Saturday, August 28, 2010

pictures

Netta's new do.
Doesn't she look great? She sat in the chair at the hairdresser's for the first time. Only cost 5,000 won.
She likes it combed straight.
What a beauty!
These are the models that she made from her kit.



Netta and Olive playing in the laundry hamper. We pretended that Olive was a baby for sale and the customers (John and I) either accepted her or sent her back ( I always accepted her - don't want her to have some confused memory of being rejected by her parents for not being cute enough). It was a fun game and went on for some time - roles changing - I'm sure we have not seen the end of it yet.

The week in brief

So here it is Sunday again and not a peep has been heard on this blog all week. The time does get away from me. In fact I should be doing the dishes but I am leaving them to catch up here. We are going out to dinner tonight so the dishes shouldn't back up too much.

The week went well. Netta and Olive and I went to the thrift store this week and found lots of good finds. Some clothes for Netta, some toys for Olive and a big umbrella for me. The rain is so constant here and the little portable ones just can't cover Olive and I when I am holding her.

Wed. we had a playdate with the neighbors again. They fed us pizza and chicken nuggets. We brought a cake. The kids had fun and we got to go on their roof. They have a garden up there and an amazing view of the neighborhood. Netta even got some fresh hot peppers for John. It was a lovely time- they are the sweetest people.

I had my first solo outing this week on Friday. I went to meet up with some other ex-pat moms for a knitting group at a coffee shop in Itaewon. It was really great. I have been kind of lonely and starved for conversation. John can only take so much of my blabbering. Also just to be able to talk mom talk and be away from the kids for a couple of hours was refreshing. 2 of the moms are married to Korean men and the third mama ( who is actually becoming a mama in Oct -she is pregnant now) is here with her husband who is a researcher at Yonsei University. It was refreshing to meet some non-teacher/military mamas and here about their lives here. I had a simply lovely time. The subway ride without the toddler was amazing too. Watching Olive on the train is quite a job so it was nice to just be able to sit and read and space out....

Saturday John worked in the morning to trade for the time I got on Friday. Then we went out and had Netta's hair cut. She has been asking a lot and so we decided to do it before her school starts. She looks really cute. I will post photos next post.

Yes, you heard right Netta is starting school on Monday. She really wants to try out the local school to learn Korean and make some friends. So off she goes.... John's friend is helping us register as the whole process is baffling for us. It is kind of intimidating to me to send her to a place where I can not even communicate with her teachers or other parents. But I am trying to just trust in the process and allow her the opportunity. I know how great she is and that she will do great! I will keep you all posted.

This brings us to today. We are headed out to dinner with Joe and some of his teaching friends tonight - which will be another opportunity for socializing. John has rehearsal so it is just me and the kids until John can join us. I'm hoping it will be fun and I always appreciate the chance to not have to figure out food for us.

Life is just plodding along here. John is actually quite busy right now as he has been hired to give a lecture next week. Also a group from UCSC is arriving next Friday and John's music is being performed the week after. It will be a busy time I think. But nice to have a lot going on and friends here.

Missing home and would love to read comments......hint...hint...hint...

Monday, August 23, 2010

Our Sunday

We began the day thinking we were going to the Seoul National Science Museum. We were almost there when the bus driver told John it was closed. Thankfully a palace - Chang-gyeong Palace was on the way to the museum so we just got off and went in. As luck would have it as we were crossing the street a woman told us that there was a free English tour starting right away. So we rushed in and joined. It was great and we learned a lot more by having guides. Netta was resistant at first and even wanted to leave the tour about half way through but we stuck with it and after she made friends with the tour guide she said it was the best tour ever.



A cool looking rock.
This building was the Mother's Living Quarters which was where the King's mother spent her time. King Seongjong was the king's name.




