Nancy and Michael's Visit

Do you remember how last year, as soon as Nancy and Michael left everything got really crazy, and it took me until the end of the month to finally post something about their trip? Yeah, I remember that, too. And things haven't really changed this year, except maybe (if it's possible?) we're even busier. Last year, we moved apartments and flew to Jeju for three days. This year, we're moving countries and Kennedy and I are flying to Japan for three days. Apparently, we don't learn our lessons!

But, I am going to try to get this post done before May 30th, and then it might be quiet again. Except for those weekly posts. I don't think I could ignore those if I tried. (Though I should probably see how I'm doing for this week and get some photos loaded!)

I spent my morning working on getting myself a little more organized. I've felt like I'm kind of at a standstill...can we live without that pan or pot for three weeks? Can I pack a few more books? Do we really need this many clothes for just three weeks? But, once I booked those tickets to Japan and realized that I need to have all of the bigger suitcases in "final pack" mode before I leave, it became clear that we're just going to have to live without that stuff. If I don't get started now, I'll never finish in time!

We still have some big jobs to do, and not a lot of free time in which to do them (some of them complicated by the fact that we no longer have a car), so things are a little tense around here. Emotions are high as we think about all of the changes to come and the people and things we're leaving behind. But, we're doing our best to end well.

This week, we have concerts for both kids, Kennedy's first swim meet, Cade has a field trip, and Eric has the 8th grade gala, as well as the regular stuff like swim lessons and Awana. The kids are really excited about field day on Thursday, too. With any luck, next week won't be quite as busy in the evenings, but it seems unlikely since there are still people we need to schedule final dinners with. We're got to give it our all right now, even though it doesn't always feel like we have much to give.

Our time with Michael and Nancy was really good, though, and it gave us a chance to get some major things checked off of our bucket lists. They arrived really late on Tuesday night after a delayed flight and an "express" train that blew right by Hannam-yok, making their trip much longer.

They hit the ground running on Wednesday, though, with Michael getting up early with Eric to go play basketball at school. He and the kids had school that day, and Kennedy had two tests, so we thought it best that they both just go, in spite of our guests. I took them to school in the late morning, and then they visited the kids and hung out with Eric for a bit before taking the "scenic route" home.

That night, we had big plans to go to the National Museum of Contemporary History for the night view of Gyeongbukgong Palace, so we picked up some Moroccan sandwiches at Casablanca (one of our favorites!) for a quick dinner before our neighbor came down to watch the kids (and by "watch," I mean be in the house with them while they all read or slept!), and then we were off!

I took my time getting the perfect shot (or the best I could do...I wish I could see some of the shots that the real pros up there were getting...at least I looked the part with my tripod and stuff!), so they had time to peruse the museum for a bit before we headed down to the Cheonggyecheon to see the lanterns that were not yet lit. (This is what they look like lit up.) Then, we began the trek to find a taxi and eventually made it home.

On Thursday, the kids were home from school but Eric had to work, so we played lots of cards and had a relaxing morning while Reece got in a 3 1/2 hour nap (because that's what toddlers do when you're all waiting on them to wake up!). Once he woke up, we took the van to school and walked through Itaewon to one of our very favorite restaurants--Petra Palace--for the last time. We had chicken and hummus, lamb and laban, tabbouleh, and of course, naan. The only thing I'm sad we skipped on was the falafel, since there's is delicious, and I probably won't get to go back. Oh boy. Now I'm hungry, and I already ate lunch.

After we stuffed ourselves with Lebanese food, we headed to a store right across the street that has been on Kennedy's bucket list ever since it opened in November. I have no idea what Line Friends is, and I don't care to put in the effort to Google it, but it is extremely popular among Koreans (what isn't?), and it would seem, 3rd grade girls. The store was not stroller-friendly, nor was the line of Koreans waiting to take their picture with an over-sized stuffed bear, so Reece and I hid in a corner while Nancy and Michael escorted the kids around the store. What a thrill it was!

By the time we were done, Eric was done with his meetings and he met us as we meandered through alleys on the way back to school. He put sincere effort into finding a restaurant that he went to years ago with friends but hasn't been able to find again since. The upside for us was walking by one of the touted "best coffee" shops in Seoul for a refreshing iced coffee. It was pretty delicious, but no doubt I won't make it back to Peer Coffee, either, in our limited time remaining.

