training sticks

When Rowan was born, our friend Kelsey got this set, including cool trainer chopsticks and a spoon in a nifty zipper case for Liam, as a big brother gift. At two, he wasn't quite coordinated enough to use them, but we recently found them and he's quite thrilled...especially since they have Thomas on them.

Last night, Matthew brought home Chinese food, so Liam had a blast eating with his special chopsticks. They're great for kids or dexterity-impaired adults. I think we sent a few less fancy sets home for my sister and brother-in-law (at their request).



Note: Because I'm that anal-retentive, it's been bothering me for 8 months now that I have 98 entries on this blog. So close to an even 100, and yet, I don't want to write random entries. I'm planning one more, probably a collection of recipes that Matthew got from his cooking class and from friends.

moving and moving on

Since I'm no longer living in South Korea, it's difficult to be domestically blissful (or blissfully domestic) there. Matthew is also an authorized poster for this blog, but I don't know if he'll post here, since he already has another blog of his own: That's Good Engrish!

I'll be blogging about motherhood and other things at A Not-so-quiet Life. If you're interested in the minutiae of raising Monkey Boy and Super Chunk, feel free to follow me there.

Thanks for reading my blog!

homeward bound

Our trip home by the clock:
8:30 a.m.: Left Sokcho on a bus to Gangneung
10:00: Left Gangneung on a bus to Incheon Airport (Seoul)
2:00ish: Arrived at Incheon Airport
3:30ish: Said goodbye to Matthew & went through security
6:20 p.m.: Flight from Seoul to Vancouver, B.C.
noonish (PST); about 10 hours later: arrived in Vancouver, B.C.
7:00 p.m.: Flight from Vancouver to Portland, OR
8:00ish: Arrived in Portland

Highlights of the trip:

*After staying up until 1 a.m. getting my three large bags to weigh in at EXACTLY 23 kg, with a fourth lighter bag full to the point of exploding with toys, books, and goodies to share...Matthew checked the Korean Air website again just before we left. The baggage limit was 20 kg per bag for Liam and I, with Rowan allowed one 10 kg bag. We brought another smaller empty bag and did some rearranging at the airport. We just scraped by with no exorbitant extra baggage fees.

*Rowan fell asleep before the plane too off. Perfect. We were seated behind the bulkhead with a bassinet so I didn't have to hold him all night. Great. We hit turbulence right before dinner time, so I had to pick Rowan up, which woke him up, and he thought he'd had a great nap. He wanted to play during dinner time. Lame.

*Despite taking a Benadryl before boarding, Liam stayed awake through "Finding Nemo" and half of "Ice Age 3," then woke up about two hours before our 10-hour flight landed. Rowan went back to sleep after dinner and woke up just before...breakifast! I'm not complaining too much though. Both of them did well, with very little crying...unlike the 8-month-old baby beside us...

*Wandering around the Vancouver airport trying to find an elevator that would take me (wearing Rowan in the Ergo), Liam and the stroller loaded with carry-ons down to Canadian customs, but only finding ones that took me to dead-end boarding gates. Finally giving up and taking the escalator down.

*Standing in line for at least 30 minutes with a tired antsy toddler (and a fortunately sleeping baby), then getting snippy with the young female customs officer when she wanted to know
(a) was I traveling alone with my children today
(b) did I have sole custody of them
(c) if not, did I have a note from their father giving his permission for me to fly with the boys today
(d) if not, why? (Um...because I didn't even think about that.)
The snippiness came in when I wanted her to just tell me if she was going to keep the boys and I in custody somewhere until Matthew could be reached. She was not. She just had to question me about it. I realize it's just her job, but I was not in the mood for beating around the bush, especially since said tired antsy toddler was running around in circles by this point.

*Having to pay a porter $20 CAD because there was no way I could haul all five bags from the International Terminal to the U.S. Terminal by myself, let alone with all the above-mentioned gear/kid. He was a really nice guy, though, and I was able to just follow him in a daze rather than having to navigate through more confusion.

*Switching to a single flight from Vancouver to Portland (instead of two separate flights going through Seattle) which was supposed to get me into Portland five minutes earlier. This worked well for the most part, as it's easier to stay in one place with two little boys, instead of boarding and deboarding an extra time. However, when I went to board the plane, it was delayed 30 minutes.

