OK so I just found where the comments are in my blogging "dashboard".
There are so many sweet comments on there. Sorry I haven't answered most of them.
I now know where they are and will enjoy connecting with all of you lovely readers.
It was fun to read them and feel the love,
Elana
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
full weekend
Hi Folks time to fill you in on the weekend. It was a busy one. Two full days out and about in Seoul.
On Sat we went on a free museum tour that our friend Joe hooked us up with. It was pouring rain so Joe opted out but we had fun anyways. It was part of a campaign by the government to promote the G20 and show happy foreigners enjoying Seoul. So they gave us free t-shirts and took lots of pictures of us enjoying Seoul. We are expecting to see our photo plastered in the subway any day now. It was a diverse group which was fun - some Koreans, South African English teachers, students from China, Thailand, and India and a few Americans as well.
First we went in a big tour bus to the home of the first presidents house. It was incredibly lovely with amazing gardens that included a waterfall down a big piece of granite. It was interesting as the president had a fascinating life which included being imprisoned by the Japanese and studying in the U.S.
The whole time we were at the home Olive kept asking for "fooo" her word for food and as she had already eaten all of the snacks I brought and we were apparently in the only location in Seoul without a convenience store we were a little out of luck. But Olive was so charming that the tour guide gave us her personal Subway sandwich that Olive then gobbled down. Strange as it was - some sort of sweet meat with spicy peppers and sweet pickles --not my cup of tea but it did the job with Olive at least for a few minutes....
Next we went to a folk village. It was beautiful there - however the tour was on a schedule and it was rush, rush, rush. I could have walked around there for hours but we did get to participate in a tea ceremony and a drumming session. Both of which were so fun - Netta had a blast. She and Olive were the only kids on the tour which was a shame I thought but after warming up to the other folks she enjoyed the attention. She even sang "I love Egg" (you should watch this on youtube - I tried to link it but can't make it work) over the microphone to the whole busload of tour goers.
Then they treated the whole group to lunch at a meat restaurant. We had bulgogi which was yummy - not for Netta - but the rest of us enjoyed it. At this stop we were very close to our favorite thrift store that we rarely get to visit. The last two times we have tried it has been closed. So we escaped the group as we were finished with our lunch early and went and found some bargains. Although not the butter knife we are desperate for.
Lastly we went to the Korean Folk Museum. Everyone got a free headset to use that explained the items in English. Netta really loved this and spent a long time in the museum. So long that the group just left us there as it was the last stop and we went home from there. Netta is such a good listener she really paid attention and spent time in that museum. Olive slept through it all.
It was a good day - we were all exhausted when we got home.
The next day Netta set her mind to a visit to the zoo. We went with it - Olive has never been to a zoo. It is late here so I will leave you hanging and post about our thrilling visit to the zoo soon. I know the suspense will drive you crazy. I'm employing the oldest trick in the book to keep you reading......
On Sat we went on a free museum tour that our friend Joe hooked us up with. It was pouring rain so Joe opted out but we had fun anyways. It was part of a campaign by the government to promote the G20 and show happy foreigners enjoying Seoul. So they gave us free t-shirts and took lots of pictures of us enjoying Seoul. We are expecting to see our photo plastered in the subway any day now. It was a diverse group which was fun - some Koreans, South African English teachers, students from China, Thailand, and India and a few Americans as well.
First we went in a big tour bus to the home of the first presidents house. It was incredibly lovely with amazing gardens that included a waterfall down a big piece of granite. It was interesting as the president had a fascinating life which included being imprisoned by the Japanese and studying in the U.S.
The whole time we were at the home Olive kept asking for "fooo" her word for food and as she had already eaten all of the snacks I brought and we were apparently in the only location in Seoul without a convenience store we were a little out of luck. But Olive was so charming that the tour guide gave us her personal Subway sandwich that Olive then gobbled down. Strange as it was - some sort of sweet meat with spicy peppers and sweet pickles --not my cup of tea but it did the job with Olive at least for a few minutes....
Next we went to a folk village. It was beautiful there - however the tour was on a schedule and it was rush, rush, rush. I could have walked around there for hours but we did get to participate in a tea ceremony and a drumming session. Both of which were so fun - Netta had a blast. She and Olive were the only kids on the tour which was a shame I thought but after warming up to the other folks she enjoyed the attention. She even sang "I love Egg" (you should watch this on youtube - I tried to link it but can't make it work) over the microphone to the whole busload of tour goers.
Then they treated the whole group to lunch at a meat restaurant. We had bulgogi which was yummy - not for Netta - but the rest of us enjoyed it. At this stop we were very close to our favorite thrift store that we rarely get to visit. The last two times we have tried it has been closed. So we escaped the group as we were finished with our lunch early and went and found some bargains. Although not the butter knife we are desperate for.
Lastly we went to the Korean Folk Museum. Everyone got a free headset to use that explained the items in English. Netta really loved this and spent a long time in the museum. So long that the group just left us there as it was the last stop and we went home from there. Netta is such a good listener she really paid attention and spent time in that museum. Olive slept through it all.
