National Museum of Korea

This weekend has been a busy one. So I am going to do a separate post for each day. I took way to many pictures for it to all fit on one post.

On Saturday we went to the National Museum of Seoul. The museum can actually be seen from Yongsan Post. Overall it was interesting. The entrance courtyard and gardens are beautiful. The building is huge! Everything is pretty spread out over 3 huge floors and several galleries. It was very clean and the exhibits were well presented. There were really cool animated videos telling of the history of Korea. The videos were mostly in Korean, some with English subtitles. Most of the exhibits told you what you were looking at in both Hangul and English but the descriptions were mostly Hangul. There was a ton of pottery! Ancient pottery, pottery on loan from personal collections, pottery from a ship wreck they recovered, celadon pottery, and pottery from other counties! After a while we were pretty bored with the pottery. There was an entire exhibit of statues of Buddha. That was interesting and we learned two important things in that exhibit. First, the look of Buddha is different in every country, and second the different positions of his hands mean different things. Unfortunately I can not explain either of the above lessons in detail because everything on the signs was not English.

Bronze Knife shaped coin. A characteristic artifact of the Lianhuabao-Sejukri culture, 4th century BCE. 

Gold Crown and Belt, 3 Kingdoms period, 5th Century.

Giulianna and a Replica of Jungseong-ri, from the 3 Kingdoms period, 5th Century.

A close up.

This is the Ten Story Pagoda. It takes up a good amount of height in the museum.

Replica of the crowning hall.

Mike and the kids under a hand made flag.

Inside the Museum.

One of many pots!

Need I even explain?!!!

Buddha

After touring the main part of the museum we had lunch. We ate at the cafeteria, which is nothing like you would expect. The menu choices are not at all what you would think, no hamburgers or chicken fingers. Choices included seafood bean paste soup which is what I had, pork cutlet, a hodgepodge kids meal with rice, spaghetti and a pork cutlet, there was curry and some other things. Korean food is definitely interesting! It was all pretty good, absolutely not American! After lunch we went over to the children's museum. For this part you have to get timed tickets which allow an hour and a half in that area. We were lucky to get tickets and had a few minutes to wait until our appointed time, so we hit the gift shop. Somewhere in the gift shop a tragedy occurred. Giulianna lost her Hello Kitty beanie baby. I had been reminding her all day about Kitty and when the chaos to get into the children's museum occurred Giulianna must have put kitty down and walked off, and I didn't notice. When I went back a few minutes later she was gone. At that moment she wasn't too upset because of all going on around her, but for the next two nights at bedtime she cried about how she wanted Hello Kitty. Poor kid! So the children's museum part wasn't at all for a kid Giulianna's age. Most everything in it was intended for school age kids. She had a good time though putting together some giant puzzles with Daddy and just checking things out. Its so cute how she tries to talk to the Korean kids and they can't understand her. I am constantly reminding her they don't understand.

Rhyon playing with a pot in the children's museum.

Giulianna teaching a Korean boy to cook!

Mike and Giulianna trying to build an ancient pot.

Museums are fun!!!!

Playing with  a giant magnet puzzle.

Rhyon in an "Ancient Castle"!

Rhyon becoming part of some ancient painting that I can tell you nothing about because its description was completely in Hangul.

Giulianna wanted to really ride the horse!

Picture Giulianna took of me and these weird giant stuffed "people".

 On our way back to post after the Museum there was a street vendor selling what I can only describe as a pancake. Basically they took dough and put some cinnamon sugar stuff in the middle, make it flat, and fry it for a minute. I had to have one, so I bought 3 one for each of us, and share with Rhyon. Then I dropped Mike and Giulianna off at the playground and went to the commissary for groceries. After that we went home and called it a day!

View of Yongsan from the National Museum.

Out side of museum.

A view of the city from the museum.

Sunday we went to Church and then to a birthday party. Giulianna went crazy playing in the bounce house at the party. We were there for a while and then headed home for naps since the following day we were going to Seoul Land! Look for my next post all about Seoul Land!!!!

Havin some fun!

I know I usually wait til Sunday to post since we do the most stuff on weekends but this weekend will be a long one so I want to update about our week now before things get crazy and fun filled this weekend and I become over whlemed with cool stuff to post about. So far this week has been great!!! Mike was off on Monday as a training holiday after the long separation. We didn't do much that day just hung around and had some relaxing family time. We took a little walk to the 7-11 and got some snacks but that was about it.