For dinner, we continued our world food tour with a trip to Busan Galbi (and a return to Itaewon...we got lots of walking in!) for Korean food because no trip to Korea is complete without it! We had both pork and beef galbi, kimchi pancake, and dolsot bibimbap, as well as the many banchan. Probably another last for us as it's not a cheap meal, and we've got money to save (though it is much cheaper now that Reece is a picky eater; he definitely ate more than his fair share the last time we had galbi!).

Well, I still have tons to do this afternoon in order to get us all bathed, fed, and out the door for Cade's concert tonight, so I'd better get to it. Nancy and Michael still had three more long busy days after this, so I'll have to get back to it another time! I'm off to get Cade from the bus!

Beginning Transition

Sometimes, I swear that the closer our move gets, the further away it seems. As we start to look at some of the details of things that need to be done (both here and in Washington), it gets a bit overwhelming. I spend an inordinate amount of time these days taking pictures of our things and cataloging them for those who may want to benefit from our departure. My mind is a constant maze of to-dos that can't be done yet.

Right now, I'm in that everything-about-Korea-annoys-me stage. Our upstairs neighbors are having some remodeling done, and so there is all kinds of noise going on up there much of the day. That kind of thing tends to wear on the nerves. (Not to mention the announcement in our apartment when it's about to begin, because apparently I need noise to announce there will be noise!) The contractors have been smoking, so the halls stink and the fire alarms keep going off. I'll be happy when they're done!

If I never have to live in another building with an elevator and all of these locked doors and different keys, I will be so happy. It's just so annoying when you're trying to juggle a wiggly toddler in a huge slippery coat and the groceries. Ack.

And so, tonight we're having Korean. I'm making bulgogi, I picked up cucumber kimchi and black beans soaked in soy sauce. We've got kim and rice. Lettuce leaves and ssamjang. Because there are some things that we will miss once we've moved on, and it's important to remember that. (Even when your toddler has molars coming in and isn't eating, napping, or sleeping well.) 

Sokcho & Seorak

Well, this weekend it was back to the grind and back to the busyness. I'm so glad that we had last weekend to relax as a family!

On Saturday, I had a baby shower that I'd promised to make an appearance at and then Eric had his first baseball game of the season. Cade is still in soccer for a couple more weeks, so we missed the game to make sure Cade could get to soccer. It was a busy day running around, and I managed to accomplish very little.

As a result, I spent my Sunday making up for it, and unfortunately, I've been working on catching up on things that I've been putting off all year. It's already time for those end-of-the-year meetings, and I had plenty to do to get ready for them!

Otherwise, our week has been pretty typical--lots of soccer for me, lots of cooking for Eric. He out-did himself this week and cooked four nights. That definitely sets a record for his cooking in Korea--after almost 3 years, I think he's got it figured out!

The weather has been a bit warmer again and while all of the cherry blossoms are gone (and no, I didn't take pictures; I'm pretty sure they looked the same as last year!), the azaleas are starting to bloom. Things are green, and it's so nice after the long winter!

After our trip to Busan (we headed home early on New Year's morning), we were ready for something a little more relaxing. The next day, the kids and I introduced Travis to the jimjilbang--it was a nice, brief escape from the wintery weather outside.

We checked out all of the sauna and steam rooms for both genders in the main area of the Dragon Hill Spa. Then we had some bulgogi, dongkas, and rice in the restaurant before we headed down to the hot tubs.

Cade thoroughly enjoys his time at the jimjilbang (which is unfortunate because Eric doesn't like it and Cade can't go with me!), but Kennedy was not really a fan. She was not in favor of taking off all of her clothes or showering in a room with a 50 other naked women. We spent several hours there, so I think we got our money's worth, and Eric got some time to himself, which I'm sure he needed.

The next day we decided to go check out the Electronics Market. For some reason, I had been wanting to see this place ever since we moved here. To be honest, it was less than thrilling. Much of the place seemed to be shut down and out of business. It was evident that it had been a busy spot at one time, but that wasn't really the case any more. I know there are several buildings for various electronics and appliances, but we only checked out one.

There were floors and floors, but they all kind of looked the same. We checked out a lot of cameras and various equipment--I was on the lookout for a tripod. We also checked out some pretty cool projectors--we've been looking for one since we don't have a tv--and they make them so small now! Eric wasn't ready to shell out hundreds of dollars yet, though.

