Christmas in Korea

It's been a month since my last entry and yes, we've been busy. D and I will return on the 27th about 2 months ahead of A. Our playground of four Mothers and 5 children is just down to D and I. So there really isn't anyone to hangout w/anymore plus it's getting cold out and I'm ready to get back to the states. January will be a busy month for A as well.
I helped plan the Children's Christmas party for the AOC and we took a trip to Tokyo last week. The weather was a pleasant 50 degrees and we didn't have a huge list of things to do. The Christmas decorations in Tokyo were great to see. I'll have to post some pictures soon. I did put them all on FB if you are interested. We would have lived to have seen Mt Fuji but the weather didn't cooperate as it was overcast and cloudy when we were there.
We said good bye to both Emo and Miss Kim today. David brought tears to both of them as he game them a kiss good bye. It was sad but we will remember them. This week is equally as busy as the rest of the month. We are having our Korean friends over for a Christmas dinner on the 23rd and we are hosting a Christmas brunch for some of A's co-workers. All in the week before we leave. I hope I get everything packed in time.

I suppose it's up to A to continue to blog. Perhaps we need to start a new family blog ...

Return from the abyss

Well, not really. I realized that over a month has gone by w/o a single entry and even before that, entries were sparse. I suppose when you work three days a week, despite the fact that your mother is here cooking, cleaning, and taking care of your child, there doesn't leave much time in the week for blogging (and keeping up w/regular email and facebook).

So, what have we been up to? Mom was here and we did a DMZ trip, a trip to Seoul, and a week in Hong Kong. All in all a very good but busy visit. We explained to David that Po Po was going home and he was OK with that. My friend Hope also moved back to the States in October. We miss her company and her twins. David didn't have too much trouble accepting the fact that they have left. I think that will come as he gets older.

A left for almost 2 weeks the day after Mom took off and I went back to working 2 half days a week. I have one more day left of work and that's about it. David and I will fly back to the states on Dec 27th and that will end our time in Korea. The weather is getting colder and although we will miss Daddy, it will be much warmer in FL and I can spent time w/Mom w/o having to work.

So for now, we have a few more trips left and that's about it. I will try to be a little more consistent w/my entries for the next few weeks.

I pooped! Potty training in progress

My mom is here visiting and she took on the task of potty training David. My little 19 month old is verbalizing many things these days. Po Po (the maternal grandmother) asked David to tell her when he needs to poop - he replies OK. Several time over the course of the week, she's taken him to the toilet only for him to say "All done." Well, today was the day. This all happened while I was out doing the laundry off base. David started making noises/faces and Po Po asked him if he needed to poop and he replied OK. So after a few minutes of holding him above the toilet, he said "I pooped" Sure enough, he did it! Yay little Day-day (as he calls himself these days)! We'll see what happens tmw.

He also clearly demonstrated "excited." While enjoying his nigh-nigh juice (milk w/drinkable yogurt), I asked him if he was excited. With his hands straight up by his face and a smile on his face, he shook w/excitement and said "excited." It was pretty funny.

Jusangjeolli Cliffs and Hallim Park

The Cliffs or Pillars are located on the south part of the Island, about 10 minutes from our hotel. About a 2km stretch of coastline has these lava formations that are hexagonal and cubic pillars. It's really quite amazing. They offered tours to see the coastline from a boat which would have been awesome but we'll just have to do it another time.

Hallim park is on the West side of the island and had a small sampling of everything Jeju island had to offer - a lava tube, a limestone cave, a Korean folk village, and several gardens. They even had a rock and bonsai garden. David enjoyed climbing on some of those rocks.

News Flash

Several months ago, A's promotion recommendation form was submitted to the promotion board. He did not get a DP or definitely promote recommendation but he did have a fairly glowing recommendation. Nonetheless, other candidates in his situation had a 34% promotion rate to Lieutenant Colonel so we were a little nervous. Well, tonight we received a phone call from his commander and .... A made it! Congratulations! We are all very proud of you and thank the Lord for our blessings. He'll most likely pin-on in another year or so.

Now back to our regularly scheduled posts.

Seongsan Ilchulbong "Sunrise Peak"

SI is a dormant parasitic volcano on the Eastern side of Jeju island. Grass now grows in the crater and beyond the peak is the ocean. It was a fairly easy hike to the top but very windy. David thought running down the grassy hill was the best part. Just to the North is Udo Island which you can take a ferry out to - we didn't and there's also a little cove where the women divers work out of. These women dive for seafood and shellfish w/o any apparatus. A and David saw some one morning at the beach by our hotel but they are all over the island.

