Pumpkins and Pastimes...

The last week has been pretty busy, mostly with the everyday grind kinda stuff. Thursday the men came and picked up my extra furniture. I thought it would be kinda a big deal for them since the large couch was upstairs. Our stairs our kinda hard to navigate even with a laundry basket because they wrap around in about a half spiral. Well I was watching the two little kids that morning because the big girls had school, and I figured putting a video on for them would keep them out of the way of the movers. Well by the time I got the TV on and video started the men had the couch entirely out of the house. It was crazy!!!!

Friday, Laurie and I packed up all four kids in her van and drove to post because we had to fill out paperwork to withdraw the girls from dance class. The main reason for this was that its was really at a bad time and made for a really long day for the girls. Other reasons included the upcoming life change of Laurie's baby entering the world and the effectiveness of the teacher. We are hoping we can get them into another class sometime after the new year. Anyway while on post we ran a few other errands and had lunch. It was a chaotic morning, but we did get stuff accomplished. That evening we were supposed to have dinner at the restaurant the rug guy owns, but that didn't work out.

Saturday, I got to have some very awesome Mommy time. Laurie and I left the kids with their Dads and went to post to check out the Chosun Gift Shop. The shop is run by the Armed Forces Spouses Club, and has items from neighboring countries. Last week they got a new shipment of stuff from Taiwan and a few weeks before that Bali, just as examples. We met up with Christina there. I bought a few things and some Christmas gifts. After shopping we went to lunch. We decided to venture off post since Christina's husband doesn't like to eat off post. We found this really great Korean place. I had what was called a seafood pancake. It was awesome. It was just really nice to have a chance to get out and chat with out kids around. Later that night Mike and the kids and I went to the rug man's restaurant. Its called Alsaba, and was really good. One of the courses was like a chicken in a creamy curry sauce. Rhyon loved it! He inhaled every little bit.

Sunday was a relaxing kind of day. I taught my religion class in the morning and then we headed to church. After church we headed for home, but got a little lost. Mike decided to go home a little different way than he normally does which really was no big deal except that I knew better where to go than he did and he didn't listen to me. So because I said "I think" you need to go that way he went the other way. We ended up going over one of the bridges to the other side of the river. Ok no big deal we will get on the next bridge and head back, right? Yes if we had been in the right lane and not the left. So we missed that one and ended up somewhere off the highway. After a while we saw a sign in English for another bridge. So we got on it, and manged to get back to our side of the river. Then we had to figure out how to get back to Hannam. Thankfully there is Seoul Tower which we were able to use as a guide for general direction. Then every once in a while there was a sign in English that said Hannamdong. After driving around Seoul for about 40 mins we made it home! It was actually kinda fun!!!! And oh what an ADVENTURE!!!!

Later that afternoon we decided to carve our pumpkins. I carved a polar bear scene and Mike help Giulianna with a Cat with Bat wings. Rhyon liked looking in the pumpkins and banging on them but did not like touching the goo inside. It was pretty funny. We made a pretty good mess overall but had a good time. I have some pictures of that to share....

PAT PAT PAT on the Pumpkin!

What's in there?

He found out this wasn't so yummy!

Family Pumpkin Carving!

Me and Giulianna with our pumpkins

Rhyon liked them when they were all done and lit up!

I have been told that our last crate of stuff will be delivered Wednesday, so that is exciting. This week will be Giulianna's last week of dance class for a while, which is good. This week also marks the last week of my online class for teaching religious education, I am very happy to be done with this! This weekend there is a bunch of Halloween stuff going on so I should have a lot of pictures next post. I will leave you now with one last picture of Rhyon that I took tonight. We had pizza for dinner and before I could cut it up for him he dug in! It was so cute watching him try and get the piece in his mouth! Enjoy!!!!

Making the house our HOME!

YAY! We finally got our stuff.... well most of it. We can't go getting to excited ya know. Last Wednesday we received 4 out of 5 of our crates. The last one arrived in country the 15th of October and is currently going through customs. Hopefully it will arrive early next week. In the mean time we have been organizing our life and the house is really looking like we live here rather than we are just a group of squatters. It is nice to have stuff that belongs to us around. Right now our biggest annoyance is we actually have extra furniture since the loaner stuff is still in the house. But the good news is its getting picked up tomorrow!

The first load coming in!!!!

Kitchen Stuff, but there was no silver ware our pots and pans... maybe next time!!

View of the lift, it makes me very nervous!

They help you unpack every thing because they take the boxes and packing paper.

We have furniture!!!!

EMPTY BOXES!!! YAY!!!

Riddle time... How many Koreans does it take to put together a crib? Answer two and they still did it wrong!!!

Our bed room full of stuff! OY!

One of the bins we unpacked had the kids Halloween costumes in it. So we had a little fun playing some dress up! Ellie was hanging out with us so we dressed her up too!

