Sightseeing, Sweat, and Snack Food!

Week 6 in Korea started off with my little girl celebrating her 8th birthday.  I am so immensely proud of Darci and the young lady that she is becoming.  It has been such a wonderful eight years and I can't wait to see what the future brings to her.

Having spent the weekend in Seoul visiting the zoo and LotteWorld, we decided that we should take Darci do something special for her birthday.  First Dave had to go the US Embassy to apply for his travel passport and then we were off.  The Gyeongbokgung Palace is within walking distance of the embassy, so we decided this would be a perfect excursion.  The first thing we saw was this immense statue of King Sejong, who ruled from 1418 until 1450.  We then walked the short distance to the palace.  The palace was the main palace during the Joseon Dynasty, which began in the year 1392 and lasted until 1910.  We were able to see the changing of the guard ceremony and most of the buildings within the compound.  It was AMAZING!  The architecture of the building is beautiful and so artistic that it is breathtaking.  The main throne hall is magnificent with the intricate paintings on the all of the rafters and beautiful golden dragons adorning the ceilings.  I have attached a link to the main website for the palace so you can get more information if you would like.  I personally can't wait to go back.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Here are our pics:

US Embassy

changing of the guard

main throne hall

inside main throne hall

ceiling of main hall

doors on one side of hall

council hall

king's residence

inside living quarters

ceiling in living quarters

Darci size gate

see, I told ya!

Dave born Year of the Dragon

Year of the Snake

Year of the Horse

Year of the Monkey... sound familiar?

Beautiful Birthday Girl

Daddy's girl

Dave said I should have kissed him on the cheek!

After all of the walking around we had been doing, we decided we should WALK some more.  We were starving and looking for food!  McDonald's was our salvation.  And yes, it did taste like McDonalds!

an alley we found ourselves on

Salvation!

Nothing like a happy meal on your birthday!

After that, we headed home.....to the subway we went.  While there, Dave went to get Darci something to drink and thinking it was a bottle of water...got this!  EEEWWWW!  It is a strange version of Gatorade.

Sound Refreshing?

We were so glad to finally be home.  The kids found their Easter gifts (note the chairs they are sitting in), Darci opened her birthday presents, we ordered pizza, and had birthday cheesecake from Paris Baguette.   Quite a nice way to end a long day!

The Easter Bunny Came

Daddy's Little Girl

Love those dimples

Oreo Cheesecake from Paris Baguette

The Fashionista

After such a long weekend, we decided to take the rest of this week and the weekend to relax.  Not that putting together evacuation kits is relaxing, but I did get that done in case the North Korea thing goes south (no pun intended).  We also tried to catch up some school work.  Darci worked on a project that she voluntarily chose to do.  Dave watched the kiddos while I went to see the movie, One For The Money.  I took a cab home, which was the scariest cab ride to date.  The cab driver was talking on the phone and watching TV while running lights on the way home.  I made it home safely, as you can see, but don't plan on taking any cab rides for a while, if I can help it. 

Darci....hard at work!

The kids and I also spent some time with a new family that recently arrived in Area 1.  It was so nice to be able to sit down and talk to another mom, again.  She is homeschooling her children, as well.  The kids really hit it off and we can't wait to hang out again. 

Friday was spent doing laundry and taking the kids to the PX to spend their birthday money.  Dave also took us to dinner at a restaurant called Miller Time.  I guess its the closed thing to an American experience we are going to get.  We had bowls of popcorn and fortune cookies as appetizers.  I took a picture of my food because its definitely not what you would be used to.  When you order a soda at a restaurant here, they bring you canned soda with a glass of ice. 

weird

 sausage with potatoes, bacon, onions, and carrots

goofball

cutie patootie

On Saturday, I went shopping ALONE! I didn't do a whole lot of shopping but I did buy a few things to send back to the states.  The pics below are pictures of the snacks that are found here in Korean markets.  If you will recall, we have already tried the shrimp flavored chips and the steak flavored cheetos, so I was a little worried.    I did find another kind of cheetos.... I don't know what the Koreans think cheetos is supposed to mean, but I guess they don't think they should be cheesy!  These were vegetable flavored!  It is very odd.  They have an initially sweet taste before you can taste the veggie part. 

Darci's favorite....chocolate filled wafers balls.....

Mom's favorite......brown leaf pastry cookies....lightly sweet and buttery....delicious

Rice cakes ....not like any I've ever seen....very small, thin, salty..with sweet glaze on top

And last, but not least.....custard filled cakes

Not that any of the snacks taste bad, just very different than what I have had all of my life.  We will keep trying Korean things and keep you posted on what we find.

Sunday was one BIG LAZY DAY!  We watched movies, tv shows, lounged around, and Dave and the kids had a war with nerf guns, pillows, and angry birds.  You couldn't tell that I had cleaned the house the day before, but they sure had fun.

the WAR ZONE

the WARRIOR!

Well that was week 6.  I hope you enjoyed it.  See you next week.  Annyonghi Geyseyo.