Family

My mom and dad came to visit us for two weeks.  My mom had not been here for close to forty years!  They came late at night and L and N were so excited that they couldn't help but to jump and stomp in glee.  That night we met our downstairs neighbor, who very politely asked us to settle down. 

The next morning, several members of Sam's family drove down from Seoul to go to the Daejeon National Cemetary.  Sam's Uncle was a two star general in the ROK Army during the Vietnam War and is buried there.  He was an admirable man with deep character and faith.  He came to our wedding but passed away about a year later from cancer.  It was an honor to go to his grave and remember him, as well as look forward to seeing him again someday.  :O)

Family



Main Entrance to the Daejeon National Cemetery





In Korea, they use artificial flowers so that they will last until their next visit



The next day after church, we headed back to the cemetery with my parents to pay our respects to one of my dad's close friends who had passed away a few years ago.  His friend was one of the five with whom he had escaped North Korea.



In front of a monument entrance - taken by Lindsay




A neat aircraft cemetery that was there




My Dad, who used to be in the Korean Air Force, enjoyed the exhibit and was able to remember most of the aircraft names.



Minseokchon

We went to visit Sam's cousin who lives in Yongin, a town not too far from Seoul.  They took us out to eat Vietnamese food.  Pho, well, the Korean equivalent of it, and make-your-own summer rolls.  I didn't take any pictures.  There have been several occasions where I have thought afterwards, "I really should have taken a picture of..."  *sigh*  The best pictures are the ones that are taken I'm learning.  After lunch, we went to Minseokchon, an open air Korean folk village museum, depicting how Koreans lived during the late Joseon period.  We watched several "shows" of traditional village customs - a horse show demonstrating their skills riding, handling, and shooting targets while riding; traditional folk celebrations and tight rope walking.  We were told that they had some great Kalguksoo here, but our stay there was cut short when it started raining torrentially.  All in all, an enjoyable day with family and a bit of Korean culture.

Lindsay and cousin Eojin

Horse Show



Lindsay enjoyed riding one of the horses

 


Traditional celebration



The ribbon dancers are my favorite!         

Tight Rope walker



Sam's cousin's church - isn't it charming?  This is the fellowship room right outside the sanctuary.  The lit area on the bottom right is a cafe that they open up to the public.

Superhero pose?  Ninjas perhaps?

Random pics from our first few weeks

After our first weekend, we busied ourselves getting accustomed to our life here.  Here are some pics to give you a glimpse.
 

Our apartment building, we live on the 13th floor



The view outside our kitchen window



Most Koreans don't have dryers, so we dry our clothes the old fashioned way.  I'm getting very used to this and am pondering to do this when I get back to save energy.  We know our clothes are clean when they're crispy!




 Outdoors + Playground = Happiness

 

Lindsay being Lindsay



We have a Costco in Daejeon!   



Lindsay with a slice of Bulgoki pizza



Lindsay loves fishcake skewers (eomuk kkochi) - she can eat three in one sitting!







As most of you know, we have been homeschooling Lindsay.  I came prepared to do the same here and brought my big box of homeschooling books.  Sam thought it would be a good opportunity for her to learn the language and meet people by attending school while we're here.  The area where we live is considered the "Silicon Valley" of Korea with lots of research institutes and companies.  To accommodate the families that return to Korea after having lived abroad, there is a school here that offers the Korean equivalent of ESL classes.  We visited the school to see if Lindsay could attend, and they said that given that we'd only be here for a short time, and that Lindsay did not have any documentation from her previous school, that they could not accept her as a student.  We accepted that and went home.  The next day, Sam mentioned that at work, and then a co-worker told his wife who teaches piano to a third grader who attends that school, whose mom mentioned it to his teacher, who, along with the mom, went back to the school and strong armed the administrators to accept Lindsay as a student.  A very interesting lesson as to how things get done around here.  

