In Preparation for a Long Summer

Things I'm trying to prepare myself for as we head back to the States in less than two weeks:

totally erratic sleep schedules

my kids...on jet lag

a different bed every weekend

tipping...ugh.

my kids being totally spoiled with attention

long car rides

more jet lag

long flights

long car rides

kids that don't want to ride in car seats

buying gas

living out of suitcases

leaving our daily 80 degree weather for 60s and rain

In spite of these things...we can't wait! Spending time with friends and family and in our "home" country will far outweigh any downsides there might be to not having a home of our own to stay in! And yes, I could write a far longer post about all of the things that I'm looking forward, but I'm homesick enough without going through all of those!

Day 8: Singapore

I've got to get through this! I'm almost there!

On our last morning in Indonesia, I got up early and took pictures of the sunrise right outside our room.

We had packed our bags the night before because we had to leave Telunas right after breakfast.

Of course, we had to get in a few group photos before we left. One of the staff members was willing to take my camera up to the high dock so that she could get a picture of all of us together.

This was my group of 7th grade girls. Apparently, I kept closing my eyes. Nice.

This is the staff at Telunas that took care of everything for our group. They were awesome!

We were so excited to arrive at the ferry terminal in Batam--there were legitimate bathrooms with toilets and toilet paper!

This was the not-so-outstanding ferry we took from Indonesia to Singapore...no legitimate bathrooms here! Good thing the ride is only about 2 hours!

Once we arrived at Harbor Front in Singapore, we boarded a bus that took us back to the Praise Haven retreat center where we had stayed on our way to Indonesia. My girls and I lucked out again and ended up with two smaller rooms and a bathroom for just the six of us.

After we'd dropped off our bags and changed our clothes, we headed out for an evening in town for dinner.        I took these pictures from inside the ferry with dirty windows...best I could do!

We took the girls to a huge mall where they were able to shop, hang out by themselves, and get the dinner of their choice. We were all relieved to have a little space, I think!

I enjoyed a delicious dinner of prawns, fruit salad, and breadsticks. It was so exciting to choose what I wanted to eat!

Week 20: Mothers

Mother's Day and Father's Day are not holidays celebrated in Korea. A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Children's Day and Parent's Day. And by celebrate, I mean that we stayed at home and avoided any place that would be inhabited by swarms of children on Children's Day!

That being said, I appreciate the fact that Mother's Day can be celebrated anywhere, regardless of whether or not the country you're in recognizes it! Eric and the kids did a great job making it a special day for me (even after Eric realized he won't get a Father's Day this year because it's the same day as his brother's wedding).

My goal this week was to get a street photo of a mom and child, but lately I've been losing my nerve as a street photographer. I think it's because I've gotten lazy about carrying my DSLR. I can't decide if it's weirder to take street photos with a bigger camera or with my phone!

Day 132: Our last night without Daddy.

Day 133: Kennedy decided she wanted another go at the shot of the two of us because we were wearing matching shirts to bed.

Day 134: To be honest, I was grateful to be a part of one of the expat churches here because it meant that I got a rose for Mother's Day. It made it feel a little more legitimate!

Day 135: The card that Kennedy made me for Mother's Day. I love seeing her handwriting evolve!

Day 136: Eric brought back Rice Krispies and marshamallows from the States, so the kids and I made Rice Krispie Treats. Yum!

Day 137: The sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds while the kids were playing at the park and I was grading essays.

Day 138: One minute it was pouring down rain with thunderstorms. The next minute the sun was shining!

Hmmm...well, I think my favorite for this week is the black and white shot of Kennedy and me. It's strange that there are no shots of Cade this week, but he is finally healthy now!

To check out others' photo projects, check out the links:

   www.styleberryblog.com

Yellow Dust

It has been awhile since I've posted anything specific about life in Korea. What with working full time, taking tons of pictures on the weekend, and trying to share my trip to Indonesia, there just hasn't been time. Yes, I still have lots of pictures of random weekend ventures. And, no, I'm not quite done sharing my mission trip story. But, recently we've been affected by something specific to Korea, so I figured I would share it while it's timely.

Ever since we arrived, people have been telling us what the weather is/will be throughout the year. They told us about the rainy season that we arrived in the middle of. They attempted to prepare us for the frigid temperatures through the winter. They warned us that it wouldn't get very warm (possibly) until it was time to leave for the summer. And, they told us about the yellow dust.

