Posts are like buses...

Yes, here is yet another post to make up for my lack of posts recently. So aaaggeeesss ago I went to Seoul to see  (drum roll) WICKED!!!! That's right how amazing!




The night before we stayed over and ended up going to a pub that was so much like being in England it was unbelievable! They had the English pub smell, carpet and I'm pretty sure they hired typically English people to sit in there for authenticity!

Me, Hannah and the witches!!!

The scary dragon!!!

There's no place like home!

Galinda- with a Ga!

Elphie

Needless to say it was absolutely amazing - especially Defying Gravity!!! It was the Australian cast and they were epic!!! In a couple of weeks I'm going back to the Seoul to see Chicago with a Korean cast which will be great!!!!









The weekend after my Seoul trip I was off to Boryong to experience the Mud Festival!!!!It is such a strange concept- get a load of mud and people will come!!! And go we did! there were inflatables to run on, a place where people just painted each other, a place to get painted with colored mud, a jail where you could get mud thrown at you and a mud-wrestling pit! There was drinks free flowing and no personal boundaries! You get mus everywhere (places you don't even know you have), but luckily they do it right next to the beach so you can just go in the sea to wash off or the big swimming pool that is provided.

Clean

Dirty

Painting each other

Mud wrestling!

I have also been experiencing some typically Korean activities, for example I went for acupuncture where they use suction cups and needles with an electric current! I thought I dealt with it quite well but it wasn't exactly relaxing but my back did feel a bit better after. When I got home I had six large red circles on my back where the suction cups had been- I looked like a number six on a die! I have also been to a K-POP (Korean pop) dance class to get some exercise! It was so funny, and yes before anyone asks we did dance to Gangnam style! This year has been one for the records as we have had the hottest day, coldest day and the other day had the biggest typhoon. I was expecting a terrifying few days with the typhoon but it turned out to be little more than a spot of rain and a gust of wind. I thought it was a bit of an over-reaction until I was told that the typhoon had luckily avoided Daegu -phew!

There has also been a couple of changes in the last few months. Hannah, one of my close friends has moved away from Daegu to a more rural area which is cool because I get to go visit her and hear some of the funny stories she has to tell, but I also miss our weekday coffees! Also two of my close friends Lauren and Rami have moved back to the US and so they are sorely missed!!!One thing that has stayed the same is that I have been going to my friend from work's (Devon's) gigs as he is in 3 bands which has resulted in some great nights out and brilliant music.


The other week there was an amazing body-painting festival where you could watch the models being painted before and then watch the cat-walk. Then on the night there were some great fireworks! Here is just some of the amazing body-painting:

There were so many I couldn't put them all on, but you can see how beautiful they were! There was even a Madagascar themed design but I unfortunately don't have a picture of it, but I imagine my nephew would have loved it!!!!

I hope you have enjoyed catching up with my recent goings-on :)! Love to England and all its inhabitants!!!!

I got Seoul but I saw some soldiers!

So my birthday was on the 12th which was a Wednesday and we went out for the regular Tuesday party and at 12 my lovely friends from work presented me with various cakes and sang happy birthday!

Surprise!

The Wednesday I opened my presents on the morning (thanks to everyone who sent things and gave me things, it made my day : D) and got a round of applause from my students for being alive this long which, because it's me, is quite an achievement. The absolute best news I had was that my brother was coming to Seoul with his friends in celebration of our joint birthday!!!

So on the Friday night straight after work I headed to the train station to catch the KTX to Seoul! I got there and on seeing Chris did the dramatic slow motion run toward him. I met his two mates, Dan and Graham (aka Widge). We headed back to the hotel and had a Cass (one of the few beers that is widely available alongside Hite and Max), no not a regular Cass but a lemon Cass (classy I know)! We sat outside the hotel and had a chat about what we were going to do and decided on going to Everland (an amusement park just outside of Seoul) the next day. The hotel was amazing and it was one of the comfiest best I have ever slept in.

The next day the journey to Everland was EPIC! We not only got the subway and a taxi (which I tried to tell the driver that we wanted to go to Neverland)but then two buses (one of which was 40 minutes long with only standing room available)! We actually ended up in waiting a while for a bus in Gangnam which has given us some negative feelings towards it despite the awesome song (if you haven't heard it, check it out - Gangnam Style)When we got there it was great, they were celebrating  Halloween (random) but enjoyable as they had creepy but funny music on. We went on a wooden roller-coaster which held the record for being wooden and having the steepest drop - it was AWESOME! There was also a wildlife area with beautiful tigers, bears and sea-lions among other animals.