*Having to call my mom collect...internationally (even though it's only like a 5 hour drive)...because the pay phone wouldn't accept either my credit or debit cards, and I only had $2 coins which the phone didn't accept and the coffee shop wouldn't ("there aren't any $1 coins in the till") exchange for me.

*Feeling grateful to the nice ticket agent who had earlier played Thomas trains with Liam (while I switched flights), then carried sleeping Liam and his Thomas backpack onto the airplane for me, since I was wearing a sleeping (again) Rowan and carrying two diaper bags and Liam's stuffed dog. Both boys slept through the entire flight, even though we were right next to the propeller. I enjoyed a complimentary NW microbrew from Octoberfest and dozed during the flight, then managed to wake Liam up enough for him to walk off the plane to the (still collapsed, thanks Horizon) stroller.

I think it would be difficult to have an uneventful flight when traveling alone with two small children. Overall, everything went quite well. The staff was friendly and helpful. Even that darn customs' agent was well-meaning.

Tips:
*when traveling on Korean Air (or any other non-western airline), order the Korean (or other local) dinner option. The bibimbap was pretty good for instant airline food. The western-style beef dish did not look appetizing.
*you cannot overplan. I had a schedule planned out in my head before leaving, including when they were going to eat dinner, get into their pajamas, etc., etc. Mock me for my anal-retentiveness if you want, but I think everything went smoother because of that.
*make sure you have smaller bills in all types of currency. I had to visit the currency exchange counter with the porter because he didn't have any change available and I only had a $50.
*bring plenty of new exciting toys for kiddos. Liam got three new Thomas trains and a carrying case of small dinosaurs, which helped immensely. He also had new crayons and stickers from his friend Alex (Thanks, Brian!).

That's all (HA!) that I can think of at the moment. We've been back almost three days and, after several really busy days, the jetlag is catching up with me again. I feel like I'm on cold medication, even though I'm not. Hopefully, I can get a good night's sleep tonight and get back into the swing of things.

waterpia!

How did we live in Sokcho for almost 27 months (combined total) without going to Waterpia? Yes, it's a bit expensive (at W33,000 full adult price, with price drops later in the day) and can be quite crowded at times; however, our family had a blast! If we were staying longer, we would definitely go again.

When my friend invited us to join her family, I was a bit apprehensive. I don't have a swimsuit here and didn't really want to buy one just for a few hours at a water park. My friend reassured me that she just wears a t-shirt and shorts, so I could do the same. In retrospect, it would have been worth it to buy a swimsuit. Suits are also available for rent, but this strikes me as a little strange.

As soon as you go through the front entrance, you remove your shoes and take them to the locker with the number corresponding to a number on your receipt. You then take the key from that locker to use for the same number locker in the changing room. The key is on one of those spiral cord keychains that you can put on your arm or ankle while you're in the pool. It's all very well organized, which is typically Korean.

Matthew decided to wear his shirt, since my friend's husband was wearing his. As you can see, not everyone did this. The dads & toddlers spent most of their time in the shallow end of the wave pool, which was only on about 20 minutes out of every hour. (Matthew did get to go down the huge slide -- no toddlers allowed -- while the rest of us were having a snack. He went about eight times in a row, until his legs could no longer carry him up the stairs.)



That's my friend's nephew (her husband's second brother's son) catching a ride by hanging onto Matthew's shirt.



Rowan also enjoyed the wave pool during the brief time he was wearing his swim trunks. We ended up changing the babies back into normal clothes after a bit so they would be more comfortable in their carriers and not soak us. Also, I kept thinking Rowan was going to take his long-overdue nap. He finally did...after several hours.



I tried the "doctor fish" pool, which I'd added to my "Korean Coop List" after Mama Seoul suggested it and Kwangdong Brian confirmed that Waterpia had such a pool. It was a blast! My feet are EXTREMELY TICKLISH. INSANELY TICKLISH. At first, the sensation of dozens of little fish nibbling the dead skin off my feet and ankles (as far as they could reach) was almost unbearable.



