52 Weekends in Seoul

Weekend 96 of 52+

2012-01-28T22:49:00.004+09:00

Lotte World for Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year provided Dan with what, I think, will be his last vacation from his current job. Then we'll be back in America for 6 weeks, and then we'll be back in Korea for a couple more years. I guess I haven't mentioned that here, but everyone already knows anyhow. We'll be south of the city for that, though, so we'll no longer be weekending in Seoul.

We spent the vacation Tuesday making our last visit to Lotte World with our free passes.

Our baby is being his insane, little self, which is normal (for him) and cute, but it is distracting for blog writing, so I am just going to caption the pictures.

We discovered that amusement parks are a good way to wear out the baby. It would make for a very costly lifestyle, though, if we employed that method for all his naps.

Waste please. And some dinosaur bones.

My child is very caring, healthwise.

Boys in the monorail queue. The monorail is one of the attractions at Lotte World, not a means of transportation.

Underground on the fourth floor.

Bad baby.

And then they went to jail. Dan was inordinately happy about it, Joah appropriately morose.

Joah rode a stuffed animal like his Auntie Korrine did many months ago.

First carousel.

He thought I was the best mom for putting a golden pole in front of his face.

He has become very reachy/grabby.

He was such a sleepy dude all day. All that seeing and watching and looking wore him out.

Performing my duty as Designated Kiddie Ride Along.

The sun sets on Lotte World.

Rather accidentally, I introduced Joash to Beyonce. Now he loves her so.

Extra animated proof.

Today we had a late lunch with our church girls. June cooked us rice and chicken, and she mulled some wine and set out oozy cheese. It was very continental.

Joah busied himself with the reaching and grabbing he's been perfecting.

Sink or Swim

2012-01-21T21:21:00.001+09:00

Like people without a bathtub, we bathe our baby in the sink. Like people without a bathroom sink, we bathe our baby in the kitchen. Like people with no boundaries, we take a video of him kicking around and put it online for our parents to see.

Is it okay to put this here? I can't even tell. Well, for now it will be here, anyway, so watch it promptly, parents, in case I change my mind.

In other news, we lost our kid's passport, and, because we're about to take him out of the country, we had to replace it before serendipitously finding it around the house. So back to the Embassy we went with a picture that doesn't even look like him anymore. We tried to do a quick retake at one of those photobooth machines in the subway. The quality of displayed pictures is incredibly misleading, maybe criminally so, and we just ended up wasting 10 minutes and seven dollars. We even left before the pictures developed, so we could run to the Kodak print shop and burn 20 more minutes and six more dollars. That made us 30 minutes late for our appointment, but the nice thing about appointments in Korea is that everything is run by one of those deli number machines anyway, and they were all none-the-wiser. New passport in two weeks, and we will bind it to ourselves like a Phylactery.

Bonus: our crappy pictures were waiting for us in the machine when we got back home. Anybody want a terrible 2x2 snapshot of the right side of our kid's face?

Today we went to our first movie since Super 8. This time I wasn't comfortably pregnant but uncomfortably hot. We saw We Bought a Zoo, which was the second time this year we've watched a movie because Dan first loved the soundtrack. We forgot how loudly they blast the movies in Korea, but Joah still managed to sleep through some (at decibel) lion roars and monkey gags. And then he projectile spit-up all over my hand and leg and shirt and possibly my hair, though that could just have been wet from drool, or, let's be honest, tears, because anytime anyone even mentions a mother and a son, I openly weep. I liked the movie. It made me want to come home and knit (lots of good sweaters on zookeepers), but, instead I was confronted with a ramen-like mess of tangled yarn from an abandoned project. Such an occupational hazard.

Avid chewing still not producing teeth, but I swear I see teeth buds now. I swear it!

If only I could get the baby to nap like his dad. Alas, like his mother, he thinks naps are a waste of time.

Even with Joah carrying on, Dan slept. Though it looks like he's wailing here, he's really just spiritedly telling some sort of story.

Computer age.

Lashes for sale. Boys always get all the long eyelashes.

Chatter. I look forward to understanding these babbles, as I'm pretty sure he's usually telling hilarious jokes.

Knowing looks are my favorite kind of look.

This kid is a non-stop, non-chalant kicker. (How's that for forehead, Dad?) I think his stork bite has dissolved into some sort of superhero tell, yes, like Harry Potter. It appears very faded here, but after the movie today, it was very pronounced. I wonder what trouble was afoot.

As he becomes more receptive to having things touch his head, I become more likely to take advantage of it.

He played on, unaware of my shenanigans until the rattle finally fell into his lap. He's the boss is who.

Hobbies

2012-01-14T11:54:00.002+09:00

I keep getting distracted by other hobbies during my baby-free time. I just got a box of yarn in the mail, and I have some time-sensitive knitting orders to fill. And some of it is for a baby girl, and I never get to knit dresses and bows, so I'm excited about it.

But I have taken some pictures of my non-napper during some of his non-naps. Yesterday morning, I chatted Dan, talking about Mr. Naps taking a 2-hour morning nap, and then he didn't sleep again, but for 20 minute segments, pretty much until 10 o'clock. Mr. No-Naps. Because when you have a baby, you start saying kitschy things.

He's well on his way to sitting independence. It may even have arrived. When we put him in a couch corner, he elbows his way off of it so he can sit on his own. He's also really great at moving in circles, like he's only rowing with one paddle.

Getting chubbier. We had to put away most of his 3-months stuff this week.

This is from last week. He was so sure-seated, but he knows how to get himself out of a pickle.

This is his destiny.

He gets it from his dad.

Reacting to some scandalous game play.

Yesterday we took a bunch of knee-top pictures. This is the lone one with a drooly chin.

Afternoon faces.

I wanted to get a good picture of him chewing on his fingers.

But, now, every time I pick up the camera he grabs for it.

He's less grumpy about things being on his head, so we played a game with spit-up rags. Speaking of spit-up, two days ago was, hopefully, his spitting apex. It was a near-constant activity, necessitating several wardrobe changes for everyone. And then yesterday was a day completely void of regurgitation.

Standing in his Peter Pan collar, given to him by Jessica. This morning he was still wearing it, and he had his arms out like he was flying, and it was all incredibly appropriate.

Our Conservative Laugher

2012-01-08T22:16:00.000+09:00

We have been trying to figure out how to make Joash laugh. He is a generous smiler, but he has only ever laughed once at a time. Until tonight. He's been needing breaks during his dinner feed for the last couple of days, and during one of those breaks, I started saying, "yo, yo, yo!" and it is, somewhat unfortunately, what made him finally sort of laugh on command. Hooray! but also, I hope I don't have to go around saying "yo, yo, yo!" all the time now.

And here are his first pictures as a 5-month old:

My favorite thing about this picture of him chatting with Dan is that you can see his mullet. He has a tuft of extra long hairs behind each ear, and I will never cut it away, never!

He really, really loves his dad. He likes to see what he's doing and listen to what he's saying and notice when he comes home.

These guys!

JejuDeo (language pun!)

2012-01-07T10:11:00.002+09:00

Jessica was a great documenter of our trip to Jeju, especially of our son on our trip, so I wanted to post some of her pictures here, too.

But, before that, on the occasion of my son's fifth month, four pictures from his fourth.

Wearing a very Korean jumper.

By now, he is just itching to start crawling. He's started doing push-ups and knocking his head around.

He is also starting to really figure out his feet. He obviously has the strongest abs of anyone in this family.

And here's his little leg of gooseflesh. And then I got him some pants to wear.

Also, this is the size of the pizza Dan ate in 7 minutes. Seven minutes in heaven if heaven's activities include scalding your mouth with boiling cheese.

Waiting for our first plane ride.

Nuclear fam. I am wearing that hat the whole time because I didn't brush my hair.

Loving his first flight.

Hey, kid!

The flight attendant made us wear these. Joash is judging us.

Everyone but Heather, who came the next day.

Auntie Roo and the Boogie (how cute is this sentence?).

More Christmas. No, mom, I did not put the Minnie bow on his head. But I did approve of it.

Finding fish.

We did a glass maze at the Glass Museum. Jessica won, I was second, Dan third, Heather fourth, Korrine last/lost.

Korrine in the glass wilderness.

Trying to keep warm in the frigid Chocolate Museum.

My baby wearing jeans. Today he is wearing pants that both button and zip. I barely even do that anymore.

Windswept Dan taking pictures on the boat.

This is pre-fame.

And this is at the height of it. We aren't making this stuff up!

On Raspberries

2012-01-03T19:57:00.002+09:00

Joash has learned some new words, still none of them English.

Weekend 92 of 52+

2011-12-30T13:58:00.003+09:00

Jeju Island: Marine Park with Trick Eye Museum, Glass Museum, Chocolate Musuem, Circus World, Boat Cruise, Sunset at Jungmun Beach

We hired a Christmas pension (what I would call a magical Christmas cabin) with Korrine and two more of Dan's fellow teachers, Heather and Jessica, and went to Korea's southern island, Jeju, for the holiday. In so doing, we accomplished our first flights and our first vacation with our sweetest son. I keep saying that he behaves much more readily in public than he does at home, and this trip only further proved this observation. From the moment we woke up on Friday morning, he could tell something was amiss. He was distracted by our excitement and especially by our sorting and packing. So he fussed around for the morning, but the second we took him out in public, he was smiling and charming away. While we were gone, he ate wonderfully and without complaint, he was sleeping through until 6:30 most mornings, and he cheered his way through every overstimulating situation. Today, our first day at home, and he's back to labored eating, and last night, our first night at home, he woke up for an hour at 2:30 (and the next night at 1, 2, 3, and 4, practicing counting, I suppose). He's a silly guy.

He definitely loves the attention of all of his aunties, and Korrine is so good with him. One day Dan and I both accidentally fell asleep, and I woke up to see Korrine and Joah quietly chatting in the kitchen. She definitely taught him how to stick out his tongue last week, and he's been blowing raspberries with it since we got home.

It's not just aunties who puff up his ego. We were at a galbi-tang (beef rib stew) restaurant, and a waitress came and swooped him up off the floor and walked around with him. We even watched him shake hands with the chef. And on our last day, we took a boat ride that culminated in a mob of people taking his picture as we de-boated. It was completely insane, and he loved it.

Jeju was wonderful, and, of course, it's supposed to be a magical little island. I would liken it to the island baby of Florida and Kentucky. It is notched by jagged rock formations and carpeted in orange groves. Volcanoes were responsible for much of its existence, so porous lava rock is everywhere and celebrated. We set a relaxing pace for ourselves and got to pet dolphins and blow glass, sample chocolate and watch the sun set. Our only troubles were with grumpy taxi drivers, but that sort of thing happens everywhere.