 

 Me and Dan waited do long for the steepest drop we died and came back as zombies.

This water ride was made by the park attendants doing an awesome camp KPOP dance!!! We were mesmerized!













Some brotherly love being displayed there!

                                                                                     




The record-breaker! The steepest drop on a wooden roller-coaster in the world!

Everland offered a good display of, in my opinion, Korea's best fashion phenomenon - matching couples!!!! There were so many at the theme park that we nick-named them MCs. The winner of the day though, was the great effort here that Chris is discreetly trying to get in the background of this photo - notice the matching bow-ties!

My future pet !!!!

 We were absolutely cream-crackered when we ready to come away and so we got a taxi ride home -much easier than the way there!

There was time for a quick nap and then we were out hitting the town in Itaewon (the foreigner are in Seoul)! We ate at an Outback Steakhouse (very Korean eh?) and hit a few bars. Then we ended up in a club called Circus where a waiter could juggle like there was no tomorrow! They also had steps leading up to the bar for people to dance on and they poured drink into people's mouths! At one point they set the whole bar on fire!!!

A birthday shot!!

Amazement at Newcastle Brown Ale in Korea!!!

Chris doing his male modelling bit!

The next day, feeling a little bit fragile but not too bad, we headed off on a trip to the DMZ! We got in a little mini-van with our Korean guide who spoke excellent English and her English name was Eugene. On the way there we learnt that some mini-arches that were over the roads are called tank traps and are there in order to be blown up if any North Korean tanks try to get through. There are also barriers in the Han river to stop submarines. When we got to the outskirts of the tour area we changed to the official bus that was to take to the main DMZ. In this are it was quite strange because it is so close to danger area but they had a full on fair with rides and entertainers. We got on the bus and it took us across a bridge where we could see another bridge called The Cow Bridge, because to help North Korea the head of Hyundai (who is North Korean) sent hundreds of cows across this bridge to aid the hunger there. Our first port of call was a train station only just inside of South Korea that is completely empty!!! It  was like a post-apocalyptic scene; a station fully built and ready to go but completely deserted because of the severed connection between the North and South. 

North Korea

Us pushing the North and South together!

We then went to our next stop where you can see into North Korea, but you cannot take pictures to close to the barrier, there was a line you had to stand behind to take a picture. Eugene told us that the North Korean flag is a little bit higher than the South Korean flag because they each kept trying to get their flag that tiny bit higher than the other, but South Korea stopped this petty feud. We next went to a tunnel that connected to the tunnel that the North Koreans had tried to dig right into Seoul until they were caught. The South Koreans caught them because they had intelligence that they were digging a tunnel and so they drilled holes and put water in them so when the North Koreans set dynamite off, the water would shoot out. On being caught the North Koreans claimed they weren't trying to invade, but dig for coal...despite it not being a coal mine and it not being in North Korea but South Korea!

Just casually stood near a mine

 It was  a great and interesting trip that bizarrely ended up in an amethyst jewelers  (we think Eugene must have known the lady who owned it as it had nothing to do with the North/South divide).





On the Sunday evening we went to an amazing show called Nanta. It's primarily a drumming show but it is cookery themed and it is also a kind of comedy! The combination of being the only westerners and being on the front row resulted in two of us being picked to participate. Graham was chosen to take part in the competition between the left and right side of the audience (and obviously won- wooo blues!!!). I was picked for a more embarrassing role however, one of the characters got 'stuck' in a bin and asked me to help him get out which I obviously couldn't do! Just when I was getting desperate and calling for Chris (what else are big brothers for if not to help their sisters pull strange men out of bins), the main guy waved me away and was miraculously able to stand up quite easily - what a fool I was eh?!

So for me that concluded the activities and I left on the Monday morning and the lads stayed on until the early hours of Tuesday! It was such a great weekend! Thanks to Dan, Graham and of course my Big Bro!!!!
The celebrations don't end there as some awesome friends have been organizing a night out for this weekend :D! Thanks to everyone who has made this birthday so special!!!

