Lost in Translation

Eric says that blogging gives me a unique perspective on events in our lives. I think he may be right.

Last night was one of the most stressful evenings we've had in a while. And really, it was only a stressful hour or so, but that's enough, you know? Because that hour feels like hours. I can't say that I wasn't a bit stressed at times, but I kept thinking to myself, "at least this will make an interesting blog post."

Kennedy had a birthday party yesterday after school. It was the first one of those parties. Last year, most of her friends had their parties at a "tumbleland" at the mall--just a place where they can run around and play. Boy, do they need those here! While it's not something that we can easily afford, it's okay. Understandable. Reasonable.

Yesterday's party was anything but reasonable, and Eric and I struggled a bit with whether or not we were going to let her to go to one of those parties. In the end, we let her go, and I have no fear that she has any expectations of her own birthday parties following in these footsteps.

The party began with a 45 minute ride around the city in a limousine--something Kennedy described as simply "amazing." The limo ride was followed by dinner in a restaurant that was catered specifically to the kids. Kennedy reiterated the fact that the "yogurt was better than anything she had ever had." And it had Fruit Loops in it. Doesn't get much better than that, I guess!

After dinner, they went to a pottery studio that had been rented out for the event. Each of the girls were able to make two pieces; Kennedy made what she describes as "sauce bowls." (Apparently, they're small.) Then, she decorated a pottery bowl that had already been made and prepared for them to paint.

This week the pieces will be glazed and delivered to school for the girls to take home. Yeah, our daughter's party consisted of painting and coloring in Eric's classroom. We like to set the bar low.

While Kennedy was at her party, we let Cade choose where he wanted to go for dinner. He chose Pizza Hut--again. So, we drove over to the mall and had pizza followed by hot chocolate for dessert. On the way, we saw the building where Kennedy was, so I was confident that we would be able to find it without too much trouble.

We left about 20 minutes before we were supposed to be there to pick her up, and I figured that it wouldn't take more 10 minutes to get there, even if there was traffic. Unfortunately, we chose to follow the pin on the phone, instead of the mental map that I had.

This resulted in driving to the pin and not being able to see the building anywhere. We found a spot to park, but that wasn't helping us orient, so Eric wanted me to start driving. This was about the time when Cade fell asleep. It was good timing, because I was just about to get on a highway which led me to a bridge, taking me the wrong direction over the river. Sitting in traffic. Fifteen minutes late. Heading in the wrong direction. Perfect.

When the divider finally ended, prayers were said, and traffic cleared in the other direction, I pulled a completely illegal U-turn (along with the car right in front of me), and we were at least headed in the right direction again. At this point, Eric tried calling the parents, but neither of them spoke English, so they hung up on him. Thing were not looking good.

After a few more wrong turns, we eventually started heading somewhat close to the right direction. After again, ending up driving way too far in the wrong direction, and getting stuck in more traffic, we were able to get ahold of the parents. This time, Eric was able to speak to someone in English and got some directions that were helpful. We were able to orient ourselves better on the two different maps we were using (both in Korean, of course), and we were getting closer. We were about 45 minutes late at this point.

We finally found the building, not surprisingly, it was right where we'd seen it before! Of course, there were two buildings, and Eric went up into the wrong one the first time, but it wasn't long before they made it out. Kennedy was tear-free, thankfully. It turned out that she wasn't the last one to be picked up, even though we were more than an hour late, so she wasn't too stressed about it. We finally made it home safely around 9:00, and we were all ready for bed by then!

North of Namsan

This week is even more insanely busy than normal! I have to work four of five days this week. Gasp. I have two Shakespeare plays to attend this week: A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet. We have the book fair at school this week, a history fair, the high school retreat, the junior/senior banquet, and a professional development day. Thankfully, we don't have to attend all of these events!

This week, Kennedy has been sick with a fever and headaches, but I'm finally getting over this nasty cold that I've had for the last two weeks. We've survived another week of North Korean threats and a visit from John Kerry, who was staying at the Hyatt Hotel not far from our school. We are still waiting impatiently for warmer weather, though!

On Thursday of spring break, we got started early because we had a lot to see on our adventures north of Mt. Namsan.

We got on the bus and headed toward Insadong-a typical tourist stop in Seoul. One main street of little shops with every souvenir one could imagine surrounded by tons of little alleys with every type of Korean food imaginable. Therein lies the problem. Too many options! So, we ended up at Pita Pit before walking along the stream--the Cheonggyecheon--on our walk to Gwanghamun Square.

I know. You just heard about this. We were just there a couple of months ago with my dad. It was a tad warmer this time. Eric wore shorts while the rest of us froze.

After taking pictures in the famous Gwanghamun Square, we headed to Gyeongbokgung Palace.

We opted out of watching the changing of the guard show this time, but we did stop to take pictures with them!

