tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10307667031217535912024-03-05T12:30:35.598-08:00My little women and meSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.comBlogger387125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-72713305236705942622018-09-05T06:51:00.003-07:002018-09-05T07:01:08.225-07:00bugs, infections and hospitals, oh my!<h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The last couple of days have been a little busy as Elise’s strange mosquito allergy has turned into an infection. I made her some garlic poultices and rotated them off and on while throwing in my essential oils and, in my defense (Hannah said I was going overboard), the swelling on her arm went away with my efforts. Our family was very sweet and very concerned about it so this afternoon (after reading about all sorts of complications with infections), I gave in to their insistence that we take her to the </span><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">평원</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (hospital). It took me years of freaking out before I found out that when Koreans take someone to the hospital, they are normally just taking them to the doctor. I used to worry so much every time I was told that my mother in law went to the hospital! So Elise went to the “hospital”, I discovered how dirt cheap a doctor visit is in Korea and then we all had peace of mind. Chris' sweet aunt drove us over and did a bang up job of speaking Korean for me. I was warned that without insurance, I would have to pay for the whole bill. I barely scraped together the $15 to cover it. ;) And then the prescriptions for a few different medications…that came to a whopping $11. Needless to say, I am no longer quite as concerned about the kids getting sick over here. As a little side note before you berate the state of healthcare in the United States, this is the same country that said Chris’ grandma was too old for open heart surgery to be worth it some 15 years ago. I’m pretty glad that family pulled together the funds and that we got to make that decision, not them.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The bottom line is that I don’t have to stay up all night worrying about Elise dying in Korea and, much to her disappointment, she gets to go to school tomorrow. She was such a sweet patient, always thanking me profusely for anything I did for her and just enjoying our time together. It was a nice change of pace having her home, beyond the worrying and covering her in garlic all day. This girl and her darn mosquito bites. We now put mosquito repellant on her twice a day. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjJ8mNMDtsL9JFx5XxlUWvz9HPAF9pC3ZctZIL2H8JI9_Q3ez2PcEYZZCFiQoo3ckttwJWR966HeL3xbEjAqNWPBe4J9mShb_Cswjwc2lPJhRxbhN_UJktX7r14QNQQcqzCUEtjXQKKhe/s1600/IMG_8097.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: -webkit-standard; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjJ8mNMDtsL9JFx5XxlUWvz9HPAF9pC3ZctZIL2H8JI9_Q3ez2PcEYZZCFiQoo3ckttwJWR966HeL3xbEjAqNWPBe4J9mShb_Cswjwc2lPJhRxbhN_UJktX7r14QNQQcqzCUEtjXQKKhe/s320/IMG_8097.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Before Elise’s infection started peaking, we took a little trip to a riverside park close to the girls’ school. I thought it would be a fun after school trip but I am now learning how pooped the kids are after a day full of class time. Hannah lost 7 attitude points at the park! The other girls only had a bad attitude until they got close enough to the river to see the swan boats. They quickly perked up as the swan boats were a bucket list item on our last trip that we never got to cross off due to wind. We came. We swanned. We conquered. But not before our boat died in the middle of the river. There was a school kayaking team out practicing and I felt really bad not being able to steer out of their way, but help eventually came. Contrary to Elise’s belief, it died from a bunch of gunk being in the motor, not due to my general incompetence. Hannah was in a much better mood once our boat died as her sense of adventure kicked in. She was humiliated when I replied (she apparently wanted me to sit silent!) to some of the kayakers who were concerned. My korean stinks enough that I told him to please tell my friend that our boat died vs what I was going for, which was “We’re ok. We told our friend that our boat died.” He raced over in his kayak and told Chloe all about our boat dying and I realized my mistake while he paddled. Oops! I forgot to use past tense AND I didn’t use an object marker. Korean has very flexible word order but you put markers on the subject and object. When speaking casually, sometimes they drop either/both and leave it to context. This was apparently not a good time to do this. I’ve decided to leave it to the natives to decide when they feel comfortable dropping markers but that I am not quite experienced enough to decide. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">In other good news: The flower bread lady has come out. She makes little flower waffles filled with red bean in her cart and we’ve missed her immensly. We had started to wonder if she had moved, but all is well in the world. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Also, you're welcome for the cute puppy pictures instead of Elise's gross arm pictures, which I do have plenty of. I thought these were better alternatives.) </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-1942423556772622522018-09-03T17:40:00.002-07:002018-09-05T06:52:24.420-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. ;)<br />
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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. <br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-39656850610880814682018-09-01T23:30:00.001-07:002018-09-01T23:30:31.986-07:00Saturday chillin'This post is just for my dad. He sent me no pressure sort of message letting me know that my blog is the first thing he checks in the morning. Just to clarify, I don't expect anyone to check this regularly. My blog was the only thing that helped me put together a decent collection of our travels last time we went to Korea. Thus I blog because my memory stinks. <div>
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Yesterday was a pretty chill day. Elise and Lilly hung out with Yeju all day long so it was just the older girls with me. We started off with a Korean cooking class sponsored by the Daegu YMCA. We were 15 minutes late so we missed the majority of the cooking (it was an easy recipe), but we got the gist of it by finished up the food and we didn't miss the most important part. Eating it! We made Ddeok Kalbi, which is basically korean meatloaf that is wrapped around a large piece of ddeok (rice cake). It was delicious and I look forward to finding cheap enough ground beef to make it at home. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4x0m68TqOGLZpdLf39u_cilZQwDWb9L6hhlVOUytcSwSZ_vebzTPQvwOKBEcryw3BgfSKrDWdS0wL_CiTQDwQjVFDYs6YD6sFOiv4wc_JnbyI48tQ51uLNUejf4md8_vh6rN-23BLCqJ/s1600/IMG_8019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4x0m68TqOGLZpdLf39u_cilZQwDWb9L6hhlVOUytcSwSZ_vebzTPQvwOKBEcryw3BgfSKrDWdS0wL_CiTQDwQjVFDYs6YD6sFOiv4wc_JnbyI48tQ51uLNUejf4md8_vh6rN-23BLCqJ/s200/IMG_8019.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZyZg1JWW3lAb2Ut90QqJDlkhT_o2x0pgJhKdPo2i3iT43nlMgUVfROWVivasYpcUG7MU6IN1UZnLRAtBaWRX7ZVLJBAgvMQ0ey1DEfkHZWQa4IiHtYTdKPVbAyYJ5bQPSgnip_kzTPIp/s1600/IMG_8013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZyZg1JWW3lAb2Ut90QqJDlkhT_o2x0pgJhKdPo2i3iT43nlMgUVfROWVivasYpcUG7MU6IN1UZnLRAtBaWRX7ZVLJBAgvMQ0ey1DEfkHZWQa4IiHtYTdKPVbAyYJ5bQPSgnip_kzTPIp/s200/IMG_8013.JPG" width="150" /></a>After the cooking class, I gave the girls a pass to do whatever they would like in downtown Daegu. It is crazy crowded on weekends and they opted for a lot of shopping. There are so many options for shopping in this area so we spent some time above ground, checking out the many make up stores (korean cosmetics are really fun to explore. Their lipsticks are different, they have face masks of every variety you can imagine and their bb cream is just superior.), we hung out in the basement of Kyobo bookstore exploring school supplies (so many cute things! My theory is that through cute school supplies, they make their many hours dedicated to studying tolerable) and then we headed to the underground shopping area. This is a subway mall that is connected to a subway station and things tend to be a little cheaper down there. As we were checking out the goods down below, we heard all sorts of ruckus from up above. When we made it up to ground level again, we found ourselves right in the midst of a protest. We still aren't sure what they were protesting, but they were carrying Korean and American flags while marching. Like I said before, this is a very busy section of town (especially on Saturday) and they had to shut down two lanes of traffic for this march. I don't imagine this happens very often but it was fun to see Koreans being passionate about their beliefs. I don't normally feel this way about protesting as it is done all.the.stinking.time in Portland. I think the frequency of protests in Portland diminishes the impact. I tried to get the girls to join in for a free Korean bandana but they said something about not marching when they don't know what they're marching for. Lame.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivlUymroIafmY67FuVeMGF9rfjXUU5vhyphenhyphenASgSfltsbf4V4br08HBMEcxITPfaQYmQnN-4RNmd1hAAL2wNS97APG_NkObEB86Ra5ZGLV-9_FFl8U8jqOWxouDfC-dp73YXVbAPMsvIIE0No/s1600/IMG_8041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivlUymroIafmY67FuVeMGF9rfjXUU5vhyphenhyphenASgSfltsbf4V4br08HBMEcxITPfaQYmQnN-4RNmd1hAAL2wNS97APG_NkObEB86Ra5ZGLV-9_FFl8U8jqOWxouDfC-dp73YXVbAPMsvIIE0No/s200/IMG_8041.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8qGuoNob713f4zoHLK9XMPyMyJyx2rMuiIgoO8RErGdiBWYRHZ7aX1R4qTDKYrYhsG03p4ntEosoqhZ8mh2EPBHBmIdnDufdb8XlaTfXNm3CiLPJ2yW9xgpIUE1cRg0qWYZjjH3CTtkl/s1600/IMG_8025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8qGuoNob713f4zoHLK9XMPyMyJyx2rMuiIgoO8RErGdiBWYRHZ7aX1R4qTDKYrYhsG03p4ntEosoqhZ8mh2EPBHBmIdnDufdb8XlaTfXNm3CiLPJ2yW9xgpIUE1cRg0qWYZjjH3CTtkl/s200/IMG_8025.JPG" width="150" /></a>We headed off for a cause that we knew we could support. Gluten. We decided to try out the Schumann Cafe that offers unlimited bread for its customers. We weren't quite sure what level the bread would be on but we soon found out that it was well worth it. They had a large selection of pastries and bread and it was set up so you could take small portions of each type so you could explore the different varieties. I love my bread and feel like I've tried everything, but there were some new breads that wowed me! One of my favorites was a yeast chocolate bread. I've never seen anything like it. It had a thin shell of chocolate on the top of the crust, the actual bread was a hint chocolate flavor (not really sweet) and before you hit the bottom crust, there was a little layer of chocolate truffle stuff. It was delicious and unexpected! We also loved their olive bread that was a light and fluffy sourdough. After spending an hour just hanging out in this very aesthetically pleasing cafe, we went to use the bathroom. It was then that we found out that the downstairs is full of private little corners for you to hang out in, complete with a hammock chair and study rooms. Next time we go, we'll have to hang out downstairs! Oh, their drinks were yummy and well presented also. Between the three of us, we had an Oreo shake, lemonade and a mango smoothie. The Oreo shake was the least sweet somehow but they were all adorable and delicious. We will be going back there again, but not too soon. It is definitely a 5 pound cafe. </div>
