A Work in Progress

This has obviously been kind of a busy week. With everybody home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I didn't have much time for blogging. And then Thursday and Friday I was busy running errands, among other things.

We spent much of our Chuseok holiday relaxing, but we did manage to get a little accomplished, as well. The nursery is a work in progress.

On Saturday, Eric took the kids on a hike up to Seoul Tower again (I stayed home). On Sunday, Eric took the kids to Seoul Station to pass out food to the homeless there (I stayed home). On Monday, Eric took Kennedy on a pretty challenging hike on Bukhansan (Cade and I stayed home). Notice a pattern here? I'm not feeling too energetic these days!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we worked on cleaning out the office to turn it into a nursery. We finally cleared off the desk and turned in the requisition to have the school come pick it up. And, Eric and I switched closets, so that he won't have to wake up the baby in the morning to get dressed. I've condensed my clothes down to one closet and now the baby and I each have one in the "nursery."

I also finally managed to sort through most of the hand-me-downs we've received and started washing some teeny tiny baby clothes now that we have a place to put them! We still don't have a crib or a name for this baby, but the big stuff always comes together in the end, right?!

I promised earlier that I wouldn't share the boring pictures I've been taking for my class, but I broke down and did it, because the alternative is no pictures. The first week, we just worked on exposure. Then, it was nailing exposure while focusing on aperture. And the hardest has been nailing exposure while focusing on either freezing or showing motion. We're not allowed to edit, so you get what you get with these images straight out of the camera!

Children's Day

Yesterday was another one of those days when you realize that it just isn't physically possible to do everything that needs to be done. Something has to go. Yesterday it was one of my students' review projects and a school musical. The rest has to get done. It will get done. The quizzes will get graded. The exams will get written. The lessons will get planned.

Last Sunday was Children's Day in Korea. Last year we missed it because the kids both had pink eye, so we went to the Seoul Friendship Fair, but we couldn't go to church and expose all of those kids to it. This year we made it, though. We even dropped the kids off an hour early, so that they could practice, scoring a 45 minute coffee date for ourselves. We'll take what we can get!

It turns out that Children's Day is a pretty big deal. The entire church service was done just by the kids--the singing, Bible readings, and prayers. Even the (short) sermon was just for them. It was so funny to watch these little guys sing! Nothing like trying to get three, four, and five year olds to stand in a line and sing!

Our pastor told the kids that since it was their special day, they should get to choose where to go out for lunch, so we ended up at McDonalds with nearly every other Korean family with young children in Seoul.

After church, Eric took the kids out for a "water gun" fight.

They made water guns out of Ziploc bags with small holes cut into them.

It's not that they don't sell water guns in Korea; I know that they do. But what fun would that be? These little TCKs didn't seem to notice. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their little water fight.

This week we had several nice days of weather, including the day of Kennedy's field day at school. Then we had two days of gray, rainy weather.

Today, we had the International Bazaar at school, and the weather was back to beautiful for it, thankfully! I think everyone was surprised by just how warm it was in the sunshine.

Tonight, after the bazaar and Eric gets home from his baseball game, we'll see if we can make it to the musical at school, but we're at the point where some things just have to go. And that might be one of them.

Spring Staff Picnic

We had a beautiful day in the sun for our staff picnic last week. It was a much-needed day off, I will admit. Cade was beyond thrilled to have everyone home in the middle of the week. Our highs reached the 70s this week, and we are so excited to finally put away the coats.

This particular day off was for Korean Labor Day, though to be honest, we haven't quite figured out who gets the day off. Everything is still open, the streets are still full of traffic; it must be one of those "bank holidays." We'll take it!

We had a huge lunch catered by Outback. Then an afternoon in the sun. The kids had a great day playing with their friends, beginning with a round of kickball--ages three to seventeen--plus an elementary school principal.

Afterward, the men began a softball game in the other corner of the field. Kennedy ran off with her friends to play on the playground. Cade played some football with one of our PE teachers. And I sat in the sun chatting with the other moms.

May is now in full swing which means that the countdown is on! We have less than a month until we're out of school, and just about a month until we're back in WA! Of course, with that comes the stress. The school year is almost over. The stress of whether we are going to be able to finish everything in class. The stress of grading big assignments. The stress of writing exams. The stress of grading exams. But, it's a good stress.

And then, of course, there are the end-of-the-year events. The International Bazaar. The endless band and choir concerts. The school plays. Field days. Field trips. It's a fun time of year, but it keeps us on our toes!

Last year, I remember being really stressed in anticipation of the summer, too. I wasn't sure how we would handle two months without our own space. Two months of jet lag, constant travel, and too many beds to count. But, thankfully, we've been through it once before now. I know we can handle it, and I know that regardless of how draining it may be some days, that it is definitely worth it! We can't wait!

I also remember it being really hard that it had been in the 80s here in Seoul for weeks and when we returned to WA, highs were in the low 60s for the first several weeks. This year, it has been hard that Seattle has had warmer weather than we have. Really, we're happy for all of you in the PNW, but at the same time, we're a little nervous. Nice weather in May does not necessarily translate to nice weather in June. Hopefully, I learned from last year, and I really do pack warmer clothes this year!

I've been frustrated by my blah photos lately, which I feel is directly related to the fact that I'm getting a new lens next month. Don't you always feel like your equipment is more and more inferior when you're about to get something new? So, I've decided that instead of complaining, I'm going to start stretching myself again. This week, I turned my camera on full manual, after having it on aperture priority for the last eighteen months. Most of you probably don't know what that means, but for me, it means a lot more work! A healthy way to stretch myself when I'm in a rut.

