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!
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