My little women and me

Yesterday was our first day on our allowance system that Chloe helped create for me.  I'll start with a disclaimer.  We do not do allowance of any kind back home.  We implemented allowance on our last trip as a way of giving the kids spending money in Korea and as a way of cutting down on the many requests for all of the adorable stuff they have here.  This time around, we've made a rather complex system where I give them daily points for their attitude, how much Korean they speak at home and away from home, how well they know our weekly vocabulary words and how helpful they are around the apartment.  Chloe has the opportunity to earn a little more (this was my addition, not hers) by using her phone wisely in a 4 different ways.  

One of my biggest character flaws is my lack of ability to stick with things.  (schedules, plans, chore charts, etc). I lack grit.  The only reason why I think this has the power to work is because the kids are invested in it working as their allowance is tied to it.  Yesterday was a dream.  The kids have been especially whiny and they've been arguing a lot since we came to Korea. (I like to think it is because they're adjusting to being in such a small space with each other, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating!) I only had one kid lose points from having a bad attitude and from arguing with a sister AND when I was calculating points that night, she said "I have 5 attitude points."  She knew.  So here is to hoping this keeps on working.

Hannah and Chloe are really diving into their Korean class.  I wish I could find a way for them to get their high school language credit from this.  They're spending 20 hours a week learning Korean but it doesn't count as their language credit.  It is kind of a shame but it doesn't seem like there are a lot of solutions out there.  They both came in from school and pulled out their vocabulary lists, made a quilt list and spent the afternoon trying to memorize them all.

Yesterday was Lilly's first day at Taekwondo.  (Elise starts on Wednesday thanks to a mosquito allergy that caused a pretty swollen elbow!) She was so excited to go and even paid for her own dobok.  The teachers were worried that she would feel behind and uncomfortable (they wanted her to join the foreigner class at 9 pm...Koreans have such late bedtimes!) but Lilly said she had a great time and she can't wait to head back.  After class, her teacher asked me if she is shy, to which I answered "She isn't as shy as Elise!".  He'll see what shy really looks like on Wednesday.  This is such a quintessential Korean activity!  Last time we came to Korea, I tried to make the kids to Taekwondo but there was serious push back.  This time, even Hannah wants to do it!  Last night made a quizlet list of basic Taekwondo terms, which will hopefully help the girls not bring shame upon our family name and help them not give blank stares when asked to do things. ;)

And just as a reminder for me: I have resolved to call Halmoni every week when we get home.  It is really hard to call her because our language skills are pretty remedial but being here with her has shown me how much those calls mean to her.  Chris' mom calls every Monday afternoon (Sunday night) and Halmoni schedules her day around it.  She is always home for a few hours on Monday to answer this one phone call.  We facetimed Chris today and throughout the day I heard her tell several people all about her conversation with him.  It means so much to her!  So when we return, we will do better.