There goes my baby girl on the big yellow school bus!

Anna took the bus this morning and will take it every morning to school from now on. She was shocked that there were no seat belts on the bus although I did warn her about that. We thought it was strange that she had to wear a seat belt on the bus from Beverly Hills 1 to OIS in Korea but they don't even have them in the USA! Yes, the "bus" in Korea was actually a van, but the point is that Korean kids don't wear seat belts most of the time there and the foreigners are pretty fanatical about it.

Posted by Becky at 8:48 PM | Permalink

The kids are loving all of the parks here so far. They are much newer and nicer than the ones they are used to in Korea and they have baby swings for Henry! He loves swinging so much! Every park is their new favorite park. There are so many parks here that I feel almost compelled to try each one (there are 111 in this town).

We have moved into a temporary house which is much better than the hotel. It is a townhouse right near the center of town so we can walk to a lot of fun stuff and it's really just a convenient location. The girls have their own rooms but Henry is sleeping in the (large) closet off of our master bathroom. It's making me want to narrow down the neighborhoods we are looking in for a house (no luck in that department yet!).

Posted by Becky at 9:37 PM | Permalink

Three years away makes America seem almost as foreign as Korea once seemed!

Things we'll miss about Korea:
-Craig coming home for lunch every day
-the small-town/small-island feel
-the expat community
-the friends we've made
-heated floors
-I'll actually miss the driving: I like that I can park wherever I want or make a right-hand turn from the left-hand lane if I really need to and no one is going to get upset (no road-rage here). I don't think I ever did anything crazy while we were there but it was freeing to know that I could.
-speed cameras, I like those better than getting pulled over for speeding. Just send me my ticket in the mail, please.
-screen golf
-the "lock-n-lock" aisle at Home Plus (I should have stocked up on the wide variety of food storage containers when I was there, what Target has does not compare!)
-fast internet
-first-come, first-served health care (and it was cheap!)

Things we won't miss:
-people touching our children (although this has gotten better since the whole H1N1 thing)
-loud music in the stores
-mixing my own prescription drugs

Things we're excited about in America:
-being literate again!
-being in our own space (eventually, we have to find the right house first, of course!)

Things we're not excited about:
-rampant commercialism
-the thin plastic bags at the stores and that the cashiers pack one or two items per bag. I plan to keep using my re-usable bags but while I'm out of my routine right now I already have a massive collection of this obnoxious bags!
-loud music playing out of peoples cars (never once heard someone else's car stereo in Korea)

Things that are just weird:
-drive-through everything
-cable news everywhere you go
-I don't have to remember to get a coin for the shopping cart (I wonder how long it will be before I stop reaching into my pocket for a coin when I walk to the carts?)

It's almost embarrassing to take the girls out right now because to anyone who overhears them in the store, they must think that I've locked my kids in a closet for the past five years! They are so excited by all of the little things at the store (the race-car shopping carts, random products & produce, etc.).

Posted by Becky at 9:53 PM | Permalink

Hanmi stopped by with a really nice hanbok for Henry today (I will photograph him in it when he turns one) and several people from Craig's office sent him home with some little things for the kids. We were so lucky to meet so many nice people while we lived here.

Yesterday and today have been hard without all of our "stuff." We can't keep up our regular routines, etc. We are all getting antsy to get on with the traveling part of this adventure (Craig and I, at least, can't wait to get that part over!

Posted by Becky at 10:48 PM | Permalink

There was no heat in the "museum" part (but the store was nice and comfortable for leisurely shopping!).

They thought this tiara was amazing.

I took the girls up to the Tongyeong Pearl Museum today. (I tried to go in September with Anita but we went on a Monday and they are closed on Mondays!) I originally wanted to get a little necklace for Sarah similar to the one I got for Anna in China in 2004 but I wasn't inspired by anything. There were some beautiful pieces there but nothing in I adored in my price range.

Posted by Becky at 9:54 PM | Permalink

The kids always loved going to Pizzeria Il Toro and the pizza was really good. The man went to Italy to learn to make wood-fired pizza so it was more in the style that we are used to than Korean-style. I would call to order ahead when we dined-in and they always remembered the kids quirky preferences and had things set up "just so" when we got there. (Anna preferred one style chair over another one time so they always switched it for her, they always had pink straws and orange juice for them as well.) You just don't get that kind of customer service in America. We will visit one more time to bring them a copy of the photo!

We visited on the last day we were in Korea to get take-out and drop off the picture. I think they were about to cry they were so sad to see the kids go!

Posted by Becky at 9:45 PM | Permalink

This and some of the above photos were taken by Shelly.

I decided I wanted to go to Norae Bang one last time before we leave Korea so we gathered the few ladies who were interested in going and went out to dinner (I didn't get a picture of Mijung and Hyunjung at dinnner!) at the "Good Korean Beef Place" (and I don't know why I hadn't been there before) then went to The Party.

Posted by Becky at 9:37 PM | Permalink

This used to be a grocery store when we lived here in 2003, now it's the screen golf club where Craig & his cronies spend their free time.

Craig's Hyundai Click

I took the kids down to screen golf this afternoon since they were curious what it was like. Unfortunately Sarah & Henry were a little freaked out by the loud noise when the guys hit the balls so we didn't stay long!

Posted by Becky at 8:03 PM | Permalink

I didn't bother putting on the pants that go with Henry's since they were way too big. He'll wear them for his one-year portrait though.

Today is the first day of the Year of the Tiger. I gave the girls some new hanboks because their old ones were getting too small and worn out. I bought Henry one for his first-year picture since I have that of the girls. It was difficult to pick a hanbok for him because they were all in what I think of (as an American) "girly" colors. I chose this one because I liked the dragon and I will probably take the dragon off and frame it after he's had his one-year portrait in it.

Posted by Becky at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week Anna came home with some origami paper from ballet class and today she came home with these stars. She said that her teacher made them for each of the kids.

Posted by Becky at 8:03 PM | Permalink

The girls and I made a list of things we'd like to do before we leave Korea at the end of the month and at the very top of their list was to go to the dinosaur park one more time. We had beautiful weather today so Craig took the girls. (I stayed home with Henry to clean up the house so that some people could tour the apartment.)

Posted by Becky at 7:55 PM | Permalink

Since everyone was still kind of sick this week we took it pretty easy again. Sarah learned about the letter D and we made sun prints and butter (Anna got back to her reading and math lessons as well). Today we made some brownies with some of the chocolate I've been hoarding for so long. (I get all of my baking chocolate from home because there is not a good source of chocolate here—on Geoje, at least!)

Posted by Becky at 8:47 PM | Permalink

Every night I am still surprised when I look out and see the church in town still has their Christmas lights on. I made Anna nervous that one night we'll look out and they won't be on so she convinced Craig to go out in the cold and get this picture. The large glow toward the back & left is the shipyard.

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Posted by Becky at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sarah wanted her bag of books & animals on her lap when we got going. I convinced her to put it down on the floor and I would hand her things as she wanted them.

There we are hugging the wall!

Henry and I have not been off of Geoje Island since we went to Seoul for his passport (I'm not counting Lotte Mart since that's barely off of the island) so it felt like a great adventure today taking the car ferry and going to Shinsegae Mall to take the girls ice skating. We had talked about doing that in July but they don't carry Craig's size at the skate shop and I was too pregnant to go so now seemed like a good time. If we had known that Craig & Henry could have gone into the area with us it would have been a much better experience though.

The girls and boy split up and we hoped that Henry could take a nap in his stroller. It took forever for me to find and adjust the helmets for the girls, get a locker for our shoes, get the skates on everyone, wobble to the ice, and then get onto the ice. Sarah's skates were much too big for her so she had a harder time than Anna but she had a good attitude and laughed every time she fell instead of getting frustrated. It would have been much better if I could have left one girl with Craig while I did a lap around the ice with the other girl and then switched girls every couple of laps or so. If we go back we will try it that way. The girls both said the best part of ice skating was when it was time for the zamboni to come and the ice rink guy picked them up and skated them to the carpeted area. (!)

We had fun and we were all glad we went. Henry did not nap as well in the car or stroller as we thought he would but he was still easy-going. I think he enjoyed getting out and seeing some new stuff. Also I was happy to find that there was a nursing room at the mall near the restrooms so I didn't have to go back to the car or into a bathroom stall (I'm not 100% sure of the breastfeeding laws here but I know I have never seen anyone doing it and I am under the impression that Korean moms are more into formula-feeding than breastfeeding—I could be wrong about that though).

Posted by Becky at 8:15 PM | Permalink

On the bus.

Anna had a little booster to sit on.

Craig & Anna took the bus up to Seoul today to see the Nutcracker tonight. The bus left this morning at 10:20 AM and they got to Seoul at 3 PM. They Seoul Arts Center and their hotel were both within walking distance from the Seoul bus terminal so they had a little time to check things out and get some dinner before going to the 7:30 PM performance. Anna usually goes to bed by 7:45 so there was a little concern with how she'd handle the late show (they didn't get back to the hotel and to bed until 10:30) but Craig said she did great. She was so excited about their trip and about the ballet she could barely contain herself for the week before they went! I think it all lived up to her expectations, too.

Posted by Becky at 11:04 PM | Permalink

I took Henry up to Lotte Mart today. I figured he could take his 30-minute-nap in the car (he did) and we could both have a change of scene. I know it did me some good anyway!

I haven't decided if having the name and photograph of the driver helps anything. Maybe he's a better driver than he would be if that information wasn't there? Maybe that's not even why it's there. Who knows?

Posted by Becky at 9:18 PM | Permalink

This is his last day in this seat & stroller as we are selling to another family tomorrow.

I spotted a sign for Kraze Burger earlier in the week and Craig scouted out the location for us. We had only heard of it in Seoul but thought it was worth checking out: they are excellent! Very expensive but the "Original" without "Kraze Sauce" is perfection. It's a good thing they are in Gohyeon and not in Okpo so we will be able to restrain ourselves somewhat.

Posted by Becky at 9:04 PM | Permalink

Sorry, I can't help it. I love going to Starbucks for lunch because I can get a really tasty chicken caesar wrap and feel like I am in America for a short time.

Posted by Becky at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There are cabbage trucks all over town right now and they're all stacked as high as this. People (all year) load up their grocery carts with cabbage, too. I realize they're making kimchi with it but it still looks insane in mass quantities like this! (I don't know if I ever mentioned on the blog that I loved walking past the kimchi section of the grocery store when I was pregnant with Henry—I love that smell!)

Posted by Becky at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Sarah, Henry, & I went to check out new-to-us playground this morning. We called it the "Rocketship Playground" but I think that the jungle gym looks more like a spaceship. Sarah won't budge on the name.

This afternoon, Sarah, Henry, & I went to watch the Wombats & Pandas perform a few songs and poems. All of the kids made their home flags for the presentation. Anna is now interested in going to South Africa to see where her friend River is from.

Posted by Becky at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Photos by Craig Waiting in line. Thankfully we got there right when it opened so we didn't have to wait long.

Sarah was a bit of a grump once we got to the top of the tower. She was hot, tired, and hungry. I guess I'd be a bit of a grump, too! She took a nice nap once we got back to the hotel this afternoon.

Posted by Becky at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Nice drawer, Henry!

Outback Steakhouse.

Craig, Henry, & I went to the US Embassy this morning to apply for Henry's passport and to get our wills notarized. The Embassy here is much smaller than the one in Doha (but maybe the one in Doha was just "grand" as was everything there?). We were done with everything in about an hour and it wasn't too big of a deal. Now, we wait for Henry's passport and then we have to get his Alien card right away once we have it. I am also really happy to have our wills taken care of. Now let's hope we don't need them.

Craig & my mom took the girls to the hotel pool this afternoon and then we all went out to Outback for dinner. You can see in the picture above that Henry was happy to just sleep on the bench at the restaurant even while his big sister Sarah was throwing fits (in the picture above she is yelling that she didn't want me to take a picture). We're hoping she's getting her two-year molars but it's probably a lack of naps, being two years old, and all of the changes that are getting us a lot of nice tantrums from Sarah lately.

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Posted by Becky at 9:25 PM | Permalink

[will insert u/s picture later, sorry!]

We took the whole gang with us to the doctor this morning since I was anticipating setting an induction date with Dr. Lee. The girls & I got there first and I had to go take a non-stress test (I didn't know in advance) so it was lucky that Craig was on his way to entertain the kids while I had to lie down for 30 minutes. Baby Boy is not stressed.