By the time my friend took this picture, I had adjusted slightly, but still couldn't stop laughing and grinning like an idiot:



After a few more minutes, I became even more accustomed to the feeling and could hold steady enough to shoot this video:



MinJeong had tried the doctor fish briefly before, but had thought it felt too weird. When the attendant offered to let her stick her feet in for free (I paid W6000 like every other adult -- W4000 for children), she decided to give it another try. Her reaction:



Back in the wave pool, Liam rocked the pink flotation device that MinJeong borrowed from another friend:



Liam conferring with JunMin and his cousin JunHo (the H is pretty much silent):



Liam wound down a little in the kiddy pool while Matthew changed back into street clothes:



You could easily spend an entire day in the waterpark. There is so much to do (see the website for proof) and various eateries in the food court and scattered around the park, including a "well-being" Lotteria (which means it has a limited menu and doesn't serve french fries...boo!), a "Sand & Food" sandwich shop, and -- curiously -- at least two hot dog places, as well as more traditional Korean food.

We were there for about four hours, including snack time, but excluding changing time. Had we gone earlier in the day, Liam & his friend probably would have lasted longer. As it was, JunMin fell asleep on the car ride home and Liam went to bed quite soon after arriving home. (This was awesome because MinJeong and her husband came over to our place for fresh salmon and gourmet macaroni & cheese. We had a peaceful dinner with adult conversation as the babies quietly played together.)

huh?

The doorbell rang this morning. Liam and I were eating ice cream after a trip to the playground. Matthew & Rowan were taking a nap in the bedroom, so I answered the door.

It was a strange man. The first thing he said was, "아기?" and then in English, "baby?" He was kind of looking past me at Liam, but I couldn't figure out what he wanted. The next thing he asked was, "American?" I answered, "Yes." He then switched to Korean, which I didn't understand and told him as much in Korean.

Usually, unexpected visitors either (a) have the wrong apartment, in which case they quickly apologize and leave, (b) are building maintenance workers there to check the gas line or spray, in which case they show me their clipboard and equipment, etc., or (c) want to convert me to their religion, including the teenage Mormon "elders" (one Korean, one American) who were very shocked to see a white woman answer the door. This guy didn't fit into any of those categories. I couldn't understand what he wanted at all.

"What do you want?" I asked in English. See what a witty conversationalist I am? The whole time he was just kind of smiling weirdly. "I don't know what you want, so I'm just going to shut the door," I said. He was already starting to walk away as I did so.

I realize that living here has made me paranoid, but if I had to hazard a guess, I would say he came by just to get a look at the foreign kid. I'll probably never know, though, which is one of the things about living here that is so frustrating.

the story

I alluded to some of the reasons that I'm leaving Korea early (before the end of Matthew's current teaching contract) in "ten signs it's time to leave korea." What it boils down to is that we've decided it's better for Liam to be back in the United States.

From the first moment Liam stepped foot in Korea, he's been a local celebrity of sorts, since he's the only blond-haired, blue-eyed child in Sokcho (or was, before the arrival of his baby brother). Everywhere we go, people stare, want to touch him, take his picture, etc. He's become more aware and affected by this as he's gotten older. When it comes to adults, sometimes he freaks out when people even say hello to him, anticipating them trying to grab him. With kids, it's been a constant struggle to socialize him in some way resembling normalcy.

When we returned from a trip home between contract years, we enrolled him part-time in a small neighborhood daycare, which he seemed to enjoy for the most part, but he was sick way too much. After having been sick only twice in his first 12 months in Korea, he was sick four times in the six weeks he attended and shared several of those illnesses with the rest of us, including the flu and a virus that gave Rowan and I very nasty sinus/ear infections. It just wasn't worth it.

Korea is such a homogeneous culture, children here aren't used to dealing with anyone different. Other children's reactions at the playground and other public areas range from curiosity (staring, trying to take pictures) to fear (running away, even bursting into tears when he tries to play). Older kids tend to treat him like a mascot (petting his head, wanting to carry him around), but a few are actually mean to him. Constantly running interference for him, interpreting, protecting, advocating, left me exhausted and feeling like we had more bad days than good.

