So we are just home from a Friday night adventure. We went in search of Red Mango a frozen yogurt franchise that I have read good things about on lots of blogs. We found a close one by searching on Google Maps and even got directions from google on how to take the bus there. So despite the late hour (8pm) we decided to go out on an adventure.
Oh well- it didn't turn out as planned. The bus ride was great and we got to see more of our local area including what looks to be a coop and some possible outdoor markets. But when we got to our destination it seemed that the Red Mango was actually inside a Lotte Department Store that was closed. It was raining so we went to get back on the bus and get some gelato instead at a place close to home.
As we crossed the street a drunk guy started bugging Netta. She definitely felt his weird vibe and hid behind me but as drunks have a hard time reading these sort of cues he wouldn't let up. The he accosted John and tried to bug Olive and I (Olive was on my back). After being told many times he finally left. John had to get quite insistent. Yuck!
Netta was weirded out by the whole thing and it led to a discussion about intuition and drunks and boundaries and all the stuff....
Then we finally got on the bus and got off close to home and were walking to the gelato place when some ladies stopped us and oogled over Olive and asked where we were from. Then they told us they were from the church and it went on from there.
We have actually had 3 pairs of ladies come knocking on our door at home and it is hard to get rid of them. We tell them we don't believe in god and they still try to "save" us. Today I had to just walk away from the door and then finally they took the hint and left.
So then we got our gelato and came home - the kids are finally in bed --aaahhh.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Ramblings of a Thursday afternoon
Hi I have a few moments during nap time so thought I would get some thoughts down here.
Our landlady is the sweetest person. She and her son have been visiting with us. The other day I was trudging up the hill pushing Olive's stroller and she just came and took over. Just moved me out of the way and pushed Olive up the hill. Then she dealt with putting the stroller away while I carried sleepy Olive upstairs. It was like an angel had arrived. Later she and her son came up and played with Olive and I for awhile. Olive had fun zooming her push back and then go airplane at them many many times.
Exciting news while they were here they asked if I or John would like to tutor a 5th grade neighbor in English. And so I have my first student - which is perfect. Close to home and should be a profitable and fun job - I hope. It was so nice of them to set it all up for us. It is like having a Korean mama - although from reading some blogs Korean mamas can be a bit pushy and she is not. She is just sweet and taking care of us...
So we have been sleeping on a yo for 2 weeks now and although it is not comfortable it has not led to back aches as I had feared. My back feels fine and I have been sleeping fine too. Miracle of miracles.
This is turning out to be a rambling blog - a bit of stream of consciousness. So I'm going with it.
I have been really missing good chocolate. One of things John and I did on our weekly date nights at home was to share some dark chocolate. We traded off choosing and it was always fun to indulge. During those dates I discovered my love for salty chocolate. Anyway there has not been good chocolate here so far- just crappy candy bars. So last night when John headed out for his nightly bottle of Soju - I asked him to find me some chocolate and he did. Yay! yummy 72% cacao dark chocolate bits. Oh the little things in life.
Netta has recently been watching Good Eats on Youtube and that inspired her to do some cooking for us. It has been really fun - she works quite a bit on presentation and thinks quite a bit about our likes and dislikes. For example for John she made up a nice plate of kimchi. I have taken some photos and will post them in the next post.
Netta has also really enjoyed being able to go to the store by herself here. I think it might have something to do with sugar but it is fun to see her stretching her wings nonetheless. In fact when we are all together sometimes I need to remind her to stay within our sight as she will just take off walking way ahead of us. Seoul is really safe but it feels weird when she is out of our sight.
Sugar and Seoul seem to be connected. There is sugar in everything. It is so hard to find crackers without sugar. I look at the box thinking they are wheat crackers (I can't read the ingredients yet) and they are always more like cookies. The only crackers that boast "sugar free" on the box are saltines. Not my favorite.
I have been trying to cook at home now that our kitchen is set up. It is challenging without things I am used to using at home and with all the new ingredients to try.
We have been enjoying fresh vegetables from the Shichang (market). It seems like it is mostly farmers bringing their wares into town to sell. So I am hoping they are not heavily sprayed although I really don't know for sure. But I am confused because along with their veggies they will have bananas that are obviously not grown around here (they even have del monte stickers on them). So where do they come from? Is everything like the bananas? I wish I could ask. Maybe someday I will be able to.
