Subway

We've bought a car, after weeks and weeks of deliberation. It was a good move as, for the most part, it saves time running errands in our neighborhood and the southern half of Seoul nearest our home and also it will be good for going to areas outside of Seoul. Still, going from our neighborhood to another in Seoul--especially going north of the Han River-- can happen way faster via subway. Subway rides can be a little boring for the kids. At times, the train will emerge from the underground tunnels and you can get a view of the city as we speed through it then, sadly, it will plunge back into the depths of the underground passageways. Oliver loves to look out the window when the train goes above ground. Once, he got very upset when, because he had dozed off for a moment, he had missed seeing the train when it had gone above ground for a moment. Now, we make sure he knows when some above-ground scenery viewing is about to happen (although he's really good at figuring that out on his own).

Love Locks

At the top of Namsan, there is a fence that surrounds the courtyard/look-out area where people can see the view of the city from one of the highest points in the city's center. The fence is smothered in 'love locks"--people write notes to the one they love together or individually either on the locks or on plastic thingies they then attach to the lock. It's fascinating to browse through the different love notes, some very intimate and others fairly generic. I spied Oliver trying to unlock a few of the love locks. He actually managed to decode one that had a code lock and it snapped open--oops. I quicky re-locked it and scrambled the code he had figured out in suspicion that it might not be a good thing to unlock someone's love lock.

The Boys Picnic at School

The boys had their school picnic when they started their new school at the beginning of this month. We didn't know this, but the school had taken this chance to do class and individual school photos. They just sent the photos home yesterday, and it was a really pleasant surprise to see these great prints. No wonder they wanted all the kids in long sleeved white t-shirts under their school shirts---oops. We decided that, since we only have the one long-sleeved white t (all the others had been long destroyed; white t's don't last too long around here), it would be ok to put Oliver in a red long-sleeved t as long as he had his school shirt on over it. He sticks out just a little in the group photo. Oh well; it's all good. The surprise pics came with a surprise cost as well. Luckily, true to Korean form, it was next to nothing; just about 8,000 won ($8) for two sets of photos.

Ronan has always been, and continues to be, quite the ladies' man. Here he is with Wendy, his 'school girlfriend.' He's got one here at the apartments as well. Yes, he's our little Casa-No-Va.

Dahin's Choir Debut

The choir at Dahin's school is normally for 4th graders and up, but, for international children's day, they asked several younger kids of mixed or foreign heritage to join in for a tv program performance. Dahin had a blast learning a song in Tagalog, English (that 'you lift me up' song that that young tenor does; can't remember his name...) and a song in Korean, as well as the dance moves that went with the songs. She even had a solo with her partner in Korean-learning crime, Shaly. Personally, I was impressed that she got up on a stage in front of all these people, bright lights, and cameras. From the pictures (below, she's in the front second from left and on the bottom she's the second from the left in the front). Dahin had to wear a costume to represent 'mi-guk' (America). She hated the costume, but I think she looks pretty cute. Hope to find a choir or something soon that she can do consistently.

Dahin's teacher sent these pictures of the event home. I scanned them so, while not the best quality, you can still see what it was like. I wish I could have made it to the concert, but it was at 10 am on a Wednesday; pretty bad timing for me. : ( Will do what I can to make it to the next performance she has; whatever and whenever that will be.

Cool photo

Dahin took this photo, which I think is very cool. My Tammy-Faye face is faded out and the focus is on the brilliant greens of the tree. I just really like the colors here.

How kids use the palace...

Stone tigers' noses are for picking...

...and official grade stones are for climbing....Sejong would turn in his grave.

MCing, part 2

The second day was much better despite really, really strong winds that caused an instrument to fall and break (eek). There was no rain, but the audience still had to dress warmly to enjoy the performance. The photos here actually go from later in the day to earlier (my fault for not posting them in the right order and, for some reason, I am not able to move the photos around here). But, up at the top here, I am all dressed up doing my thing. Next to me is Lee Joo-eun, a fabulous performer and wonderful p'ansori singer. Also, incredibly nice.

Dahin went with me through rehearsal, dress-up and performance. I was very, very worried that she'd get bored, act up, etc. But she was so good. I was very proud of how maturely she behaved. As you can see from the photos below, she had a really good time, too. Lee Joo-eun really took a shine to Dahin and taught her some games and songs. Below, Dahin gets a chance to be a p'ansori diva by trying on Lee's wig. In the photos below, Dahin also poses with the puk accompaniest for the day who taught Dahin a little bit about the puk (barrel drum). Both performers said about Dahin, "She's got rhythm!"