Finally, after hearing story after story and witnessing some of it first-hand, Matthew asked me if I wanted to move home with the boys. We discussed the pros and cons, finally deciding this would be best for Liam & I. Initially, Matthew was going to stay to finish out his contract, but seven months apart would have been too long, especially for the boys. Instead, Matthew will be coming home at the end of the year, just three months after the rest of us. Since making this decision, there's been even more craziness on the playground that confirmed my decision and led me to avoid the playgrounds after about 2 p.m. when the elementary schools let out in the afternoon.

I don't want to make it sound like Korean people are horrible in any way. The older people are overbearing and abrupt, but they generally mean well. The younger adults (those currently raising children and younger) are mostly understanding and kind. The children just don't seem to know better. What it really comes down to is that we don't belong here. This is not our home. Maybe if we'd stuck to our original plan to live closer to Seoul (and other ex-pat families), we could have made it work longer, but we liked Sokcho and the people we had worked for during our first stay. I'm not leaving with any hard feelings towards the country or the people, I just feel that it's time for us to leave. I've met a lot of amazing people here, both Koreans and ex-pats, and had many wonderful experiences.

baekdamsa: third time's a charm

Our first attempt to visit Baekdamsa, a temple on the other side of Mt. Seorak National Park, was last year during our summer vacation. We would have had to wait hours for a bus that really wouldn't have taken us very near the site at all, so we caught a bus to Gangneung instead.

We tried again last fall. We rented a car and stayed at "Happy Road" with J.E., but it was while the autumn leaves were changing colors and half of Korea seemed to have the same idea. Saturday, we couldn't even get near the shuttle bus parking lot. Sunday, the traffic was backed up onto the highway.

Since this week was our summer break, we avoided both of our prior mistakes by going on a weekday and renting a car, and actually made it to our destination.

After parking, we stopped to pick up some snacks and let Liam explore the river. Matthew ended up buying a bottle of beer (Hite, which tastes like shite, rather that Cass, which tastes like ass...), which we drank at one of the tables over looking the river,


while Liam played,


then Matthew joined him for old fashioned rock throwing.


Cars are not allowed on the road leading to the temple, and for good reason. Most of it is narrow and winding. I have never heard people applaud a bus driver's skills before, but then again, I haven't spent any time on Korean tour buses. We did pass a few people who had chosen to walk up or back, but most pay the W2,000 per adult (W1,000 per child) EACH WAY to take the bus. (So we paid roughly $10 for Matthew, Liam & I. Highway robbery.)


Liam and I (with Rowan sleeping in the Ergo) at the entrance.


Liam inspects the wishing candles. We had to convince him that he was not supposed to blow them out like birthday candles.


These are the tiles which people pay to write a message on: a prayer, a blessing, "KimTaeHoon wuz here," etc.


Liam's first attempt at flashing ubiquitous peace signs, or as J.E. calls them, "kimchi fingers." Isn't five better than two?


Liam getting water from the temple spring.


A peak inside the temple, while my child glows in an unearthly manner.


I love the roof details on Korean Buddhist buildings.


The unusually cool, wet summer has been good for the flora.


Overall, the temple was a disappointment, after all the hype. The most remarkable feature was the mostly-dry river bed. Koreans have this obsession with stacking rocks and this locale provides them with ample opportunity to do so. From our understanding, it's a Buddhist practice to illustrate the idea that everything is temporary; anything humans build will eventually fall down. Liam tries to help them learn that lesson, but we usually interfere.


Liam explores, while a family in the background builds together.


Liam puts into perspective the height of some of the stacks.


Finally, he finds something a little more his speed: throwing rocks into the river with "hyung" (older brother).


Rowan wakes up from his nap.


Matthew poses with an unwilling Liam.


A rock carved with hangul on the way back to the shuttle bus.


Since we were already running late to meet J.E. at Happy Road, we didn't even attempt the hike beyond the temple. Apparently, this is quite impressive, and might have made the trip more worthwhile. Instead we waited in line for too long, with a smug old man who seemed to be talking schmack about us, before riding the bus back to our car.

My advice: If you want to visit Baekdamsa, allow the better part of the day, bring decent beer, and do the hike up past the temple.

ten signs it's time to leave korea

10. every time you hear the phrase, "Waegookin imnida!" (It's a foreigner!), your middle finger starts itching.