I was able to successfully slow down our weight gains but Dr. Lee still wants to induce next week. We are to arrive on Friday, July 24 at 6 AM. I gave Dr. Lee my list of demands/"preferences" and he balked at the line where I said "no bottle or pacifier: breastfeeding ONLY." He said, "we give a bottle of water in the nursery." I said, pointing to Anna & Sarah, "No. Breastfeeding only. No problems." We had Craig's secretary translate our preferences since the nurses don't speak much, if any, English... I think I'm actually more worried about dealing with the nurses than with getting induced earlier than I would prefer.

One week until Baby Boy!!

Posted by Becky at 9:07 PM | Permalink

We finally got ourselves organized to get our Korean driver's licenses today and the rain was so crazy (major flooding on the main road) it took us 3 hours instead of just over an hour to get to the place we needed to be. The kids ate all of the food I had packed on the way to the place and they were getting pretty antsy stuck in traffic. Thankfully Craig had loaded the movie Cars on his iPod and everyone's sanity was saved. From now on I'll probably be way over-prepared for the shortest of trips to avoid this happening again! The good news was that it was really easy and the rain had stopped by the time we were finished.

Posted by Becky at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The girls & I drove up to Tongyeong to ride the Sky Car today but apparently it is closed until the 27th. So, on our way back toward home I kept seeing signs for the "Undersa Tunnel" and thought we'd give it a try. The amount of signs made it seem like an attraction (and the signs were brown like the other tourist attractions in Tongyeong). So, we found a place to park and walked through the dripping, moldy tunnel. It's just a walkway that happens to go under the water. I thought maybe there would be a window or something to see some water but it was just concrete. The girls didn't seem too disappointed but Sarah dropped her cat in the mud and it had to take a trip through the washer and dryer before I could give it back to her!

Posted by Becky at 9:05 PM | Permalink

We checked out Shinsegae this morning. We told the girls we were going to go check out the new mall and then asked if they knew what a "mall" was and they said, "no." Half-way through though, Anna was proclaiming that she wanted to live at the mall.

After lunch, Craig and the girls ran around the "Sky Park" on the 9th floor of the building.

We had an American day to celebrate the holiday weekend. We ate McDonald's breakfast, went to a mall, and then went to the beach. Today Sarah did take a nap which threw off our beach/dinner schedule a bit so we ended up eating corn dogs from a vendor and then buying some chicken from the chicken-lady as she passed by. One could also order delivery from one of the many nearby fast-food places but we weren't sure how you would tell the delivery person which umbrella you were under and we weren't willing to ask our neighbors to order for us! It was a pretty nice set-up though. We rented an umbrella for 5,000 Won both days at the beach, too.

Posted by Becky at 9:30 PM | Permalink

Back in January of this year Anna asked to learn more about money so we set up a chore and payment plan for her. She gets paid 200 Korean Won per chore and her chores are typically to feed the cats, help fold clothes, set or clear the table, and then any other odd-jobs we can come up with. She finally saved enough money this weekend to buy this "ultimate princess set" at Lotte Mart and she is so thrilled with the thing and when she is wearing it she calls herself, "Princess Sunset." She was really upset when we told her she couldn't wear it out in public but that it had to stay home for dress-up only.

The pools were finally out today since it is officially summer. This tiny pool was 45,000 KW (about $45 USD!) and I know you can get something much larger for half the price in the US. It had better last all summer for that price!

Posted by Becky at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Watching the parade. Anna was in awe of the "fairy" and the moving dinosaurs in this parade. Makes me think a trip to Disney World is in order soon (while it is still magical).

Sarah always surprises me when she acts shy: she preferred to stay in her stroller rather than get out and chase bubbles with the big kids.

We had a great time at the dinosaur park today! Anna & Sarah didn't complain at all (about walking/riding the stroller/the heat.. all of the things I had been anticipating) and we saw some new parts of the park that were actually age-appropriate for them. It was pretty warm today and we did more walking than I was really up for (listen to me complain!) but I'm glad Sarah & I joined Anna's class on the trip. The girls are already talking about how we need to take Craig back to see the new part of the park right away (and we do, because soon it really will be hot and I'll be worthless to join them!).

Posted by Becky at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been meaning to post this picture for a while; it is a picture of a picture on the 2008 calendar that we got from CS last year! Anyway, it is our apartment building and you can see how the terrace homes are below the parking lot. When we lived here in 2003-2004 we were in the tall building on the right.

Posted by Becky at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was surprised that there were people (a nice-sized line, actually) riding on the "frume" ride. It was nice weather but not that nice!

We might check out the rest of the amusement park this spring when the weather is warmer.

The girls were disappointed that we drove to Jinhae instead of taking the car ferry but the new bridge over there made the drive slightly more convenient than the ferry. It took just over an hour to get there (there ferry takes 45 minutes terminal-to-terminal plus twenty minutes to get to the terminal on Geoje.

The sledding hill was pretty small and the snow was pretty slushy/icy (all man-made). Sarah refused to go down and Anna went down twice with Craig but didn't really like it (it was too fast). There were only inter-tubes available and you were not allowed to put your child in your lap. I ended up chickening out, too, since I kept imagining myself doing a belly-flop onto the hard-packed snow and crushing Baby3! Hopefully next year both Anna & Sarah will be more open to going down.

There was another area where the kids could just play in the snow and check it out which the girls had a ton of fun doing. We had a "snowball fight" and they loved it. When we were done we went to McDonald's for lunch (one of these days I really need to go there for breakfast!!!) then came back home and got Sarah down for a late nap. I'm glad we went and the weather was really nice today—we were way over-dressed!

Posted by Becky at 6:25 AM | Permalink

Anna wore her Hanbok to school today for the Lunar New Year assembly. Her friend Isabel was the only other Ladybird with a Hanbok so they sat together (Anna is the closest to the camera in the front row). I was surprised that she would go sit in front of the rest of the school like that and not look uncomfortable. They had to stand up a couple of times and she did as prompted by the speakers.

Posted by Becky at 11:11 PM | Permalink

Sarah will now say "Anyeong" to Korean people saying that to her without any prompting from me. One lady at Home Plus this week must have thought Sarah was fluent in Korean because she proceeded to try to have an extended conversation with her in Korean waiting for responses and everything. ("Anyeong" is what adults say to kids and kids say to adults to say hello in Korean--it's a shortened version of the more polite Anyeong-ha-say-yo adults use with each other.)

Posted by Becky at 10:16 PM | Permalink

I didn't take a single picture this weekend! We really need to replace our little camera which means I am very unlikely to take it out. We'll get something new when we go to Colorado this spring and this time I won't throw it into the ocean!

Craig had a work party this weekend at the Gyeongju Hilton. There wasn't a holiday party this year just this gala which was probably pretty nice. I say probably because we dropped the girls off at the kid's party shortly after 6 PM and Craig and I went down to the adults party around 6:45 (?) and then shortly after 7 PM one of the babysitters was in the crowd with a sad little Sarah draped across her. Sarah wouldn't nap in the car (3 hour drive) and therefor was super tired and couldn't stay up pat her usual bedtime. I had really hoped (if she had napped) that she would stay up until 8 PM at the kids party (there were all sorts of cool toys and things for them to do and the girls did have fun at first!). Oh well. I put the girls to bed and read a book in the bathroom until 9:30 and then went to bed myself. Craig came back around midnight and said the party was nice. I didn't want to hear too much about the six-course meal I missed though!

Anna was thrilled with the hotel even though we really didn't do much. There was a cool-looking sledding hill just next door but we didn't have the right gear with us to go out. Sunday it was raining so the girls & I stayed inside while Craig attended a meeting. It might be nice to try to go back there sometime but since we've already toured it when Corrine, Scott, Owen, Raisa, & Anita visited in 2004 I'm not sure we will! I will be more tempted to hit the beach in Busan this summer...

Posted by Becky at 8:42 PM | Permalink

Anna's teacher called me today to let me know that she thought Anna's ear hurt (she had been crying for some time and indicated to her teacher that it was her ear that was causing a problem). So, Sarah & I went to pick her up and we went to the doctor this afternoon. I decided to give the doctor in Gohyeon a try since I was frustrated with the one we have been going to in Okpo. The doctor in Gohyeon is in a hospital and that is not as nice and new as the clinic we've been going to but I did like the doctor well enough so we'll try that out for a while. It turns out Anna had just a slight fever and no ear problems. I think she was actually just cold at school! Tomorrow she will go in pants (she only wears skirts so I'm not looking forward to that battle in the morning!) and with an extra sweatshirt. The heater in the classroom wasn't working properly today so all the kids were wearing their coats inside!

Anna weighs 15 kg and Sarah weighs 12.5 kg.

Posted by Becky at 11:03 PM | Permalink

This morning we took the girls over to the Hilton to check out the gigantic model train display they had there. Both girls loved it. I asked Anna what she liked about it and she said, "it moves by itself!"

We had lunch at Pizza Hut because it was close and Anna was pretty whiny so it wasn't worth walking around looking for something we couldn't get on Geoje. After lunch, we went back to the hotel and Anna & I got ready to go to the Nutcracker. She had actually thrown up in the morning at the hotel but was otherwise acting normally so we didn't think too much of it, thinking it was an isolated incident..

I wish I had taken a picture of us at the Seoul Arts Center but was having too much fun enjoying the music in the lobby and the decorations and the festive atmosphere with Anna to think of that. We had great seats and Anna was wowed to say the least. She had her mouth hanging open for most of the first act and was constantly pointing things out to me. At intermission she didn't want to leave our seats because she thought if we left we wouldn't see more of the dancing. I convinced her to go downstairs and pick out a souvenir nutcracker, go to the bathroom, have a snack, etc.

About 15 or 20 minutes after the show started again she asked for Craig. I asked her if she wanted to see more ballet or go back to the hotel now. She wanted to go back now. I was disappointed but glad that she got to see the Snow Fairies and that she did enjoy what we saw. As soon as the doors shut from the theater and we stepped out into the lobby she threw up again. Poor little girl! I'm glad she was able to get that far though and do it on the tile and not in our seats in the dark! We took a taxi home and she didn't want dinner and fell asleep right away at bed time. Hopefully being sick won't cloud her memory of the ballet because she really did enjoy it.

I will say that it has been several years since I've seen the Nutcracker (I'm thinking it was in 2000 in Boston) but this production seemed a little "off" compared to the Nutcracker book Anna & I have been reading this past month It was fine and Anna didn't care but some scenes seemed out of order to me. The dancing was fantastic and the set was good (not as good as I remember seeing in Boston and Denver but on it's own it was just fine).

Posted by Becky at 11:21 PM | Permalink

The girls were up at around 7:30 and we sent Craig down the street to get McDonald's for breakfast. After we got everyone ready we left for Lotte World. We got there shortly after they opened so it wasn't too crowded at first. We hit the carousel and no standing was allowed so Craig & I had to ride horses as well. Sarah & I shared one since she couldn't sit on her own horse unassisted (she would jump off!).

Next we went on the hot air balloon rides and had to wait in a line for this. Maybe thirty minutes? The girls loved the ride and wanted to go on the train next. So, we got a smoothie and a churro then headed down to the train. This line felt longer because you couldn't see what was head and how long you had to go; it was also probably thirty minutes. The train took us outside and around Magic Island which has some promising things for kids our kids age but since it is cold out (0 Celsius) we stuck to the inside stuff! Maybe next time we will come in warmer weather and can check out Magic Island activities.

On our way out of Lotte World we stopped and the girls drove a bear around. Sarah jumped off before we got the video going but Anna is not ready for her license yet! This was probably Craig's & my favorite part of Lotte World! We found our way to Pizzeria Uno and I hit up Muji while we waited for our lunch. Anna & Sarah were in a great mood today! I was worried that they would be tired from their shennanigans last night.

We got back to our hotel and got Sarah down for a nap by 2:15 and she slept for two hours. After she woke, we had a quick snack then found a much closer subway entrance and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. The girls loved it! They relaxed on a big couch and watched music videos (Sarah apparently really likes Bon Jovi and said, "growl" and signed "bear" when ZZ Top came on).

Something happened with Anna today that made me very happy. Since Halloween she has not spoken "in public" to us. Only when we are in the car with the car door shut or in our apartment. This has led to many frustrating times for us. Today at Lotte World she started whispering to me. By the time we were on the subway back from the Hard Rock Cafe she was laughing out loud and talking to us! Craig and I were so happy but didn't comment to her because that tends to backfire when we make a big deal out of something.

Posted by Becky at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Our dive to Seoul was pretty good. We left at 9 AM, stopped for a lunch at a rest-stop at 11:30, and got to our hotel at about 2:30. The girls did great in the car even when traffic backed up a bit once we got to Seoul. There are about twenty tunnels between here and Geoje-do so I think that helped a lot. (I'll have to try to actually count on the way home because there are a lot of tunnels!)