Which brings me to the subject of studying Korean. John began a class this week but discovered it was too far to go to. We are trying to find classes for both of us closer to home. I really need some help and structure to get me on the ball with learning the language. I am motivated when it is so hard to understand people - but so lazy when I have a few moments to just space out and blog or read.
I have been tearing through books. Anyone sending packages could include novels in English for me. I just read Run by Ann Patchett in about a week. I ordered it from Amazon but the shipping was not cheap even though the book was. It was a good read.
OK now I've guilted myself into stopping this post so that I can post pictures and do some Rosetta Stone Korean lessons.
Miss you all and hope everyone is well.
Our landlady is the sweetest person. She and her son have been visiting with us. The other day I was trudging up the hill pushing Olive's stroller and she just came and took over. Just moved me out of the way and pushed Olive up the hill. Then she dealt with putting the stroller away while I carried sleepy Olive upstairs. It was like an angel had arrived. Later she and her son came up and played with Olive and I for awhile. Olive had fun zooming her push back and then go airplane at them many many times.
Exciting news while they were here they asked if I or John would like to tutor a 5th grade neighbor in English. And so I have my first student - which is perfect. Close to home and should be a profitable and fun job - I hope. It was so nice of them to set it all up for us. It is like having a Korean mama - although from reading some blogs Korean mamas can be a bit pushy and she is not. She is just sweet and taking care of us...
So we have been sleeping on a yo for 2 weeks now and although it is not comfortable it has not led to back aches as I had feared. My back feels fine and I have been sleeping fine too. Miracle of miracles.
This is turning out to be a rambling blog - a bit of stream of consciousness. So I'm going with it.
I have been really missing good chocolate. One of things John and I did on our weekly date nights at home was to share some dark chocolate. We traded off choosing and it was always fun to indulge. During those dates I discovered my love for salty chocolate. Anyway there has not been good chocolate here so far- just crappy candy bars. So last night when John headed out for his nightly bottle of Soju - I asked him to find me some chocolate and he did. Yay! yummy 72% cacao dark chocolate bits. Oh the little things in life.
Netta has recently been watching Good Eats on Youtube and that inspired her to do some cooking for us. It has been really fun - she works quite a bit on presentation and thinks quite a bit about our likes and dislikes. For example for John she made up a nice plate of kimchi. I have taken some photos and will post them in the next post.
Netta has also really enjoyed being able to go to the store by herself here. I think it might have something to do with sugar but it is fun to see her stretching her wings nonetheless. In fact when we are all together sometimes I need to remind her to stay within our sight as she will just take off walking way ahead of us. Seoul is really safe but it feels weird when she is out of our sight.
Sugar and Seoul seem to be connected. There is sugar in everything. It is so hard to find crackers without sugar. I look at the box thinking they are wheat crackers (I can't read the ingredients yet) and they are always more like cookies. The only crackers that boast "sugar free" on the box are saltines. Not my favorite.
I have been trying to cook at home now that our kitchen is set up. It is challenging without things I am used to using at home and with all the new ingredients to try.
We have been enjoying fresh vegetables from the Shichang (market). It seems like it is mostly farmers bringing their wares into town to sell. So I am hoping they are not heavily sprayed although I really don't know for sure. But I am confused because along with their veggies they will have bananas that are obviously not grown around here (they even have del monte stickers on them). So where do they come from? Is everything like the bananas? I wish I could ask. Maybe someday I will be able to.
Which brings me to the subject of studying Korean. John began a class this week but discovered it was too far to go to. We are trying to find classes for both of us closer to home. I really need some help and structure to get me on the ball with learning the language. I am motivated when it is so hard to understand people - but so lazy when I have a few moments to just space out and blog or read.
I have been tearing through books. Anyone sending packages could include novels in English for me. I just read Run by Ann Patchett in about a week. I ordered it from Amazon but the shipping was not cheap even though the book was. It was a good read.
OK now I've guilted myself into stopping this post so that I can post pictures and do some Rosetta Stone Korean lessons.
Miss you all and hope everyone is well.
Monday, August 2, 2010
This is part of the science center as well.