Tuesday the kids wanted to go out and play one the playground so we did. Giulianna started playing with 2 little girls, one her age and one a bit younger. Their Mom and I started talking and found out we are neighbors! She lives 2 doors down. We really hit it off and when we decided to leave because the kids needed a drink and a nap, we ended up in their house for almost 2 more hours. The next day we took a walk to the river, a learning experience for me! It was cool, there is an elevator that takes you down to a tunnel that goes under the road and then out to a bike and walking path along the river. We walked toward a spot were there was one of those outdoor gyms and a playground. After letting the kids play a while, we headed back toward Hannam Village with a stop for lunch at Dunkin' Donuts. Not a very healthy lunch but the kids loved it. Somehow when we got back we ended up back in their apartment for another few hours. Then Thursday I took the older daughter to story time with us, we parted ways for lunch and nap time and then the kids hit the playground before dinner for a while. This morning we spent time at the pool together. Its been just great and is so nice to have a friend and be getting out more!!!

City Skyline from the walking trail. It was a very hazy day.

Let's chase the pigeons!

The girls playing on the bouncy toys.

Enjoying some donuts, between these 2 and Rhyon they ate a dozen munchkins!

 The kids are doing great! Rhyon is a walking monster now. He loves the playground and will even take on the big slides by himself. I will have to get a video of this, its pretty funny. Giulianna loves playing with her new friend and hopefully I will be able to get her into preschool. But we have to wait another week to register for CYS (Child Youth Services) since we could not get an appointment for that until next week. Today when we were in the pool she held her breath and dove under to retrieve 4 diving rings. I was so proud and happy that she was feeling so brave today.

We finally got the extension I ordered for the second baby gate this week. Its been wonderful knowing Rhyon can not go up the stairs anymore! We also set up a futon in the playroom so we have a place for people to sleep when they come visit!!! (HINT HINT) We are still waiting on for our furniture and stuff. According to the website it is due in country the 9th. I am hopeful that means it will be delivered next weekend but Mike isn't optimistic on that happening. Like I said last post we are hoping to go to Seoul land this weekend, probably Monday with our new friends! I would like to go somewhere Saturday too and Sunday we have a birthday party. Mike also has Tuesday off but that is likely going to be for weekend recovery!

The final stretch until... Mike's Return!!!

The last week was very much improved to the previous week especially. My biggest hurdle and accomplishment for the week was dealing with the car. As you know it wouldn't unlock either with the key pad or manually. The reason the keypad didn't work was because the battery died! And the manual locks didn't work, come to find out because they were missing parts. So on Tuesday I called Bill, the man who sold us the car and he said they would call me in the morning the next day to come out and open it to see where the problem was. I spent most of Wednesday morning waiting for them to come. That's when we found out about the battery, which they jumped. I drove it around our housing complex and let it run for a bit. But when I went out to run errands later that afternoon, it had enough juice to unlock but not start. Long story short Bill didn't get to come back and jump it again til Thursday. I let it run for over an hour this time, which worked and I was able to do my errands. The story doesn't end there. We had arranged that on Friday they would come get the car to fix the manual locks on the doors. Bill said the mechanic gets in at 10am, I will call you then. Well by 11:45 I still hadn't heard anything so I called him. Basically I spent the rest of the day waiting around for them to come get the car, evaluate how long it would take to fix it and then wait for Bill to call me and pick me up so I could go get it. All this was essential so I could pick Mike up the next day. It was frustrating and exhausting waiting around like that. But it has been taken care of and all is well with our car!

The week also provided a couple opportunities where I was able to meet two of my neighbors. The funny thing is that one gave me a futon and the other a stroller! These two ladies are very nice and I look forward to establishing friendships with them both.

Rhyon is really walking now. We had some time to spend on the playground this week which has rubber floors. He really likes walking on this because its softer to fall on than the floors in the house. He was walking all over the place. He now walks all over the house too. Rhyon will be running very soon!

