366 Project: Week Nine

Things are progressing in the job department, but no big announcements yet. We have two more interviews this coming week, and we continue to be amazed at the doors God is opening for us. As hard as it is to not have all of the details nailed down yet, we have to remember that when we said we wouldn't be returning back in November, we thought there was a good chance that we wouldn't have jobs until June, so we're grateful for the progress that has been made so far.

57/366: Cade and Mr. Adams after having cupcakes. I've already gone on a bit about how fun this was, so I'll leave it at that.

58/366: Another last. I took the kids to the spring musical--Fiddler on the Roof. It was another great performance, of course, and I may have been a bit broken-hearted when they announced that we couldn't take pictures at all. We (or I) have been to at least one YISS play every year since we got here, and we've loved every last one. After the play, I took the kids out for hot chocolate.

59/366: We had a great day celebrating Cade! It was really busy because Eric had a meeting after church, and then he and Cade took off to see a movie while Kennedy and I spent the afternoon preparing homemade pizza for dinner. It was late by the time we sat down with the birthday treat he picked out. A donut cake. Because we're just that classy.

60/366: Eric and the kids had Monday off for another Korean Independence Day, so Kennedy and I got to go see Zootopia, too. This was probably our last movie in Korea, so I figured I should document it in some way.

Another month down! Yahoo!

61/366: Kennedy had been begging me to do a "practice" pack. I can completely understand her desire; how else are we supposed to know whether everything will fit in our suitcases? The chore sounds too daunting to me since mine is on a much larger scale, but she had fun with hers and was relieved to find that most of what she wants to bring fits in her suitcase.

62/366: I take pictures of the boys in the bathtub all the time, so I'd been wanting to try to figure out a way to capture Kennedy. Eric thinks it's creepy and a little stalker-ish, but it was the best I could come up with.

63/366: Cade volunteered to help with the laundry yesterday, and it was the perfect opportunity to capture the hilarity of our washer/dryer situation. I don't complain because I'm not pregnant, I'm tall enough to reach in without climbing, and I'm just so thrilled to have a dryer (and one with close proximity to the washer; we have lots of friends who have them on opposite ends of the house), but it is kind of funny to the outsider.

It is finally spring in Seoul--a high of 60 today with a whole lot of haze. The air quality is only "unhealthy for sensitive groups" though, so I guess it could be worse (and it's supposed to be in the coming days). You know when we tell our kids that we never checked air quality before moving here, they don't believe us? It's kind of like that "we walked uphill both ways to school" speech that our parents gave us--except that in Seoul that's true, too! Who knew you really can walk uphill both ways?! Nonetheless, I look forward to the day when we don't have to check the air quality alongside the weather!

366 Project: Week Seven

Not much has changed since my last post. Still no word on jobs anywhere in the world. Less than four months until we're jobless and homeless. But, we're trying not to dwell on that too much. Too many other things to stress about. Like getting rid of our stuff and figuring out how our TCKs are going to adjust to life in their passport country. Ooof.

Because there are no pictures to document it, I will say that Eric and I celebrated Valentine's Day by going on a date over Lunar New Year. The friends that babysat the kids were the same ones who babysat for our first date since Reece's birth during Valentine's week last year. We get out a lot, you can see. Ha! Eric also took us out to lunch at Suji's on Valentine's Day, which was fun, in spite of the freezing weather and wind. And now, photo documentation of week seven...

43/366: One of my main goals for this year is to focus on my use of light. I'm not doing too well yet, but playing with the shadows in our living room was on the bucket list.

44/366: On Saturday, it was ridiculously warm. Like 60 degrees warm. And pouring down rain with a little thunder storm to boot. On Sunday, it snowed, was 20 degrees, plus a wind chill. Gotta love Seoul weather.

45/366: Reece started walking for realz on Saturday, but I was so busy taking videos that I didn't get any pictures. So, that was Sunday's project.