Temple stay

I have been doing quite a lot of different stuff that I have forgotten to document (a lot of it before England, but I got so excited, I had to write about England first) So these next few posts will be very random.

Temple stay:

For those who don't know what one is (like I didn't), this is where you can go and live with the monks for a weekend! Me and a few went and stayed at Haeinsa temple. We got there a bit early and we were able to have a good look around. It is beautiful!!! There is a pond there called 'The Pond of Reflection' (Yeongji), and it is said that the Royal Queen of the Gaya Kingdom had seven sons, but could not climb the mountain to where they were practising Buddhism. So, she prayed to Buddha to let her see her seven sons through the pond of reflection, to watch over them.

There is also this statue made so you can be at one with Buddha, and I thought I fit right in:

So we go to sign in for the temple stay and we are put in our monk clothes which could be even more comfortable than pyjamas!!!

Me and Jason camouflaged

We then had a group talk where we were taught how to meditate; you sit on your cushion in a lotus or half lotus position and place one hand inside the other (palms facing up) and then connect thumbs. We also had to do this hand position when we walked anywhere. Later we walked to the main temple and had a service with the monks. Here we had to do three bows which was nothing compare to the 108 bows we had to do later! You do 108 bows to purify yourself daily (needless to say I only did it this one time). The math is that there are 6 sense organs in Buddhism: eyes, ears, tongue, nose, body and the sixth being the mind. These organs then create reactions which turn into emotions: likes turn to joy, dislikes turn to sorrow and neutral feelings turn to indifference. This then multiplied  by three for past, present and future; so there you have it 6 (sense organs) X 6 (reactions and emotions) X 3 (past, present, future) = 108!!! They played a CD so you know why you prostrate (not to be confused prostate) each time.

My favorite part of the temple stay had to be getting up at 3:00 am (no I'm not being sarcastic) because it was so quiet and beautiful and we went to watch 4 monks play this MASSIVE drum. One monk would bow to the drum and start playing and then move to one side of the drum while another monk would come and they would play together until the first monk left. I cannot possible convey the skill of these monks and how majestic they looked when they throw out their arms, robes billowing, to strike the edges of the drum.

In the eating hall you had to bow to Buddha and you weren't allowed to talk. You were also only supposed to take the amount of food that you can eat and no more which was a problem for me as people know my eyes are bigger than my belly and I tend to stuff food into my pouches and chew really slowly through my food; this occasion was no exception! Luckily at this temple stay they did not wash all the unclean plates and then make us drink the dirty dishwater because of not clearing our plates!

We also had an amazing tour and talk with the head monk, he was adorable! He told us all about the Buddhist way of thinking and also some funny anecdotes about Hae-In-Sa. The mountain used to have many fires and the temple was always in danger but to counteract the fire they started filling the rock with salt and they haven't had a fire since. This has resulted in a ritual of the monks traveling round the mountains and filling rocks with salt, which is then stolen by the old ladies who follow them and take the salt home to use in their cooking! He also told us that some of the new monks have tasks such as not talking for a year or some of them are not allowed to look at the sky for over a year! Later we got to meditate with this head monk and I accidentally fell asleep but managed to keep my posture in place (the only time I think my posture has been in place)!

We also went on a beautiful hike up to what they call a monastery which is just a little version of the temple we stayed at and it was beautiful. Hae-In-Sa is also the home to the Tripitaka Koreana which is the Buddhist teachings on the slates that they used for printing books. There were sssooo many of them and it took one monk 16 years to finish one as he had to bow in between making each character!

It was an amazing weekend! I have to say sorry because I think I have left things out and also due to the tone of the weekend, I didn't feel right taking photos.

There and back again: not quite a hobbit's tale by Katie Menezes

Well, once again I have been neglecting my duties of informing the good people of England (and elsewhere) what I have been up to. This post will be quite the instalment (feel free not no read all of it as it goes on for aaaagggeesss) as I visited the green green grass of home (I must stop quoting famous things as I am sure I am in breech of a copyright law)! That's right I went to England!!!

It all started when I found out that there was a national holiday lasting three days from the 30th of July to the 1st of August; these days happened to be a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and I had two days holiday left. When I looked, if I used my last two holiday days on the Thursday and Friday, these dates coincided with the wedding of my fake big sis, Natalie Robbo (or should I say Mrs McDermot)! So I asked the head of my department (aka my friend San :D) if I could please bend the rules to go home for this week, and being the nice guy he is, he said I could! So the plotting began...

