The Beach, An Anniversary and Holidays

Liquor Burger and its various events have kept Jeong Mi and I very busy since the move to the new location. It really has been a dream move, thus far. The new place provides us enough tables and space for everyone, and the non-smoking in the bar has been received very well.

We were also fortunate to have some family visits recently. Obviously, my parents were in the country. We also got to spend time with Jeong Mi's sister, Limmy, who stuck around for about 3 months.

As the day-to-day tasks of the bar sort of run themselves, it's the extra stuff that really pushes us.

Hakampo Beach (August)
We dragged our feet a bit on putting the LB Summer Trip together. People are just so busy during the summer. So in August, we finally found a good date and location.

We took 45 people to a beach south west of Incheon. The location was incredible. The water was warm and clean and we had a large patch of the beach all to ourselves. It was a really great time.

See all the beach pictures here.

Liquor Burger 2-Year Anniversary (September)
We celebrated our two-year anniversary in September with a big party and magic show. Tons of our friends turned out for the fun. And S-Five and his friend put on a really incredible show for everyone.

It's amazing that two years has flown by so fast. We're so fortunate to have had things go so well for us. It's largely due to the neighborhood and the people living here. It's a special place.

See anniversary pictures here.

Chuseok 2013 (September)
Chuseok this year carried a sadder tone due to the recent passing of Jeong Mi's mother. The family celebration was kept just to immediate family this time around. We went to her parents' house with Jeong Mi's brother and his wife and son.

We did the usual Chuseok ceremonies and meals. We also took a couple days off from LB. It was relaxing for us.

Check out Chuseok pictures here.

LB Halloween 2013
For Halloween this year, we were fortunare enough to have two great parties.

First, we took a trip last week to a pension in Gangwhado -- northwest of Incheon. It was a great house out in the countryside. We took 35 people who all wore great costumes. It was a ton of fun.

See the pension trip pictures here.

Also, thanks to the timing of Halloween as a midweek event, we held our own Halloween party at LB in Yeonsu. We had a huge turnout of our Yeonsu friends and people from Chadwick International School. Once again, we saw a lot of great costumes and had a really good time.

Check out LB's Yeonsu party pics here.

Hedwig
We saw the musical Hedwig today. The performers did a great job, but I didn't really like it very much. Oh well. It was nice to get to a cultural event. We really want to do a Cho Yong Pil concert in December. He's one of my very favorite Korean singers.

Upcoming
November and December have been busy for us the last couple of years. We'll do Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. We also would very much like to visit her sister and my family in America this winter. So the hunt for tickets begins for that.

Other than that, it's just plugging along here at LB. And that's not a bad thing!

Big Moves, Big Trips, Family and More!

May 2013 - Big Tree

In May, we took 42 people on another overnight trip. This time we went to the countryside in Gimpo to a place called Big Tree. It's an awesome log cabin. Unfortunately, rain once again joined our LB trip. But we had a great time. We drank, ate, played Trivia and danced the night away. It was really good.

Check out more Big Tree pics by clicking here!


May/June - The Liquor Burger Move

For those of you who don't know, Liquor Burger has upgraded a bit. We got out of our lease a couple months early, starting in May, and moved right around the corner to a third floor location. The new space is about twice the size of the old space. We had a little money saved up this time around, so we could put a little more into our interior and renovations.

It has resulted in something really great for us and our friends and customers. The new place is cleaner and nicer. And due to a new law that started in July, the size of LB means that it is no smoking now. Our smoking friends can go to the stairwell, where we installed a fan. It's a little inconvenient for them, but Jeong Mi and I are pretty happy with the lack of smoke in the bar.

Other that that, it's just business as usual with new LB. It's as fun as ever.

Check out more construction pics here!!!

Check out more new LB pics here!!!


June - Parents come once again

To help celebrate our 2-year wedding anniversary and my birthday, my parents once again took the excruciating flight to South Korea. We went a little slower this time so hey could actually get some rest. It was necessary for us as well, considering we had to run the bar while they were here.

But we had plenty of time to see Jeong Mi's family and get to a lot of sporting events. We took them to their first soccer game. And, thanks to our good friend Denny, we took them to futsal and kickboxing events at the Incheon Asian Indoor Games. Denny very generously got us some free tickets. The sports were really fun.

We also got out to Pocheon Lake -- my favorite place in Korea. All in all, we had a really great time again.