9. you're tempted to tell people who want to take pictures of you or your children, "Poto, manwon" (photo, 10 bucks!) and those wanting to practice their English with you, while you're trying to watch your child, "Yeonga-lur, sahm-ship-boon, ee-man-o-cheon-won" (English, 30 minutes, 25 bucks.)

8. you hold your breath every time your toddler runs up to a group of "kids! kids!," waiting to see how they'll respond to the blond-haired, blue-eyed foreign "baby."

7. you teach your toddler the phrase "babo (foolish/stupid) kids," as a response to kids who run away or otherwise don't want to play with him.

6. you start to take offense at stupid things, like "egg-ee" (which applies to any child up to the age of 3, whereas "agg-ee" is more specifically an infant) being translated as "baby," or kids always saying, "c'mon, baby," which is a phrase from a popular k-pop song.

5. you're exhausted from running interference for your child every time you're in public.

4. you've begun to openly mock kimchi, which Koreans view as a wondrous cure-all.

3. you actually consider saying, "an-chua shiball imnida" (it's not f***ing cold) to women who insist your baby is under-dressed for a breezy day in the 70s.

2. you interpret the ear-nose-throat specialist's attempts at "enlarging your nasal passage" as blatant xenophobia.

1. some days you think if you hear one more child whine like a police siren, you're going to lose it.

notebooks and a t-shirt

Every week I correct diary entries for one of the Korean teachers at Matthew's school. (Her English is nearly flawless, but I do have that lovely English Education degree, so I might as well use it for something.) Some of the notebooks that the students use are hilarious. I took pictures of some of my favorites.

Korean kids really love candy...


But when it comes to people, they are realistic...


In the end, after double redemption, you can only rely on yourself...
(Love that ENGLISH, of all words, is misspelled.)


This is actually my notebook, which the package misled me to believe was rosemary-scented. It is not. Luckily, it's not bulgogi- or kimchi-scented, either.


And, finally, a t-shirt we spotted in the traditional market area. Such sweet sentiments...

the haps

Interesting (to me, anyway) and random events from the past few weeks:

Crazy Weather
We had a solar eclipse (about 70% here in Korea) yesterday, but it was so overcast that you could barely even tell. I really hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying this, but we've had unseasonably cool (read: livable) weather so far this month. Last year, July 5th was the beginning of almost two solid months of "air conditioning weather": hot, sticky, yuck.

Couch Surfing 101
After Matthew invited home a random Dutch backpacker he met at the bus stop several weeks ago, we decided that hosting couch-surfers actually works okay for our family. Since changing our status to allow guests, we've had a Swiss tourist and two expat English teachers from Seoul stay with us. Since Matthew's profile clearly states that we have two young children, we've had guests who like kids. We have another American coming this weekend, and could easily end up hosting all summer unless we decline.

When Halmonis (grandmothers) attack:
One Saturday afternoon, we got on a bus going downtown. Since Matthew was carrying the stroller, I was carrying Rowan and holding Liam's hand. There were no open seats and no one moved to give theirs up, so I instructed Liam to hold on to the handle corner of one seat, while I held one of the handle ring hanging from the ceiling. I heard the voice of an older woman, and caught a few familiar words including "baby" before one of the middle school boys right by us got up. I helped Liam sit down. The voice became a little more persistent and another boy surrendered his seat. I sat down and turned to the woman who had been speaking. I thanked her, which let her know that I understood at least some of what she was saying. That was all the encouragement she needed. She became louder, haranguing the boys for all to hear. The gist of her lecture was, "When a woman with children gets on the bus, you give up your seat now, now, NOW!" They didn't look at her, but kept their eyes downcast, which is the proper way to respond to a scolding. When she got off the bus, I gave her a little nod (head bow) and smiled. Sometimes halmonis totally rock.

And I learned...
...Fenugreek (a "galactagogue," which sounds like something off of Star Trek) is apparently illegal in South Korea. (That doesn't mean that foreigners don't bring it in, or that they aren't willing to share extra.)
...how to say "It's not f***ing cold" really, really politely. Will I ever actually say that to an overly-pushy halmoni who insists my child is improperly dressed? Probably not, but knowledge is power, right?
...it feels really good to squirt kids with a super-soaker when they call me waegook (foreigner). (It was a one-time thing. Liam was using some girl's super soaker and I had just finished helping him with something on it. These kids have seen me many times before, so it was just ridiculous. Maybe I should start carrying a squirt gun with me for that purpose.)
...gim is really good wrapped around rice and tuna salad (tuna + mayonnaise). It's my minimalist/ghetto version of chamchi (tuna) gimbap.

standard conversation; strange question

Sometimes when I try to speak Korean, I am embarrassed by my pathetic language skills. Other times, like today, I feel like I'm not too bad.

