Our Neighborhood

The neighborhood down the street from where we live is full of everything--an outdoor market, Dahin's school (in the background below), restaurants, bars, ice cream shops, clothing stores, coffee houses--anything you can imagine is there.

Oliver has mastered the art of manipulation when it comes to being held. Much like an oppossum plays dead when he senses danger, Oliver will 'drift to sleep' when he knows we're about to be on the move. He pretended to fall asleep in a restaurant and we just HAD to carry him. Ronan, however, knows how to spot a faker and take the faker out: kiss him.

The outdoor market is a lot of fun. I just like to go and eye-shop, but it's also the place where you can find the best prices. We've begun shopping here regularly, especially since our supermarket of choice is located in the heart of the sijang.

The One Mart is the grocery store we've discovered that suits us best. The prices are alright and, best part: they deliver. You just pick out all of your food, pay for it, and then have them deliver it. About 30 minutes later, a motorcycle loaded with yellow baskets will come roaring up to your door with your groceries. The sijang is so crowded, there is really no way to drive there. The delivery option makes shopping doable.
Ronan, as well, has a technique for having us carry him when he gets tired. He just screams, over and over,"CARRY ME!" until we do. We're suckers. Ronan is happy as a little clam riding on apa's back. Dahin is fascinated with the tanks filled with creatures of all kinds, from octopi to squid, king crab to carp. Here, she poses with some king crab right outside a seafood restaurant. She said, "You don't have to go to the ocean to see fish, you just have to come here!" Yeah, who needs an aquarium membership?

Finally, our 'stuff' is here

This just reminds me of the George Carlin monologue about your s*** and my stuff. Except, there were a lot of things that emerged from the boxes that made us think,'"Why in the heck did we pack all this s***?" Oh well. Most of it was, however, a series of pleasant surprises and we actually need most of the stuff we unpacked. We basically spent the entire weekend pulling things out of boxes, recycling the boxes, putting together furniture, and arranging the new additions to our home. Above, you can see that Dahin has totally settled into her space. Jack's uncle got this desk for her since, "A student HAS to have a desk; why doesn't she have a desk?" and the desk's bookshelves have tons of room for more books which I am, of course, happy about. The boys room, below, is in a condition that it will never see again once the little tornados take over. I won't show you the living room, kitchen, our room yet since we're not quite done getting everything arranged. Plus, there are about 10 boxes of books and cds in our bedroom room waiting to be moved to my office on campus.

On Sunday afternoon, we'd had enough of being cooped up inside. Actually, the kids had gone outside several times this weekend, riding bikes and playing with friends. I, however, had not seen the light of day in two days and had a terrible case of cabin fever. We went out to eat kalbi and then just sat on a bench for a while outside. As you can see, below, we're a little loopy.

Jack proves, once again, that he can make sillier faces than me.

Dahin's attempts to cross her eyes resulted only in what looked like a "I'm looking down" pose.

Dkokbokki

Jack's obsession with ddokbokki is well known. He loves the stuff and has not-so-gently nudged the kids to eat it every chance he gets. We stopped off at this stand after we had tried to eat dinner in a department store but where the kids refused to touch their food. At least they ate this, even though you can really call it Korean junk food. Ddokbokki is tube-shaped rice cakes with fish cake swimming in a sweet/spicy red pepper sauce. Every other step you take in the market and along sidewalks, there are stands set up like a little impromptu diners selling fried foods and ddokbokkii. Stands like the one pictured here have become regular snack stops for the kids. The kids especially love squid fried in a flour badder (eojingeo twigim--romanization here is terrible; not wanting to think too much about it right now), which they usually order along with the ddokbokki. The food stands are a welcome site when it is cold outside. All you need are some toothpicks to skewer the little morsels, a metal or paper cup for some broth, and napkins (lots and lots of napkins; and wet wipes) and you're set (all but the wet wipes provided by the stand owner). Ah...deep-fried squid, ddokbokki, and hot broth to drink...super cozy.

Family Sunday

The kids and I started the day by talking to Bubbie and Grandfather via SKYPE! Unfortunately, we couldn't talk for long since we had to go to church. Before the service, we stopped off at Jack's favorite ddokbokki place to have some classic Korean spicy rice cakes. Looks a little un-yummy, but totally yummy. This place has been around for decades. They've gone up in price. Instead of 50 cents for some ddokbokki, it's now $2.
We were able to walk from the church to Jack's jageun abeoji's place (his father's younger brother; literally, 'little father'). There, Jack's s wacky cousins Eunjin and Eunil greeted us with their mom. We all ate lunch together and hung out for the rest of the afternoon.

Below, jageun eomeoni learns just how stubborn Ronan can be. Despite her best efforts, he refused to eat. He only came to the table after we ignored him and stopped trying to make him eat. By the way, she loved this picture when she viewed it on the camera. She said, "You just have to post that on your home page!"