My favorite part of all of it, though, was just how much it felt like a vacation. I guess I have never really needed a vacation before. Turning into the mom version of human is such a feat, though, that I was ready for a break from the driving beat of every day (weekends don't seem to exist for nursing infants). The fact that everyone else made meals and allowed me to just sit and take care of the baby was such a gift. On Christmas, we stayed home and baked cookies and ate cookies and watched Home Alones and did present exchanges, both proper and White Elephant. This year's Thanksgiving and Christmas have been the most authentic holidays since we left home for Seoul. Such a boon.

Speaking of cookies, though, I think Joash is going to have quite the adjustment period as his food slowly morphs back from spice and sugar into nutrients. So much cookie consumption.

But first, Joash in a box. A box that mailed him so many wonderful clothes for Christmas.

He stood for seconds by himself! And then he started to collapse.

So Korrine helped him back up. Joah is really going to miss his Auntie Roo, but at least the next time he sees her she will have birthed him a playmate.

Our baby's first flight was much better than his second. He ate and slept right away. The return flight was not without tears, but he did sleep through the landing.

After the hour-long and uneventful flight to Jeju, we took an hour-long bus to our sector of the island. We were exploring the southwest. We tried to reenact Joah's bedtime routine on the bus, with a midair outfit change and Dan reading to him from a video game manual.

Sleeping in the space beneath the stairs. He doesn't even get a cupboard like Harry Potter.

I really enjoyed our early mornings with Joah. There was no rush to get a shower before Dan had to run to work. There was no internet to check emails and blogs. Dan and I just snuggled together with our half naked baby and laughed as he gurgled out loud and threatened to wake everyone else up.

Baby and alcove dressed for the season.

While we were waiting for Korrine and Jessica's turn to pet the dolphins, we went to the basement of Marine Park and took pictures in the Trick Eye Museum. Photos by Dan.

Angel baby. Photo by Dan.

Help, there's a (covert) shark! And not just help, I'm wearing winter clothes on a tropical island and probably dying from heatstroke. Photos by Dan.

Future Olympian.

We started having him on our shoulders, and he really seems to enjoy the higher vantage point.

Trying to get him to kiss the dolphins.

Right, so, turns out he hates them.

Korrine pushing the limits of pregnancy with heavy lifting and fraternization with mercury-laden sea creatures.

Glossy dolphin in a goopy tank.

Korrine and baby Q checking out some fish.

Fancy wall of fish. The nicest aquarium we ended up seeing in Jeju was at the airport Starbucks. It was so bright and clean and had all kinds of neon coral swaying in the stream.

First visions of sea life. I really want to get him a betta to watch.

In what Dan kept calling the "Nemo tank."

Dan documented as much as he could of Korrine and Jessica's dip with the dolphins. Photos by Dan.

We had a white Christmas after all! Even when it wasn't sticking, it was snowing. And snow falling on palm trees is a funny thing to see.

Joash on his first Christmas morning. He's got a candy cane holster and a name tag that reads: Little Helper.

Snow grove. Photo by Dan.

We snuck out for a quick Christmas walk in the snow. Joah didn't care much for the frozen perspiration landing all over his face, and the wind got pretty kicky after a while. I think next year he'll already feel completely differently. Photos by Dan.

Dan was impressed by what he figured was the specially Korean foresight of popping windshield wipers in the snow. I told him that I, who am from Florida, had been doing that for years in Cincinnati, from which he is native. Photos by Dan.

One of the two resident dogs. Photo by Dan.

Living arrangements. Photos by Dan.

Snowy seat.

A tree and its afterlife. Photos by Dan.

Our cabin with stockings and bough of holly hung. Dan tore that down from somewhere. We didn't ask questions.

Dan got a more complete picture with his iPod.

Food prep. We ate the best vacation food of our lives. Dan made quesadillas, Jessica made pineapple fried rice and bacon wrapped vegetables, Heather made pancakes and garlic shrimp and tons of the aforementioned cookies (anise wreaths, gingerbread men, peppermint chocolate cookies, along with Korrine's apricot balls and white Christmas bars, and our buckeyes), Korrine made spaghetti bolognese and a big salad. We only ate out twice.

A Christmas morning nap for the excitable baby. Photo by Dan. He struggled with naps on the island. Luckily the pension's couch was almost exactly like the couch on which he naps at home, so he logged a couple hours there.

Our Santa wearing the baby's Santa hat.

Everyone got to pose with Santa and their stuffed stockings. Heather and Santa.

Joah with Santa (whose tiny hat fell off).

Jessica and Santa.

Korrine and Santa with Jessica giving her a last minute stocking stuffer. Jessica bought everyone a true spork, double ended with a spoon and a fork. She also bought the girls different lotions.

Joash performing his duties as helper and giving Dan his presents.

Extra helpful at doling out drool for presents.

At least he really did move this paper out of the way.

Helping himself. Pulling a ribbon off of his own present.

He was overwhelmingly infatuated with the shiny, crinkly wrapping paper.

To the point that every other picture is a picture of him making cross-eyes at it. Left and Right shoes from Heather.

Things to chew: paper and a new teething rattle from Jessica.

White Elephant picnic of presents. Everyone got such legitimate gifts for this, while I was thinking they were supposed to be funny duds. I brought off-brand Spam for one of mine. Everyone else was giving away pillow covers and bags of chocolate and ear muffs.

Dan with warm ears.

The baby started to crash.

And a roll in a shiny pile did him in.

But after a nap (or as I like to call them, reset buttons), he was back at it.

Buckeye blitzing, or should I say Blitzen, or should I say Blixem?

Gingerbread fun with Jessica and Heather.

Dan dressed the wall, and Joah set to tearing it down.

He did eventually succeed in pulling down the pink paper.

Some of our amazing food.

Next morning's nap, also in arms.

We went to the Glass Museum, and the weather would not cooperate with Jessica for a nice gazebo picture.

Hall of Mirrors type thing.

I am the worst at selcas.

Glass ducks.

Glass receptacles.

Glass giraffes.

Glass ornaments.

Dan making instagrams.

Striped glass.

Smelling glass flowers.

Heather is a very cute poser.

Jessica hopped a fence for this one.

Teardrop forest.

Dan with the offspring that almost cost us an extra full-priced ticket. After much groaning and a little arguing, we got them to waive the ridiculous fee for our infant who spent the entire time hidden and napping inside Dan's sweatshirt. There was a bit of an air of swindling desperation on the island, but we tried to roll with it as well as we could, while, at the same time, making sure not to be taken advantage of.

Christmas colors in nature.

Glass pyramid. We threw no stones.

Grass in glass.

Family photo in a mushroom field. Photo by Heather.

Everyone got to try out glass blowing (for free), and Korrine, Heather, and Jessica made their own vases with surprising ease and swiftness (for $20).

Jessica's trial run.

Me and my baubles. Photos by Dan.

The museum part of the Chocolate Museum sucked. It was frigid and ugly, and there was a room brimming with the most hideous, kitschy Christmas collection in the world. But, the free samples were exceptional.

When they took my baby. He was wearing his most masculine outfit this day, and they asked if he was a boy or girl. They said they thought he was dressed like a boy but too beautiful to be one. Sorry, Joah.

Jeju is one of the new 7 Nature Wonders of the World. It was pretty pretty.

This was at Circus World, a show with Chinese acrobats and a motorcycle show. It really did exceed our minds, but photos weren't allowed. Also, Joash needed a nap during the acrobatics, so I had to sway him to sleep.

Curbside waiting for the taxi.

We finished our island getaway with activities on and near the water. We took a little boat cruise to a big lava rock. Leaving port. Photos by Dan.

There were tiny people fishing. Photo by Dan.

Lava caves and rock face. Photos by Dan.

Halla Mountain. Photo by Dan.

Carved out. Photos by Dan.

Formations. Photos by Dan.

Dan, Jessica, and Heather braved the outdoor elements to get pictures. Photos by Dan.

Goodbye rocks. Photo by Dan.

Open/Close. Photos by Dan.

This man, dressed in drag in hanbok, gesticulated lewdly, sang loudly, and told jokes about sex that woke up the baby. It was bizarre.

But not nearly as bizarre as the flock of Koreans admiring our baby. Some of them even reached out and posed him. I mean...

Our concluding sunset on Jungmun Beach. Such a lovely way to end a lovely trip. The beach was too rocky to access, but there were bridges built along it like a tree house.

Dan with our little lamb.

Be careful, sail boat! This is one inhospitable shore.

Lava rocks are cool. I yanked one for myself from the teardrop forest.

I would like an ant farm-style volcano, so I can watch it work and play.

Me and the sun. Photo by Dan.

I miss it already.

Weekend 91 of 52+

2011-12-21T16:08:00.002+09:00

Christmas Tree, Train, and Gingerbread House at the Millennium Hilton

So I just realized that I didn't post the extant pictures of Joah in his Santa hat. But now seems as good a time as any since we adorned him with that hat to go look at his first proper Christmas tree. We hiked up some treacherous alley inclines, scaling staircases inappropriately steep. But we otherwise arrived in the lobby of the Millennium Hilton without much difficulty. We immediately set to disrobing the child, discarding his snowsuit, and Dan set to waiting in line for our photo opportunity. Every event in Seoul is always excessively attended, but the holiday urgency did make this feel more fun and Christmasy.

We found two smaller Christmas trees outside of one of the hotel's restaurants, and that's actually where Joash got to engage. He could touch those trees, and he definitely liked exploring a new texture. It will be nice for him when he can sit somewhere and caress things to his heart's content, without being bound by the limited strength of his parents' arms. And I'm sure I'll cry because he doesn't need me anymore.

Even just now I watched him discover that he can lay his head down when he flips on his belly and so doesn't have to flail in desperation, unable to flip back over. Such an independent.

I knit him a Santa hat, and he made this chubby face. It is only moderately deceptive as to his chubbiness.

He ended up being a really good Santa hat model. He exudes jolliness.

See?

We went to this fake Chipotle called Tomatillo. Walking in made us really excited because it sure looks Chipotle-style, but the end product was more Moes-y. It was expensive and okay, and Korrine's was almost inedibly spicy. We'll stick with our Taco Bell.

Dan holding his foil-wrapped burrito and his burrito baby.

We scouted out some Christmas lights, and this is actually when we decided we would have to go see the big Christmas tree.

This is how we will get him into foreign baby modeling.