This is the shichang in our neighborhood. It is the market that happens every evening. It is amazing lots of yummy food - I will write more about it tomorrow - I'm too tired now -sorry.
I'm starting to think about how I will write about things on the blog as I am experiencing them here. That is strange for me. I am also feeling like I should be writing more often and it feels like a term paper I need to write or reading that I am supposed to be doing. So here I am - lots to tell.
I think the last entry was about last weekend and a whole week has now passed. So I'm thinking just the highlights not a day by day account.
John has been working so the kids and I are trying to stay out of his hair.
This week Netta had a playdate with Abigail. They went swimming on the military post so Olive and I couldn't go without me getting a full id check. I instead sent Netta off with these folks I had just met once while Olive and I walked around Itaewon. Itaewon is where most foreigners live in Seoul. In fact it is where my parents lived when they were here. It was really strange to go there. A lot of things are in English and there are loads of foreigners on the streets. Olive pretty much slept through the whole 2 1/2 hours that I walked.
There was a part of me that felt comforted by the familiarity of English but mostly it was too expensive and geared towards foreigners for me. I was happy to get back to our neighborhood where I can't read anything. It seems more like Korea - more like I am living in a foreign country.
Friday was a home day and then with John on Saturday we went to the art museum on the Seoul National University campus. We took the bus up to campus and then walked down to the entrance gate where the museum was. It was beautiful - big open meadows, lots of trees - it reminds John and I of UCSC. It was so great to find out it is so close.
One thing I read about the SNU on the web is that it was moved out here to get the protests and politically active students out of the center of Seoul. I'm glad it is out here. The art museum was great. The exhibit was in Italian and Korean- Primavero del Bianco. So all the pieces I think were based around white and this lead to some cool stuff with shadows and texture. We all enjoyed it very much (well Olive enjoyed her nap there actually).
Then we headed for a mexican restaurant that I had read about on other expats blogs. There happened to be one on the campus that John had seen earlier in the week. It was good - ingredients were fresh and the girls enjoyed their nachos and John and I shared a veggie burrito. We have all been missing mexican food so it was a nice treat to find some decent food close to home.
One cool thing about our trek at the university was that Netta took the camera and went nuts. So I will post some of her photos in the next posting. She really got into taking pictures and got some really great ones.
On our bus ride to the University we saw this place with water and kids and it was called Seoul Science Park so on Sunday we set out to find out what it was all about. On the way we came to the fountain that the girls had played with in the other night. It was on and the girls had a little time to play there - I will post photos in the next post.
Then we walked past Nakseongdae Park to the Seoul Science Park. The outside part that we had seen the day before was open and free! Which was exciting. It was really fun all of the things were hands on examples of scientific ideas. The kids had fun - I will post pictures of that next too. Then the Korean announcement happened and everyone started to leave and so we did too.
There was some other outside areas to explore there so we walked up the hill to the gardens and greenhouse. It was so great - really beautiful but unfortunately really hot. It was like it was ready to rain and relieve the heat but the rain never came just the stifling heat.
Netta was bummed because although there was plenty of water in the science park none of it was really for getting into. It was more used to show scientific principles. Netta did manage to find a fountain and stick her head in a few times to cool down.
The greenhouse had some critters in it too - which was cool. There is also an observatory there that we will try to check out some evening. Outside the observatory there were these little domes that you could stand in and your head was in darkness with the stars lit up by the sunlight from outside. I took some pictures but I'm not sure you will be able to tell just how cool they were from the photos. John also discovered that they had a really cool sound thing going on. It was all in all a very cool find - right here in our lovely neighborhood.
Although we could not read any of the signs there so we have no idea if it is always free or when it is open but oh well we can figure it out as we go along.
So that's about it - events wise. The rest of the time is mostly just being at home - playing - writing letters - napping - reading.
I will post photos in the next post or else they will go to the top of this post.
I think the last entry was about last weekend and a whole week has now passed. So I'm thinking just the highlights not a day by day account.
John has been working so the kids and I are trying to stay out of his hair.
This week Netta had a playdate with Abigail. They went swimming on the military post so Olive and I couldn't go without me getting a full id check. I instead sent Netta off with these folks I had just met once while Olive and I walked around Itaewon. Itaewon is where most foreigners live in Seoul. In fact it is where my parents lived when they were here. It was really strange to go there. A lot of things are in English and there are loads of foreigners on the streets. Olive pretty much slept through the whole 2 1/2 hours that I walked.
