Monday, May 14, 2012

Toilet Paper, Trees, and the Tower

Hello again, everyone!  I hope you all are doing well and had a great mother's day with your families.  Our little family is doing well.  Korea has brought us more adventures this week and I hope you enjoy reading about them.  So here goes.....

Monday's entertainment brought to you by Mitchell and Darci ..... 


singing in the shower

in the shower, she may give Adele a run for her money

 
Tuesday was not the best day for me because I had a horrible migraine. My sweet Darci made a get well picture for me and that did make the day seem not so bad.  I also took Darci to get her haircut.  She had not gotten a haircut in quite a while and really enjoyed having her hair styled.


 

 


 
Wednesday was a pretty good day.  I am so proud of Mitchell.  He got up before anyone else and started doing his school work on his own!  That kid is AMAZING!  The kids also had their first sitter tonight while Dave and I went to a "Hail and Farewell" for his battalion.  We actually got to see our old neighbor from Ft. Hood.  The army is such a small world.  We had not seem him in probably 3 or more years. The event was held at a local Korean restaurant, so we got to try some new things!  I think Dave may have regretted his decision to order the spicy chicken!  However, he was spared from ordering chicken feet when the waitress kept pointing to the menu and her feet to indicate that was what he was trying to order!  That was a close call!  One other crazy thing.... restaurants in Korea don't tend to have restrooms.  The restrooms are usually shared by all of the businesses on the same floor of the building.  So be sure to grab your toilet paper on the way out!

boy, was it crowded

cooking the meat

tiny glass of beer, anyone?

spicy chicken!

he looks like he is in pain

Dave's company commander introducing him

don't forget your toilet paper on the way to the bathroom

Thursday is brought to you by STRANGE Korea....

Every once in a while, you will see random hospital patients sitting on the street.  This guy was out there with his IV and broken leg talking on the cell phone and smoking a cigarette.  As far as I can tell, there is no hospital near the place where he was.


presenting....ggul tteok which is a type of rice cake made with glutinous rice flour and flavored with a sweet syrup and eaten as a treat.  These were served with cherry tomatoes at the apartment complex's Korean American Community get together.  They were very chewy and strange, not bad, but definitely STRANGE.  I have no idea what they add to them to make the green and pink ones. 

ggul tteok, tomatoes, and lollipops

Yay!  I found the bathroom...

Korean for bathroom:  hwa jang sil

seen while driving...

machine gun bunkers disguised as a park

hope you know which way you are going because the sign won't help

there is a side walk... right?!?!?!

hope you don't get turned around!

an interesting water fountain....

????


phone booths....


try finding one of these in the states!


and one thing on the army base....

what's wrong with this picture?

I sure hope we are better at DEFENSE than spelling!

Dave was off on Friday.  So we took off to Seoul.  We visited the North Seoul Tower, which is the highest point in the city.  From the observation deck, you can see a panoramic view of the entire city.  Unfortunately, it was a very overcast day and we did not get the best pictures.  My least favorite part of the day was walking up the 1000+ steps from the parking lot to the the base of the tower.  The tower is located in Namsan Park, which has lots of things to offer and do.  We were able to see beautiful flowers along the way.  Once in the observation deck, the windows were labeled with the distances to all of the major cities in the world.  While there, you can mail post cards from the highest post office.  Darci took advantage and mailed postcards back to her old class in Texas and to our dog, Joansie.   We had dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant overlooking the city and dessert at.....wait for it.....Cold Stone Creamery!  Darci had possibly the biggest ice cream cone she has ever tried to eat and decided that sticking her entire face in it was the way to go.  The trip down to the car was filled with lots of Koreans giggling at Darci's chocolate face!

gorgeous

very unique

wanted to pose



pretty tree

that is one long walk

oh boy!

I am glad they preserved the tree.

view from Jamdubong Peak, a resting place on the way up

another view from resting overlook


at the Beacon Tower...used for smoke signals

pagoda

North Seoul Tower
not the best photo, but you get the idea

the love lock trees

locks placed by couples in hopes that their love is long-lasting

training to be one of Bob Barker's Beauties

most of the locks have wishes attached

the love lock fence

that's 120 miles.....YIKES! and the border is much much closer

Its ONLY 6874 miles to New York and 6947mi to Washington

one of the views from top

another one, wish it wasn't so gloomy out

we will have to go back on a prettier day 

highest post office

Darci mailing her cards!

on the ceiling of elevator on the way down

waiting for dinner

the kids had never seen black bread before

Dave's meal served on a stand

can you say YUMMY!

the girl fixing our ice cream

looked like this the entire walk back down

 
Saturday was family picture day.  We met an amazing photographer, Yaya Combs.  Here are a couple of pics that she took.  The kids also spent some time playing on the playground.  And, did I mention that by kids I meant Dave too!  After coming home, we got a chance to skype with Dickens Kauble and have a fun lunch, where Dave took the opportunity to teach the kids how to play pool.

 
look at those dimples

he is my serious one!

Tag....your it!

probably shouldn't  be doing that in a dress

maybe he will be a fireman

Run, Dave, Run

catch me if you can!

come on kids, this is how you do it!

 
Dickens and Sarah Kauble

here, let me show you

what exactly am I supposed to do with this thing?



 


 

And although there are no pictures, Sunday was one of the BEST Mother's Days I have ever had.  Dave took the kids to do all 9 loads of laundry at the laundromat.  They brought me back breakfast, lunch, and a cake from Paris Baguette.  He even took them out to play all afternoon, so I could have time alone to relax.  We then had a wonderful steak dinner and watched a family movie.  It was a WONDERFUL day!

So I hope you have enjoyed our tenth week in Korea!  Until next time.... Annyeonghi Geyseyo!














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