The U Pick Farm



This is a nice and fun thing to do. That is instead of going to the supermarket for vegetables you go to U pick farm. The drive to the farm is a joy in itself. Usually the whole family will go as the kids enjoy the walk in the farm and enjoy the actual picking of fresh vegetables. The owner of the farm has hotdogs and drinks which makes it more of a picnic than grocery shopping. The vegetables are fresh and cheap. 

The Bennetts


"The BENNETTS, where the women are strong, The men are good looking and all the children are above average."
This interesting matt was at the enterance at the house of the Bennetts. Boyd and Shirly were very wellcoming when I visited their house at Eagle River where they host the table tennis club on Saterdays. Boyd, 78 yrs old, is the oldest table tennis player I know. His love for the game is amazing and his wife Shirly is always wellcoming with a big smile. 

Beautiful Fishing Day


A picture worth a thousand words.
This river in Palmar ( one hour drive from Anchorage) is packed with King Salmon, red and silver salmon. 

Wininig Wesleyan University Under 1900 Rating

I had really good time visiting Texas even though it was the wrong time of the year. I left the comfort of 60 F to the discomfort of 110 F of Dallas. It was nice seeing old friends in the hospital where I trained. I was offerd a job 5 minutes after saying hi!
I was glued to the TV watching the unfolding tragedy of the war against Lebanon. This trip did not take these immages out of my mind as I contiued to flip the TV between the annoying coverage of Fox to less annoying coverage of CNN.
On 22nd I played at the Wesleyan Univesity Table tennis tournment at Fort Worth. 100 players participated including the USA national Junior team and a number of USA top players. I had 2 days table tennis camp at the university with coaching from the Jesna Reed who is an Olympic Medalist in table tennis ( this women can samsh really hard). She told me that I should win the under 1900 category of the tournment "I don't know any one under 1900 rating who can beat you" Jasna Said to me.
I did not disappoint her.. I won the under 1900 rating title after a difficult game 3/2. That is my first win of a title outside Alaska and I was excited about it.

Meet Dr. Chung

Relaxing by the oceon in Kenai, and by total coincedence I got to know Dr. Chung. He was spending a day by the ocean hoping to catch some red salmons. He had his tent next to mine and like a good neighbor I said hi, then we started chating. This man turned out to be one of the first surgeons providing health care to alaskans. He is a colorectal surgeon who came to the US 46 yrs ago. He is 72 yrs old, but he is still young "if your heart races when you see a beautiful women then you are still young" said Dr.Chung.

He can speak 8 languages; his native Korean, learned russuan while in north Korea. At age 11 became a refugee in south Korea and learned Japanese. Also he had to learn chinese but he knows only 2000 chinese characters!. He learned English when he studied medicine, then some one told him that you can't be a good doctor without learning Latin so he did. Moved to the US, initially to New York, where he was faced with patients who spoke no English and found himself learning spanish to communicate with them. I don't remember how and why he learned German. When he was serving in Nome, Alaska someone suggested to him to give it a shot at Eupik (native alaskan language) he decided to pass and explained "I had no more brain cells left for another language".

Which Halibut to Release?

After reaching the catch limit (2 halibuts/person) a decision has to be made on which one to keep and which one to release. Here, size does matters.

A Visitor To My Yard