The makeup artist/dresser did wonders. I mean, the makeup was very heavy, but I supposed that's how it's supposed to be. Heather, after her turn as MC, referred to it as her 'Tammy Faye Baker" imitation. Yes, indeed. Still, I must say that the dresser is very good at what she does. From makeup, to hair, to hanbok fitting; she did it all.

MCing Day 1

I MC'd a neo-traditional concert this weekend at Deoksugung Palace in Seoul. Let's just say, the first day of MCing was not the best moment of my life. You know how, sometimes, when you are very anxious about something, it seems to color the entire day? Well, that was Saturday. The day started out rainy and cool and just got rainier and colder. Nothing seemed to go right, including trying to go to a wedding earlier in the day but having to turn around after fighting traffic for an hour because, if we had continued to try to go to the wedding, I would have been late for the concert. Then, picking Dahin up from school was a mess. She's part of the school choir (more on that later...) and they told me rehearsal was to go until 2 pm that day when I went to get her at 12:30. Man! We just went home and another parent brought her back home when she was done. I decided to get to Deoksugung at 2 pm, but was 20 minutes late. The concert was to begin at 4 pm. I should have gotten there earlier because it was not enough time. The dresser was there and it took an hour to plaster makeup on my face, do my hair, and get into the many layers of the hanbok. I was a nervous wreck, as well, considering this is the first time I have ever MC'd anything, and now I would have to do it in Korean. I had made cue cards and had practiced, but it was not enough. The text they had written was immense. I only had two minutes to make comments at different intervals and the text was too long; plus I had to include some English comments, as well. Not to mention the fact that, when I got there, they changed a lot of it --oops. I was not ready for that. The audience was incredibly kind and I got through alright, but messed up some things like the name of the pavilion we were holding the concert in ( a change of venue on the Deoksugung grounds due to the rain; the concert was now in the favorite relaxation pavilion where 'emperor' Kojong welcomed many a guest during the waning days of Choson). Most of all, it was my nerves that got to me. When I first started, my hands were visibly shaking. I could see them shaking and knew that others could see them shaking, too, but couldn't stop. The thing that made me less nervous was hearing the first act: Cheong Minah Band (http://blog.naver.com/hastweb/80059463541). Check out her music; wonderful stuff. They were so awesome; really calmed my nerves. Plus, there was a radio personality from the local traditional music station there who was a trip: dressed in a red track suit, he yelled out comments to my comments that really made me, and the audience, laugh. I was grateful for his warm, supportive presence. I tended to do better when I forgot the cue cards and just talked to the audience. They seemed to like it better as well. All I can say is, the good thing with not doing such a great job the first time is that it gives you determination to make it right the next time. That's pretty much how I work anyway. I have to learn from experience. The next day, I cut much of the text they had written out for me and changed the font for the cue cards to a larger, bolder and clearer font. More on day two next posting...

The second picture down from the top is a detail of the hair, and the one here is a photo of me in the beautiful hanbok we had picked out for the first concert. The people running the concert series are borrowing the hanbok from a woman who specializes in dressing people in hanbok for special occasions. On her walls were photos of some well-known traditional music artists and writers she had dressed. The woman doing my make-up and hair is from the hanbok place. She's very professional and really does an amazing job. The makeup is a bit much, however, but I guess it needs to be a little heavy for the stage. She gave me a 'natural' look, which basically means false eyelashes and tons of foundation, powder, brow pencil and eye shadow with skin-toned lip stick. I think that the next time I MC I'll ask for some color on my lips. Because it was raining, I was very worried about messing up the silk hanbok. We had to walk from the dressing room outside through mud puddles, dodging rain drops and pine trees heavy with rain to get to the pavilion. A Luce Scholar that I trained at a Korean culture workshop in San Francisco and who is now wrapping up a year of science research in Seoul came with a couple of friends. I had announced the concert on Facebook and he said he'd go to the concert and he did. It was good to see him.