When people said that there are "yellow dust storms", I was picturing a desert-type sand storm. Literal yellow sand flying through the air. Thankfully, I have not witnessed that. To be honest, I hadn't really given too much thought to it in spite of the fact that it is the season for yellow dust. Until this week.

This week, the sun has been shining and it's been much warmer than we're used to for this time of year. Now that I'm back to half time, I've started walking home. On my walks I've noticed a lot of people wearing masks. That happens any time of the year, so I haven't thought too much of it. But, I also still have this lingering cold. Combine that with the fact that the stairs and hills I climb are steep, and I spend much of my walk with my mouth open. I know, gross. Suddenly, I notice the Koreans wearing their masks, and I think: hmmm...that's not a bad idea!

Of course, on my walks I've also been noticing whether or not I can see anything on the horizon. It's hard to believe how little you can see some days in this pollution-ridden city. Sometimes, I actually think it is fairly clear, and then I take a picture. The photo reveals how the thick the pollution really is even when it's relatively clear.

Then, the other day I read this article about yellow dust. That's when I realized that it's here whether I can see it or not. There's a good chance that yellow dust is what caused the kids' pink eye. There's a good chance that yellow dust is the reason that my cold has lasted more than two weeks. It's pretty much guaranteed that yellow dust is the reason that my eyes feel gritty and the reason my students keep complaining of itchy eyes.

Now that I'm more aware of it, I see the affects everywhere. I can walk by a car in the parking lot and see the yellow film over it:

Yellow dust is the reason that we watched our neighbor fill a bucket on the sidewalk from her 2nd floor apartment with the hose out the window so that she could wash her car. The kids really enjoyed that! And yellow dust is the reason that we were house-bound for most of the last week.

I have so many random pictures that I haven't posted. These are my "365 Rejects"--the photos that just didn't make the first cut over the last few months.

Seoul Friendship Festival

Last weekend while the kids and I were still under an official quarantine and couldn't go to church, we decided to check out the Seoul Friendship Festival.

I had heard about it under several aliases: the Cheonggyecheon Festival, the International Fair, and the Friendship Festival.

I'll be honest. We left the apartment not knowing exactly where we were going. Originally, I'd planned to take one bus, and then we ended up getting on a different bus.

I was thankful that the bus we got on happened to have a map in English, and so I was able to find the stop we needed to get off on the map. I had it all figured out.

Until the bus ran into this parade and the driver decided to a u-turn in the middle of a busy road. I decided we'd better just get off and watch the parade!

I won't tell you how far we walked in the wrong direction after the parade ended!

Finally, I decided we would turn and head toward the stream because I knew we'd find what we were looking for somewhere along the Cheonggyecheon!

The kids, especially Cade, really enjoyed the walk along the stream. Not that you can tell from the pictures!

The scenery is really beautiful as the stream is much lower than street level, so you can walk along and listen to the water, rather than the traffic!

The portion of the festival that we saw was basically blocks and blocks of tents set up with food and information about countries all over the world: India, Brazil, Mexico, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Malaysia, Germany, Italy, Turkey. You name it, it was there.

Strangely, there were a lot of countries selling some type of hot dog or sausage on a stick. Not so strangely, my kids were more interested in the McDonalds down the street than anything for sale at a booth.

So, we compromised on Bennigan's (apparently a chain in the States) which is located right above the square.

The kids were happy to spend the meal watching the people and activities below from the air-conditioned restaurant.

Then we went back down to the stream, where they were just thrilled to have their picture taken.

Though Cade didn't have any problems with it when I didn't ask him to look at the camera!

We did a ton of walking. For the first time in a long time, I got dangerously close to getting lost.

We ended up at Gwanghwamun Square, so I knew exactly where we were (though we'd never been there before), but I wasn't 100% sure as to how to get home.

Thankfully, my trusty iPhone and my Seoul bus app allowed me to find the nearest bus stop (another long walk) and we were able to find a bus home...after the kids got all wet, of course!

Kennedy lasted about 5 minutes before she got more wet than she'd planned and she was looking for a towel. Of course, we hadn't planned on this detour, so I was not prepared. Thankfully, it was so warm that she was dry pretty quickly.

This past weekend we went to the International Bazaar at school, so we've been busy with the cultural festivals lately!