46/366: I have a love-hate relationship with the YISS read-a-thon, which began Monday. I love that it encourages the kids to read even more than normal, but I hate how stressed they get about recording every.single.minute they read. Kennedy needs to read more than 90 minutes per day to qualify for the big prizes (cameras, iPads, etc.), and so of course, she wants to, but that's a lot to fit in with swimming, chores, and homework every evening!

47/366: There were only a few flurries on Sunday, but on Tuesday it snowed most of the day. Nonetheless, we never had any accumulation and the 1/4 inch we may have had melted by the evening when it got up to a toasty 34 degrees. #winterinSeoul #notgonnamissit

48/366: I was trying to take a picture of something else, when look who walked into the frame? Obviously, this little one (and all of his hair) won out.

49/366: Lacking inspiration and ripe avocados. We'd had these for more than a week and they still wouldn't ripen, so it was time for a sun bath on the living room floor.

Today, I am enjoying the read-a-thon, as it's only noon and Kennedy has already read for three hours! A quiet morning to read our books (and blog)? I'll take it!

At Lindy's, Christmas 2014

It's strange that in spite of shooting every day now, I have no pictures to share aside from those that I share for the 365 posts. Did I have pictures to share before I started this project? Hmmm. Well, I guess I am typically behind in posting pictures, so this just fits right in. Christmas 2014.

I'm ashamed to admit that we're in a bit of a "survival mode" period right now. Our weekend was spent trying to catch up on rest and sleep because Reece slept terribly. The kids' bedroom was covered in puke when we woke up on Sunday morning, thanks to Cade in the top bunk. It required about five loads of laundry and a whole lot of scrubbing (by Eric) to get that mess cleaned up. There were a ridiculous number of tears and a whole lot of fighting. I think we were all relieved for school to start again on Monday.

Last night, we had grilled cheese and some random sesame noodles that I threw together because I didn't have all of the ingredients for any one recipe. Thankfully, black beans are in the crock pot and I made it to the grocery store today, so hopefully we can eat a little more normally for the rest of the week.

Temperatures are supposed to get above freezing this week, too, which always makes life a little easier when you live in a place where you can't accomplish much without walking outside a lot. I have to admit that I almost took a picture of our washing machine the other day for the p365 when I realized that if we were still in our old apartment, our washing machine would have been frozen for the past 10 days. I'm so glad that I don't have to worry about that anymore!

It warmed up enough to get some snow today--though just a dusting--and it was pretty to watch it fall over the city out our windows. As we look out the back windows right now, you can see the snow on the Han River where it has frozen. That's how cold it is right now. Sheesh.

We did have fun playing games with the big kids on Friday night. We got out of the house on Saturday afternoon to watch the basketball game, and had a good time chatting with friends while the kids played. And, on Sunday afternoon, Reece showed off his new ability to put together two steps at a time unassisted. By yesterday afternoon, he was up to three. It turns out this kid will walk, eventually. I think I'm finally ready for it. Maybe. Check back with me in a month.

It's hard to believe that 13 months ago, we were in the States celebrating Christmas with family. Reece wasn't even two months old. Kennedy just pulled the hem out of the pajamas that she got from Lidi because they're now too short with it in. Cade is still sports-obsessed and would wear those soccer cleats that he got every day, if he could.

I remember absolutely nothing of what we did in the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, when we left. I remember that Reece nursed successfully all day on Christmas, and that was the end of that. I remember that we had a hard time trying to think of anything feasible to do with a 6 week old and a 9 month old, so maybe we didn't really do anything?

I do remember that we went to the Museum of Flight with Lindy and my brother right before we left. I still have pictures from that day to post (though I'm not sure how I managed to get so many with Reece in the Moby the whole time), and I remember that we made stops to see a lot of Eric's family on the way north to my aunt's house.

I also remember that this little Sorento was loaded to the breaking point nearly every time we got in it for those two weeks, and that the limit for how much we could bring back with us to Korea was not set by the airline but by what we could fit in this mid-size SUV. What fun.

Well, Reece is napping this afternoon (day 3 of 3 and it's only Tuesday!), so I had better take advantage of the quiet to get a head start on dinner so we don't end up with grilled cheese again!

