photos

This is the Seoul model at Seoul History Museum. That is Seoul Tower.
This is Joe's family when we had dinner with them. His wife Ok Sup and his sons Daniel and Samuel.
Netta with her stone family.



The sky - Netta took this photo from our deck. Fall sky.
Our neighbor's persimmon tree with an almost ripe persimmon.
Olive at Lotte World making friends with a plastic ghost.
Netta at Lotte World.
Netta pushing Bobbe at Lotte World.
Ok needs no explanation......
Olive driving- this was before John let her sit on his lap and drive in traffic......
Netta and Olive on the merry-go-round.
The kids and the grandparents.
Netta's turtle ship model that she made in her multicultural art class at school.
Dragonflies .....
Mom and Dad in Nakseongdae Park.
Netta and John at Seoul National University. We had a picnic in the field there.
This is in Gangwon-do - fall colors.

This is the mating grasshopper restaurant at the beginning of the rail bike track that we rode on. We ate here - Italian food - Netta was very happy. Although she ended up eating pork cutlet and french fries because they wouldn't do just noodles and butter. Or rather we couldn't get the idea across.
Inside the grasshopper.
On the rail bikes ready to ride. So fun. I will write more about this soon...
Dad and Netta arguing on their rail bike.....
Olive and Bobbe on the rail bike.
The tunnel...
A bridge we saw while riding the bike.
The mosaic fish at the end of the rail bike track.
The ocean----behind a big fence..
More fall colors.
A shot of our cabin that we stayed in.
A cool plant that we saw on our hike up the mountain at the cabin.

John amusing Olive with the acorn hat guy.
She took the hat and laughed.
The view from the top of the mountain.
A weird fungus.
A caterpillar Netta found.
Olive and her fake smile.

That's all folks. I'll try to fill in the details later.

Missing home.............

Bye bye mom and dad

Hi I'm back - Mom and Dad are on their way home right now and I finally have time to write. I'm not sure how much of the 2 weeks I can really get here on the blog but I'm willing to try.

Mom and Dad arrived on Chuseok and I wrote about that day already. Well the rest of that week was mostly mom and dad recovering from jetlag and settling in. We tried to show them around our neighborhood between naps and other distractions.

I got to unpack all the stuff they brought for us. I hadn't been able to find sheets here (they kind of have a different sleeping set up) so Mom and Dad brought me sheets all washed and ready to go on my beds --yay!! Also they hooked us up with lots of foods that we have been missing - polenta, maple syrup, peanut butter, spices, more tea. So exciting!! In addition they brought all of our winter clothes. I had thought that Pauline would ship them but that proved to be more expensive than the clothes themselves. So my parents brought extra suitcases with our warm clothes. Just in the nick of time too - I think we started wearing them the next day and have been needing sweaters and socks ever since. It was like Equinox arrived and it got chilly. I'm so thankful that they were able to bring all of that for us ----they are so sweet. It was like Christmas opening all the goodies and fitting them in our house.

Their first Saturday here John and I got to go out on a date. This was very exciting for us as we have had no time sans kids except late nights and early mornings. We went to see a concert by a composer that John knows. It was really great - so nice to sit and listen to music. I have been quite jealous of Netta getting to experience all of the Korean Music with John. After the concert we went and walked around Sadang. This is an area that is close to where we live, it was where we wanted to live but it was too expensive - we decided to go over the hill and get a place that was cheaper. Anyway we have been wanting to check it out for awhile. It was fun we saw a beat boxer who was really amazing - went to a huge bookstore - and ate at a meat restaurant. It was great - nice to talk without being exhausted or interrupted.

Sunday we went to the Seoul Museum to revisit the amazing model of Seoul. We have been wanting to go back and find our house on the map. We tried earlier in the week with my parents but ended up getting there too late (I didn't realize it was a holiday because of Chuseok weekend and so I got the closing time wrong). But when Joe invited us for dinner in the same neighborhood we decided to try again. It was a fun trip to the museum and then a nice dinner with Joe and his family at an Italian restaurant that my parents ate at when they lived here 15 years ago.