A monument built over the umbilical cord of someone who later became king. Kind of mossy now. This wasn't the original location of it but it was moved there during the Japanese Colonial Period.
Netta taking a break...and listening.
Netta found some cool rocks on this tour. We brought home a heavy bag - this one has a fern fossil on it. The tour guide gave her the ok on bringing it home..
Here we are by the white willow - beautiful huh? It has about 50 or so years before it becomes a national treasure.
Netta has the camera now. These are the gardens through her eyes.

I really love this picture and these flowers.
Amazing trees.

During the Japanese Colonial Period the Japanese turned the area into a zoo but it was restored in 1984. So there are some parts of the gardens that are out of place. The pond is built in more of a Japanese style and there is a greenhouse built in a Victorian style there too. Strange and sad.
Olive had a nap during the tour so I missed some of it but we caught up with the rest of the group later and Olive was feeling perky. Here she is enjoying running up and down a ramp. So fun!
Olive has really learned how to run......





Love the contrast here---love these girls!!!

We went looking in a gift shop at another palace for a friend for Netta's doll Margaret who we bought for her last time we were in Seoul but they didn't have any like her anymore. Netta did find a cool kit that was 3 dimensional models of some palace buildings. She came home and completed them by herself. They are very cool - I'll post some photos next time.

We stopped for ingredients and I made bi bim bap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap which we ate for dinner (except for Netta who ate mashed potatoes).

Friday, August 20, 2010

birthday photos

This is our cake - not much to look at and not much to eat. It was fun to do the project with Netta though. She is so great in the kitchen. Also she pays close attention to details when listening/watching instructions. I appreciate that.
Side view.
The cake we bought - those are huge grapes on there.
Here are the matches there was a tiny little patch on the sleeve to strike them on.
And here is happy birthday John!!!!! 40 today and looking good!!!!
Hi everyone - nice to be back to tell you about our week.

We did our voice recording work - we each (J and E) earned 30,000 won a little less than $30 for 30 minutes of work. Pretty good huh? It was intense for 30 minutes reading sentences - pausing - reading more - sometimes having to repeat sentences. They were pretty funny I had ones like
"You are so determined"
"Do not talk to me like that" (I seem to have had quite a bit of practice with this one)
"I'm sorry you have cancer"

John's were mostly about the weather he said one of his was
"This hot weather is perfect for making love." Or something along those lines. Pretty funny huh?

The rest of the week we have mostly been working on projects and shopping for John's birthday which was yesterday. We bought him some Korean style walking shorts and a shirt. Netta did a collage for him and Olive drew him a picture. Netta was very creative with the wrapping as we don't have any wrapping paper - it involved a big store bag and lots of plastic bags. She made a tag for the gift bag with nail polish as the media. Very creative and lovely.

We also attempted to make him a rice cake. I had seen one on a blog and found a youtube video that showed how to make it so Netta and I gave it a try while Olive was napping on Friday. We were missing some of the equipment but tried winging it anyways. Well it looked beautiful but tasted incredibly dry. The cake is steamed - not baked - but it did not work. We will try again with better equipment next time. It's tricky because is not so practical for us to buy lots of stuff as we know we will have to get rid of it when we leave. Oh well we will figure it out. If anyone is interested here is the link to the cake we tried to make http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/mujigae-ddeok

Netta was very disappointed about the cake and so we decided to buy one at one of the local bakeries. We have been ogling them since we arrived. That helped Netta get over the disappointment of the failed rice cake. We found a beautiful whipped cream and chocolate cake and brought it home. We didn't even mess with plates we all just grabbed spoons and dug in. It was really fun - we devoured the whole cake - oh my!!! There were some charming things that went along with the cake adventure. They packaged it up with birthday candles, a little package of matches, a plastic knife (not needed) and they even put some popper things on the outside of the box. Unfortunately these fell off and were lost before they made it home. Netta went back to look for them but only found one that had been used and the other one was gone. Oh well. The cake also had a tag on it that said "Please understand how I feels with my healty present". No those are not typos that is how it was spelled - I tried to take a photo but the writing is too small to catch. Just another example of the fine English we have found here. Good thing the cake was so yummy.

It was a good day and a good week.