Craig took the girls to the play area and then we all took the subway to dinner at Outback. The walk to the subway station was a lot farther than we thought it would be and it was COLD. We took a taxi home and saw a lot of really great Christmas lights. The girls were both tired and crabby at the restaurant and the food and service wasn't as I had hoped so that was a bit of a disappointment.

Anna & Sarah also had trouble getting/staying asleep. Anna kept turning on the light and this made Sarah cry (of course!). The last time I went to their room was at 11 PM!

Posted by Becky at 11:10 PM | Permalink

I hated to wake Sarah up from her deep sleep but was left with no choice.

High-heeled shoes! Anna's letter to Santa requested he bring a purple pair for her and a pink pair for Sarah.

Anna was really nervous about Santa coming to school today. We've been talking about it for a while and on Sunday she broke down and said "I really want someone from my family to be there!" So I promised her that Sarah & I would come. Santa came at the annoying hour of 1:30 PM which is 30 minutes after Sarah usually goes down for a nap. It wasn't clear how long he'd stay so I tossed around the idea of putting Sarah down after Santa but ended up putting her down early and she got about an hour before I ripped her out of her crib and drove to school. We barely made it! Santa arrived at the gates just before us and I was only fast enough to grab the one picture of him passing out presents.

Santa mis-calculated Anna & Sarah's shoe sizes though and the girls could not walk in the shoes. So, I told Anna we'd go to Home Plus and if they had some smaller shoes we could get those and send back the too-big shoes on Christmas Eve. (Santa can give them to some other girls with bigger feet.) Luckily Home Plus did have some smaller dress-up shoes (and for only 5,000 Won each so they were a steal!). I'll have to try to get some shots of them in their new shoes but, rest assured, they love them.

Posted by Becky at 8:26 PM | Permalink

I can't remember if I've mentioned this already but Sarah is picking up on some Korean-English. Koreans will often add an "-ee" to the end of words. "Orange-ee," "beach-ee," "finish-ee," etc. I don't know why this is, but suddenly Sarah has started to say "hug-ee" instead of "hug" when she wants me to pick her up and hold her. I'm trying to correct her but her extreme desire to do the forbidden makes her want to do it more. I will have to stop correcting her!

Posted by Becky at 8:16 AM | Permalink

Craig and I went to Prince Coffee to start off our date night last night and Cindy wrote a nice note in my "mint hot choco." Then we went to play screen golf at the old D-Max Mart (lame grocery store but good for a quick trip b/c parking was better than Suhyup). This was a pretty fancy place! There is a screen golf driving range right off the lobby but if you play a round you have a private room. We played as well at screen golf as we would have in real life (we both SUCK!). But we had a lot of fun and will probably do it again next date night (Craig wants to go again tonight.)

Posted by Becky at 8:59 PM | Permalink

I went to get Sarah this morning and stepped in a giant puddle outside her door. When I went in to turn on her lamp, I found another, larger puddle. One of the pipes in the floor had busted (we have really nice heated floors here!). Now all of the stuff from her closet (our main storage area and it is a lot of stuff!) is in the office and she will sleep in Anna's room until her room is fixed.

Posted by Becky at 8:51 PM | Permalink

(I realize you probably can't even see the snow in these pictures, there were better, bigger flakes throughout the day but never at a time when I could take a picture!)

Of course I didn't have my little camera with me when the really big flakes were coming down when Sarah & I went to pick up Anna from school today. All of the kids at school were outside to play in the falling snow. This was the first time my girls have seen snow falling. Last year we had a slight dusting on the porch one morning but that is a different thing than actually seeing it fall. Poor Anna wanted to know when we could build a snowman. I told her we are going to try to go to Muju this winter and go sledding so maybe we can build a snowman when we go there.

It was pretty exciting for me as well since I probably haven't seen snow falling since winter 2005 when Anna & I were in Colorado for Christmas. (If it even snowed then!--I know it did when Anna & I visited in April 2005.)

Posted by Becky at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sarah and I were walking through town and this is what we saw on "Baskin Robbins Street."

Posted by Becky at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Our "super fun mommy & me class at Home Plus" is anything but fun! It was the strangest thing I've seen. Sarah is 19 months and the class is geared for 12-18 month olds (but it was in the only time slot that was left that we could sign up for). The teacher sat behind the desk with a boom box blasting, spoke into a microphone, and showed a bunch of "fun" flashcards. Sometimes the flashcards were interesting but there was only one hands-on activity! Very strange to me. I told Sarah we'd give it anther week and if next week is just as bad we'll ask for our money back. I'm so glad we also signed up for the D-Cube class!

Posted by Becky at 11:43 PM | Permalink

Sarah and I signed up for classes at D-Cube and at Home Plus. Today was our first D-Cube class and Sarah seemed to enjoy it. She go to play in the "snow" and decorate a tree and a snowman. There was music and dancing which she kind of enjoyed. She wouldn't dance on her own but only with me. She refused to take a ride on a sled around the room (because I lost physical contact with her). I think she's a little off today so hopefully it won't take long for her to warm up to "our super fun mommy & me class at D-Cube" as I call it since I don't know what it is really called. The class is in Korean but when Sarah hands the teacher something the teacher does say "thank you" to her which is nice. There is one other foreign girl in our class which makes it that much more fun for us.

Posted by Becky at 11:37 PM | Permalink

We took the car ferry to Busan today and went to the aquarium. Both girls had a great time but the best was when Sarah laughed at the otters and penguins.

We got back in the car around 2 PM hoping Sarah would fall asleep (she always takes a nap at 1 PM). We weren't going to make it to the ferry so we decided to drive home instead... Sarah never fell asleep! The girls were good on the drive home but we were all wiped out when we got home (around 5 PM).

Posted by Becky at 8:55 PM | Permalink

Sarah:
Sarah asks to drink "milk" (it's actually drinkable yogurt but we call it milk) frequently throughout the day. Today though she said, "milk" then changed her mind and requested: "coffee." Craig's bean-roasting has inspired her! She loves to smell the freshly roasted beans and loves when he makes coffee.

Sarah saying more and more two-word phrases. This morning she said, "brown box" the other day it was "blue bus." She is really good at color identification as well!

Anna:
Anna's class had a Pajama Party today where they "turned the classroom into a bedroom!" Anna was so excited for this day she could hardly contain it. She thought it was super fun to go to school in her pajamas. I didn't have my little camera in my purse this morning though so I didn't get any pictures.

Craig/Korea:
Sarah & I were going to the bakery and Import Lady today before we picked up Anna from school. I went to the trunk of the car and her stroller wasn't there. Craig had taken the girls out to dinner last night so I could work and he left the stroller on the sidewalk and drove away. I asked him to please drive by where he left it on his way home for lunch to see if it was around and he said it was in the exact spot he left it last night. I thought that was a pretty good reflection of Okpo that the stroller was still there. I really expected to see an ajumma walking down the street with my stroller loaded down with cabbage on her way to the market! The stroller is now safely back in the trunk of my car.

Posted by Becky at 11:11 PM | Permalink

We took the car ferry to Jinhae today. I knew I could get us to the McDonald's there by sight since we were there this spring with my mom for the cherry blossoms. Too bad they built a brand new ferry terminal on the other side of town! We ended up driving for a little while but eventually found it. The girls had a blast on the ferry, at the restaurant, and at the playground near the ferry terminal. I think this will be an outing I'll repeat over Anna's three-week winter break.

Posted by Becky at 11:30 PM | Permalink

Posted by Becky at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna has three days off of school this week so I decided to take the girls up to Tongyeong to check out the sky car. The girls loved it but it got rainy and windy shortly after we got up to the top so we didn't stay long. This outing will definitely be repeated if the girls have anything to say about it!

Posted by Becky at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Burning in the rice fields: this has become a familiar smell of Korea.

Firecrackers in the party supplies section at Home Plus. These are at kid-level.

Posted by Becky at 8:05 PM | Permalink

The girls and I have been having a great time at home playing each morning and then going to the pool in the afternoons. We're going to be sad when colder weather comes! I might look into taking Sarah over to the Jangsangpo pool for something to do this fall and winter although getting her to wear a swimming cap might be too much to ask of her...

Posted by Becky at 11:15 PM | Permalink

This was supposed to be a video but I messed up the transfer from my new camera and didn't check it before I deleted the files off of the camera... will do better next time!

I've been unpacking, sorting, and throwing out stuff today. Lucky for us, today was a holiday so we had Craig at home with us. We went to Home Plus for a few groceries (I noticed a lot of the foreigner-items (like Goldfish crackers, imported beef, French bread, etc.) were either not in stock or not there any more. I really hope it's a good stockist who knows the foreigners leave for the summer and not that they're never getting this stuff in again! We went to the pool this afternoon to get some sunlight and activity in. It's so nice that Anna isn't afraid of the water and is having fun jumping in, etc. I am just too short to do much with Sarah though which is too bad. We'll see if the three of us girls venture out on our own there next week or not.

Posted by Becky at 8:14 PM | Permalink

It is the rainy season here so I'm lucky I got a little break today to take a picture of how the rice fields are moving along.

Posted by Becky at 8:49 PM | Permalink

I could barely contain my excitement yesterday when I was in the produce section at Home Plus and there were fresh blueberries! They were in 100g packages and cost 5,000KW each (about $5). I bought a package for each of us and they were heavenly. I will probably just hold out now until we go home and get more for less but it might be tough to pass them up when I go to the store again next week.

Posted by Becky at 7:17 PM | Permalink

I often find the Home Plus jingle is stuck in my head and I walk around "singing" it (I only know the words "Home Plus" because the rest is in Korean). We only hear this when we're at Home Plus (and in their parking garage) but Anna & Sarah, of course, hear me singing it all of the time, too. Anna is now walking around singing it as well. I should really find out what the words are so we don't sound like complete idiots when we're signing this while we're out and about.

Posted by Becky at 6:27 AM | Permalink

Windy! First three photos by Craig

One of the pieces of art Anna liked before I saw the "no pictures" sign. There were some good pieces here but we definitely didn't see the whole place because Anna was getting a bit tired from all the walking we did to get there.

Today was super windy and the ferries were not running back to Geoje. The hotel is awesome but it doesn't really have a concierge so the lady at the front desk wasn't very helpful. She told us there was a bus to Gohyeon at 6:30 PM but she couldn't get a hold of anyone to find out if we needed a reservation. We wanted to leave our suitcase at the hotel desk because we didn't want to lug it around town all day. So, Craig & Sarah took the subway to the bus station (45 minutes away!) to buy tickets and Anna & I had the more relaxing day of Starbucks, quick subway trip, and a visit to the Busan Museum of Modern Art. We all met up again and hurried back to the bus station to catch the 4:30 bus (it turns out buses to Geoje run all day long so we could have just all gone together the first time and saved Sarah & Craig a lot of grief).

The bus trip wouldn't have been too bad if we hadn't bought four tickets and only gotten two seats. We had the girls on our laps and not much room for anything. Then Sarah had a dirty diaper after Anna had fallen asleep but Sarah wouldn't fall asleep with a dirty diaper on so we had to rustle around and wake Anna so I could change Sarah on the seat. Sarah fell asleep less than five minutes before we got to Gohyeon...

Anyway we had a really good trip and it was nice to get away before Craig's business trip this month and our big trip to the US this summer.

Posted by Becky at 10:46 PM | Permalink

Anna was super excited about the giant pictures of desserts on the wall at the patisserie.

View of the sunset from our hotel. Photo by Craig

The girls & I caught the 3 PM ferry to Busan today and hung around the hotel, beach, and restaurants waiting for Craig (who caught the 5:30 ferry). Luckily the girls were pretty easy to entertain even as the clock rolled well past their bedtimes.

Our hotel, the Seacloud is pretty awesome. It's a great location and we have two bedrooms, and we got a fantastic rate through the apartment managers here.

Posted by Becky at 9:15 PM | Permalink

Anna got her "acceptance letter" from Okpo International School today. She will be a Ladybird starting September 1.

Posted by Becky at 10:23 PM | Permalink

Anna wasn't feeling cooperative for a picture today...

Sarah was getting really tired.

We drove up to Goseong today to check out the dinosaur park recommended by Aksana and Valerie. It was pretty nice and we didn't get a chance to see it all so we'll have to go back again some other time (maybe this fall when it cools down again). The girls seemed to have fun and it's always good to take a break from Geoje now and again.