Mike got back to Yongsan early Saturday morning, but was not due to be released until 3pm. However even that didn't happen and we ended up killing time for almost 2 hours before he was allowed to leave and go home. But boy were we all happy when we finally got home. Its amazing how much the environment changes when he is here. Thankfully the Army gave them Monday off as well so we still had a pretty normal weekend.

Sunday we decided to just go for a walk. So we ventured out the back gate and up to Itaewon, which is the main street for shopping and food in this area. We went shopping here before when we first arrived. This time was nicer because of a few things, we had a stroller, it wasn't as super hot, and we didn't have to hike up a steep hill to get home! We were able to buy more and discover shops and places we didn't see before. If you want a souvenir from Korea that's the place to go. And never accept the price of the first thing you see. Someone down the street will have a better deal, and when they do snatch it up! The one story I have of this particular trip is quite comical. We had been in this one building before which is kinda a mix of a flea market/ mall. This time we went in looking for a potty for Giulianna which the sign said was on the 2nd floor. We didn't even know there was a second floor the first time. We discovered there was not only a second but a third! We went all the way up. When we got to the top there were some ladies selling clothes. Mostly mens dress shirts, jackets and ties. There was another lady selling knock off designer clothes too. Well as I was being haggled into buy a "designer" sweater, and dealing with Giulianna who was hysterical over a popped balloon, Mike was fighting his own loosing battle. Mike said there were 4 women at one time, two ogling at Rhyon and asking about his heritage, while 2 more were talking Mike into buying 2 dress shirts. They told him the original price of the shirts was 52,000 won each, they talked him down to buying them at 20,000 won each by the time I walked over. He kept trying to tell they he doesn't wear dress shirts, which is generally true. Well so as I walk over he hands them 50,000 won to pay for the shirts expecting 10,000 won in change. He never got any change, because that's when they started telling me what a beautiful lady I was and how I needed a Channel scarf. Then they tried getting me to buy some really ugly shirt, I humored them by trying it on but I held my ground that I didn't like it. I walked away and was again being haggled by the first lady. Finally we are ready to leave and I asked Mike if he got his change. At which he said no, they talked him into a tie too!!!! It was hilarious! Mike totally got haggled!!!! Just to give a ballpark reference to the above story, 50,000 won is almost $50 US, depending on the days exchange rate.

As for pictures this week, I didn't really take many. But here is what I have anyway. Stay tuned for next week, we are thinking about heading to Seoul Land which is an amusement park, and we have a birthday party Sunday for one of the kids new friends! The biggest part of the adventure will be possibly riding the subway to Seoul Land......

Both kids are now walking!!!

This was a coffee table for sale in a furniture shop, all the shiny is abalone shell. It was a work of art. Cost about 4,000,000 won aka $4 thousand dollars! It was just beautiful!!!!

Can you believe I found a polar bear ring?!!! Of course I bought it!!!!

Rhyon munching on a whole banana.

Giant Lego Man outside a restaurant on Itaewon.

This is what the gas stations here look like. You drive in and they pump your gas from a nozzle they pull down from the ceiling.

Giulianna comes over and says "Look Mommy I'm a chipmunk!"

Not sure why, but Ryon decided to explore under the table!

Not a good week and contact information.

Oh what a week!!!! This week was by far the worst week we have had since we have been in Korea. Early in the week Rhyon started having some really icky diapers which caused really nasty sores on his butt and a made a very cranky baby. This was added to a Mommy and sister who weren't feeling our best either. We were coping mostly with lots of resting time and movies. It wasn't so bad staying inside either since it was raining again anyway.

The only day we had plans to do anything this week was Wednesday. We had to go to the main part of post so I could get my new phone. I took over a phone from a couple who had entered a plan and suddenly had to leave Korea and needed to get out of their plan. I figured that since I was going to post for that I would run some other errands as well. I needed to go to the place Mike works to try and retrieve our mail. (I have been waiting for a box from my Mom for more than a month.) I was also going to go to the post office and mail a box, pick up a few things I needed at the PX and then head to Angie's for the phone transition thing. Doing all this would require the car which was no big deal since I am now licensed.  Well... you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men...