John is rehearsing now (Sat) but hopefully we will have an adventure tomorrow to report on soon. I will post pictures of the cakes next.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

catch up post

Hi all trying to tune in here and catch up on our lives. I'm sure you all read about our trip to the natural history museum written by Netta. It was a great trip.

After that our week settled into routine. We stayed in on Monday and tried to get back on track with Netta's eye exercises. They had been on a long hiatus because somehow the glasses that went with the computer program were lost in the move. So I had to order new ones and they cost $30 well actually the glasses only cost $3.50 but the shipping was the rest. They finally arrived and as I'm sure you can imagine Netta was thrilled - ha ha. After having been out of the routine for so long we had to go through the whole - why are you making me do this and I hate this and you are so mean for making me do this thing. It went on and on and has since been repeated just today. But we did get them done a few times this week and that felt good.

We also managed to do some reading practice and played scrabble and did some math. Not too bad - and fun too! We really can only do focused work when Olive is napping which has its advantages and disadvantages. It is good that the chunks are small but not always the most convenient time to work and hard for me not to clean while I have the chance. So nice to get to spend one on one time with Netta. She is so brilliant and fun.

We wrote some letters this week as well and that was fun - Netta is resistant to writing although it seems to help when she receives a letter and can respond. I have mostly been doing the actual writing unless she is really inspired and gets on a roll. So send some letters would ya?

Thursday Netta was able to go out to a movie with her friend Abigail. John took Olive and Netta to Itaewon to meet them and I had a few hours to myself at home. Wow - what a luxury. I had to tutor at 5:30 so for Netta to be able to see the movie John had to knock off work early and take the kids. It is so great that he has the flexibility and willingness to do so. I had a chance to study Korean which was great for me. I am usually so tired at night that it is hard for my brain to do any real work so it was great to have a chunk of time in the day to study. I am trying to learn enough to be able to read. It is hard but I am making progress.

Friday morning my tutoring family, Sue and Kevin invited us over so that Netta could meet Kevin. It was really lovely. Netta and Kevin played chess and we all went to the park together. They are so sweet - she cooked us kimbap and served fruit and juice and cookies. Her home is so beautiful - she even has a real kitchen with a dining area and an OVEN. Can you tell I am a little envious? They even had a gift for Netta - we are so lucky to have met them they are so kind and generous. She invited Netta to come over whenever she wants to because Kevin is off school until Aug. 26-isn't that so great.

Then on Friday night we were invited to attend a concert. John received tickets from his teacher. Everything is a little confusing so it ended up a little bungled. His teacher told him there was child care there so we didn't need to worry about the kids. So we went to check out the child care and Netta was appalled because it was aimed more at younger children. Unfortunately we only had 2 tickets to the concert so I let Netta go into the concert. Olive did not want me to leave her in the child care place anyways and I figured we would switch at intermission. As I stayed in the center I noticed that they did have movies and crafts for older kids. Netta is extremely offended by anything that she considers babyish. Anyways the ladies in the center could not figure out why I was staying with Olive - they thought it was just because she would cry when I left which was part of it but also I didn't really have anywhere to go because I didn't have a ticket. All very confusing for me and them. So there was no intermission and the show was long. By the end of it I was exhausted and kind of frustrated that I had gone along at all. It would have been easier for me at home with Olive and she could have gone to bed at a reasonable time. As it was it was 10:30 by the time we got home. Pretty much a bust from my perspective.

One of the many confusing things that has to do with unclear communication - on many levels. If John had told me that there were only 2 tickets I think we could have been better prepared for how the night would go. But also John didn't totally understand the details from his teacher - although he admitted he did know about the 2 tickets.

The cool thing I take from all of this is that Netta is now a concert goer. This was the second traditional music concert that she has attended with John and she does really well and enjoys it. She has chosen it twice now - I guess we just need to get her a ticket next time.