What We Did

Four day weekends are the best, aren't they? I'll admit that part of the enjoyment is that while everyone else in the country was concerned about making lots of food, traveling to visit relatives, and family traditions, we were relaxing. We enjoy the lack of people in the city. We enjoy the fact that we can't really do anything, because everything is closed. (But you do have to plan ahead to make sure that you have your groceries!) The weather has warmed up a bit, so we had 40 degree rainy days, which made it that much easier to relax inside--going to a movie, playing games with friends, or just working. The only problem with this warming trend is that it makes you feel like maybe spring is on the way, and then you realize that it's only February--there's still a lot of winter left in Seoul!

Today was a big day for those of us from Seattle! Eric and I were in school for Super Bowl Monday, of course. Ironically, we felt guilty about taking the day off to watch the game, but we didn't feel too guilty about having it on the projector during our classes. Thankfully, my students were able to stay focused (enough) on reading the Epic of Gilgamesh, though there were a couple who got into the game. More than half my class had never watched American football, so I figure they were learning something. When the game drew to a close, I even had a couple of students from WA in class, so we were able to cheer together. From what I heard, I wasn't the only teacher with the game on. Things like the Super Bowl always make us feel a little farther from home, but we were grateful to at least be able to see the game and cheer on our Seahawks! Super Bowl champs!!!

On the day after Christmas, we were all ready to get out of the house, and of course, I had plenty of tourist-y things on my list for Travis to do. So, we headed out early so that we could get a few things checked off the list. When the weather is nice (though we never have guests when the weather is nice!), it's nice to head to Gyeongbokgung Palace and walk the grounds, then we head to the Folk Museum (inside the palace grounds). After spending a few hours there, we can comfortably walk to Gwanghwamun Square, then down to the Cheonggyecheon, and end up in Insadong.

But, that's on a nice day. When coats, gloves, scarves, hats, and boots are not required. No such luck on this particular day. We headed out and things were looking good--until it started to snow. By the time we got off the bus, the snow was coming down hard and the street vendors were beginning to close up shop. My original brilliant idea of checking out some street food, winding through alleys, and finding a good Korean restaurant was not looking to brilliant anymore. It was bitterly cold and wet, and we needed a new plan.

The boys decided that the easiest plan was to head back to Itaewon to go screen golfing. If I had to go back to Itaewon, I wanted to go to my favorite Turkish restaurant. So, we jumped on the subway and had a new plan for the day--all was good again. Until we got to Itaewon and discovered that my very favorite restaurant had shut its doors and was under construction. I was not a happy camper. We headed to one of the other kebab restaurants (that doesn't even compare!) and picked up lunch to go.

Screen golf was semi-warm. I was still cold because if I'd turned the heat up as warm as I would've liked, the boys would've had sweat dripping off their foreheads. It was uneventful, and I wished that I'd brought work to do, but that's life--rolling with the punches.

After golf, we picked up some coffee to warm me from the inside out, jumped into a cab, and headed back to the War Memorial to check it out when it was actually open. We made it through about a third of the museum before it was closing time and time to head home to make dinner. We did eat a few dinners at home, I promise!

Heading up Haleakala

Well, our Chuseok break has not started out with much excitement. I decided that since I have a few days off, I should finally get these last two wisdom teeth pulled. I had planned on doing it before school started, but my cold was so bad that I couldn't breathe through my nose. Nor could I last long without coughing. I almost let this little cold I have be a good excuse, too, but I can breathe just fine and my cough is pretty sporadic.

At least it's done now. Eric has done a great job of making me smoothies and mashed potatoes. Yesterday, I spent the entire day laying in bed, trying to sleep. He had made plans to visit a friend of our who is in the hospital going through chemotherapy, so the kids were on their own. They played Legos all day long and Kennedy prepared a healthy lunch of toast and cereal for the two of them.