"My crazy sister actually thinks she is a dragon?!"

One of the things we did this week was finally buy a rug! Now this may sound like a simple task but it has been quite a long process. We have been trying to decide what we wanted first of all, plain or Persian. We went Persian. Then it was machine made acrylic or hand made wool. We really wanted hand made. Then design and of course price. So after going to 3 different rug dealers we finally found one we agreed on. Of course I have extremely good taste and always liked the most expensive ones! There was one we saw that was $15,000 US dollars! I am trying to get pictures off my I pod but its not working. Anyway it would have been worth it due to the detail and the fact that it took 2 people 10 years to make it. (If any one wants to send me the money I would love to go buy myself that as a gift!) Anyway the rug man and I spent almost two hours together at his shop yesterday (which is also attached to his restaurant.) He taught me all about quality and different kinds of wool and all the knots. He showed me pictures of the whole process. It was very interesting. Then I picked 3 rugs that I thought Mike would also like, and the rug man offered to bring them to our house that night. Long story short we picked one and here it is....

Its a cool geometric design with animals hidden in the pattern. Totally me!!! The wool was imported to Pakistan from lambs in New Zealand and then they did this down under animal design. It is truly and amazing original! I LOVE IT!!!! I also like how it makes the whole house more homey. The kids love it too, Rhyon was having a blast rolling on it!  The rug man included dinner at his restaurant with the purchase of our rug, so we are excited about that this weekend.

That's the fairly brief version of whats been going on here. The whole getting our stuff situation has been quite a nightmare but I will save you all the full story, as we are just happy to have our stuff. There were also some minor issues with our car this week but the mechanic was awesome and fixed it all in less than 2 hours. Life here is a daily adventure!

Oh yeah one more thing, a video. This was from 2 weeks ago at dance class. This is practicing the routine. Enjoy!

The Last 3 Weeks

First I apologize for the length of this post but I want to get it all in because it may be a while before I get to sit down and write again! We finally confirmed today that our stuff is coming tomorrow!!!

Whats been going on? Well a lot actually. We have actually been really busy, pretty much with just every day stuff. School is in full swing now for Giulianna. She really likes school. Every Thursday is show and tell. Your item must begin with the letter of the week. For "C" week she brought her camera to school and took a couple pictures.

My neighbor Laurie and I have a plan in place where we switch taking the girls to school with watching the little kids and making dinner. Its been wonderful. Last week we not only shared dinner, but we all ate together which was really nice. Its always fun when the kids get to play and the grown ups get to chat!

 Mike had a trip to the DMZ/JSA with work. He gives a description of his experience on the previous post. Its not really a place you take small children so I am not sure of when I will get there, but I have been told by several people it is an experience not to miss. My big adventure for the week was my second time at E-Mart!!! Laurie was going to get some stuff for her husband's change of command (will get to this later). Since I did not take pictures of our E-Mart experience last time, I made sure to remember this time. Its like Super Wal-Mart only more expensive. Koreans don't buy cheap, they buy expensive high quality goods. I am by no means saying however that there isn't the typical made in China crap, but E-Mart in in no way cheap. They carry nice brands and mostly really nice stuff. Pretty much its all brand names and no store brand. The grocery store is also quite an interesting place. Just check out the pictures!

You can buy giant beetles! I think these will make great presents!!!! LOL

Turtles

The girls checking out the hedgehogs and hamsters.

Korean Monopoly

Toys made in the USA!!!!

I totally think Rhyon may get a set of these before we leave.

Activia with Korean Labels

Cereal. I bought some Oreo O's. We used to get those in the US but now they are only sold in Korea. They were on the list of products Americans miss most.

In American grocery stores the prepared food section is soup and salad, our chicken. Here its Yakki Mandu (dumplings).

This is the Kimchi counter. That huge bag is all kimchi. That will keep your bowels moving!!!

Fresh fish counter. Its like going to the aquarium!

Look Mom, I can buy Lobster!!!!

Wide angle view of the grocery section.

There is prepared chicken, it comes mostly on a stick in various sauces. We had some for lunch and it was very good!

These are the coolest escalators, they are flat instead of stairs. Great idea!!! Makes life so much easier too!

Kids love carts with the little cars but they are always so bulky and hard to steer because all the stores just plop them on the front of a regular shopping cart. E-Mart was smart and made them part of the cart with the basket on top of the cart. One other funny thing of note, at E-Mart you have to pay for your cart when shopping, however the car carts were free! Go figure!!!!!

That weekend wasn't anything special, just some family resting time at home. On Sunday we had Mass outside. That was a really nice experience. The weather is getting a bit cooler and more comfortable. (Of course that started to happen right after they fixed our AC and now we don't even have it turned on.) There was a beautiful view of the mountains and the sun was shinning. Mass was followed with a nice picnic. Unfortunately there wasn't much food left when we got through the line. Giulianna took full advantage of the bounce house.  That afternoon I spent with my neighbor Christina getting thing prepared for the baby shower we were throwing for Laurie.