This shot is near the top, looking down at the coast. David just happen to stick his head out.
At the top. You can see the crater behind us.









David and the hill

Jeju adventures

Jeju's landscape is indeed beautiful. We saw waterfalls and hiked up parasitic volcanos. David and I were still fighting colds so we didn't do as much as we wanted. The center of the island is a dormant volcano known as Hallasan. It would have taken about 3-4 hours to hike up and another 3 hours to hike down. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do this hike but should we ever return, it's on our list. Instead we visited Cheonjeyeon waterfall, Seongsan Ilchulbong, Jeongbang waterfall, Jusangjeolli cliffs, and Hallim Park.

I'll start w/the waterfalls on this post. Cheonjeyeon falls were actually a series of 3 waterfalls. We only saw 2 since, I didn't feel up to going down a set of stairs to see the 3rd one. There's a 7 nymph bridge that we crossed in the park. This area appeared to be popular w/honeymooning couples.

Jeongbang waterfall is supposed to be the only waterfall in Asia that falls into the ocean. David was not impressed by the falls but found the rocks there to be much more interesting. The video says it all. You can see a part of the waterfall in the background.

The Hyatt Jeju

I found this hotel on Orbitz and got a good deal on our room. The hotel is located on the southern part of the Jangmun Resort area right on the water. We enjoyed waking up and looking at the ocean each morning from the room's balcony. The balcony was also a great place to hang out while David was falling asleep at night. Normally, we wait it out in the bathroom - not very romantic especially if you are trying to eat dinner as well. The large koi pond in the lobby area drew David like a magnet. He would watch it as we rode up and down the elevator and tried various times to catch a fish. Breakfast places are not common in Korea and rather than trying to find a place, we ended up having the ridiculously expensive breakfast buffet at the hotel. I must say it was a very nice set up and it ended up being our best meal of the day. There's also something luxurious about eating breakfast by the ocean. We commented more than once that David was indeed living the good life. How many toddlers enjoy breakfast by the ocean? The beaches connected to the property were pretty nice too. So, we had a pretty good start to our vacation.

Jeju Island Part 1

We knew we were going on vacation in September after a big peninsula wide exercise. A worked 2 weeks from 2 PM to 2 AM so he was ready to get away. We decided to head to Jeju Island - the Hawaii of Korea for 3 nights and did not do any extensive planning for this trip. Jeju is south of Korea, a 50 minute flight from Seoul or a 5 hour boat ride. We opted to fly. Also, the day before we left I woke up with a fever and stayed in bed nearly all day. Our vacation almost ended up not happening. I felt well enough to go but had 2 more nights of fevers in Jeju which limited what we actually did. Getting there was pretty uneventful except that David understood a little more that we were actually getting on a plane and flying up to the sky.

We arrived to a very drizzly and wet tropical paradise and quickly got our rental car from Avis. The car came equiped with a GPS which just required you to type in the phone number of your destination and it would route you there. Unbeknowst to us, the GPS would also warn you when your were approaching the speed cameras and cautioned us to slow down. At first we didn't know what it was doing - allowing A to go exceed the speed limit and follow the flow of traffic and other times it would beep annoyingly. We learned to follow the GPS.

Our hotel was a pleasant surprise and most of our pictures are actually of this resort. You can see the pics in the next post.

Playground

There are two playgrounds in our apartment complex. David has gotten brave lately and just climbs up and goes down the slides. One of us is always right behind him. He loves the swings and wants to do everthing by himself. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. It's interesting how I've started to look for playgrounds and construction vehicles where ever I go. If I don't spot them, David will.

Summertime fun

Well, we've officially been out of the country for 6 months. I can't believe it's gone by so fast. We arrived in the middle of winter and now it's so hot and humid that when we wake up in the morning and look over the rice paddies, all you can see is the mist from the humidity. Since it's been so warm, we haven't done too much travelling. Also, it's when the Koreans go on vacation so they've been out on the roads. Instead, our time has been spent hanging out at home. and around the apartment complex. Central air is also non-existent in most Korean homes. We just have an air conditioning unit in our living and the master bedroom which we use sparingly since electric bill can exceed $400/month. So, some days we just go w/out a shirt and use the fans.