Today, I'm determined to stay out of bed. Maybe even get out of the house. I have a feeling that I may have managed to glorify how I was feeling after the dental work I had done last spring. We have big plans to go to one of the water parks tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be feeling up for it by then!

I also have high hopes for all of the work that I am going to accomplish on this little break. Of course, I was hoping to get much of that work done yesterday when I wasn't getting out of bed, but that didn't happen since I could barely keep my eyes open.

These pictures are of our trip to the lavender farm on our way up to Haleakala. After lunch, we packed a little picnic and jumped into the car to drive up and see the sunset.

We stopped at this cute little lavender farm on the way up. It was a photographer's paradise, of course, but it is set up pretty well for kids, too. They immediately started on a scavenger hunt through the gardens to find various items and get their stamps. That is exactly the kind of activity that Eric needs when he visits places like this, too, so he led them around and made sure they got every single stamp.

I wandered around finding flowers to take pictures of and Evan and Jen enjoyed their lavender coffee and tea. After the kids finished, they went into get their prize--a box of lavender shortbread cookies. Yum.

We decided to save the cookies for our picnic, so that we could get warm lavender scones with marmalade. They were delicious!

We left the farm, heading further up the mountain. The roads are pretty windy up the mountain, so Jen didn't want to drive any more. She and Evan took the kids in a vehicle that they'd borrowed from friends, and Eric and I took their car. It wasn't long before I realized that I wasn't going to be able to the passenger any more. I'm not sure why I even tried, to be honest.

We eventually made it up into the park and stopped to have our picnic: a lovely assortment of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grapes, and 7 layer dip, all followed by lavender shortbread cookies.

Then, we were off again, headed further up the mountain. As we drove, the clouds got thicker and the rain began. By the time we reached the parking lot just below the summit, we couldn't see anything. It was cold, rainy, and so cloudy that we could barely see any other cars. We were not going to be able to see a sunset from there.

The boys jumped out to see what they could see. A whole lotta nothin'. The women and children waited in the car. They returned shortly and we headed back down to the visitor's center where we had eaten dinner.

We had just dropped out of the clouds and as we pulled into the parking lot, the sky was turning orange. Clearly, we were back down around buildings as there are power lines going through the above picture.

 

Nonetheless, it was beautiful and I was glad we got to see it, even if it wasn't the original plan. Unfortunately, we hadn't made it much further down the road when Kennedy threw up because she was carsick. Clearly, we weren't going to be able to try this again, nor were we going to be able to attempt the road to Hana. Maybe next year!

Adventures in Mold & Maui

This weekend feels like the first time that we've been able to relax at home since school started. Soccer practice was cancelled Friday afternoon because of the thunderstorms. Baseball was cancelled Saturday morning as a result of the ongoing thunderstorms all night long. We. had. nothing. going. on. for one day and it was awesome! Eric is playing with his Sunday team since his game on Saturday was cancelled, and Cade has been throwing up for the past twelve hours, but other than that things are good around here. We're looking forward to a very short week and hoping that we can all be healthy when we return from Chuseok Break.

Sure, we have plenty to do here at home. But catching up on laundry (that's taking two or three days to dry because of the moist air!), cleaning the house, and catching up on grading are things I can handle when we actually have a day to do it!

We still haven't quite caught up on everything. We have yet to go out for our anniversary and our celebration for Eric's birthday consisted of our typical Wednesday night dinner with friends, except that Cade and I trekked into Itaewon in the rain to pick up a cake from Baskin Robbins, too. So, last night we went out to On the Border, our favorite Mexican restaurant, to celebrate Eric's birthday. The rain had finally stopped and it is a fairly easy trek via subway to the newest one at IFC Mall. Only one transfer and a straight shot from the station to the mall sounds easier than figuring out how to drive and park, so we went with public transportation. It felt strange for me simply because I haven't been on the subway since we arrived back this year.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons that we don't have much going on this weekend is because I skipped out on the high school retreat. So, there aren't any high school students around to babysit for us. We'll just have to put off a date for a bit longer, I guess. We're a month late as it is, what's a few more days?!