On Saturday we spent the morning at home and then went to Nakseongdae Park in the evening. Actually John and the girls went ahead and I stopped at the bookstore. That was amazing - the store is called A Second Hand Bookstore and I had been interested to go in for awhile but it was not the kind of place workable with Olive. Even if she was asleep in the stroller the shop is packed and there is no room for a stroller. Anyway it was great I got 5 books for 6000 won about $6. I got 2 novels for me, 2 books for Netta and 1 for Olive. They had a bunch of kids books which is quite exciting - lots of school readers and weird stuff like that. Who knows where it all comes from. I was so happy to know it is so close and so cheap though --yay!!!

Then I met the family at the park - Netta rented a bike and was tooling around in the rain. It started pouring and all the other folks headed for cover but not Netta - she said it was a blast to ride in the pouring rain. Just another reason our Korean neighbors find us fascinating.

We finally checked out the shrine to General Kang there at the park. It was like a little slice of heaven there in the park. So beautiful and peaceful - of course I didn't have the camera but we will surely go back and I will take photos then and post. There was a lovely black and blue butterfly that just kept landing near Olive and I. She wanted to hold it of course but it kept flying away when we approached then it flew nearby and landed again - lovely...such a treat...

Then we decided to splurge as John has just gotten paid and we went to a Meat Restaurant (our name for it). We had a great dinner. The table has a cooking pit and they bring hot coals and meat and you bbq your own meat right at your table. They bring all of these yummy side dishes to go along with it including fresh greens. Netta and I wrapped our meat in lettuce and ate too much. It was fun and yummy.

I had been nervous to go to that type of restaurant because of Olive and the whole danger, fire aspect but when we walked up and peeked in there was a family with a toddler and a sleeping older kid right inside and it all seemed doable. Netta had been briefing Olive on the expectations and rules all the way to the restaurant. Anyway the kids toddled around and it never felt unsafe - it was great all around.

I think I should stop there as this post is turning into a novel. Thanks for sticking with it.

Tomorrow John and I are doing some voice recording for cash so I should have a story to tell after that. fun fun ----money money!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Photo of Olive


Just took this one and thought it was worth a thousand words. Olive just keeps smiling---her world is radish kimchi, kimbap, trains and lots of people talking to her in another language. We sure do love her.

I'm behind on posting but am exhausted right now. So I will just stick to the image and a quick hello. Missing all our people and muddling through.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Hi everyone we have guest blogger today - I am merely the typist - all the words are Netta's (pictures too). Sorry about the underlining I can't figure out how to make it stop.
We went to the Seoudaemun Natural History Museum on Sunday and it was fun. We saw a whole bunch of stuff that was cool but I only posted 20 pictures so you won't see them all. This picture is - well we call it - the Korean Crow.
We've got another one here- I think it is a squirrel but I don't know.
This is pretty obvious isn't it.... Well anyways this is a T-Rex skull.
Homo heidelbergensis for all of you out there who don't know who homo heidelbergensis is- it is a ancient human.
I do not know what this is but anyways I thought it was cute. I think it is some kind of miniature wild cat.
I think these are some kind of penguin - but I guess I don't know.
I don't know what this is - I guess it is a small bird but I don't know.
GGrrrr who left the blinds open?
Well ducklings I guess....
An arctic fox I think - at least that is what it looks like to me.
I wonder if this guy is related to John his horns look kind of like a heart. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about John's middle name is Hardy.
I don't know why they have this in a natural history museum it is not history - yet.
Miaoowwww...
Wait up mommy I'm too slow ----slow down....
I just thought it was cool looking.
This is a kind of cute white ferret - I thought it was kind of cute. For those of you who have read Harry Potter I think he's Draco Malfoy.
This is one of the most famous fossils in the world it is one of the first specimens of archeoptryx.
"Clean your room!!!"
This is a veiled stinkhorn that John saw on his mountain hike this week.

Elana here -
It was a great trip to the museum - very kid friendly - wish that I knew more Korean as I would have been able to read and understand more of the written material in the museum.

That's it - hope you enjoy.

Please comment so we know you are out there......