Our Latest Adventures & Christmas Eve

In my last post, I mentioned the fact that nothing is ever as easy as it should be here. I mentioned that last weekend we went to see Frozen. We originally planned on going Saturday afternoon, after I returned home from a baby shower. The last time Eric and I went to the movies, he was able to buy the tickets online and then our challenge was printing them at the theater. This time, our second movie-going experience in Korea, he wasn't able to purchase them online--everything was in Korean. So, we just drove to the theater. Of course, the afternoon showing was nearly sold out--we couldn't get four seats together, so we bought tickets for Sunday afternoon after church. No big deal.

On Sunday, we arrived at the theater early--turns out there is no need when 1) tickets have already been purchased and 2) seats are assigned. Our second learning experience occurred when Eric realized that the alphabetical rows in the theater begin with row A in the front. He had purchased four tickets in row D--four rows from the front in an IMAX theater. Oh joy. I only got slight motion sickness and the movie was great. All is well that ends well.

This past weekend, we decided to check out the only full-sized Toys'R'Us in Seoul at Jamsil station. I had heard about it, but wasn't too optimistic, until recently when a friend of ours said it's worth the trip. Typically, we would take the subway to get to a station, but she said it's easy enough to park there and get parking validated, so I figured we would venture in the car--iPhone maps said it would only be a 20 minute drive (ha!).

Naturally, we made a few wrong turns, so it took us just over an hour to get to the line. The line for parking. We waited in line to park the car for over 30 minutes. I'm not exaggerating. Just waiting in line to get into the parking garage. Thankfully, the kids were so excited to see the store that they happily listened to music in the car and even let Eric nap the entire time.

The store was decent--though I can't say I was impressed. Eric and the kids said it was worth it just to see the impressive Lego display they had in the store. The kids spent the rest of their Christmas money on more Legos, then we were able to (fairly easily) find something we were all able to eat for dinner, and made it back down to the car. Here, we had yet another new Korean experience. The car was double-parked (not a new experience), but here they had parking spaces that are intended to double-park. We discovered that these people leave their cars in Neutral, so that they can be moved. Interesting.

This week is only a three day week with Lunar New Year at the end, so we're looking forward to another short break. Christmas Eve, which feels so long ago now, was spent doing much preparation for the big day. Because we got out of school so close to Christmas, I hadn't done much to prepare--including shopping, as I already mentioned.

We had been invited to my principal's house in the afternoon--and I had planned on going, too--but it quickly became clear that I was not going to get everything done if I took a few hours off. It's a bit ironic how much preparation we put into making memories, but for me, it was just one day, and I wasn't that enthused about the "Christmas Eve open house" anyway.

So, I focused on making mom's caramel rolls--Kennedy had been reminding me for weeks that I promised that I would make them this year. That was one aspect of Christmas that she felt she missed out on being in Thailand last year.

Eric and the kids baked and decorated sugar cookies for Santa. He's been talking for years about how he's the baker in our family, so I wasn't letting him get out of the sugar cookie tradition. That was one challenge he hadn't taken yet.

So, I made the glaze and the kids taught him how to decorate the cookies. You might remember that I decorated cookies back in the middle of November with the kids, so they were well-practiced. In the meantime, I made the breakfast casserole for Christmas morning--for after our caramel rolls.

Sometime in the late afternoon, my brother started getting a little antsy. I hadn't put him to work yet; I think he spent much of the day playing Legos with the kids. He decided it was time to get out of the house.

So, we sent him on a mission to find two of the local breweries and to a very particular fried chicken place to pick up dinner. We provided him no directions to the breweries, but I gave him walking directions to find the chicken, because that's what we wanted for dinner. He refused to bring a phone (with service) and stuck with oral directions.

After a few hours, Kennedy began to get concerned about him, and she wondered at what point we were going to go out and look for him. The last time we thought we'd lost a person in the city was when Gretchen came to visit, but I wasn't too worried this time. We had taught him what to tell the taxi driver to get home, and he could contact us if he found wifi, which isn't too difficult.

