Darren Brocklehurst. It’s a great story and a great read. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did. Thanks Darren. :-) He begins by writing...

While we were in Cuba we rented a taxi and drove into the city of Camaguay to see what the real Cuba looks like. (It’s very crowded with narrow streets and a very weird juxtaposition of Capitalism based stores and Communism based stores. Ones filled with North American type products and other filled with odd bits and pieces of random items… weird).

While we were there we walked past a corner that had an open sewer grate and the smell was a little overwhelming, and unfortunately there was a pizza store right on that corner too. We were hungry, so we decided to give it a try, but the culture barrier made it awkward, so the bravest of us went in and one of us put the $3 on the counter and took away a piece of dough about an inch thick and six inches across. The locals were eating them folded taco-style. We quickly discovered that the stench at the corner was not caused by the sewer, but by the cheese on the pizzas. The little pizza that we were now holding smelled a lot like baby poo. One bite later we discovered that the cheese tasted pretty much the way you would expect baby poo to taste. Yuck.

Cuban food: 1 Hungry tourist: 0.

We took a tour of some of the downtown cultural sites (the Theatre, the Monument to Che, the Creepy Frozen Old People statues, etc) and we saw the market. Pretty much all vegetables (Tomatoes were selling for about 16 cents each, coconuts for 25 cents). I told our guide that I’d like a coconut and he said that he knew where there were fresh ones on the street. Whohoo. Fresh coconut straight from the tree.

Later in the tour we pulled over at a street vendor who had a cart full of coconuts with the husk still covering the shell. He took a machete the size of my arm and whacked off the end in two or three skillful swipes (I counted, and he still had all ten fingers – amazing!) Then he poked a hole in the end for me to drink the laxative inside. I passed on the coconut milk laxative (Bernie had a terrible experience the last time he was in Cuba with the coconut milk and scared me enough that there was no way that I was going to drink any of it!). Then I asked about eating the inside. He whacked the whole thing in half with his sword and passed me the coconut. The only trouble was that there was no meat inside. Where I had expected the meat to be there was just a congealed white paste that reminded me of sour milk. I shrugged and the machete guy whacked off part of the next husk and handed me a “spoon” and motioned that I should scoop the curdled milk slime into my mouth and enjoy. “When in Rome” has always been my motto (I’m going to change that soon!) so I scooped the white paste into my mouth and smiled for the camera. Once I had turned the corner I took a photo of my second try at Cuba street food, swallowed what felt like warm snot in my mouth and threw the rest of the coconut away.

Cuban food: 2 Hungry tourist: 0.

I didn’t have it in me to try again.

Our last day at the resort we walked into the little town where I had seen a local eating the coconut meat that I so desperately desired now and the stand that he had just the day before was gone. Oh dear. We didn’t find any coconut meat (I asked a local and he told me to start asking for coco-fruit – which turned out to be genius!) and when we returned to the entrance to the resort I asked the concierge where I might get some coco-fruit and he whistled for the gardener to come to the desk. I went with the guy and brought out a 247 foot long stick with a hook on the end (ok, maybe it was 15 feet, but it was a long skinny stick). He poked the coconut tree until it gave up two of its fruit. Then he took his dull rusty knife and sawed at the husk until he had poked a hole in the top of the coconut exposing a tiny hole just big enough to get the laxative out of the nut. I smiled, tipped him generously and left to dispose of my second nut full of Exlax.

Cuban food: 3 Hungry tourist: 0.

I refused to be beaten by this, so I trodded off to the beach where I knew of a guy with a machete. The guy as not there, but the sword was. How hard could it be? I’ve used an ax and I’m a master at Jedi Knights, so I took the machete in one hand and laying the coconut on the sand I thought better of the whole idea and decided it was better to be hungry than amputated.

Then I remembered Gilbert (the guide who took us to the reef). He wears a nasty Shark Knife strapped to his calf muscle all the time. Maybe he could crack this nut for me. I took it to him and he said “no problem!” and then took my coconut behind the screen and I heard “THUMP, wuble wuble wuble” “THUMP, wuble wuble wuble” “THUMP, wuble wuble wuble” (this part is better in person – imagine me with a curious face and the cool sound effects that I make…) I peeked behind the screen and Gilbert was THROWING the coconut at the concrete floor of his hut and then jumping out of the way as it bounced off random things in his office. I tried to call him off, but he had already broken the coconut for me.

I then realized how hard it was going to be to separate the meat from the shell.

Cuban food: 4 Hungry tourist: 0.

Bernie and I had one more coconut that still had it’s husk on, so we took his coconut to the basketball court (which was basically a run down concrete pad with a pole at either end) and “THUMP, wuble wuble wuble” “THUMP, wuble wuble wuble” we were dodging Bernie’s coconut trying to get it to break

Cuban food: 5 Hungry tourist: 0.

Anyway, just to finish the story I did get some of the meat from the shell before supper and packed the rest for the plane ride home the next day. It took me the full three hours to get all the meat off the shell, but I ate the entire coconut before we landed at YYZ.

I WON!

