Sorry for the lack of posts. We are packing, preparing our furniture to be sold, running around Korea signing paperwork and getting documents where they should go. I know moving is a pain. But, moving across seas knowing you will won't be able to come back and handle things face-to-face is a bit stressful. Either way, we are excited to come home and see everyone. Really anticipating good times with family, friends, football, puppies, babies and FOOD!
Derek is my lobster and I am his. One of my friends gave us two red lobster lollipops as a wedding gift. It took me 10 seconds to realize that she was giving me a hugely thoughtful and considerate gift. She gave me a reminder that I had met my lobster and that it was for life. So, in Phoebe fashion, here is the lobster theory.
When two lobsters meet, they meet for life. They are mates for life. Sometimes, you can see two old lobsters clinging to each others claws in the lobster bins. I have a high respect for lobsters and, frankly, haven't eaten any since I saw that episode of Friends...Until me and my lobster decided to celebrate our lobsterhood (together for life) with lobster for dinner....
Michele - our little wedding baby - born August 14, 2010
So, on our actual wedding anniversary, we began the day at church with Derek leading for the last time at Dongsan Church. I held the sweet birthday girl! Could you find a prettier baby girl?
George - Baby Mimi's 1st Birthday Gift
Dessert before Dinner!
Derek took me to my absolute favorite dessert place in Asia! Tartine Bakery. They make Hemmingway's Favorite Key Lime Pie ONLY on Saturday and Sundays so here's to our anniversary being on the weekend! Banana Creme for D.
Namsan Tower Cable Car
Okay, we are a little lame. We took the cable car up for the first time. Basically, it's like climbing stone mountain to get to the top. I didn't want to hike in heels, like all the Korean girls do, so we splurged and took the lift up. We had a reservation in the tower restaurant, hoping for a view, but check out the clouds. No view, but loads of fun.
Seoul on a very cloudy misty day.
Our Love Lock
A really sweet, cute and totally Korean tradition in Korea is to lock your love lock on the railings at Namsan's tower so your "love can soar above the clouds never ending, never being broken." Hence, the lock. Well, after two years of at first snickering, then laughing, then ooing and ahhhing at so many couples, we FINALLY contributed our own love lock. Most people write messages on their locks.
Our love lock says - "We love because he first loved us - The Fekkes'"
Our dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Tower. So, way out there is the Seoul city skyline. Our chair was a love seat on Steroids. It had high walls so no one could see us. It was the longest we have ever sat down at a restaurant, enjoying the privacy and coziness of overlooking the city.
The Lobsters - well at least they died together...this was mouth watering and now makes me want to split up more lobsters.
After this amazing feast, we ordered lobster ravioli which I still find my tongue longing to taste again a week later!
Propose option
No, this isn't our table. One option the restaurant offers is a "Propose Special." "Proposal" is not something anyone understands. Only the form "propose." So, anyway, you can order the propose special for 150,000W or 140$ and get candlelight, fake dusty flowers, and small choco cake with a bottle of wine and a 7 course meal. Not bad. We watched the couple for a while, but nothing spectacular happened. Hummmm?
Happy Anniversary to US - The Fekkes'
We aren't sharing any of the mushy gushy,
but we will tell you this:
In the bottom of the above picture is a letter that we wrote together.
One letter is about our first year of marriage, what we learned, what we failed at, what we succeeded.
The next letter is what we look forward to in this next year of marriage.
We are going to frame the letters to look at them over the next year changing them out when we ring in anniversary number two.
13 is my favorite number today, because there are 13 days that separate the Fekkes' from the States. Annnnnd that is exciting. So, calling on everyone who reads our blog. We don't have cell phones (or as of right now I don't think we do) so send US your number and we will call you when we land. We want to make plans to see everyone, too. Here's our current plan:
Georgia - August 31st.
Washington - After Sept19th as of right now.
**If Derek gets a job, then our plans will change a bit, but for now, this is what we are working with.
September 1st - Derek's first College Football Game (Tech) and first adventure with my family tailgating. We are really looking forward to eating a lot of food and watching the football-hazed fans cheer on a yellow jacket.
September 9th weekend - booked for now.
September 11-18th - VACA with the Bozemans, Rickerson's and Fekkes' - not sure of the itinerary, but excited.
Somewhere in there is a trip into Athens, Savannah, Charleston, Tacoma and Dahlonega.
Email or facebook us your current cells and addresses and we will see you SOON!
Happy Anniversary to US! The one-year-married- Fekkes'! YEP, we did, we won the race for first year of newlywed-dom! And we rocked it! We started our journey into marriage racking up thousands of air-miles crossing the span of the globe, traversing across the United States and back again, so to ring in the second year of our life together we decided to add some by-land miles to our travelogue. We road-tripped across Korea, taking in some pretty spectacular views of the Korean peninsula, jagged mountains and ridiculously packed out beaches. Here is a celebration of the things that we love and have learned about each other:
Anlee has officially learned to release control of the driver's seat. YEP! Every road trip prior to Derek has found Anlee in the captains seat, but Anlee didn't get her International Drivers License, so no driving for her on this trip. She has learned to relax and trust D behind the wheel. Derek is officially the family driver. He "became Korean" and drove slightly aggressively, but safely, throughout tunnels, mountains and crazy Korean traffic jams.
70% of Korea is composed of mountains so instead of going over, build a bridge over a valley and a tunnel through a mt.
Warp Speed!
Our Korean GPS! You try traveling listening to directions in a foreign language!
Tunnel after Tunnel!
This is about 8:30am. We had an early start. This random rock was pretty cool.
Ulsan Balwi. This rock is known as the rock of 12,000 peaks I think.
Basically, the god in the below picture didn't think Earth was pretty enough so he decided to build the peaks to change the landscape.
Goooooo Dawgs!!! No grey hairs this year...only more sex appeal! HEHE
Happy Lobsters!
THE BEACH!! WOOHOO!
The beach at 10:00am, fully clothes Koreans swimming in pants and t-shirts, blue jean shorts and jackets.
Korea has the Guinness Book of World Records for the most umbrellas and people on a single beach. This beach wasn't very packed at all, but seriously, there were so many umbrellas and people. The pack them on the beach like sardines. No private beaches here!
An hour later! No bikini's here! Way too much skin for this conservative bunch!
We kept our clothes on, too. Derek, however, still became a lobster getting burned severely by the sun.
Derek wanted to see the mountains so here we are. This is about 30 miles from the North Korean border.
Seoraksan National Park. AMAZING! Reminded us of Jurassic Park.
Goodbye Korea...
a picture from one year ago on our wedding day
Oh GOSH HANDSOME ALERT! The beaches are CLEAN and the water crystal CLEAR! But, also frigid cold! We drove down the coast a couple hundred miles until we reached the third largest city, Daegu, the host of the Track and Field World Championship this year!
His parasol.
This is the handsome face I get to see each morning when I wake up.
We borrowed a tent from a friend (and his car) and set up our camping adventure in a small park next to the beach. The wind, however, was not our friend. The gusts were so intense that most of the tents were a jumbled pile of poles. Derek didn't sleep, but Anlee did overcome with exhaustion.
A year married, wow...this was only our trip across the peninsula. Can't wait to see the joy and smiles over the next 70 years....
