A family who has two kids at Wesley Mission School took all the teachers for an overnight at the beach on Anmyeon Island, just off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.

While it was a very short trip, it was nice to head out of town and relax for a little while, and all of us were very thankful for this family's generosity.

Here are a few photos from the weekend. First, yours truly with the beach (low tide) on Friday evening. It was really foggy, but trust me, the Yellow Sea (or "West Sea," as it's known in Korea) is behind me. Due west across the Yellow Sea is China.

It was low tide while I was out walking on the beach and taking pictures, so I got to explore some marvelous tidepools. I found a few beached starfish and relocated them to some of the deeper pools so they wouldn't dry out. The starfish were thankful, I think, but the little creatures they eat weren't quite so pleased. Here's a look at a starfish and some anemones in the tidepools.

The rocks in the photo below are known as the grandmother and grandfather rocks, and apparently it's quite a sight to position yourself so you can see the sunset between them in the fall. At high tide, the water covers the rocks between them. I walked right up to the base of both big rocks before heading back to the hotel for lunch this afternoon.On my walk back to the hotel, I passed several fresh seafood stands set up on the beach. They sold octopus, sea slugs, and shellfish, collected that very morning. Here's a look in an octopus tub.Now here's the . . . fun? . . . part--well, not for the octopus. If you decide you want an octopus, you get to pick it live out of the tub. They put in on a cutting board and chop it into little pieces, and you eat it raw--and still twitching, I imagine. How's that for a nice snack? I have to say, I didn't have the guts to try it. Actually, I felt a little sorry for the octopus! (Little piece of trivia, did you know the plural of "octopus" is "octopodes"?) That's all for now.