Jeju Island

Baseball is back in our lives, so I'm taking advantage of the few quiet moments I have since Eric and the kids left and before Reece wakes up from his nap. Not surprisingly, I've been working on this blog post all week and am still far from finishing.

The past week has finally allowed us to fall into some semblance of a routine. Reece has been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks...nope...not gonna say that. It's bound to end once we say it out loud.

Last Friday night, we went out for dinner for our anniversary. It may be the fact that we went minimalist this year; our only plan was to go into Itaewon for dinner at a steakhouse that we'd been hearing about for years, but the evening went off without a hitch. It really isn't even a story worth telling to the world. After four years of "exciting" anniversary dinners, I think we were entitled to one that didn't involve adventure. (Here's one from a couple of years ago, if you're up for reminiscing.)

We'd known that with the prices at this particular restaurant, we didn't want to bring the kids, so we'd been waiting for the right occasion. Apparently, our anniversary was it. We spent almost $200 on dinner, similar to last year, in spite of the fact that we didn't order the $85 bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay (can you believe that?!), but this time we left the restaurant full. And that makes a big difference. It will probably be a long time before we return, but the Butcher's Cut delivered in terms of food and ambiance.

And since I no longer document our everyday happenings (unless you keep up with my Instagram!), these pictures our from our trip to Jeju at the beginning of the summer. We crammed a lot into a short trip, so I'm going to cram a lot into a (short?) blog post.

Eric has known that basically as long as we've been in Korea, I've wanted to visit Jeju Island. Everyone talks about how beautiful it is, and with regular, cheap flights between Seoul and Jeju, it's supposed to be an easy trip. The singles like to take weekend trips down there, and I didn't want to miss out. One of those "Korea bucket list" things.

So, when the middle school decided that the 8th grade would do their Week Without Walls down there and they needed someone to go down and scout it out, he volunteered us. All of us. The weekend after school got out. The weekend before we moved. And then flew to the States. Yup. Good timing.

The upside, of course, was that we didn't have to pay for his flight, we didn't have to pay for our accommodations, we didn't have to pay for transportation (and we had a personal driver!), we got to see a lot of the island, and we didn't have to pay for most of our food. How can you turn down a trip like that?!

So, we went. We did.it.all. In two and a half days. Holy whirlwind. The 8th graders will be down there for five days, and we did it all in half of that time. Granted, it meant we didn't have to do the 10 mile hike with all three kids in 80 degree weather, but we still did a lot. Thankfully, we got to do just about everything for free, too!

There's no way that I could possibly remember now everything we did while we were there. It's a good thing that Eric took good notes, because he had to remember it all! It's a good thing that I took a lot of (iPhone) pictures, because otherwise I wouldn't remember anything that we did!

We had to get up at about 6 am the day we left because the trip to the airport was almost twice as long as our flight. Thankfully, aside from the ticket agent not printing Reece a ticket and the fact that I left my wallet with my Alien Registration Card (needed for all international travel) in our kitchen cabinet (I still don't understand that one...chalk it up to moving), the travel part was uneventful. Does that count as uneventful? I guess in our world it does!

And then we hit the ground running on our arrival! We had the famous (in Korea) Jeju pork for lunch, which was our first experience eating Korean food with Koreans in Korea. They ordered everything for us and taught us a few new things about how to eat our Korean meal. The pork was really good!

In the afternoon, we checked out Maze Land, but didn't get to do the mazes, Sunrise Peak, but didn't get to do the hike, Jeju horses (miniatures), but didn't get to ride them, and finally stopped for McDonalds before crawling into bed at 10pm. A long day for all of us! (Oh, and they did actually get to ride the go-karts that we went to check out!)

The next day we were up early-ish for breakfast at the hotel and then into the van for more driving. We visited a senior center and an orphanage. We went to a tangerine picking farm (where we watch pig sliding!), Eric and the kids rode on a submarine, we checked out the haenyeo, and we visited one of Asia's biggest Buddhist temples.

We made it back to the hotel a little earlier this time, but we still had to eat with our tour guides as Eric worked with them to nail down the schedule for their trip this fall. We ended up having our late evening decompression in the bathroom while the kids fell asleep in the room. There's nothing like traveling with kids!

And the next morning, we were off on our return trip to Seoul to finish up the last minute packing. I think it's safe to say that we're all a little jealous that he gets to go back and spend a week actually doing all of the things that we just saw. But, would I want to go back with 85 8th graders? I don't know.

It's June!

The goodbyes this time of year are always abundant and emotional. On Wednesday after school, I watched many tearful goodbyes of both parents and students in the lobby, but the last day of school for us is okay because we don't have to say the goodbyes for a couple more days. Today was that day for our staff.

Honestly, I don't have much left to say at this point, so I thought I would just share this video put together by and featuring many of our staff and students. It's just a glimpse into June for an expat, and I watched it with tears streaming down my face, but I am full of hormones these days!

