We sold our house and cars very quickly, decided what we would definitely want to keep (and did not need now) for 3-5 years and put that in long-term storage, and what was left over was either sold or squeezed along with baby and I into my mom's house. I'll stop here to thank my mom and stepdad for taking us into their home (read: letting us take over their home) for 3 months with all of our things and a toddler too! Since our air shipment was not until October, all summer was spent trying to sort our remaining things into three categories: long term storage (again), ship to Korea, and things to get rid of. With a growing baby and now a pregnancy, this was not as easy as I had hoped - we also had to go back into our long-term storage locker and retrieve my maternity clothes to take with us. This is not an easy process and usually involves lots of red tape and usually a cost - hence the "long-term" part of the title. Because of the difficulty in retrieving our items from storage, we also had to remove our baby items for the new baby (infant tub, newborn clothes, etc.) at the same time.
So, being here in Korea, has been nice for the most part. We have everything we need, and really nothing that we don't. The weather has been beautiful and where we live is very safe and conducive to walking (unlike our house in the heights).
Most days, Andrew leaves the house for work around 6:00am or earlier and comes home around 5:30 or 6:00pm. We eat dinner together when he gets home, clean up, and then baby goes for a bath and gets ready for his bedtime which is around 7:30pm. After he is asleep, we watch some of our recorded shows, since nothing is on TV at home at that hour (except maybe infomercials). We usually both go to bed pretty early, we are both exhausted at the end of the day. A couple days a week, Andrew will have 6:00am conference calls and will have to go in even earlier. He also usually works a few hours once during the weekend as well.
A typical day for the baby and I begins between 6:30am and 7:30am when he wakes. We eat breakfast together and then either walk to the store or just go for a walk. Our complex is on the side of a mountain, and walking anywhere but the parking lot means walking up or down a steep hill. The entire island is mountains, so outside our complex is steep hills as well. Sometimes you don't even realize you're walking up hill until you are wondering why you feel tired. Coming from Houston, we are definitely not used to the hills, but they are getting easier and are great for exercise. The below photo is one of the steeper ones off the main road going into downtown.
We also go to the playground here in our complex at least 4 times per week. That is also on the side of a steep hill (really a mountain), so it has 4 or 5 separate levels, most of which are connected by slides. The ground is rubber with padding underneath. Even so, baby Andrew has already gotten many bumps and bruises since we arrived. But he loves going to the park, and has fun playing by himself as I read, or sometimes I play peek-a-boo with him or take him down the bigger slides.
Special thanks to Jody for that Sweater - we have used it so much! Only the past week or so has it been getting too cold for it. It is not actually the one she bought for us, but I liked it so much, that I bought it in 18 months as well so he could wear it now. When it is too cold or raining, we take him to the indoor playground, which has tunnels and mats and trampolines.
Our other outings that involve leaving the complex, mean going up and down the hill in the photo below:
From this view, the entrance to our complex is up the hill and to the right. At the bottom of the hill and a few blocks further is the small grocery store I usually go to. I have an Uppababy Vista stroller, at first I worried it was too big, but now I am so glad I picked this one because it has a really big storage compartment in the bottom. So I'll just take the stroller, baby, and a credit card and bring back the groceries in the stroller. The trip down is easy, the trip back up with the stroller, baby, and groceries can be as heavy as 70 lbs (baby and stroller weigh 50). My legs are definitely burning on the way back up. So if I have giant muscle-man bodybuilder legs when I come home, you'll know why. I actually like this better than driving because I don't have to load him in and out of the carseat 4x for one trip.
On most weekends, we'll also walk to town to eat and shop. There are two routes, and both have sidewalks all or most of the way. Both ways are about a mile or more 1 way. Normally, that's no sweat, but the hills...
One of our walks together, baby andrew wanted to get out and walk when we were close to the apartment.
Oh, and good news for me: they have Starbucks here! They didn't have the pumpkin spice latte, though. Even if they did, I would probably have a hard time ordering it the way I like it. They put so much syrup in them normally, it is sickeningly sweet. I order my drinks with very little syrup, so I am guessing it would be hard to communicate that. The Starbucks itself is very big but is more set up like a restaurant. It has a lot more tables, and lots more seating in general than the ones I've seen. Everything looks virtually the same. There is some Korean on the menu and cups, and some odd other food choices, but other than that it is the same old Starbucks that I love.
Andrew surprised me with this one day when he came home for lunch. :)
Here's a random photo of the Korean currency. Like other countries I've visited, it's very colorful and beautiful. 1000 Won is roughly equal to 1 US dollar, so when looking at prices, it's very easy to just divide by 1000. Some places you have to get out your conversion app for every single thing.
The currency is another example of what I think is an odd abundance of english here. Most things are in Korean, but we also see a lot of English. It's not always the best translation, but I always wonder why they would have so much of a foreign language here, when most people do not speak it. I understand what a global language English is, but some places I see it (like the currency) still seemed odd to me. It is everywhere on store fronts and on some foods, not in a way to translate, but to advertise. Andrew suggested that it, like some foreign things in America, means quality or exotic. And that made sense. I hope I explained that so it's understandable. I guess, because I do see english in other countries a good bit, but it's countries that share our same alphabet or a similar one. That is a whole other issue for me. It was definitely a culture shock to look at signs and not have any earthly idea what it said. Sometimes andrew and I will look at a restaurant (or what we think is one) and just wonder what type of food it could possibly be. But thank God the numeric system is the same! So when we look at receipts they look like the below. No idea what you bought, but you can see what it costs.
So sorry for the lack of posts. Baby Andrew is has turned into Toddler Andrew! He hates for me to do almost any activity that takes attention away from him. Including looking at a phone or computer, doing dishes, cooking, etc. He doesn't mind me doing laundry since he helps me. :) I dream of all the cooking I could be doing! Broths from scratch, 5 course meals! I am dreaming. I am lucky just to have something simple on the table before big Andrew gets home from work. Then after we put him to bed I just want to fall over! He wears me out! Just thought I'd touch on that...
Also, Thanksgiving is coming - but we found out today that a frozen turkey is $70 dollars US. So we will have a stuffed chicken for Thanksgiving. But I also found frozen cranberries today, so I am happy!
Until next time!!
Likes: The hike up the mountain today! All the walking we get to do. Easy currency conversion. The beautiful changing leaves. Having a playground so close.
Dislikes: Expensive turkey - was looking forward to something besides chicken.
New Things: I didn't realize there was a mountain hiking trail so close!
Things I miss: POM Pomegranate Juice, Adair Kitchen Green Juices!, Thanksgiving decor, food, etc. Being able to order something off the internet and have it shipped to you!
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