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Ooh. What did Lilly and Elise do? They partied. They did ceramics, went to Daegu Stadium (there is a big park there) and finished off their day at the Jjimjilbang. One thing I didn't tell you about Jjimjilbangs is that they have a lot of stuff for kids to do. They have a play area, a movie room, a restaurant and an ice room in the sauna area. They came home right before midnight and crashed.I'm so grateful for friends in Korea!<br />
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-77478417852164107602018-08-31T06:40:00.000-07:002018-08-31T06:40:39.737-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Things are moving along as we're finding more opportunities to immerse ourselves in the culture. <br />
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I found a weekly Korean class for me to take that is very specific to my level, so that is a serious win. And it is while the girls are in school. I went in today to meet the teacher and I was impressed. As she administered the placement test, she taught me grammar in a very clear way, teaching me things that nobody has explained before! I am excited to learn with her. Also, after the placement test she said that my grammar is really advanced (which is a stretch) but that my speaking needs work. I wanted to hug her! My class back home in the states did not give a lot of speaking opportunities as it mainly focused on writing. She was appalled by this, which says a lot about her teaching style. I can't wait to practice speaking more and then practicing even more with family! <br />
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Tonight we went and watched the taekwondo class that Lilly and Elise are going to take. The majority of the kids in the class are black belts, like good little Koreans, but there are a few beginners. (their friend, Yeju, is one of them) It is three days a week of exercise, discipline and speaking Korean. Woot woot. Elise is less than thrilled about it but I love making my kids do things that are good for them. (Hey, we're in Korea, right?) <br />
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Korean school is going well. Lilly asks me if she can stay home every day (which is kind of a repeat from last trip here) and Elise started crying in class when they had to read their essays in Korean BUT they always come home telling me that it went well. I am very glad that this school is a very gentle environment for them to learn Korean vs the Korean public school system. Their classes are small (5-8 people), their teachers are patient and, with them being the youngest students, they're treated very well. It is also a little more reassuring this time around as I now know that they will probably be crying when they have to leave in December, just like last time. <br />
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We also had the Sister Missionaries from our branch over yesterday. It was fun visiting with them but it was also nice feeling the sweet spirit that follows them. They shared a message that accompanied the well known <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=654QGjYHlJY" target="_blank">marshmallow video</a>, talking about how much this trip can benefit the girls for years to come. They talked about the many blessings that can come out of our time here and how the girls may not see those blessings right away, but that they will come. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that sent this message to our family, just when we needed it. <br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-41501199843185792562018-08-29T06:01:00.000-07:002018-08-31T06:46:44.155-07:00what to do?<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">August 29, 2018</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Halmoni took me out for oxtail soup, which is at the top of Chris' very short "least favorite Korean food" list. I loved it!)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-kerning: none;">Today was day 2 of the girls school and I decided something. I have got to figure out something to do during the day. Homeschooling my girls for the past The girls are gone from 9-3:30 and I am not used to having this much time on my hands. The apartment is small so it was clean super fast. I hung out with Halmoni and her social worker helper friend, Mrs. Hwang, for 2 hours. We spoke Korean the whole time so I am thinking that counted as some serious study time. (by the way, Mrs. Hwang said my Korean is much better than last trip. I was starting to doubt if there had been any improvement over the last couple of years so I am celebrating this!) I had to explain to her Chloe’s dual enrollment program, which I possibly shouldn’t have even tried. I am not sure if she understood in the end. Beyond that, I studied. All day long. It was a very long day and I need to find more things to fill it. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-kerning: none;">I would like to start interviewing Ha</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">lmoni so I may start doing that during the day. Chris and I made a list of questions that we want to record her answering. After I figure out all of the technology, I think the daytime would be ideal as there won’t be kids bouncing off the wall in the background. I’ve scanned in all of Halmoni’s pictures, but I would like to record her telling me about each picture. All attempts to find a place to volunteer have been unsuccessful as of yet. If I sign up for a language class, they’re all at night. With the kids gone all day I feel like it would be pretty jerky of me to run away two nights a week. I’m going to keep looking for a daytime language class. Oooh. Mrs. Hwang IS trying to find someone to teach me how to make a hanbok (a traditional Korean costume), so that could keep me busy for a while. I would love to learn the technique behind making these beautiful costumes and get my hands on a pattern. But until I find something useful to do with my time, I am going to be forced into some lovely relaxation time at the jjimjilbang tomorrow. Every time I have gone so far, I have been on a time crunch and only spent 1-2 hours there, which is down right criminal. Tomorrow, I plan on spending as much time as I can stand there. Halmoni is gone all day tomorrow, the kids are gone all day tomorrow and the jjimjilbang is calling. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Hannah and I are heading over to check out a b-boying class tonight to see if she has the guts to join it. I emailed them today to confirm that girls are actually allowed in a b-BOYing class and they are. The next question is “Are there girls in the class?”. We shall see. Either way, it will be fun just to see the class in action. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica neue;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-18455218809097975682018-08-27T07:01:00.001-07:002018-08-27T07:01:22.539-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh, if I could count how many times over the past few days I have questioned my decision to pack up our crew and head to Korea! Every time I start to feel this way, right after shoving those thoughts deep down inside me to keep my brave face, things work out. So here I am, smiling and hoping that things will work out. Hoping I am not scarring my kids, hoping they have a good experience here and hoping that we come out of this closer than we were heading in. I know there are reasons why we came here and why we're supposed to be here for this extended period of time. I just don't know all of those reasons yet. I will tell you that sweet and wonderful wang Halmoni has been waiting for us to return for two years. She saved our water bottle, my scale, the girls' brush and my 4 hair curlers. If we had left a bobby pin, I think she would have saved that too. And every older lady in the apartment building that we have talked to knows all about us and that Halmoni was waiting for us to come. I am glad that we were able to give her something else to look forward to. (and hopefully she won't be looking forward to us leaving in December!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_oA2-nY1NJA3m63ujuOLlyG_kZD14VHD0MfAK9HSxl8HbqJgE47A83p_-KtArOSd7gkGhqX80e-r84eXK8ro8zA0YEVp_nvvURM_MkfKBcYJ6nd_ckT6eLBJZwYs6IEonsJPFatNl2G0o/s1600/wang+halmoni%2527s+family+history+pictures+-+4+of+216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="411" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_oA2-nY1NJA3m63ujuOLlyG_kZD14VHD0MfAK9HSxl8HbqJgE47A83p_-KtArOSd7gkGhqX80e-r84eXK8ro8zA0YEVp_nvvURM_MkfKBcYJ6nd_ckT6eLBJZwYs6IEonsJPFatNl2G0o/s320/wang+halmoni%2527s+family+history+pictures+-+4+of+216.jpg" width="226" /></a>Yesterday we went back to our little branch in Gyeongsan. There were 20 people in attendance minus us and two return missionaries that were visiting. (siblings who both served in Korea...I love when that happens!) So the five of us now make up ⅕ of the attending congregation. It felt like coming back home to see old faces. After the second hour, we realized that church was over. Somewhere in the past two years, they have cut their meeting time to two hours and added a yummy lunch afterwards. I'm not completely sure what their reasoning was, but I think it really does lessen the burden on individual members of such a small congregation. When you have 3 hours of talks and classes, someone has to prepare that material and often one person has to prepare 3 different talks/lessons in one Sunday. It makes sense and it seems to work for them. Lilly loved primary because instead of just her and another boy, they have 3 lively junior primary kids that she gets to play with. After church, Rachel and I scanned a bunch of Halmoni's pictures. Among the treasures was this picture of Chris' mom. Before this, the oldest picture I had of her was as a teenager. I'm so grateful that Rachel found this album and made me sit down to scan them. (I'll post more later because they're pretty spectacular.)<br />
