2008 In Review: The Top 10

Playing off of a fantastic idea from K+B's blog, we've decided to share with you all a few of our highlights from the past year. These events and happenings are in no particular order, yet all of them have played a tremendous roll in making 2008 an outstanding year.

• Visitors. We were delighted that both of our parents ( Andrus and Olson) and our good friend Katrina managed to make it over to explore a little of Korea with us. Dr. Fish (a foot spa where fish actually eat the dead skin from your soaking feet), ancient Korean palaces and cuisine, as well as a trip to each Beijing, China and Jeju Island, South Korea were a few of the excitements that we were able to share with our precious visitors.
• North Korea. Furthering our travels, Trev and I managed to get into one of the world's most secluded countries for a second peek at the North Korean way of life. Visiting Kaesong was both heart wrenching and amazing.
• Mud Fest. Before leaving Korea, we were blessed to have spent a muddy weekend on the beach with our friends who had become our tight-knit family while in Korea.
• Printed Fame. After two faithful years of blogging we finally managed to land a spot in a newspaper... or two... or three, to be exact. We've now written travel sections for a paper in London six times(The East), been interviewed for one of the major papers in Seoul (Maeil Business) and made an appearance in a local Korean paper (Jung-gu District).
• Hong Kong + Macau. I was able to visit one of my oldest friends at her home in Hong Kong this summer. We spent days cliff diving, exploring the jungles and wandering the narrow streets. While we spent the evenings talking, laughing and crying. It was a wonderful time of reminiscing and memory making.
• So Long Korea. After over 2 years in Korea we decided that it was time to head home and catch up with family. It was hard to leave the life and bonds of friendship that we'd been blessed with. But alas, we are home and are learning, even now, to bloom where we are planted.
• Oceania + Asia Trip. We were fortunate enough, upon leaving Korea, to travel for about 4 months around New Zealand, Australia, and South-eastern Asia (IDN, SGP, MYS, THA, LAO, KHM, VNM, Macau and Hong Kong). It was a trip that was too amazing for words. You can check out our travels from August on wards. We hope to have the rest of the trip-blogs finished up shortly.
• Boat Trip. Possibly the most amazing adventure that we've had to date, our boat trip into the back islands and reefs of Indonesia was nothing short of miraculous.
• Family Christmas. It was amazing to be able to spend so much time over the holidays with our loved ones (Olson & Andrus Christmas). We enjoyed the kids, the catching up, the card games, the blizzard conditions outside, the traditions and of course the food.
• Canadian Rocky Mountains. Since being home we've been learning that our homeland has so much to offer in the way of spectacular sights and travel. So far we've been able to make it out to the mountains twice; once for Trev's birthday and once for a reunion with Eddy (one of our closest friends from Korea). What an amazing thing it is to be able to show off your magnificent home to your friends from abroad.

Below we've posted a short video of our Korean Memories. Hope you enjoy!!