Mariners Game & Gasworks Park

We stayed busy while we were housesitting. The day after Deception Pass, we went to a Mariners game and then to Gasworks Park in West Seattle. To be honest, there isn't much to say about this particular day. The weather was pretty nice. The Mariners lost. We tried to make the most of the day by going to the park as long as we were down in Seattle. We did kind of did a mini family photo shoot (of ourselves!). We were all tired by the end of the day!

Since I don't have much to say about this day in June, I'll tell you about our day yesterday here in Seoul. In August.

Today is Liberation Day in Korea--the day they celebrate their independence from Japan. So, we have the day off.

Remember our experience on Liberation Day last year? Well, we've been a little less adventurous this year. Today we're sitting at home, relaxing, and watching the rain POUR! It's the middle of the day, and it's dark right now!

Last night, however, Eric and I were determined to go out for our anniversary. We were all exhausted after the first full day of school, but we have the day off today, so we knew we could sleep in and have the day off to recover, if necessary!

Eric had already arranged to have a couple of the neighborhood teens come over and watch the kids. It was really sweet to see Kennedy and Cade watching the group traipsing across the parking lot to our apartment.

We had a 9th grade girl, an 8th grade girl, a 7th grade boy, and a 5th grade boy come over to hang out. They had plans to have a "Cars" themed evening, and they were all excited to get started!

Eric and I then took off and headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant. It is quite a trek to get there, so we've only been there twice before.

It takes almost an hour to get there via subway with two transfers, and it's a pretty busy area, so we try to avoid taking the kids. We thought it this would be a good opportunity to go.

We had a pretty easy trip there. It was a relatively cool evening (about 88F), and we had lots of opportunity to talk about the start of our school year.

We also had a nice dinner. By the time we were done, though, it was already past the time we had told the girls we would be back. Whoops!

So, we decided we would grab a taxi on the way home, since (in theory) it should be faster than the subway.

When we left the restaurant, we discovered that it was pouring down rain--gotta love monsoon season!

Now, you may not yet be aware, but the traffic in Seoul can become quite difficult. Especially when it's raining. And especially the night before a holiday. Thankfully, we had the combination.

It took us an hour to get from the restaurant to our door via taxi, as well. As you can imagine, it was not a cheap ride!!

We did have an interesting taxi driver, though. He knew enough English to be able to try to have a conversation with us, but we did not know enough Korean to understand much of what he was saying to us!

We made use of our translating apps to learn that he has a son and a daughter. We learned their ages and their professions, as well as where his brothers live in the States. He even shared their phone numbers with us!

He told Eric that he looked like a movie star, so I'm pretty sure they'll be best friends for life! It was the first time I've ever seen Eric tip a taxi driver--that guy sure had scored some points!

We finally made it home shortly after nine, and we were all exhausted!

Obviously, I didn't take any pictures of our adventures, but Eric was anxious to hear my version of the story. So, here's the story with a different set of pictures!

Han River Bike Ride

Last weekend was a long weekend for us. Saturday morning we got the call from Eric's family letting us know that they didn't think his grandma would make it through the weekend. That can certainly put a damper on things. He started thinking through lesson plans for the week, and we started looking for flights for him to go back to Seattle. Because there wasn't much else we could do, we followed through on the other plans we had for the weekend with the kids.

Saturday afternoon we had plans to go to a baseball game with some friends. I've already mentioned that those plans didn't pan out (and yes, I have pictures). You saw our Sunday activity the other day: bubbles at the park after church. On Monday Eric and I had a short(er) day of professional development. He ended up with an afternoon to prepare his sub plans for the week which worked out well for him. After school we took the kids to Namsan Park to look at the flowers (yes, I have pictures of this too!).

By Tuesday, we knew when Eric would be flying back to Seattle, and so we wanted to spend some quality time with the kids. Tuesday was Korean Labor Day-a holiday only observed by workers supported by a union-so we had the day off. The weather was beautiful, and we decided to take the kids down to the Han River to rent bikes and go for a ride.

The kids had some fun at the park before we ate lunch and rented our bikes.

Kennedy was loving this zip line...Cade wasn't a fan, though.

I got most of my shots of the bike riders from my phone because I spent most of my time helping Cade on his trike. You can see them in the Instagram grid on the upper right sidebar.

We left the States before he could reach the pedals on his trikes, so this was his first experience. It was tougher than he (or we) thought it was going to be!

We only lasted an hour on bikes, and then we explored on foot.

Eric asked a Korean gentleman to take our picture...he really liked the tilt shot...as you can see from my face, I was not impressed. I'm thankful he got one straight on.

Cade really wanted to go for a ride in one of these "duck boats", too. Next time, I guess.

We headed up to the 63 Building since we were close and had never been there. It houses museums, an aquarium, an IMAX theater, restaurants, stores, and businesses.

It is 63 stories tall and is the tallest gold-clad structure in the world (can't tell you why it's clad in gold!). The Korea Tourism Organization claims that it is the tallest building in Korea, but I'm not sure that it is any more.

There was a tree in the 63 Building with fake cherry blossoms on it. The lights were so strange in this room, though, it was impossible to correct my white balance. So, here's the best shot I could get in black and white.

This is my first time experimenting with a watermark...haven't decided what I think yet...

Happiness is...new, unique experiences and life as an expat...on our good days!