So after Rhyon's nap and lunch I got all packed up and ready to go. We get out to the car and I hit unlock on the key fab, go to open the door and nothing happened. I try again, nothing... so I try manually with the key and it will not unlock! I decided to try the trunk, that unlocked, so I put the box I needed to mail and Rhyon down in the trunk and try the doors again. Nothing!!!!! To add to all this it is raining. So back upstairs we go so I can check the internet for a solution, but I was frustrated, found nothing and was on a schedule. Now my options were bus or cab. We went with cab since the bus was not leaving for some time.

I decided to check the mail at Mike's office anyway, and of course the box came! This was a good thing, but now I was carrying a fairly big box as well as Rhyon and a backpack. Thankfully Master Sargent GB came by and called me a cab which I then rode to Angie's house. None of the other errands happened, except the phone transition.

I have been asked by a few people how do you call me? Well I think the answer is you don't. The good news is however the new phone has a plan which gives me 300 minutes a month and that allows for calls to the states. My cell phone number is 010-7427-0620, but I don't know what you would need to do to dial international nor what it would cost. However I am able to get text messages, the number for that is 1-951-307-8668. It is with a program on my phone called Heywire, and it does work as I have gotten a few texts already. I believe that standard text messaging rules and rates apply to this. I also want to address the mail situation. Our mail goes to Mike via his office, so our address is:

CPT Michael Schuster

STB-K S4 PSC 303

APO AP 96204-0083

I don't know how long it takes to receive just regular mail, i.e. letters, cards etc. but packages take a week if you send them Priority Mail. If you send them just parcel post it can take up to 6 weeks or more aka my Mom's box. Mail from here to the states takes about a week as well. Remember when sending a package you must include a customs sheet available at the post office. Whenever possible be sure to use an APO/ Armed Forces Priority box as it is a little cheaper to send. I am also available via email, Skype, Facebook, and facetime if you have an Ipod or Ipad or Iphone or by comments on the blog. 

Back to my horrible week.... Thursday after story-time at the library and some time on the playground Rhyon needed a nap. When he woke up he had a fever. It was pretty high and I was concerned, the Tylenol wasn't touching it either. The next morning it was still high and he hadn't been eating or drinking much. So I tried calling to get him an appointment to see the doctor. But they wouldn't make me one because we weren't registered in the system. I asked if I came and got into the system if they would have an appointment for me and she said she could not guarantee it. With no other choice I packed up the kids and all the paperwork I needed and took the bus to the hospital on post. Several offices, forms and hours later we were registered, so I called for an appointment only to be bitched at by the lady on the line about how there was nothing available and she was just in some office making the appointments. So I walked over to the pediatrics and asked to be seen and got the same answer, nothing available. My only option was to go to the ER which always takes hours. Off to the dreaded ER we went, even though by that time Rhyon didn't have a fever anymore. To my surprise we were in and out of the ER, nurse and doctor seen and all in under 40mins.

Saturday was definitely a better day. No Fever!!!! The kids had physicals in the morning and we went to church in the afternoon. I will be teaching 6th grade religious education starting in September. This should be interesting... I got myself into it because I was going to teach Giulianna's preschool class, and I told the lady that last week, but she must not have put my name down and someone else was signed up. Everything else was already filled except 6th and 8th grade. Like I already said about plans....

Crochet Zebras I made for the kids and finished this week.

This is a shawl I made for Aunt Lisa. I finished it and mailed it already but didn't want to post a picture sooner and ruin the surprise!

View of the shawl on me.

I decided to get the kids something special since they were so good Friday with all the nonsense at the hospital. Giulianna and I picked Legos, which are a huge hit!

Rhyon likes them too. He was feeling well enough for a little play time.

So involved she wouldn't look at the camera.

We built a tower with all the Legos and then destroyed it!

View from my bedroom window. Seoul Tower colored red and blue like the South Korean flag, I am guessing as a symbol of a celebration of their Independence Day which was this week. Also notice the search lights. August 15th was the 66th Anniversary of their independence from Japan.

I must admit that last week sure made me a bit homesick. I have seen a lot of stuff on Facebook about the Erie County Fair and the Annunciation Picnic, which have always been summer staples in my life. I did however get to talk to a couple of family members via phone and email and it makes me glad everyone is doing well. Mike should be back in a few days which we are all looking forward to. We all seem to be on the mend around here so hopefully we will have a better week. You just never know what life's adventure has in store! I Love and Miss everyone!!!!