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Rachel and Collin heading back up to Seoul today to finish off their trip. We loved getting to play with them and adventure about but as soon as they left, things did start to feel a little more routine. Chloe and I rode the subway to the grocery store and brought home just enough that we could carry. (Emart had the nerve to close their location right across the street from our apartment!) We went with dear sweet Mrs. Hwang (Halmoni's weekly helper) on an adventure to take a Korean test. My Korean is so lovely that I thought she said that the girls' school didn't have a class anymore. The girls were happy to see us get on our very familiar bus, go on our very familiar route and end up getting off our very familiar stop. The school had moved locations, which is what she must have said when speaking at the speed of light in Korean. The girls start class tomorrow after being sorted into their houses via a pretty intense placement test. Surprisingly enough, the two that said they guessed when they got frustrated are in the lower class. And then we came home and made a routine Korean dinner. All in all, a pretty routine day that we survived. And topped off with popsicles. Why? Because Emart may have shut down but a new Popsicle shop opened up around the corner. It is a whole shop full of so many different types of ice cream. Oh, and because the humidity is trying to kill us.<br />
<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-11758389985743101172018-08-25T07:54:00.002-07:002018-08-25T08:00:27.157-07:00the train to busan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_U1gNL6zgOJGCGMWRHLFiJrW-2lHSXpOvcbAdVsnr2Zg-82mu5kGSyliB2G2v_qJ6-u5phO-v3lHYSUMJ9IX31ICPnMHXj1RB4nCt-vyiQlkxHiZKdkw-qcLUCLUEop-d7yMRAVhVkmm/s1600/busan+august+2018+-+7+of+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_U1gNL6zgOJGCGMWRHLFiJrW-2lHSXpOvcbAdVsnr2Zg-82mu5kGSyliB2G2v_qJ6-u5phO-v3lHYSUMJ9IX31ICPnMHXj1RB4nCt-vyiQlkxHiZKdkw-qcLUCLUEop-d7yMRAVhVkmm/s320/busan+august+2018+-+7+of+8.jpg" width="213" /></a>We were sitting around the apartment yesterday feeling pretty hot and planning a day trip to Gyeongju for Saturday when we checked the weather. The typhoon had switched directions, making a trip to Busan doable again and Collin was hunkering to meet Busan. The kids threw a change of clothes in their backpack and we booked it to the train station, barely missing our train. Just kidding. We only thought we had missed our train. I may have tried to get them to reopen the door but I learned a valuable lesson. Always check the train number before pounding on a train. We ventured into downtown Busan with me being promoted to lead tour guide since Chris wasn’t here. I found I may not have paid very close attention to my surroundings when he was leading us around Busan two years ago. </div>
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A few things that we learned from our trip:</div>
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•Busan is more fun with a seafood lover at the helm. Some of the girls love seafood but they didn’t even know where to begin when ordering. </div>
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•Don’t hop onto a tour boat before asking where it takes you. It could be fun though!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIY9reKYkA5sCpRzdShIGSXohRo4UdJoRb1qj3v_vWegtpweMIgc3-FQ87ZJPsRBwiR9D6BiKUeMh8C87WsYb_amNZZNlJBadIuuVDilIb2_WGNmU53x_Lo12vE6j66MV11tzTYln6bjqB/s1600/busan+august+2018+-+8+of+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIY9reKYkA5sCpRzdShIGSXohRo4UdJoRb1qj3v_vWegtpweMIgc3-FQ87ZJPsRBwiR9D6BiKUeMh8C87WsYb_amNZZNlJBadIuuVDilIb2_WGNmU53x_Lo12vE6j66MV11tzTYln6bjqB/s320/busan+august+2018+-+8+of+8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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•If you have lost your cat in Korea, look for it around Busan Tower. We saw more than 20 cats wandering around on our way up. It is now dubbed “고양이 공원”. </div>
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•Koreans (who sure do love their umbrellas) aren’t as wimpy with rain as I thought. They will play in the ocean in the pouring rain.</div>
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•If you look hard enough in the direction of Japan on a cloudy day, you can convince yourself that you see Japan. The mind is a wonderful thing. </div>
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•The street food in Busan is alive and well but choose a tempura stall that re-fries your order instead of microwaving it. </div>
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•Guest houses are the way to go. They have yet to let me down, they’re cheap, they fit our family AND every one that I’ve stayed at has used great decision making skills when choosing their fonts, graphics and decor. This trip, we stayed at Kimchee House @ Busan Station and they did not disappoint. </div>
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•You may be mistaken for an American tv show when you have a huge family walking down a street food alley with two GoPros. </div>
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The most important lesson? Always be willing to throw a change of clothes into your backpack and run off on last minute train trip.<br />
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side note: My korean skills are a bit rusty but they are getting us around. Tonight we hopped into the elevator with some Korean women who said their floor level to each other and I confirmed in Korean and pushed the button. They were so surprised that I understood. (yeah...I know numbers. sort of. The darn Koreans have two numbering systems but that's a story for another day) They proceeded to discuss our yummy smelling fried chicken and we had a nice little chat in Korean. Small successes.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwZUNICPdDW4dLUcng2snCTCK5rhK1B1Vcu5890Z59SAzmXDDUYN_QaEUDN3YeQKcHD-m6FKS8YdJflhLJNGIO2IJNsuTH2IOor4he-qq5WZ_fjZSx7eZQVnFuQQZgF7THOZ8TeX4dY3Li/s1600/busan+august+2018+-+2+of+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwZUNICPdDW4dLUcng2snCTCK5rhK1B1Vcu5890Z59SAzmXDDUYN_QaEUDN3YeQKcHD-m6FKS8YdJflhLJNGIO2IJNsuTH2IOor4he-qq5WZ_fjZSx7eZQVnFuQQZgF7THOZ8TeX4dY3Li/s320/busan+august+2018+-+2+of+8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">popsicles are saving our lives over here in this humidity</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC45pt5yoVZZNuMs7OISbPihlPoqQl4gEPxbVfyKOSyWmapu8GcS36OY7Z9oWwuzIDpYo-dQ1wj-FaoO01-GOFIz6sRIZKh9v0EaxEqsro1GAnNXyMy8dVOAY3fDE1Om-y1EMtWu-hrngH/s1600/busan+august+2018+-+3+of+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC45pt5yoVZZNuMs7OISbPihlPoqQl4gEPxbVfyKOSyWmapu8GcS36OY7Z9oWwuzIDpYo-dQ1wj-FaoO01-GOFIz6sRIZKh9v0EaxEqsro1GAnNXyMy8dVOAY3fDE1Om-y1EMtWu-hrngH/s320/busan+august+2018+-+3+of+8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a small sampling of the many many stairs down to the boat </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a true oceanfront restaurant</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmiHaLLDcHm0n9Lx732HnnlQtYofkJ5NKFmXpSDqBV8pkijH5WR05esEFKtF_NGVeW7aOpq6f5QK1wH0DNoAv_Jx-xRqTVS0_b9QVAq-k3yx51dWOg53H35Ak0aeSZCTa_IPmyaRMg5zz/s1600/busan+august+2018+-+6+of+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmiHaLLDcHm0n9Lx732HnnlQtYofkJ5NKFmXpSDqBV8pkijH5WR05esEFKtF_NGVeW7aOpq6f5QK1wH0DNoAv_Jx-xRqTVS0_b9QVAq-k3yx51dWOg53H35Ak0aeSZCTa_IPmyaRMg5zz/s320/busan+august+2018+-+6+of+8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sometimes a spontaneous boat ride to a mystery location can be the highlight of your day </td></tr>
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-89362929285454158082018-08-23T14:17:00.002-07:002018-08-23T14:17:57.249-07:00turning 40 in KoreaToday I turned 40. Or do I turn 40 tomorrow? I'm thinking of milking the international time flop and celebrating my birthday on Korean time and Pacific Standard time. <br />
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I started off my day walking down to the park with Lilly and Elise. They are thrilled to be so close to so many parks again. After breakfast, I headed to a "mok yok tang" or bath house, which I have been bribing myself with for the last couple of weeks. (You can do this, Sarah. Just 2 more weeks and you will be moved and going to a bathhouse!) It worked. I made it. And I got to go to a bathhouse on my birthday. Bathhouses are a little more rustic than <a href="http://mylittlewomenandme.blogspot.com/2016/10/well-i-did-it.html" target="_blank">Jjimjilbangs</a> in that I think they're a more regular part of peoples' day. This particular one was a 5 minute walk from our apartment and it was full of women of all sorts of ages and body types. It wasn't quite as clear cut as the jjimjilbang in ways of signage so I may have stepped in a pool that wasn't a pool and dipped my washcloth in a place that it wasn't supposed to be dipped in. The nice ajumas (older married women) there set me straight and gave me a lot of opportunities to practice Korean. There was actually quite a bit of Korean practice going on there and despite it being a little bit of a scary experience, my goal is to go back weekly. It is such a quintessential Korean experience where you are participating in their culture head first. Love it. And the feeling you get when you pour ice cold water on yourself after sitting in the hot tub is rejuvenating.<br />
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What else did we do today? We went to the Seomun Sijang (market) with Collin and Rachel, introduced them to Artbox (a shop with all things adorable and Korean), shopped our favorite bookstore and ate some tasty "subway chicken". Subway chicken actually has a more complicated and hard to remember name, but it is sold in the subway so, of course, we have dubbed it subway chicken. It was hot and humid with a typhoon headed our way so we were sweating like crazy and praising the rain when it finally arrived. The whole day was great but at the end, all of the family pulled together a birthday dinner since Rachel's a big mouth. We went to our Aunt's Korean bbq joint and stuffed ourselves with all of the fam. It really did feel so good to be back with all of these people who I came to love so much on our last visit. They got me a beautiful cake made out of little rice cakes and we left the dinner with plans for Lilly and Elise to do Taekwondo with their friend, Yeju, and for me to tutor Yeju in English. So, all in all, a wonderful way to turn 40. My favorite way to spend my birthday is always with my family and today I was surrounded by them. </div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-52234248293893518492018-08-21T05:50:00.000-07:002018-08-23T05:50:44.368-07:00Korea 2018: scared like crazy<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Andale Mono"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Well, we are on our way to Korea. This happened last time we went to Korea, so I’m not sure why I’m surprised at these feelings I’m having on a bigger scale. Fear. I hate fear. It keeps me from doing so many things. My little introvert self stays home from events, doesn’t invite people over, backs out of commitments…all because of fear. This fear is kind of like having a baby fear. About halfway through each pregnancy, I come to the realization that I am in over my head. Not only do I need to go through labor again, but I realize that I have another baby on the way that I will most likely screw up. That’s a little like this Korea trip. The tickets were purchased and plans should have been coming along, but we were too busy moving to really prepare. I stopped studying Korean because I was too much of a nut case. I started worrying about Chris’ grandma and her ability to put up with us for 4 whole months. I started wondering if we would wear out our welcome with other family. Chloe and I have some pretty epic plans to play around with videography while in Korea and I’m realizing I have no idea what I’m doing. So I am now aboard an airplane that is a few hours away from Seoul and I am scared. Not emotional wreck scared but pretty yucky on the inside. We have a grocery list of things that we want to see, do and accomplish in Korea but right now I’m just hoping we can survive. There you have it. Confessions of this “adventurous” and scaredy cat momma. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Our little trip bucket list has little and big adventures on it. Most of the things on there probably won’t happen but we are going to try our darndest to work our way through it. We’ll try to blog away as we explore and, who knows, we may even make a couple of videos. As for now, I am praying for peace and guidance so we can make the most out of this trip. </span></div>