There was a part of me that felt comforted by the familiarity of English but mostly it was too expensive and geared towards foreigners for me. I was happy to get back to our neighborhood where I can't read anything. It seems more like Korea - more like I am living in a foreign country.
Friday was a home day and then with John on Saturday we went to the art museum on the Seoul National University campus. We took the bus up to campus and then walked down to the entrance gate where the museum was. It was beautiful - big open meadows, lots of trees - it reminds John and I of UCSC. It was so great to find out it is so close.
One thing I read about the SNU on the web is that it was moved out here to get the protests and politically active students out of the center of Seoul. I'm glad it is out here. The art museum was great. The exhibit was in Italian and Korean- Primavero del Bianco. So all the pieces I think were based around white and this lead to some cool stuff with shadows and texture. We all enjoyed it very much (well Olive enjoyed her nap there actually).
Then we headed for a mexican restaurant that I had read about on other expats blogs. There happened to be one on the campus that John had seen earlier in the week. It was good - ingredients were fresh and the girls enjoyed their nachos and John and I shared a veggie burrito. We have all been missing mexican food so it was a nice treat to find some decent food close to home.
One cool thing about our trek at the university was that Netta took the camera and went nuts. So I will post some of her photos in the next posting. She really got into taking pictures and got some really great ones.
On our bus ride to the University we saw this place with water and kids and it was called Seoul Science Park so on Sunday we set out to find out what it was all about. On the way we came to the fountain that the girls had played with in the other night. It was on and the girls had a little time to play there - I will post photos in the next post.
Then we walked past Nakseongdae Park to the Seoul Science Park. The outside part that we had seen the day before was open and free! Which was exciting. It was really fun all of the things were hands on examples of scientific ideas. The kids had fun - I will post pictures of that next too. Then the Korean announcement happened and everyone started to leave and so we did too.
There was some other outside areas to explore there so we walked up the hill to the gardens and greenhouse. It was so great - really beautiful but unfortunately really hot. It was like it was ready to rain and relieve the heat but the rain never came just the stifling heat.
Netta was bummed because although there was plenty of water in the science park none of it was really for getting into. It was more used to show scientific principles. Netta did manage to find a fountain and stick her head in a few times to cool down.
The greenhouse had some critters in it too - which was cool. There is also an observatory there that we will try to check out some evening. Outside the observatory there were these little domes that you could stand in and your head was in darkness with the stars lit up by the sunlight from outside. I took some pictures but I'm not sure you will be able to tell just how cool they were from the photos. John also discovered that they had a really cool sound thing going on. It was all in all a very cool find - right here in our lovely neighborhood.
Although we could not read any of the signs there so we have no idea if it is always free or when it is open but oh well we can figure it out as we go along.
So that's about it - events wise. The rest of the time is mostly just being at home - playing - writing letters - napping - reading.
I will post photos in the next post or else they will go to the top of this post.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
swimming and sledding
Hi I am a little behind so I will try to catch up while Olive naps. On Sunday we had the chance to go swimming with Joe and his son.
It was good timing as Netta was running out of patience with us trying to find a public pool. She and John had gone in search of one on Saturday but never found it. Once he bought her an ice cream she was fine with that and they came home.
So Joe called on Sunday to invite us swimming and we jumped at the chance.
John had his first rehearsal for a singing group that he joined so it was just me and the kids.
Joe met us at the subway station and then we had a long drive to the pool. It was nice to get out of the city and see some trees and more mountains. We finally arrived and the place was really amazing. It was a camp owned by the methodist church that Joe used to teach for. The pool was great with 2 huge water slides, a waterfall into the pool and in the smaller pool a play structure. The play structure was just literally plunked down in the middle of the kiddie pool. It had a tire swing and slides - very fun. Olive and Netta had a great time being wet.
The kids were all in camp and so they had all these activities set up including this little kiddie pool filled with baby eels. Olive and Netta loved these - Olive squealed with delight as she tried to touch them and then catch them. They were so slippery! Netta became an expert at catching them and would give them to Olive to hold. It was fun! Of course I think these eels will actually become dinner when they get big enough.