The tickets were booked, but despite my efforts I was unable to get in contact with my Fairy Godmother (aka Aunty Linda, who is also the bride's mother!). In the end I was able to get her e-mail address, and to be sure no prying eyes could see the contents of the e-mail, I entitled it 'TOP SECRET: FOR FAIRY GODMOTHER'S EYES ONLY'. Throughout the whole process of the surprise I had the magic dust of my FGM to help me along. She helped me squeeze my way on to the same table as my Mum at the wedding, informed me that Mum had booked a trip to London the weekend of my arrival (that's right!) and also kept the secret up until the last moment when she had to tell Uncle Derek, as quite rightly she said 'if anyone is going to notice the numbers are out for the wedding, it's an accountant'!

And so the journey begins...
I was lucky enough to have a travel partner for the first stage of my journey; me and my co-worker, Devon, were both travelling home at the same time and so we shared a taxi at half 6 on Saturday morning. I was glad to have him there as the ticket officer said that the bus that we were planning on taking us to Seoul Airport was fully book for the whole day -PANIC! Luckily, Devon was calm and apparently on the outside so was I. We went across to the train station opposite and got a train to Seoul and then took the airport rail-road to the airport itself. We actually got there at a better time and we were able to grab some lunch together. So I then had around a 5 hour to China where I then had a 15 (yes, you read right, 15) hour layover! Previously, when I booked my ticket the company I booked through rang me and asked me to Google if I needed a Visa or not (it turned out I did not)! I had met a lovely girl two days before travelling and found out by coincidence we were going to be in the same airport at the same time, so we arranged to meet at the golden arches (McDonald's)in the airport when my plane got in !!! Anyway I get to China and get told to stay in the tiny cordoned off are (again- PANIC). All of a sudden, all the memories of reading about horror stories where in this same airport people had been put in a tiny room for 10 hours!!! So I asked the lady if I was only allowed in the tiny are she had placed me in, and she replied "No, just wait here for your hotel"...? I hadn't booked a hotel, but I was then informed that they had booked me into one free of charge without telling me! So my plans with my new friend weren't going to happen, but I was relieved at the thought of a bed and a shower. Due to the strict VISA rules I assumed that the hotel would be in the airport, but after an alarming five minutes when someone had taken my boarding pass away, I was on a bus travelling 30 minutes away from the airport, boarding pass in hand. I had made friends with some lovely people and when we had found our rooms we all ventured out into the streets of China to find some food. One girl had to do a quick (and might I say mighty shady) money exchange deal with the doorman, who stepped outside to do it, which makes me think that it wasn't totally above board. After nearly dying from motorbikes and cars, having a lovely meal in a little shack (that to this day I have no idea what it was), seeing the streets of China littered with plastic, and lastly having a lovely chat with one of the girls I met, I went to bed. The 11 hour flight to Heathrow was as you would expect (apart from accidentally cuddling up to an old Korean man in my sleep) and then I was in London, nearly skipping through customs where I got a lovely 'welcome home' from the man. I was beaming just to see Western people en mass (which of course I wasn't used to and through force of habit was smiling at everyone Western as I do when I'm in Daegu), understanding what people were saying and so excited to see familiar faces. I got a train to Paddington, a free ride on the tube (courtesy of a stranger - thank you, whoever you are) and then I caught an earlier train to Darlington as I had allowed two extra hours for the Olympics and wasn't hindered by them at all . One problem, I had no way of telling Aunty Linda I had got an earlier train as for some stranger reason they have removed all the pay phones in Kings Cross! I was able to get in touch with Aunty Linda though, thanks to a lovely Ukrainian woman I sat next to on the train -thank you to you!!!My long journey took me two whole days all in all, and ended in a slow-motion run and hug to my lovely Fairy Godmother!