Posted by Becky at 8:26 PM | Permalink

Dr. Lee is on the left and Suhyup is on the right

It looks like we're going to try to keep these two cats. The vet thinks they are about six weeks old. For now they live in a little fence with a carrier, litter box, bed, and food & water dishes but eventually they can have the run of the house. Suhyup purred when I washed him/her on Tuesday night and Dr. Lee purrs as well but not as quickly or as strong. Craig named Dr. Lee (Lee is one of the most common surnames in Korea and "Dr." makes it unisex since we haven't figured out what they are yet!). Anna named Suhyup after she was given a list of choices. Suhyup (pronounced SOO-YUP) is the name of the grocery store here. Anna had been leaning toward "Orange" all day but the other choices were Kimchi, Kimbap, Pajeon (Korean pacake), Ooyoo (milk), or Dalki (strawberry).

Posted by Becky at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I keep thinking I should take a photo of the rice fields each month to document how they change so today is the first one in the series. The fields are (purposely) flooded now.

Posted by Becky at 8:46 PM | Permalink

The girls had another great time today checking out the Gymboree-esque place called Tumbland. I had enquired about this through Ameilie a few months back but was informed it was for ages 2 & up and something you drop your kid off to do. We all stayed and Sarah had a good time anyway. The session is Tuesday and Fridays from 3-5 for a month. It's a little pricey but we're trying it for June. Anna said she wants to go back tomorrow.

Posted by Becky at 9:53 PM | Permalink

We went to the Geoje Fishing Museum today with Karen & Constance, Bo & Emilia, and Anki & Tobias. Anna and Sarah had a great time although Sarah slept in until 8 so skipped her AM nap and was getting cranky around 11 AM. She ended up falling asleep for about 3 minutes in the car and not taking a very good nap in the afternoon (she is getting sick). Anna wanted to go back to the museum again this afternoon but I convinced her it would be more fun if we wait another week or so to go back.

Posted by Becky at 8:51 PM | Permalink

Really quick (I'll get the blog updated with our trip to Seoul tomorrow): we took the girls to the doctor this morning for their 1 and 3 year exams and here are their stats:

Anna
14 kg (30.9 lbs, 50th percentile)
96.1 cm (37.8 inches, 75th percentile)

Sarah
10.68 kg (23.5 lbs, 75-90th percentile)
76.2 cm (30 inches, 50th percentile)
I'll have to measure her head circumference myself later

Sarah weighs almost as much as Anna did at two years! (I'll update the stats comparison page, too.)

The girls did great with their shots: they both got the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine and Sarah got one other. They both go back next week for the second Japanese Encephalitis (and again next year for the third one in that series) and then Sarah goes back next month for two more vaccines. I like that we're spreading them out over a month this time instead of having us come every week for three weeks like last time. Anna whimpered for half a second with hers and I don't think Sarah even noticed she got either shot. I was really worried about it, too, and had Craig go with me! All for nothing thank goodness!

Posted by Becky at 12:59 PM | Permalink

All aquarium photography by Craig.

Sarah was excited to get to the pool again; here she is walking around in her swim cover.

We went to the aquarium at the Coex Mall today but it wasn't really that great. It was expensive and not very big. It was also really crowded. But, the girls seemed to like it well enough so it wasn't a total waste.

Posted by Becky at 9:43 PM | Permalink

I really liked this yellow wall, but you can see that McDonald's is also 30 meters ahead...

Our hotel.

I went out early to take pictures around Seoul this morning. I didn't stray too far and wanted to go to a temple specifically for the Buddha's birthday decorations. They were nice but I remember being more impressed at the temple I went to in Busan with my mom in 2004.

Posted by Becky at 8:16 PM | Permalink

At the rest stop.

Sorry for the flash but the girls were so cute in their new polka-dot swimsuits!

Got up and out the door by 8:30 (goal was 8). Sarah fell asleep by 9 and slept until after 10. We stopped shortly after she got up to stretch, have a snack, change her diaper... We got back on the road and had to stop two more times due to false-alarm bathroom stops for Anna. We ended up getting to our hotel just after 4 PM (much later than we had planned). We're going to try to stop only once on the way home on Monday!

The hotel is fantastic! Three bedrooms although we wish we had brought our own pack n' play instead of using the hotel's crib (different safety standards: they had it loaded up with soft bedding and pillows but that was easy to remove and I, thankfully, brought a crib sheet from home that works really well). Anna & Sarah were both so happy to get to the hotel it was hard to convince them to leave to go find some dinner. We took the easy way out and walked over the the 24-hour McDonald's. I told Craig that it was sad because we were at McDonald's but I felt like we were back in civilization!

After dinner we jumped into our swimsuits and hopped into the pool. The girls are sooooo cute in their new swimsuits and this was Sarah's second time in a pool so she was really thrilled with the experience. We'll try to go every night while we're here, I think!

Posted by Becky at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We went to the beach today for Caroline's birthday picnic (she is a friend from TKD and her birthday is also tomorrow). We went there early since the picnic was to start at noon but it didn't make sense for us to wait around when we knew we'd have to leave a little earlier to get Sarah back home for a nap anyway. We didn't end up even seeing Caroline (well, I saw her and wished her happy birthday) because we camped out on one end and the rest of the group didn't see us until we were leaving! Anyway, the kids had fun getting sandy and wet. The beach was kind of dirty and there was a lot of seaweed around so it wasn't really that nice. I hope it's because it's not really beach "season" yet and that's not how the beaches will be all summer.

Sarah was walking around the beach and around the playground today. Basically she starts out walking and only crawls if she falls over (she can't stand up in the middle of the room on her own yet). She is really taking to this so much faster than Anna and I am sure it is because Sarah has no sense of caution where Anna was always very careful. It's fun though and I'm excited for her to make the switch to 100% walking. (I'd say she is already 90% upright—she is either cruising, pushing the shopping cart/stroller, or walking and only crawls if she falls down.)

Posted by Becky at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I went with Pyongwon, Laurel, Hyunjung, and Mijung to cheer on the Geoje competitors.

The Geoje group.

I went to Tongyeong with Mijung, Laurel, Hyunjung, and Pyongwon to watch Jaynie, Chris and others compete in the triathlon. It was really interesting to see but I can't say I'm inspired to try one. The swimming doesn't look like fun at all to me. Partly because the water was really cold and partly because I don't think it's possible in my current situation to commit to enough pool-time to get the training in. I'm considering training for the Geoje Marathon next winter but not the tri. Maybe I could be convinced in two years...

Posted by Becky at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The azaleas around here have been gorgeous the past week or so. They're actually starting to fade right now so I should have gotten a picture of the kids earlier.

Posted by Becky at 8:19 PM | Permalink

We took a short hike up the mountain near our house this morning. Anna wanted to walk so we just went 1km and turned around. I think she could have handled more but we didn't want to push it. When we got home she said, "my shoes are tired." Sarah didn't take a nap so she wasn't excited about the hike (she was fine as long as Craig kept moving) but she seemed to like the backpack carrier relatively well. I'll have to try her in it when Anna is in school sometime.

Posted by Becky at 8:38 PM | Permalink

Sarah getting chummy with the restaurant staff.

We decided to go out for one last Korean meal before my mom goes (we took her to gamjatang earlier in the week). There is a playground at the ferry terminal that I've never taken the kids to so my mom, Anna, Sarah, & I went early to play and wait for Craig to meet us before dinner. This was the first time I've let Sarah go down the slide on her own and she did great! It is a little fast so I don't think she can do it sitting up. (One of the two at our house she can do sitting up but I still hold her hands very lightly because the end is a little wild.)

After the park we went to the restaurant and had a great meal. The food was great but also we were the only ones there and the waitress took it upon herself to "babysit" Sarah for us which was really nice because it's really impossible to contain her at the Korean-style restaurants (no high chairs, just a cushion on the floor). Craig says he wants to go every week but I'm not sure if it was for the food or the child care! Actually the food is really good so he may just get his wish.

Posted by Becky at 7:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Note that Sarah is playing with one of the ladies' purses.

Photo by Adele

We got the kids up at 6:45 so we could leave at 7:35 for the car ferry to Jinhae today. Anna & Sarah were pretty excited about riding the car ferry and did very well on the ride. We sat on the floor with a bunch of ajummas (old ladies) who offered us some rice & bean paste treats (we declined), oranges (we accepted), and hard boiled eggs (we declined). Sarah had fun playing with the ladies purses (they encouraged it) and gave everyone a good laugh when she pulled out a 10,000 Won bill from one purse. Anna ate the orange and otherwise avoided interacting with the Korean ladies (as expected) and Sarah mingled a little with them which was great because it kept her entertained and made the ride a lot easier for me. In the US this trip would probably not have been as nice because I would have felt compelled to try to keep Sarah away from the ladies but here since they're always wanting to play with babies it worked to my advantage!

We found our way to the festival market pretty easily but we were a little early for a lot of the vendors and a little late for the blossoms. The blossoms were past their peak in Jinhae (just as they are past their peak on Geoje already). But we did see some interesting sights, my mom got to use a Korean "Mobile Toilet," we got smoothies, and we rode a carousel and a train. Actually, Anna freaked out on both the carousel and train so she got off pretty fast. Sarah & I took a full ride on the train which she really enjoyed.

We set out to find McDonald's for lunch (we don't have one on Geoje and I don't believe we've been there since Doha). We found McDonald's but opted for bagels at Dunkin' Donuts instead. We maybe should have driven around Jinhae after lunch and tried to find more cherry blossoms but we decided to try to catch the next ferry home instead. Our timing worked out well and the next ferry left about ten minutes after we arrived at the terminal. Sarah fell asleep in the car so we sat in the car until she woke. When she was up and ready to go we went upstairs and sat outside and watch the seagulls catching Bugels and other snacks from the passengers on the ferries. It was actually quite amusing (if you get over the fact that the poor seagulls were eating junk food) to watch them catch the food mid-air. Sarah really liked the foamy water all around the boat and watching the waves (as well a the seagulls).

We played up at the playground the rest of the afternoon and we were all exhausted by bedtime which I guess means we had a good day. I was disappointed that we missed the cherry blossoms at their peak but I guess we can try again next year.

Posted by Becky at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The cherry blossom trees near DSME are fantastic right now and there was quite a crowd of people today checking them out that would agree with me. We plan to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival later this week but since we were driving this way to get Craig's car from the ferry terminal in Janseugnpo anyway we thought we ought to stop and take a few pictures.

Posted by Becky at 8:47 PM | Permalink

Chins and cheeks.

We have been enjoying some really nice weather this past week. The cherry trees have also started blossoming throughout town (and in our yard!). Today we spent a long time outside and played with some bubbles and sand toys in the the yard.

Posted by Becky at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We hired a babysitter for last night so we could go out to dinner, hit a couple of bars, and then go to norae bang. We went to the duck restaurant with Jaynie & Hyunjung which everyone loved (even I liked it and anyone who knows me knows that I am a picky eater!). We met Mijung at Mama's and then we went down to norae bang where Sabunim and his friends joined us. It was fun going with Craig (and his mom & sister) since I usually just go with my girlfriends. We sang a few duets including Copacabana and Midnight Train to Georgia. I had promised Corrine & Anita that we'd be back by midnight since they were having a hard time staying up all week anyway (and Anna & Sarah still needed someone to take care of them in the morning so that's my personal curfew as well).

We got home at about 12:05 and what did I see when I got to the bottom of the stairs? Sarah's blinding overhead light on in her room (we never use this light because it is truly awful and not fit for a bedroom but an operating room). So the babysitter (a woman probably in her mid-40s?) is holding Sarah on the chair with this horrible light on. I took Sarah and turned off the light. I think Sarah was just zoned out because usually she's sleeping at midnight! I realized I probably stunk of cigarette smoke from the bar so I wouldn't provide much comfort to Sarah in what I was wearing so I set her down in her crib and she went back to sleep without any fussing. The babysitter told Craig that Sarah woke up at 11. So she had been up for an hour, I guess. Throughout the night Sarah did cry out and I went in one more time. I think she must have had gas because the cry did sound uncomfortable and I don't blame the babysitter for going in if Sarah's cry sounded like what I heard! I just don't get how the lady sat there in Sarah's room for an hour and didn't notice that there is a lamp on the table across from the chair with significantly softer lighting (if you have to have a light on)...

Posted by Becky at 6:45 AM | Permalink

We decided to get off the island and head to Busan today. Anna was pretty excited about going on her first boat-ride and we got a little taste of what the trip from Korea to the US will be like this summer with Sarah (adventurous!). I was a little nervous because the last time I rode the ferry I was pregnant with Anna and ended up getting sick. Luckily no one got sick today.

We planned to go to Bennigan's for lunch but it wasn't there any more (not sure if it has changed locations or if it's just gone) so we went to Outback Steakhouse instead. The kids did great (Anna even used the public bathroom for the second time in her short toileting career). I don't know if the food was really as good as it seemed or if we were especially hungry or hadn't had American food since August or both.