Monday we braved Costco. I have been wanting to get a few things there and knowing my parents love for Costco and that the crowds there would have been huge before Chuseok we decided to go together. Another bonus was that they had a credit card that Costco would accept. It is difficult to get the right amount of cash and it always is embarrassing and time consuming when you need to get money while you are checking out. As it turns out, of course, the Korean Costco takes only one credit card but it is not the one my parents have. So it ended the same way all our previous visits have - with us holding up the line and running to the cash machine. Oh well, I still am very stocked up on yummy comfort treats.

Tuesday we went to Lotte World - Netta was very excited because Bobbe and Grandpa had told her they would take her when they came. Lotte World is like Disneyland - pretty much a copy but mostly indoor. Actually inside this huge dome. It was fun - I hate these kind of places but when I see them through the eyes of my kids they are a blast. Netta loved the roller coasters and Olive had a great time on the little rides. She loved the merry-go-round so much. I will post photos in the next post. Although it is getting hard to get photos of Olive because she tends to be a blur of movement in all the photos now - she is a girl on the go.

Wed we had a home day - regular routine - I worked and Netta had classes. My parents went to Itaewon to visit their old neighborhood.

Thurs. we went to Nomdaemun Market which was fun but very crowded. It was a bit much for all of us - Netta was the most successful shopper. She found some good bargains.

Friday I took my parents to Nakseongdae Park - fun to show them our local spot. Pictures in the next post.

Saturday we all went to see a breakdancing show. We won tickets when John was on the radio on Chuseok. It was a really fun show - people doing amazing things with their bodies - defying gravity and such. I was nervous about taking Olive but she was mesmerized during most of the show. There was a part with black light that was a little scary and she asked to "go home" but I held her and she got through it. At least in a breakdancing show the music is so loud that a baby talking is no trouble. After the show we went out to get tacos at Dos Tacos. Yum - Yum!!!!

Sunday we left town. My parents rented us a car and brave John drove us to Gangwon-do. The province to the east of us. I had read a blog about a trip there and we decided to do a similar trip with my parents. It was quite an adventure. I think I will leave my story of this trip for another post.

I will post the photos now (in the next post) and then write about it later.

I have an early morning tomorrow I'm taking the girls to the Bucheon Cultural Heritage Festival. I'm sure I will have things to write about that too.

Also coming soon a post dedicated to Olive and her amazing command of the language - she is talking up a storm and it is so fun. No more Gaga - now Netta is Nekka.

So I'll leave you with those to look forward to.

parental visit

Hi Folks I have been out of the blog for the past week due to my parent's arrival in Korea. I am going to go back to the day they arrived which was Chusok and post some photos from our day at the Namsan Folk Village where we spent the day with our new friends Mei Ling, Kendra, Tera, Ayla and Jonathan. It was a fun day - we even went live on the radio and did some interviews for an English radio station in Seoul. We supposedly won tickets but haven't heard from them since so who knows. Anyway here are the photos.


John and I took a walk up the mountain and found this lovely shrine. It was really a beautiful spot.
This is the marker for the shrine.

Netta painting a fan at the Chuseok festival.

John and Olive loving a tree on our walk.
The view of the city from our walking path.
A lovely waterfall.
Netta dressed as a courtesan......
Netta really wants a hanbok for her birthday this year.
Some performers - they were actually practicing their dance here.
Olive making friends - anyang.......
John on the radio.
Ayla - such a cutie...

The view of Seoul Tower from the folk village.
View through an arbor of the pond.
Most of the children at the festival were dressed in hanbok. It was unbelievably cute.
This is a teeter totter game where one person lands and sends the other jumping into the air. Netta and John tried but it was a lot harder than it looked. These ladies were amazing.

Local festival

Netta, Olive and John observing a tea ceremony at our local park during a traditional Korean festival for Chuseok. Chuseok is this week and it is a harvest festival celebrated by returning to your family home, honoring your ancestors and eating food. At least that is what we have gathered about it so far.



