first day of school

The first day of school was a success! (Minus a few of the girls complaining that they didn't understand anything, which I actually see as good.  That means their teacher is only speaking Korean, which is great for them!)   Our sweet Mrs. Hwang (I know her name now!)  rode the bus with us again, making sure that we knew how to navigate our way there. She also had us get on a stop earlier, which helped us all get seats.  (Plus, we discovered that 30 minutes makes a night and day difference in bus traffic!)  I stayed with them at school, took the girls out to lunch (good thing since that was Elise's favorite part of the day) and then rode the bus home with them.  I'm going to ride with them a few more days to make sure they know how to get to school and back without leaving Lilly or Elise on the bus.  Autumn's comment after school was "it would have been great if Lilly didn't keep showing off and making the teacher think we are all at her level!"  I asked if showing off meant participating and speaking Korean.  Yep, that is exactly what it meant.  Oh, dear.
The worse part of school? That darn squatty potty.  I was hoping that Lilly had overlooked the western toilet but no such luck. I was so ruined by my china experience that I held it in until we came home yesterday!  Today I think I'm going to have to break down and have my next truly authentic Korean experience.

                           

 I think lunch might always be the girls' favorite part of school because they get to try all of the local food joints! Kimbap places are everywhere, which the Kang girls love. (Minus this Kang girl who has found that Kim/seaweed makes me want to throw up) Kimbap is a Korean version of a sushi roll. Seaweed on the outside, rice and all sorts of veggies/meat/egg on the inside. We've found plenty of new variations here and the girls love being able to grab some kimbap so easily! What is great is that they're only $2 here! They're pretty much in kimbap heaven. Rumor has it that most kimbap places have dukbeoggi, which is a spicy rice cake dish.  If this is true, I'll be in heaven too. 맛있어요!

Every morning we have scripture study as a family.  We start and end with our Korean hymn of the week, which is Nearer My God to Thee.  My favorite part is when Halmoni joins in and sings with us.  I just love that woman so much and having her sing with us feels me with such joy.   She has lived a long life full of the Japanese occupation, the Korean War and the many years of recovery. She is one tough cookie but so full of love.  I just need to figure out which other hymns she knows so we can use another familiar song next week!