We walked around and I felt like a country bumpkin' in the "big city." My biggest worries were Sarah's nap and nursing in public; both went fine. After lunch we got both kids in the stroller and after walking around a bit, Sarah fell asleep! The only major drawback was we needed to cross one street but there wasn't a crosswalk so we had to lug the stroller up and down a ton of stairs (with kids on the way back to the ferry terminal since Sarah was sleeping!)

It was fun and we're glad we did it but it might be an every-other-month thing (it was also exhausting!).

Posted by Becky at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sarah has been acting sick since about Tuesday afternoon/evening. She wouldn't nurse at bedtime Tuesday night and we initially suspected teething. I gave her some Motrin and put some teething gel on her at bedtime. She was super hot when she got up on Wednesday but the batteries in both of our thermometers were dead. I tried to stop at the pharmacy after dropping Anna off at school but it wasn't open yet (8:45 AM). By the time we did get a thermometer she felt significantly less hot but did still have a fever.

Today she just wanted to rest on me when she was awake so Craig came home early and I took Sarah to the doctor. Her ears are fine but he said she has a sore throat and prescribed some medicine. I went to the pharmacy to get it filled but the pharmacist gave me two bottles of liquid and several packets of powder to mix together and that's when my eyes glazed over and decided I wasn't going to be giving Sarah anything other than cuddles and alternating Tylenol and Motrin as I had been doing. She already had the worst as far as I can tell so we'll just keep an eye on her and hope no one else gets it.

Posted by Becky at 11:21 PM | Permalink

Aksana was nice enough to bring buy the application forms for Anna for the International School next year yesterday which was great. I thought I'd stop by the school after Sarah's nap to get Anna signed up to be a "Lady Bird" this fall. Then last night we got an email from Playschool saying "hurry and register at OIS so you don't lose your spot!" The instant Anna's head hit the pillow last night I was filling out the form and we left early this morning to drop it off before Anna went to school. There are fifteen spots in the class and apparently eight kids had already signed up, a big project is coming to town, etc. Hopefully we are good to go now.

Posted by Becky at 10:37 AM | Permalink

We had Isabel and Alfred down today. I was a little nervous since the last time we had kids with their mom over Anna was super clingy. Today she was still hovering around me (or climbing on me) but she was okay if I stepped out of the room to get a drink for the moms (this tells me that I'm doing the right thing by having a playdate every week—she's getting used to it again and will hopefully be totally comfortable with it after a while). Alfred is a little sweetheart who reminds me a lot of my nephew Sam. Playdates are nice for me with Sarah because she stops moving a bit and sits and observes the new people for a few minutes.

Alfred's mom actually knew me before I knew her which isn't the first time this has happened to me: people here will do a search for something on Geoje and come across my old South Korea Journal or this blog. She happened to be looking for information on Playschool. Sometime I should sift through my stats and see what other people are searching for when they end up here. Hopefully I am providing useful information!

Posted by Becky at 7:08 PM | Permalink

We went out for gamjatang tonight. This is one of the few places we have gone multiple times with the kids because we can arrive any time and they are ready to serve food, it is fast, it has a trampoline, and (most importantly) it is good!

Sarah did really well tonight sitting on the mat on the floor here but she is too wild to take to Starbucks right now. She can't stop climbing all over the chair, trying to climb across the table, etc.

Anna did a fantastic job with her chopsticks tonight and, as usual, she asks to try kimchi and ends up spitting it out. I don't know what about the look of it is appealing to her but I am glad she is willing to try something new (she also always wants to try raw onion but never likes that, either).

Posted by Becky at 11:19 PM | Permalink

Photo by Craig.

Anna keeps asking to play dress-up in the really nice Hanbok from Mijung and there is now a small tear in it (which I will ask my mom to fix—it should be easy but she's a much better seamstress than me so I don't trust myself to do it) so when I saw Home Plus had Hanboks for sale this week (for the Lunar New Year) I decided to get one for the girls to play in. I will take Sarah's one-year photo (and maybe Anna's three-year photo) in the one from Mijung and then retire it so it doesn't get ruined. Anna picked this one out herself and I was surprised because we had it down to two different Hanboks and she chose the one with the blue skirt. We were barely in the door of the apartment when she started stripping out of her regular clothes to get the Hanbok on.

Posted by Becky at 10:28 PM | Permalink

Anyone who buys diapers (in the US) these days will recognize that these Korean Cuties have the exact same logo as US Pampers. I can't easily find information about these online (did a couple of Google searches but haven't come up with anything). Pampers.com has no information for Korea and I can't seem to find information on Ssang Yong C&B (the logo at the top right of the diaper pack). We have found a lot that copyrighted logos are mis-used all of the time here. You'll see Mickey Mouse on stuff that is clearly not a Disney product, for example. Anyway, the Cuties are the best fit for Sarah and they are actually built like Pampers which makes me suspect that there must be some kind of agreement with Ssang Yong C&B and Pampers/Proctor & Gamble.

Here's another "happy" Korean web site for Sharon (in English, for Anita!): Pororo is the penguin character on the Cuties.

Posted by Becky at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I went back to my first TKD class tonight. Luckily, Laurel & Mijung were there to help me through. I don't feel too bad tonight but we'll see how I feel in the morning. It felt more like a mental challenge than a physical one. We kicked up and down the room in complicated combinations of kicks that, as a black belt, I should be comfortable with but since I haven't gone in 3+ years I am quite rusty.

Posted by Becky at 9:42 PM | Permalink

This is why Craig comes home for lunch every day.

This is what Anna did while I got dinner ready during Sarah's afternoon nap. It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to do any cooking/prep-work while Sarah is awake so I need to be organized and motivated to get it done during one of her naps.

Posted by Becky at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We had Anna's friend Eleni and her older brother Kostas over this afternoon to play. Anna stuck to me like glue but, thankfully, Sarah was a little more self-sufficient. At the end Anna did give Eleni a hug goodbye (Eleni gave Anna a kiss!). I just hope Anna gets more self-confidence as she gets older because it is going to be hard for her to be this shy when she is on her own in the world. Anna's friend Kristin is coming over tomorrow morning and Sarah & I might go up to one of our neighbor's houses next week for a playdate with kids her age (one is 3.5 months the other is 7.5 months) while Anna is at school.

One of my goals this year is to have friends over more for the kids since we really haven't been doing that at all since we've been here (especially since we're downstairs and don't "run into" people much when we do pass through the parking lot) . I guess it's hard for me to coordinate and we are all in our routines. Eleni & Kristin both have older siblings (so afternoons are harder) and Eleni & Gwenn both go to school five days per week (so mornings are out) which leaves little time for us to get together with more than one of her friends at a time, I guess. It's also hard because I just don't know many people with kids our kids age because I don't get out!

Anna talks about Kristin, Eleni, & Gwenn when I ask her about school and today I saw Gwenn, Kristin, & Anna all holding hands on their walk up to the playground (I've only seen Anna hold her teacher's hand on the way to the playground before). I would have loved to have gotten a picture of this but then Anna would have seen me and I had to run to the Import Lady and the bakery before I could get Anna & her things from school.

Posted by Becky at 8:25 PM | Permalink

I will plan to do a real photo session with Anna in the Hanbok on her birthday (and Sarah on her first birthday). It is hanging in Anna's closet so she occasionally will ask to wear it. I really should buy a couple of cheap ones at Home Plus next time they have them (they did around Chuseok last year) for dress-up because I think this one (that Mijung gave me at Anna's baby shower) is nicer that those and I am terrified it is going to be ruined!

Posted by Becky at 11:40 PM | Permalink

Check out how the fruit is stacked in bowls on the back of this truck driving down the road!

The parking lot we like in Gohyeon; I felt inspired to take a photo but just had the little camera so this is what you get. I was feeling sentimental and thought it might be nice to remember this part of the experience as well.

Since we did the Admiral yesterday we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the coffee house again today (although Subway had only limited ingredients for sandwich-making so we didn't bother ordering any).

Posted by Becky at 8:53 PM | Permalink

I arranged for a babysitter (through Amelie again) for tonight. Sung-Hee was supposed to arrive at 7 PM and last time she came fifteen minutes early so when she wasn't here by 5 after 7 we realized something was wrong. Luckily I had saved her cell number in mine so I called her. She said she was babysitting somewhere else. I could only assume that somehow she got double-booked. So, she asked her friend to come here and it was all working out fine. (Sung-Hee and her friend are probably in their mid-forties.) We got upstairs after the new sitter arrived and there was someone who kind of looked like Sung-Hee in our parking lot on the phone. It turns out our reservation had been mixed up somewhere along the line and she had written down another apartment in our complex for 8 PM. So, Sung-Hee and her friend had a nice visit at our house while we went out.

All this to say that we have decided to try to go on a date night at least once per month and tonight we went to VIPS for dinner. The steaks were really good (I'm not sure if they were actually good or if we just haven't had steak in a long time!) and the salad bar had a good selection (even a taco bar!). Before we went to dinner we were talking about all of the different restaurants we were going to hit each month but when we were done we joked we might just go to VIPS each time. It's in Gohyeon (same building as Home Plus) so it's really not convenient to go during the week with the kids but we might try to brave the weekend crowd sometime for lunch.

Posted by Becky at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sarah has been refusing to nurse lying on her left side for four days now so I decided to just take her in to be sure there isn't an ear infection or something going on. I got the kids up the stairs, into the car, and into town. We parked the car, walked to the doctor's office and it was totally dark. Furniture was scattered and there was a small sign on the door all in Korean except for a 12 and a 17. So, hoping that the sign said they moved somewhere else on 17 December, I took a photo with my camera phone (I was pretty miffed when I realized I forgot my diaper bag camera!) and walked down to Best Office, showed them the picture and they informed me where the doctor's office moved to.

The office was newer and nicer, of course, but Sarah doesn't have an ear infection and the office was so busy I'm just hoping the kids didn't pick something up there! Sarah doesn't have to go to the doctor at 9 months like she would at home so she won't go back until her one year appointment.

The office does have a kind of cool thing for measuring and weighing the babies & kids. For Sarah I set her on a table that weighs her (they did it with all her winter clothes so I didn't bother to remember the number) and then the nurse lay Sarah flat (Sarah did not like this) and the table scanned her length. For the older kids they stand and a little measurer slides down and taps their head and slides back up. It was kind of futuristic and pretty cool looking.

Posted by Becky at 8:22 PM | Permalink

There was a very slight dusting of snow on the porch this morning.

Craig found some Bob's Red Mill pancake & waffle mix at Costco this last trip so we've been enjoying that but we stopped over at "The Baking Store" in Gohyeon and they had some bags of Bob's Red Mill whole wheat flour so we bought some of that as well. I don't know if there is whole wheat flour at Home Plus because I don't know what the Korean for "whole wheat" is! Now I can try to ask around with this bag that I have and see if Mijung or Amelie and tell me where to find it (it may also be available at one of the bakeries in town) or I'll just keep going to the baking store and get it there.

Today we decided to check out the coffee shop by Subway in Gohyeon and bring home some Subway for dinner (we haven't been there since we arrived in Korea this time since there is a Quizno's in Okpo—and both of these are new since we lived here last time). Turns out Sleepless in Seattle and Subway are the same place. So we got our coffee first and ordered the sandwiches later. (Craig had a cappuccino and Anna & I had hot chocolate since you can't get decaf here and I don't need Sarah to stay awake all night just for a coffee!) The barista/sandwich artist put little hearts in the steamed milk which is something Craig aspires to do (latte art) with his cappuccinos at home. The cocoa was good (and he made Anna's just the right temperature) and Craig said his coffee was better than he expected. So, I think we'll add this outing to our list of regulars as well. Maybe next time I'll remember to bring the camera...

Posted by Becky at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I uploaded my pictures from December that belong on the blog to Picassa. I'll finish posting the links tomorrow night (click on the December 2007 Archives to see what I've already posted). This is a temporary fix (I hope) because it creates quite a bit more work for me than my usual method. The problem is that I cannot upload files to the US from here. This is at our apartment complex only. Craig can upload from his work. Apparently Google has servers for Picassa here or in Japan (where I can still upload at incredible speed).

In other temporary fix news, next month I hope to finally correct the layout issues I'm having with the Movable Type upgrade I did earlier. I have a huge list of things to do and this is at the top because I think it should be easy; I just need to sit down and do it.