Jack's cousin, Naksong (who I, from this point on, will call Jack's 'nemesis' since Jack's aunt kept confusing Jack's name, Nak Jung, with his cousin's name the whole day) and his family visited as well. Naksong's daughter is the same age as the boys--all born in July 2004. The kids didn't really interact that much, though. There's still the language barrier issue. It'll get better once the boys start preschool next week. I think their Korean fluency will improve rather quickly.

Day out with the Boys

We went Namdaemun market, the biggest open-air market in Seoul (has been around for about a thousand years) on Friday morning after dropping Dahin off at school. We went to the market to buy shades for the boys room, but people there said, "You should go to E-mart for stuff like that." E-mart is a big retail market, kind of like Target. We were a bit disappointed, as we'd scored a great deal at Namdaemun when buying curtains for Dahin's room. We did some eye-shopping and bought presents for the birthday party Dahin was going to go to in the afternoon. We also had to buy new shoes for Dahin and a new shoe bag for her school shoes (since the first one, with a new pair of shoes inside) went missing on Dahin's third day of school. We've written her name all over the bag and on the shoes as well. She needs new shoes here since she needs shoes she can easily slip in and out of; the ones with ties are just too awkward right now.

Jack and the boys on the outskirts of Namdaemun market, near Myeongdong.

The birthday party for Dahin's friends (it was a joint party) was in the recreation/meeting room in our apartment village. Dahin's friend Lizzie is actually the daughter of a composer I have interviewed a few times. The composer and I are now friends. She's very nice and incredibly talented, attended SOAS in London, and has been a huge help. She called the apartment management several times before we came, which helped us secure a place. There is a huge waiting list, so we lucked out. I knitted bibs and a baby blanket for her little newborn boy, and she swears the blanket is his favorite. They are using the hand-made goods well; glad they like them. Moms were gathered at the party and we ate pizza, chicken, ddokbokki, cheesecake, and drank coffee. It was nice to meet some other moms whose kids also go to Dahin's school, but the boys got bored and we could not stick around for too long. While Dahin was at her party, the boys and I went to the science park across the street from where we live. Jack went out to meet friends he hadn't seen for years, so it was a nice chance to explore our neighborhood together with the boys. It was such a warm day that the boys just HAD to have ice cream.

We weren't really sure what this tower was, until the clock struck 4 pm and little characters came out and sang a funky little song. It was a little Willy Wonka-ish (ala the new version with Johnny Depp), but explained why I heard a little kids' song drifting through the air when I walked to work in the morning. The boys thought it was funny and kept saying, "That is SO wierd," while they giggled.

The science park had some really cool stuff, like this labyrinth with mirrors. Oliver liked posing in front of it, so I took a picture of us together.

The boys loved climbing on the 'spiderweb.'

Ýou can see our apartment village in the background. I love that we live so close to such a cool little park with lots of activities. There is also a trail that goes up to the observatory. Since we live right by a mountain, the air is clearer and it will be a good place to exercise.

Oliver tries out one of the many different levers that show kids how water pumps work.

I loved this bridge, although it was a little scary. Oliver and Ronan didn't want to leave the park, but we had to meet nuna since the party was now over. We can go back anytime.

Dahin's New School

When I arrived at Dahin's school to pick her up today her teacher was reviewing the Korean vowel sounds with Dahin and some of her classmates were helping. Dahin spent time on the computer today learning the vowels. I think she'll pick it up really quickly. I met some of the moms of the students; they were helping clean the classroom today.

Part of Dahin's homework is to take her books home and memorize the different names for the different subjects. The teacher says she gets confused when the teacher tells them to take out their books at different times (e.g. math time, Korean time, etc.), so we need to help her recognize the names of the different subjects. Normally, the kids don't have to take all their books home, but Dahin needs to this week so that she can learn what they are.

When Dahin was putting on her street shoes to leave the school I was taking a picture of her. A group of her goofy classmates ran over and yelled, "Take a picture of us, too." So, I did. When I say 'goofy' I'm really referring to the boy on the right. The girls seem rather sweet.

This is Dahin, obviously sick of me taking pictures, in front of her new school. Once the newness of it all wears off, I hope she still enjoys the experience. I think she will. Once she gets used to being at the school this semester, we'll enroll her in some afterschool programs. The school is going to start a Korean language class after school for all of the foreign students. There are a few--we saw a little girl (seemed about 5th grade) with long blonde pigtails at the school the other day. We were worried that Dahin would be the only foreign kid, but there are many, many other Korean as a second language learners.

oragami time

Dahin is doing really well in school. When she came home from her first day, she said, "I've never had this much fun on a first day of school!" She will go to school Monday through Saturday from 8:30-1:30. The day is very structured, and that suits Dahin as she seems most comfortable that kind of school format. Her school in Oakland was so great, but she didn't do so well when she was required to choose something she should do. In other words, Dahin tends to thrive when she is not given so much autonomy. Here, it's all laid out. Her teacher is really great and is very patient with Dahin. She is mixing English with Korean for right now so that Dahin is not totally lost. There are one or two classmates who have spent time in the States, and they are helping Dahin understand things the teacher says and they're writing down her homework in Korean and English in her notebook for her. Many of her classmates made her some oragami decorations, which she's showing in the photo above.