The weather is wonderful for all the gardens and flowers we see. David is particularly fond of the bees which of course congregate around the flowers. He's very careful not to touch the bees. We've taught him that "bees, owee" so far, no one has been stung.

We've also discovered pat bing sue which is a Korean desert. A bing sue is a shaved ice with fresh fruit and sweetened condensed milk poured over it. Pat is sweet red beans. The one is the picture is a particularly tasty one which we got at our local Paris Baguette. In addition to the sweetened consensed milk, there was also some pomegrante juice poured on the shaved ice. Yum!

And finally, to beat the heat, we head to the playground first thing in the morning.

Weekend fun

We've been a little busy during the week w/work and exercises and playgroups so we ended up just hanging around here on the weekends. It's also been really hot and humid so one of our new favorite places is the Camp Humphries Splish and Splash water park. For $6/family, you can't beat it. It's only about 30 minutes away although we haven't perfected how to get back yet (long story). David loves this pool so much. The pictures don't quite do it justice since there are also two big adult slides, a section for older kids, a wading pool that is 3 feet deep, and a normal shaded playground area. As we were leaving, he said bye-bye pool without any prompting. An afternoon here ensure a good night sleep for all.

Haircut

Finally, we managed to get our little boy a haircut. This has not been an easy process. When his hair first started to curl up in the back, about a month ago, we took him to the base barber shop to get it cut. It all started out well - Daddy sat down and they put the cape on him, and then David sat on his lap and he got his own little monkey cape. It went downhill after that. After lots of tears and Mommy and Daddy switching places and David kept moving, we decided to cut our losses and try again another day.

Fast forward about a month and we decided today was the day. In the meantime, we've been talking about haircuts, the giant bib that you put on, etc. He can even say the word haircut. This time, I sat in chair, and he started to get a little upset when they put his cape on. Daddy was also there to distract him and kept his head turned in the right direction.

I give the woman who cut his hair a lot of credit. She did a very good job working around his movements and was very patient.





David for the most part tolerated his hair cut. We talked about the other people in the shop getting his haircut. We sang, gave him raisins, and continued to promise that it would be over soon. In the end, he looks like a big boy and we don't have to do it again for at least another 3 months.

The 12th Boryeong Mud Festival aka Mudfest 2009

Yes, there is really such a thing. It's a festival hosted by the Koreans on Daechon Beach on the West Coast of Korea. It was held from July 11th to the 19th and we went on the last weekend. As you can tell, this post is a little out of order. Anyhow, a monsoon was threatening and we weren't even sure we were going to attending. We heard several accounts from people who were there the first weekend that the festivities tend to degrade into a rowdy Spring Break type atmosphere in the afternoon. But there were some family friendly areas so we decided to venture to the coast when we woke up and it wasn't pouring outside. (BTW, The picture on the blog are not ours. We didn't bring our digital camera anywhere near the beach. They were actually from my sister's college friend who is stationed here as well. She's the one wearing the pink shirt) After parking the car for free and using the free tourist changing areas, we greatly anticipated David's reaction to the mud. There were various stations setup - a mud slide area, a colored mud booth where you could paint yourself, a mud pit that you could just walk though, and it just continues. The mud was a clay-like, liquidity mud. If you've ever worked w/pottery, it's a very similar feeling to when you are trying to clean up. Anyhow, I dipped my into a mud put and let David touch it. He wanted nothing to do with it. He made the funniest face of disgust and tried to wipe the mud off. We headed down to the beach where the water was cold, it was very windy and the surf was quite choppy. He didn't want to play in the water either. We tried the mud again at various locations and each time the reaction was similar. My girlfriend's daughter who is 23 months apparently felt the same way. Since David wasn't having too much fun, we really couldn't as well. We cleaned up the best we could and headed back. So we can say we went to the mud festival and we did get some free mud soap out of the deal. David did enjoy picking up the pine cones in the parking lot, throwing them and then running to pick them up though.

Eclipse

So, there was supposed be a solar eclipse today. The first seen in Korea in over 60 years. The best view was in China. However, it was hazy this morning and I wasn't sure when it was supposed to happen. I think I saw the tail end of it when I left work early to come back later for a meeting around 9:30 AM. But, you really aren't supposed to be staring at the sun for too long are you? Oh well, there'll be others.

