Sometimes you think, "What have I actually done this week?" especially when you are in semi-vacation mode and worrying if you've accomplished anything, at all, worth while. This week, pictures reminded me that my time over the past 7 days was not a waste. Indeed, it was valuable time spent with family, friends, and colleagues. Above, the kids visit with their baby cousin. We spent the night at their place outside of Seoul so that Jack and Uncle Brad could go golfing at the break of dawn. Meanwhile, we had a great breakfast and lunch, looked at photos, chatted, did art projects (Aunt Wendy is a third-grade teacher so had the kids busy with drawing, cutting, and gluing), and Aunt Wendy treated the kids to ice cream at EMart.
Dahin and Oliver also tried to kill each other at EMart. Oliver waves his 1,000 won (about $1) bill that he won that morning in an art competition. Aunt Wendy had them do cut outs of their family and color them. Then, Wendy's mother-in-law (Jack's aunt) judged which one she thought was the best. Oliver really has a great sense of design and color, and his bold colors on the family cut-outs were great.
After the EMart excursion, we headed to a local Chinese restaurant and ate some jjajjangmyeon (noodles with a black pork and onion sauce) and tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) before driving back to Seoul.
Ronan started a new school on Wednesday this week. They had been attending a great one, but the Seoul National University pre-school/kindergarten has an afterschool program for elementary kids through third grade. You can only participate in this program if you attended the preschool. We were originally on the waitlist for almost a year and when they called I had decided to keep the boys in their other school. But, we kept them on the waitlist, and now we are switching them this semester since we discovered the afterschool program and need something for them to do after school beginning March--first grade lets out around noon (eek). In Korea, kindergarten is not compulsory. If you don't attend a preschool/kindergarten, you just begin school in first grade. Most people these days, however, put their kids into some sort of preschool/kindergarten. I keep 'slashing' the two words together because I really don't know what to call it. The Korean for the schools that are akin to daycare--more play-based--are called eorinijip, but a lot of learning goes on in those programs. My boys learned Chinese characters, how to read in Korean, math, drumming, art, cooking, etc at their eorinijip, so I hesitate to translate that as 'daycare.' The other kind is more academic based and is called yuchiweon, which most people translate as 'kindergarten.' Whatever you call them, I can't tell much difference between the two except that a lot of yuchiweon cost a little more and some make the kids wear uniforms. Well, the SNU eorinijip includes classes in English, cooking, Korean, math, gym class and extracurricular activities like piano, taekweondo, etc. Ronan is the first to switch to the SNU school (which is just right across the street from where we live--all we have to do is walk across and we're there! No more am/pm buses from school). The boys will be in seperate classes instead of just one--in their other preschool, there was only one class for their age group. The SNU preschool is huge, with tons of space for different classrooms. The boys are so different and have different friends that I think they are craving some independent time. Oliver will start later this month.
Ronan has loved it. Not only are his friends from our apartments attending the school, but his teacher is pretty. Yes--he's in love (photo above). On the second day, he woke up at 6 am, ran to my room and yelled, "I need to go to school! Hurry and wake up!" I was like, "Chill, little buddy, it's 6 am." My initial relatively gentle response deteriorated as time went on that morning. Remembering that the 6 am wake-up call meant no workout for mommy (I get those done when the kids sleep in the morning--Jack sleeps like a log so I don't like going out to run if the kids are awake or sick), I was not a happy camper. I kept telling him, "Look, the school does not open until 8:30, just wait and don't worry; I'll get you there on time." Well, the whole morning went like this: "Hurry--oooh I'm going to miss school." "Ronan, chill, it is only 7:00. Why don't you eat breakfast?" Breakfast subdued him for a while until the whining started and he threatened to walk to school by himself. That's when mommy got mean. "Look, your teacher is not there, no one is there right now. You need to wait, and if you can't wait patiently you are getting a BIG time out, mister." Well, if I weren't so grumpy and it weren't morning, I might have been a lot more constructive and distracted him with coloring or a video, but there you have it. Also, anyone who knows Ronan knows that little Mr. Stubborn sets his mind on one thing and that's it. Distraction, most likely, would not have worked. Finally, 8:20 am rolled around and I walked him across the street to school. As we got closer to the school, he let go of my hand and walked ahead--a first, since he's usually pretty clingy. I guess he did not want his new teacher to see him holding mommy's hand like a baby. We were the first to arrive at the classroom and Ronan busily put his towel, snack dish, lunch pail in their places and then walked around the classroom smiling, surveying the scene at the beginning of the day. I swear, I've never see this child like this. He was almost giddy about school. Mornings preparing for the other school were terrible with "I hate school" and "I'm not going" permeating the morning air every single day. Watching Ronan walk proudly around his new classroom, I felt relieved knowing we'd made the right decision to change schools during the last semester before first grade. The teacher came to the classroom after a few minutes and was a bit surprised to see us there so early. We had gone early purposefully the first day so she could show Ronan the ropes and ease him into the routine, but she had told us there was no need to come so early the next day. A little embarrassed, I said, "Ronan seems to like his new school and new teacher a lot." She smiled and gave him a hug and little Ronan blushed--oh my Lord. Well, that was that.