On Wednesday October 5th, we went to the United Nations Command Honor Guard Company Change of Command. For anyone who doesn't speak military that basically means that there will be a new guy in charge. Its like getting a new boss. It is a big deal, a formal event, includes a few speaches, a symbolic flag hand off and a reception. Laurie's Husband Ben was the new incoming commander so I videoed the event for them. Its customary for other soldiers to attend as well, so Mike was there as well as our other neighbors Christina and Christjan. I wont bore you with the video of the whole ceremony but I do have some great pictures. It was a beautiful day and a great excuse to spend some extra time with Mike. We had great food, conversation and even made some new friends!

Ben and his new company

Family Shot

Cake!

Laurie and Ben Hirsch

All our little girls! Ellie, Avery, Giulianna and Grace

Giving Daddy some love

Ben and his girls.

Soldiers love to eat!

These rocks kept the kids entertained the whole time!

My new favorite picture of our Family!

Later that day I decided that it was time for Rhyon to have his first hair cut! It was sad to say goodbye to the baby curl but it was time!

Before

After

What a stud!

On Saturday we had a baby shower for Laurie. It was great fun! It was small, only 5 of us including the honored guest. We had a huge brunch spread, played silly games and just had a kid free chance to relax and talk. Its was so nice and Laurie had a great time!

Gifts

The diaper cake Christina and I made

Blue punch

Sock Roses Christina and I made

Ashley McPherson and Cathy Kitson

Cathy drawing a baby on a plate on her head.

Christina and I drawing our babies.

Ashley drawing a baby!

The winner! Cathy's baby turned out to be Asian! It was so funny!!!

We are truly gifted!

You can't tell in this picture but Ashley's baby looked like boobs!

Laurie and I with the bear I made her. He is of course crocheted!

Opening gifts.

All of us. Me, Ashley McPherson, Laurie Hirsch, Christina Rauhala and Cathy Kitson

All Laurie said was that she wanted cake at the party. Then after everyone went home she says, Oh we never had cake! I couldn't believe it, we forgot the cake! Anyways here it is, just delicious!!!!

She really wanted that cake!!!!!

Mike got stuck working overnight so he was sleeping during the party and therefore could not watch the kids. So Ben was kind enough to take all 4, his 2 and our 2. Well this is where we found Rhyon after the party. He napped in Ben's arms over 2 hours!

Later Saturday evening we decided to take a walk up Itaewon. Giulianna had a doughnut and some street food for dinner. It was a great night for a walk and very enjoyable. Sunday was just a relax at home kind of day. This weekend was a long one because of Columbus Day. Mike had 4 days off. Monday our cleaning lady came for the second time. She is awesome and I am able to accomplish other stuff while she is here. My plans for Monday changed a couple of times but in the end I ended up getting some more child free time.

Cathy and I went to the flower market. Its actually very easy to get to and there is parking! (Two very rare things here!!!!!) Anyway this market was considerably different than the last market I went to. Its not extremely huge or busy. My favorite thing about the markets here is how specialized they are, hence flower market or craft market or electronics market, etc. The chaos is very organized. For example at the flower market the pots are in one building, the plants in another and the cut and fake flowers in another. Even the rows of live plants are organized, all the people selling orchids for instance are together. The other thing that made this market experience different was I went with a Korean! Cathy was born here and her parents actually live in Seoul, but she spent quite a few years in the US and met her husband there. She is a very nice and super funny lady. It was her idea to go, but I was so happy to have my personal translator! The best part of it was that she could not only translate "how much" when inquiring to buy something but she was telling me what they were saying about me. The jist of the comments was I am pretty and skinny and not a fat American like most! That just made my day! I thought it was funny that I wasn't a fat American especially in the opinion of all the skinny Asians!!!!

Everything you need to make arrangements in one place!

Cathy is ordering our flowers.

All real!

Cathy with all the flowers. It all cost about 30,000 won aka less than $30 dollars

Me holding our spoils, 4 bushels of white roses, 2 orange, yellow daisies, and 2 bushels of star gazer lilies.

All orchids

A rainbow of cacti

 

 

I had never seen a purple orchid, I had to have one!!!!

I had to give some of my flowers away because they didn't all fit in the vase!

Pizza School!

The last thing I will leave you with is our first experience of Pizza School pizza. Its a cheap little joint walking distance from here. They make the traditional, but also some very interesting choices. The pizza in front was called Loin Crepe. It had ham rolled up with cheese in the center and some other stuff on it. We also had plain cheese which totally reminded me of the pizza we used to eat in Oswego for $5 as poor college students! Oh how life has changed since those days.....