The surprises....
The initial plan was to surprise the Robbo clan the next day on the Monday, after picking my Mum up from the station on her return from her London weekend, at a little tea party. I was going to hide upstairs and then Natalie and Jimmy  were going to come up on the pretence of collecting a rather large present (as Aunty Linda said, 'they will go up and Katie will reveal herself'! Haha not literally of course). However, due to my early arrival the bride to be was at Aunty Linda's house, and so I waited outside around the corner for two minutes as instructed while Aunty Linda went in (it was the longest two minutes ever!). I walked up to the house, relieved to see that the blinds had been closed so they wouldn't see me, and I went in. Natalie had heard the door and called 'hiya', thinking it was Stu (her brother). Not wanting Nat to hear my voice, Aunty Linda replied 'hiya' (leaving Natalie quite perplexed). I walked casually round the corner and just said 'hiya' and quite casually Natalie replied 'hiya', immediately followed by a sharp intake of breath and then hugs and tears ensued! It was about ten minutes before I got to say hi to Uncle Derek. The whole journey was totally worth it just for those few seconds alone! Natalie later remarked that the biggest shock was that Uncle Derek had got out of his chair to close the blinds!

Next on the list was Aunty Evelyn: the same set up and the exact same result- like Grandmother, like Granddaughter!

The next one was Mum!!!!! I was so excited. Aunty Linda was due to pick Mum up from Darlington station at 4:00 pm, so after we went shopping for my wedding outfit, we headed over. Those who have been to Darlington station will know that when you get off a train from London, you have to walk along a long railing round to a ticket barrier and then back along the opposite way on the other side of the railing. So, when Mum got off the train, Aunty Linda was stood waving to Mum at the railing and I sat a bit further away, looking the opposite direction. Then as Mum was walking around the railing, me and Aunty Linda went as close to the ticket barrier as possible, with me concealed behind a pillar and Aunty Linda stood next to the pillar. Now, in typical Aunty Linda spy-style (aka secret squirrel), she gets her phone out and pretends she is reading a text message, when really she is updating me after casual glances like so 'I am going to setp to the left and then you step out in ...10 seconds...5 seconds...hi Julie'! I stepped out but I had a piece of paper over my face saying 'FORDY' (idea courtesy of Uncle Derek), Mum started giggling saying 'ee Fordy', believing if anyone was going to be with Aunty Linda it would Natalie. Gently prompted by Aunty Linda's 'who do you think it is?', Mum observed a bit more closely. This, I have been told was her thought process -the hair wasn't Natalie's, the person wasn't the same frame as Natalie... I knew it was you but thought it couldn't have been because you're in South Korea...'Katie...is it Katie?' As she wan't coming closer I pulled the paper down and there was more crying (yes that's right, Fordy cried!) and hugs!

The original idea of the tea party happened, beginning with Stu being told to get Mum's bag out of the back seat only to find me there, and Mum saying 'don't call my daughter a bag'! After the lovely tea party with some amazing wedding cupcakes made by the mother of the bride, we were drove home and coincidently drove passed Shell and Chessy (my Mum's cousin and her daughter). The look of confusion, the pointed finger and the glancing back and forth between the two, had told me that they had spotted us too. So a U-turn was in order and Shell exclaimed 'what are you doing here?', also quickly followed by the worry that I may have been sent home involuntarily!

Special cupcakes :)

Here is where the timing gets a little fuzzy due to my bad memory but I will start with Sarah (big sis)...
Mum goes in first and everyone is whispering because the kids are in bed. Mum is whispering repeatedly 'don't close the door' and Sarah confusedly whispering back 'What?What?'.  When I walk through the front door Sarah looks gob-smacked and can only manage to extend a finger to point at me and then froze. To which I shook to snap her out of it and then I was pulled into the living room where we both bounced around in suppressed excitement!

Elicia...
I got Mum to write (so she wouldn't recognise the handwriting)a note I dictated which had her name on the front and the following message inside:

'Elicia, be ready for 10 am for a big surprise. If you are unable to do this put it as you facebook status'

I went round and skirted the drive so they wouldn't see me post the note, and then I legged it!!! I got the go-ahead via facebook.

The next day I then walk round to her house and just ring the doorbell- hugs and tears, to which I said 'if people are going to keep crying at me, I won't come home'!

Aunty Annette and Ashley:
We needed to make sure there was enough room in the car home from the wedding. Mum knocks on Aunty Annette's door and I am hid round the side of the porch. Mum says quite casually, 'I just popped over to ask a favour. Do you think we can fit one more in the car home from the wedding; I've got a guest'. To which the response was, 'Is it Chris?' (I think I had better step out before hopes get too raised haha). I got welcomed in and Ashley comes down from drying her hair and does a few back steps when she sees me.