Decorating the tree.

With tinfoil.

So here we were trekking to the tree. In Cincinnati, we trek through a forest of fir trees, in Seoul a concrete jungle.

Big tree.

We managed to make it to the throne. A man offered to take a picture of all of us, which is always kind and irrefutable, but my auto focus is broken, so these favors rarely turn out. I just can't believe no one else is in either of these pictures. There was a lot of milling around.

Sneaking some out-of-the-way looks.

That's an awful lot of fake presents.

Arrayed in twinkle lights. Photo by Dan.

Momma and boy. Photos by Dan.

A massive train set circled the tree on the lower level. Photos by Dan.

Checking it out. Photo by Dan.

All the billboards and train car ads represented donations made to a local orphanage. Meanwhile, that polar bear is about to brutalize someone. Photos by Dan.

At the humbler, lonely tree. Photos by Dan.

Santa reclined suggestively atop a real life gingerbread house. Someone took a bite out of it. I wanted to, but I refrained.

One last look at the trains.

In motion. Do you see the carousel move too? Fun.

Joah in his first face-in-the-hole picture. Dan was distracted in the second frame by a couple ladies fawning over our sleeping kid. Similarly, we got a coffee on Monday, and the two ladies running the shop pulled out their camera phones and started snapping away. We keep trying to tell him that America doesn't work that way.

Dinner at On the Border after our festive afternoon.

One of our favorite things about Christmas in Seoul is the Christmas cakes and the free gifts that come with them. Every chain bakery and dessert place has different prizes as incentive. This year we went with the Baskin Robbins sock monkey cap and matching cake.

On Friday we will take our first vacation as parents. We're going to Jeju Island to spend Christmas with Korrine and a couple of Dan's co-teachers. I'm kind of nervous. I don't necessarily like to parent in public just yet, and I wonder how Joah will do with so much activity. Already, he's suffering because we did the ol' pre-vacation fridge clean out, and I haven't eaten a vegetable since Sunday. All there is is tuna and cookies. That can't be good for the baby. Or for me. I'm going to get scurvy. I cooked myself an onion today just to acquire some nutrients.

Joash is trying to type for me. Mostly he just bounces the mouse around and turns on CAPS LOCK. Silly baby, computers are for grown upsS! (He typed that wayward S. Good job!)

Our Halls, Decked

2011-12-17T21:54:00.004+09:00

We actually have no halls at all in our apartment, but we decked our window wall and a corner anyway. Joah participated by watching me cut out snowflakes and later sitting on Dan's lap while we put foil on our plastic Christmas tree (sorry to both Radiohead and Joni Mitchell).

Dan's early Christmas present to me was showing me how to watch the Today Show on demand on the XBox. For whatever reason it isn't blocked in Korea. During tonight's 3.5 hour baby eats, I have been watching the latest episode. Ignoring background American TV has helped soothe the sting of my holiday-triggered homesickness.

Baby's new trick: chewing chins and with gusto.

Last year's stockings, knit light garland and Christmas tree forest, paper and plastic. Complete with fresh cut snowflakes.

A night view with our lighted fire. Yes, I did ask Dan to forfeit a whole dollar for the full "game."

I guess it's part our fault/part living-in-the-future's fault that Joah already loves computer monitors of various sizes and purposes. He briefly hijacked Dan's DS playing, but he thought it was meant to be controlled mouthwise, and it was a little gross.

Low Res Picture Feature:

Tucking in during bed making, just like lil orphan Annie.

A weekday family lunch.

Hood-aided nap time.

Sitting up at a falafel restaurant. Too bad the falafel maker was a jerk, as it all but guarantees I won't again get to eat falafel Seoulside. What is the point of having a customer-based business if the customers inconvenience you simply by being customers? (Walking in and not immediately seating ourselves, thereby interrupting his hookah break, not ordering according to his preferred price point, not eating our pita sandwich the right way, not having cash even though credit cards were posted as acceptable.)

Four Months Old

2011-12-07T13:10:00.003+09:00

I just realized as I set out to type it that the nickname I readily call my son is unspellable. I often call him any variation of the word booger. This includes: boogie, boogity (prompting recitations of this), and boog. But when you just write boog, it looks like you have written boog (rhymes with boob) not boog (rhymes with book). I feel like this serves as a proof that something or someone doesn't exist.

But, that someone turned four months old today! Another time-space continuum conundrum is that his birthday is August 7th, but he won't be four months old in his home country until tomorrow. Once we move back to America, we will always celebrate his birthday a day late, and what if we were to fly to Korea on August 6th? He'd miss his birthday entirely! But if we flew to the states on August 7th, he'd get two birthdays. I think the tangential nature of this post has something to do with the chronic naplessness of the aforementioned booger and/or the coffee I drank earlier.

Moving on, four months. And I took some pictures of his new and seasonal morning ritual: the cuddling of the Christmas lights. Maybe that's why he can't sleep? Who knows (but the internet)!

Back when he was still in the 3 months plus category, we bundled him up for a walk, yet still not to the exacting standards of middle aged Korea, who demand that infants always be dressed in comforters.

Note his pink slippers, doing their best to promote gender confusion amongst his admirers.

He sure looks like he wants a nap, right?

It starts with just one bulb.

And dissolves into a chew-fest.

But he don't mind.

Tangled.

I know I've posted too many pictures when I have nothing else to say about them.

I understand what this implies about my parenting style. I'm not bothered.

Napless wonder (did you know some babies can sleep for longer than 45 minutes?!?!?!?!?!) just awakened, and I think maybe I should unplug the lights.

Chats and Chews

2011-12-04T11:32:00.001+09:00

He likes to talk with his mouth full.

Joash Lifts His Head

2011-12-01T18:35:00.000+09:00

Even the fact that he is big enough to rest his head in my lap astounds me. And today I think he stood (assisted) more than he sat.

Weekend 88 of 52+

2011-11-30T22:56:00.002+09:00

Expat Thanksgiving

Man, I said I was going to be in bed by 10, but that was when Joash went to sleep at 9. He went on to wake up at 9:30, so I said I'd go to bed at 10:30, and it is only 6 minutes shy of that goal. Five now. I lost a minute trying to think of a cleverer way to word the last sentence. Cleverness will have to wait until a morning edit.

We were invited to an expat Thanksgiving by a guy we randomly met at a Quizno's who is mutual friends with three different groups of people Dan knows in three different places on the earth. Um, that's pretty weird. His name is Ben. I am glad for the serendipity that led us to him and his Thanksgiving gathering. We did Thanksgiving dinner last year, but we ate at Dan's school, and it seemed more like putting on a novelty for the Koreans on staff. This year it felt proper and American and homey and cozy and tasty. There was the perfect variety of perfect food. I guess I don't have much to say about it. Pictures, then.

Toy bombing is one of my favorite activities.

He can't be fussed.

I put him in a cute, eared cap that kept popping up to make him like pope. I think he'd make a fine pope.

This is where we look to count cars and Koreans as they drive and walk by.

Joash is learning to sit on his own.

Because he's a baby, he doesn't know he's supposed to try and make attractive faces all the time.

That's a little better.

Also because he's a baby, sitting up is hard work.

Seeking commiseration from his dad.

Having fun and having chubby cheeks.

On our way to Thanksgiving.

Ben's house was left of here.

It was up quite the arduous hill, so we were glad to have arrived.

Caroline cooked most of the food and is here describing its features and intricacies.

Joash showed everyone his sweetest side. We don't know how we lucked out with such a publicly kind kid.

He even fell asleep in the arms of a stranger named Katrina. That's good for now. Could be bad for later. Photo by Sally.

Some of the food. There were sweet potatoes two ways, savory potatoes, stuffing, salad, two cranberry sauces, turkey, rolls, broccoli and cauliflower casserole, cheese and crackers, pies with fruit and pies with pudding, frosted cakes and cheesecakes, (not quite) eggnog (it needed rum extract) and sangria. It was delightfully feast-like.

Sally made much better documentation of the food, so I stole her pictures from Facebook.

Since girls always get to eat first, all the girls ended up in the same room. Photos by Dan.

Soyeon, Sally, Rachel, Paola. Photo by Dan.

Then Dan integrated for a bit. Caroline, Katrina, me, Soyeon, Sally, Rachel, Dan.

Joash sat with June for a while. I didn't even see him for most of the night. It was an odd feeling. I don't think I liked it. I kept waiting for him to come back. Photo by Dan.

Ben, whose house held the festivities, and who, because of his great height, I kept thinking was my husband (also of great height). Photo by Dan.

Me and my boy, reunited for his dinnertime. Photos by Dan.

Sort of the middle chunk of the group. My lens is restrictive. Photos by Dan.

This is where we laid him when we got home, and it is where we left him until he woke up for his first night feeding.

And here is my ridiculous kid learning how to do things on his own.

Things like chewing on toys.

And holding them in his mouth.

And looking toward the light from the window.

We're pretty sure he's in the throes of scraping out his first tooth. If not, he's just been cranky and irrational for no reason (or some other reason I may never know). Dan offered him a change of person for a minute during a work break. Poor, tired, cranky baby.

And now it's 10:57, so I lose completely, but maybe I can be asleep by 11?

Nope, 11:07 now.

But, before I go, I wanted to point out all the pants Joash is wearing in this post. Three pairs, by my count.

Facing Out

2011-11-28T14:41:00.000+09:00

My happiest boy, facing out in the Bjorn, sat near a glitter wall at the fancy mall.

A Thanksgiving Present

2011-11-24T08:20:00.001+09:00

First of all, I'm going to say that Dan dressed our baby fully in girl's clothes today, a brand called EllePoupon, with wrist and shoulder ruffles. After that I will say that I made a jokey video of Joah playing with this snappy, rattly, rolly ball toy I just found in a box of donated stuff. (Bonus: the face on the inside kind of looks like the lisping snake from Robin Hood.) I'm pretty sure it uses/strengthens all of his current motor skills. Being here to witness the minute a human begins to move with purpose has been pretty incredible. I hope I always remember his helpless flailing.

Happy Thanksgiving to us! Even though we're celebrating on Saturday, which is really Friday, so our day ahead becomes our day behind. Whatever, there will be turkey, and that's all that matters.

