Week in our Life, Day 1!

I did this project last year, or maybe the year before (I forget) and it was a really neat snapshot of our life. So this week I decided I would do it again.Every day (hopefully) I'll be taking photos of our daily activities, and posting them here, just a regular week planned. So check in this week and see what we're up to!

Unfortunately I put them on the blog *backwards*, and am having a tough time getting them reordered, so start at the bottom of the page and work back up!
9:30, time to turn on the English-language channel Arirang, where they show Korean dramas with subtitles. Sweet, sweet subtitles. The current drama is called "Working Mom", abotu a woman who has 2 kids and quit her job, but has a total loser for a husband. She divorces him and goes back to work, and it is *hilarious*. The whole family watches, every night!

After the party, bath and home work time. Helped Gryphon work on her Korean homework, she had to write things about a fictional town she had worked on to talk about in class. In Korean, of course.

After EMart, we went to a friend's house in the neighborhood for a party for Memorial Day. The food was wonderful, a good time hanging out with friends. The girls came back and ran in and out, too.

Coffee after shopping.

Our purchases, bread for a party, beer, ginseng to make dinner Wednesday, green onions, ban-chan, microwave rice. We forgot a bag (as usual) so we had to pay the 500 w fee for one. (About 40 cents). Sometimes I can stuff everything into my purse, but not today.

I know I said EMart was like Wal-Mart, but it really isn't. I mean, it *is*, they have clothes and housewares and food and all. But it *isn't*, because the uniform wearing samplers, the extensive fish selection, the aisles of dried seaweed are *not* anything like Wal-Mart. Like Alice in Wonderland Wal-mart, I guess.

On the list- ban chan, side dishes. I don't know how to make them, so I buy them. EMart has a large selection, so obviously other people can't make them either. My favorite must-haves are the tiny dried spicy fish and green onion kimchi. Yum.

Emart has a parking garage, and like all garages in Korea, the floors are freakishly clean and polished. The car tires make a squeally-squishy sound. Kids love it. The garage was full, so parked Korean-style, in a not-quite-spot. I will not be able to drive in the US, I am too used to parking on sidewalks and running red lights. ;-)

E-Mart!

The drive out to iPark always takes us past the red light district near the train station, and since I had my camera I took a picture. Not as evocative as the night I saw a scantily dressed woman sitting on a stool in front of the windows, bathed in red light, reading a book, but of course I never have my camera when I see things like that. Woman (madam?) vacuuming will have to do.

After lunch Mark and I drove to the iPark mall, tiem for a trip to Korea's version of Wal-Mart, E-Mart!

The girls left early to a birthday party at a waterpark in Camp Humphreys, outside of Seoul, so Mark and I were on our own for most of the day. We met an old jr high and high school friend, Ray, and his wife Hannah at a restaurant for lunch. It was really neat seeing him again after all these years, and I really enjoyed the lunch. I don't want to spoil their exciting news, so I won't, but it was really a cool thing to meet them on this particular day!

Rowan is 9!!!!

Rowan turned 9 (no, Ican't believe it either) on Saturday, and she had a big party to celebrate. Her neighborhood friends made her a t-shirt that she wore, everyone signed it, it was really a sweet surprise! We took everyone to the post theater to see "Shrek", and then headed back to the park next to our house for pizza and games.

Rowan got lots of gifts, of course.

We had some old school party games, like a pinata and pin the tail on the donkey.

McKenna is not punching Rowan in the face, she's testing out whether or not she can see, but is a cool picture!

For no explicable reason, Rowan wanted "Happy 9th Birthday Emily" on her cake. Who is Emily? Who knows. It was a yummy ice cream cake, though!

After the park it was to our house for a blow-out sleepover, off course. Rowan loves wild and crazy sleepovers. I think I am gettign to old for them, myself. Took 2 days to recover! The kids played more games (this is some game like Mother May I only not that they are playing i nthe photo), and made goo, and ran around, and basically wore us out!

It was a good birthday!

Gryphon's Play

The Yongsan Players is the community theater group here on post, and they put on "The Clown Prince of Wanderlust" last weekend. Gryphon *loves* to act, so she auditioned before our trip and got 2 parts. She was a villager (in the brown costume singing), and a Mile-a-Go, which is a vicious beast who attacks the princess. some of her homeschooled and middle school friends were in the play, too, and it was really a great experience for her. She'll definitely be doing more acting in the future!

Trip of a lifetime

Whew!! We set out last week for a marathon road trip around Korea, and 8 days and 1200 miles later, we are back! It was *amazing*, a dream come true. We hit every province, the most southern part of Korea to the most northern.

These are only a few of the 800 pictures I took, but believe it or not, I had camera problems and so 2-3 days are missing completely.Click on the slideshow, make it full screen, and then click "show info", because the explanations of what things are will show up then.

Rowan had a gymnastics meet in Jeju Island, so we started the trip out by driving down the west coast to Mokpo, to catch a ferry to Jeju.We spent 3 days on Jeju, but due to the meet didn't see whole lot except the beach. But, since the weather finally warmed up, that was just fine with us! Then we took the ferry back, and drove to Boseong, an area known for its green tea fields and festival going on in early May. We did the festival, and then drove south to Yeosu, a southern coastal town. It was a festival there celebrating Admiral Yi, inventor of the famous Turtle Ship, so that was neat. At this point, both my camera (which had been having issues for a while) and Gryphon's point and shoot (the photos with big dates are from it) both died. So, no Yeosu photos. Worst of all, we climbed a gazillion stairs (anything worth seeing in Korea involves stairs)to the tippy top of a rock out in the ocean to Hangilram temple. It was so fantastic- steps carved into sheer cliffs, and perched at the top, a temple. The view was stunning, if pretty frightening! But, you'll have to take my word for it or Google it, because I have NO PICTURES! Next we drove up to Kyeongju, which is a city that is practically entirely a historical museum. It is the ancient Shilla dynasty capital of Korea, and really wonderful. After Kyeongju, we drove over to the east coast, and up, up, up to the top, where we spent time in Seokcho, visited the DMZ observatory, and then drove home through Soraksan, Korea's highest and most lovely mountains.

Along the way we ate regional foods- the food pictures and post will come later. I was in heaven, I tell you. Korea has some fantastic food!

I can honestly say we really know Korea after this trip. And we didn't get lost once!