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-79231356087813631072017-04-19T16:59:00.001-07:002018-08-23T05:49:04.528-07:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Kangs have to go to their motherland to have to worry about ducking in a doorway </td></tr>
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Somehow I ended up with extra time today (maybe it has something to do with the fact that I haven't started dinner yet?) and noticed that I haven't blogged one darn bit since coming home from Korea. Moderately lame, but life seems a little less exciting over here in the states. Our days are filled with the same things week after week. Soccer, dance, piano, homeschool group, swimming lessons, church responsibilities and all of those fun household responsibilities that seem to always need doing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRp3oLhBzOEPViorkQ19-6grPCmFl8VHlHxX1QA49ZJ8taXqOAUk_-VKvvW3xmPK6CpPsN_WuPdTlgSJ9FhUp9JV6t9HYmMUw9duAwfCzD7hLU3Xiuafm3U7Vp-Wjy8F1E9gdgOeCdAjj/s1600/korea2016+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRp3oLhBzOEPViorkQ19-6grPCmFl8VHlHxX1QA49ZJ8taXqOAUk_-VKvvW3xmPK6CpPsN_WuPdTlgSJ9FhUp9JV6t9HYmMUw9duAwfCzD7hLU3Xiuafm3U7Vp-Wjy8F1E9gdgOeCdAjj/s320/korea2016+4.jpg" width="213" /></a>Maybe this is why I spend most of my free time dreaming away about returning to Korea this fall. It is ironic since Koreans are infamous for their "Bbali, Bbali" (hurry up!) ways, but Korea represents a much slower paced life for me. Most of the things we did were centered around family. I got to lay on the floor with the girls at night and talk with them about anything and everything. (Or we snuck out after the littles fell asleep for late night street food runs) We went to school together, we adventured together and we learned together. All of these little things are what pulls me back. Lilly frequently talks about how she wishes that we could just move to Korea. You and me both, girl. (Just you and me, actually. Everyone else would be less than thrilled about it. Including and especially Chris.) But we will settle for a trip here and there. Hopefully there will be another one this fall and hopefully, it will be a little longer than our last trip.<br />
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Does our family do anything besides Korean-y things? You betcha. What have we been up to since October? Here are a few highlights:<br />
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•Rachel surprised us for a Thanksgiving visit, thanks to her friend getting married<br />
•We got more Rachel time at Christmas<br />
•We had a simple Christmas that had more of a Christ centered focus. We loved the Light the World challenge that helped us work on developing Christ like characteristics throughout December.<br />
•Our family did Whole30 for two months. We now are doing a little mix of paleo and real life, trying to keep it healthy but still loving our rice and tofu.<br />
•We took the whole crew (minus Autumn and Chris) to Rootstech in Utah. Lilly and Elise staying with Rachel, experiencing BYU and all of the silliness her roommates and her had to offer.<br />
•Chloe got her permit and mastered driving a stick. Either she is a great student or I've become an amazing driving instructor. (Actually, I'm going for #1 as I am still pretty squimish in the passenger seat.)<br />
•The girls participated in Destination Imagination through our homeschool group. They loved it. I barely survived with my sanity intact.<br />
•We took a family vacation down to Arches and Canyonlands over spring break since it was Lilly's turn to watch conference in the conference center. (It also gave us an excuse to hang out with Rachel!)<br />
•We took a quick trip to Eastern Washington for my grandmother's 85th birthday party. We did a gentle surprise party so it wouldn't end up with a heart attack. <br />
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Whew. And that is my 6 months in review. It doesn't sound as busy as it felt. And now I am going to go research plane tickets a little more. Something I'm pretty excited about for our next trip? We're going to attempt to vlog as a family. Ooh. And Rachel might come for a couple of weeks. Exciting times. <br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-6422958565626372602016-10-16T08:38:00.001-07:002016-10-16T08:39:06.500-07:00As we only have one full day left in Daegu, the girls and I have been walking around a little sad about ending this trip. Hannah asked if she can come for 4 months next time and is already working on a deal that involves her hijacking Halmoni's trip next year. Lilly and Elise are begging to return to Korean class tomorrow. And I was left trying to explain to our family and friends tonight why I love Korea. It was pretty messy with my serious lack of Korean vocabulary so I'm going to share with you guys. In English. So much easier.<br />
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1. Everyone holds hands here. It's just the way it's done. Moms and daughters. Friends. Guys hold guys' hands. Girls hold girls' hands. It means nothing except "hey, we are friends. Or family. And we like being together." I find it sweet and almost did a cartwheel when a certain 13 year old of mine (no names here) held my hand throughout the market the other day. That would have never happened in America, folks. I loved it! And do you know what I loved even more? The Koreans that I was telling this to were appalled that it isn't done in America. They were shocked. </div>
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2. Sijangs for the win. I don't know what I will do when I can't walk through a sijang for all of my veggies, cute socks a plenty and, of course, cheap street food. Yes, we have farmers markets in America. In Portland, they're expensive! Here, they have the best prices around AND they will sometimes throw in an extra apple or what not. And going back to having to drive into Beaverton for my Korean veggies will be sad. And inconvenient. And more expensive. Being a 5 minute walk from just about anything we need is pretty sweet. </div>
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3. Tiny apartments. I kind of love Halmoni's tiny apartment. I know they wouldn't work back home unless we took to sleeping on the floor but I do enjoy it. Did you know that most people that have modernized and have beds don't actually have a soft mattress? It's basically sleeping on the floor but higher. I thought we might eat each other or something being so squished for 2 months but it's been quite nice. And just having less has been a little freeing. Of course, I saw this as we are packing and I am bringing home half of Korea in our bags. I do want to do some serious purging when we get home and maybe move to a smaller house. Or to Korea. </div>
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4. Safer public transportation. My girls are much more free to roam about and I really think it's because of the Halmoni's. Halmoni's don't sit at home much here. They walk to the senior center. They walk to their friends. They walk to the sijang and to the exercise park. With them out and about all day long, there are always tough Halmoni's around to smack anyone who messes with your kids. Because of this, nobody messes with your kids. They know they're being watched. </div>
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5. Jjimjilbangs. Need I say more? How have I made it 38 years without you??</div>
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6. Korean food, on the cheap. You name it, we will miss it. (Minus the silk work larvae) It is about as expensive as McDonald's dollar menu and mostly healthy. I've gained a taste for sweet red bean, kimbap and sweet potatoes on this trip. I've tried octopus and still am not a huge fan, but I like the majority of Korean food. (Ok, they live on a peninsula and love their seafood, so I guess I probably like 50% when you consider that.)</div>
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7. Branches. I love branches. In America, our church congregation has about 400 people and is called a ward. Smaller congregations are called branches and our little Gyeongsan branch has about 25 people on any given Sunday. (With the Kangs and the two sets of missionaries.) I love the intimacy of a small group and the girls especially love having the sisters around. Oh. Today I was invited to bear my testimony in sacrament since it was our last Sunday (After church started!) A sweet returned missionary translated for me and it was kind of hard. I get distracted pretty easily and stopping after each sentence for a translation was a bit of a struggle. What was I saying again? We love the branch here in all their smallness, even if it does insure that you're teaching a lesson each week and probably giving a talk or saying a prayer on top of that. </div>
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Ok, I could keep on going all night long. The point is that we're going to miss this place. The good news? I kept trying to use an extra box and Halmoni made me use her luggage, telling me to bring it back next year when we come again. I finally gave in which means....I need to start saving for next year! </div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-11018511237016879242016-10-11T06:28:00.000-07:002016-10-11T06:36:50.268-07:00You know how in America younger kids don't need ID when flying domestically? Well. They need it here. My dear sweet mother in law made a round trip taxi trip to our apartment in record time to grab the passports and get to the gate a few minutes before boarding. She did it all while staying cool, calm and collected. I love that woman!<br />