On a Quest for Pants

2011-11-22T10:39:00.004+09:00

I've mentioned our search for pants for our son. He's got plenty of onesies and several sleeping options but not very many pants. With the latest weekend ushering in the winter, his need for pants has become very real. For whatever reason, Dan and I have failed to find cheap and normal looking pants for an infant. I can walk down the street and buy for myself a $7 pair of pants and endless varieties of dollar socks, but infant clothes are either nowhere or exorbitantly priced (we saw a name brand shirt with a bow tie on it for $100+). We tried the Western fashion stores in Myeongdong. We've looked at various department stores. We even, this weekend, went back to Jamsil where we'd previously found his monster pants. We bought two pairs, one of which was this fascinatingly ridiculous sweatpants approximation of cowboy jeans:

I posted this on Facebook, and it prompted friends to offer to ship over hand-me-downs. I wasn't trying to act destitute or anything. I am not above charity, though. I'm not that kind of girl. Already Sally has come over and solved his immediate need for pants. So, fret not, good people of Facebook.

Want to have a funny conversation? Talk to my mom about Facebook. She doesn't have one, and she is definitively not a computer person.

Well, so anyway, on our way to Jamsil, we stopped at D-Cube City (a mall) to eat Japanese ramen at Mist, upon the suggestion on SeoulEats.com. Japanese ramen is my favorite food discovered in Korea (we probably would have discovered it in Japan, but we had a cash and credit card problem there that necessitated frequent trips to Starbucks; the toilets have heated seats, but they can't be bothered with credit card machines). It's soy saucy and with the tenderest, yummiest sliced pork and a soft boiled egg. So good. So good.

D-Cube City is the fanciest mall we've yet been to. There are glitter walls everywhere, even on convenience store facades. And there was lots of good food, so we will probably go back.

Joash staring into a D-Cube glitter wall. We front-faced him in the Baby Bjorn, and it was our curious son's gladdest half hour. And it set off our superhero hearing as we noticed exclamations of "너무 예쁘다" (so beautiful!) from all the four corners of the earth.

He recently added purposeful grabbing to his skill set.

He is also such a major wrist sucker. Or, as we've coined chubby baby wrists that meld into arms: wrarms (like cankles, of course).

Bellies!

Dan's length really affords Joah the room to explore.

We had to bundle him into a panda for his first winter walk. This is my documentation of Dan's documentation.

As seen here.

Turning pages of a Japanese/Korean book.

Sitting in some of his gifted lounge wear.

Lounging in it.

Babies Aren't Good at Things

2011-11-15T17:16:00.000+09:00

Joash is still figuring out his fingers. Here he tries to coerce his eye to accept his fist. Mostly he just ends up red-eyed.

Weekend 86 of 52+

2011-11-13T23:05:00.003+09:00

TedxItaewon

A month or so ago Dan and Johnny attended a TEDxItaewon event, a locally organized session of the larger TED organization. I would almost liken TED Talks to Toastmasters, but maybe with less nerdy connotations (or maybe not). Different speakers deliver speeches on a set topic. People go (physically or just online) and listen to those speeches. Sometimes there are cupcakes. It's all exceptionally cerebral. Somehow both Dan and Johnny met the organizers and got involved. Johnny spearheaded filming, and Dan was asked to give a speech about what drives him and to incorporate a couple of our songs. He's been practicing all week- while the baby's sleeping, while the baby's playing, as part of the baby's bedtime story. Yesterday Dan delivered that speech to more than 100 people, representing upwards of 26 different countries.

You know how people talk about their hearts swelling when their kid does something great? While I do get that every time Joah smiles or dances to Jay-Z songs or poops in his diaper and not on my leg, watching Dan give his speech made my heart swell with pride for that kid I married. I remember him clunkily teaching a high school Sunday school class 6 years ago, and to watch him yesterday as if he did that sort of thing all the time, no big deal, was really amazing.

Obviously I will still brag about my offspring. Joash made it through 8 hours out, characterized by eating in public restrooms, diaper changes and brief periods of play on cold floors, being held by three different strangers (three to him, two to us) and once when we weren't even around. He did get scared when I plopped down on one of those retractable theater seats, which meant that I spent most of the time in the lobby watching from the fourth floor window a little world culture festival happening in the courtyard. I think he was also a little overwhelmed by all the people. What a good weekend, though, for these Johnson gentlemen!

Joash has a moose addiction.

He started tucking his arms and hands up under things. Under his bed, under blankets, under the split in the booth at Taco Bell...sick.

Getting ready for TED, all matchy-matchy in his 40s attire.

I swear Joah's face always looks chubbier in pictures than it seems to in real life. I don't mind at all.

Johnny getting set up. Photos by Dan (because I was in the bathroom with the baby).

Stage lights. Photos by Dan.

Backstage with one of his strangers, a performer in hanbok (traditional dress). We were tuning our instruments, and I was playing clarinet while holding a baby (I'm awesome and starting to realize why my mom always arm wrestled so well), so she offered to help. Then she fanned him because he was a little hot. He and his post-hat Charlie Brown baldness liked it lots. Whenever I get him back from a lovely Korean lady, he is always slightly perfumed. It is one of my life's wishes to smell good like that, but I always fail and end up smelling like a teenage girl.

Jungyoon is one of the event organizers. She is also Johnny's girlfriend. She introduced Dan.

Talking about being driven to know others and to be known by them (a theme adapted from Galatians 4) and using music as a tool to achieve those things.

He orates with his hands.

Singing two of our songs to close out Dan's talk. Photos by Sally.

Another of Joah's strangers and one of Dan's co-workers, Elizabeth held him when we were both on stage. Volunteers got a chance to speak during one of the sessions.

Photo wall.

Blurry, but that's okay. Sally, Dan, me (wearing a sleeping Joash, not just being horribly and awkwardly disfigured).

A better shot from Sally's phone. And this time with Soyeon.

Toy-bombed at dinnertime. It totally worked for as long as it took me to eat and then back to the bathroom with us.

A Moose Encounter

2011-11-09T16:56:00.001+09:00

I dug through the box holding Joah's toys and decided to give him free reign of the gamut, which is mercifully minor. In that box was his new favorite friend, an Alaskan moose given him, I think, by Dan's sister Lisa.

He liked it so much he needed to taste it.

And because we're such great parents, here we are trying to make him cry with various animal sounds. Spoiler Alert: he takes it like a champ.

And, as a bonus, Joash holds his head up for a long time. So, there!

In other news, my kid rolled over today. All by himself.

Upon Grandma's Advice

2011-11-08T11:17:00.001+09:00

My mom is trying to break my heart even faster. After watching Joah squirm around on his belly via Skype, she suggested that he might be ready to start scooting and I should put him on the floor. Boo, mom. So, anyway, when he had been alive for exactly 3 months, we did just that. And, ha! He can't scoot yet, but he sure seems to want to, and he almost flipped himself over onto his back, and, in between high energy motherly encouragement, I wept.

Look how old this person is.

We actually tried this twice yesterday, but he liked it much more the time that Dan was home.

In motion.

Exceptionally curious human.

Dan started him on chapter books last night. He has high lingual ambitions for our firstborn.

Joash was surprisingly attentive. And then we messed up his nighttime routine by taking him on a walk to the bank before feeding him. It whittled his 5 hours down to 3. But, listen, I have a coffee treat twice a week - once on a weekend day, once on a weekday. Every single night before coffee day is a bad night for sleep. I didn't realize caffeine was retroactive. Also, something of note: on Sunday I had a sorbet with (calm down! a very small amount of) alcohol in it, and he took his longest nap in a long time. Um, obviously I need to buy myself a pint for a regular evening snack, am I right?!

An Infant

2011-11-05T22:25:00.002+09:00

This is the last we'll ever see of Joah as a newborn. He's already an infant - a grabby, laughy, grubby (seriously, what's up with dirty baby palms?) little infant. We have diagnosed him as highly distractible, which often makes him incredibly difficult to feed. He won't finish until he's gotten all his chats in, and he's likely to pop off to stare at Dan after not seeing him all day. He likes to twist us up all across the bed, during which I fail to remain as calm as I should. It's pretty much the opposite of fun. Eating is his main disorder, though, and he's otherwise so well-tempered and sweet.

Here he is during one of his frequent breaks expressing his great dislike of cows and/or mooing sounds.

Infants start playing with bigger and noisier toys. This was his introductory encounter with one. He was bored at first, and then it broke his brain.

Hanging out with Auntie Korrine and being so much bigger than last time.

The end of my tiny boy.

Bulking up, but just as squirmy as ever.

On Wednesday we went to On the Border for Korrine's birthday. Jessica took a bunch of pictures, and I stole some from her Facebook. I am wearing boots I got for free on account of my big(ger than average Korean sized) feet.

Frogger.

Queuing up to add money to their subway cards.

We passed the baby around. Birthday present! I don't think he's used to being (camera) flashed.

Menu perusal.

Rachel holding a ridiculous looking baby.

My face.

Our faces.

Jeff and the hungry boy.

Yep, so that's our lives.

Weekend 84 of 52+

2011-11-01T20:30:00.002+09:00

Seonyudo Park

Ah, yeah. We had a weekend again. Can you believe it? Pregnancy and newborns put such a boundary on weekend making. Heck, there've been solid weeks I haven't left the house. But Joash is officially an infant now, at 12 weeks (don't even ask how that makes me feel), and we revisited Seonyudo Park as a family. We talked about just recreating all of our old weekends with the baby. That probably won't happen entirely, but here we've begun the effort.

The fun thing about having a baby is the desperation to capitalize on the moments between feeds. Luckily Joah skipped his morning nap on Sunday, so we were out of the house by 11. We went to Pizza School and GS 25 (convenience store) to forage for picnic foods. Then we hiked over the river, laden with pizza box, snack pack, diaper bag, and babe. We dodged many a bicyclist, some rude, others polite, some in biking costumes, others in civvies. Dang if distances don't seem longer with so much gear.

We settled in at the park in a seemingly abandoned spot and set up our space. The very second Joash wanted to eat, of course it's suddenly the most popular place in the park. And the poor kid screaming his blanket-covered face off. But we survived, didn't we? We also survived Dan dumping two liquids (Mt. Dew and water) on the mat, the latter of which soaked my bottom. It is ironic that it happened as I was attending to Joah's own soaked little bottom. Dan kept remarking, "And you're still not doing the weirdest thing in the park today." We saw some cos-players. We saw a photo club taking selcas with their hands covering their faces. We saw a girl wearing a long teal wig while dressed in a kimono and geta sandals.

It was a fantastic weekend, and we started our collection of pictures of Joash in front of Seoul-specific landscapes. I like to think he'll thank us for it later.

The tamest wild bunnies hiding in the shade. Baby's first animal encounter.

Dad and his son.

Joash might as well be a vampire. He's pale as his mother and could barely keep his eyes open in the shade.