Posted by Becky at 11:31 PM | Permalink

This morning is the second time in the last month I woke up with "Tambourine Hand." Norae Bang at Carmen's going-away party a few weeks ago (both hands hurt the next day). Last night at Mijung's birthday party I took it easier and just used one hand. I think it is actually bruised. The norae bang (karaoke room) we went to the last two times is a lot nicer than the one we went to when I lived here before but the music is so loud that you've got to play the tambourine pretty hard to be heard!

Posted by Becky at 8:08 PM | Permalink

Lights on one of the main streets in town.

Anna was pretty impressed with this pink Christmas tree in the window.

We went out to Quizno's for dinner tonight and got to see some Christmas lights. I'm kind of sad we didn't get to drive around looking for lights this year like we did last year but I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for that later on. We ran into one of Anna's friends from school at Quizno's and I think it was one of the few times that she has seen someone from school elsewhere so it was kind of like running into your teacher at the grocery store and realizing that they are a real person. I don't think it occurred to her before tonight that Gwenn had parents and they need to eat dinner, too.

Posted by Becky at 8:28 PM | Permalink

The parent with child sign is also on the men's room so I assume it's the same set-up in there.

Boxes off to the left and a table with tape and scissors. There is another table off to the left here so plenty of people can pack up their stuff at one time.

Anna & I drove up to Lotte Mart to check out what they're selling these days (nothing too terribly exciting or different than Home Plus but they do have the nice Daiso (Japanese dollar store) section that is always fun to go through. I helped Anna pick out a Christmas present from Anna to Sarah and to Craig from Anna & Sarah. She pointed out several things that she would like and I told her I'd take Sarah later to pick out something for Anna. It's just too bad that the thing she wants most is a giant Minnie Mouse. I'm not excited about it but I guess it's not for me. What's really too bad is that I haven't seen it at Home Plus so, if I decide to be nice and get that for her I'll have to drive all the way back to Lotte Mart (45 minutes away).

In an Anna-update we have been dabbling in potty training this week. I bought her a cute book called Time to Pee by Mo Willems and a few books for me (Diaper Free Before 3 and The No Cry Potty Training Solution) since I don't have a clue what to do here. We've had quite a few false starts so I hope this time we can get right. I think the Time to Pee book helped because there are a lot of mice in it and potty chart with mice stickers (although they are running out and I got some, apparently, equally-exciting star stickers at Lotte Mart today).

Right now Anna is getting a sticker every time she sits on the potty because that's just where we're at. She has peed a few times in the past (in March and October) and gotten rewarded but nothing has stuck. I'm remembering to ask and trying to make it part of our routine. It's frustrating because I feel like we could have done it last fall but I didn't want to because of our moving around. In hindsight, it would probably have been worth it to risk back-tracking a bit because of our move. (She's been waking up dry for over a year now and I think she's just set in her ways now as far as going in the diaper...)

Anyway, as we walked in from the parking garage I noticed the bathrooms and pointed them out to Anna, took her in and showed her around the public bathroom. Lotte Mart has a little potty seat you can use which is really nice. They also have a kid-level sink for the kids to wash their hands. Anna said she wanted to try the potty when we were shopping so we did a dry-run in one bathroom. Then when we packed up the car I said it was her last chance to try before we went home and she tried again. I was just really surprised that she was willing to try in the public bathroom, actually, but I think it helped that the seat was pink.

I'll report back after we've made some more progress.

Posted by Becky at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna's school had their Christmas party today. As expected, kids were screaming in terror when Santa arrived (he had a really creepy mask on so I can't really blame them!). Anna did OK (better than I expected) but wouldn't get too close to Santa and then wouldn't unwrap her present (Sarah did that and then tried to eat the paper).

Posted by Becky at 11:39 PM | Permalink

Sarah's room. It's small, but it's also the darkest room which makes it perfect for all of those daytime naps. I think want to move her to the office/playroom sometime next year so she'll have more space and we can have a real office/storage area. Her closets are filled with Christmas & baby storage items (and her clothes, of course!).

Every Wednesday I think, "I'll take pictures this afternoon after the cleaning ladies leave." Every Wednesday after the cleaning ladies leave, it seems like the house is a disaster within three minutes of their shutting the door. So, excuse any messes you see. I feel—especially in the office & laundry room—like I still haven't had time to really organize the way I want. Maybe someday...

Posted by Becky at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Craig took Anna on her first has today. She rode in the backpack from Rachel & Mat (thanks!) and says she had fun. They hiked for 1.5-2 hours and saw cows, dogs, and chickens. Craig did Anna's "down-down" (they sang Frosty the Snowman and he dumped beer on his head (of course they're not going to make a 2.5 year old dump anything on her head!)). She got her Hash patch and if she goes two more times she will get a hash name. I'd like to take Sarah as well, but the timing really doesn't work out if I also want her to take a nap (they leave the club house at 11 AM and don't get back home until 3 PM or so). Maybe sometime next year we can all go together.

Posted by Becky at 7:17 PM | Permalink

We celebrated Thanksgiving tonight because Craig leaves in the morning for a quick business trip to Paris. The Import Lady only had a 16-lb turkey so I decided to not get that. Our fantastic plan was to find the Rotisserie Chicken Truck that is located randomly throughout town on any given day.

As the day wore on, I started to worry about our plan for the meat but figured we had enough stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie to survive on if it didn't work out. Craig found the truck in the second place he looked and the chickens were really good (probably something to add to our regular rotation!) and we had a really nice meal.

Anna was really only looking forward to the pumpkin pie that she helped me make earlier in the day but she was able to take in a few bites of the other food on the table. It turns out she really liked the whipped cream the best (same scenario as last year).

Partway into the meal, Amelie from CS (the company that manages our apartment buildings) came down with some maintenance guys to fix our hot water so that was kind of mood-dampening but we were glad they showed up (our showers have been cold the past two mornings!).

Posted by Becky at 11:49 PM | Permalink

View of DSME.

Jumping like a frog.

We took the kids up to the smokestack this afternoon for a "hike" (Anna-sized hike). Craig has taken the kids up here by himself before but I haven't been here since the last time we lived here. Anna has it in her head that when you hike to the top of the mountain you need to pour water on the rocks at the top so Craig indulges this need for ceremony, whatever it means. I really wanted to try again to get some shots of the kids for our Christmas card but it wasn't happening. Another day.

Posted by Becky at 11:12 PM | Permalink

I've been daydreaming about just walking into a fabric store and getting everything I want and need for my little projects all at once and in the same store. I go to the "good" sewing store at least once a week and hope I can find what I want or communicate my needs. It's hard because I don't know what I'm looking for all of the time and the woman at the shop does not speak much English at all.

Today I brought in the last little bit of fiberfill I had, along with the original packaging, to show the lady what I wanted (more fiberfill!). She sold me a plain white pillow. This is fine, I can't imagine I'll be making a ton of stuffed animals, but I do want to make Sarah's elephant and a few other projects that require stuffing. I also found some cute buttons today.

On my way back through the market I spied in the "other" sewing store a cute fabric to use on the bag for me that I want to make (like my Al Jarir bookstore tote bag I bring to the grocery store so I have to buy one less bag). The second store didn't have a coordinating fabric so I had to walk back up to the first store and see if they did. They did so I was happy. Now I just have to decide how I want to make my bag.

I happened to see Mijung & Jaynie still at Davinci's so Sarah & I popped in there and I asked if I really have to go to Busan to get some variety and the other things on my sewing wish-list (Sarah & I went to Gohyeon on Saturday hoping to find another sewing store but we did not). It sounds like I do need to go to Busan for more stuff. However that's not so easy right now and I may end up just ordering some stuff from the US because it might take just as long as getting to Busan (it's a ferry ride over which would mean missing/bad naps for Sarah and I hate nursing in public, there's a taxi from the ferry terminal to the sewing store which I'm not keen on doing with kids (no carseats if we take the ferry; otherwise it's a 3 hour drive or we take the car ferry which can also be a pain, but probably our best & safest option)).

I mentioned that I was in need of some embroidery hoops and floss and Jaynie said like it should have been obvious (she has lived here since 2003, a few months before we got here the first time): go to the Cross-Stitch Store! Duh. I didn't have time to go right then so I went tonight and was really happy. I got a couple different sized embroidery hoops and a bunch of floss for about ten dollars. (Let's ignore the fact that I have a nice embroidery kit in storage in Texas right now; I hadn't used it since I lived in Boston so it didn't come with us.)

Anyway, the point of all of this rambling is that at the same time I find it frustrating that there isn't such a thing as "one-stop-shopping" here, I am kind of enjoying the little missions I've created by trying to find everything I want.

Posted by Becky at 7:11 PM | Permalink

I discovered a couple of weeks ago that there is a mini carousel on the fifth floor of the Ocean Department Store in Gohyeon (where I like to buy the organic food for Sarah) and finally took the kids today. The carousel is small and I'm not able/allowed to stand next to Anna on it but I could ride on the bench with her so all three of us rode on the bench/sleigh together. This was Sarah's first carousel ride and she seemed to like the lights and music.

The carousel is next to a drop-off-your-kid place for the department store and it was unclear how to get a ride on the thing. The ladies in the area did not speak English but I was able to communicate that we wanted to ride. I think there must be some sort of fee that I don't understand but we rode for free. When we sat down and the ride started, super loud music started playing and I looked over to see about ten people watching us go around and around and around (it is slow and it is a long ride..) It was mildly embarrassing but when we got off the other people all decided to ride, too. Anyway, I'm not sure I'm happy about opening this can of worms since getting to ride the carousel was kind of a hassle and I'm sure Anna will want to go all the time now that she knows it is in the same building as Home Plus & Starbucks!

Posted by Becky at 7:30 PM | Permalink

Playschool was scheduled to have their Halloween party last Friday but occasionally DSME, the owners of the building, decides to shut off the electricity for the day (they did this two Fridays in a row now). At least they notify their tenants in advance. Anyway, Playschool reschedule the party for today and Anna wore her pig ears & tail (I figured this was easier than having her change into all black and her butterfly wings). Anna says she had fun and Sarah seemed to enjoy watching all of the big kids (and hanging out with one of Anna's teachers for a while).

Posted by Becky at 7:49 PM | Permalink

Craig & the girls watching some football (Sunday's game is downloaded & ready for viewing on Tuesday).

Posted by Becky at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We took Sarah to E. G. Pediatric Clinic Center today (instead of going back to Dr. Cho's Pedatric Clinic) and got a little bit more of an exam. The office was older but busier (which I take to be a good sign). This doctor did listen to Sarah's heart and looked in her ears and mouth but did not rotate her hips or ask if she was rolling, sitting, eating, etc. I wonder if this is typical or if this is because we are foreigners (and the doctor doesn't speak enough English to ask us the questions)? I will have to ask a Korean friend sometime because the exam just seems incomplete to me. Anyway, Sarah was due for four shots but just got two today. We'll go back in one week to get the other two . Again, I don't know if this is to spread it out a bit or if they didn't have the other two vaccinations in stock. Here are her stats:

Weight: 8.62 kg (19 lbs; 95th percentile)
Length: 67.3 cm (26.5 inches ; 75-90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (17.5 inches; 90-95th percentile)

Posted by Becky at 1:05 PM | Permalink

Sarah's brown pants by Grandma Adele (otherwise she's in 6-12 month capris from Janie & Jack or 12-18 month capris from Old Navy!).

I made some pumpkin for Sarah today and she seemed to like it. I had some overflow from the ice cube trays so I also made us a loaf of pumpkin bread (yum!). I can find pumpkin seeds in the store and random convenience pumpkin soups/porridges but I haven't seen canned pumpkin like at home. The Import Lady does have some canned pumpkin pie mix in stock for Thanksgiving (but not just plain pumpkin). I might buy a few more pumpkins and just freeze it all to have on hand.

Posted by Becky at 1:11 PM | Permalink

Trick-or-Treating images by Craig

We had a Halloween party at our apartment complex tonight. Anna wasn't clear about what was going to happen so she was a little skeptical. Sarah barely knew she had her wings on and I'm not sure she thought it was strange that all of the big kids had costumes on or not.

After a quick dinner, the kids all went trick-or-treating through the complex. I went down with Sarah to hand out candy and Craig & Anna went trick-or-treating. Craig said one Norwegian guy was caught unprepared for the holiday and handed out chocolate from a box of chocolates he happened to have around. (I hope there aren't any Norwegian holidays I'm supposed to be preparing for, because I sure don't know about any!)

Anna was pretty excited about her candy, but she was also pretty excited that Kristin from school was wearing all pink (apparently, Kristin likes pink as much as Anna). I told Anna that Kristin was a "pink princess" (because that's what she was dressed up as!) and I have come to the realization that my sphere of influence is dwindling. "Princess" will become part of our regular vocabulary soon now. I'll try to show no resistance and maybe it won't be as bad as I'm imagining...