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We're in Jeju at a pension (kind of like a condo that has mats for us to sleep on) that is a quickly walk from the beach. We've already sampled black pork (as in from a black pig that is unique to Jeju) and we've walked along the beach. Tomorrow we have a tour guide taking us around the island, which I felt was an unnecessary expense until today. It's nice knowing that I don't have to worry about us getting everywhere!<br />
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And right now? I'm waiting for Lilly to fall asleep after a good cry about missing her Koreant school. Going home next week is going to be a little sad as we've made some special friendships here. Sigh. Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-24569588239113533542016-10-10T07:56:00.001-07:002016-10-10T07:56:07.795-07:00Yesterday the Kangs got a little more Korean as we had our first noraebang experience. Welcome to the world where you can rock out to karaoke as loud as you please within the privacy of your own room. Yeju's family and Dong Bin took us to a noraebang across the street because we asked for some guidance. Silly me. I let the fact that every 100 meters has a new noraebang keep from choosing which one to go to for our first time! Noraebangs, Siktangs (restaurants), Hagwans (after school academies) and make up shops are everywhere. Elise loved the tamborine, they loved the English song selection (pretty much anything minus our favorite musicals. They did have some Les Mis that turned out amazing!) and we especially loved that they put no thought into the what images played in the background. There was one children's song that basically had girls pole dancing in the back. Agh! Yes, we also did some Gangnam Style. <br />
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We also had a birthday dinner for Halmoni, Hannah and Chris' cousin. It included a whole ton of samgyeopsal (pork belly=happiness) and raw halibut. I snuck my halibut on the grill. Shh. Don't tell anyone. We sang happy birthday three times so nobody missed their wishes, a little like in Reply 1988. Hannah got the English version. Today was Hannah's real birthday so we let today be her last day of Korean school and sent her off to ride her first Segway. They're only $10/hour to rent here so Dong Bin, Chloe and Hannah chased down small children with their new wheels. (Ok, they didn't. BUT Hannah did speed. I'm actually not sure I'm ever letting her date, drive, leave her bedroom...)<br />
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Our last day of school was so Korean. My teacher tried to buy us all lunch, but I out Koreaned her. I was pretty slick. They didn't even know the bill had been payed. Then after our wood shop exursion (we made pens on the lathe and cut little animal puzzles from a saw that I swear he said couldn't cut fingers? The dangers of translating safety instructions.) our school tried to treat our family to dinner also. I already feel seriously indebted to them as they have been angels with the patience and kindness that they've shown our family over the past two months. Did I mention that this was a free school? They are just a bunch of sweet ladies that put up with a whole lot of sass, some tears and plenty of empty stares as the girls had no idea what they were saying for a lot of the time there at the beginning. If/when we come back, hopefully they won't lock the shutters when they see us coming. I'd love to have us attend there again.<br />
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Tomorrow we are off to Jeju-do (do=island, pronounced doh, Homer style) Hopefully there will not be anymore typhoons and enough sunshine to climb Hallasan (san=mountain) and the Olle Trail. We will try Jeju's famous black pork and let you know if it tastes any different than...pink or white pork. <br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-39871983991178422092016-10-09T08:19:00.001-07:002016-10-10T07:29:34.441-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bad mom confessions. Lilly hurt her ankle on Thursday and I ignored her complaints (because she had spent the previous week chronicling every mosquito bite and minor bruise on her body) until we couldn't get her shoe on for school on Friday morning. This, of course, was 4 hours before our train left to Jinju for the lantern festival. So we bought her a brace and tried to limit her walking, which is kind of impossible in this land of public transportation. When I don't exercise in the morning, I still average 5 miles a day. <br />
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Jinju was great. On our shuttle bus to our guesthouse (guest houses for the win! 6 twin beds makes this momma happy!) we passed by a big hullabaloo that we quickly figured out was the Korean Drama Awards...and there was a red carpet surrounded by a bunch of girls in school uniforms. I hate to confess this on the blog, but the girls and I have kind of gotten into Korean Dramas over the past year. Obsessed? That's kind of a strong word. Addicted? Nah. Do we enjoy them? Oh, yeah. So our shuttle bus drops us off and we have to walk quite a ways to find our guesthouse. As we are getting the run down at the guesthouse we hear the screams of high school girls at the Red carpet. It was right around the corner. So Hannah quickly announced a change of plans and we went to have another pretty Korean experience that involved being pushed around by a bunch of fan girls. Hannah is still bitter because she's pretty sure her favorite actor came before we were there. We only saw a few people arrive but actually recognized one from a show we've been watching in Korea. Funny story. On Friday morning, Hannah said she wanted to see a famous person in Korea. Done. <br />
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As Chloe said, the Lantern Festival was lit. They had lanterns you could make and float down the river but they also had huge themed lanterns all along the river that ranged from historical lanterns to Disney lanterns. My personal favorite was the part that was above the river, along the fortress wall. I kind of have a thing for fortress walls. They're beautiful! This fortress wall was a little ruined with displays for the festival, but it was still pretty amazing. All of the "lanterns" on the wall either were related to Korean culture (games, food, period costumes) or they helped tell the story of the Imjin War in 1592. Yep, the lantern festival is more about celebrating an important battle than about the romantic notion of sending lanterns, complete with your wishes, down the river. The girls found a musical going on and it turned out to be a musical about the Imjin war. It was really well done for a free musical at a festival. We loved it, even if we only got to see the last 15 minutes of it. The rain let up a bit (apparently I brought rain to Korea...they've had more rain for this month than normal. Feeling a little bad about that but I do enjoy the rain.) so we headed to make our lanterns. Hannah didn't want to join in on the lantern making festivities so we told her to watch. Of course she changed her mind as I was paying and then was like a little kid as she followed her lantern down the river. Silly Hannah. Some of the girls made deep wishes about us being kind to each other and some of us wished for a trip to Harry Potter world. They all write their Korean names on their lanterns and released them down the river. Was it a little crazy to take a a train to a tiny town, paying for the most expensive guesthouse yet so we could release lanterns down the river? Absolutely. It was a short but fun trip that made me glad I have daughters. I don't know if I could have gotten sons on board for a lantern floating excursion. <br />
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Side notes:<br />
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Lilly's ankle was worse when we came back. I suck at parenting. Don't worry. She riced it all day and it's much better. Koreans are more into rhce. They think ice is horrible for sprained ankles. <br />
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The girls tried snails! I thought 3 out of 4 liked them but have been corrected. Chloe liked them. She actually wanted more with breakfast this morning. <br />
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We've now made it through 2.5 sessions of conference. I loved Jeffrey R Holland's home teaching talk and Quentin L Cook's talk about looking beyond the mark. Conference is the best!<br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-34679997771888662482016-10-06T07:37:00.002-07:002016-10-06T07:42:50.778-07:00Well, I did it. I went to a Korean bath house (jimjilbang) today. I am a pretty modest person so it has taken a good 3 months of internal pep talks and Internet research to get me through those doors. A Jimjilbang is actually a little more than a bath house as there are saunas for clothed folks (matching shirts and shorts that you get upon arrival) and there are rooms for you to sleep in. It is a super affordable travel option at about $10. <br />
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During my first week here, family offered to take me to a jimjilbang and I nicely refused them. I still wasn't sure if I could handle being naked with a bunch of tiny Korean ladies, much less being naked with tiny korean ladies that I know. When I finally decided to give this thing a try (you can't come to Korea and not go to a bath house, right?), I opted to fly solo. I figured I rather be a little clueless than be with naked with my mother in law. </div>
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I'm pretty sure you are supposed to do the bath house portion of the jimjilbang first and then go to the clothed sauna portions. I decided that I would do whatever I darn well pleased today as I couldn't handle the scarier part until I was seriously relaxed. I threw on my uniform and ran away from the dressing room. (Ok, no running. I was a grown up about it all.) They had different rooms for you to sauna away in with different temperatures. I started off in the 39 degree salt room (you are laying on salt rocks) and after feeling pretty relaxed, decided to move to the 49 degree salt room. At the beginning, I felt like I was going to leave with burn marks all over my body. As I acclimated, I hit a point where I think I could have fallen asleep. Maybe I was starting to cook? I then headed to the ice room, which felt pretty cool (hehe) after the previous one. I then decided to repeat the cycle but this time around the 39 degree room wasn't hot enough so I went to the 49 degree one. So relaxing, folks. Maybe it's just the mom in me, but it felt rejuvenating to lay on what felt like a bed of burning legos, using a big ole salt block as my pillow. There was another room that was shaped like a oven and said 72 degrees. The Korean on the door had the word fire on it. Because I've read Hansel and Gretel, I decided to skip this one. No need to be grilled up in Korea. Now I was sufficiently relaxed and running out of time. Never go to a jimjilbang when you have to meet your kids in 2 hours. More time would have been ideal. </div>