Pizza Dan. There's pasta on this pizza. (Upon viewing this photo album on Facebook, Dan commented, "Oh, so it's just an album full of terrible pictures of me." I did not mean it to be so.)

Our picnic view.

Mom and her boy.

Typical of fall.

Having fun. Rude baby sticking out his tongue.

Mom hair digging in the mom bag. I really need to start brushing my hair.

The boys and the bridge.

Poor Joash was not pleased by all the sunlight.

Men and mountains.

First time smelling flowers.

We really do love this park. Seoul does such a good job installing green space in the city.

Hooray! Best of the day. Dan and our footless child.

There was a kite flyer among us, and he was so nonchalant about it. Dan was non-nonchalant in his corresponding jealousy.

Fall is such a reward.

In the fountain.

Waterfall outside the greenhouse.

No headless riding allowed. Appropriate warning, given the weekend's holiday.

I'm not trying to embarrass anybody. It's just funny because of the sun and because of the scene.

Low Res Capture Corner:

I only wear animals in my wrap.

We dressed Joash like a duck for Halloween. We figured the sweater sort of looks like a mallard, so a mallard/white duck hybrid if we have to define it to get our treats. This was the extent of our Halloween activities.

Though we did take our little duck to Soul Underground to see our friend the proprietor, Shin.

Us!

New Ways to Play

2011-10-29T20:26:00.002+09:00

Joash has started to play with toys that aren't comprised entirely of my DNA. He has a crinkly basketball, a turtle named Sosipater, and a well formed fist that all hold his attention now (I guess that last one is half my DNA). And his mobile. He really can't get enough of his mobile. He's starting to like being tossed around, too. Dan was bouncing him between soft surfaces today (baby parkour), and the kid almost exploded from silent laughter. We keep saying that we're teaching him to suck his thumb, but, really, we're just guiding an activity that he initiates. The guiding is literal, as his aim often points his thumb into a cheek or an eye.

(I am typing this with one hand, two words at a time, while Joash engages in his nightly refusal to stay latched, which makes him fuss and gas and then fuss about the gas. He more than makes up for it with shouts of "oh!" and "erg..." intermittent with the grunts and groans about his dinner service.)

On with a video about thumb sucking:

Crinkly basketball. It has paper or a plastic bag material inside. You know those toys? They're probably my favorite.

Intense concentration on his thumb. I swear, one night he was up from 3-6 practicing his thumb sucking.

Squaring off with Sosipater.

Joash would stand a better chance if he didn't collapse every quarter minute or so. He's lucky that's a friendly turtle.

This is hat hair on freshly washed hair. We walked Dan to the subway, and this is how Joah looked when we got home. I always get left with a crying or crazy looking baby. Or a pooping one. Like, right now.

Retrospective

2011-10-26T15:26:00.002+09:00

Is 11 weeks too young to do a retrospective? (Also, how do you other parents keep track of your kid's week age? I have to count a calendar every time.) I just realized that I haven't been posting pictures from Dan's iPod here, which means my parents haven't seen most of them. So here is a low-resolution look back at the life of Joah.

First picture taken of our boy.

After a good shampoo.

Wearing a hat that fits him now, for however briefly.

Co-sleeps.

Carried by dad.

Wearing his knitted green socks that don't fit anymore.

Home after his first day out.

First visit from Auntie Jieun. Nice coordination of pink and green.

I already want my tiny baby back. I'm one of those moms.

Getting him started right.

In the waiting room after his tuberculosis vaccine. He's actually crying.

Night watcher.

A visit from Auntie Maya.

First day at church with Jieun, Sally, and Johnny.

Abominable dinner out.

Back to the doctor for more shots. This time with spit-up on the chin.

Back to the doctor again for more shots. Just hanging out on his dad's lap.

Monster butt.

Only Trouble Is, Gee Whiz...

2011-10-25T16:58:00.002+09:00

We took Joash out for his most ambitious day trip so far. It required of him a degree of dietary flexibility as he had to dine and sup in a food court Johnny Rocket's, a family bathroom, and a Starbucks. He excelled. Honestly, sometimes I think he performs better in public. Maybe we should try sleeping for the night in a park or a convenience store. Maybe then he'd wake up less often than EVERY freaking hour. But I digress.

Maybe we seem lame for thinking this, but eating at Johnny Rocket's was an incredibly soothing and nostalgic experience for us. Easy American food (including "American fries" which I thought were French) and Oldies on the radio. It was like being in the car with anyone's dad.

All this adventuring we did so we could spend some gift certificates at the Shinsegae Department Store. We bought detergent. Boring. But also cookies. Not boring. We tried to buy me milkless tarts and desserts at the resident Sticky Fingers Bakery, but, alas, it was no more. Replaced by a rice cake shop. I guess this means I'll probably have to bake my own birthday cake.

Shinsegae is a bit of a fancy place, so Joash wanted to wear his tie.

He learned to grab over the weekend, and I took too many pictures of him proving it.

But, whatever, look how cute.

The dancing version.

Hey kid, what's that you got on your bum? Monster mouth! These are Joah's only normal looking pants. We tried to revisit Namdaemun Market to buy him more, but all the children's clothes stalls were closed. Naked he will proceed.

As always, tummy time tears. I try to tell him that he can just put his head down and relax, but he mistrusts me. Breaking my heart since 2k11.

On Sleep and Sweaters

2011-10-21T10:49:00.001+09:00

He's not much of a morning napper, but he's kicking at his mobile for now anyhow. And, who could complain after the 6 hour miracle that happened between the hours of 10 and 4 last night? And then when he finished eating, he slept again until after 8. Strange wonder, this sleep.

I decided to dress him in the 1940s vest I knit him. It was a good decision. It was paired with some oddly cut Korean pants that were a gift to us. It's good because otherwise he has no pants.

Days ago he stretched out of a brief nap and held the pose.

I can think of no more tender way to start a day.

And I couldn't decide which pose I liked better.

Here he is with some modern heirloom clothing on.

Here he is flipping me the bird. Such a larrikin. And he obviously knows what he's doing, given the faces he's making.

Sitting slumps into slouching quite quickly.

Green in the grey.

For My Mom

2011-10-19T08:49:00.001+09:00

Joash has things to say. He just can't say them in English yet. And I can hear his bottom lip coming out right now, so I should go attend to that.

Because the Afternoon Light was Perfect

2011-10-13T18:17:00.003+09:00

I'm not trying to post nonstop pictures of my baby, but the sun came in through the windows and lit him up so wonderfully that it prompted a brief photo shoot.

In case anyone is keeping track, Joash took three whole naps today. And then he started faking me out around 4 and has been faking ever since. I will not be a chooser, though, and I will take what he gives me, which today meant making potato salad for Dan's students who've never heard of it and cooking down some condensed milk for tomorrow's ice cream attempt.

He typically takes his belly time on another belly, but we tried the bed today because, on account of his being an insufferably fidgety eater, he needed a break from me.

What began innocuously quickly dissolved into closed fist gesturing. On a separate belly occasion today, powered by some crying adrenaline, he lifted himself up on his hands, not just on his elbows. And then he came crashing down into my face. It was an amazing feat of strength while it lasted.

I flipped him over, and this is how he looked at me. This face is going to waive so much discipline.

I know I'm oversharing, but motherhood has ruined my internal editor. I couldn't decide which of these pictures wasn't worth sharing. Another change wrought by motherhood: morning showers, much to Dan's delight. It lets the bathroom dry out when we shower at the same time of day.

He's starting to get some decent rolls. People seem to admire that in babies.

What a round head!

That's a pretty good face.

He knows when to turn it on.

Sleepy and Grumpy

2011-10-12T16:04:00.004+09:00

What is America's immunization schedule like? Because it seems like we are just constantly re-drugging this poor kid here in Korea. By the time he gets over one, it's on to the next. So Joash has been interminably sleepy and grumpy today. He has feigned satiety four times (now five) and whimpered when I tried to switch sides for a refill. He knows what he wants and he wants it. All the time.

Even still, he managed jovial awakedness long enough to show off his new knitted tie.

Seed stitch with your standard Four in Hand knot. I need to block the ends, but it's pretty cute.

Spaced out.

And here he is yesterday with his face starting to fill out.

We'd begun to think Joah was an alien (or a vampire). This picture of his v-shaped stork bite proves it. Our baby is a V.

Big eyes up close.

And of course the boys always get the long lashes.

Why not end with a video? Apparently exhaled carbon dioxide stimulates baby breath. Who knew? It makes for a fun time anyway.

-Serenity

Growing

2011-10-11T07:55:00.003+09:00

Our baby is now 12 pounds and 23.6 inches long. And lo, do I feel it in my arms. He has learned to refuse to eat, and I have learned bouncing and coaxing strategies. He just really likes having a chat sometimes and forgets to get down to business. Last week was very challenging (a euphemism for terrible), but I think we've come through it okay. We went to the doctor yesterday (which is why I forgot to Skype you, parents), and he has no diseases and, so far, no adverse reactions to his latest vaccines. He's awesome.

Here he is with one of his Korean aunties. He likes them a lot.

And here he is, first of all, filling out the clothes we brought him home in, and, secondly, having turned his frog hat into a dragon hat by squirming around in the Baby Bjorn.

-Serenity

On the Occasion of Two Months

2011-10-07T21:55:00.005+09:00

Holy cow, you guys, parenthood is hard. So much crying happened today, most of it mine. Like, crying to the point that I really hope our neighbors weren't home at lunchtime to hear my uncontrollable, noisy sobbing. Let's not get into that, though. Babies are hard to have but hard to hate, am I right?

Joash is two months old today. He hates napping and loves eating. Some of his favorite foods are horchata and bananas. Korean food is not on that list, but it is growing on him. He started wearing clothes (as necessitated by the change in weather) and looks best in white. So far, his favorite author is Dickens, though he really enjoyed the Japanese Dan read to him last night. He likes staring at his mobile and being super sweet.

Closeups back when he was just a baby. A week ago.

Having some sort of gripping dream. He can't even fit into these soakers anymore.

Taken today. Wearing the billed cap I made him.

As worn previously.

Falling slowly.

Grumpy flailing. You try growing up so fast!

-Serenity

Bad Night

2011-10-05T14:22:00.001+09:00

Last night was arguably one of the worst of my life. I'd laid back in bed after a 1 am feeding, unable to fall immediately back to sleep. Then I started shaking violently and couldn't get warm. I have never had the chills before. It sucked. So I was still awake by the time Joash woke again, and all my rumbling in the bed had awakened Dan. I put on a hoodie, a baby, and a blanket, and I shook and dozed my way through a feed. I woke up hot and with a terrible headache.

