•living in an apartment smaller than the back of our house: turns out that I kind of like living in small spaces. Everyone is close at hand when you when you need them, cleaning is quick as there isn't much to clean and we hang out more. When the kids start getting on my nerves, they run down to the playground and all is well after 30 minutes of quiet
•not having a dishwasher: not as hard as it was not having a dishwasher at home. There aren't very many dishes and everyone has gotten used to washing their dishes right away. Also, the nature of Korean food makes the dishes easier to wash well. No cheese to scrub off and less grease.
•public transportation being our only form of transportation: I actually like the freedom the bus and subway offer us. Of course, it is super cheap to ride here. It costs about $3 for the whole family to ride one way but this also includes up to 3 transfers within 30 minutes. You can get anywhere on a bus or subway here and then you don't have to drive with the crazy scooter folk.
•speaking the language: hehe. Just kidding. That has been so hard. So very very hard. It actually is discouraging that we're going home when we are because I do feel like a lot of progress has been made. I wish we were staying longer so we could keep advancing at this rate. (When I say we, I mainly mean the kids)
•sharing one bathroom: it's been hard, but not as hard as I thought it would be. The girls have gotten a bit of a routine down, including a 5 minute knock for the world's longest showerer, Elise. The banana milk prize for the first one in the shower has also helped! The showers are a little different here so when I say shower, I actually mean "sit in a tiny bathtub and spray water on yourself". It's a little cold but we've adjusted and it really isn't a big deal. The hand towels they use instead of bath towels? We're used to those too. I'm pretty sure they use those because there just isn't room to dry a bunch of large towels. And those Koreans are so tiny anyway, right??
•getting the kids to attend the Korean branch: I thought they might last a week before begging to go to the English branch but they're doing great. I think this is, in large part, due to the amazing American missionaries in our branch, who are also the yw leaders. Who wouldn't want to hang out with sisters for all of your classes and activities? They've even made the girls conduct in Korean! (with help, of course!) I did actually understand a couple of the testimonies today. One was by the other yw in the branch who talked about how hard it is being the only Mormon in her school. She talked about how nice it has been having Chloe and Hannah in yw with her this last month...and it kind of made me want to stay forever. She is a super nice girl...one of those girls you want your daughters to be best friends with. Our goal is to get her to Oregon for a visit someday.
•sleeping on the floor: I actually wouldn't know because I've slept on the bed most of the time. Ha! Nah, I slept on the floor while Chris was here and it was kind of rough for these old bones. The kids are sleeping right now though, so it can't be that bad.
•not having a blow dryer or straightener: ok, this has been horrible. My hair looks horrible and we have mirrors lining the elevator so I have reminders everytime I don't take the stairs. I will overcome but I'm so sick of my hair looking cruddy.
Hey, it turns out that the girls' Korean teacher lives around the corner and is going to start taking the girls to school. When trying to figure out what I would do with my free time, Chloe said "Do what moms do when their kids are in school!" I still had a blank stare as I've never experienced that, so she got more specific. "Do family history, mom!" So I made a game plan for this week and am pretty excited to get some family history done on my two free days.
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