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Now to the good part. Oh. My. Goodness. I never fully adjusted to locker rooms in high school, I really don't dig being in the swimming pool locker room. But I did exactly what Lilly told me to do. Get naked and forget that you are. Best words of jimjilbang advice ever. From the mouth of babes. They have different pools that you move back and forth from of varying temperatures and contents. One pool was purple. I'm not sure what I was soaking in but I'm pretty sure it had plenty of health benefits. Right? Another one was mugwort and there was a long ole list of health benefits on a sign. But it was in Korean and I didn't have a phone on me to translate. It probably cured me of at least 10 life threatening ailments. There were also two saunas (49 and 72 degrees. Celcius, of course.) I went back and forth between cool and hot, every now and again going to the cool sauna. Cool as in it didn't kill me. It had this strange combination of "I don't feel like I can breathe" and a tingly feeling as my pores were releasing every toxin they could. Ok, I don't actually know what my pores were doing, but it felt pretty dang good.</div>
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I was doing all of this while waiting for the ladies in their underwear to call me over. At every bath house, there are ajummas who over an intense scrub down. I don't know how much it normally is, but I handed them 20,000 won ($18) and I got a full body scrub and a cucumber mask. (They had a price list but I didn't have enough jimjilbang vocab to make any sense of it. This was pretty intimidating as I'd read that they scrub every nook and cranny but I sucked it up, took of my big girl panties and made it work. I basically used an age old technique used by toddlers. If I can't see you, you can't see me. At this bathhouse they have you lay on a massage table of sorts for your scrub down. It takes about twenty five minutes and takes off so much dead skin that you see big balls of dead skin all over the table, despite the ajumma's continual cleaning of the table as she scrubs you. The cucumber mask was freshly grated cucumber and did a superb job of keeping my eyes closed. Every nook and cranny. Every now and again, she would throw warm water all over me and start again. She ended with some pounding, stretching and massaging. I've had massages before but this was a whole new realm of relaxation. There are no words. It was the most...agh! Really. No words. But I suddenly understood why this is such a huge part of the Korean culture (up to now I thought it was just to compensate for their tiny bathrooms at home). This isn't something just for women. It isn't just for older folks. I only saw a few kids because I went in the middle of the school day (strategically so!) but normally there can be generations that go jimjilbanging together, scrubbing each other down and talking together. And then I had a realization. I am soon going back to a land that is short on jimjilbangs. The nearest one to my home is 4 hours away and 4 times as expensive. I think we need to move to Korea. I'm pretty sure I could handle anything life throws my way with a weekly trip to the bathhouse. So all in all, it was a pretty life changing week. I now eat kimbap (guess what I had for lunch today??) and I visit jimjilbangs. Lilly is excited to go to one together before going home. Everyone else refuses to go with us, which is why I think we should go to the one with an indoor waterpark. You can call it manipulation but I call it natural consequences for refusing to try scary things. </div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-10715018724800740802016-10-04T08:07:00.004-07:002016-10-05T15:31:43.553-07:00wang halmoni<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I met Halmoni for the first time when Rachel was a tiny baby. She brought her a little pink dress for her 100 Day celebration, along with all of the requisite good jewelry and a baby hanbok. And I have loved her ever since. She is one of my all time favorite Korean people. As much as I love her to bits and pieces, I have always worried that the connection that I felt with her was one big miscommunication. She doesn't speak any English and I don't speak Korean. Maybe, as sweet as I thought she was, she was actually yelling at me in Korean this whole time? My Korean skills are now better than they've ever been (still pretty mediocre, but we are measuring improvement, not fluency, right) and as I was heading to Korea, I just hoped that my improved Korean would keep Halmoni as the nicest Korean that I know. <br />
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It has been a little over a month now. Our family brought 7 new bodies into her little apartment, along with a whole heck of a lot of luggage. She comes and goes in between her apartment and Chris' uncle's apartment. She deals with us and all of our crazy a lot. She is patient. She is tender and loves hugs. She thinks Autumn is hilarious despite the fact that some might consider her sense of humor crazy and disrespectful. She misses Rachel. She values family. She taught me how to run her apartment. She taught us how to pee in the pot. (Don't ask. We still don't understand that conversation.) She worries about us. She reads my mind and buys the same things I do at the grocery store. She reads her scriptures daily. She is so patient with us and our sketchy Korean. Did I say she's patient yet? In the time we've been here, she has gripped us out many many times but now, I understand what she's saying. Eat more rice! I bought you apples. Eat them! Did you eat breakfast? You need to eat more! </div>
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Today I got to hang out with her while the girls were in school. We talked about our very wet picnic yesterday and had a good laugh. Like any proper Korean, she followed up asking if we were all sick now. We talked about the weather around here (I can do weather!) and talked about Oregon. As always, she asked me if I miss Autumn and Rachel. She wants Autumn to come back here when she doesn't have school and misses her "man-ee" (많이). She went for a walk and brought back a bag of kimbap for us to share. My family all knows that I have tried for at least 8 years to like Kim. (Seaweed) Every now and again, I make an announcement that I'm going to make myself like it. My kids have even tried to present it to me in ways they think will be yummiest. My resolve lasts until my gag reflex kicks in. It's really a sad thing but I did try again right before our trip (I had a theory that I could reset my tastebuds) and failed. Again. So here Halmoni (97!) goes and picks up kimbap and tells me to eat up. 😬 I did what I had to do and ate up. Guess what?!? Not only did I eat it, but I enjoyed eating it. I took a two bite strategy that allowed the kim to not get stuck in my throat so much and it allowed the fillings to overpower the kim. I was ridiculously proud of myself but also grateful that I didn't throw up on Halmoni. I know this is silly, but Heavenly Father has helped me in so many ways on this trip. Most of them are with trivial matters that probably don't matter so much in the end, but they sure have made this trip easier. This little miracle allowed me to enjoy a lovely day with Halmoni and made our lunch a little nicer. We even got to FaceTime Autumn together! I am so grateful for such a tender and kind example in my life and am especially grateful that I've had this time to grow closer to her. When planning this trip, I KNEW we were supposed to go to Korea now. In my "I know what Heavenly Father has planned for me" wisdom, I assumed it was to see Halmoni before she dies. She is 97 and I assumed she was on her way out of this life. I don't know how much longer she has here but after our visit, I will now be shocked if I hear she is even sick. She is one tough cookie! I don't think she got the news that 97 is supposed to be old. </div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-15239396760131261922016-10-02T06:13:00.001-07:002016-10-02T06:13:25.678-07:00Things I thought were going to be hard in Korea but weren't:<div>
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•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</div>
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•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. </div>
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•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. </div>
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•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) </div>
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•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??</div>
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•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. </div>
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•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. </div>
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•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. </div>
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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. </div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-60289765640163744052016-10-01T03:06:00.003-07:002016-10-01T03:06:39.243-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.<br />
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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. </div>
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Amazingly enough, even though I lost credibility after recommending that ride, Lilly still trusted my opinion on the Mt. Apsan cable car. </div>
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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. </div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-1474975925041110172016-09-27T17:54:00.001-07:002016-09-27T18:13:02.856-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Mother Nature pulled a mean trick on us here on Daegu. It was hot and humid but we were used to it and surviving. Then it got nice and cool and we were ecstatic. We pulled out our jeans and sweaters and were living it up for two days. And then it got horribly humid again but this time it felt worse because we had enjoyed the fresh cool air. We basically felt like we were going to die yesterday and ended up with some pretty cranky kids as a result. I threw some shikhye (rice lemonade? It is sweet and refreshing) their way, along with their favorite Popsicles. Speaking of horrible humidity, we don't have an air conditioner here. Ok, we kind of do. I see one in Halmoni's apartment but it has never been on and isn't plugged in. We've been ok as we keep the windows open and normally have a nice breeze going on. Honestly, the worse part about the humidity is the laundry. It takes forever and a day for your clothes to dry when the air is dripping with water. It took two days for a load to dry once. <br />
