Road Trip, Part1

Jack's oldest sister and our niece is in town from Australia for the summer and we decided we should take a big family road trip at least once during her stay. On Friday I had to attend some event in the country with fellow faculty until after lunchtime, but Jack drove there with the boys around 3 pm to pick me up and take us on to meet the other family members in Taebaek, a town on the Taebaek mountain range.  Dahin had taken a train that morning with her cousins and aunts, so they had already played in the condo's swimming pool for hours before we arrived in time for a great beef barbecue dinner.

I just had to eat the raw beef delicacy--only trust it if it is served in the countryside because you know it is fresh.  Would never, ever do this in Seoul. Yum!

I think Jack and his sister Eunsil look just alike.  His sister is the oldest of the five kids, and she's about 12 years older than Jack.

After dinner, we headed to watch a water show in the local lake.  The castel facade built around the park was all lit up and looked very beautiful, despite the obvious tacky factor.  The light show was actually pretty freaky, with plenty of accompying death metal and strange new age music. Jack's sister Eunyeong said it would have been better with some classic music.  I couldn't agree more.  Ronan, in particular, was freaked out.  He started crying in the middle of the show and Dahin had to comfort him.  Poor guy.

The condo where we stayed was very, very nice.  It was perhaps the cleanest, most modern condo I've ever stayed at in Korea.  Would have loved to have just spent a few days there playing in the water park and hiking.  But, alas, when with Jack, one must move from point to point pretty rapidly.  Maybe next time we'll just stay put and relax for a day or two.

After a good night's sleep, the kids woke up early and we had a wonderful breakfast of kimchi jigae and side dishes that Aunt Eunyoung prepared.  Condo's are great because you can just cook your meals there and not have to spend too much on food while vacationing.

After breakfast, most of us rode the Gondola to the top of the mountain (ski lifts are for winter).  Jack and Eunsil wimped out and said the Gondola would be too 'scary.'  Oh my God.  I thought I was a scaredy cat.  Seriously people; it moved so slow and was about as dangerous as taking a walk on a sidewalk in Seoul (mildly dangerous, but chances are you will not die or come close to having an accident). So, Aunt Eunyoung, Komobu, the kids and I headed to the top without the wining weanies : - ) and had some fun doing it.

Ronan takes the opportunity to snuggle with his favorite cousin Jeongeun (apparently he's her favorite, too).

We had a good time riding up to the top and snapping pictures. Then, we stopped at the little snack shack 'starry starry high' (for real) and had fun excluding the wimps who refused to ride to the top over two great bowls of ddeokbokki and some pajeon (pancake with veggies)--yum! They were definitely jealous when we reported on our snack later.

On the way back, Oliver and Ronan were putting their camera faces on.  It might be years before I can take a 'normal' picture.

We could see the condo where we stayed from the gondola.  In winter this place must be hopping with skiers.  Although we weren't there during the winter skiiing season, the kids could not resist snapping some photos with the winter placards and mascotts.  Wish we could have stayed longer so that the kids could have gone tubing and done some other fun activities in that spot.  But, as mentioned above, the caravan must keep moving.

Pets

The kids have pets.  Dahin's came from a friend at school and we ordered a house for it (photo above).  The house came with instructions on how to care for one's dalpaengi (snail).  The original snail met it's demise, but Dahin quickly replaced it with a few from the hills behind our home and these little suckers have survived quite well.  We've learned they like watermelon and lettuce most.  They are kind of cute.  When I clean the cage, they crawl all over me and I have to pluck them off and put them back in to eat the fresh food.  They really perk up when you spray some water in their home and give them yummy fresh fruit and veggies.  You know they are enjoying the food because they put little wholes in the lettuce, etc.  One was crawling all over the watermelon rinde last night with his little tentacle eyes moving around (that's when you can tell they're pretty happy).  Contrary to believe, those little buggars can book it when necessary. I had once put some apple vinegar in a spray bottle to do some cleaning and Dahin thought it was water and started spraying into the cage.  Those little guys moved so fast I was shocked.  We rinsed them and their cage off and they seemed fine, despite the shock of the vinegar.

Ronan caught his (top photo) after a big rain fall.  It lasted for a few weeks, but, while Ronan refused to release it, he did not take care of it.  Mommy (oops) forgot to put some fresh lettuce and water in for a few days and the poor guy met his maker.  I told Ronan no more snails until he learned how to take care of them himself.  Oliver doesn't really seem that interested in the snails, or a pet in general.  That's fine with me. Once the kids learn how to take care of these guys (Mommy, once more, does most of the cleaning and care of 'Dahin's' dalpaengi), then I said we might (might) move onto fish.  I'm thinking that is a long, long way off.