I feel much better now, though, and resolving to do nothing, not even make the bed, has made this day (and the last 4 hours of Joah's munching) seem much easier than most days post-bad-night. It didn't hurt that Dan came home to make sure I hadn't died from what was most likely a breastfeeding related illness. Hopefully my hardy body will take care of it completely without antibiotics. We'll see.

Oh, but 4 hours of nursing and you know what that means: videos.

Finding his thumb with some outside assistance.

Twenty seconds of smiles.

Something else about this day is that our water is turned off until 5, and I have poop to wash out of things.

-Serenity

On Crying

2011-10-03T21:57:00.003+09:00

The sharing of this sad video coincides nicely with the sharing of this sad tale, though the two are otherwise unrelated. On Saturday night, we took a grumpy baby out to dinner and thought we'd never make it home. We went for Chinese lamb skewers in Sinchon, which is 2 subway stops from ours. Joash had eaten for two hours, napped for half an hour, and we thought a walk in the Baby Bjorn would settle him further. We were wrong. He remained pretty awake until his hungry cries necessitated our early exit. We headed down to a subway more packed than ever we'd experienced before. There's no way to describe how packed it was because you'd never grasp the scope of the situation without having pushed through it yourself. I will note that I now understand how people are trampled to death in crowds.

So, but, we didn't just need to go through the turnstiles and board a train. Dan's transit card is broken, so he needed to buy a ticket. We couldn't make it to the ticket machines, didn't want, with a crying baby, to wait in a ticket line 50 persons deep. Back up out of the subway we went to try and hail a cab. We made our move. The heartless cab driver rejected us, even though Dan had a baby strapped to him. We made a desperate and ultimately vain attempt to figure out the bus system. Dan called Johnny for help. We tried for another cab, then headed back underground to see if it was less hectic. It wasn't. We decided Dan would just buy another card so we could get home. He bought a card but the vendor couldn't put money on it. Finally, Dan and Johnny swapped cards. We queued up at the turnstiles, and countless minutes later, we were, with our crying baby, on our way home.

It was our most stressful venture as parents yet and we survived and Joash survived and then we decided to spend the rest of the weekend at home.

-Serenity

Strong Arm, Wobbly Noggin

2011-09-27T18:41:00.000+09:00

I didn't realize they start this head lifting business so early. Joash is already pretty good at heaving that third of his body weight into the air. It must be the constant breast milk drip he's hooked up to. Dan's is his favorite chest to practice on, likely because of its expanse.

-Serenity

Never Satisfied

2011-09-25T22:08:00.001+09:00

Joash, for the first time since his first week, had solid naps all day long. It turns out that when we're not cuddled up all day having marathon feeds, I miss his sweaty little head. Now I've admitted it, he'll be up all night.

I only have three pictures since last time, so I will not even bother with a cut.

This one having nothing to do with baby but that it was given as a present upon visiting him. Korea excels at dessert decoration, which is strange given how foreign dessert is to them.

Joash is blessed with many Korean aunts. This one is Sally. She's probably his favorite. I love how she propped him up on a pillow. Way to make my kid even cuter.

Dan and I have started fighting over this coveted sleeping baby time. I guess it's only fair to give him some since I get it all day long. I can't believe I lived this long without it.

I couldn't decide which picture I liked best.

-Serenity

Really Ending in Tears This Time

2011-09-21T09:35:00.001+09:00

Joah's tears came in (apparently babies are born with dry eyes), and he decided to exercise them in hungry frustration (and I later exercised some of my own in correlation).

And now I will take a break from posting so many videos of my awesome baby because I know everyone is getting jealous.

-Serenity

The More He Eats, the More I Video

2011-09-20T12:40:00.001+09:00

I am starting to notice a direct correlation between the amount of time I spend feeding and the amount of time I spend filming the boy. On particularly growth spurty days, I guess I get bored and start trying to get him to perform his tricks, otherwise known as basic bodily functions.

First proof of a hungry day - truncated naps.

Second proof - waking up rooting.

And here I tried to coerce him into lifting his head, but he was not having it.

All right, back to feeding.

-Serenity

Ending in Tears

2011-09-19T23:45:00.001+09:00

Less than 15 seconds. All of them typical.

Joah Learns to Smile and Makes a Friend

2011-09-15T15:11:00.003+09:00

But he doesn't learn to sleep apparently. He got his Hepatitis B vaccination yesterday, and he has had such a rough day today. He forgot how to eat, how to sleep in his bed, how to poop in his diaper and not on my lap. But I trust he'll relearn quickly. I just have to figure out a way to trick him down long enough for a shower.

But at least he learned how to smile.

No shortage of wiggles from this kid.

His Grandma Jean sent him some pajamas, and I couldn't believe they almost fit! He's growing up, this kid. He's even about 9.5 pounds by now.

He made his first friend on Tuesday, a nameless Korean boy three weeks his junior. He is the son of our friend and Dan's co-worker, Sophia. Koreans get a month to name their babies. [EDIT: They named him Joonsoo]

Dads and moms and babes. And then hungry Joash started to cry and wake up the baby, so we went home. Troublemaker.

-Serenity

Big Yawn. Bad Mom.

2011-09-11T21:05:00.002+09:00

Big Yawn. Bad Mom. from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

Poor Joah yawns and then his big head sabotages him.

In Between Sleeps

2011-09-10T16:36:00.003+09:00

Sometimes Joash is awake. Usually he's not. Here are some pictures of both of those occasions.

Awake and checking out the mobile I knit him.

Asleep on our pillows while his bed was in the wash. It doesn't have removable sheets. That complicates things.

On his way to sleep. These are the faces he makes after a good feed. That's how I feel after a buffet too, kid.

Awake and playing on the bed. His arms are his favorite toy.

He is starting to look a little meatier. It's nice to feel like my endless hours of effort in this department have been paying off. Doesn't it kind of look like I've laid him on a road map? The computer cords look mappy to me.

Looking out the window.

Again with the hands.

The same in motion. Expelliarmus!

I'll try to stop exploiting this activity, but here he is pulling his Phil Collins mullet. I discovered that the quick fix is to blow on his hand.

Korrine comes over on Thursday nights, and Joash is usually asleep the entire time. This week he was awake, so they hung out.

He maybe thought she was me, but, that's okay, Koreans do too.

Then she gave him his first school lesson. It was about the banana. He wasn't the greatest student.

-Serenity

Video Backlog

2011-09-04T16:31:00.002+09:00

Since so much of my day is spent stationary, muscles atrophying into the bed, watching a teeny person eat and grow, I have been taking many short videos to entertain my solitary self. Because I don't want to overwhelm anyone but grandparents with baby videos (I myself have a strict policy of watching no more than 45 seconds at a time of anyone else's baby), I will upload them more promptly in the future, but, for now, I have a little collection. Feel free to watch only the videos that sound the cutest to you, but do be sure to watch the one in which my baby pulls his own hair. It is completely pitiful, and I hope I never forget how dear it was.

(1 of 11) Hair Pull from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(2 of 11) Fighting Sleep and Winning from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(3 of 11) Profile from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(4 of 11) Frog Legs from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(5 of 11) Monkey Foot from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(6 of 11) Sleeping Posture from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(7 of 11) Hidden Toe from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(8 of 11) Mullet Baby from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(9 of 11) Twin Sleepers from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(10 of 11) Waking Up and Spitting Bubbles from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

(11 of 11) REM Grimace from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

-Serenity

How Joash Came to Life

2011-08-30T15:11:00.006+09:00

Now that Joash is in his fourth week of life, I figured I'd get on with it and post his birth story. I was able to write a piece on natural birth and our personal experience for our wonderful, wonderful birth center, Medi Flower. If anyone reading this is pregnant and living in Korea, do yourself a favor and choose Medi Flower. We loved everything about our care there.

The morning after with Dr. Chung.

My husband, Dan, and I had been married for 5 years when we decided we should have a baby. That’s probably around the normal marital age for people to start planning pregnancies. Our fifth anniversary, though, just happened to happen while we were living in Seoul, South Korea. Still, we decided we’d try for a baby, and 5 months after that anniversary, we found ourselves in need of prenatal care. I wanted a natural birth without the aid of any medically unnecessary intervention, and I wanted to be able to trust my body (and my doctor) to provide me with one.

I had found Medi Flower online before I’d gotten pregnant and tucked it away in my bookmarks as the only place my heart would let me deliver. That was made most obvious on the day Dan told me he wasn’t sure we’d have enough money saved to cover the delivery costs. American through and through, we are used to payment plans and buying things before we can afford them. I cried and yelled and had a hormone-fueled tantrum. At our next appointment, Stella Han and Dr. Chung helped us work out the financial aspect of our natural birth. More than that, though, Dr. Chung intimated how important it was to him for us and for our baby to be able to have the birth experience we wanted.

It was Ina May Gaskin who made me want to give birth without medication. I read her Guide to Childbirth and couldn’t, by the end of it, fathom a birth characterized by scheduled induction and the numbing of contractions, by forceps and a routine episiotomy, by a preemptive C-Section. I spent the time leading up to my due date practicing breathing patterns every time I needed pain management. If I stubbed my toe, I’d breathe through it. If I bit my tongue, I’d breathe through it. I breathed through several all night migraines. I kept going back to those nights as proof that I could make it through a day of labor. On top of that, I practiced pre-natal yoga four times a week. I truly believe that that is what prepared my body for delivery. Squats and stretching and focused attention.

So, my mind and body were prepared, and I needed a prepared partner. Dan read The Birth Partner and learned more about delivery than I even knew. He learned the signs and positions of labor and how to talk me through transition. Even still, we spent the month of July nursing nervous energy.

Then, on August 7th, 2011, a Sunday and my due date, I woke up at 3 AM in a puddle. Everything I had read assured me my water wouldn’t break like it does in the movies, but there I was with my water broken before I’d had a single contraction. Dan was sure I was dreaming, but I had evidence, and he jumped out of bed and made phone calls while pacing the apartment. We were told to wait for strong contractions, so back to bed we went. I started feeling my first contractions around 4 AM. I did my breathing exercises just to see how that would go. I laid in bed wide awake for another hour and a half, then decided to move to the couch and time contractions. It felt better to sit than it did to lay down. I watched the sun rise up blue through our bathroom window.