TCKs in Transition from Ross Williamson on Vimeo.

If you are looking for resources on helping expats or TCKs with the many transitions that they go through (moving on, traveling, being left behind, or repatriating), The Culture Blend is a great resource!

Christmas Dinner

This week began with the YISS Christmas dinner at the Seoul Millenium Hilton, which is quickly becoming a tradition. We also had Kennedy's Christmas program at school, which was very impressive. I've been feeling like every day is Friday since Monday, so it's a relief that tomorrow finally is Friday. That has been compounded by the fact that all week we've gotten little dustings of snow. Maybe a half inch every day, but it never amounts to anything. The snow day we all hope for this time of year continues to evade us.

This week I have been continually and immensely grateful for our car. Evening treks in the winter are tough--especially on the kids--so it's been really nice knowing that we can drive many places.

It has also been nice knowing exactly where we're going and what to expect this year. Being able to drive to the Hilton at the last minute when it was raining, and we didn't want to mess with hiking up the hill in dresses and heels in the rain was such a relief!

Unfortunately, I didn't do as good of a job getting pictures of us this year.

One of our staff members volunteered again this year to take pictures of everyone, so I didn't bother to hand off my camera to anyone. Not brilliant, I suppose, since we never took a family picture in the fall this year, either.

The kids were obviously pretty shy when we asked them to stand up there by themselves to get their pictures taken!

By the time Kennedy's concert rolled around, Cade wasn't even willing to stand in front of a camera, so I guess I should be grateful for these pictures!

Kennedy, on the other hand, is more than willing to pose for me...

The week began with pictures of these three girls in front of the Christmas tree at church. Somehow, their dresses coordinated and had very similar styles at every event this week. 

We even tried to get a picture of all of the staff kids together. Unfortunately, even at its widest, my lens couldn't get all of them in. Kennedy is barely in this shot--and looking at someone outside of it--in the bottom righthand corner. She's got one of our friend's sons on her lap--what a goof!

Apparently, she was in the mood for pictures that night, because about 10 minutes later she came and got me (and my camera) to take a picture with Kyla, one of our neighbors and one of my students. It was pretty cute!

This has obviously been a really busy week. My students have turned in a lot of little end-of-the-quarter assignments, leaving me with a lot to grade and enter. And, of course, I still have a huge pile of essays to grade, but Eric says he's been waiting for this post, so here it is!

Daechon Beach Staff Retreat

After about a three hour bus ride, we arrived at Daechon Beach for our staff retreat last weekend.. (Not to be confused with Daejon, which is probably only about a two hour ride.) After figuring out where we were sleeping, everyone quickly headed down to the water.

Last year, our family stayed in one room with about five bunk beds in it. Not a great use of space, since we only needed four beds, but we really enjoyed it. We had plenty of space and there were three rooms in our little cabin, so we stayed with two other families. The only downside was that it was a bit of a hike up to our cabin from the main areas where everyone else was congregated. It was pretty inconvenient if we forgot something.

Only families with young kids get to stay together in one room, so singles and families with older children get split up by gender and stay in smaller rooms, with more beds, in an area that is much closer to the "common" area.

This year, as a family with older children, we were split up. The boys stayed up in the same cabin that we stayed in last year in a room with another dad and his boys. Kennedy and I stayed down in the common area in a room with two other moms and their daughters.

The upside was that Kennedy and I didn't have to hike up and down the hill or deal with the massive amount of mosquitos up in the woods. The downside was that we had to deal with public showers, which is especially tough when on a retreat with your teenage students. Thankfully, I was able to find a time each evening when the showers were empty, so I just locked the door and didn't have to worry about my students seeing anything that they wouldn't be able to burn from their memories! (Next year, I'll have to remember to bring a bathing suit.)

The weather is starting to indicate that fall will arrive this year. The first day that we were there, the wind was perfect for those of us who weren't soaking wet. Cade was a bit chilly after his swim in the Yellow Sea, though. The weather cooled off in the evenings, and we were even able to wear sweatshirts!

It is thrilling to see sunsets out there, as well. I know that they can be seen here in the city, but certainly not from where we live! Many of us lined the railing each evening watching the sunset through the trees.

We stayed with two girls that started Kindergarten this year and a two year old (and their moms, of course). Kennedy had a good time playing with all of the kids, but she and Haven always have a lot of fun when it's just the two of them.

Cade really enjoyed the chance to play with the boys he roomed with. One of the boys is a year older and the other is a year younger, so he was always able to find one to run around with. Sometimes it amazes me how well they get along with other kids!

On our second day, we climbed over the hill to the other beach in the afternoon. The kids dug holes in the sand while the parents talked or played volleyball. It was so nice to just get a chance to relax (even if I did bring work to grade).