Because I insisted that Jack and the kids not come due to the rain, I had no one to take pictures for me with my camera. There was someone from the production company taking photos there, so I'm sure I'll see some eventually. Well, there was one online I found tonight as part of a news blurb about the concert: http://kr.news.yahoo.com/service/news/shellview.htm?linkid=13&articleid=2009051621474598180&newssetid=85

The photo is at the top of this post.

Baby monk

I realized I forgot to post this photo from the lantern festival. I've seen little boy monks in training before and they always fascinate me. Ronan's on the right and is only a little smaller than this little monk, who must be about 6 or 7 years old.

Misty Mountains

The hills above our apartments get super misty when the weather is rainy. It's rather beautiful.

Children's Day

The soft pastels of the spring flowers are slowly by surely giving way to some vibrant hues. The kids and I spied this massively huge butterfly taking a drink outside of our apartment. Ok, it is hard to tell how big this guy was, but let's just say we thought it was some wierd Korean incarnation of a hummingbird. Children's Day is a national holiday in Korea and most everyone gets the day off. The month of May is known as a family month because, in addition to Children's Day, Parents' Day is celebrated. On Parents' Day we gave Jack's mom money (something Jack insisted she wanted more than anything else) and she promptly turned around and gave the kids more than half of what we gave her because she said she wasn't able to see them on Children's Day (she'd been ill). I was a bit dumbfounded and wanted to insist that she keep the money all for herself, but Jack said to just let her do what she wanted to do. To tell you the truth, I wanted to give her a gift instead, but she'd probably save it and regift it for someone else, anyway. Well, back to Children's Day...the point is to spend time with your kids (consequently, in a Parents' Day survey, the majority stated that what they wanted most--more than gifts, etc.--- was to spend time with their children; Jack's mom was still not feeling well, but enjoyed our brief visit). It was fabulous--full of activities with the kids, and the weather was more like summer.

On campus, the university hosted an event for professors and their families living in the university housing. The event started out with a picnic lunch of kimbap and Capri Sun. Ronan ate his kimbap with gusto. We were the only ones who did not bring a picnic blanket or pad--oops. People invited us to share, but the kids preferred the bench. Note the belly; this is why mommy needs to do running/pilates more regularly (I'm working on it...).

The volunteers of the apartment association and the management ajeossi were there to sign eveyone in and pass out kimbap, juice, and raffle numbers.

Inside the gym, the games began at 12:30. Jack and a bunch of kids got a head start by hula hooping. I can't imagine why Jack needs to place his hands over his manboobs; maybe it helps keep the momentum going.

Oliver tried to hide himself in the parachute. Really, he is an enthusiastic participant in sporting events. Really. I swear.
The games started by dividing those gathered into two teams: red and blue. We were on the red team and tied ribbons wherever we could on our bodies, etc. Below, our men's team gets off to a shaky start. Let's play 'guess who didn't jump high enough so we lost this round.' Picture's worth a thousand words.

Our kids' team pulled us back up into a competitive running position. Despite the fact that the kid on the left looks like he's gonna get caught by the rope, he jumped at the last minute so that the team got in two good jumps. Look how high my baby's jumping!

Below, Oliver and Ronan wait with the other kids for the relay race. It took a while to get us organized. The kids, 10 and under, had one part to play, then the moms, then the older kids, then the dads. The younger kids squiggled through a tube and handed the relay baton to the moms, the moms moved across the floor on their bellies on a skateboard-like thingy and handed the baton to the older kids who climbed over some things and went through hoops then handed the baton to the dads who flipped over onto a mat, went under the parachute, and sprinted to pass the baton to the little kids. It seemed quite complicated initially, but once we went through once it made sense.

Oliver had to be fed through the tube. He made it through pretty fast but seemed a little lost once he emerged.

Once I yelled at him to go go go! he ran towards me and, guess what, I got to be the first to skateboard my way across the floor. Yay me.

I debated about whether or not I should post the following photo, but, heck, if I can post pics of Jack manhandling his manboobs, I can post pics of me turtling across a gymnasium. Luckily, we have no photos of me falling as I tried to run off of the skateboard to hand the baton to the kid waiting on the other end.

Ronan was a little rock star. At first, we were a little worried because he seemed a little out of it. I just pictured him being handed the baton and just sitting there. The event helper, I suppose, was giving him a little pep talk, but he seemed oblivious. Meanwhile, the other kid was jumping up and down, anxious for his turn to get through the tunnel...