Dahin claims her space

The fact that she has her own room has gone a little to Dahin's head. Since we've moved in, she's had several fights a day with her brothers in which she screams, "Get OUT of MY room!!!" Oh--the joy. I think her brothers go in her room because they know that annoys her. At least her note to me and apa is a little nicer in tone.

Our too-big-for-her-britches girl is having her first day of school here tomorrow. She went to school this morning and took a math placement test and scored a 100%! The fact that her Korean is not so good is a bit of a worry, but I think she'll do wonderfully. She's riding the bus (apparently, no one walks to school, although it's only a 1/4 mile away) with a little girl she met here, Lizzie. Of course, we're riding with her for the first few months to make sure she gets there fine. It's just down the street, but still...Her supplies for school include some new white shoes that she will keep at school and wear only inside the school, a pair of chopsticks and a spoon in a little Hello Kitty case, and a new pencil case with pencils, an eraser, and sharpener.

Moving in

Three weeks after the boys and I got here and one week after Jack and Dahin arrived we are no longer nomadic tribespeople but have a space of our own--woo-hoo!

Above, the boys discover the kinds of games they can play while moving in. Dahin arranges her own room and puts clothes away. This is the first time she's had her own room and she is very happy to no longer have to share space with the stinksters. Jack's at the market now buying hangers so, don't worry, we'll have clothes properly hung soon.

This is the space where my new washing machine will go when it is delivered on Sunday. The apt is designed like typical Korean apts with two outer corridors on the outside of the apartment where you do laundry, play, etc. Recycling will be a breeze with these little containers they provided us. Recycling and composting are mandatory--a little Draconian, but good, nonetheless. We have to seperate all our trash and put all our food scraps in the composting bin which is located where we ultimately take the recycling and trash. Garbage bags have to be purchased and they have to include a zone code for our neighborhood. The price of the garbage bags really discourages you from needlessly throwing away things that can be recycled or reused. It will take a while to get used to as we've been pretty lazy with our garbage in the US. Better to just do it and make it a pattern of behavior than face the rath of the others in faculty housing at community meetings (we have our first this coming week). Yay!

Here is our new 'gas range.' Very few people here use anything other than a stove when cooking (that, and a rice cooker). Most Koreans don't use ovens, although they now market and sell them. Once I save up 600,000 won (about US 500.00, depending on the exchange rate) I'll get an oven so I can do some baking--American style; yee-haw!! And, yes, that is instant coffee you see there to the right. We will enter the land of drip coffee soon once we buy our coffee maker. The electric system here is different so we had get rid of many of the appliances we used in Oakland. They just won't work here without a transformer box (or whatever that thing is called).

We just moved in on Friday, so really only have the stove, a microwave, and curtains (which Jack picked out and, I must say, did a pretty good job). Here, the kids and Jack are enjoying our first dinner in our new place--jjajjang-myun (noodles with black bean and pork sauce) and roasted chicken.

Jet Lag

Dahin slowly faded as her first day here progressed. Jack's sister invited us out to have dinner with her family the day after Jack and Dahin arrived, but the kids were so tired and grumpy, it might have been good to wait. Dahin, especially, was exhausted.

The street outside of halmoni's house.

Waiting for the subway.

On the subway, all the kids fell asleep. To get them to wake up, I bribed them with the promise of snacks and drinks--it worked.

With Komo, Komo-bu, and their cousin Cheong-eun at a pork barbecue place.

Ronan has practiced very hard and can now pick up fairly large morsels with chopsticks (sometimes he cheats, though, by stabbing the food and eating it really quick, pretending he actually picked up the food the 'right' way).

Oliver loves barbecue. He helped Komo (his aunt Eun-yeong) work the grill.

Oliver poses for the camera. Yes, he is a special kid...; )

The ride home was no fun as we had to keep telling Dahin, over and over, "Don't sleep." Poor thing. She was so incredibly tired, but did well. That is, just to let you know, a total stranger man-handling Oliver. Complete strangers will touch the kids' hair and faces. I said "manhandlng above," but I think that is relatively normal here and it is done rather affectionately. I think she empathized with the kids because she could see they were tired and Koreans, in general, are very warm towards children. The kids get a lot of attention because they look a little different.