Hotel Rwanda

2007-01-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

I just watched a movie called Hotel Rwanda.  It’s the first movie I have ever seen labeled as, “A True Story”.  I’ve seen lots of movies labeled as “Based on a True Story” but never as “A True Story”.  I highly recommend watching this movie if you never have.

If your heart is broken at the atrocities of humanity, then watch this movie with caution.  I have to say, at certain points my eyes were wet with tears, but the song after the movie just ripped my heart to shreds.

I have long been sorely disappointed with the UN and all of its member countries, especially the US for never getting involved with the genocides of poor countries.  At times I am embarrassed to be known as an American.  But, I am also very happy with the many good things that America has done to help other nations.

What bothers me most is the fact that poor countries like Rwanda have nothing to offer, and thus, no one did much to help, or stop what was going on.  If there was oil or other economic interests for the major UN countries, without a doubt, we would have been there to stop the killing.

At any rate, it’s a great movie.  I highly recommend watching it.  May it inspire you to be involved in any way that you can in helping the poor of the world.  Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Luke 6:19-21, “and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.  Looking at his disciples, he said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.   Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.  Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

Many of your already are involved in making a difference in the lives of those around you and abroad, :-) and bless you for that.  If by chance you aren’t, may I offer you this little quote from Heller Keller. “I am only one; but I am still one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.  I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

2 Cor. 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  And in Gal 6:9-10 it says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

I hope the movie is something that many people in North America see and never forget.  Blessings to you all.

Love,

Ken

Trip to Busan

2006-10-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Back in August I was able to get to Busan, I think the second largest city in Korea, and visit Kevin and Meaghan.  Over all it was a great trip, just to hang out with them was worth the trip.  Busan is located at the Southern part of Korea, right on the coast.  There isn’t too much further south you can go than Busan.

When my friend and I went there, it was supposed to be well past the rainy season.  Well, this year in Korea it was a very very very wet summer.  It’s something like 60% of Korea’s annual rainfall comes in July, and the rest of the time it’s just really nice.  Well not this year, there were many problems with flooding.  Every year there are flooding problems, but nothing like this year.  If I remember correctly, Korea hasn’t had a summer like this in 60 years.  Yep, it rained and rained and rained.  For like 3 weeks I couldn’t ride my motorcycle!!!! and that’s just wrong.

So, I planned my Busan trip accordingly, ha!  It rained on Friday, and on and off all day long on Saturday.  On Sunday though, it was a very clear and bright day.  I think I would rather have had the rain, it was so stinkin hot!  Man do I sound like a whiner or what. :-P

All and all though, it was a great trip.  I’m so glad I went.  On Sunday we did our own worship service.  It was great.  I haven’t worshipped with them for quite some time now.  It was so refreshing.  Thanks so much Kev and Meg. :-)

Well, enjoy,

Me :-)

2006-10-21T09:39:00.000-04:00

Kevin and Meaghan when they came to Seoul to pay me a visit. Ain't they cute. :-) A few weeks later I was able to go to Busan and visit them. :-) How nice it was to see them again. It was great to be with some Vineyardites again.

2006-10-21T09:36:00.000-04:00

The night life on the beach Blvd. Yep, it's raining. :-S

2006-10-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

This is a very famous bridge in Korea and taken from an overhead shot, very beautiful indeed. Some of us don't have the luxury of such things though, and it was raining anyway. The bridge continuously changes colors (colours) which can only be seen by the camera as reflections on the water. So I've included a few shots.

2006-10-21T09:31:00.001-04:00

2006-10-21T09:31:00.000-04:00

2006-10-21T09:30:00.000-04:00

Kevin and Meaghan coming to meet Paul and I for a day of soggy adventuring. :-)

2006-10-21T09:28:00.000-04:00

It's raining raining raining and foggy to boot, so I took what pics I could. If you look real hard you can see part of Busan in the background. :-P

2006-10-21T09:26:00.000-04:00

Korea has some really rugged beautiful coastline.

2006-10-21T09:23:00.000-04:00

I know you've seen these spiders before, but this is just too good a pic to pass up. Some times I get a shot that just amazes me. Besides, they're beautiful creatures. I've learned some things about them too.

2006-10-21T09:20:00.000-04:00

The thick white part of the web reflects light the same way that a flower does, so (evil grin) the unsuspecting insect thinks it's coming to a nice meal. Well, technically it is, lol, just not quite what it had in mind.

2006-10-21T09:17:00.000-04:00

Doesn't this one look menacing. :-) This is an underneath shot, a little different view.

2006-10-21T09:14:00.000-04:00

All of the birds flew away that I wanted to photograph and I was bored, so ...

2006-10-21T09:10:00.000-04:00

...what can I say. :-)

2006-10-21T09:09:00.000-04:00

Finally some of the birds returned.

2006-10-21T09:07:00.000-04:00

Much of the wild life, (plants, insects, animals) is very similar to that in N. America. I was quite surprised.

Kyongju Trip, Day One

2006-09-09T07:18:00.000-04:00

These pics are from day one of my trip to Kyongju.  The only pic that isn’t is the “Kings Tomb on the Sea”.  I included it with day one’s pics because of the “tomb” aspect.  The tombs really aren’t tombs either, as with Jeju, they burial mounds, though they are much larger than any that I saw in Jeju.