On Friday, the 21st century Korean music project held their annual concert/competition at the National Center. The Project holds auditions for young traditional music teams and choses about 9 or 10 teams for the year of workshops and concerts. The teams get to perform in places like New York and Europe, and the final concert is a competition for a grande prize of around $10,000 dollars. The concert was a lot of fun, and I was able to spend some time with colleagues during the concert and at the after party at a local pub. Above, I am sandwiched between the Project's Music Director on the left, composer Won Il, and a director of a Center for World Music in Seoul (not remembering his name at the moment). Friends Kim Heesun and Park Jeonggyeong are behind me with two people I've seen before at these events, but don't know well.
Dahin spent a week at the National Center participating in a special summer program. The kids wore white shirts and blue jeans for their concert on Saturday morning. Since the classes lasted two hours, each morning after dropping Dahin off in her classroom I headed to the cafe at the National Center, ordered an iced Americano, and read To Kill a Mockingbird while waiting for Dahin's class to finish. Mama mailed the book to me, since I was determined to read it this year in celebration of the book's 50th year anniversary, and I remembered what a terrific novel this is. So well written with the most vivid characters in literature. I finished the book within the week--can't wait to share it with Dahin later on. Thanks Mama!
On Sunday morning, we went to see Toy Story 3. The cheapest way to see movies in a theater here is to catch a morning show. The tickets are only 5,000 won (about $5), and Jack and I have special discount cards so our tickets were only about $4. So, we went to the 9:50 showing. Of course, Oliver's blankie came along because it was, well, morning and all (notice blankie draped over his left arm). Going to a movie is an adventure in most places in Seoul. Space is an issue, so theaters are crammed in the oddest places. Usually, you get your tickets in one spot, and then spent time looking for the theater in which you will watch your movie. In this particular theater complex, the different theater/showing rooms were spread amongst a few buildings. After walking through one building and heading down two flights of stairs, we found the right place. Always an adventure. Toy Story 3 was great. It brought closure to the saga of Andy and his toys. Andy, now headed to college, and the toys have to face this change in all of their lives. It was very well done and the kids really enjoyed it. After the movie, we headed to the McDonald's located within the theater complex. The 3,000 won (about $3) set menu meant that we ate for only about $12. Don't like McD's that much, but sometimes it's fun to eat there, especially when it's super cheap.
Parking is an adventure as well. The theater complex offers parking, and it's not the drive in and park kind. You park your car onto this massive ferris wheel-like structure and when you go to get your car, you watch all these other cars spin around until yours emerges.
The day Sunday ended with a dip in the kiddie pool. The weather's been so hot, so we now have a kiddie pool to help keep the kids cool. Dahin had invited a friend over for a playdate and they spent time in the pool playing games and telling ghost stories. After time in the pool, Dahin headed to her friend's house for a sleepover. After Dahin left for the sleepover, Jack, the boys, and I had a great spaghetti dinner.
So glad we were able to do so much in a week, and glad I take boatloads of photos so that I can remind myself of how much we actually do over just a few days.
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