We ended up with just a pen drive, and the extremely unfortunate episode of Kennedy losing much of her Christmas money when her wallet fell out of her coat pocket. The poor kid learned a tough lesson that day about carrying around money. It was pretty heartbreaking. Afterward, we headed home for homemade bulgogi and another evening of cards.

The following day, we headed out to the National Museum. It is yet another impressive (and free) Korean museum. This one is quite large--you really can't do the whole thing in one day. It has some overlap with the other museums we take tourists--the War Memorial and the Folk Museum--but it covers the history of Buddhism in Korea, as well as Korean pottery, two of my interests.

As you can see, I don't have many pictures of the adventures I've discussed up to this point. We've been to the National Museum several times, and I wasn't feeling too camera happy on this particular trip, other than a couple with my phone that were on Instagram once upon a time.

We actually managed to get ourselves a babysitter for that evening--it was a Saturday night after all--so that we could all have dinner together. We went to Craftworks, one of the craft breweries in our neighborhood that's famous for its beers and its food. After dinner, I introduced Eric and Travis to noraebang.

I don't think either one of them were particularly excited about the idea of having our own room to sing karaoke in. They don't really enjoy karaoke anyway, so Eric especially, was not sure why having our own room to do it in was going to make it more enjoyable. Noraebang won them over! There is just something about the combination of horrible Korean dramas being played to nostalgic 90s music, complete with microphones, lights, and disco balls that results in a lot of fun! (Okay, there was beer, too.)

Our hour in the noraebang flew by, as it typically does at the place that I frequent, because they keep adding another 10 or 15 minutes each time we near the end of our hour, so it was probably closer to two. By the time we left, though, it was time to head home to relieve the babysitter.

On our way through Itaewon, Eric suggested that Travis and I go out for a drink (as they had already done earlier in the week), so he headed home while we went to find someplace new among the back alleys. We ended up at an interesting place where Travis ended up with the most hilarious drink. It was slushy, blue, and had a cookie in it. It was so funny to see that in his hand!

The pictures in this post (which may set a record for the longest ever!) are from our trip to Seorak, about a three hour drive from Seoul, which we left for the next day. A Korean friend of ours made reservations for us in a condo not far from an indoor water park, sledding, and hiking in Seoraksan National Park.

After arriving, we went in search of lunch in the tiny coastal town of Sokcho. There we found more fresh seafood, and Travis was not going to pass it up this time! He ordered some snails and crab and we waited upstairs in the "restaurant" for our food to be cleaned and cooked for us.

Above you can see the pictures of how our food was served to us--not exactly prepared, as one might expect, but it was cooked. We had some rice and side dishes, and it was a good thing because I think Cade out-ate us all in the crab department. I think he could have finished both of them himself if only he was a little better at getting the meat out!

After lunch, we met our friends at Waterpia, a pretty big water park and jimjilbang. There were several rooms, an outdoor section with hot tubs, and just about everything the kids could think of for a perfect escape from the winter cold.

The kids were pretty wiped out by the time we'd finished dinner--another interesting Korean experience. I promised Eric that I wouldn't post any of the pictures of that particular dinner, but let me just say that we were the only foreigners and that the owners were very hospitable. I'm pretty sure that they thought we'd just flown into Korea for the weekend based on our inability to sit on the floor and our lack of skill in cooking galbi!

And the adults, of course, continued our many rounds of cribbage. We made excellent use of Gretchen's cribbage board on Travis' trip! And yes, this place was considerably nicer than the nasty hotel in Busan. What a relief!

The onslaught of Q4 grading has officially begun, though soccer is winding down, so with any luck, I might be able to finish the pictures from his trip before we leave for the summer!

Busan's National Maritime Museum

This weekend has been more like spring break than any of our spring break was. The weather hasn't been great--it's cooled down by about 15 degrees since last week, but it is supposed to warm up again this week.

This weekend neither Eric nor I had any school work to do. Grades were due Tuesday, so I've been able to relax a bit since then. My soccer game on Saturday was cancelled; the team had to forfeit. Our only obligation was Cade's soccer practice. What a relief it is to finally be able to relax! And I'm finally delivering a decent blog post--picture heavy, I warn you--in an effort to catch up a bit.

