Well, people, we've been home a week now, and what a week it has been! You would think that after doing this for four years, we'd have things figured out by now...or that at the very least it wouldn't be this difficult. But no, it's still hard. Made harder by the fact that we expect it to be easier.
At any rate, our flight home was uneventful aside from the 17-month-old on his first transpacific flight who screamed the.entire.time. So did his mom, for that matter. I felt for them, especially when thinking about the fact that Reece will be about that age the next time we do that flight. Yikes. Our kids were troopers, though.
We were all feeling (relatively) good as we boarded the airport bus...okay, that's not actually true. Cade had a stomachache, so he and Eric raced to the bathroom as Kennedy and I (one-handed of course) tried to get all of our bags, stroller, and car seat to the bus. It wasn't pretty, but eventually everything got loaded and we took the last four seats on the bus.
You may remember that after school got out, and after our trip to Jeju, but before our flight to the States...we moved! Oh boy, was that crazy! Anyway, the point is that from our new apartment, there is a very conveniently located airport bus stop. We were all excited about how much shorter the bus ride to our new apartment would be! I figured we'd have time to grab some dinner and maybe play a quick game to keep the kids up until their regular bedtime after the naps they'd had on the bus. I knew that we were going to have to pass our stop and come back around to it because of which side of the road it was on, and Kennedy and I kept discussing where the bus would turn around after it entered our neighborhood. Unfortunately, it never turned around. Because I can't read in the car (or bus), we were nearly to the end of the route before I discovered that the bus only stops at our stop when it's on the return to the airport. Not on the way from the airport. I swear, it's always something!
Because of our neighborhood bus, I'm pretty familiar with the fact that when a bus has run it's route, the driver takes a break, so I was not surprised when he started unloading all of our stuff, even as I was trying to ask him about the stop for the Hyperion. Eric was fuming as he was trying to figure out how we were all going to get home with all.of.this.stuff from Wangsimni station. Eventually, we discovered there was a man standing there who spoke English and Korean and pretty soon the driver was loading our stuff up again and we were hopping back onto the bus for the return trip to the airport. After about a 2 1/2 hour trip, we were finally back in our neighborhood.
Now, the other fun part of getting home is the luggage/people shuttle that we do. Oh, it's fun. The first step is Eric running up the hill (there's always a hill!) with one small bag to get the car. Then, he loads the car with bags, takes them home, unloads, and returns for the people and the rest of the bags. By this point, it was after nine Korea time, about six hours since we'd landed. We were all exhausted, of course (I hadn't slept a wink on the flight...grrr), and our first step to the shuttle--a most essential step--failed. The car wouldn't start. (You can ask Eric about that one personally.) So, up we went (in shifts, of course). Hauling suitcases stacked with Rubbermaid bins, pushing a stroller, and dragging groggy kids. Oh, the joys.
To be honest, things have kind of stayed on that track...everything has been a bit of a struggle up to this point even. We knew before we left that our air conditioning wasn't working, but as of today, after three different visits from people to fix it, our apartment is now down to a cool 80 degrees. We lost our Korean SIM cards somewhere along the way and had to wait three days to have them replaced (for a nominal fee). We accidentally went to Costco on a Saturday (we could have sworn it was Friday!). Reece got sick for a day--would barely eat, just cried and whined--while it was 90 degrees both inside and outside. Cade also got sick for a day--the day after getting his dTap and MMR vaccines, so we're chalking it up to that.
But now, things should be on the upswing. Everyone slept past 7:00 this morning, so the worst of the jet lag is over. Eric and I both have plans with friends over the weekend. It's only taken me 12 hours to get this post written and published (though I only got a couple of pictures edited...that's another story!). And, it's the weekend, so things are looking up! Maybe I'll even get around to taking 9 month photos of Reece soon...just don't hold your breath!
At any rate, our flight home was uneventful aside from the 17-month-old on his first transpacific flight who screamed the.entire.time. So did his mom, for that matter. I felt for them, especially when thinking about the fact that Reece will be about that age the next time we do that flight. Yikes. Our kids were troopers, though.
We were all feeling (relatively) good as we boarded the airport bus...okay, that's not actually true. Cade had a stomachache, so he and Eric raced to the bathroom as Kennedy and I (one-handed of course) tried to get all of our bags, stroller, and car seat to the bus. It wasn't pretty, but eventually everything got loaded and we took the last four seats on the bus.
You may remember that after school got out, and after our trip to Jeju, but before our flight to the States...we moved! Oh boy, was that crazy! Anyway, the point is that from our new apartment, there is a very conveniently located airport bus stop. We were all excited about how much shorter the bus ride to our new apartment would be! I figured we'd have time to grab some dinner and maybe play a quick game to keep the kids up until their regular bedtime after the naps they'd had on the bus. I knew that we were going to have to pass our stop and come back around to it because of which side of the road it was on, and Kennedy and I kept discussing where the bus would turn around after it entered our neighborhood. Unfortunately, it never turned around. Because I can't read in the car (or bus), we were nearly to the end of the route before I discovered that the bus only stops at our stop when it's on the return to the airport. Not on the way from the airport. I swear, it's always something!
Because of our neighborhood bus, I'm pretty familiar with the fact that when a bus has run it's route, the driver takes a break, so I was not surprised when he started unloading all of our stuff, even as I was trying to ask him about the stop for the Hyperion. Eric was fuming as he was trying to figure out how we were all going to get home with all.of.this.stuff from Wangsimni station. Eventually, we discovered there was a man standing there who spoke English and Korean and pretty soon the driver was loading our stuff up again and we were hopping back onto the bus for the return trip to the airport. After about a 2 1/2 hour trip, we were finally back in our neighborhood.
Now, the other fun part of getting home is the luggage/people shuttle that we do. Oh, it's fun. The first step is Eric running up the hill (there's always a hill!) with one small bag to get the car. Then, he loads the car with bags, takes them home, unloads, and returns for the people and the rest of the bags. By this point, it was after nine Korea time, about six hours since we'd landed. We were all exhausted, of course (I hadn't slept a wink on the flight...grrr), and our first step to the shuttle--a most essential step--failed. The car wouldn't start. (You can ask Eric about that one personally.) So, up we went (in shifts, of course). Hauling suitcases stacked with Rubbermaid bins, pushing a stroller, and dragging groggy kids. Oh, the joys.
To be honest, things have kind of stayed on that track...everything has been a bit of a struggle up to this point even. We knew before we left that our air conditioning wasn't working, but as of today, after three different visits from people to fix it, our apartment is now down to a cool 80 degrees. We lost our Korean SIM cards somewhere along the way and had to wait three days to have them replaced (for a nominal fee). We accidentally went to Costco on a Saturday (we could have sworn it was Friday!). Reece got sick for a day--would barely eat, just cried and whined--while it was 90 degrees both inside and outside. Cade also got sick for a day--the day after getting his dTap and MMR vaccines, so we're chalking it up to that.
But now, things should be on the upswing. Everyone slept past 7:00 this morning, so the worst of the jet lag is over. Eric and I both have plans with friends over the weekend. It's only taken me 12 hours to get this post written and published (though I only got a couple of pictures edited...that's another story!). And, it's the weekend, so things are looking up! Maybe I'll even get around to taking 9 month photos of Reece soon...just don't hold your breath!
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