On Friday I met up with Graham, during my break, to find that he had been out for the day with his Korean friend, and had visited some fantastic places - I was very jealous!He had been out for lunch, then to a Korean sweet shop, where he got to sample some of the rice based sweets/ cakes.The rice cakes here are not what we think of as rice cakes back home.They are dense and chewy, with little taste to them.In Korea many foods are covered in sugar which should not be, for example Special K, bread, garlic bread and some noodle dishes.Yet, when it comes to sweets and cakes, they are often not sweet enough and therefore quite tasteless!We are often given rice cakes at work, as gifts from the parents, so I was not too disappointed that I had missed this, but the next two places I was……

Graham had been to a beauty salon.The men here are very vain (as are the women - everyone carries a mirror) and Graham had been treated to a facial and massage!He was offered other treatments too, but these he politely refused, being a British man who values his masculinity!I just hope I get to go here in the future, as I will be taking full advantage of whatever they will give me.Next he went to visit Qi Han's temple, which was a short drive away and up a very steep hill.The temple is 1000 years old, and they have pieces of paper hanging from the ceiling.We have seen this in other temples and did not realise that these contain the names of all of the members of that temple.There are a certain amount of spaces, and when it is full they can no longer take on any new members, so you have to find another temple.Unfortunately Graham did not have the camera on him that day, so we have no photographic evidence of any of this, but I hope that I will get to visit the temple someday soon.

At the weekend we had planned a camping trip.Graham had been out this week and bought a very small 2 man tent - possibly the smallest 2 man tent I have ever seen! Whilst I was at work, he decided to try it out in the park on the way home from the store.He was soon surrounded by a group of Koreans who thought he was trying to camp there, so they were telling him in Korean that he could not!He also ended up with a small child sitting inside the tent for a while - she obviously thought he had out it up just for her to play in!

Anyway, the weather forecast did not look so good for the weekend, so we decided to put off the camping trip for a couple of weeks.However, Saturday morning arrived and the weather looked pretty good, so we headed to the beach.Four of us took the bus to Beopsong, and then a taxi to Ganmini beach, which had very few people on it, and no other westerners.We spent the day sunbathing and in the water, and watching the Koreans play football, as there were goal posts on the beach.As the tide came in later that afternoon, the football pitch was eventually covered in water, and the players all went in the sea!There were a few other Koreans in the sea too, but they all go in fully clothed.I have yet to see a Korean in a bathing suit.

That evening we went into downtown with some friends, and then spent all day Sunday sunbathing on our friend's roof.The bad weather weekend had turned into 32 degrees and glorious sunshine!Graham's getting browner, and I'm getting pinker - some things will never change!

Maggie x