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We wandered to Gyeongsan Sijang yesterday to kill some time before the girls had mutual. There was plenty of veggies, fruit and street food. (Oh-dang for dinner, hotteok for dessert.) Our best find was a resale shop as it was much less expensive than in downtown Daegu. We got a cute skirt, some shirts (one with a cute peter pan collar) and a dress for 10,000 won. The sister missionaries say there are tons of resale shops in the area but I only found the one so I'm looking forward to finding more! The girls are enjoying exploring the different styles in Korea. Forever 21 is Korean owned so it is a little bit like shopping there. The seem to have an abundance of midi skirts (don't worry, the mini skirt is everywhere, too!) and cute jumpers. The fanny pack is alive and kicking here but it is worn more as a cross body. Our family now has 3 fanny pack owners. Oh, dear. The couple tee is real and the girls love spotting it in the wild. Couple shoes, couple outfits, couple phone cases. Sadie Hawkins on a date. It's kind of sweet. I like Autumn's summary of couple tees. "It gives you something else to burn when you break up!"<br />
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Ooh. Halmoni comes today. (As in Chris' mom.) I am not quite sure how it will change the dynamics of our trip but we're excited for her to come. We will still go to school while she's here but we'll take days off here and there for things like going to Jeju Island! (Korea's Hawaii) Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-28384902801893349912016-09-26T06:45:00.000-07:002016-09-26T06:45:10.809-07:00The local branch here has family home evening every Monday evening but we've been traveling so much that we've only got to go once. Tonight was a must because a very sweet Halapoji in the branch was teaching "well being exercises". Think Korean yoga/stretching. He has done these stretches everyday for 7 years and is pretty die hard about it. It was just us, the missionaries and another sister in the ward and boy did he give us a run for our money. There was one stretch in particular where this 75 year old man was almost in the splits and the put his nose to the ground. We all had our legs at about a 90 degree angle and couldn't get close to the ground. It was pretty impressive. Our new Korean word from the night? 보라 (bo-la) means something along the lines of "ok, you've tortured yourself enough in that position...let's move on. It seems like an important word. Tonight it was our favorite. This particular Halapoji is one of my favorites in the ward already. He is great at annunciation and reading with lots of feeling. This makes it so much easier for me to follow along as he reads and raises the odds of my picking up a few words. He also speaks with a lot of passion, which is probably why the annunciation happens. I appreciate it nonetheless.<br />
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My Korean class is only twice a week for an hour and a half so up to now I've been riding the bus with the kids and twiddling my thumbs for the time that I'm not in class. I study. I walk around the local market. I do a little bit of sightseeing. I just have to do it in 2 hour increments so I can come back and have lunch with them. Today we got brave and I left them after lunch. My theory was that their bus would be heading towards our home, making it less likely that they would get lost in the middle of Daegu. The scariest part? Chloe's unpredictable sense of direction. It's either really good or...really bad. I headed home pretty nervous but ultimately felt like they would get home safely. Halmoni and her friend were home so I got to practice a lot of Korean for a couple of hours. I think it went ok but I said "I don't understand" and "please say it again" a lot! I then got a text from Chris. He couldn't sleep. Apparently someone was more worried than I was about the girls! We talked for a while and when the girls finally walked through the door, Chris was relieved and went back to bed. I know this doesn't seem noteworthy, but with me winning the award for worry wart at our house, it was nice to have someone else be more concerned than me. Of course, it was only nice because the girls all got home safely. The local buses are used mainly by students, Halmonis and Halapojis. Because they are so commonly used for transportation, they feel so much safer than in the US. Everyone is also pretty mindful of the littles, especially Lilly. They give her their seat, pat her cheeks and call her cute. The seat is definitely the best part of the deal. <br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-31294390452407362212016-09-24T20:17:00.001-07:002016-09-24T20:17:13.717-07:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Calm you shall keep and yes hmm...the perfect shirt</td></tr>
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While Chris was here, I slacked a lot on my Korean. It is so hard to settle for a meh translation when you can have someone tell you the exact meaning! There is also something intimidating in speaking Korean in front of Chris! Maybe it is his perfectionist side or that I know he will correct me? Anywho, with him back in the states, I've been speaking more as I kind of have to! Chris' uncle made plans with us to have dinner last night and even called me to make sure I knew which subway exit to get off on. I got off the phone, hopped on the subway and got to the station that we were supposed to meet at. It wasn't until we had waited for a little bit that I had this thought. Did he say to go to Jeongpyeong station or that they were at Jeongpyeong and would come to Sinmae station to meet us? The Korean sentence structure is kind of the opposits of English so I was suddenly doubting myself! I did what any potentially lost American would do. I found the nearest bakery and bought us treats so we could think clearly. Kidding. Before that, I messaged him. And he didn't respond. I finally got ahold of family and discovered that we were at the right place! Phew! Next time I am on the phone, I am going to be less quick to assume meaning and repeat back plans. And dinner was at Chris' aunt's 삼겹살 (pork belly BBQ) restaurant, which means tons of delicious carmelized meat served with different sauces and side dishes. Basically, I regretted using any stomach space on that darn pastry. 삼겹살 is always better. We got to bring home Yeju for a sleep over afterwards as a bonus! The girls have loved having a friend over here and always look forward to seeing her on the weekend. I wish they knew some of the neighbor kids. They are so darn shy that they will go to the playground and play next to other kids without saying a word. (And I think the Korean kids are equally shy) We actually had some middle school girls say hello to us as walking past and then crack up as soon as they passed. <br />
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Side note: there were two guys at the restaurant from England and Illinois so I got to speak to them a little. They have both lived in Korea for more than 10 years as they teach at local universities. I'm a little jealous. <br />
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Side note 2: we have been enjoying a historical kdrama that is airing right now, Love in the Moonlight. It's about a crown prince and his Eunuch that is a girl but disguised as a boy. Monday and Tuesday evenings are looked forward to and this drama made touring Gyeongbukgung palace much more exciting for a certain 12 year old. Historically accurate? Maybe a little. Fun to watch? You betcha. If you're watching it with subtitles, I would maybe selectively edit episode 7 at the very end. We don't have subtitles here. Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-13394798111427412542016-09-21T05:30:00.001-07:002016-09-21T05:57:15.397-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know that I've filled Facebook with a gazillion photos of yummy food but I thought I should tell a little bit about what we are eating over here. We are eating out way more than we do at home for two reasons. 1. The girls get to eat out for lunch everyday that they have school. 2. Healthy Korean food is dirt cheap at restaurants (I think meat is cheaper at restaurants as it is very pricey at the grocery store) 3. We love Korean food and want to try all the food that is harder to get back home.<br />
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Ok. For breakfast and dinner, we eat the same thing. This is super Asian. Breakfast food is no different than what they eat the rest of the day unless you look at more westernized options. We could buy cereal, eggs, doughnuts, etc... here but we are sticking to the do as the Romans plan. Every meal includes rice. If we don't eat rice (or even enough rice), we get in trouble with Halmoni. We also pull out all of the banchans (or side dishes) that are already prepared and in the fridge. This includes things like kimchi, Korean bean sprouts, a cucumber salad of sorts, fried anchovies, kimchi jeon, and so forth. Sometimes, I fry up eggs to go with it. We always have kim (seaweed) as the girls like to crumble over their rice or put rice in it and roll it up. For dinner, we also might have soup or a meat but normally we don't. Halmoni is the queen of turning nothing into a delicious soup and I'm determined to learn her art. When she makes the bean sprouts, instead of dumping the water, she leaves some bean sprouts in at turns it into soup. I guess you learn skills like that when you live in leaner times. <br />
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Treats here include a lot of the little yogurt drinks (they sell them at Costco in America), banana milk and Popsicles. There is a little mom and pop shop a quick walk away that sells a huge variety of Popsicles for 400 won a piece. (Not super cheap but reasonable-about 40 cents) Its cheap enough that the girls like grabbing a Popsicle when they go buy me bean sprouts or cucumbers. Fruit is expensive at the grocery store but cheap if bought on the street. The vendors have a bunch of fruit stacked in a bowl and the price is for the bowl, not per pound. It is very reasonably priced. We always keep some fruit on hand for snacks but it requires me to cut it and set it out on a tray, complete with mini fruit utensils. ...unlike at home where I say "grab an apple." I get scoffed at for not peeling the girls' fruit but I remind myself that they haven't got the memo that the skin has a lot of nutrients!<br />
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We love street food. The food carts here are less flashy but cheap and delicious. Hotteok is a sugar filled pancake. They are generally about 1000 won. ($1) Kimbap, ddeokbogi (spicy rice cakes) and fish cakes on a stick can be found on just about any corner and several places in between. The fish cake is called "o-dang" so we enjoy commenting on it everytime we see it. Hannah is especially fond of the broth they cook the o-dang with. Some of the stalls have cups so you can drink it more easily, which helps Hannah maintain some of her dignity. (Don't get odang to go. Hannah will find a way, no matter how ridiculous it may look, to slurp up all of the broth!)<br />