After playing in the pool for awhile we headed to the showers to rinse off and Netta found a bunch of cute little frogs hopping outside the shower window.
Then we went and played soccer with Joe and his son. It was fun to run around together.
Joe mentioned that they had an all season sledding track. I wasn't sure what that would mean but we went up to take a look. It was basically a big sledding hill that is covered in plastic kind of stuff that makes you go down really fast in a sled. At the bottom there is astroturf to slow you down when the hill stops.
Netta really enjoyed this - it went very fast.
I took Olive once and was not a very good driver as it was fast and I was nervous with Olive and tried to slow it down. I tried using my hands but that threw us all off balance - wacky! Then I realized there was no way I would go down it again with my baby and that made Netta really mad. She wanted Olive to go down with her but Olive was kind of nervous by this time. She had really enjoyed the run but when I got scared afterwards I think it scared her. She didn't want to go with Netta even though Netta was a much better driver. Netta was not happy with this situation. She was also hungry and tired by this point.
So Joe and his son and Netta on her own went down a few more times and then we left. On the last run Netta fell off at the bottom and got a little hurt. I was glad that Olive had not been with her on that run. I think she would have been more hurt by the fall - as it was Netta sprained her ankle when she fell.
After the sledding we drove back to Seoul and got a bite to eat. The kids were starving and Joe's son Daniel had to have Burger King. I was dreading Burger King but the kids had to eat. We tried to convince Daniel to eat somewhere else but all he wanted was Burger King. Thankfully there was another restaurant nearby and we go some Udon and a pork cutlet for the girls. By the time we were done eating and on the subway back home it was after 10pm. I was exhausted and so were the girls. Olive fell asleep on my back on the subway (she hadn't even had a nap!).
Another long, fun day of play!
Then on to Monday - not too exciting of a day. We spent the day at home and then went to pick up a highchair I found on Craigslist. It was kind of far away and on the way home we took the bus for the first time. It was a great ride -easier than changing trains so many times.
Tuesday we decided to go look for Nakseongdae Park which we had seen on someone's blog. We walked there and it was nice. There is a temple there that was moved to the spot. It is the birthplace of a general and he is the reason this area is called Nakseongdae. It was said that on the day he was born stars fell from the sky. Hence the name which means place where stars fall. There was a big statue of him and a big plaza with lots of kids playing and riding bikes. Also lots of folks exercising on exercise machines and walking their dogs and such.
We met a nice lady - she had her grandkids with her. She spoke English and her grandaughters are right around the girls ages and they live close by. We exchanged numbers and hopefully we will see them again. Her grandaughters are visiting from China - so they speak Chinese and English and she speaks Korean and English --wow!
On the way home from the park there was a fountain that was so much fun. A bunch of kids were playing in it and Netta had to join in. Olive watched for awhile and then went in with John. It was great - Netta and Olive were so happy - screaming and running in the water! Just thinking about it makes me smile. Everyone was drenched and we came home - late again- and went to bed.
Sorry - I should have brought the camera - next time I will!!
Well between the fun and playing we are all struggling to get used to our new life here. It is hard sometimes and the language thing is frustrating. I think we are going to sign up for classes today - I know that will help. Trying to stay positive - but we miss all of you terribly.
What I wouldn't give for a date night right about now. It is hard to get time to talk to John - the apartment is so small and Netta won't go to sleep if we are talking - ugh!
Looking forward to a date when my parents visit in Sept. Hope we can make it until then!
Sorry this is so long ---bye for now!
It was good timing as Netta was running out of patience with us trying to find a public pool. She and John had gone in search of one on Saturday but never found it. Once he bought her an ice cream she was fine with that and they came home.
So Joe called on Sunday to invite us swimming and we jumped at the chance.
John had his first rehearsal for a singing group that he joined so it was just me and the kids.
Joe met us at the subway station and then we had a long drive to the pool. It was nice to get out of the city and see some trees and more mountains. We finally arrived and the place was really amazing. It was a camp owned by the methodist church that Joe used to teach for. The pool was great with 2 huge water slides, a waterfall into the pool and in the smaller pool a play structure. The play structure was just literally plunked down in the middle of the kiddie pool. It had a tire swing and slides - very fun. Olive and Netta had a great time being wet.