He showed up not too long after, with chicken--from Mom's Touch--in hand. He hadn't found the breweries, but he'd found the right chicken restaurant and managed to get back before it got too cold, too. Success! After we put the kids to bed, we wrapped presents while watching the classic Christmas Vacation, and then I took way too many pictures of the tree, presents, and stockings!

Thankful

Many people wonder why we need a car in a city that has such great public transportation, and so I just want to tell you how incredibly thankful I have been in the past few months for our car.

I'm thankful when it's 90 degrees out and I can hide from the sun. I'm thankful now that it's down into the 50s in the morning.

I'm thankful when it's raining and I don't have to rely on an umbrella to protect me right before I go to school. I get wet enough in the dash from the car to the bus and back again. I can't imagine how bad it would be if I had to walk Cade up the hill to get on the bus and then walk all the way down the hill to try to catch a taxi in the rain. (Not to mention how difficult it can be to get a cab when it's raining anyway.)

I'm thankful that I can count the number of taxi rides I have taken since our arrival in Seoul in July on one hand. Considering the fact that without a car, I could be taking taxi as many as four times a day, I am beyond thankful that I haven't had to do this. The stress from finding one when you need one and the headaches I get from crazy drivers and smoky cars are enough to make me wish I never have to take another taxi.

I'm thankful when I have soccer practice. I can make it home to change my clothes, pick up Cade, and back in time to get a few more papers graded before practice starts. At the end of the day, when all of the buses home are long gone, I don't have to try to find a cab, and I can even give somebody else a ride home!

I'm thankful when I can give another teacher a ride home, save them a few steps or a taxi ride. So many people have offered me (or us) rides in the past two years, and I'm so grateful that I can return the favor to singles who don't need a car or couples who are still holding out.

I'm thankful that I don't have to take the school bus to Costco on Thursday afternoons. I'm grateful for the years that I took advantage of that service, and I'm thankful that it's available to me when we're so busy that it makes the most sense. But, I'm so thankful that neither I nor Kennedy have thrown up on the way to Costco in the past six months. I'm so thankful that I don't have to deal with the stress of Costco compounded by the one hour time limit that is imposed by the driver and fellow shoppers. I'm so thankful that we can drive to pick up our groceries now!

I'm thankful when we have a lot of stuff to bring to school. In the past, it has sometimes taken us a week to get everything we need to school because we just don't have enough hands to carry it all onto the bus. We may have to take several trips from the parking garage up to the classroom, but that's no problem compared to several trips home!

I'm thankful when we have to carry suitcases. There are few things more stressful than trying to find a taxi for a family of four when everyone has a suitcase. Most taxi drivers will take one glance at us and speed right by. When one finally does stop, there is the rush to try to fit everything in followed by the rush to get everything out again. In our own car, we can stack those suitcases wherever we want!

Our car isn't particularly photogenic--though we did get a car wash yesterday--so, I thought I would share these pictures of the sunset our last night on Maui, instead. We attempted a silhouette picture, with help from Evan. The only view of the sunset that we get around here has a lot of buildings and power lines in it--and we have to drive to find even that!

Our Week

Sorry. Things have been quiet around here. Not around our house, of course, but here on the blog it's been quiet. And I can't even say why. Just quiet. Maybe it's because our lives just seem so peaceful compared to life in Nairobi. Or Peshawar. Or even Washington, D.C. And I'm pretty grateful for that.

We had a very restful five days off for Chuseok. That is primarily because I tend to be the one who says, "Let's go. Get out of the house. Anywhere!" But, when I'm the one laying in bed all day with a throbbing jaw and an awful headache, we don't tend to be too active. We watched a couple of movies: Silver Linings Playbook, Olympus Has Fallen (was that really released amidst all the turmoil with Enkay last spring?!), and Teach, the televised documentary. I would recommend all of them.

We finally left the house on Friday, having thrown out our plans to go the water park when Kennedy woke up throwing up on Thursday morning. She continued off and on throughout the day, so we figured we'd better keep things low key on Friday. Instead, we just headed to a nearby park just like every.other.Korean.family. It was busy! Kennedy was fine; apparently, she just had a quick bug--no fever or anything.