I timed my own contractions until 7 AM when I woke Dan up to help. I was doing my breathing and rocking back and forth, imagining a status bar loading from right to left as the contraction passed. I had meant to imagine waves in caves, but all I kept seeing every time was that status bar. For someone so interested in natural birth, I could not have conjured a less natural coping visualization.

So, once Dan was up and timing contractions, he decided we needed to go to the hospital. The contractions were plenty painful, and I had been thinking I might be in hard labor, but I knew I’d become overwhelmed later if I was wrong. I knew that I had to anticipate that they could get much worse in order to be able to manage what they were. I just kept my eyes closed, breathing deep, half-standing half-kneeling over the bed, and rocking from side to side.

The ambulance came, and I was on a gurney for the first time in my life. I was laying on my left side on the floor with my eyes closed. The contractions felt much less manageable laying down, but the jostling of the ambulance through traffic was helpful. We were at the Medi Flower Birth Center by 8:30. We got settled into our room. Our midwife Anne came to check my progress, and I had to lay down on my back. Those were definitely the worst of the contractions. While she was checking, I felt nauseous, so I thought I might be in transition. We were all shocked to find that I was and that it was time to have the baby. Suddenly I was on a birthing stool and being told to start pushing.

Because I’d had my eyes closed for most of the morning, I remember all of this in very distinct image flashes, like a storyboard of the morning. A flash of the ambulance, then the elevator, the bathroom, then a stool in the middle of the room, my hands gripping the seat, then Dan pacing behind the midwife and doctor, the doctor looking in my eyes and telling me to push longer, then a nubby purple head, next thing a splash and out with a slick, curled up body. I collapsed into shakes and shuddered laughter.

For me, the pushing hurt the most. It was hard to juggle pushing with breathing. I had gotten used to dealing with the earlier wave-type contractions, but they start to feel like convulsions by then, and the stinging was new and hard to get used to. The pushing part, though, is mercifully brief, and I had baby Joash Ames on my chest at 9:31, only an hour after arriving at the birth center, not enough time, even, to have considered getting medicated. It was intense from start to finish, and it is a huge effort marked with definite pain, but it’s true, and it’s all you can think about, after labor is love.

Everyone at Medi Flower showed us such kindness on that day. Because of the speed of our labor, we didn’t know our midwife or our attending doctor, we couldn’t communicate fully because of our limited Korean, but everyone presented a calming presence and cared for us so well. They genuinely shared in our joy over our son and intuited our needs for meeting his needs. We honestly don’t know how the stateside births of our next children will be able to compare. We are only half-jokingly considering medical tourism when the time comes.

Baby Hiccups and Bonus Sneezes

2011-08-24T22:26:00.002+09:00

Well, hey, I took a video of our kid while we were sitting around. He is already starting to have more awake time, and he is occupying it with extreme cuteness. Here he is sneezing and hiccuping. He is a chronic hiccuper for now. He is going to have to learn to eat better.

Hiccups and a Bonus Sneeze from serenity johnson on Vimeo.

I also have some pictures, including our attempts at baby's first passport photos. Hope America accepts them.

Sleepytime escape attempt.

Always with the arms.

Pulling faces.

Really grumpy about taking official photos and maybe confused about wearing clothes, which, at present, he rarely finds necessary.

And then, duh, we laid him down on a white background, which made him much more amiable (that and a couple ounces of the sauce).

-Serenity

Newborn for Posterity

2011-08-22T21:16:00.004+09:00

Here lie the spoils of having stripped our kid naked and put cute knitwear on him. He has been having a furious growth spurt for the last four days. As in, feeding for 8 hour blocks of time. He's a slow eater, and he keeps eating himself hungry again, and I lay around like an invalid with very special needs. It seems to be subsiding, though. Just in time to go get his passport. Hopefully. Be merciful, American government.

Papoosed and posey.

Blowing spit bubbles like babies do. I used to hate everything about spit bubbles. Even the name is pretty sick. But my baby's spit bubbles are cute.

He's an exceptionally gassy baby, so we get to see this little smile a lot.

Pink profile.

The guys. I think his growth spurt has all but done away with his former ribbiness.

Monkey plank.

This is a position in my post-natal yoga. I should have him do it with me.

There was a brief respite for receiving visitors. Johnny, June, and June's friend Jae Jun came to see him.

A quick nap to fortify strength.

And then back to the grind. This time with the whole family and with his dignity restored via diaper.

He already knows when to turn to a camera.

Checking out the baby.

Dad and babe.

Minding his own business.

Hooray for the little (here somewhat cross-eyed) kid.

There is a picture of my brother's hand and my hand on my father's. I wanted that for my own family, too.

He's pretty awesome.

The accidental pictures are always the best ones.

Friend photos with my friend.

You really do just want to look at them all day. I posted the second picture to show my parents that he is always flailing those arms of his.

A family of feet.

Uh-oh, somebody's a panda bear!

And he loves it.

All of the day's over-stimulation necessitated sleeping aid that night. Dan's pretty much a pro at the shush/pat by now.

Outtakes:

Naked face plant.

So many cry faces.

Soothing touch from giant Dan hands.

First leg-kicking tantrum.

Resigned. Get used to it, kid, because that is the direction this train is heading.

Waiting around for a set up. Smaller than one of Dan's feet.

Baby in motion.

And one last group of pictures from our friend Luke who came all the way from America to see our baby...and to go live in China for a while. Thanks, Luke!

Sleeping in the light that almost never touches his vampire skin, as I usually leave it off when we are home alone.

Well, isn't that an unusual face, Dan.

See what the mosquitoes did to my baby's perfect baby face? Happily, the bites are gone by now. And we squash wayward mosquitoes with a new and unbridled parental fury.

-Serenity

Having a Thing for Baby Feet

2011-08-14T11:59:00.004+09:00

So far, we've had our first all night cry (baby hates red pepper paste) and our first diaper blowout, followed immediately by our first bath in the kitchen sink. I'd say things are progressing quite nicely.

Dan said, "You should take some pictures. He won't look like this forever." And I took pictures of his feet. But they really won't look like this forever. Feet can get pretty gnarly.

Gnawing on Dan's hand. Sometimes he gets confused.

First wound, but he was all NBD. And I like his foxy band-aid. Foxes are such an underused animal in children's decor. Are they baby snatchers in folklore or something? Like coyotes and dingos.

Baby cheeks!

REM feet.

Getting started with his bath. Look who got his belly button.

This is the only reason to bathe a baby, right? Cute towel pictures.

Dan being tall. Joash being small.

We're about to get him naked and take some of them fancy newborn pictures. We don't have many props, so we're brainstorming good and kitschy ideas.

-Serenity

Birth Story to Follow, Here are Pictures

2011-08-10T16:50:00.001+09:00

He came quickly, just like my mother's first born son.

Today he learned what hungry is, and it is blowing his mind. A hungry baby is probably the world's most pitiful creature.

We were able to, with the help of Dan's manager (and also soon-to-deliver pregnant friend), call for a free non-emergency ambulance. Here we are dodging Sunday morning traffic. We left our apartment at 8:00 AM and arrived at Medi-Flower Birth Center at 8:30 AM.

At 9:31 AM, this happened.

Pretty awesome little gollum I got. Also, messy.

New family.

Almost immediately after catching our baby, our doctor offered to take a picture.

And then I died to sleep.

Baby hair comes pre-gelled.

Awake again.

Looking out the window. Soon it would rain for the next 12 hours.

It's really nice to have had a baby.

Free snuggles all day long.

Dan changing his first diaper.

Furry little guy.

Manners intrinsic. He knows to cover his mouth when he yawns.

We can't tell yet who he looks like, but he has Dan's nose and lips. So, maybe bottom half Dan, top half me?

With their matching faces.

Many sleeps were had by all.

Then it was time to go home. Dresses like a frog, acts like a frog. Originally, they were going to let us go home on Sunday. Because of my moderately swift labor, though, I experienced a minor bout of uterine atony, and they kept me overnight to massage my uterus and keep me from fainting on the toilet...twice.

Neither of us remember Dan looking that tired, but it obviously happened.

Camper sleeps in a tent. But, really, it's good because we have mosquitoes, and, truthfully, this was the cheapest bed we could find.

It is swathed in a pirated Care Bear fabric, Korean style.

With feet and toes! There was a second in the hospital when his pinky toe was tucked behind the others, and I almost thought he was missing one. But we found it.

-Serenity

Joash Ames, "Joah", 7lbs 10 oz, 20.4 inches long - August 7, 2011

2011-08-08T16:54:00.001+09:00

I had a baby. On his due date. What are the odds? Here are the pictures so far.

After they de-gunked his hair.

In a knitted cap.

Sleepers.

Now someone come wake him up so I can hang out with him.

-Serenity

A Weekday Lunch

2011-08-06T21:08:00.002+09:00

Dan and I don't usually get to eat lunch together, but he's been on vacation, so we've gone out for a couple of lunchtime deals. We went to Otsal Indian restaurant after our doctor visit last week. I discovered my affinity for Dahl Fry (the food kind, not the writing kind). Since then, we've had our final scheduled doctor visit. The idea is that the baby will come before another checkup. I don't anticipate that happening, though, because everything feels the same it has for the last several months. I do have a sprained left ankle that won't heal. Is that one of the signs of labor?

We perused the Appertizers and settled on pakodas.

This is Dan watching and reacting to the Indian music videos playing on constant rotation. We are always fascinated by the dichotomy of modest behavior (no kissing!) coupled with immodest dress (no clothes!).

I liked the Otsal elephant. And they had two huge pillar candles melting on the checkout counter.

Dan got this huge piece of Naan. It was bigger than his head. That is no small piece of Naan. Have you noticed how they keep calling it "Naan bread" on TV shows these days? That's weird.

We went to a little cafe called Muffinio.

It was there that we ate patbingsu, which is shaved ice with red beans and sweet rice cakes. I know that sounds gross to you Americans, but you should be more adventurous with your food choices. See how happy it's made the spoon! It truly is quite tasty and refreshing. Plus, beans are good for your heart.

This is the color of Fruit Loops in Korea. Though they are called Fruit Rings here, they are still Kellogg's brand, and look how grown up they seem in their muted color palette. I don't know if this box was a fluke or if they are always this color. No matter, they still taste like Fruit Loops.

This is what I look like completely pregnant, veiny pregnant hands and all. I will miss those. They are so sciencey.

All in all, I've had a fine time being pregnant. On cool weather days, I feel like I could be pregnant forever, no problem. On hot weather days, I feel like I will surely die. On rainy days, I sometimes fall on my butt down wet stairs and the old men laugh at me. But then I think they realize I am pregnant and they feel bad. Or at least they should.