Eventually, we made it to the Folk Museum, so that we could go inside and warm up.

After a long day of walking in the cold, we were ready to go home and have bulgogi for dinner--the one Korean meal I know how to make!

Yeouido Island

On Wednesday, we went to Yeouido Island to bike along the Han River.

Thankfully, the weather was warmer, so we were able to enjoy an outside activity. Evan and Jen reveled in their newlywed-ness and rented a double bike.

Cade rode on the back of Eric's bike--even with so much practice on his new bike, we were thankful that he had a ride because he's pretty slow! He was also happy to enjoy the ride!

Kennedy did a pretty good job keeping up, though!

 

There were also water drills going on in the river--lots of police boats, fire boats, and such. Cade was enthralled!

Okay, everyone was entertained by it...

Things had been going really well, so we decided to check out something else on Yeouido. There is a mall not too far from where we were. We had gone to check out IFC Mall just a few weeks ago, though people have been talking about it for months. It is famous for being a very Western mall--not as dark or chaotic as many of the Korean malls--which isn't exactly the type of authentic experience that Evan was looking for.

So, as we hopped on the subway in the direction of the mall, I checked out the map of the area, hopped on my iPhone and found a more authentic shopping experience--Yeongdeungpo Market--just a couple of stops from where we were. I found a blog that provided easy directions to the market and within minutes we had arrived.

It quickly became clear that this was not going to be a tourist excursion--there wasn't a white person to be seen inside this massive covered market. We managed to walk through for quite awhile observing all sorts of interesting things--chicken feet, vegetables, spices, beans, and any cut of pork imaginable. Unfortunately, we eventually ran into authentic Korea. I won't go into the details here, but let me just say that if you are of the Western mind that our four-legged friends are just that--friends--then I would recommend that you don't check out Yeongdeungpo Market.

At that point, we were running low on time, so we weren't able to prove that Korea does have normal shopping experiences--complete with Starbucks--so we were headed back to our neighborhood to have dinner with one of Eric's friends and his fiance. I don't think Evan or Jen had any meat in their dinner that night...

Tuesday: The Driver's License Saga

On Tuesday, we had a bit of a slower start. Eric and I have been trying to get our Korean driver's licenses, so we thought we try to take care of it without the kids this time. On the Friday before everyone arrived, we made our first attempt. We managed to get new passport pictures taken and printed in Korean sizes pretty easily. Then we headed to the Seoul Global Center. On the day that they were moving their office. Nearly four hours in the cold, traipsing around the city for nothing. No notice on their website that they were moving. I was frustrated, to say the least.

So, on Tuesday, we headed to the new office. It was actually a fairly short trip to get there. The building really was where they told us it would be...though I don't think the website reflects the move yet, for some reason! We arrived, told the woman what we needed, and handed her the materials we had. She may have been the rudest English-speaking Korean I have met since arriving in Seoul. She understood me perfectly and spoke English without any problem. She was just plain rude. Evidently, we still did not have what we needed to get our Korean driver's licenses, so we were out of there. On the bus ride home, Eric did remind me that no one ever has a pleasant experience at the Dept. of Licensing in the States, either, but I was still pretty angry!
Here's a link to someone else's funny story about trying to get a driver's license in Korea that I found in all of my research.

After we had made it home, we headed out for lunch in Itaewon--Eric's favorite restaurant for hamburgers--Two Broz.

Next up was screen golf, just a short walk from the restaurant.

It was cold that day and we were thankful for the heater in the room while watching the boys golf.

After screen golf, we headed to the War Memorial. Thankfully, the wind had died down and the sun came out, so the walk wasn't too miserable. We even watched the drills outside for a few minutes before heading inside. We were a bit spontaneous on this day, so I was ill-prepared and left with just my iPhone for all of my pictures.

By the time we were ready for the walk home, it was time to start thinking about dinner. So, Eric, Evan, and Jen headed to Bokwongdong to pick up fried chicken at one of our favorite restaurants, Mom's Touch. I'm sure that I've mentioned it, but in case you've forgotten, Koreans take their fried chicken pretty seriously--and it is delicious when you find quality chicken with the right sweet and spicy sauce!

Safe in Seoul

Most of you that are particularly worried about us or our safety here in Seoul have already been in contact with us, but for those of you that aren't, I thought I would provide you with a little update.

Just to give you a picture of how normal our lives remain, I thought I would share these pictures of Cade at the park yesterday. It was over 50 degrees when we got up yesterday, which is considerably higher than normal! It reached 66 by the end of the day, so we went to the park with friends in the morning and then again in the afternoon after we got back home. The only things that were out of the ordinary for us were 1) helicopters and planes flying overhead--normally there is only one day a week that we hear air traffic in Seoul and 2) I actually discussed North Korea and the possible threat with the women I was with at the park.