Lindsay's mugshot for the school application

I love the Korean school supplies!  So cute and colorful!

Daedeok Elementary School

Her smiling face when I pick her up 

I was worried about how Lindsay would adjust to school, given that she hadn't been to "school" since Kindergarten, and then to throw a new culture and language into the mix.  Her first day went great.  A boy in her class told the teacher that he thought L was "beautiful" and then he proceeded to give her 1000 won!  Another nice girl bought her two belts from the school store.  Lindsay felt quite welcomed to my great relief.  She has adjusted nicely and is now reading Korean!  She's slowly starting to speak it, albeit with a heavy American accent.  We're proud of her.   Oh, and we made her write thank you note to the boy and give the money back.  :O)

On the Road again...

Early on in our time here, we made a trek up to Seoul to see Sam's maternal grandmother.  We were all waking up promptly at 3:30 every morning anyways, so we got to hit the road early and avoid traffic. 



Our rental car - a Kia K5.  The little blue tabs on the doors are syrofoam protectors for when you open the door, so you won't scratch yours or another car. 



Korea has lots of mountains, and lots of fog in the mornings.  Look, no traffic!

Sam's Halmuni had been in a hospital/nursing home for a few months, so it was a top priority for us to see her as soon as we could.  We don't have many pictures of that time, it was difficult to see someone who had once been so vibrant and alive to be laying in a hospital bed - hair cut short and neat, but not coiffed, no makeup, and not able to communicate with us, though you could tell she wanted to.  We sang a few hymns to her and Sam held her hand for a long time.  Two weeks later, she went Home. 







Finally!

Hello world!  We've been in Daejeon for over a month now, but have only recently acquired a computer that can download our pictures.  I'm chomping at the bit to start documenting our trip, and I'll post as many pictures as I can of our life here. 

We left for Daejeon, South Korea on Tuesday, October 4th with our "immigration bags" and our allotted 100 pounds and 2 carryons per passenger.  We used pretty much our whole allotment.  The flight over on Korean Air was very nice.  The kids did not sleep at all, and watched videos the whole flight over.  The airline even gave the kids goody bags with coloring books, colored pencils and a doodle board, all in a matching bag -very cute.  The only glitch during the flight is that Nathan ended up having a poopie blowout en route.  A very smelly, messy, up the back, like-an-infant blowout that got on all of his clothes.  I ended up changing him and taking him back to our seat in just his diaper.  I told the stewardess about the yucky diaper in the trash bin and I later saw them changing the trash with masks and gloves on.  The next time I used that lavatory, it smelled like coffee.  Ooops.  Now, without further ado, some pictures!


Bags packed and ready to go!




All smiles



Our resident packer extraordinaire!



Do we look alike?



Their superhero pose, ready to take on Korea!



Eyes glazing over midflight, Nathan's second outfit



All usual limits for screen time were null and void

We arrived at Incheon International around dinner time.  Some of Sam's family came to the airport to greet us, and we unfortunately had to kiss them hello and goodbye within fifteen minutes since we had hired a driver with a big minivan to drive us to Daejeon straightaway.  Sam's Eemo was so sweet, she had prepared banchan, bought kimchi and other necessities like soy sauce, sesame oil, a cutting board, and noodles.  Sam packed the kimchi right away in a cardboard box so we didn't have to smell it during the drive.  After a 14 hour flight, and 2 hour drive, we finally arrived to our final destination around 9 at night.  We just went to sleep and woke up early the next morning.  We ventured out to our neighborhood and the only place open was a gimbap restaurant.  Perfect!  We chomped on gimbap that cost 1500 won per roll, which comes out to less than $ 1.50 a pop.  We noshed happily on the rolls and the kids slurped up a bowl of udon. 



Our dining room/kitchen area




Lindsay's room



Our bedroom

Our bathroom

The other bathroom







Our foyer with shoe closet and motion detector light, a Korean requisite for most every home





And more TV...



Our first meal in Korea