The tombs come from the ancient kings in Korea during the first dynasty.  There were three dynasties in Korea, the last one ended with the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1910.  So from around 300 A.D. until 1910, there were only 3 unified kingdoms.  Before that there were at least 3 different kingdoms.

Well, I hope you enjoy the pics.

Darren thanks so much for the comments about the pics.  It’s been very educational. :-)

Me

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Just an overview.

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Just click on the pic for a bigger version of it.

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My friends, Jane and Chris. :-) It was really great to take another trip with them again this year. They went with me to Jeju Island last year.

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One of my friends that went with me to Busan.

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burial site

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Replicas of the ancient royal jewels.

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I had to hold my camera above the wall to get this shot. The doors were locked but hey, why not. :-)

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Traditionally food was left on this table for the spirit of the dead king.

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There is a log hanging next to the bell that is used to stake it to create its unique sound.

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Aparently this is the oldest boat in Korea. When they drained the water out of the palace pond, they found this sunken boat along with many other artifacts.

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An elaborate walkway stone.

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ancient bronze shoes

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And you thought your feather pillow was as hard as rock. ha :-P

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Copies of what would seem to be a child's drawings found on walls. Looks pretty similar to today�s children's art work. Who knew that stick figures had been around for so long? :-P

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I'm pretty sure this is an oil lamp.

2006-09-09T04:36:00.000-04:00

These shots are hand held and the lighting wasn't very bright so I apologize for a bit of blurriness now and again. As it is, obviously this is a large clay oil lamp.

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Bronze Age Jewelry

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It's so hard to comprehend just how old this armor is. We're talking end of the Roman Empire type of stuff! I believe this armor is from the 4th century A.D. I think this armor is made from bronze.

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This museum filled with things found in the tombs (burial mounds) of the kings. You can see the ridge-end tile on the roof.

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This thing is immensely huge. It's at least as tall as I am and I can't imagine how much it must way. Should you want to install one on your roof, let it sit for a few months before you invite me over. :-)

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I didn't want to go in, well ok, so I did, but I didn't think it would be wise of me to do so. So, I just took a pic looking in from the entrance. :-P

2006-09-09T03:51:00.000-04:00

This is called the Kings Tomb on the Sea. The story goes that he wanted his ashes scattered on the sea so he could protect his people from invaders. Information is hard to come by, but I don't think his ashes were scattered on the rocks, but this is where his tomb is said to be.

Kyongju Day 2

2006-08-26T10:09:00.000-04:00

This set of pics is from my second day in Kyongju.  Briefly, this area in southern Korea is the site of the fist unified kingdom in Korea.  It dates back to before 1000 A.D.  Ya, exactly. :-)

Overall it was a really good trip.  We were continuously rained on, but it was intermittent and we could still enjoy our stops.  We just had to always have our umbrellas handy.  Happily, I was able to get some good pics as well.

I have information posted throughout the pics to help describe what you are looking at.  Enjoy.

Me

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This is a veiw from near the top of the mountain. To get to the top we had to walk.

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On the drive up to the temple site.

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Just some nice flowers on the way up.

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On the way to the top.

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Sadly I was not allowed to take any pictures of this statue.

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The temple you see has the stone buddha inside it.

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People who visit build these little stone pillars, though I'm not quite sure what they mean.

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I had to take this picture standing very far away. I'm glad it turned out ok. :-)

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Amazing carpentry skills eh.

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... a man hard at work?

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Motorcycle Repairs

2006-08-10T07:18:00.000-04:00

Ya know, sometimes I just love this country.  Take for instance tonight.   The front brakes on my bike were seized up.  Well, I went once again to my awesome local bike mechanic and he went to work on it.  (Yes, communicating my bike’s problems takes a little creativity, but he’s a pretty smart guy and we get along alright.  Sometimes I call a friend and have him translate via my phone, but usually we get it figured out.  Then the mechanic jumps on my bike to verify what I’m saying, and after a quick little ride, goes to work solving the problem.)

Tonight I had my front brakes fixed (the caliper was seized), new brake pads put on, and my front tire reset on the rim.  The guys that I bought my bike from were dinks, but I knew that going in. (The salesman kept telling me that the bike had never been in an accident but I could tell that it had been.  He was quite offended that I didn’t believe him.  Knowing that he was lying I was careful in looking over the bike.  There weren’t any real problems with it, minor things, it’s a used bike, and the test ride went well.  So, I bought it knowing I’d have to do a few things :-)  So even as most places do even in N. America, they did as little to the used product as possible before reselling it.  What I didn’t know was that the new tire that had been put on, whether by them or someone else, was not properly done.  Thus, when my mechanic spun the tire, it looked like there was a bulge in it that otherwise is not visible.  That would explain why, as I would ride my bike at high speeds, there was always a lot of shaking going on.  I just thought it was the road. :-P

So what did all of this cost me?  For labor and parts the total was $10! :-D  Can you believe it, $10!!!!  Like I said, sometimes I love this country. :-)

Me, the happy little biker. :-)