Six in Seoul

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:

The thing on top reminds me of a cow’s belly, it smashes down over the dish, and when it lifts up the dish has the pattern on it. 

I should have put these pictures in reverse order. 

 After shopping here we continued on to another area in Yeoju City.  The next area we went to was a bit crazy.  I left my camera in the bus, so I don't have pictures of it, but the rest of the shops we went to were in homes.  We would actually go in the backs of their house, or in their garage where they would be making pottery. These places were very unique & I may have enjoyed this part of the experience the most.  At these places they were making the pottery on a wheel by hand.  Here is a picture of a vase I bough that was 100% hand made, including the carvings on the vase.

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 modeled for a French company named Absorba. Hubby said it was a great experience all the way around.  Ms. Sue picked the boys up around 8:30AM & took them someplace in Seoul.  They had donuts and snacks for the children and adults.  There were 2 other little (American) girls on this shoot.  Boy 3 dressed in 2 different outfits.  The first outfit was a baby outfit that they had to cut to stuff boy 3 in.  Hubby said they took the scissors out and cut most of the outfit, including the hat and shoes, boy 3’s foot NEVER fit in the shoes.  We grow children much larger in the states than they do here in Korea.  J  He looked a little funny to us in the first outfit, but the photographers seemed to be happy with the results. 


 

 

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. 

Ms. Sue will let us know when his pictures go to print, and she will bring us a copy of whatever he is in.  The pictures I put on this site are from hubby's camera.

Kathie - is this picture better for you?

Jana - most are christians.

Marci - hubby likes it better blonde.

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!

Here are a few updates on things we have talked about in the past:

1. My rose bushes look DEAD!  I am so sad, I am still holding out hope that they will come back next season.

2. Boy 1 has another new girlfriend.  She is very cute, but moving back to the states in about a week.  He will be heartbroken I am sure. 

3. Boy 3 goes on his first photo shoot today!  It is for a French clothing company. 

How cute is he?!  He is going to be famous.  (I'm just kidding, but he is cute!)


NEXT: Jana (one of my 2 faithful readers & commenters next to my sister Kathie) ask how the shopping prices are.  Well, it is hit or miss.  Some things are outrageously expensive, where other things are dirt cheap.  I haven’t really figured it out yet.  You can bargain here, which I was a bit uneasy with at first, well, who am I kidding?  I am still uneasy with it, but I am doing it a little more now.  I am certain that by the time we have our first visitors I will be a pro.  Anyway, you can get great knock-offs for really good prices, purses, jerseys, leather goods and so on.  As for clothes, I am still ordering my clothes from the states, I seem to get better prices from the states and lots of retailers offer free shipping & get things here quickly.  (Our zip code is California, not South Korea)  You can get Korean trinkets & souvenirs cheap.  Oh, and you can get custom made clothes for cheap, we haven’t tried it yet, but I am sure hubby will be having several custom made suits before we leave here.  I have a neighbor that will be taking me to the fabric market soon where fabric is supposed to be cheap.  I am going to have custom made curtains for our house.  So, to make a long answer long, I haven’t figured it all out, but I am working on it.   

I have a question for you guys.....blonde or brunette?
 

 

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. 

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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

Some of you have ask  if I can get many of the comforts of home here.  Most of the time I can.  Our commissary (grocery store or supermaket for you civilians) stocks it's shelves from California.  All produce, milk, meat, eggs and everything else comes from California.  Our milk is ultra pasturized so it will have a longer shelf life, but it is still organic.  The main problem here is if you are not at the commissary when they stock the shelves you many not get the item.   I had a friend tell me she bought cherries one morning, I went late afternoon, and they were all gone.  Bummer....I really wanted the cherries.   The same is true with most fruits, you must hit the commissary right after they stock it, or they are gone.  The good news is there are tons of little grocery stores in Seoul that have a wonderful fruit selection, they are quite a bit more expensive, but you can still get what you want if you are willing to pay more.  I love going to the Korean grocery stores, you never know what you are going to find.  For example, the picture above.  I have NO IDEA what kind of fish that is or what you would use it for, but it makes a great picture.  I am sure the other people in the market think I am nuts, I am always taking pictures of their food.  The other problem I have run into with shopping at the Korean grocery store is that sometimes it is a guessing game.  The kids and I love to buy Korean candy which is very interesting - some of it is great, when some of it is downright disgusting.  I am getting better at it though, I am learning to read the language and have a few words under my belt, so it is getting easier.  The other thing I have found very helpful, is when I am looking for something in particular at the Korean grocery store, I ask a Korean friend to write it down in Korean so I can find it or ask for it in the store.

The other thing I can do, which I have not done yet, but I am making a list, is I can go into the commissary and ask the store manager to special order items for me.  If our supplier in California has it then they will order it for me.  I have a list of things going that I cannot find here: Weight Control Oatmeal, (thanks to Staci for sending some to us), RAO's Pasta Sauce, soy milk boxes, Chef Paul Purdhommes's Poultry Magic, & vanilla paste. I am sure I will add to the list over time, but as you can see, the only things I cannot get are more specialty items than regular items. 

Another note about food here, all our chicken and eggs are from CALIFORNIA.  We don't have to worry about eating bad chicken or eggs, and none of us are eating either one while in Seoul.  You ask - why are you telling us this?  Well, if have been following the news, the bird flu is here.  Robert would be having a cow. They have pretty much contained it, but I will not eat chicken or eggs in Seoul for quite some time. 

If you have any questions for us, please feel free to email or leave a comment with your question & I will try to answer it.  Have a great day!

check out where we are going on vacation in June....

http://www.picresorts.com/en/Saipan/Index.asp

For all you mom's out there, you will get this...

BOY 3 went pee & poop on the potty ALL DAY yesterday!  Today he is doing fantastic as well with only one accident & that was while we were out & about!  I can see the light!!