It was a good day - we were all exhausted when we got home.
The next day Netta set her mind to a visit to the zoo. We went with it - Olive has never been to a zoo. It is late here so I will leave you hanging and post about our thrilling visit to the zoo soon. I know the suspense will drive you crazy. I'm employing the oldest trick in the book to keep you reading......
Friday, September 10, 2010
Busy week
I'm still exhausted from the last few days, because had a lot going on. There was the brahms concert with the somewhat annoying choir, followed by a big celebration. Foolishly, I tagged along when they said hey let's go to the noraebang (like a karaoke room) and suddenly it was 2 am. Then, There were the Nong concerts, people from California and concerts of contemporary music. That was stressful because my players weren't entirely feeling the polyrhythmic groove I had written for them. But it went quite well nonetheless. Netta thrived in the company of the composers, eloquent and gregarious. Then I gave a lecture to the Royal Asiatic Society, and I think that went well. I was nervous about that too; I'm not sure I'm a real intellectual... But I think I gave an interesting presentation about contemporary music/gugak collaboration and grounded it in current debates about cultural exchange... I was so glad that talk was over because it had been eating up too much of my time.
It's raining an awful lot. Signs of Fall are appearing, nuts falling from trees, blistering hot days less common... I like it here.
It's raining an awful lot. Signs of Fall are appearing, nuts falling from trees, blistering hot days less common... I like it here.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
update
Hi friends,
Well time to update - lots of activity here this last 2 weeks. I will try to fit it all in before I crash and fall into bed. We have had two late nights in a row as the crew from UCSC has been visiting and we have been joining in on the festivities.
On Friday John's friend Maayan arrived from UCSC and she came one day early so she needed a place to stay. It was really fun to have a guest and show her around the neighborhood. Both the kids really liked her and had fun talking to her.
We went swimming on Sat with the family of John's friend. It was confusing but fun. Olive could not swim and that was a bit of a bummer but she wasn't really too bugged and seemed happy enough hanging out with the mamas while the kids swam. Netta seemed to have fun until the end when she needed the key to her locker and had a hard time finding me. The place was kind of a maze with stairs and dressing rooms and pools and waiting rooms. In the end she found me but she was hungry and mad by that time. Then we went for food and tried to get Netta some pasta but it came with seafood and spice even though I asked the host if we could have it plain. He said we couldn't get it plain so we gave it a try but she didn't like it. This was with a group who are constantly going on about Netta and food. How is she eating - does she like Korean food? It kind of stressed me out because she was so hungry and wouldn't eat. If they had not been there I would have just said ok don't eat - you can eat when we get home but instead she ate a muffin. I feel bad when people treat us to food and she doesn't enjoy it. I know it is kind of weird but I feel bad. Oh well. Her food did not go to waste at least - the others ate it.
On Monday John's music was performed at Seoul University of the Arts. It was a concert of student composers with music written for western instruments and traditional Korean instruments together. John's piece was lovely and it was nice to get to visit with old and new friends from UCSC. It was great for me because I thought I would miss the whole thing as Olive is not yet of the concert going age, but outside the theatre there was a waiting area with a video of the stage showing the performance. It was great to be there but not need to worry about Olive's behavior. Netta sat with John and had quite a lot to say about which pieces she liked and why - John reports that Netta is his new favorite concert companion.
After the concert we went out for Chicken and Hof - or chicken and beer. There are about a million chicken and beer places here but we had not been to one yet so it was fun to go. Netta had a great time entertaining the crowd. She was so happy to have people to converse with in English and all the guests paid her lots of attention. She was lit up! Olive fell asleep on John's back about half way through the night and then we all caught the bus home. It was a late night.
It made me glad that Netta had decided to give up school. So here I will insert the school story - or maybe just some of it. Netta made it through one week of school. Our initial idea had been to have her try it for 2 weeks but it became clear very quickly that it was not working. One of the reasons we had enrolled her was to allow her the opportunity to make some local friends. However, on the second day she called me from her cell phone to tell me that she felt cooped up because they never left the classroom. It is hard to make friends at school if there is no time for play. The day is short but there is no recess. It was of course also hard because Netta does not speak Korean. This was another reason we had thought school would be a good place for her. But we decided that she can take a Tae Kwon Do class in the neighborhood here and have some immersion time and maybe also make some friends. It is not free- as school was- but it is pretty reasonably priced and will better suit her needs. I am kind of bummed because the school offers a Korean Class for parents with their children and we can't take this unless Netta is enrolled. But really I feel like we can study Korean at home. We have committed to spending one hour a day studying Korean together and we are looking for another class to take together. So that is the school story.
I am excited to be homeschooling again and we have been trying to set aside some regular time everyday to focus on projects.
OK back to the NONG Festival ( the festival that the UCSC crew were here for). Last night was the professor's pieces and that was also a great concert. Afterwards we got to go for meat and soju and that was fun too. It was another late night.