Our flights back home for the summer are booked--we'll be back in WA on June 17th--and it's finally starting to feel like the school year is winding down. I guess the start of the 4th quarter will do that! We now have just under two months left of school. Woohoo!

I can't say that I'm feeling great, but certainly better than I was two weeks ago. I even cooked today. It may have been in the middle of the day, for no meal in particular, but I knew what I wanted, I made it, and I was able to eat it. It's the first time in a long time that I've been able to do that!

This is the busiest quarter for me of the school year, in terms of grading. It's a bit hard to believe, since I don't really have a quarter that's easy, but I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the craziness that is to come. My first big assignment is due in a little over a week, and then there is a new one about every two weeks until the end of the year. That means I really need to be on my game!

I only have three weeks of soccer left, though, so that should help. We've been having an amazing season--the first winning season for girls' soccer in a long time. We've lost one, tied one, and won all of the rest of our games--including beating our arch rival for the first time in school history. It's been a good year to fill in!

These pictures are from our second day in Busan...remember how I was trying to post pictures of my brother's trip? Remember how I said I hoped I'd get through it in two months? Whoops! Needless to say, I no longer remember many of the details that I would have had I gotten through this in a reasonable amount of time, but I did at least write down what we did on a daily basis, so I have something to go off of, aside from just pictures.

On day two, we got up and headed to Starbucks for breakfast. We'd decided the night before that we were going to do the Busan City bus tour. The one in Seoul is pretty good, and they're pretty reasonable, so it's an easy way to get around to the big sights. During breakfast, we changed our mind. We decided there was really only one thing we wanted to see on the tour, so we might as well just go there by ourselves.

Of course, that's always easier said than done in a foreign country, but we managed pretty well. We started by actually walking through the fish market and then ended up re-tracing our steps to head to the subway, thinking we knew what step to get off and that we could map it from there. After exiting the subway, we realized that we were still very far away from our destination, so we found a taxi.

We were able to get out there without too much trouble, but you should know that it is also pretty far out of town, and once we were there, I had no idea how we were going to get back into town!

The museum itself is pretty incredible, though. We spend several hours going through it--and that was just reading the English. There are boats, several interactive kids' exhibits, and a lot of information. Best of all, it's free, of course! And we finally took advantage of the 10 cent lockers that many Korean places have to store our coats, gloves, hats, scarves, and backpacks. Why don't we use those more often?! I would definitely recommend a stop at this museum, if you're ever in Busan.

Our next stop was lunch. Another really nice thing about Korean museums, is that they tend to have cheap food courts inside or nearby. It's the standard fare: bibimbap, donkgas, kimbap, and kimchi jigae at every one, but it works.

Even our pickiest eater can always get by with just rice, if she refuses to eat anything else! Those little fish, complete with heads? They're served as part of the banchan at many places--salty and usually spicy, too.

After lunch, we finally had to figure out how to leave the museum. We'd seen a sign for a taxi stop when we'd arrived, but it was near a ferry terminal, and evidently the taxis only come when they know there's a boat coming. No such luck. We also knew that the tour bus went out there, so we figured we would wait at the bus stop and hop on--so much for not doing the tour.

As it turned out, an empty taxi happened to come by the bus stop while we were waiting. Our afternoon plan was to head to the Busan Aquarium. As it turned out, Busan is a big city, and the two were very far apart. I mean far apart. It was not a cheap taxi ride. The aquarium wasn't cheap, either. The only reason we went because many people had told me how great it was, but we weren't impressed. I wouldn't bother, if I were you! 

We took the subway back to the hotel, but we still hadn't had dinner, so Trav and I trekked out to find something to bring back. It was New Year's Eve, but the kids were tired and ready for bed, so we were laying low.

We brought back fried chicken, and after a second trek out to get dessert, we put the kids to bed in one room, and we played cards in the other room. As much as I tried to convince Trav to go out by himself and experience New Year's in Busan, he wasn't confident he was going to find the kind of fun he was looking for, so we kept playing cribbage until midnight, at which point I headed to bed. And apparently Eric felt the need to document it.

In just a few weeks Lindy will be here to visit, and it will be May. Soccer will be over. The school year will be wrapping up. Before you know it, we'll be packing suitcases and headed to the States for the summer. Eric and I have been dreaming about it lately, so I guess we're excited! There's a lot going on right now!