Imo (pronounced ee-mo)

David's new sitter is Ms. Young and she told him to call her Imo. In Korean, that is a familiar term of aunt. He can say it and she loves it. Imo is Korean and she speaks very good English and doesn't live too far from our apartment. I was a little nervous about hiring her at first despite her references from other American families but she has been wonderful. She been w/us about a month and watches David 3 days a week for 6 hours a day. She is great w/David and he's very comfortable w/her. She sings to him in Korean and has taught him (and me) a few Korean words. She has also taught me to make a few Korean dishes including beef and pork bulgolgi and beef galbi. Imo brings different fruits to share w/David and she loves teaching him things. I didn't have the heart to tell her that David already knew what the cow and the snake say but she taught him to say meow. We've been working on that one for awhile. Consequently, she thinks he's very smart and she's intent on teaching him what a dog says. I hope he doesn't disappoint her.

Lunch with our Korean friends

Sunday after church, our friends invited us over to their home for lunch. They served us traditional Korean meal which was a wonderful feast. The main course was which is a BBQ bacon-type pork which is placed in a lettuce leaf and a sesame leave - pronounced sam gyop sal. Rice and some chili paste is added and then it's wrapped together and eaten. It was delicious. The little yellow mounds are a potato/butternut squash salad and there were other sides, fried squid, mandu, and some sweet potato. So tasty. It seemed like we ate for hours. They also served several different fruits for dessert - mandarin oranges from Jeju island, honeydew, and a persimmon. David ate at least 2 of the oranges himself. We brought Ghiradelli brownies which they considered to be a treat since they don't have an oven.

Cindy and Johnny, their children, played w/David while we ate. That in and of itself was a wonderful treat. He had a great time with them. They did a great job tiring him out since he passed out in the car on the way home. After lunch, we discussed a possible 3 day roadtrip around Korea. We unfortunately can't go because of Alan's work schedule but we had planned to visit all 3 coasts in Korea.

Jo and Moon-ja are part of a home school co-op and they've spent several years in the United States so they've met many Americans and speak much better English than we will ever speak Korean. They are a wonderful family and it's been a blessing to know them.

July 4th weekend in Seoraksan

We got a four day weekend for the 4th and headed out to Seoraksan National Park to do some hiking. What a wonderful weekend get away! The weather would lead you to believe otherwise since it was rainy and overcast the first day but it worked out well. The drive to the park was beautiful - I had forgotten what "green" looked liked. We saw farm land and hills and the mountains off in the distance. Seoraksan is about 10 miles from the East Coast and took about 3 hours to get to. David enjoyed the drive out there. We stayed at the hotel inside the park which made logistics with a 16 month old much easier. After a good breakfast at the hotel restaurant we did a short 2.4 km hike to a waterfall the morning which was a mere warm up for our hike after lunch. Ulsan Bawi was a 3.3 km hike but we didn't realize that the last 1.o km was straight up and the Koreans don't believe in switchbacks. As we ascending, it got misty since we were entering the clouds and the visability was quite poor. It was a tough hike but we had a great sense of accomplishment at the top. Our pictures didn't turn out too well because of the mist and we couldn't see a thing at the top but it was a cool hike. In retrospect, probably not the smartest hiking to take David on but he was secure and happy in the backpack.

The next morning we woke up w/sore calves and A had sore shoulders toting a 24 lb kid all day. We took it easy and took a cable car up to the top of a nearby peak. The weather had cleared up a little and revealed a little more of the scenery.

David actually isn't that close to the edge in that picture. We weren't that reckless. It reminded me a little of the terrain out west but not completely. There last part of the hike required a little rock climbing so we left the pack and David and took turns going up to the top. It only took about 5 minutes to climb up there. At the top, there was a man sell medals that you could get engraved w/your name. In the afternoon we headed out for a cave. Again, simple hike in the beginning w/a steep up hill at the end. Our hike started along the river bed and went straight up. David and Daddy both enjoyed the view from the top. The cave was a fairly small alcove in the rock face which was turned into a Buddhist shrine. How someone even found it, I'll never figure out. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get up there and of course, there was someone selling things in the cave. The Koreans take their hiking seriously, many of them dressed for the occasion and there's even full restaurant rest stops along the trail. The next morning we decided to take a look at the coast and the East Sea before heading home. All in all, an awesome, refreshing get away! Peak season for the park is the fall when all the leaves are changing color. We might have to make a return trip.