Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Belated Christmas!

I don't know about you, but we are partied out! We had a couple Christmas parties this year. We're still waiting to hear from the Medical College for our Christmas/New Year's party they want to throw the foreign teachers. It's somewhat of a relief that the hustle and bustle of Christmas is over, but it's also a little sad because that means our time here in this city is running out with less than a month left.





It seemed that there were a lot more Christmas trees out and about the city this year. Some of the trees were pretty and reminded us of home. Others (like the one here that was at our airport) made us laugh and want to give them lessons on "How to decorate a Christmas Tree 101"!



For one of our Christmas parties, Dana made Monkey Bread. It was her first time making it without mom. Although the cinnamon and sugar one burned a bit on the bottom (stupid toaster oven) it was still delicious.


The butter Monkey bread was even better in our opinion because we had way too many sweets to eat that day.




We got together with some friends and had quite the interesting potluck Christmas menu. In addition to the 2 loaves of monkey bread, we had whole wheat rolls and buttermilk cheese bread. We were "carbed" out! We also had German Green Bean Dumpling Soup, Shawarmas, Sushi, Enchiladas and Mac and Cheese! Quite an ethnic menu, don't you think?



Other than a picture of Santa on most windows in the city and the occasional Christmas tree, they don't really celebrate Christmas like we do in the States. A lot of people get together on Christmas Eve and get wicked drunk. A better tradition they have is they buy apples to give to each other that represent peace because the word for peace in this language is very similar to the word apple. We got a lot of apples this year. Here are a couple guys selling them nicely wrapped on the street on Christmas Eve. We saw many people selling them on that day on our way to go get some hot Kimchee Soup to help clear our sinuses (we're both fighting colds).



We did a lot of holiday cooking this year. Dana got together with her friend and they succeeded in making taffy! It's such a difficult candy to make, but it was nice to carry on this family tradition all the way in Asia!


For some reason it was a darker color than usual, but tasted the same. Yum!



We had a pleasant last Christmas here and hope you had a good one too. We hope you have a Happy New Year!





On to baby news... We flew to the capital yesterday for Dana's 6 month checkup. She had to take a test to see if she had gestational diabetes and check her blood to check for anemia. Both tests were negative, so that's good! The baby is growing well and kicking like crazy! Often you can see her belly move from several feet away! Other than the normal "uncomfortableness" of pregnancy, Dana is feeling and doing good. She'll enter her 3rd trimester in 2 weeks! So, this is her most recent picture at the end of her 6th month.


Posted by johndygert at Tuesday, December 28, 2010 0 comments

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

It's a....

Greetings from East Asia! We hope this blog finds you well! We have a lot of exciting and fun pictures and stories to share with you! Well, firstly most of you probably already know that we are having a baby girl! According to the most recent Ultrasound the baby is due April 8. We have been incredibly blessed with having a home completely furnished and ready for us when we return to the states on January 25, 2011. (Thanks Peyton for all your help!) Most of you may have seen our video posted on YouTube, but if not check it out with the posted video. To make a long story short we had the Doctor tell our friend what the gender of our baby was before we knew and she made cupcakes with either blue or pink frosting. We then had a big party and we split the cupcake in half to find out! (Talk about a rush!) We have attached some pictures below. Enjoy!













A picture of Dana at the end of her 5th month!


This is quite the interesting picture of John trying to ride on the back of his friends bike. John's behind is a little too big and can't quite get all the way on, so he does this really cool balancing trick and manages to stay on! This mode of transportation is actually quite common to see around our city!





John got asked to play in another basketball tournament which he gladly accepted. Their team lost the first two games, but to make it sound a little better the teams they lost to played in the championship game. They also had a three-point competition which John tied for second place!




John with some of his teammates.





Happy Thanksgiving!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and enjoyed lots and lots of delicious food. Every year it's always a mystery on how to do a turkey and this year we thought maybe its just not going to be possible. Well, we actually found one at a local import store here. We initially thought it was too big for our oven but we measured it out and it fit! So we had a friend/amazing cook, bake it and it came out perfect! Dana made her sister-n-law, Sara's, sweet potato casserole again by popular request. She also made her granny's pecan pie for the first time, which was delicious! (We used lots of imported food for that recipe, but well worth it!) We had a wonderful time of football, games and just good fellowship!





John got the honor of carving the turkey, and Dana got to help too!







Posted by johndygert at Tuesday, November 23, 2010 0 comments

Friday, October 22, 2010

Fall Has Come and Gone!

We hope that by now you have heard our good news of Dana being pregnant! Sorry it's been a while since we've written on our blog. Below is Dana's end of her 1st month picture and her end of her 4th month picture. (The 2nd and 3rd month pictures really weren't that exciting!) I definitely have a bump now! I'm really glad to be well out of my 1st trimester because eating was more like a chore or discipline. I also had hardly any energy. Because of these 2 things, I lost a bit of weight. Now my appetite and energy has improved and, although I'm still struggling to gain the 1 pound a week, I've been able to put on a little weight. I have gone to the capital a couple times to see the doctor - who, by the way, studied at UNM! Small world. He said it was okay if I continue to ride my bike around the city, which I've been doing very slowly. It sure does freak out my local friends though!


The baby is the size of a large mango - or about 5-6 inches from crown to rump. He/she is becoming more and more proportional and already has fingerprints and eyelashes! The baby can hiccup (which I can't feel yet) and yawn! One of the most exciting things is I've begun to feel a little movement! I can't wait until the kicks get stronger. It is so amazing that there is a sweet little life being created in there! We are going to the doctor again the end of November - right before Thanksgiving, so we should find out if we're having a boy or girl! We'll keep you posted.







