This month Bunco was off post in one of the fabulous apartments in Seoul. This is the view my friend Beth has from her living room. How awesome is that? Here are a few amazing ladies I like to hang out with ~ don't you just love the wizard hat? We didn't have a Bunco tiara & Beth only has boys, so we do what we can. And this is Beth. (The one with the super cool apartment.) Our fabulous Bunco group!
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On Tuesday, 19 January we loaded a bus and headed for the slopes! We went to Hyundai Sungwoo Resort. This was our first ski trip here in Korea and it was the very first ski trip for Boy 2 and Girl (Boy 1 & 3 did not join us). Anytime we take a bus trip here in Korea, we ALWAYS stop at a rest stop. This guy was out singing in the freezing cold (I'm talking 14 degrees F) so a few of the girls and I decided to get on stage with him and have our picture made. It wasn't until we got back on the bus that we found out he was singing to raise money for an orphanage. I totally would have given him money had I only known. Boy 2 learning to ski. Boy 2 getting frustrated with learning to ski. Girl learning to ski. After about an hour and a half of instructions, Girl was ready for a green! Here we are at the top of the hill getting ready to ski down together for the first time! Girl LOVED skiing! Boy 2 didn't find it as easy to ski as his big sister did. He did awesome, but never made it to the top of the mountain. After a couple of hours of trying to teach him, his Mommy needed a cocktail. We tried ski school, but the language barrier was too much for him. Hangin' with Dad after a fun day on the slopes. I thought this was funny, these were everywhere, they are PSP's ~ you stick your hands through the holes in the plastic to play. And if the PSP stations aren't enough, well, just venture over in front of one of these big screen TV's, take a seat and play XBox. The bus ride home, Julie and Don couldn't hang with us.... Me with my handsome husband...the sad thing about this day, I didn't get to ski with him even one time.
I love shopping in Korea. Koreans LOVE kids and kids love Korea! Most places you shop here, EMart, malls and department stores have built in entertainment for the kids and WE (both the children and I) LOVE IT!! I can go shopping and drop my kids off in a kid zone (for minimal charge) and have 2 hours of stress free shopping! And when I say minimal charge, I mean MINIMAL charge, 4,000 won for 2 hours, which is less than $4 USD. Oh baby, I am going to miss this when I get back to the states!
On 4 January we had the biggest snowfall in over 70 years here in Korea. It snowed for hours on end and we ended up with over 11 inches of snow! School was closed in many areas, extending our Christmas break by another 2 days! For the kids on post they will be making up their snow days later on in the year, but for the kids that go to Korean schools, they had to make up their snow day the following SUNDAY! Yes, you heard me correctly, Sunday; they couldn't make it up on Saturday because Saturday is a regular school day here. (American students have it easy compared to Korean students!) This is what I woke up to on 4 January! The kids couldn't wait to get outside and play in the snow! These next pictures were two days later when I finally ventured out to join in the big neighborhood snowball fight!
The Dapsimni Antique Market, also know as the Janganpyung Art Arcade is a great place to find all kinds of Korean treasures! Most items here are antiques, but there are a couple of places that sell replicas. To get there by subway take line 5 to Dapsimni Subway stop and go out exit 2. There are 3 buildings and they are numbered 2, 5 & 6. This area of Seoul is not as well known to foreigners as other parts of Seoul, so there aren't as many English speakers in this area. Hubby and I have visited this area together twice and both times we were hungry and decided to stop in for a bite to eat. We stopped at a place that looked like a 'galbi' restaurant, but to our surprise they did not have galbi, so we just ordered what some other guest were eating....this is what we got.... That doesn't look too bad right? Well, take a closer look.... Yes, that is a little baby octopus. I was just thankful it wasn't alive. And this is how you eat something like this…. Here are a few of the side dishes. Hubby loves the egg dish; I have to admit it has grown on me. All in all this meal wasn't that bad. I'm not sure I would have been able to say that if I had just moved here, but after almost 2 years of living in Korea, I will eat *most* anything they put in front of me! Hubby and I ate almost every bite even though it was VERY SPICY!! After eating Hubby and I spent a few hours at the antique market, we didn't end up buying any antiques, but we did buy this really cool bar - it folds out and opens up & holds a ton of booze & a few glasses. We also bought this Chinese Apothecary cabinet. Both of these items are actually the same color, the lighting just makes them look different.
This post is for those of you moving to Seoul. Cars are always a big issue here...no pun intended. Big cars do not do well in Korea if you plan to drive off post. The parking spots are small. The picture below is a picture of my minivan parked in an average size Korean parking spot. I am just as close to the line on the other side as I am to the one you can see. Notice how the back end of my car hangs over the line? I get around just fine in Korea with my minivan. But sometimes I just cannot fit into the spots. So, if you are trying to decide if you want to bring your Yukon XL or Suburban to Korea, I hope this little post helps you.
This year Hubby and I were super excited to go to the fish market on New Year's Day for fresh shucked oysters! I wish this could be a yearly tradition, but I'm not sure that is possible since we will be living in CENTRAL TEXAS next New Year's Day. About 200 fresh shucked oysters, and when I say fresh shucked, that is what I mean. The little old lady is shucking as you are buying. We bought all of these for 30,000 won (just under 30 USD). While we were there I grabbed this luscious piece of tuna.
New Year's Eve at our house is a day for relaxing, playing games, eating fondue and sippin' wine! If you don't want to get out of your PJ's today, you do not need to...don't want to brush your hair, no worries (but you do have to brush your teeth). This NYE was no exception. Here we are around noon starting with the first course, cheddar cheese fondue! This is my favorite course. I make cheese fondue with beer, garlic, ground mustard, Worcestershire, and sharp cheddar cheese. We use apples, carrots, cauliflower, assorted breads, olives and anything else that appeals to us at the time. The second course is the 'meat fondue'! This is Boy 1's favorite course and we normally start round two a few hours later. We cook our meats in peanut oil. Normally we have steak, chicken, shrimp and stuffed mushrooms. We use a tempura batter to dip the shrimp and mushrooms in and we stuff the mushrooms with cream cheese and chives.....and boy are they good. In fact I want one now! In between food rounds we play games, and Boy 1 eats snacks....even though we just stuffed our faces. Our third and final course is the 'chocolate fondue'! This is the course the kids wait for all day. I make a white chocolate fondue, white chocolate, amaretto & heavy whipping cream. Some of our favorite things to dip in the chocolate are bananas, strawberries, pound cake, marshmallows and cherries! (Yes, we do have an extra girl in this photo - we are considering adopting her! ;-) This was the VERY FIRST year we let all our children stay up till midnight! As soon as our clock struck midnight, we toasted with sparkling cider! Boy 3 took one sip, looked at me like I had 3 heads and in a super mad voice said "MOM! You gave me wine!" Then he marched right to the kitchen and poured it down the drain.
Remember the post about the Yogurt Ladies? Well, these are the yogurts we like to buy from her. Twenty little yogurts for 2,000 won. Oh baby. (You can also buy these at any grocery store here in Korea.) We LOVE them!!
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AuthorProud Army wife and mother to 4 wonderful children. I love to cook, travel, work out and scrapbook life’s adventures when I find the time. We just got orders & are heading back to the states in March 2010. I'm bummed that our time has been cut short, but proud of Hubby for the reason why. Archives
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