Check out more pics from my parents' visit here!!!

August - Pentaport Rock Festival

Once again, Pentaport Rock Festival returned to Songdo. Five years ago, it was in old Songdo. It was just a 5 minute cab ride away. Then it went to another area of Incheon for three years. It would've taken at least 2 hours to get there. But this year it was back in New Songdo, so we had to go.

My friends Geoff, Brent and I went on Saturday and met up with a few of our buddies, Dave and Evan. On Sunday, Geoff, Eun Hye, Q and I took the trip again. All the bands were a lot of fun, and Fall Out Boy put on a great show on Sunday night. As long as this festival is in New Songdo, I'll go every year.

Check out more Pentaport pics here!!!


Coming up - Hakamdo Beach

At the end of August is our Summer Trip to the beach. We're already a quarter of the way full. We're taking another 40 people for an overnight party together. We're really looking forward to it!

Other than that, life just keeps moving along for us with Liquor Burger. We don't have any big plans for the future. But as long as LB is going well, we're very happy.

Spring is Here ... Right?

It seems that the longest winter in Korean history is coming to a close. We've had a couple nice days here and there, but the weather was practically summer at the beginning of April last year.

Our lives have been filled to the brim with work and play. And all has been going well.

Pocheon Lake

Back in the middle of winter, we made another trip out to Pocheon. It's my favorite place in Korea and was awesome to see during the winter months. The lake was totally frozen over. Summer is nicer for hanging outside, but to be out in the middle of nowhere on a crisp winter night is incredibly refreshing.

Pocheon Lake in the Winter

Fun at LB

We've been doing a ton of new activities at LB. Our dart leagues, movie night and trivia are the staples, but we want to do as much as possible to include everyone in Yeonsu in the fun.

We're going on a Spring trip in a month, but the winter weather has kept us inside. So we put on Bozoot's third concert and a magic show with our Korean buddy S-Five.

Bozoot 3

S-Five's Magic Show

Soccer and Baseball Seasons

Easily the best part of the spring and summer in Korea is that we get to hang outside with buddies at sporting events. Tickets are cheap and the beer flows freely.

This year, Incheon United has started strong. Unfortunately, the Wyverns have had a very shaky beginning to the season. While I want to see the teams win, I'm more than happy just taking in the sunlight after the terrible winters here.

Incheon United

Incheon Wyverns

Frisbee at the Jeju Dirty Dozens Tournament

The best part of the year so far is definitely the Ultimate Frisbee tournament. As some of you may know, I play frisbee most Sundays at the International School the next neighborhood over. It's generally just a fun pickup game with a bunch of good people.

But this year, we entered a team in an ultimate frisbee tournament down in Jeju Island. We were in the C Division, because we've never been in the tourney before and no one knew if we were any good.

Well, we not only were good, but we didn't lose a game the whole weekend. We went 5-0 down there, including beating two B division teams. We probably had a chance to win the B Division, had we not all had to leave early to catch our flights home.

I've traveled all over Korea in the 5 years I've been here, but this is one of the best trips on which I've gone. The team was a great group of guys and girls, and Jeong Mi and her friend came along, as well.

Jeju Tournament Pics

Personal Life

Though my life is largely public now, there are some personal things going on.

The Good:

My time teaching at Hambak Elementary School has come to an end. I had a great three years there, but it's such a nice feeling to be working at the bar only. I may take on some private lessons, but life is pretty comfy right now.

The Bad:

I was in my first taxi accident here. Coming home from frisbee a few weeks ago, three other guys and I were riding in a cab when some dummy tried to make a U-turn from the far right lane. The lady crossed directly into our path and we rammed them. Fortunately, no one was hurt on either side. It was just a fine example of the lack of spatial awareness of Koreans.

In other bad news, Jeong Mi's mom isn't feeling too hot right now. For the sake of some privacy, we won't go into details. But she's been in the hospital for about a month now. She got out briefly, but then had to go back in today. So if you read this, please send some positive thoughts her way.

The Future

As I already mentioned, we have a big trip planned for the spring. We're going to an awesome, huge log cabin to play with our LB friends.

The big news is that in the next few months, we'll be moving the bar. We've looked at a few places in the area already. We still have some time, but the day of the move is getting closer. We definitely aren't planning on leaving Yeonsu-dong. This neighborhood has been a great home for us. We may only move a block or two away.

Either way, the nice weather is almost here and these are exciting times here at LB!