I see green! They are coming back...I think they are going to make it!
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![]() For me, one of the hardest parts about being a military family is saying good-bye. Some of my friends don’t ever say good-bye because it is too hard, they just avoid you during your last weeks, or say see you around. This is true; many times we will run into old friends at a new duty station. When we left Texas in April, I thought I was done with good-byes for a long time. I mean I made the rounds, my family, Hubbies family came to visit, I had good-bye lunches with friends, the kids had “one last sleepover” with each of their good friends, we were done with good-bye for a long time – we thought. When I was looking at the houses the military offered us, I came up on a lady working in her yard with a little boy and girl (pictured). She was very friendly, offered advice about the area and told me this was the best neighborhood, & the best cul-de-sac on post. We talked about our children & realized we had several that are around the same age as each other (she has 7, and number 8 is on the way). She offered drinks to my children and a stroller to me since we were walking and did not have a car at the time. She told me to take my time and bring the stroller back when I didn’t need it anymore. I decided then that this is the house I wanted to live in, the one next door to this very nice family I had just met. Since we have been here, about 6 weeks, the “M” family has become part of our daily lives. They were very generous with everything, since we didn’t have our household goods yet; I could borrow anything from them and didn’t feel like I was putting them out. Their kids were welcome in our house anytime, as ours were welcome in their house. I felt like I had had an extended family just next door. J, the mom is an amazing woman; she is so calm and peaceful and always speaks in a gentle voice that was warm and welcoming. J introduced me to many things in Korea, like my “happy place”, the flower market, where I went this morning at 5AM. She also introduced me to Yeoju, the pottery town, sent us on the white water rafting trip, told me the crazy lady taking pictures of my children was harmless (the modeling agent) & sold us on a trip to Siapan – she he should have made the commission on that trip package! She also told me about the fabric market & toy alley, where I have yet to go, but will and will think of J while I am there. ![]() Flowers, paper & ribbon I bought at the flower market this morning. Friday hubby went TDY to California. Thirty minutes after he left our household goods arrived. It is funny how that happened, he leaves, and our boxes arrive. I don’t really mind, at least we finally have our things. As I have been unpacking, I have found a few things I forgot to pack for us, like toothbrush holders, trash cans, organizers and I really need a tension rod. I know I have at least two in storage. What was I thinking, I did not bring any bins for organizing – I have not bought any yet because I was sure they were on their way. I am going to have to make a trip to E-Mart very soon. ![]() Yeoju City Korea is this awesome little pottery town somewhere in Korea. It took us about 90 minutes by bus to get there. I am hoping to figure out how to drive here so I can take you when you come to visit, although we might need a bus to bring back all the goods we buy. This picture is from the first store we went to. I bought a Kimchi pot and a few gifts for Christmas from this place. The next place we went I bought a whole new set of dishes. I needed a new set of dishes like I need a new hole in my head. The price was just SO GOOD & hubby was in total agreement with it. I mean I have had the same dishes for something like 15 years. It was time. Here is what my new set looks like: ![]() The place where I bought our dinnerware was very interesting. We were able to go in the back to the factory area where it was made. Here are some pictures from the factory: ![]()
![]() I should have put these pictures in reverse order. ![]() Boy 2 and his friend A. went on this trip as well. ![]() Our last stop was to have lunch at a rest stop. Boy 2 & A having lunch, we never really know what we order. This turned out to be pretty good for the kids. The next picture is a place you can lay your baby to rest while at the rest stop. They think of everything here. ![]() I was trying to wait for hubby to write about this one since he is the one that went on the photoshoot, but he is way busy and is about to leave for a business trip, so I doubt he will ever write about it. So here goes in my words, but remember I was not there. ![]() Boy 3 in first outfit look at her cutting the shoe thinking "does she really think my big ol' foot is going to fit in there"? ![]() My boy can even make an outfit that is too small for him look cute. The lady in the picture is Ms. Sue, the children's "agent" type person. ![]() Isn't he adorable?!?! Again, the shoes did not fit, and the clothes are a little snug, but he makes it work. I looked at the Absorba website online and it looks as if all their clothes seem too small for the children. So I guess this is a good look. Hubby said boy 3 worked the camera like a pro. He did everything they ask him to and they LOVED him. ![]() This may not look like much to