So first of all, the news is a whole lot scarier for you in the States than it is for us here in Seoul. The US media hypes up the threat and tension far more than the reality. I'm sure you're shocked to hear that! To be honest, we really don't hear too much about it. Life here in Seoul continues as normal. Realistically, South Korea has dealt with the ongoing threats from North Korea for more than 50 years. They can either live in fear or they can live. The majority chooses the latter. This article holds a lot of truth.

Yes, I would say that we are on heightened alert. Our headmaster addressed the issue of protocols and safety in a meeting this week--that was the first time that North Korea had been brought up in a formal capacity since our arrival. He confirmed that our school has an insurance company that closely tracks activity north of the DMZ, and we will have everything covered for us if the time comes for us to leave South Korea.

Our school sent out an email to parents last night reminding them of our emergency early dismissal procedures. Again, this is not normal, but it was meant to reassure parents that we do have a crisis response team on campus that is responsible for organizing procedures in the case of an emergency.

The US Embassy did release a security notice yesterday--another first--but it confirms the fact that we are safe. It's true that no one knows what Kim Jong Un will do next, but the reality is that all we can do is pray and continue to live our lives.

Spring Break

Things have been just a tad busy around here lately! Honestly, I shouldn't even be sitting here typing this, but I feel guilty that it's been so long since I've posted! I should be reading Hamlet and preparing lessons and planning for the unit I started this week on Shakespeare. But, I'm not. Since Evan and Jen left last night, I've just been tired. I am now coming down with the cold that Evan suffered through all week, and now that my grades are done and my lessons for this week are planned, I'm just ready to relax. I don't have that option, but I'm ready to anyway.

Lindy arrived the Saturday night after our spring break began, and then Evan and Jen arrived early Sunday morning. They were troopers and stayed awake all day, even heading to church with us shortly after their arrival. After church, we headed to our favorite lunch spot on Haebongchon--Indigo. Then, we walked through Itaewon and checked out the school. We didn't want to wipe everyone out on their first day, so we headed home after that. We introduced them to our favorite Korean fast food restaurant that evening--Kimbap Heaven--for some dongas and kimbap.

The next day, we headed to Seoul Tower, of course. No trip to Seoul is complete without it. The fact that it is the geographical center of Seoul and one of the highest points in Seoul makes an early stop at Seoul Tower a no-brainer. Not that anyone can really orient themselves in this city in a week!

Jen and I had fun playing with our camera settings and using our husbands as subjects in the sunlight while at the tower. Afterwards, we headed back to Itaewon to get some cookies and coffee before perusing the antiques street.

Then we walked back up to our neighborhood to have an early dinner at our favorite Korean BBQ restaurant, Wellbeing. It was a first for all of three of them to experience kalbi and kimchi--Eric didn't even take Lindy when she was here last year. Even the chopsticks were a challenge, but I think everyone was able to find something they enjoyed!

We were home in time for an early bedtime for our jet-lagged travelers, who were especially tired after our day of walking all over the city!

Kennedy's Aquarium Field Trip

I am trying desperately (and unsuccessfully) to keep up with everything right now! I want to get all of these old pictures posted since I'll have new ones after spring break. The kids have been impatiently counting down the days until Lidi, Uncle Evan, and Aunt Jen arrive!

I finished grading my first round of articles yesterday. And even though Cade and I spent the morning on a play date and now he is playing nicely by himself, I still can't get motivated to start the next round. I guess it's because technically my spring break started yesterday, but really the only break in sight for me is summer break. I. can. not. wait.

A week or two after my dad left, Kennedy's class went to the aquarium, so we got to see the other aquarium in Seoul. This one is at Coex Mall.

This one screams "Korea" in different ways than the other one did. 

First, there's the miniature pagoda and park scene...with painted trees on the walls...

then there's the weird fish tanks...this one appears to have a baseball stuck in it.

This is a diver in a hanbok...in a phone booth of all things...

Then you have the Lego men swimming with the fish...

And, of course, the ever-present photo opportunity...

This was a pretty hilarious photo opportunity. Forty Kindergarteners and siblings lined up...

and thirty mothers of Kindergarteners trying to get a picture...

There were some pretty cool tanks on the other side, though.

There was even a moving walkway all the way around this one...in case you were tired of actually picking up your feet!

There were no synchronized swimmers in these tanks as there were at the 63 Building,

but there were some pretty big sharks, rays, and manatees...

I was impressed with the jellyfish tank! Great colors!

The kids were excited to see the penguins because they had been studying them for the past month.

Afterwards, we had lunch in the large lunch room that they had.

We were just one of many schools at the aquarium that day!

Alright. I must get to work. Only 150 more papers to grade, one Shakespeare play to read, and two units to plan. I. can. do. it.