The kids were all in camp and so they had all these activities set up including this little kiddie pool filled with baby eels. Olive and Netta loved these - Olive squealed with delight as she tried to touch them and then catch them. They were so slippery! Netta became an expert at catching them and would give them to Olive to hold. It was fun! Of course I think these eels will actually become dinner when they get big enough.
After playing in the pool for awhile we headed to the showers to rinse off and Netta found a bunch of cute little frogs hopping outside the shower window.
Then we went and played soccer with Joe and his son. It was fun to run around together.
Joe mentioned that they had an all season sledding track. I wasn't sure what that would mean but we went up to take a look. It was basically a big sledding hill that is covered in plastic kind of stuff that makes you go down really fast in a sled. At the bottom there is astroturf to slow you down when the hill stops.
Netta really enjoyed this - it went very fast.
I took Olive once and was not a very good driver as it was fast and I was nervous with Olive and tried to slow it down. I tried using my hands but that threw us all off balance - wacky! Then I realized there was no way I would go down it again with my baby and that made Netta really mad. She wanted Olive to go down with her but Olive was kind of nervous by this time. She had really enjoyed the run but when I got scared afterwards I think it scared her. She didn't want to go with Netta even though Netta was a much better driver. Netta was not happy with this situation. She was also hungry and tired by this point.
So Joe and his son and Netta on her own went down a few more times and then we left. On the last run Netta fell off at the bottom and got a little hurt. I was glad that Olive had not been with her on that run. I think she would have been more hurt by the fall - as it was Netta sprained her ankle when she fell.
After the sledding we drove back to Seoul and got a bite to eat. The kids were starving and Joe's son Daniel had to have Burger King. I was dreading Burger King but the kids had to eat. We tried to convince Daniel to eat somewhere else but all he wanted was Burger King. Thankfully there was another restaurant nearby and we go some Udon and a pork cutlet for the girls. By the time we were done eating and on the subway back home it was after 10pm. I was exhausted and so were the girls. Olive fell asleep on my back on the subway (she hadn't even had a nap!).
Another long, fun day of play!
Then on to Monday - not too exciting of a day. We spent the day at home and then went to pick up a highchair I found on Craigslist. It was kind of far away and on the way home we took the bus for the first time. It was a great ride -easier than changing trains so many times.
Tuesday we decided to go look for Nakseongdae Park which we had seen on someone's blog. We walked there and it was nice. There is a temple there that was moved to the spot. It is the birthplace of a general and he is the reason this area is called Nakseongdae. It was said that on the day he was born stars fell from the sky. Hence the name which means place where stars fall. There was a big statue of him and a big plaza with lots of kids playing and riding bikes. Also lots of folks exercising on exercise machines and walking their dogs and such.
We met a nice lady - she had her grandkids with her. She spoke English and her grandaughters are right around the girls ages and they live close by. We exchanged numbers and hopefully we will see them again. Her grandaughters are visiting from China - so they speak Chinese and English and she speaks Korean and English --wow!
On the way home from the park there was a fountain that was so much fun. A bunch of kids were playing in it and Netta had to join in. Olive watched for awhile and then went in with John. It was great - Netta and Olive were so happy - screaming and running in the water! Just thinking about it makes me smile. Everyone was drenched and we came home - late again- and went to bed.
Sorry - I should have brought the camera - next time I will!!
Well between the fun and playing we are all struggling to get used to our new life here. It is hard sometimes and the language thing is frustrating. I think we are going to sign up for classes today - I know that will help. Trying to stay positive - but we miss all of you terribly.
What I wouldn't give for a date night right about now. It is hard to get time to talk to John - the apartment is so small and Netta won't go to sleep if we are talking - ugh!
Looking forward to a date when my parents visit in Sept. Hope we can make it until then!
Sorry this is so long ---bye for now!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Netta's latest costume art project
I bought some tape to repair the stroller handles. Netta found it and used the extra.....
Here are some photos of what she did with it.

I like this one - she looks very zen with the hands.


Of course Olive needed in on the act. So she did her hand and wanted me to take a picture for the blog. She is so proud!
Here are some photos of what she did with it.

Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)