The Culverhouse’s in Korea - Oct 2003
Have we got news for you this time!!
The last update ended with us just back from Bali, saying what a wonderful time we had, well we learnt soon after that it had been quite a productive holiday too (or should we say reproductive!).
Yes Lyra fell pregnant whilst in Bali! It was a bit of a surprise but we are over the moon and looking forward to February when our new addition is due (3rd to be exact).
Ly is coping very well with pregnancy; she is now 24 weeks gone and has a great bump! The Docs say everything is spot on, so we hope it remains this way!
This news obviously meant having a serious look at life and we decided that we wanted to be in our next assignment before the baby was born to ensure we could be as settled as possible.
A few calls were made to let my Boss know the situation and discuss opportunities and I was offered the position of Head of Distribution for Czech Republic & Slovakia. I happily agreed to take the position as it’s the type of role I wanted next and it is in a fabulous location, namely Prague.
So as soon as we could, we flew over to Prague and had a look around, met with the local team to discuss the role and found a house to live in (after checking out the Pre & Post Natal Care).
We leave Korea on the 23rd October, we will be sad to leave as it has been an incredible experience both personally and professionally. Having said that, the time feels right, many of our friends here have also moved on in recent months so we feel ready to take up the next challenge.
Anyway, all of this has not slowed us down; in fact we haven’t stopped since we last wrote. The Queens Birthday Ball was held in early June (the day after we found out the Ly was pregnant!). It was the usual glitzy affair, although a new experience for Lyra as she had to stay sober! The night was themed on Peter Pan and was pretty spectacular. Lots of friends were there and it was a brilliant evening.
Late June brought Stephi out to Korea for 10 days, she was ready for a week or so of partying, but with our development she had to settle for shopping (which of course she managed like a pro). We also spent a weekend with Stephi up in the mountains at Soraksan, and chilled on the beach at Naksansa, which was great.
July was our ‘look-see’ trip to Prague and we managed a few days in the UK which was nice as we got to catch up with many of you. Once we were back in Korea we had an afternoon at the theatre (Ly was a bit sleepy in the evenings around this time). SH Lee, the CEO of Samsung Tesco had kindly got us tickets to see Chicago as a thank you for my successful implementation of the new Distribution Centre. It was the West End production and was excellent, we really enjoyed it.
As we rolled into August, I had 2 weeks of work in Thailand; Lyra was able to join me so while I slaved away at work she topped up her tan!! Whilst over there we did a weekend trip to Cambodia to see the ancient temples at Angkor Wat. It was a truly amazing place, the temples were breathtaking, and Cambodia itself was fascinating, including the hilarious bureaucracy at the airport to get visas, it took 6 customs officers to complete!! The temples were over 1000 years old and had been rediscovered after being lost to the jungle, they are in an area of about 18 sq/km but can only be visited with a guide as the area still has many land mines left over from the Khmer Rouge days.
During our stay in Thailand we were offered a free trip down to Phuket, which we happily agreed to, it was at the Marriott Beach Club. Fantastic place, we loved it so much we joined the beach club there, so will be going back for many years to come!!
We had a day’s rest when we got back to Korea, then it was Irene & Michael’s turn to come to Korea, and boy did they bring the rain! In two weeks we barely saw the sun! We must take our (rain) hats off to them though, they didn’t let it dampen their spirits and they packed in an endless amount of sightseeing including the DMZ, temples, the Seoul Tower, and a weekend in Soraksan. Lyra & I met them in Soraksan and had a great time trudging through the monsoons!
The two weeks they were in Korea flew by and we had a lot of fun, we won’t forget it, and I’m pretty sure they won’t either!
The day we sent Michael and Irene packing, we also flew to Australia, it was the one place we had to visit before leaving but with time running out we had to go earlier than we had planned and arrived on the first day of spring in Sydney! The sun was out, although it was a bit crisp, we spent a week with Millie & Ed, who met in Korea before they moved on last year. It was great to catch up with them again and we spent a week lunching at all the best restaurants around Sydney, bloody marvellous!
After a couple of days in the Blue Mountains we spent 5 days driving north to the warmer weather! Stopped on the way at Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay. We fell in love with Byron, great beaches, wonderfully warm, and even spent the morning watching dolphins play in the surf from the headland.
Eventually we arrived in Brisbane where we stayed with Mick, Kylie, and their kids Jake & Ellie, they too are Ex Seoul expats and seeing them again was brilliant and a good introduction to living with kiddies! Although if they are as good and entertaining as Jake & Ellie then we’ve got nothing to worry about, it was an absolute blast.
While in Brisbane we went to Dream World and played with the tigers, we also spent a couple of days on Moreton Island (now famous for being Spooky Island in Scooby Doo!). We stayed at the Tangalooma dolphin resort and after a very rough boat trip over, I braved the very cold and rough water to feed the dolphins (Lyra opted for camerawoman, which was a good choice!) and we went whale watching. What a great experience, was saw about 10 humpback whales some extremely close up as they came up right beside the boat, just incredible!
Two and half weeks passed by so quickly, we loved Oz and will definitely go back, but it was time to meet Abi & Mark in Phuket for a weekend of luxury in the sun. Well we arrived about 12 hours before Abi & mark, the sun was shining and we crashed out by the pool all day. That evening the sun went down, Abi & Mark arrived, and the sun never came out again for 3 days!! The rainy season gave us its worst for the rest of our time in Phuket. Never mind!!
We brought Abi & Mark back to Korea, the sun was out and all was fine again except……Mark had to endure some serious shopping! Unfortunately I had to go to work so poor Mark was dragged through all the markets. Abi successfully pulled Korea out of recession for a few days with her incredible ability to buy, well just about everything she saw really!! I think we are going to need an extra container to bring all back for them!!
Stephi flew back again whilst Abi & mark were here and added to shopping antics…Mark had to retire to Itaewon and have the stress squeezed out of him with a Thai massage.
Our leaving party was on Sat 27th Sept while the guys were still here; it was a really great chilled out night (mainly due to Lyra’s soberness) so no chronic hangovers thankfully.
Well those guys left a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve been getting ready to leave ever since, buying all those things we said we’d get but never got round to it, and packing up the house.
The 23rd is getting ever closer and our new chapter is about to begin, our final days will be spent seeing as many of our friends as possible. We have had 21 months of amazing & bizarre experiences, we have met a bunch of great people who we hope can stay in touch with, and a head full of memories that we won’t ever forget.
That’s about it, sorry I’ve rambled on so much but the last few months have been so busy, we just had to tell you all about it.
We will resume our updates once we’re settled in Prague, although we need a new name as The Culverhouse’s in Prague doesn’t have the same ring to it!! Any ideas??
Our new address for those who want it is….
Na Michovkách II / 690,
252 43 Pruhonice,
Czech Republic
I am hoping to have my new mobile no. before we go, but we will also have Lyra’s UK mobile on for emergencies which is 07710 977558.
As for email we will keep using lyraculverhouse@hotmail.com and sungbukdan@yahoo.com so please keep in touch.
Cheers for now, love,
Dan, Lyra, Bump, and the Mogs. Xxxxxxxxx