We got to go to a nearby desert a few weeks ago with some friends and got to ride camels! They are actually quite cute animals! Dana got the green light from her doctor to ride them as long as she was careful. She held on real tight and had a blast! We rode up to the sight by a chairlift.








See the guy in the front with the funny yellow boots? These are actually called Sandy Slippers because they keep the sand out of your shoes. They were really goofy looking, but very practical. We were cheap and didn't get them, so we're still finding sand in our shoes! They should rent these out at white sands!



We've never been to a desert like this before with dunes and camels. Dana had the Aladdin song "Arabian Night" in her head the whole time. It was a really fun day trip.




Yeah for camels! (Dana can jump higher but didn't want to jiggle the baby too much!)



Fall is here, actually we think it's over by now. The temperature is well into freezing at night with highs in the 40's. We actually had some light snow this week too! This has to be the street cleaner's busiest time of year with the leaves falling all over the city. They just sweep them up in big piles along with trash and whatever else. The piles all over the city look so inviting to jump in, but then you remember how much sick trash is mixed in and the temptation is quickly gone! Another good thing is that the leaky sewage is starting to freeze, so it's beginning to smell a little better in the city!


John has gotten to do a lot of "out-doorsy" things the last couple of months since the weather has been so nice. He went camping with a friend overnight in the mountains nearby. He's been coaching a group of locals in Baseball. It's cute, they call him coach and everything! They are pretty good. He got to go on a hike at a nearby mountain with these friends a couple weekends back. It was right when the leaves where changing, so it was beautiful. The next 4 pictures are from that hike.









You can find cotton candy being made at the local squares (kind of like a park) in this country. This old lady was just working away getting this cotton candy made for us. She's pretty cute, right? Love the camo hat!



The mid-autumn festival was over a month ago here, but I know autumn is just starting to settle in at the States. At the square near our house, Dana walked around and enjoyed the fall decorations. This is a traditional boot with fall flowers all around. Pretty.



Like our costumes? This actually isn't for Halloween, but a murder mystery birthday party we had. John was Black Knight and Dana was Nurse Ratchet. It was the first time we ever played a murder mystery and it was pretty fun. We were not convicted, and Dana was the only person to guess correctly who the "murderer" was! (Well, he did put green food coloring in my drink!) We hope that you have a wonderful fall!

Posted by johndygert at Friday, October 22, 2010 1 comments

Thursday, September 2, 2010

South Korea

We had a great time in Korea. It was mostly go, go, go; but as you can see from the picture below, we had some relaxing time too!


We went to several museums. Here was one that had the country flower in front of a bunch of Korean flags.


It was really hard to get used to the currency. There is about 1200 won for 1 USD. So this bill is only worth about $8!


We ate Kimchee for almost every meal. Even for breakfast. John was in heaven! Dana probably won't be able to eat Kimchee for a long time though!



We went with John's family (all 16 of us) to an island just South of Korea called Jeju island. This picture below is the dormant volcano that formed this island. The whole island was so green and lush.



We had a lot of fun with John's family - many of whom we met for the first time. We rented a 2 story house and all slept on the floor. Here's our first night, about midnight. John took on his look-a-like cousin at arm wrestling. It was a tie!

We had 4 large meals every day. Our second night on the island, John's uncle bought $300 USD worth of sushi. So here we are around midnight eating legs-crossed on the floor as we always did there eating fish fish and more fish!


This was a beautiful forest we walked through. These poles were some kind of laughing poles, so were laughing when this picture was taken.


It was also very hot there, so here is John sticking his head in a stream out of desperation to cool off!



Here is a seafood soup they fed us one day for lunch. We love crab and shrimp, but aren't big fans of ripping heads off to eat their insides! A lot of rice was consumed by us that meal!


Growing up in land-locked NM, I, Dana, am not very big on fish. So, what do you get when you're at a fish market and are overcome by the smell and you just saw the eel flopping around and you can't eat it even though it's cooked? They graciously ordered me noodles with some kind of sweet thick black sauce on it! Boy, I wish I liked fish!


How do you say, "Where's the bathroom?" I think this bathroom sign gets it's point across in all cultures!

Here's John and his older brother, Tim, trying to sit on the floor for lunch, but their long legs just don't bend right!


No comment.



Here's the family, except the younger uncle who is taking the pick, at a lookout in Jeju Island next to a fishing lady statue (I have no idea why there were so many of these on the island. Our tour guide spoke no English).

So beautiful.








John and Tim had been talking about swimming the whole trip. I mean, we were on an island! They got their chance at a 10 minute pit stop to look at one of the few beaches we saw - most of the island was lava rocky. The beach was small and the water freezing, but they got their swimming fix.I think they were the only one's out there without some kind of floatation device!
When we returned to the Korean mainland, we traveled up to the North Korean border called the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). Here we are trying to spot something exciting in North Korea. To our disappointment, we didn't see much.


Pit stop for some brotherly competition.


Body guards and VIP on subway? Or John, cousin Sophie, and Tim on subway?



I, Dana, understand this stranger resting on John. His shoulders are at just the right height and angle! Does John look awkward or what?

After Korea, we spent about a week in our city with John's mom and brother. Then we spent a couple days in Beijing on their way out. Here they are at the Temple of Heaven.
We even climbed the Great Wall!


Well that's it for now. We don't plan on traveling much more this semester but staying put for a while.

Posted by johndygert at Thursday, September 02, 2010 0 comments

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