Andrew:
Elicia deserves a pat on the back for the part she played. Andrew text that he had just parked he car and was on his way to meet her in Starbucks. So she went in and got her drink and sat down first so he had to have his back toward the window and door. I hid in a shop across from the coffee shop and saw him walk in.  I waited an appropriate amount of time for him to get his drink and sit down. Then when I walked in Elicia said to him in typical Elicia style 'Oh my God look at this girl, she looks a state!', so doing is 'casual face' Andrew glances around looks at me (I am told with the thought that 'Oh that girl looks like Katie') and then continued to look for the girl who looked a state. I though at least he didn't look at me and think 'You're right she does look a state'. On re-evaluating the girl he had glanced at he though 'no, that looked too much like Katie' and I was able to see the slow progression of his jaw going from its right place to the floor!

I was also able to surprise friends from work, friends I hadn't seen in some time, my Nan, and great Aunt and Uncle, and of course my lovely niece and nephew, and it was just amazing. Thanks to all the people who took the time to see me and also a big apology to those I didn't get to see. The week went so quick and I would have loved to have seen everyone but there just wan't time, but I hope to have a good reunion when I am back for good (as Take That would say)!


The Wedding:

So the wedding was at Wynyard Hall; I had never been there before and I have to say it was absolutely gorgeous! So me and Mum got there and of course had to check out the bathrooms (I don't know why I have this urge to see how fancy the toilets are in nice places), and then proceeded into the bar and saw many a friendly and familiar face, and everyone looked great! We all then went out and saw the mother of the bride and the bridesmaid arrive in this amazing car:

Next  we walked over to the chapel which was lovely and waited for the beautiful bride to make her appearance. Meanwhile, Jimmy looked very calm and cool; not in the least bit nervous. Then the moment came, the doors were opened and a very proud Uncle Derek walking his daughter down the isle: 

Just after the ceremony

The ceremony was just lovely and when the vows came, everyone could tell that they both meant every word. There was a special dedication to Jimmy's late father, where a beautiful candle was lit for him. After the ceremony the official photographs were taken by a very entertaining photographer and then we took some of our own, not so official pics:

We went out into the beautiful grounds of Wynyard for a glass of Pimms (oh ya darling) and some more natural shots were taken by the photographer.  

The lovely Mr and Mrs McDermot

Me and my Mum

Then came the meal which I was over the moon with as it was a roast beef dinner with vegetables, gravy and ...a Yorkshire pudding!!!!! The starter was a lovely leek and potato soup and the desert was a creamy cheesecake, and of course the drinks just kept on coming. The favours at the table were some delicious fudge. Then came the speeches: first up Uncle Derek's speech that was heart-warming and of course hilarious. Uncle Derek had also prepared some special gifts including, a Natalie and James jigsaw, mugs, autographed merchandise and personalised newspapers, one of which claimed Natalie had snubbed Johnny Depp (it just means less competition for me ). Then an emotional speech from Jimmy, who was helped through  by his beautiful new wife. Lastly was the best man's (Jimmy's brother) speech, where he was true to his word and was kind to his little brother, and didn't embarrass him. Then the cutting of the cake, which was skilfully crafted by Aunty Evelyn (and she was quite rightly complimented continuously on her wonderful masterpiece):

What a wonderful job!

The cutting of the cake.

 In between the day and the night dos, we investigated Aunty Linda's room that she was staying in. It was fabulous! It was huge and had a special magic mirror that made everyone drop a dress-size! Then the night celebrations began. The first dance opened the dance floor:

The first dance to the Cardigans

Then all the couples we invited to join the dance floor:

The bride and groom, mother and father of the bride, the brother of the bride and his girlfriend

The party went on into the night and I had a great time and even got a picture with the lovely bride: 

I got to see Taff and Tamla at the reception, who were to be wed only a week later. We all had a good dance together (although Taff was devastated the DJ cut away from the Grease mega-mix, which I think is a DJ first!) to classics like The Conga, The Shoop Shoop Song and Let's Twist Again. My brilliant brother, Chris, couldn't be there as he is in Qatar, however for a moment I thought that he was able to make it as his friend Kirtley was at the reception doing a great impression of him:

 A great time was had by all, and I am so happy I got back for their special day. Congratulations Mr and Mrs McDermot!