Boys' birthday month

The boys celebrated their birthday at school this week which, of course, begins the official Oliver and Ronan birthday month.  It started when I got a call from Jack on my way to my summer workshop Monday morning saying they were having their birthday party at school the next day and we needed to get hanbok that fit them--STAT! (here's to reading the memos from the school on Friday as they arrive home). Considering I had a very full day, I said a few breathy explatives and then, once I was caffeinated and had a plan in mind, we arranged to meet Jack's mom at Dongdaemun market after my morning class and faculty meeting.  She led the way through all of the different displays and vendors, took us straight to this great place, among many hanbok sellers, where the quality was good and the price was right.  Below, Oliver models his new hanbok--happy that he would not be forced to wear his first birthday hanbok like last year.  Whew!

The birthday parties at school include a cake that we provide (the other run that day was to Costco--thank goodness for pizza dinners), photo ops, and plenty of presents and letters from their classmates.  The boys got some cool gifts and some very sweet notes from their friends.  The boys also draw a picture of our family and it is included in the birthday messages that the kids write to them.  Many kids also created little notes that they attached to the presents themselves. The boys were really excited.

Below, Ronan holds a present and attached note from his girlfriend.  Seriously--the child is absolutely smitten with Ronan.  When they had parents' day at the school, she saw Ronan and said "Juuuuuun--moooo....Anyooooong"  (Junmo is his Korean name) while she twirled her hair and smiled.  Ronan was all blushes, too.  Ah--kindergarten love!

Oliver's Catharsis

Oliver's recent homework called for him to draw the explanation to 'how does it rain," and the end result made me wonder if he's having a little girl trouble at school.  Check it out.  ; - )

World Cup Fever

While Korea is now out of the running for the World Cup championship, we can't ignore the fact that Korea performed better than any other team representing countries from this region (at least, in my opinion).  We had  alot of fun donning our red shirts and cheering for the Red Devils (it was harder to keep track of the US games here, and most of them aired in the middle of the night : - (  )

The photo below is from the first game against Greece.  Despite the drizzling rain, we went out with umbrellas to see the game in the park.  At the beginning of the game and one ice cream cone later, I convinced the kids we'd have more fun watching the game at home while eating popcorn and drinking some soda.  It was a lot of fun cheering on the team and NOT getting soaked in the process.  

 The photo at the bottom is from the game against Argentina.  There is a cafe/pub across the street from where we live.  It's basically an outdoor eatery that serves pitchers of beer and food (along with icecream and soda), and they had two large screens set up so that people could view the game.  We went there, and Dahin and the boys hung out with neighborhood kids.  Korea lost, but it was fun seeing the game with a really enthusiastic crowd.  The only thing is, many people here seem to be enthusiastic only when Korea plays.  Very few die-hard soccer fans here.  Once Korea was out of the running, the interest, commercials, etc. has dropped significantly.  It would be nice to see a more consistent fan base.

Kids

The Janelli's hosted us for lunch at a galbi place and then we took the short walk to their home and enjoyed some coffee, fruit, and rice cakes.  Roger Janelli's wife, Yim Dawnhee, provided the kids with soda, hence the crazy, we can barely control our energy, photos that ensued.  This photo was among the tamest of the bunch.

Boys on Bikes

Well, it's been a while since I posted.  Instead of trying to backup and post about things that happened over the past month, will just pick up from the present and post some photos from yesterday.  Summer is definitely in full swing and the boys are really enjoying playing outside.  All of a sudden, they made the leap from training wheels to two-wheelers.  It just happened one day and they've been riding like crazy ever since.  The boys tend to borrow other kids' bikes, and other kids' ride on their bikes, which is why Ronan's got the pink bike and Oliver is riding the bike he got for his 4th birthday (Grandfather assembled it in Oakland).  They've gotten two big for their old bikes, so for their birthday later this month we're getting them some big boy bikes, with a stand and no training wheels.  There are a few boys around their age where we live, so the boys have been having a lot of fun playing with these really sweet kids.  I am really happy that they've developed some friendships and are having  fun in the hot weather.  Because it is rainy season, the weather fluctuates between sudden bouts of sunniness to sudden downpours.  The kids certainly take advantage of every moment of decent weather and they are outside immediately when there is anything less than a bit of drizzle in the air.  Yesterday, the air was so thick you could slice it and the mosquitos were having a heyday.  Still, it took all of my energy to get the boys inside so they could take a bath and watch the movie for movie night.  It was a special 'boys' only' night (mommy's presence does not count) since Dahin was spending the night at her cousin's house--her cousin Jennie is here visiting from Australia and those two just have a time together; doing their hair, painting nails, singing pop songs, etc.  Jack picked up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie for the boys but 1) it was really, really lame 2) it was a bit violent and 3) some themes were a bit adult.  The boys were not that happy with it, but watched it to the end.  I think riding their bikes all day wore them out since they crashed immediately after the movie was turned off and the lights went out.  We slept really well with the fans going.  We haven't used the air conditioner much this year so far.