It has been fun but busy and I am happy to have a night at home with the kids in bed. We have all caught our first Korean cold which is a bummer and kind of bad timing with all of the running around but we are muddling through it and no one seems too bad off.
We are looking forward to visitors again in 2 weeks. My parents are coming and we are all excited about it. We just need to plan and clean in the next 2 weeks!
Well time to update - lots of activity here this last 2 weeks. I will try to fit it all in before I crash and fall into bed. We have had two late nights in a row as the crew from UCSC has been visiting and we have been joining in on the festivities.
On Friday John's friend Maayan arrived from UCSC and she came one day early so she needed a place to stay. It was really fun to have a guest and show her around the neighborhood. Both the kids really liked her and had fun talking to her.
We went swimming on Sat with the family of John's friend. It was confusing but fun. Olive could not swim and that was a bit of a bummer but she wasn't really too bugged and seemed happy enough hanging out with the mamas while the kids swam. Netta seemed to have fun until the end when she needed the key to her locker and had a hard time finding me. The place was kind of a maze with stairs and dressing rooms and pools and waiting rooms. In the end she found me but she was hungry and mad by that time. Then we went for food and tried to get Netta some pasta but it came with seafood and spice even though I asked the host if we could have it plain. He said we couldn't get it plain so we gave it a try but she didn't like it. This was with a group who are constantly going on about Netta and food. How is she eating - does she like Korean food? It kind of stressed me out because she was so hungry and wouldn't eat. If they had not been there I would have just said ok don't eat - you can eat when we get home but instead she ate a muffin. I feel bad when people treat us to food and she doesn't enjoy it. I know it is kind of weird but I feel bad. Oh well. Her food did not go to waste at least - the others ate it.
On Monday John's music was performed at Seoul University of the Arts. It was a concert of student composers with music written for western instruments and traditional Korean instruments together. John's piece was lovely and it was nice to get to visit with old and new friends from UCSC. It was great for me because I thought I would miss the whole thing as Olive is not yet of the concert going age, but outside the theatre there was a waiting area with a video of the stage showing the performance. It was great to be there but not need to worry about Olive's behavior. Netta sat with John and had quite a lot to say about which pieces she liked and why - John reports that Netta is his new favorite concert companion.
After the concert we went out for Chicken and Hof - or chicken and beer. There are about a million chicken and beer places here but we had not been to one yet so it was fun to go. Netta had a great time entertaining the crowd. She was so happy to have people to converse with in English and all the guests paid her lots of attention. She was lit up! Olive fell asleep on John's back about half way through the night and then we all caught the bus home. It was a late night.
It made me glad that Netta had decided to give up school. So here I will insert the school story - or maybe just some of it. Netta made it through one week of school. Our initial idea had been to have her try it for 2 weeks but it became clear very quickly that it was not working. One of the reasons we had enrolled her was to allow her the opportunity to make some local friends. However, on the second day she called me from her cell phone to tell me that she felt cooped up because they never left the classroom. It is hard to make friends at school if there is no time for play. The day is short but there is no recess. It was of course also hard because Netta does not speak Korean. This was another reason we had thought school would be a good place for her. But we decided that she can take a Tae Kwon Do class in the neighborhood here and have some immersion time and maybe also make some friends. It is not free- as school was- but it is pretty reasonably priced and will better suit her needs. I am kind of bummed because the school offers a Korean Class for parents with their children and we can't take this unless Netta is enrolled. But really I feel like we can study Korean at home. We have committed to spending one hour a day studying Korean together and we are looking for another class to take together. So that is the school story.
I am excited to be homeschooling again and we have been trying to set aside some regular time everyday to focus on projects.
OK back to the NONG Festival ( the festival that the UCSC crew were here for). Last night was the professor's pieces and that was also a great concert. Afterwards we got to go for meat and soju and that was fun too. It was another late night.
It has been fun but busy and I am happy to have a night at home with the kids in bed. We have all caught our first Korean cold which is a bummer and kind of bad timing with all of the running around but we are muddling through it and no one seems too bad off.
We are looking forward to visitors again in 2 weeks. My parents are coming and we are all excited about it. We just need to plan and clean in the next 2 weeks!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
photoless
So here it is Saturday again and I finally have the time and the heart to write. It has been a very busy week. Netta started school and that was a whole adventure. I will write an entire entry about that next. But right now I am typing on our new wireless keyboard (Olive spilled tea on our old new keyboard) and it is really frustrating. I can't write for too long as it is always making mistakes like doubling letters and then I have to go back and fix them and it is really annoying. Netta is on my computer but she is going to sleep soon and then I can type more freely about our school experience. This post is about how we have no camera now. Hence the title photoless. For now our posts will be without photos. John left the diaper backpack with the camera in it in a taxi. Pretty slim chance that we will get it back. Maybe we will look for a new one at the Electronics Market but it won't be very soon and we have very little extra money we are able to spend.
Boo Hoo!!!!!!
Boo Hoo!!!!!!
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...
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...
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