This is the place setting for the tea service. Lovely....
These are traditional tea sweets. They are made from bean powders mixed with honey. Olive packed away so many that the ladies were worried she might get a tummy ache. Never happened. The mixture is pressed into a wooden form to make these beautiful designs. We are looking for one so that we can make our own at home but haven't found one yet.

This is lotus flower tea - beautiful and tasty.

Olive looking a little worried about where she might be going. Olive loves to look at this picture recreate the face and laugh.


John and Netta playing a game - trying to toss the arrows into the container. It took some practice but they both got quite good at it. Eye exercises for the day!
OK it only looks like she is tossing this at Olive......
Olive writing Os with her arrow in the sand.
Netta receiving some drum instruction.
Netta and John drumming. They spent a long time creating rhythms, combining them and then performing duets.
Olive looking up at the ducks on a stick. This is a very old craft in Korea. John said that in the folk museum one was featured in a display about the bronze age in Korea. Netta and Olive both received small hand crafted ones as gifts before we left the festival. Netta because the lady who taught her the wedding bowing ceremony was so impressed with Netta and Olive because once Netta had one she just went over and took one off the table. They graciously gave her one of her own.

All in all a lovely Saturday afternoon at our local park learning about traditional Korean culture.

As a side note I am beginning to feel like a member of our neighborhood - as I walked to the park I ran into 2 people I knew. Even in this big city - wow!

ketchup

Hi checking in here to catch us up on life in Seoul.

I think I am due for a post from our zoo trip although with my memory acting like it is I may not have too many details at my fingertips almost a week later.

We went back to the zoo that we visited with Netta last time we were in Seoul. It was actually Olive's first visit to a zoo. Netta remembered so much about it from last time - I was amazed. It was a great day. The zoo is huge we have yet to see all of the animals there.

We did have some highlights this time. The elephants were very lovely - they were kind of swaying in a dancing kind of motion which was fun to watch. Also the hippos - last time we were there we saw a darling baby hippo - this time we got to see one hippo grooming(?) the other hippos mouth. The one stood in the water with his mouth open while the other one kind of rubbed and bit at his mouth - they were either grooming or kissing. Netta said "eeewww gross Mom" when I suggested kissing. Olive and I also got to see the monkeys (Netta and John were on the skyride). The monkeys were fun and Olive enjoyed watching the baby monkey jumping and playing.

There were lots of amazing birds (some in cages that I felt were too small). Last week Netta and I read an article about a girl who was going through gender reassignment to become male and Netta couldn't quite understand why she would want to go through all that. Netta said she would just dress and act like a boy and that was enough for her. But when we saw the birds Netta told me that if she could have a species reassignment she would want to be a bird --lovely. Oh to be a bird and get to fly.

We wore ourselves out at the zoo- spent too long and want to go back for more. We then grabbed some food out and went to check out hotels for my mom and dad. We found them a lovely love hotel and we hope we made reservations although I'm not sure we need them as these places survive by having rooms available at all times. Then we went home and collapsed into bed.

The rest of the week passed pretty uneventfully. John and Netta met with Netta's teacher from school and she gave us permission to attend the Korean classes at the school without Netta attending regular classes. I am very excited about this as it will help both of us and we were having trouble finding free classes that we could attend together.

We also had our first Skype meeting with Deb from Ocean Alternative and that was so great. Fun to see her and fun for Netta to get to share with her some of what we are learning here.

So here we are in the next weekend - John has the girls at the park and they are riding bikes. I am heading over there soon as John called to let me know there is some kind of cultural festival happening there. So I will pack lunch and go meet them. Apparently I need to bring band-aids as Netta fell of her bike - oh dear.

I'll take the camera and hopefully be able to post some photos of the festival later.

Our new camera

This is an almost images only post - 1)I'm too tired to write 2) we just got a new camera and have been having fun playing around with it.

I still need to write about the zoo - sorry I just don't have it in me tonight. I will write more this weekend I hope.