I was at the playground with the boys, actually waiting for my friend to come down with her children. A woman sat down beside me on the bench after removing the baby boy strapped to her back with a podaegi.* She also had a little girl a bit older than Liam. She looked at Rowan in the stroller beside me and pronounced the usual expressions of cuteness. She was soon joined by two men (husband and brother-in-law would be my guess) with another little girl around the same age. The two little girls ran off to play and the men began conversing with the woman. The man I assumed to be her husband asked her if Rowan was a boy. I replied that he is, at which point she decided to start a conversation with me, since I obviously understand and speak a minimal level of Korean.

The following conversation took place almost completely in Korean, except she did say "teacher" and "January" in English, although I know those words in Korean.

KW: How old is he?
Me: 6 months. Your son?
KW: 7 months, born in December. Your son was born in January?
Me: No, December. December 30. Your son?
KW: December 13. Do you live in Buyoung? (That's the name of our apartment complex.)
Me: Yes. (gesturing vaguely at my building)
KW: You speak Korean very well.
Me: No, just a little. I don't speak well yet.
KW: Are you a teacher?
Me: Me? No. My husband is a teacher.
KW: Korean? American?
Me: My husband?
KW: Yes.
Me: American. (Amazingly, I said this without laughing.)

Now, maybe she hasn't seen many babies with mixed Korean and Caucasian parentage. I have. They're almost all absolutely gorgeous, and they have very definite Asian features. She had looked closely at Rowan before this. I'm pretty sure it would be genetically impossible for a child with a Korean parent to look like Rowan.

The conversation basically petered out after that. I was, however, proud of the fact that I did not once have to say, "I don't understand" or "I don't know," phrases which I find myself uttering all too often in Korean.

I'm still scratching my head over the question of whether my boys are half-Korean, though.


*The podaegi (also spelled podegi and pronounced po DEG ee with a long "o", a hard "g" similar to the "g" in "golf" or "go" and a long "e") is a Korean carrier with a medium to large rectangle of fabric hanging from a very long strap. Traditionally the rectangle is quilted for warmth and wraps around the mother's torso, while the straps are wrapped snug under the baby's bottom and tied around to the front to support and secure the baby on the mother's back. Western interest in the podaegi style has led to new wrapping methods which do go over the shoulders, and to narrower "blankets". (Definition courtesy of Wikipedia article: Baby sling.)

red, white & blue

Happy 4th of July!


Liam is evidently not feeling photogenic today.


Rowan, however, is loving the camera.

international walking festival

On Saturday, our little family participated in the 5th Annual Seorak International Treking Festival, along with our friend Brian (his blog entry here), his son Alex, and our friend Jenny. Unlike last year, when the entire international element consisted of us, two other A.P. teachers (another American and the Chinese teacher) and two Egyptian men who teach Arabic in Seoul, there were actually more than a handful of foreign participants. The bulk of these were a class of Russian students, who also participated in a dance festival later the same day, which another friend attended. (Unless, of course, there was more than one class of Russian students, mostly girls, in Sokcho that day.)

Traditional performance -- they dance whilst playing drums and whipping their heads around which moves the streamers attached to their hats. Talk about multi-tasking!


Brian started calling this gentleman "The Mayor," because, although we don't know who he is, he seemed to be fairly important. He wanted to have his picture taken (by the roving event photographer) with Liam. Obviously, Liam wasn't really on board with this idea.


Liam managed a calm grimace while everyone quickly snapped pictures.


Liam & Alex probably ate about three choco pies each -- not only the ones they received with the registration packets, but also the ones that kindly "aunties" gave them. I'm sure they used all that sugary energy on the walk.


Jenny said she was our "nanny" for the day, which consisted of holding Rowan, taking turns pushing the stroller, and chasing Liam around a little.


The crowd gathers...