Posted by Becky at 8:21 PM | Permalink

Sarah was not impressed with carrots this morning. "They" say it may take 10-15 tries for babies to like a new food. I just have one jar of (organic!) carrots from Ocean Department store so it looks like I won't be in a big rush to get back and buy another. This particular shop at Ocean is great though they have organic baby foods, wipes, diapers, and clothing; they carry Plan Toys and some other great brands. Of course it's all super pricey and there isn't a giant selection, but it's nice to have some quality options here.

Posted by Becky at 10:32 AM | Permalink

You can't just throw something out here like you can in the US (where, at least where we lived, recycling was voluntary). It's an adjustment coming from Doha where there was absolutely no recycling to here where you have to divide things up even at fast food restaurants. In Korea we have to separate recyclables from non-recyclables and the cleaning ladies are supposed to separate our recyclables even further. I end up taking our plastic up a couple of times a week because we drink a ton of orange juice and use a lot of recyclable plastics. We also have a separate trash for food waste which we have to take up every other day or so (I purposely got a small trash can for this because it's just gross, not to mention how disgusting the food-waste bin for the apartment complex is (flies & maggots anyone?)).

The recyclable stuff goes into glass, plastic, paper, glass, and metal (tin cans) bins just on its own without a bag around it.

The non-recyclable stuff must be put into a special bag that you buy at any grocery store on the island (the bags are coded by region). This ties into the fact that you must pay for a plastic bag at the grocery store and you have to tell the cashier how many bags you want before you begin the transaction. (You can buy your non-recyclable bags and use those to bring your groceries home, too). I've gotten really good at estimating how many bags I need for each store and its different bag size. However, many people do not buy bags but they pack their purchases up in the cardboard product boxes from the store. There is a big area where everyone gathers and packs their stuff up in cardboard boxes and tapes it up to bring home (where the consumer finally recycles it). I must start bringing my own canvas bag to the store because I just don't need all of the store bags here (since everything goes in the red non-recycle bag anyway) and I don't have the trunk space for boxes or the time to pack everything twice with two kids in the cart.

I think it's great that this is compulsory as it's really not that big of a hassle in our day-to-day lives and I wonder why the same thing can't be implemented at home (in the US).

Posted by Becky at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I really never thought it would happen but we have a Starbucks on Geoje Island! We went to Home Plus this morning and as we were about to turn right to get to the parking garage, we saw the lovely green awnings beckoning us to come inside and enjoy a taste of home... Anna & I have been enjoying Davinci's strawberry smoothies but every once in a while we'll have to hit Starbucks (so big and spacious!) for some variety.

This is not the only thing that is new and improved on Geoje since we lived here last time. Home Plus in itself is a great improvement and I think it has helped bring better things to all of the stores in the area. We can get so many things at Suhyup that were Import-Lady-Only items last time we were here. Salsa, tortilla chips, and pepper-jack cheese right in town! Today at Home plus I saw frozen vegan (no eggs) waffles with flax, organic eggs, Gerber puffs (so excited about those!), flour tortillas, and more that I can't even remember. I'm seeing a lot more organic stuff around which is something I didn't see at all in 2003/2004.

It's not just food that is better, there is an Office Depot in Okpo! It's technically an Office Depot/Best Office but it is like a real office store! I remember struggling to find bubble wrap here last time and they carry it at Office Depot along with a bunch of other stuff that I was super excited to see. It's not quite like "home" but I'm comforted by the improvements (and I often wonder what the locals thing of all of this change).

Posted by Becky at 5:51 AM | Permalink

We had a playdate this morning with one of Anna's new friends at school, Mia. I happened to talk to Lorraine (Mia's mom) during drop off and we decided to get together today. Lorraine was nice and came here because of Sarah's napping but it turns out it might have been just as easy for us to go to their apartment because Lorraine doesn't have a car so had to take a taxi, there weren't any taxis to be had, and then Sarah didn't take a good nap anyway... Oh well. Mia was a nice little girl and Anna says she likes her and even offered her some "pig tea" while she was here (pig tea was simply a pig from her Little People barn inside one of her tea cups).

Sarah & I went to coffee morning two weeks ago to try to find out the scoop on where the moms hang out with their kids. I met the woman I ran into at the grocery store when we first got here (the one with a son the same age as Sarah) and she said (as Julie had said) the moms met at Pinnochio on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I took the kids to the playgroup and Pinnochio was closed. I tried again on Tuesday but Pinnochio was closed! So frustrating! I've been planning to go back to Coffee Morning (or try the playgroup that meets at the Foreigner's Club on Monday & Friday) to see what the deal is but today Lorraine told me that the same thing happened to her and the other moms decided to stop going to Pinnochio because even though they had a set appointment with them, they kept not opening! They are now going to another place in town... We'll see if we ever make it there (I only have tried to go on the days when Sarah's nap ended early enough to attempt it).

This is part of the reason I was sad to leave Doha (and why I was sad to leave Texas)... it is hard getting out there and making new friends (and I liked the ones I had already made)! I've got two handicaps right now: those stairs (we only go up once per day) and Sarah's need for sleep (whether she has a good nap or a bad nap is out of my control). I know it will all work out in the end though.

Posted by Becky at 7:22 PM | Permalink

I get Anna the (all white meat) chicken filets at Loteria when Craig & I want Quizno's. We got these wind-up toys from the kid's meal even though we didn't order one, I guess the lady thought the kids were cute.

Posted by Becky at 11:35 PM | Permalink

A gift set of soju from the apartment managers for Chuseok which is next week (and why Craig has the week off).

Posted by Becky at 11:18 PM | Permalink

We got our "Baby Shipment" today. This means we have everything that we just had to have with us now. We also got two additional bookshelves for our office/playroom so I can start putting things away. I have been feeling really frustrated with the mess here this past week because there wasn't anywhere to put stuff. Craig is off next week (he has not been home much at all the past two weeks so I am totally wiped out!) so we will hopefully get everything in order then.

Posted by Becky at 9:03 PM | Permalink

It took us (me with Sarah in the Baby Hawk and Anna walking, holding my hand) four minutes to get to the top of the stairs tonight on our way to the car for dinner.

Posted by Becky at 9:07 PM | Permalink

We're still drowning in boxes here. I did make some progress today but I think with Craig here this weekend we'll really get things looking good. Sarah is sleeping in her crib for the first time tonight. Poor kid has been in that Pack n' Play for four months (minus the 2.5 weeks in the crib at my mom's in Colorado). It's weird to lift her up into the crib instead of straining my back to set her down in the Pack n' Play (she outgrew the bassinet attachment a while ago!). It's also nice to have a higher changing table for her. Hopefully tomorrow I can get her room set up better (Anna's is mostly set up already).

Posted by Becky at 11:59 PM | Permalink

Before the boxes were opened, it doesn't even look that bad. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the place at its worst. Note that Sarah is checking out the Megasaucer for the first time and liking it (Anna thought it was pretty cool, too, and was telling Sarah all about it).

The shippers arrived an hour early and the apartment people came down a little late (I had asked them to come get Anna's bed, the desk, and a table & chairs out of our apartment so we would have room for our stuff). It took the shippers two hours to get our 115 boxes down the stairs and unpack a few. I kicked them out instead of having them unpack everything because I was alone with the kids and we needed our house back. I think if Craig had been here and I could have gone out with the kids it would have been nice to have them unpack everything but, oh well. This way I have also been able to hide a few things from Anna that I am not ready for her to see yet.

Craig came home just to build Anna's bed and then had to go back out for a work dinner. Sarah's crib will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Posted by Becky at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Our sea shipment is coming tomorrow! Unfortunately, Craig can't come home to help out so I will be directing boxes and checking them off the list on my own with Anna & Sarah. The items I know I'm most excited to see are: Anna's bed, Sarah's crib & bathtub, and all of our kitchen stuff.

Posted by Becky at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple of views of our backyard (Sarah is in the bouncy seat on the porch).

These are the seventy-five stairs we go up & down.

We have been enjoying having a little yard so much! We never really spent a lot of time in our "yard" in Doha because it was either too dusty or too hot. The weather has been pretty nice lately so we've been stepping out a bit more. Hopefully the apartment managers will return our grill soon (they were supposed to yesterday although we don't know why they took it in the first place) so we can do some grilling, too.

Posted by Becky at 8:38 PM | Permalink

Anna helped pack up her own things by putting them in this (new) trash can.

One of the first things Anna & I did was hang her flowers back on her wall (she was really excited) to make it feel more like home until we get the rest of our stuff.

We moved down stairs today! I've been re-arranging furniture and unpacking suitcases. It's hard to decide where to put everything though knowing so much more is coming in the sea shipment. It's also a strange feeling knowing that we're living in this apartment for two years. I feel like we've been in temporary accommodations for so long now (I'm including Doha since the villa was "temporary") I don't know what to do with myself! I'll take photos of the whole place after we get the sea shipment unpacked.

Posted by Becky at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna, Sarah, & I got to watch this crane lift a little excavator down to the bottom terrace level. Apparently they had to do some work on the sewage lines (good thing they are fixing this before we move down!).

Posted by Becky at 11:29 PM | Permalink

We are moving down to our new apartment on Saturday. We have 19 stairs up to our current apartment and we'll have 75 stairs down to our new apartment. Who needs the gym?

Posted by Becky at 3:50 PM | Permalink

I don't know why, but there were fireworks in Okpo tonight.

Posted by Becky at 11:10 PM | Permalink

I bought Anna a pair of trainer-chopsticks today. She put the food in between the sticks with her fingers and then put it in her mouth.

Posted by Becky at 11:06 PM | Permalink

Photo by Craig

Korean Won (paper) only comes in denominations of 1,000; 5,000; and 10,000. Craig said the cash for my car barely fit in his briefcase. ($1 USD = 942 KRW right now)

Posted by Becky at 8:38 PM | Permalink

The pool at our apartment has only one depth: five feet. I can't safely be in the pool with Anna by myself (because I'm only five-feet, four inches!) so Craig & Anna went down today and Sarah and I sat in the shade and waded at the edge.

Posted by Becky at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna was off in her room reading her old books in her chair first thing this morning.

Sarah wanted in on the action but it didn't last long because she instantly wanted to put the beads in her mouth.

It was obvious the joy Anna felt when she realized what we meant when we were saying the air shipment was coming. Hopefully she doesn't grow too impatient waiting for the rest of her stuff in the sea shipment now. Sarah seemed to think her bouncy seat and Bumbo were pretty cool and enjoyed kicking around on the Gymini again. She wishes we had remembered to put the baby bathtub in the air shipment though because kitchen-sink-baths are not all they're cracked up to be.

Posted by Becky at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I took the kids to the Import Lady today in the new Tucson. I like it a lot but need to get used to the sound of a diesel engine. It is smaller than the Sorento and maybe even a little smaller than the CRV but definitely bigger than the Matiz! The Matiz Craig was looking at last week was not there any more so he'll have to remain car-less for a while longer.

We are supposed to get our air shipment tomorrow afternoon. I have started to feel like one of those people that keeps saying, "our life will be so much better when we win the lottery/strike gold/ etc." because I feel like I'm always waiting for an air shipment, sea shipment, baby shipment, moving to our permanent place, etc.

Yesterday Anna was playing with some of her strawberries (she has four plastic, one wooden, and eight felt). She only had two of her plastic strawberries and she said sadly, "the other plastic ones are in the sea shipment." Fortunately for her, the other plastic ones were actually in her little purse and she doesn't have to wait until September to play with all of her strawberries (the sea shipment is scheduled to arrive in Seoul the first week of September).

Posted by Becky at 9:47 PM | Permalink

We got our Alien cards this week (I should take a photo of the cards, Sarah's picture is pretty cute & Anna looks like a country-western singer from the 80s) which means we are able to buy cars now. Craig went down to "Gangster Chang's" to check out the selection. We are getting my Hyundai Tucson on Monday afternoon! It is a 2004 and it's a diesel.

I was kind of hesitant to get something so "big" after enjoying the Matiz so much last time (I could park anywhere I wanted!) but in the interest of safety for my kids decided bigger is better this time around (plus I have to be able to fit the Phil & Ted's in the trunk). I'll take pictures after we get it.

Craig is considering getting a Matiz but didn't make any agreements with the dealer yet. I realize that I never really finished out my Korean Journal last time we were here, but the weekend before I moved back to Texas my Matiz broke down on the freeway and we had to spend the night in some random place and tried to get it fixed but the Daewoo dealer we had it towed to couldn't fix it because the transmission had its serial number filed off. Craig arranged to have it towed back to Gangster Chang (who we had an agreement with to buy back the Matiz (and now the Tucson)) from the Daewoo dealer. The guy Craig talked to today at the dealer remembered Craig from last time around. Now I just hope that story doesn't repeat with the Tucson!

