A Merry Christmas to You All! 

We hope this letter finds you well and may the New Year bring you much joy and fulfillment. 

 

This year has been full of surprises for us.

 

JANUARY

We were in Paris to welcome in the New Year. A two week vacation with one week in Paris and another in Rome was a wonderful way to begin 2003.  Mike loved the bread in Paris, Will was amazed by the Louvre, Tim relished eating in the little Roman Piazzas and Sal wants to live in the Vatican.

At the Coliseum

 

FEBRUARY

The US school year continued on with Will in grade 4 and Tim in grade 2. Cub Scouts played a major role in the boy’s activities (as well as Sal’s). Will & Sal went camping for a windy weekend while Mike introduced Tim to golf.

 

Two goofy Cub Scouts

MARCH

Spring Break so we took a week’s vacation in San Diego and stayed at the famous Del Coronado Hotel. Sal & Mike did wonderful impressions of Marilyn Monroe and Carey Grant on the beach.  Will & Tim enjoyed the San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Park. San Diego reminded us of home with all its little coffee shops and eateries.

We camped again with the Cub Scouts.  It was a hectic one as our little group was responsible for organizing it. With great company and good weather, we all have fun.

 

APRIL

Tim played baseball during the Spring. His team was called the ‘Florida Marlins’. In all bar two games the team was undefeated for the season.  Tim brought home a trophy almost as big as himself!

Easter time: so as per tradition, we had a wonderful dinner with the Antolak Family.

 

MAY

A very special day for Tim in May - he made his First Communion.  He certainly looked dashing in his black suit.

 

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Tim with his teacher Jean & best friend Joey (MIB!)

 

We began is say farewell to friends and prepare for the proposed relocation to Moscow during the summer school break.  The school and various groups of friends took us out for meals and gave us lovely farewell gifts.

 

JUNE

Summer holiday began.  Will and Tim had ice-skating lessons to prepare for Moscow….it’s a compulsory P.E. subject at the Moscow International School.

Will spent 3 weeks at DECATS again this summer (day camp for academically gifted kids).  It was very stimulating for him - he choose lots of art subjects and, in contrast, legal studies.  Tim had fun doing a horse-riding day camp at D-Talk Ranch…where Sal rides each week.

 

Tim ‘Doing Poles’ at D-Talk Ranch

 

Mike went to Moscow.  Summer is the busiest time for the project as the weather is at its most suitable to get things done.

 

JULY

We were still hanging out waiting to be relocated.  Now there is talk of us not going to Moscow at all.  During the course of two weeks there were discussion re Russia, UK and Sth. Korea. Sal decided to ignore it all and just let life proceed. 

Mike went back to Moscow after a short visit home. We spent the rest of the summer visiting with friends, doing scouting activities, playing golf and horse riding.

Sally & her dear friend Tracy were commissioned to write a whole school program of service projects for St. Laurence School.  It’s very exciting with suitable service projects designed for pre-school grades through to Year 8. Sal loved working on it as it was such a new challenge.

Red Square, Moscow

 

AUGUST

School began back at St. Laurence. Luckily we had kept our enrollment open!  Everyone was surprised to see us still there but we explained we were ‘Doing A Melba’!  The Boys got fabulous teachers. Will’s teacher did an excellent job in developing his confidence and self-esteem. Tim’s teacher opened up the door to literature for him. 

The School Service Program worked on during July was introduced and embraced by the School community (phew) It is now entered in an American wide competition for School Innovation…results aren’t out yet…fingers crossed!

 

SEPTEMBER

The new school year settles down.  Will joins the School Chess Club again, Tim begins a Cajun cooking class after school and keeps up his weekly horse-riding lessons as well. Mike plays golf each weekend, and Sal horse-rides of course.

 

 

The golfing 4: Pat, his daughter Niki, Mike and Joe.

 

Exxon officially decide not to shift Mike’s department to Moscow…a good decision for Exxon but it doesn’t help us as our visas expire at the end of November. Muttering of us moving to Sth. Korea get stronger

 

OCTOBER

Mike had a two day stop over in Ulsan, Sth. Korea on his way to Singapore.  He came back with some photos and a bit of knowledge of what to expect if we relocation there…“it’s clean and safe”.

Will and Mike had a fun weekend at the ‘Scouting Camporee’.  This is where big Cub Scouts learn about being little Boy Scouts.

 

Will, is being pulled by his friend William on a travois they have made.