Saturday we managed to pick up some things for Kennedy's birthday party, though more stores were closed than we had planned on. It worked out okay, though. On Sunday, we finally caught up on some house work. My knees and back are still aching from all of the scrubbing I did. I can no longer say that I've never cleaned a bathroom in Korea.

The real fun began for us on Monday. Kennedy had a birthday party at the mall, so I picked up Cade and then went back to school to pick Eric and Kennedy. We had planned on dropping her off, picking up birthday presents for her, and then having dinner before we went to pick her up. Our plans were altered a bit when I didn't make a wide enough turn out of the school, and I hit the curb pretty hard with the back tire.

Sure, it didn't sound good, but we didn't think too much about it until later. By the time we got up into the parking garage at the mall, I could hear that all that was left of the tire was some floppy rubber. Thankfully, Eric was able to access the spare tire while Cade and I took Kennedy to her party.

We decided to just continue with our original plans, thinking that most places are open pretty late in Korea. We could get everybody back home and then Eric could take the car to a tire place. We were wrong. The tire place was closed by the time he got there.

That meant that on Tuesday, I had to cab it. So, of course it was raining! First, Cade and I walked up the hill to put him on the bus. Then I walked back home to pick up my stuff for school. Then I headed down the hill to one of the coffee shops to get a cup of coffee to break my big bill. That was only frustrating because I watched an empty cab pass by me when I didn't have small enough bills to pay him. I got my cup of coffee, juggling it with my computer bag and school stuff, and my umbrella. I got an empty cab without too much trouble and even managed to get in without spilling my coffee or dropping anything. Success.

I made it to school, taught my classes, and then headed back home to change clothes for soccer practice. After waiting for a taxi, I barely made it in the house to drop my stuff and change my clothes before I had to get back up the hill to pick up Cade. This time, the roads were dry and Eric had to take the car to get a new tire, anyway, so I figured the spare could handle the trip. Cade and I drove back to school. I walked down to the dentist (for the last time until I have to go back for a cleaning-yay!) and back again for soccer practice. Eric took the kids to go get a new tire.

It turns out that tires are one thing that Korean mechanics do not keep on hand, so after going to two places, he finally figured that we were just going to have to wait until the guy could get us one today. I managed to get the tire changed this afternoon (after only 5 minutes!), and I am finally able to eat solid foods again, so I would say that things are looking up around here!

Settling In

We finally did it. Today we bought a car. We left the kids with a sitter and took an hour long subway trip to meet a car broker that came recommended by many of our co-workers.

He showed us a car. I said no. He said, "I'll show you a few more cars, but you'll come back to this one." He was right. We came back to it.

So, we got ourselves a little car. A twelve year old Kia Sephia. The kids are so excited!

They couldn't wait to go for a ride in it. And, I'll be honest, I think our biggest feat today was making it home after buying the car. Then we successfully made it to Kim's Club and back--where it turns out they don't have booster seats...

I guess after two years here, we're finally starting to settle in!

Sightings in Seoul

It's been a while since I've done this, so I thought I would share a few more observations with you. There are a number of things that I feel like we're starting to get used to...before I get so used to them that I don't even notice any more, I need to write down a few of them. So, here you go...

1. There are no public garbage cans along the street. It's really annoying to me. It seems like with the kids, we have always have something to throw away, but there is never a place to throw anything away. I recently read that because of the garbage problems in Korea, they don't use public garbage cans as a way to reinforce the fact that your garbage is your problem. The problem with that idea, is that people throw it on the street instead. There isn't a ton of garbage everywhere (see #2), but I still don't think it's working.

2. The ajummas (essentially grandmothers) feel it is their obligation to walk the streets and pick up the garbage. They are always pulling around these wooden carts full of garbage and recycling. Apparently it's acceptable for the younger generations to litter and for the older generations to pick it up. I don't understand. I'm not Korean.

She is selling already prepared food. These are usually out on the weekends. People take this food home and serve it.

3. There is food for sale everywhere! Fresh vegetables and fruit are for sale on the backs of trucks. Those trucks tend to have loudspeakers on them, and the same Korean phrases are repeated over and over again. I really wonder how often a person hears the announcement and decides to head over to the produce truck. Then there are the little stands (or again the back of a truck) that sell things like dried fish (little tiny ones!) and freshly grilled squid (they literally take them right off the coals and hand them to you) for snacking along the street. 