In the evenings, we took walks along the beach, with or without the kids, and I took pictures of the sunset to my heart's content while the kids were off running around with their friends.

Later, the common room was full of people playing games until late into the night. Kennedy and I tried to get to bed by about 10:00 each evening, but I'm confident that the boys were up much later. Eric can't just walk out on a game of Risk.

Needless to say, sleep was one of those things that we were catching up on this week! We seem to have a new round of colds coming on at this point. There's been a lot of sneezing and sore throats around here. I suppose it's no surprise judging by how busy we've been.

My first soccer jamboree was yesterday and today, Eric is off playing baseball. The kids and I finally managed to get to EMart to get some things we'd been needing for awhile. We were extremely grateful that our HR director, who planned the retreat this year, listened to the feedback given and got us home in the early afternoon on Monday. We were able to get to Costco and back in less than three hours on Monday afternoon, so we finally have food again, too!

With any luck, we might actually be fully functioning this week!

Now, we face the second five day week of the school year. The laundry is done, the house is cleaner than it's been in weeks, and the fridge is stocked, so if we can stay healthy, then all should be well. 

And next week, we only have two days of school, as Korea celebrates Chuseok.

Now I'm off to bed, so that I can feel better in the morning!

Some days are rough

I recently read this article, "When She's not the Good Missionary," shared by friends on Facebook. I've read a few articles about the life of missionaries, expatriates, and TCKs lately, and since every one has caused me to break down in tears, I thought it was time for me to write a post of my own. I don't usually get too emotional here, but today is one of those days.

I think what really got me about this particular article was the reason that she wrote it. A friend dropping her kids off at preschool for the first time. Of course, that can be tough for anyone. I remember the first day I dropped Kennedy off at preschool in Conway. I cried like a baby, but I know that I was crying more about the memories I had at that preschool and how glad I was that she was there than any real concern. But, when we get back in August, we are going to send Cade to preschool. And I am going to cry like a baby. I'm going to cry because he's going to a school where the majority of the students will not be speaking English. I'm going to cry because they're going to serve him Korean for lunch, and I don't know whether or not he'll like it. And I'm going to cry because he isn't going to the little preschool in Conway where I went, Kennedy went, and my mom taught for ten years. Yup, it's going to be rough.

Some days are just rough. Those days when you realize that your daughter won't have any family here to see her "graduate" from Kindergarten. When you know that if you were "home," that your family would fill an entire row because they would be so excited to be a part of her big night. When you realize that it's your fault that you've taken that away from her and her grandparents. She is their only granddaughter after all. Those moments when you sit blubbering like an idiot and trying to hide it from your kids because you certainly don't want them to realize what you have just realized, are rough.

The days when you realize that once again, your daughter has to say goodbye to good friends. Friends that she may never see again. When you realize that she has already stopped talking about the girls that she once considered best friends. When you show her a picture of a girl on Facebook-sometimes your only connection to home-and she doesn't remember her name. When you realize how hard her future is going to be. Not only does she have to struggle with making good friends, but she has to do it every. single. year. because if she's not moving, then someone else is. That's the turnover rate here.

The days when you realize that it's been a month since you've talked or even emailed or texted someone in your family and you didn't even know it are rough. This blog is great, but it's terribly one-sided. You may know what's going on with us or what I'm thinking, but we still don't know anything about you. It's hard work to keep relationships going long distance. It's harder when you realize that you're working hard to keep them alive for those six weeks when you're actually in the same country. Some people you can keep up with all year, but then you don't even have time to fit them in the small window you have because they're lives don't stop just because you've finally flown in. Those days are rough.

In her article, Emily referred to cheddar cheese. I am so grateful to be able to easily get cheddar cheese--even if it is expensive. But the days when just a trip to the grocery store for a few things is a struggle, can be tough. We've been here nearly two years. Why does a trip to the grocery store still have to be so stressful at times? I just needed a few things, but the bag quickly gets heavy when you're walking up hill in the pouring down rain while holding an umbrella and your four-year-old's hand. And some days I ask myself why we can't just pick up a few groceries without being accosted by cameras.

Some days I simply can't handle my children being photographed and touched constantly. Thankfully, most of the time I don't mind it. But some days, it makes me want to scream. What are you doing with those pictures that you take of my kids? Why do you have to give them candy all the time?! Maybe they don't want to hold your hand or sit in your lap! How are they ever going to repatriate to a country where they fit in? Where they look like everyone else? Where no one gives them special attention? Where they don't get candy everywhere they go?

Thankfully, most days are good. Most days it's easy to see how far we've come since we got here. Most days it doesn't feel like an adventure any more; it just feels normal. Most days I'm incredibly grateful that we live in a place that is safe and so foreigner-friendly. Every day I know that we are where God wants us to be and He is going to get us through each and every one of those rough days, and I'm so thankful for that!