But, once Ronan was handed the baton, he sprinted through that little tunnel and beat his competitor by a long shot.

Run, Ronan, run!!! I love this look on his face, when he realized he was ahead of the other kid. He looks like an Olympian headed for a sure victory. The other kid's like, "drat, foiled again!"

Despite the valiant efforts of those on our team, like Ronan and Oliver and Dahin, who totally rocked (and no thanks to those, like me, who totally wiped out and had to crawl in defeat), we lost to the blue team by a long shot. Ouch.

After cheering on our team for hours, Jack and the kids stew in our defeat. Ah well. We gave it a good try. Luckily, there were no prizes that actually coincided with victory, so it was like there was no 'real' winner. : )' We won a storage box as a raffle prize and all the grade school kids got a bottle cooler while the preschool kids got picnic mats. It was very well organized and a lot of fun.

I ponder in the bathroom, "Perhaps it was the frequent potty breaks that spelled disaster for the reds..." Hmmm. Well, at least the bathroom smelled better than the gym. That was one stinky gym.

We had a little bit of a break between the games on campus and the barbecue in the evening. Each apartment building has two or three lines of apartments. We met with those in our building line who either have a 1 or 2 at the end of their number (e.g. 101, 102, 201, 202...) We signed up to bring salad. Other building lines did something similar, although each group had its own style. I was grateful that our group was very laid back and not the group that wore nametags. I was pleasantly surprised to see the presence of beer and wine, as well, so I rushed inside our place to bring out some of our wine and extra beer. Woo-hoo!! That's what I'm talking about...

The kids ate first so that the parents could actually enjoy themselves later. : - ) Not only was their pork galbi and samgyeopsal, but their were hotdogs and sausages as well. The kids were in meat heaven.

Dahin's looking at her dinner companion like, "What are you doing? You're posing for the camera while you could be eating? Oh well, more for me..." The little blue mats with the bunnies on them are the mats the boys got at the gymnasium. We've discovered that, when the kids go on picnics at school, they are supposed to bring these mats. Glad we have some now, although they've already gone on their spring picnic at school. Oh well; next time.

Jack gallantly helped with the grill. He was the only guy who actually helped with the grill initially and over an extended period of time. I was pretty proud. It was good he did it as well as I am notoriously bad at the grill. When I actually did try to help, I burned a few pieces. Oops. I attempted to cover up for it by implying that I did it on purpose; "I like the burnt bits." The other women looked at me as if I were nuts.

It was fabulous getting to know the other neighbors. It was pretty segregated, though. The women sat together and the men sat together. I preferred the women's table, however, since the focus of the men's table seemed to be to get drunk. The other women were pretty funny, especially my neighbor on the right in the above photo. She's an artist who had an art opening today with her husband (who is a professor in the fine arts dept at Seoul National). She went to college in Germany and was refreshingly loud, funny, and a little brash. I totally enjoyed spending time with her. The woman a bit in the back of the photo with a child on her lap is a mom of twin girls. It's funny that there are two sets of twins in the same line.

Oliver's companion in the photo below formally announced that she is Oliver's girlfriend at the event in the gym. I asked her, "So, are you Hyunmo's girlfriend? She said, "You mean Oliver? Yes, he's my boyfriend." Well, scandal of scandals, she is a whole two years older than him! Usually, she has Oliver get things for her from our place, like juice and popsicles. Oliver will ring the bell and when I open the door he'll say, "Um, can I have two popsicles please?" and the little girl will be peaking around the corner. Pretty funny. Yes, true love. Although you can tell that there is no way she is sharing her soda.

One of the moms, apparently, is a master maker of things like bread and rice cake. She brough out a huge rice cake (ddeok) that we all shared. It was still warm and so, so fresh.

Dahin demonstrated her new two-wheeling skills and the reason why she has boatloads of fresh bruises and scrapes on a daily basis. I think seeing other kids her age and younger riding around without training wheels pushed her over the edge into 'okay, I'm ready to take these training wheels off' mode. She started practicing by taking the training wheels off Oliver's bike (they never stay on properly anyway) and then Jack decided it was time to take hers off so she would stop doing that. She's become quite the pro at riding around the premises.

We stayed out until 10 pm. While I still don't know my neighbors super well, at least we all know each others' names and children now. I can honestly say that this is the first time I've lived somewhere where I know my neighbors. It's a good feeling.