After the traditional dance performance, the opening ceremonies consisted of the national anthem, several unidentified important people speaking, and group warm-up exercises, which I caught on video. (Unfortunately, we only had our older camera which doesn't have sound, so the K-pop music which accompanied the stretching exercises is sadly missing.) The Russian kids are all on the right. It looks like some of their teachers were shooting photos or video as well.



Since our group consisted of Liam and his 4-year-old friend, we did the 5K walk, which ended just inside the entrance to Mt. Seorak National Park. The 10K continued through the waterfall hike and the 20K was a course that is apparently only open twice a year.

Alex & Liam scored these super-cool visors with slide-down sunglasses and a solar-powered fan. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough sunlight amongst the trees to power the fan, which kept falling out.


Family photo at the turn-around point. We could have picked up a copy of the official photographer's shot back at the start/finish, but it was easier just to have him take one with our camera. So true to form, Rowan is attacking my hair and Liam is pacified by an ice cream cone.


Rowan enjoys relaxing in his new stroller with his toys.


Alex and Liam take a break from walking to explore the terrain. They walked a fair amount of the time, but also took breaks via shoulder and back rides.


Liam received this lovely "diploma" for his efforts.

new expat parents forum

Expat Parents in Korea Board

Sarah of Quest for Cuteness has started a forum just for expat parents here in Korea. There's already a "Matching & Hatching" forum on www.expatkorea.com, but it's not very active. About six months ago, she started an Expat Moms Club Korea in a different format, but the group has outgrown that format and there have been a number of dads interested in joining.

The new coed group is just starting, but I think it has the potential to be an excellent resource and outlet for those of us raising kids in South Korea.

everybody farts

뿡뿡이 (Bboong Bboong Ee) is a popular Korean children's show, which Liam has been, um, fortunate enough to watch at his friend's house. Both boys are fascinated by the show and JunMin even does some of the little dance moves. Part of the appeal? Fart humor. Lots of it.

The general gist of the conversation in this clip is that Bboong Bboong Ee (the orange guy) ate too much ice cream. His blue friend has mosquito bites. (I can totally sympathize!) Apparently the human character is "General Fart." Actually, if anyone with better Korean language skills can explain more, I'd be delighted!

two thumbs up: incheon airport and air canada

After we escaped from purgatory, everything went much better.

In the international terminal, we found an awesome play area with a nice little nursing nook. There's even a bathroom with everything (toilets, urinals and sinks) in miniature. The urinals have little flies painted in the middle, presumably to aid little misters in aiming correctly.









The play area kept Liam entertained until it was time to find our gate and prepare to board. Padded floor, plenty of sunlight, and a jungle-themed structure for kids to run and climb on like crazy monkeys. Perfect! (There was a larger, independent nursing area by the bag check area with two cribs, two changing tables, and two couches. I would guess there are other play/nursing areas throughout the airport.)











Our flight went remarkably well. Matthew felt that Air Canada was more kid-friendly than United, which we flew last May. I thought it was a bit of a toss up. In my limited experience, most flight attendants are genuinely nice people who like kids and it's the personnel who make (or break) the trip. Since our flight from Seoul to Vancouver wasn't full, one of the flight attendants shuffled people around so that I had an empty seat next to me. I didn't have to worry about bumping anyone while nursing or holding a sleeping baby. I was even able to spread out a bit.

The food was definitely better than United, although the Air Canada food was markedly better on the flight from Seoul to Vancouver than it was on the return trip. Weird. The free wine included in beverage service was an excellent bonus.

Warning: Even if the flight attendant gives you extra bottles of wine, you should not drink it all before the meal service. On our return flight, since I hadn't eaten much and don't drink much these days, the three mini bottles hit me pretty hard. I thought I was going to hurl while changing Rowan's diaper.

The evening (5:30 departure) flight from Seoul to Vancouver worked great for the boys. They both slept most of the 10 hour flight. (Liam had a little help from Children's Benadryl, which has in the past year added the disclaimer NOT to use it to make children sleepy. Why not? It works!) By the second day in the U.S., they were adjusted to the new time zone. Coming back on a day flight was a little rougher and the adjustment back to Seoul time took several days. Actually, a week later, their sleep patterns are still a little irregular.