Apples (which are surprisingly good), clementines, and tomatoes (Korean tomatoes are rarely red)

4. Korean women wear heels with every outfit regardless of what hill they are walking up or down or where they are going. I will never look like a local because I refuse to do this.

5. Our children get a ton of attention regardless of where we are. Someone is always looking at them. We can't get on the bus without someone giving them a piece of candy. They are going to have a hard time when they don't get that much attention in the States!

the "03" bus that we ride most often--it goes through our neighborhood and to E-Mart

6. Koreans eat a lot of Spam and processed cheese. I can't help but think it's weird. 

7. Kimbap (similar to sushi) has some strange ingredients. I like the kinds with just vegetables, but when they throw in their dried salted fish, or the "gourmet" version with processed cheese, I'm not a fan. 

8. Police cars always have their lights on and it never has any meaning. You just get used to it. Tow trucks sometimes turn on sirens. That doesn't seem to have any meaning either.

9. You see more men carrying purses than women and sometimes their pants are tighter, too. The funny thing is that the girl will have nothing in her hands and yet, he is still carrying her purse for her. How sweet, right?

Here's a guy holding a purse, but it's also a good example of the many alleys here that buses and trucks drive through at speeds that seem impossible. The parked cars and pedestrians in no way impede their ability to drive through narrow alleys.

10. Korea is one of those countries that has no regard for personal space. I'm starting to get used to it when I'm around people. What I can't get used to is the same practice with cars. They leave NO room between bumpers and everyone keeps their side view mirrors folded in. Many of the roads are only one lane, but one never knows which direction to go, so you will often see cars come upon one another in the opposite direction and one of them will have to back out of the incredibly narrow alley. And while they usually drive on the right, they have no problem going to the left if it gets them where they want to be faster!

What's the Difference?

There are so many things that are different here in Korea...so I thought I would address some of the major differences that you may not have thought of yet...

1. Garbage: We have to sort nearly every piece of garbage that we have...food garbage, paper garbage (cardboard, paper, etc.), plastics (hard, soft), aluminum, styrofoam, and "other" garbage...we have 3 different garbage cans and a bag we keep in the freezer for food garbage. Definitely different.

2. Smells: It's amazing how different the air here smells. Sometimes it's food (or fish), sometimes it's smoke, sometimes it's garbage, and sometimes it justs smells bad. Can't explain it. Other times it smells good. Regardless, it always smells different!

3. Cars: This one is probably pretty obvious. There are a lot of Hyundais, Kias, and Daewoos. Not many of anything else, including pick up trucks of any kind. If you see a Ford, it's usually driven by someone in US Army fatigues. There are a few Lexus, Mercedes, and Audis. They stick out like a sore thumb (or a silver spoon!).

4. Houses: Heat is through pipes under the floors, so everyone has hardwood. You can't wear your shoes in the house. You turn off your hot water, A/C, and gas (for the range) every time you leave the house. Everyone has enclosed balconies. We have a large one in front that is all glass windows where we dry our clothes. Our washing machine is on the back balcony. No one has a dryer.

5. Streets: All of the streets appear to be uphill! There are sidewalks, but their purpose is unclear. People drive on them, park on them, and attempt to walk on them. They are extremely narrow and cars still park in both directions on both sides. Then large buses drive through them. Red lights are a suggestion. Scooters are the only ones the right of way. No rules appear to apply to them. Pedestrians must yield to everyone...cars, scooters, and buses.

6. Food: Everything is individually packaged (I guess that's why they're so fanatical about their garbage!) including apples, cheese slices, and crackers. Food is expensive. All of it! We have wandered around more than one market wondering what to buy, but we have cooked two different kinds of pasta and tacos in the last week, so we're feeling pretty good about that! As far as eating out goes, it is easy to find just about any type of food you would like in our neighborhood: Indian, Thai, Korean, Japanese, Mexican, American, Jordanian, Italian, Chinese, Filipino. Pizza, coffee, and bakeries abound!