Saturday, October 1, 2016

And then there was 6.  Halmoni is now here so we are back up to 6 in our party.  She arrived at 1:30 this morning and thanks to a little miscommunication (see!  I didn't double check what I thought a message said on naver!), Chris' uncle woke me up with some soft knocking at 1 am.  I discovered that it is harder to speak Korean when you're half asleep.

It's great to have Halmoni here and not just because the girls skipped school today in honor of her arrival.  Lilly and Hannah have been the best at speaking Korean to her so it may take some training to get the other girls out of the English mode with her. (Myself included. It's hard to talk baby to an adult when I know I can more clearly express myself in English.)  Today's adventures proved that Daegu-ites are not Oregonians.  It was overcast with some scattered sprinkles and some wind. We started off at Suseongmot (Suseong Lake) in an attempt to ride duck boats and eat snow ice in the cafe that is in an airplane.   It was really a nice quiet day at the lake. It was a stark difference from a few nights ago when we went during the festival that half of Daegu attended.  The Snow ice place was closed. Maybe it was too cold?  The duck boats were closed.  (Wind and duck boats don't mix, I guess).  Approximately 5 minutes before making it to the duck boat dock, Hannah asked to ride the Viking ship ride.  I dismissed her by saying we could if the duck boats were closed because, of course, I thought the duck boats were open.  So we rode the Viking ship. Including Lilly, who had a small burst of bravery that lasted long enough to climb on the ride but not long enough to make it past the first tiny swing.  What did we discover about Lilly today? She is very coherent when freaked out and sobbing uncontrollably.  Some thoughts she had while sobbing on the ride that the nice Korean man extended just for us? "I am seriously regretting my decision to ride this!" "Mom, my entire body is trembling because I'm so scared!"  Who has the time to speak in complete sentences when in the middle of being scarred for life? Apparently Lilly.  

Amazingly enough, even though I lost credibility after recommending that ride, Lilly still trusted my opinion on the Mt. Apsan cable car.  

One of the highlights of the day? Hearing stories of Halmoni and Halapoji's dates at Suseongmot back before there were duck boats and a carnival.   Halmoni also remembers walking many times from the Suseongmot area to past Mt. Apsan as an alternative to riding in a car because she would get so carsick.  

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