Hi I have not been here for awhile. Life is busy without much time to stop and tell stories.

John had a bit of a stomach bug. Stomach hurting - lots of potty time - not very fun. We couldn't figure out what was going on. Then we were at the store and Netta mentioned that we needed to buy water. I said, "no there are still bottles of water in your room." She said, "Those are filled with tap water." So we finally figured out what was giving John his stomach troubles. The tap water in Seoul is not safe to drink - we didn't know the bottles were filled with tap water and were drinking it. John had even commented how the bottled water had tasted so terrible.

This is a Korean misunderstanding that stayed within the family. Netta didn't know that we were drinking the tap water - she didn't know how unsafe the tap water is here - she was using the filled bottles for bowling.

So Netta had a playdate. I put out a call on the Seoul Homeschooling yahoo group to try to hook up with other parents of kids Netta could play with. After moving we finally met up with one of the families. They are stationed here with the military, as are most (maybe all) of the homeschooling families on the group.

The little girl is 8 and her name is Abigail. We met them at the Korean War Memorial (why I keep ending up here I don't know). The girls had a great time looking at weapons and uniforms. They were holding hands wandering through the museum within 10 minutes of meeting each other. Netta really needed someone to talk to and kept a steady pace of conversation for 3 hours straight. It was great.

Interesting to see Korea through the eyes of a military wife. There was a lot of complaining and not very much understanding of cultural differences. But I am trying to also see her situation through her eyes and I find myself with more compassion for her that way.

After our playdate we met John and went shopping then headed home on the subway laden down with our purchases and the stroller.

Now for the disclaimer - I am now going to tell a scary story. I want you all to know it all comes out fine in the end. Sorry if it is too scary - it has been haunting me for days - maybe that is why I haven't posted for awhile. OK

We had a hard time hauling all of our stuff. I had the stroller, Netta had a rolling cart filled to the brim (it actually fell a couple of times and had to be re-loaded) and John had a laundry basket full of stuff.

The subway trains were really full and busy. As we went to get on our last train home John said we should get on first because of all the stuff. We waited for the current train to fill up and then got in the front of the line for the next train.

The train came and it was soooooo full. It took forever for everyone to get off the train - we waited and then when everyone was finally off the doors closed. No one had even had time to get on. Then the doors opened again - like they had opened them for more time so that people could get on. So on we went or tried. Olive was first in the stroller and right when she was halfway in and halfway out the train doors closed. She was stuck. I was holding the stroller and started to scream. People on and off the train were trying to help - Olive was squirming. I don't even remember exactly how it all went down - I do know that John finally just yanked on the stroller and it came popping out back onto the platform. The doors closed and the train pulled out.

I was freaked and so was Olive. She was screaming so loud. I rushed to get out of the crowd. There were a lot of people gathered around us and I needed out of there. I took the stroller out of the crowd and then finally picked up Olive and held her. I was crying - she was crying - people were all gathered around.

The subway official came and tried to figure out what happened. All in Korean of course. I was trying just to be with Olive. Not like we aren't already sticking out in the crowd, now we were the center of a lot of attention.


It was afterwards that John explained some of what was said during this time. How the official from the subway was upset about how much stuff we had and how some of the folks who were waiting for the train with us (specifically two men who had been ogling and playing with Olive while were waiting for the train) had explained how it all went down. That we were at the beginning of the line and the doors closed and then it seemed like the official understood it was not just about all the stuff.

Then the subway officials kept coming. Finally they found the one guy who spoke English and brought him up to help.

During all of this Netta was handed candy by some sweet Korean woman to help her cope which was keeping her happy.

The English speaking official asked us if we needed to go to the hospital. Olive was not in need of a hospital in fact I thought she was not hurt at all - but when we finally got home we did notice that she had a big scrape on her leg that turned into a nasty bruise the next day. John thought that happened when he finally yanked hard on the stroller to free it.

The official also asked if we wanted to go to the station office. It was not clear why -maybe to relax in the air conditioning or maybe fill out some sort of report. We don't know.

Anyway he sent us on our way on the train with helpers. Two of the train officials and one nice man who spoke English and stopped to help helped us carry our stuff on the train which was by now less busy. They rode with us to our stop (which was only one stop away) and helped us up to the street. They were very nice.

I got the impression during all of the craziness that the subway folks felt bad and were trying to help us. That was a good feeling. Everyone who stopped was very nice and felt bad for Olive.

I guess the scariest part of all of this is the thought of what would have happened if the train had started to go. I don't think the trains would be able to go with a door open but just the thought is harrowing. As John said - "the train tried to eat our baby". Yuck!

Just another day in Korea.