A Pendergrass Picture: Day 1: Hwaseong Fortress

Between having our first wonderful guest, Sean Floyd, (ironically right after my Be Our Guest post) and a four day weekend for Dave, we had entirely too much fun for our own good the last few days. I have weeks worth of writing and probably over 100 pictures to post, so I will just take it one step at a time, starting with day 1, Friday.

Sean our good friend came to visit, yes we are so loved that our friends will travel for days just to be in our presence. Okay, only in my dreams all of my friends would pay for flights to Korea just to come see me. Actually, he and his wife Sam are teaching English in China right now and have to leave the country every so often to renew their Visas. We were ecstatic that Sean chose Korea for his leave of China! (Of course, a little bummed that his wife couldn't come along as well, but happy for her she was able to return to the states). We were good friends in our married student ward at BYU, but out here all alone in Asia and just knowing the Floyds are only an hour plane flight away in China, that seemed to create a special bond, or was it just the fact that Sean is one of the only fluent English speakers we have met in a long time! Either way we had a great time!

So on Friday we went to Suwon to find a Buddhist temple. The bus terminal was a little chaotic, but we finally made it to our town and then the real quest began. We were going off Dave's memory from having been there 5 years ago, so we weren't sure exactly where we were going, but enjoying the scenes along the way. Of course, Dave has never failed me yet and we made it with ease (after a pretty steep hill, that is!). The entrance, the huge statue, inside the temple...everything was gorgeous. There was a very serene feeling and not many other people. I felt lucky to be there, and especially lucky to have Sean there to take family pictures of us! (It might be a little lame to already be planning my Christmas picture, but I was worried how I would get a good family shot! The family shots we have asked people to take on the streets haven't turned out Christmas worthy thus far, but now I have an abundance of quality family shots to choose from. Thanks a million Sean! It's cheezy, but I will be honest, good family pictures are my dream come true!) I included many pictures in the slide show so you could really try to grasp the feeling that was there.

We hiked a little farther and found the fortress wall (of the Hwaseong Fortess which actually encompassed most of the city), complete with lookout towers and a huge bell you could ring for Filial Piety. So, of course, we rang the bell. We rang it three times. The first time is to honor your parents (so no worries Mom, Dad, Mark, Lisa, all of Korea knows that we honor you), second time is for you and your family's health (which I'm sure will come in handy as I still sometimes fail to protect Lucy from the many dirty hands that just want one soft touch of her cheeks or hair) and the third time is for the realization of your dreams (which means we might be traveling the world for a while, sorry guys we will miss you!) The bell was extremely loud and vibrated for forever! A very sensory experience, that I highly enjoyed.

As we walked along the wall Dave caught this gorgeous picture that I couldn't resist including here: Here is the difference between me and Dave when we take pictures: I take about a million pictures of the same thing with every setting, at every angle, with every possible facial expression. Obviously, I end up with good pictures! If you take 100, one is bound to turn out! Dave on the other hand, just takes one picture every now and then, when he sees something perfectly beautiful and it always turns out perfect on the first try. Now I go around touting that I am an artist and a photographer and love to capture beauty and live in the moment, but my question to you is: Who is the real artist here? Is it measured by the amount of time spent on your art, or the ability to see and catch perfection on your first try? So, I think you all know the answer to that question, yes I am definitely the one who married up. I think this difference in our personality is why Dave really doesn't enjoy photo shoots, especially when I make him smile 30 times at the same place. To him it is just too easy to take a good photo and so he doesn't understand the need for thirty. Luckily, he is patient with me and keeps smiling for me, even when his jaw begins to ache in the way that only the spouse of a photographer could understand! I couldn't be more thankful for your countless smiles and endless devotion to my proclaimed hobbies, Dave. Thank you, thank you for letting me live my dreams and take endless photos!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, Dave risked his life to get this picture. He had to climb up the stairs of a little hut and there was a spider, not just any spider, ginormous neon spider, right above his head. The amazing part is, he saw it right above him before he took the picture and still completed the project! Amazing, as usual. (See the slide show for a pic of the nasty critter).

We completed our day with a gorgeous sunset from the fortress, overlooking the entire city. This picture is compliments of Sean's great photography skills. (Thanks for letting me borrow it!)