Korean Food, Y U SO Tasty?!

It's about time I updated this thing, since we've been out and about a few times lately. Let's start with our last trip downtown where the girls spotted a person in a kangaroo outfit. Why? Because Korea.

Earlier this summer we went to an art museum with our friend Yun. Yun is an English teacher, and is therefore fluent in English. However, when she asked me if I wanted to go to the museum I briefly wondered about her language capability because her approach was to ask if I like polka dots. :D I thought that was such a funny way to ask! In my mind I was like, "Hm. I've never really considered my feelings towards patterns. How DO I feel about polka dots?" She explained that there was an exhibit by an artist that revolved around polka dots, and it turned out to be a really fun trip.

This was a room where we took off our shoes and put stickers EVERYWHERE. The kids loved it. Yun and I even had a few on us.  Also, a couple of girls asked to have their pictures taken with the girls, and I had them text me one. So cute!

Aiden on the second floor of the museum with the hanging polka dot balloons. He did not like being on the first floor, because he felt like the balls might drop on us. I couldn't seem to get him to understand that they were full of air, so it wouldn't matter.

My friend Brittany and I went out for lunch and decided to eat at Pizza Hut. Koreans do pizza in the most interesting way.

This one had bacon and potatoes on it, and then I think it had a sweet potato filling in the crust with cream cheese drizzled over the top. It sounds so weird, but trust me, it's really good!

Here is a picture of Lillie and Sue - I mentioned Sue in an earlier post, she's the one who approached me about teaching English. I meet her once a week to just have English conversations to help her brush up on the language. She has taken quite a shine to Lillie, and has actually asked to be able to spend a day with her. Lillie calls her Omma Sue, which means Mama Sue in English. LOL

Finally, some friends invited us out to a place that has something called shabu shabu, which is basically (to my understanding) a broth with a bunch of stuff in it. :D You start off with beef, and then add whatever you want. This place also had make-your-own spring rolls, which was so fun.

Full of tasty goodness. We're so lucky to live in such an amazing place where we've met such fantastic people. I'll be so sad when we have to leave!

It Was A Night Out...

So we went out to eat at a "beef and leaf" with some friends tonight - that's a restaurant where you grill the meat at your table and then you wrap it up in a lettuce leaf and nomnomnom it down. It was so tasty!




Samgyeopsal (pork belly)







Galbi (beef)





And here's a full shot of our table:

By the time we left we were joking that there must be some sort of contest with the waiters to see how many bowls they can leave on our table. Seriously, there were seven people eating but like 20 bowls. Oh, and for dessert there was bingsu! It's sort of like shaved ice, but then they put stuff on it like mango and pineapple and red bean. 

So that was dinner, and it was awesome. The kids all tried some of the meat, and then settled down with their rice, and afterwards the kids and I took a cab home in the rain. Sadly, this wasn't one of the cabs that can go on post, so we had to get dropped off at the gate and walk to our apartment, which is in the far back corner. Well, since it was raining and my tummy was full of bap and samgyeopsal and galbi and bingsu, I was happy. Therefore, puddle-jumping.

So far the only downside of the evening has been listening to the clunking of shoes in the dryer. :)

Too hot to blog!

Hey! I remembered I've got this bloggy-thingy where I can write down stuff about my life that I want to share! So hi there, I'm here again. :)

Life is, as usual, fairly uneventful. David recently had an entire month off, and we did nothing at all. Didn't go anywhere, didn't see anything, just hung out and enjoyed the beauty that is having a husband/dad in the house. His job here is amazing, and he has really normal hours - practically 9-5 - which is a dream come true after his years as an MP, so we just soaked up that month of Papa-time. Then sadly he had to go back to work, and shortly thereafter the kids started asking to start school again. All this time I've been thinking how weird they are to want to go back to school at the end of July, till it occurred to me that we finished school in the middle of May. So yeah, they're over this whole summer break thing and we're starting up on Monday August fifth. For the past couple of weeks I've been making sure I've got all the books/binders/apps/supplies I might need for school, and now it's just time to get down to it. If anyone is curious about what we're using as far as curriculum, leave me a message and I'll fill you in. :)

I've got (as usual) a bunch of weird and semi-random photos to share. I think I'll just start off with signs I've seen around.

This building is not far from post - I'd love to talk to the owner and find out why they named their apartment that.

Seen in the subway. On the left you've got a baby. On the right you've got an adult with Clorox and a rag behind their back... what? Seriously dude, what on earth...?

It's been blessed hot lately, so we all stopped at the local dollar store and got fans. Mine is probably the neediest personal cooling device I've ever used. It's covered in piggies and the words, "Do you like me?"

We went to E-World with our friends Nick and Lauren, and Lauren and I got animal ear headbands. Because that's what you do. And I think that's awesome.

Not Quite Made For Cities

As we were walking down the street today, dodging cars and scooters and winding around random carts and other debris, it occurred to me that I miss not living in a city. I really love Korea, and the people here are amazing, and I truly feel incredibly safe here. But sometimes I think it would be nice to not be surrounded by buildings all the time. 

The kids and I went to Herb Hillz (http://daeguexpat.info/fun/50-herb-hillz) with Yun on Friday. It was sort of a rip, since you paid quite a bit to get in and then had to pay for each ride, but the gardens were beautiful and the zoo (?) was cute. It was really nice to just be out in the green for a while. We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the kids in these silly "pose-a-long" type things.

So at the end of the day, Daegu, I still love you. You are gloriously absurd (I give you pre-buttered bread)...