A few weeks ago, Eric looked at me and said, "You know what topic you should cover on the blog? Mold." Of course, I just kind of laughed and asked why on Earth I would want to write about mold. But, he seemed to think it would be a topic of interest and since he hasn't suggested a topic for the blog in about 18 months, I figured I had better oblige him.

First of all, mold just seems to be a part of life in Korea. And again, having never lived outside of western Washington, it isn't something we're accustomed to. Sure, the Pacific Northwest is wet, but it's very rarely hot and wet at the same time. Summertime in Seoul means that it is hot and wet. All. the. time.

Before we leave for the summer, we put any food that has even the slightest chance of growing mold into the refrigerator or freezer. Of course, we try to just eat everything before we leave. We don't go to Costco for about the last six to eight weeks. We stop buying groceries (except milk) for about the last two weeks, unless it's something very specific. Honestly, I kind of enjoy the challenge of figuring out ways to eat everything.

Then we load the freezer with the flour, sugar, and spices. Chocolate chips, brownie mixes, other baking supplies, and anything jarred goes into the refrigerator. Items like dried pasta and canned foods I bring in from our pantry and put into the kitchen cabinets. Anything to avoid foreign growth. It's become quite the routine.

When we arrive back here in mid-July, humidity levels are high. In spite of my preparations, we usually arrive to some sort of mold. This year, we were irritated that many of our appliances had grown mold on the outside of them--our rice cooker, coffee grinder, and waffle maker. Thankfully, nothing was on the inside and they were fairly easy (for Eric) to clean up. The food was still in good condition.

Others were not so lucky. Our neighbors, arrived home late and were ready for bed. When they pulled back the sheets, they discovered that their bed and pillows were covered in mold. Is there anything worse? I can't imagine being jet-lagged, tired, ready for bed and discovering mold. Horrific!

To make matters worse, when they arrived at school--to their brand new, purpose-built band classrooms, they discovered that there had been no air circulation in the room over the summer and the entire room, including the students' instruments were covered in mold. Can you imagine?

The food is a constant. We have to keep all of our bread products in the fridge or they will grow mold overnight (this is year-round). Vegetables grow mold in record time. I didn't even know that carrots could grow mold, but after a few days in our fridge, they do. Every fruit we buy grows mold in a couple of days. Even the apples grow it from the inside out. It's really quite frustrating. We can only buy enough food for two or three days before it goes bad.

Other, little things continue. The bathroom (even the floors) can grow mold overnight if it's too warm and someone takes a shower in the evening. The clothes can grow mold because sometimes it seems that they just won't dry. One of Kennedy's white polos was ruined early this school year because it was put away before it dried all the way. Irritating. When I pulled out our suitcases for the staff retreat a couple of weeks ago, they were all covered in mold. That was a new one. Thankfully, I was working ahead, so I had an extra day to clean them with a vinegar solution and let them dry before I had to start packing.

I'm not sure why he wanted me to share our adventures in mold with the rest of the world. Maybe so that you can appreciate life without mold? Maybe he didn't want us to forget that this is one of the many joys of living in Korea. Maybe so that you know that we all have our little challenges. At any rate, now you know. Mold sucks, but we're learning to battle it.

These pictures were from our little trek through the jungle in Maui. Evan and Jen hadn't tried any kid-friendly hikes, so we weren't exactly sure where we were headed. But, after a little trouble finding the trailhead, we had a nice walk through the trees. There were mountains, a bridge, a stream and large rocks, and a beautiful clearing. All of the makings of a good hike through the jungle!

The kids enjoyed the freedom of this trail (because we never really knew where we were going) and the fact that there was relatively no danger, so they could run, jump, and pass everyone without any consequences (like falling off the side of a mountain).

Afterwards, we wandered through the bamboo path, checked out the koi pond, and the Japanese gardens (though this building looks more like a Korean hanok than a Japanese pagoda). Unfortunately, I've already forgotten a lot of details from our trip to Hawaii, so it's a good thing I have a comprehensive record in pictures!