...where was I?

As I was saying, its been an exciting and busy holiday around here. I mentioned that we had the canine houseguest. We also had human visitors from Portland! My best friend Julie and her boyfriend Travis came for Christmas and New Year. As I expected, Viv and Auntie Ju hit it off quite well. Within a day Viv was calling her "juuuu." Travis has a beard so though Viv loved him, I think she was a little nervous about not being able to see his chin. It is soooo good to see a face from home, a favorite one, at that! Thank you Julie and Travis for making the trip!

Our fabulous fiber-optic Christmas tree made it through its second season. We decorated on Dec 22, right before our friends arrived. Viv was a big help.

Before Christmas, we visited the fish market, one of Busan's most popular attractions. Enormous, busy, tons of identifiable fish (literally), and more tons of unidentifiable sea life that we're not all that interested in eating.

Christmas day itself was perfect. We all got up and opened the gifts Santa left for us. Viv's loot included a cool handmade ball that's easy to pick up and throw (at things in the house!), a wooden dollhouse, a neat doll that you can color with pens then wash and start over again, an easel with chalkboard, whiteboard, and butcher paper roll, and a plush rocking horse.

Christmas afternoon our friends the Christensens from Denmark came for dinner, bringing their family visiting from Denmark. Its always fun when the Christensens are in the house. The kids got to enjoy Christmas TV specials.

The day after Christmas, Mr Lee drove us to some of Korea's best heritage sites. I think I blogged these before, not long after arriving here. We visited Bulguksa temple, Seokguram grotto, and Golgulsa temple where the Buddhist monks learn Sunmudo, the traditional Buddhist martial art. Didn't know there was one, did you?

Lets see, what came next? I think it was when the canine houseguest almost died. She started peeing in the house all of a sudden, and just feelinng a little down, so after a couple of days of hemming and hawing, I finally took her to the vet. He did an abdominal ultrasound and rushed her into surgery to remove her enormous, pus-filled uterus (pyometra). He saved her life because if it had ruptured...oy that's an ugly thought. She is recuperating nicely and will come home today....

Enough for now! Check the Flickr page soon for more photos!