Posted by Becky at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I took the girls down to Mijung & Sabunim's new studio on Monday and Anna and Sarah were not receptive to meeting new people (even after Mijung gave Anna a chocolate popsicle!). Anna cried in fear when Sabunim tried to say hello but finally had a bit of fun running around the dojang chasing a ball with me.

Twice now I've taken the kids down to meet some of our new neighbors and Anna panics and doesn't want to go in to their apartment and then sits practically on top of me/behind me while we're there. She wouldn't play in the sandbox with the other kids and cried the whole time I was trying to talk to Amelie at the front desk of our apartments.

Today we went to Jaynie's house and Anna did not cry or fuss while we were there. She did stick to my side and was silent though. I tried to get her to play the piano but she wasn't brave enough. I'm wondering if she thought Jaynie's house was OK becuase Jaynie doesn't have an accent? It seems a silly thing though since she did so much better than this in Doha with all of the other kids & moms from all over.

As usual, I'm pinning all of my hopes on getting our air and sea shipments and getting settled in to our permanent housing. We should get our air shipment next week and we will try to wait to have our sea shipment delivered until we get downstairs so we don't have to move everything twice (and it all wouldn't fit in this apartment anyway!).

Posted by Becky at 10:32 PM | Permalink

Craig had the day off today so we went for a walk on the boardwalk at Hakdong.

Posted by Becky at 11:59 PM | Permalink

First Craig bought rinse for the dishwasher, then I bought hand-washing dish soap and, after playing in Anna's room for a while came out to find a soapy kitchen. I think we've finally gotten it straightened out now with a bottle of dish detergent marked in English that it is for the dishwasher.

One big difference between Qatar and Korea is hot water. In Qatar there was no need to wait for hot water (it was scalding or more scalding right away) and here we have to remember to press a button to turn on the hot water before washing dishes or taking a shower. I had also forgotten the luxury of heated floors (we don't need them now but we'll love them this winter!).

A second difference between Doha and Okpo is that I was at Whole Mart (a new store since we were here last time so I had to check it out; it wasn't that great) with the kids and walked past a Westerner (Australian) and we stopped to talk. She has a son who is 3 weeks younger than Sarah. Unfortunately neither of us had a pen to exchange numbers but since Okpo is a small town, I'm sure we'll run into each other again. Extremely rarely did another Westerner even acknowledge you in Doha.

Posted by Becky at 11:46 PM | Permalink

Anna likes showing Sarah the pages in the books.

I took Anna & Sarah into Okpo today to get a few things and I just know if someone had been watching us along the way they would have had some pretty good laughs. I know I'll get more coordinated about getting out and about with two kids, but it sure is a learning curve! It's a tough call to figure out which kid to get in and out of the car first, making sure you have the little things everyone "needs" (like Anna's little white purse filled with (felt) strawberries she had to have on her arm) to survive a simple outing, etc.

Once I got both kids in the stroller, we were doing well. We walked up to the market and through it where I showed Anna the octopus in the bucket we have been talking about since we told her we were moving here. I ended up just getting some onions at the grocery store where I got diapers (#1 priority on my list as Sarah was running out fast) because Sarah started screaming when we got in the store (I blame the unnecessarily loud dance music) and I had to put her in the sling to calm her down. Once Sarah is in the sling I can't bend over well (I don't want her to fall out!) and that's about when I felt like I was just fumbling along.

I did stop at the new Dunkin' Donuts and bought some bagels (a real luxury item when we were here last time!) before I provided (I'm sure) quite a few laughs on "Tree Street" when I demonstrated that I had no clue how to fold my new stroller. By the time I did get the thing folded, Sarah was screaming in the back seat and kept it up until we were about half-way home. When I parked the car in the apartment parking lot she was falling asleep...

We had a better day today than yesterday but Sarah had really better figure out this napping thing soon because it is wearing us all down. I just can't wait for her to be more predictable in this area.

Posted by Becky at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I didn't take the kids out today because it was rainy and we went out twice yesterday (Home Plus and to get our pictures taken for our Alien cards) and it is such an ordeal to get Sarah into her carseat without the base (it is in the air shipment). Sarah's chunky little legs just don't want to get past the seat belt and I don't like installing/re-installing the carseat at all so I don't do it.

After an entire day at home (and an incredibly frustrating napping experience with both Sarah & Anna) we picked up Craig from work and we all went out to the Luck Pig for dinner. Anna didn't try anything, Sarah seemed to enjoy laying on the cushion on the floor, and I forgot how fatty the meat they give you is (I cut all of the fat off of mine though because, thankfully, they left the scissors on our table). I really hope that in the years to come Anna does try some of the food here and likes some of it; I know I'm a picky eater and I hope that she is a bit more adventuresome than I am.

Posted by Becky at 11:27 PM | Permalink

I took the kids on our first real outing alone today to Home Plus in Gohyeon. This is new to Geoje since we were here last and it is fantastic to have it so close: no more long trips to Lotte Mart! Both the kids did great on the trip and no one freaked out about the dance music blasting through the store (something I had forgotten about). I will have to do the grocery shopping on the weekends or at night, however, since there is no practical way for me to get a week's worth of groceries and the kids up to our apartment at the same time.

The trip would have been a success if the rental car company had actually given us some gas in the car. I got in the car to go home and the fuel light was on so we had to stop and fill up the tank (it was $98 to fill up a Hyundai Sonata!! talk about shock coming from Doha where they were practically giving the stuff away!). The problem with having to stop was that Sarah does not like to wait in the car. She fusses at stop lights and screams during gas-stops. All was well once we started moving again though.

Posted by Becky at 11:17 PM | Permalink

We started packing our bags on Thursday and kept at it until it was time to leave for Corrine's for our farewell dinner with both sides of the family on Saturday. It was so nice to get to see everyone for one last time before we left but also sad because the kids will all be so different next time we all see each other. Hopefully video chats will help to make the distance a bit easier.

Anna & Sarah both fell asleep almost right away on our flight from Denver to LAX but something woke Anna earlier than she would have liked and she cried for much of the last half-hour of that flight. LAX was a nightmare, as predicted, but both kids did well with all of the waiting that had to be done (Sarah did cry for a bit while we were changing terminals but there was nothing to be done but keep walking and she eventually fell asleep in the sling).

LAX to Seoul went really well. Anna & Craig fell asleep pretty fast and Anna slept for eight hours on that flight. Sarah also did well but didn't like it when I handed her to one of the Korean Air flight attendants while I went to the bathroom. Generally speaking, I'd say Anna did a little better on the flights (minus the episode from Denver to LAX) and Sarah did slightly worse than when we made the trip from Doha to Denver. Sarah is just a little older and a little less sleepy is what the problem was I am sure.

We had to claim our bags in Seoul and then re-check them for Busan which was obnoxious because we needed two carts to hold all of our bags (seven checked items and six carry-ons). Thankfully we flew business-class the whole way so our bags were always among the first to arrive on the carousel.

Our driver was at Busan airport and took us directly to our apartment: we arrived about 28 hours after we left Corrine's on Saturday. Both kids slept for about one hour of the drive with Sarah threatening to throw a fit shortly after we got onto Geoje Island. There are quite a few changes to Geoje (and on the drive from the airport) that I noticed so I'm interested to see how it affects our quality of life here (I think it will be a bit better than it was last time we were here).

We are living in the same apartment complex as last time around but in a newer building. The apartment we are in is super small compared to the one we were in last time and the one we will move into (hopefully) early next month. Sarah will have to sleep in the office at night and in our room during the day (because the office is separated from the family room by sliding glass doors and there's no way she'd get a decent nap (if she were willing to take one) with Anna a few feet from her crib). The strangest part of the apartment is that the washer & dryer are outside on the porch.

Posted by Becky at 11:51 PM | Permalink

We met Corrine, Owen, & Raisa for lunch at Gregorio's today. Sarah slept maybe 20 minutes on the way down and 15 minutes on the way back up. Each time Sarah fell asleep for a bit, Anna started in with a song or loud conversation that woke Sarah up again. I sat in the back and observed that Sarah just watches Anna the whole time so even if Sarah is quiet, it doesn't mean she is asleep: she's just being entertained (this would explain her over-tiredness when we arrived at Corrine's last week).

Anna went for a walk with Nana & Riggs by herself today and even held Nana's hand. Anna also gave Sarah another kiss goodnight. She is still really whiney though and I just really hope that once we are settled in Korea she will go back to her normal self.

Craig has been staying up late each night trying to get details worked out for our move (our boxes in Doha, our housing in Okpo, our tickets to Korea, our Baby Shipment) and it has been a nightmare. Today, however, it seems he has made some progress and we just may have our tickets to Korea (straight from Denver)!

Posted by Becky at 10:37 PM | Permalink

Anna, Sarah, my mom, and I went to Old Navy and Target today and Sarah took a short nap in Target and I had the hardest time getting her to take a real nap at home although it was clear that she needed one. I guess we're reaching the point where we can't let her fall asleep while we're out (which makes it hard because she has a hard time staying up for more than an hour and twenty minutes at a stretch).

Since Sarah didn't nap well, I left her at home with Grandma & Grandpa while Anna & I went to the airport to pick up Craig. Sarah refused the bottle again. Hopefully she was just not hungry and it's not the bottle in general.

Anna was so excited to have Craig back with us she talked non-stop from the airport (even more non-stop than usual which is impressive). She ran around my parents' yard like crazy and then had the hardest time falling asleep tonight. We are all glad to have Craig back with us!

Craig did get the villa packed on Sunday and the movers took the boxes on Monday. So, we shouldn't have to go back to Doha at all. We just need to get everything arranged with his company now.

Posted by Becky at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The movers are coming to pack up the our villa in Doha on Sunday. Hopefully everything else will start falling into place soon. (Craig sold Korando last week so we won't have anything in Qatar once Craig departs next week.)

Posted by Becky at 9:38 PM | Permalink

Some wheels are in motion (thanks to Craig being a squeaky wheel) and we got his company doctor to sign off on our medical clearance today. We're still waiting for the "official" offer from his company but Craig is still hopeful that we can get our stuff on its way before he leaves for the US (and that we could possibly go straight to Korea from the US). I'm at the point where I don't care either way (I do still have a preference), but I just want to know what we're doing. I can't wait until we get to Korea and get settled because that means we'll be staying put for a few years and not having to deal with this again for a while (and to think that Sarah will be older than Anna is now when we leave Korea is a bit mind-boggling to me).

Posted by Becky at 1:12 PM | Permalink

We said goodbye to the Sorento today. The guy who bought it is also potentially interested in Craig's Korando. Surely it can't be that easy.

Posted by Becky at 8:19 PM | Permalink

There isn't one. We don't know when we're going yet except that Craig is supposed to be there for work starting in August. We're still hoping (against hope, it would appear) that we can fly directly from the US to Korea instead of flying back to Qatar in between.

Craig put ads out for both of our cars and got two calls on the Sorento this afternoon. He's out showing it to the second person right now. Hopefully at least selling the cars will be easy if nothing else is.

Posted by Becky at 8:30 PM | Permalink

My favorite sleep book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child says that babies will reach their "peak fussiness" at six weeks from the due date. As I've said before, Sarah's fussiness is not nearly as bad as Anna's was (although Sarah does have her moments—she's having one right now, actually). I am just hoping that the "peak fussiness" includes the older sibling at six weeks from the birth of the younger sibling. Anna had a major freak-out this afternoon that is making me really nervous for dealing with jet-lag-Anna in a few weeks (and then one or two more times this summer depending on whether we go straight to Korea from the US or come back to Qatar from the US and then go to Korea from here). I just have this awful feeling that things are going to be less-than-fun until we get settled in Korea and I hope I'm wrong about that.

Posted by Becky at 7:59 PM | Permalink

Right now we are planning to move to South Korea in August instead of returning to Qatar after our trip to the States this summer. Hopefully we can work it out to fly directly from the US to Korea and not have to stop in Qatar and that we can get our air and sea shipments off and on their way smoothly before we leave for the US so we won't have to wait so long in Korea without our stuff.

This is going to make packing for our trip a bit difficult as I'll need to have stuff to tide us over in Korea before our stuff arrives, I won't know what size clothes Sarah will be wearing, etc. We'll do our best and at least this time I've got a list of things we wish we had sent air vs. sea so we won't have to do without those precious items for too long!

I'll post more about this move when I have more details.

Posted by Becky at 2:07 PM | Permalink