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The biggest struggle here with food has just been limiting ourselves while people are trying to show their hospitality by stuffing us full of food! Don't tell Halmoni, but when she isn't here for breakfast, we eat half as much rice as when she's here. If we serve up less rice with her here, she adds more to everyones' bowl. The girls were all lecturing Elise about serving up too many anchovies for herself at the beginning of a meal. What they didn't see was that Halmoni was adding anchovies to her bowl throughout the whole meal! Our goal? Not to have to buy extra seats on the way home.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-3600783214697435502016-09-20T08:02:00.002-07:002016-09-20T08:02:18.045-07:00Our family had a blessing in disguise as we didn't get to do baptisms at the Seoul temple because of a slight lack of planning on our part. This allowed us, on a pretty limited schedule, to spend almost two hours in the family history library. We weren't able to miraculously fill out Chris' family tree or anything but we did learn some very important things. (This list is for future reference. Please bear with me.)<br />
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<b>1. I learned how to simultaneously enter Hangul, romanization AND Hanja for names.</b> Why would I want to? Hangul helps you pronounce it correctly and is what is used in Korea. Important stuff. Romanization allows Americans to pronounce it. Hanja is the ancient Chinese character that the Hangul is based on. It allows you to pinpoint the origin of a name and differentiate between what looks like 5 of the same names. (They can all be based on different characters)<br />
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<b>2. I learned that I need to go back and do this for everyone currently in our tree</b>. It helps avoid duplication. I'm pretty sure Chris is feeling inspired and ready to go through all of those names before I get back. Right, honey??<br />
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<b>3. I learned that we can order a government document that basically include 4 generations.</b> Chris had one for his dad but I didn't realize we could order them on a whim! I need to plot with Uncle to get ones ordered for the different lines. Mwahaha...<br />
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<b>4. The Park Miryang clan is crazy huge which makes it hard to research. </b>Think Smith and Jones. Obscure last names are a blessing in Korean genealogy, too. The Kang line is a blessing as we're from a small Kang clan. <br />
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<b>5. Korean indexing is on the horizon</b>. I didn't get a timeline but it sounds like it's soon. I've been hoping for this for at least 5 years!<br />
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6. I saved the best for last. <b>Sometimes, the birth and death dates in jokbo listings include a King's name. </b> This is huge. Jokbos are great. I love them. BUT they randomly switch back and forth between two different date systems. One is based on Chinese numbers, which I know and are easy to read. 1-9-9-5 is 1995. The other one is based on the lunar calendar and is on a 60 year rotation. If the year is _____, it could mean 1802,1862, 1922, etc. You have to reference different generations to guesstimate which year they're actually referring to. It's not too big of deal unless you're thinking....ok, this guy either had a kid at 14 or 74. OR, as in the case of our Kang jokbo, if the whole darn stinking book only uses the lunar calendar with no Chinese numbers in the whole darn book to reference. This is where the Kings that are referenced help. We got a chart today that includes the different kings of China, Korea and Japan to help you narrow down the birthdate. I'm excited to look at our jokbos and A. Use it in the Kang jokbo to find out what years I'm even dealing with and B. Go through our Lee jokbo and use the listed kings to verify dates. <br />
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Not family history related, we took a lovely ride along the Han River today after borrowing some bikes from a lovely rental joint that doesn't charge you. I don't understand how they manage but, nonetheless, We had a wonderful ride. I think it may have been my favorite activity so far on our trip. It was a little idyllic. The wind blowing in my hair (no helmets were provided!), Lilly humming a song in front of me (before she fell), the Seoul cityscape off in the distance, bells dinging, no throngs of people everywhere...it was the best!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-26936299962790375132016-09-18T13:51:00.001-07:002016-09-18T13:51:24.968-07:00I've decided that I'm going to feel discouraged and frustrated about my language skills every Sunday. It is such a long 3 hours when you are trying to pick out words here and there. Even if you get the jist of the message, you still don't understand any depth. (And normally it is more of a "Ok, so they're saying SOMETHING about the sacrament.") I have come to really appreciate this sweet ajhussi (old dude) in the ward because he reads scriptures with a lot of animation AND he enunciates in a way that makes it easy to follow along. Everyone else reads so quickly that I can pick out the first word of the verse and maybe a couple after that. Korean is a pretty easy language to read but I still read like a preschooler. The upside? My prayers are getting better. I don't think I could pray in a public setting but I can pray. I find my prayers are much more heartfelt in Korean as I am putting so much thought into which word I should use. It's kind of a cool experience. <br />
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Onto the next very real struggle in Korea. Ugh! They are all so dang nice here. Hospitable to a fault? Chris is normally a good buffer as he is so good at saying "no" but he can't even go up against their kindness. A great example? Us staying at Halmoni's house. Our original plan was to get an Airbnb that was right around the corner. Yeah, that worked out well. It basically is super rude and sends messages that we don't think their offering is good enough when really, our message that we're trying to send is "our family is huge and we don't want to be a pain in your rear!" This morning we leave for a quick trip to Seoul to visit the temple and take Chris and Autumn to the airport. We planned to stay in a guesthouse right by the temple but that got switched real quick. We are now staying with Chris' very kind cousin's family. End of the story. Our big ole family overtaking their apartment. I feel bad just thinking about it! Another example? Chris' aunt has this amazing samgyeopsal (pork belly) BBQ restaurant. I would eat there as often as I could BUT I know there is no way she would let us pay. So we go when invited and stuff ourselves like its Christmas. I got in trouble because I took the girls to an all you can eat samgyeopsal joint around the corner instead of her place...but I really just wanted to pay for our dinner! (No more facebooking about our BBQ adventures!) They have such a strong sense of obligation to family. Really. They are just kind as can be and will do anything in the name of family. If I needed anything and was actually able to express it in Korean, they would go ridiculously out of their way to help me. Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030766703121753591.post-41775471996533391182016-09-17T18:21:00.000-07:002016-09-17T18:22:46.599-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday we did a bunch of shopping for Autumn before she heads home with Chris in a couple of days. In Korea, there are underground malls built around subway stations. Lilly, upon being introduced to this, said "it's like a subway station that turned into a mall! Who wouldn't love this???" Daegu also has a large amount of specialty streets. Jewelry alley. Cosmetic alley. Second hand shops alley. Fusion food alley. Dukbeoggi alley. It's pretty amazing. Our plan was to start at the second hand alley and then head to the underground shopping area but the insane amount of rain shortened our thrifting experience. Their thrift stores are cheap and full of adorable clothes as Koreans generally have a really cute style. Autumn found plenty tshirts with badly translated English on them, which are hilarious but not really something I want to spend money on. Sorry, Autumn. There are now more Kangs that have fanny packs (agh!!) although they wear them a little differently here. They wear them as cross body bags with the bag right up front. It's a little cuter and makes everything easy to access. We loaded Autumn up with the best writing utensil on the face of this earth. Mitsubishi gel pen, we honor you. Adorable socks? We're on it. I have a theory that school uniforms drive their cute sock industry. There are cute socks everywhere, folks. Everywhere.</div>
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While we were out shopping, Lilly and Elise were finishing up their sleepover with Yeju, which involved a trip to a Jimjilbang. (Korean bath house and sauna, which I'm absolutely terrified of) I think I'll have Lilly blog about the bath house as she had a great time and is young enough to not be phased by it. Yeju's mom then started messaging me (her English skills are pretty minimal so we're all in Korean now) to arrange a meet up. Here is how I roll: I read their message and decide what I think it means. I then copy and paste into naver (a much more accurate version of google translate) to see how close I was. Then I type up my reply, copy it back into naver to check it and then send it off if it makes sense. Where it gets tricky is if Chris' uncle also starts messaging me in the middle of it OR if they call me. Calling is so much harder. A. It's loud everywhere so it's just hard to hear. B. I can't copy and paste our phone call in naver! After lots of messaging and a rough phone call with Halmoni that ended much better than it started (she used some words I've NEVER heard before!), we were able to plan a meeting to go to the local science museum. And I was able to arrange to have them pick up Chris and Hannah. Success. I've found that I'm much more brave with my Korean without Chris there. I have a hard time even mustering up the courage to try with him there. So my Korean skillz should improve more after Chris flies home. Theoretically. We shall see. But let me say this. Korean is a hard language. Learning to read it is the easy part. Between all of the many different levels of politeness and a sentence structure that is opposite ours, it can be hard to twist your brain around. Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05113148904367529720noreply@blogger.com0