October 31st is of course Halloween.  Tim wanted to go ‘Trick or Treating’ with his friend Jaxon so he spent the evening dressed as a Bloodied Skeleton Phantom(?) with the Antolak family. Will wanted to stay home and put on a scary light and sound show for passing ‘trick or treaters’, so Sal stayed home with him.

 

NOVEMBER

On Tuesday the 4th the final word came down that we will relocate to Sth. Korea.  The mad rush begins to pack up and be out of the US by the end of the month.  It’s a scramble to sort out what to take and what to put in storage in OZ, to sell our cars and all electrical appliances, to complete paperwork, have shots, organize schools and say good bye to friends (once again….I’m not sure they believed us!).

In amongst all that we had the school Christmas concert in which Will (being a 5th grader) had a major part and Tim (being a 3rd grader) was in the chorus. The concerts are major productions at St. Laurence and both boys love being in them.

It was great that we could be in the US in November as Will had his birthday with friends and was there for Cub Scout graduation - or Arrow of Light Ceremony. The AOL ceremony was very special as the Cub Scouts each received an arrow which was made by an Apache Indian.  On the arrow is recorded all the boy’s achievements during his time in Cub Scouting.  The ceremony was performed late at night by campfire. Very special!

Graduating Cub Scouts at their Arrow of Light Ceremony

Towards the end of November the packers arrived and before we knew it, we were living in a hotel and out of suitcases.  Our aeroplane out of the US left on the 27th  -  Thanksgiving Day.  Our visas for Korea arrived at 7:30pm on the 26th…Exxon certainly kept us guessing till the last minute!

The Antolak family once again ‘fed and watered’ us with a lovely Thanksgiving meal the evening before we left.

A plane to San Francisco and then on to Hong Kong got us out of the country. 

Hong Kong: full of contrasts

Buddhism meets Catholicism!

We had a day in Hong Kong which was the boys first taste of Asia.  They found it far too busy, noisy and smelly.  (If fact it made Ulsan a lot easier for them to accept!)

 

DECEMBER

Well, here we are in Sth. Korea.  Our apartment is in ‘The Foreigner’s Compound’. 

The city of Ulsan is pretty much owned by the huge manufacturing company: Hyundai. Everyone works for them, drives their cars, shops in their department stores and even Will and Tim go to the ‘Hyundai Foreigner’s School’!

Sth. Korea is quite hilly, so not surprisingly, so is the compound.  It is spread over a large area of land and there are steep walks to get from one block of apartments to another.  Needless to say, we are getting fit...a little! Will and Tim have enormous fun exploring pathways that weave over the hillside rocks and through the pine trees.

Y Block:  we’re on the 2nd level

Our apartment block is one of the newer ones  -  that means it’s twenty years old and is a little tired.  Although not ‘pretty’ on the outside, it’s reasonable neat and tidy on the inside.  It has three bedrooms and comes furnished….but in rather a crazy sort of way because nothing seems to quite fit!  Not even the sheets fit on the beds which are longer but narrower than normal.

The school, which is also on the compound, has four teachers and roughly 45 kids in total.  Will and Tim are in the same multi-aged class (a class of 14)…it’ll take a little time to get use to being together!  The school runs under the British System and is far more lay back than the structure the boys are use to.  They are already enjoying their new lifestyle and have established a number of friendships.

Hyundai Foreign School

Shopping is our greatest difficulty at present.  We are tending to buy any food items that we recognize (not many of those) and anything with a readable label.  It’s hit and miss and lots of fun as we experiment with food.

The compound has tennis courts, squash courts(!), and a clubhouse. Sal has been invited to “join the ladies” at the clubhouse for mahjong on Tuesday afternoons. It looks like she will be trading in her saddle for mahjong tiles …mmm, we’ll see. 

We are flying back to Melbourne for Christmas.  So if you are there between Dec. 20th and Jan. 10th do give us a ring or drop us an email.  We will be staying at Sal’s mum’s house. She kindly went into hospital for a hip replacement so we can stay there…a bit extreme, but you know mothers…they’ll do anything to make you come home! Her phone number is: 9300-3825.

 

To contact us in Sth. Korea:

            mike@the-daytons.net

            will@the-daytons.net  or

            tim@the-daytons.net

            Mike Dayton

            c/o Kizomba Project

            PO Box 50, Dong-Ulsan Post Office

            Dong-ku, Ulsan, South Korea   682-062

If you’re passing by and want to drop in for a cuppa, our address is:

            Y-202, Foreigner’s Compound,

            #260 Seobu-dong

            Dong-ku, Ulsan, Sth. Korea.

 

Well folks, that’s us for 2003.

Have a most wonderful Christmas!

Love from Sally, Mike, Will & Tim.