... but seriously, I could not love you more, you zany city you. :)

Aiden's Korean Uncle

Life has been so hectic! I started homeschooling, started teaching seminary a week or two later, Mom and Dad came to visit, Aiden got baptized, and the latest addition to my crazy schedule... tutoring. :)

Last week the kids and I were at WooMul, the coffee shop just off post. I ordered our food and lemonades for the kids, and when I sat down this woman next to us kept sort of looking at us funny. She eventually scooted over and sort of ooh-ed and aah-ed over the kids, and then asked how long we'd lived here. I told her we'd been here about 6 months, and she nodded and scooted back to her seat to sort of confer with a friend of hers, and then came back and asked if I would teach her son English. I was quite surprised, as you can imagine. Just because I can speak English doesn't mean I am able to teach it, especially to Korean kids. But she explained that he's 12 and understands English well, just needs help speaking and writing. I thought about it and told her I'd give it a shot. So I met with her this week to talk about hours and pay, and it turns out that he (and his 3 friends!!!) can't start till July, but she and her 20 year old niece would also like to have English tutoring, just basic pronunciation help and stuff. So yesterday I printed out a news article for Sue and her niece Wonnie (Jung Won, but Wonnie is what her family calls her) to read aloud for me so we can work on pronunciation. We met for an hour, and after they read for me and we talked about the content of the article for a bit, we really just spent about 40 minutes chatting. And then Wonnie paid me $30. Seriously, I got paid to chat. We decided that I'd see Sue on Wednesdays, and Wonnie on Thursdays, and they'd each pay me $30 for an hour of practice time. And then starting in July there would be four kids who would be taught in two separate groups and they would pay $50 per group. Crazy that I can get paid for talking to people!

This very blurry picture is Sue - Reagan caught her while she was talking to me. Sue later told me she was very nervous about talking to me because she had attempted to talk to other Americans about tutoring, but she was totally ignored. I thought that was so weird, since her English is actually quite good, and she isn't terribly hard to understand. It's not like you could just wander off thinking to yourself, "Oh well. I couldn't understand her anyway." So she'd had experiences with some pretty rude people just trying to find someone to help her speak our language more clearly. :( 

This is me and Wonnie - Sue took it while I was talking to her yesterday. We both look so angry! Sue says she thinks we just look like we're talking about something serious. :D

Now about Aiden's Korean uncle... we sometimes go to a corner store called Shinwoo. The owner knows us and is always very friendly. One time he had a bunch of his friends there, and one of them speaks English. He introduced himself - his name is Hoyun - and chatted with us as we did our shopping. A few weeks ago he was there again, and when Aiden saw him he said, "Hey guys! It's Hoyun!" Hoyun went nuts! He was so excited that the kids remembered him AND remembered his name that he came up and gave Aiden a huge hug. So we went in again today to get the kids ice cream cones, and Hoyun was there, and his eyes just lit up when he saw the kids. Aiden walked in and he got another hug from him. Here's a picture of them together.

And I thought I'd end this post with a few awesome pictures of random Engrish.

Ashamed Cat is ashamed that she lives in the dollar store. :(

Mr. Pizza... "Love For Women"? What? Is this "delivery" in Korean? I have no idea what that could possibly have to do with anything.

"Sweets make a very special." They surely do. :)

And a couple more of the monkeys - here's a random kid who came up and walked with Aiden while we were coming home from church one day. Usually the girls are the ones to get all the attention, so it was kind of fun for Aiden to get someone who was hooked on him.

And this is probably my very favorite picture of my kids ever. :D

Hope life is going well for all of you! 

As Apology For Not Blogging, I Offer You This Post.

Basically I have a ton of photos to share, so I'm going to do a couple of different posts. This first one is us at E-World with my folks.


David, Bibi (My mom) and Lillie heading up the log flume...

 ... and their triumphant landing.

 Awesome sign in front of one of the rides.

 Me and the Lillie Mac when we stopped to eat our bento box lunches.

This is David. He's on a horse.

And this is what was labeled as an "oriental" toilet.

This trip to E-World was a lot more calm than the last one. WAY fewer people running up to coo over the kids, and no one wanted pictures with them this time. LOL We still had kids waving at them, and one or two of the ride operators did get a little googly-eyed with them, but other than that it was pretty uneventful. Thank goodness!

Kpop Photo Search Downtown

So I went downtown with the monkeys a few weeks ago, and they noticed that their favorite singer from Big Bang, G-Dragon, is part of an ad campaign for some skin-care line or something.

(Wow, did Aiden need a haircut or what?)

And as we walked along, we saw more Kpop stars.

B2ST (pronounced Beast),

 I think this is TVXQ, or part of them?

And we ended the day with everyone's favorite Korean superstar,

Psy. Talbots Gagnam style.

Mom And Dad Were Here!

And here are the three best photos of my folks while they were here. 

Dad with Lillie while we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him,

Mom and the girls at the Hello Kitty Cafe,

And my parents with my monkeys. I think the thing on Dad's head was being called "the silly birthday crown" or some such ridiculousness.

Happy Buddha Time

Yun offered to take us to a couple of cool places while my parents where here, one of them being a Buddha on Palgonsan Mountain. It was an absolutely beautiful area. There was a little bit of a hike up a mountain, with a stream winding around it, and pretty little lanterns hanging along the way.

There was also a really cool museum with information on scripture, and a meditation area, and all sorts of cool things. The whole place just felt very peaceful and calm. I could have stayed there all day.