you; however I am very excited about it. Hubby, a friend and boy 1 built this fence on Sunday. I am thrilled. I can now just open the back door for the dog - he can walk out back and I do not have to beg anyone to take him on a walk. Things are really coming together now. If we could just get the rest of our things! They say we should have our stuff by June 4. Keep your fingers crossed! How cute is he?! He is going to be famous. (I'm just kidding, but he is cute!) That is hubbies sexy look....again just kidding. I don't really know what we are doing here, just being silly. I didn't put in a brunette picture, as you can see them all over this website. I am thinking blonde, I mean I have been a blonde forever, and I think I gave this brunette thing a good try. What do you think? ![]() Hubby and I found Insadong on our date this past Saturday night. This picture is from one of the many shops crowed along the streets in Insadong. This is a place we will take all visitors. Insadong is filled with shopping, restaurants and they say antiques, although I did not see any. Hubby said we did not go far enough over to find the antique shops. We will be going back again. I just don’t know how we are going to see everything we want to see in the short amount of time we will be stationed here ![]() Hubby and I having a traditional Korean meal in Insadong. We are having bulgogi, Korean pizza, which was one of my favs, and nothing like American pizza, of course there are a couple of types of kimshi on the table, which I cannot stomach, but hubby enjoys. There are things that looked like cooked bugs which turned out to be peanuts, and we had raspberry wine. I have yet to try soju, cheap Korean whiskey, which is very popular amoung Korean men. Hubby tells me I should never try it, but I think I must, at least once. Anyway, our meal was very good. ![]() These young Korean students stopped us & ask if they could ask us 10 questions. It was for one of their college classes. They ask questions like "what is your name, where are you from, do you like sports, which sports do you like, what are your hobbies, and what do you think of Korea". One was asking the questions, one was writing the answers down and the other was recording all we said. They were all very polite and ask if they could take a picture with us at the end. ![]() We started heading back towards home when hubby ask if I wanted to go to the underground shopping. I had no idea we had been walking on top of more shopping!! Of course my answer was yes. We headed down and found more shopping than I ever thought possible. I should have known, because Korean's are masters of space. Anytime we go shopping here, it just goes on and on. You can walk into what you think is one shop, and it branches out into about 50 more shops. It is crazy. If you find something you like, you need to buy it now, because you will never find the shop again. I am thankful hubby goes with me because if not, I would probably still be lost in the tunnels of underground shopping. ![]() Yesterday we went to The War Memorial of Korea http://www.warmemo.or.kr to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of course we couldn't take pictures, so I suppose this is the closest many of you will every get to them. Although this was very interesting, it was a bit difficult to navigate through and thoroughly enjoy. Everything was written in Hongul, & the scrolls themselves were in an ancient form of Hebrew. We did have an English (paper) guide; however it was not extremely comprehensive. I thought of my brothers Glen & Michael several times while on this tour. I wish they both could have been here to be my tour guide.They would have soaked this up and really enjoyed themselves, I could see sermons coming form this tour if they were on it. ![]() While at the War Memorial, we got a taste of what it is like to be rock star. Korean people LOVE Americans, and especially children with blonde hair. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that people were constantly coming up to our children & rubbing their hair, pinching their cheeks, giving them hugs and kisses, and even picking them up. Boy 1 is a bit freaked out by all this attention, girl doesn’t really care for it, and shies away from the people, normally hiding behind my skirt, boy 2 eats it up , and boy 3 is oblivious to it all. This has happened before when we have taken out children out in public, but yesterday it was an almost constant. ![]() The girl scouts in this picture were just one group of children that followed us around for quite some time talking to us. Most Korean children speak some English, and they love to practice it on Americans whenever they see one. They were very cute, they would ask us a question, we would answer, and they would giggle. I think a few of them had a crush on boy 1. They were very excited I wanted to take a picture with them, and after we took this picture, they all pulled out their cell phones and started snapping pictures left and right of our family. ![]() Boy 2 has been waiting since we arrived here in Korea for the day he turned five. When you turn five here you get to start Taekwondo classes. He was able to start this week. He has had two classes and is really enjoying himself & he looks SO CUTE doing ti! I am a little worried though – are we really teaching this kid to fight? J |