My little women and me

Today we decided to spend another day in Yeosu instead of heading over to Busan. It allowed us time to wander the island of Olongdo (do is island in Korean so that sounds a little silly. The island of Olong?) and to get a very inexpensive meal full of seafood.

After dropping all of our bags off at the the train station for storage (the best 4,000 won we've spent on the trip), we walked to Olongdo.  It has a little man made land bridge that allows you to stroll to the island. Olongdo is full of paths that lead to different view points along the island. Although it is not super natural (there is music softly playing as you walk the trails), it was still pretty woodsy, relaxing and full of beautiful scenery. (And stairs. Lots of stairs).  The only bummer of the morning? There was a lot of fog so there wasn't the same visibility we had yesterday.  Another cool part of Olongdo? There was this foot health trail where they encourage you to shed your shoes and walk along their trail full of different textures.  It hurt like heck to walk on but afterwards, my feet felt so fantastic!  At the end of our walk, we found a cool musical fountain that was a smaller version of he Bellagio fountain but still pretty neat. It helped that it was choreographed to "Under the Sea".

Next was our seafood lunch, which ended up full of seafood delicacies that I can't tell you about because I...don't like seafood.  I know! I was a wasted spot at the table but the kids and Chris enjoyed it enough to make up for me. I stuck to rice and vegetable panchans, which filled me up just fine. I don't know the details, but I know there were plenty of sea squirt, cockles, crab and abalone at the table.  It only cost us 52,000 won, which isn't bad for 7 of us!
 
The weird part of the day? After our long train ride home, we finally made it back to Halmoni's house.  As we got out of the subway station and were right around the corner from her house, I had that feeling that you have after coming off of a long trip. That feeling of coming home and home just feeling so darn good? I felt that for a place that I've just been visiting for 2 weeks and I must say, it felt good.

Something new I changed today: the kids get a 10,000 won weekly allowance here for souvenirs, kimbap and the like. Today I made it a rule that I have to hear them speak Korean to two people each day to earn the full amount. Lilly immediately starting telling Halmoni that her throat still hurts.  In Korean.  Bribes are good sometimes, right?  I hope this is one of those times. Autumn has picked up quite a bit of Korean considering the fact that she only knew how to say hello, goodbye and thank you before our trip. The funny part? Despite her having the smallest Korean vocabulary, Halmoni treats her like she's fluent. Why? Because she fakes comprehension the best.  It's kind of funny to watch.  She does understand "your hair is pretty" because everyone seems to say it to her.