-Serenity

Korean Baby Shower

2011-07-13T20:22:00.002+09:00

So, now we've showered our baby from the disparate corners of the earth. We had our American baby shower when we were home in America in March, when he was barely even exerting much of a physical presence. And over the weekend we had our Korean baby shower now that he is technically full-term. One of Dan's co-teachers and friends, Teresa, threw a very sweet, very classy baby shower for us and another teacher from the school who is also due in August. We had a private room at Thai Orchid, and we played a word scramble game, some trivia games, the taboo word game (in this instance: Never say baby!) that Bonnie always tries really hard to win, a belly girth guessing game, and one game that involved frantic left and right passing of gifts. There was a variation on the dirty diaper game, but it was more like drawing straws than guessing poop ingredients. The best part was that, for our Korean friends, it was a first time baby shower experience. America, represent.

We got two diaper cakes. This is the first. When paired with the other gifted packs, we now have enough newborn diapers to cover a village of newborns.

We really, really, really love Thai food.

Teresa made these little booties out of paper cups.

The shower was conveniently scheduled right after our Saturday afternoon church gathering, so we brought all the ladies with us. This is Soyeon.

Several people ordered this pineapple salad. I was made jealous by its fanciness.

Dan was a good documenter and got up and took pictures of everyone, while I sat being pregnant and opening presents. This is Sally with Soyeon. Photo by Dan.

Dan's friend Nara from Language Cast came and brought us our second diaper cake. She had looked up typical baby shower gifts and decided to make one. Photos by Dan.

A picture from home. Impostor Snoopy and finger puppets.

Sophia and her husband Forest. She is due two weeks after I am and will hopefully be able to take advantage of any leftover newborn diapers once our baby gets too big for those britches. Photo by Dan.

Korrine and Jessica. Photos by Dan.

Me and Korrine and our faces that match well enough to fool the entrance turnstile guards at Lotte World. Photo by Dan.

June and Doohee from church. Photo by Dan.

Opening presents. Photos by Dan.

Laughing. Photo by Dan.

Jini, Sally, and Soyeon. Photo by Dan.

This was Korrine's gift to them: a hooded towel. I love a gift that demands immediate application. Photos by Dan.

Somehow, amid this non-baby showering culture (they celebrate big for the first birthday instead), June managed to find these perfectly baby shower themed bubble flip flops and had me borrow them for the evening. There are all kinds of bubble flip flops in Korea, I kid you not. Photo by Dan.

Us with our church friends. Photo from Sally.

I got really excited over green tea scented baby wipes. Where else could you find such a thing? (Unless they have them in America?) Photo by Sally.

Almost parents. Photo by Sally.

Almost parents standing. Photo by June.

Full sized baby all up in that uterus. Photo by June.

-Serenity

Explosives for the Fourth of July

2011-07-11T13:10:00.002+09:00

This year, we even almost celebrated the Fourth of July. We had our American meal the Wednesday before, and Dan bought sparklers that we lit on this hemisphere's observation of the day. It was a little awkward because we were in the small shared outdoor concrete space for our building, wearing pajamas and lighting fires right in front of our basement neighbor's open window (behind which she was sat watching tv). But we soldiered on in the name of liberty.

Dan readying the flame.

First sparks.

We drew some letters. Dan kept drawing his J backwards, so I flipped the photo for him.

I kept making an 8-shaped S.

So I switched to a heart and experienced more success.

We'll just pretend this is booming in the sky over a body of water somewhere.

To continue celebrating summer (which is difficult because summer sucks so bad), we are having S'more Pie tonight. Yum. This is how I deal with the constant water drinking and vegetable eating that pregnancy requires. Talk about a bully!

-Serenity

A Midnight Activity

2011-06-30T20:27:00.003+09:00

Dan and I played our last pre-baby show at Soul Underground last Friday. Once we got home, we celebrated the unusually cool and dry weather by walking down to the river after midnight. The river is now just minutes from our house. Walking is good for you. And late night activities prove how cool and free from responsibility we are. Homebound responsibility is imminent.

I finally got a tiny loaf pan, so my bread can come in tiny loaf shapes instead of blobs. Much easier to slice for sandwiches.

On the way to the river.

We passed a coffee vendor.

Once we got to the river, which requires an incline and those annoying short stairs, I needed to sit down. So we sat on a bench and watched these guys do some fishing in the pitch dark. I think the guy on the left was training the guy on the right. Who knows what they're catching in the Han River, though?

This guy was working by himself, manning something like 8 poles.

The metro bridge.

Yesterday we sacrificed our last cup of ketchup to boil down an American style barbecue sauce so we could eat some summer food. Since we completely ignored our country's independence last year (holidays are hard to remember when no one else is celebrating), we coupled our sauced chicken with sweet tea and potato salad and called it macaroni. So to speak.

-Serenity

Recording Pregnancy

2011-06-21T20:25:00.001+09:00

We're having a baby. We've been having one for quite some time now. Soon we will finish having the baby and just have him. Right now he is fist pumping. I think that means he likes chocolate cake balls.

When we were at Lake Park a couple of weeks ago, we took some pictures to record the preliminary having part.

For the first set, we were under our willow tree.

It was much harder after we'd left the willow tree to find another good, semi-private picture place. The rest were taken at the back of a bush in a field full of people.

This was an outtake, but I thought it had good belly action.

So, that's about 8 months of growing progress. We might try for some more pictures in a month, but my mobility is inversely proportional to the temperature of the heat rising from all the asphalt surrounding us, so we'll have to find a good air conditioned retreat.

-Serenity

New Apartment House.

2011-06-19T20:28:00.000+09:00

We moved. It's awesome. What's there to say really about an apartment, right? So I have some pictures.

This is one side of our living/bedroom. This is the living room side. My daily activity is happening there on the couch, which we had never before been able to piece together (it's two halves that used to recline in two different rooms).

This is on our little baby wall. He is a green sprout, isn't he?

The bedroom side. This room truly is inordinately large. It's probably the largest residential room we've been in in this country. On the right wall is our air conditioner. They hammered nails into a cement wall and cut holes in two windows to install it. That's just how it works here.

Our kitchen with a table and chairs! What a friend to cooking and food preparation this table space is. That's my lunch happening there on the the table, complete with the watermelon slices Dan brings me sometimes because he is the good kind of husband.

This is our closet room with our pink clothes dryer on the floor (it's a tiny fan, you guys).

I didn't realize until writing this up that I forgot to take pictures of the bathroom. Should I take a picture and then edit this post or should I just call a bathroom a bathroom and let it go? Probably the second one. It has no sink. That is its only unique feature. That, and I can spy on the two cafes across the street from its window. I like that part a lot.

So, we are very glad about our apartment. It's basically on street level. It's five seconds from Dan's school and only minutes from the subway. There is a sushi restaurant on our street, and, once I am freed from the American's pregnancy fear of listeria in raw fish, I will be eating some of that salmon and tuna, yes I will.

-Serenity

A Proper Weekend Again.

2011-06-09T22:27:00.000+09:00

Lake Park in Ilsan

Monday was Korea's Memorial Day. We're in a bit of a season of holidays, and I like it. Since Dan's day was free, we decided to go visit Lake Park in Ilsan, a suburb of Seoul. We rode the Orange Line nearly to its end. We ate an exciting lunch in the Lotte Department Store basement food court after an exciting perusal of the samples (loads of fruit!) and the international foods aisles (clearance sale on candies and Dijon mustard for a dollar!). Then we made our way to Lake Park, a park rife with absolute bicycle and pedestrian traffic mayhem. We witnessed some grumpy grown male cyclists and some young boys well on their way. Bike bells making our heads spin. There were also cute kids doing cute things on various sets of wheels and several sets of badminton games. Overall, it was a mass of people gathered around a physically inaccessible man-made lake. I really wanted to put my feet in the water. Also, sadly, the Sanitation Museum was closed. True story about there being a museum for toilets.

I mentioned a move. This is the bulk of our stuff in Korean moving crates. They are a universal size and so stack up on each other. It's very smart. Thus far, having settled in the new place (which we really, really love), I have only misplaced one stack of photos that I think I tucked into a book somewhere.

I decided to melt down that messed up taffy and make Tootsie Roll style chews. Here is the process. It starts with cooled sugar (dark brown), which you pull into ropes (light brown), then twist and cut and wrap. Yay. And they were perfect Tootsie Rolls for a day, but then they adopted the texture of after-dinner mints, which is nice, but not tootsie. I think it's because I melted the mixture down three times in total before I got the temperature right, and chemistry is a science.

This was the beginning of our Monday. Bright pink rose bushes are everywhere in our new neighborhood.

This mall has been going up since we arrived in Korea. It is huge, and it is now down the street from us.

Fried Chicken.

We lunched at the Sunshine Kebabs kiosk. You can choose three sauces from four sauce categories. Did I say you can choose? I meant must choose. I wanted mayonnaise, which the guy didn't have, so I picked just barbecue, which prompted a dispute about how could I want only one sauce, which I lost, so I gave in and picked some onion thing, too. It was strange to be coerced into excessive condiment usage as I am used to having it my way, and I think they were the only two sauces even amenable to my current immune system. Then, Dan and I decided to share the sauced kebab and snag with it the 2 for $5 hot dog deal, which flavor up-selling we managed to deny.

Walking toward the lake behind a stylishly matched couple.

A towering sculpture and the first of many bikes to dodge.

We peered a group of students (the standing) rehearsing a choreographed dance for another group of students (the seated). I think Dan took video.

I should have taken more pictures of the abundance of people and transportation.

On the ped path through an archway of flowers.

To me, they looked like peonies, but I don't know much.

We found a willow tree under which to respite.

These ladies took their leave nearby, they with their sun hats and parasols and watermelon to eat.

Dan under the willow tree.

I think it might have been the prettiest spot in the whole park. We tried to come back to it later, but someone new had claimed it.

I think this was the Japanese section, but that structure looks pretty much Korean, doesn't it.

This was the Chinese structure.

Barefoot Ground. This is one of those rock walks for well-being. Dan regards them with disdain, but I think they are a fun invigoration. We saw some middle aged women walk around three times! Three! With no signs of stopping. Theirs are sturdier feet than our own.

There was a cactus exhibit. It was sort of dangerous with an erratic pathway and overhanging spines. We survived, though. I enjoy a good cactus show.

That's one supple succulent.

And holy heck, another weekend starts tomorrow. This one is bringing rain. Maybe I'll take pictures of our apartment. Maybe instead I'll make S'mores Cookies because weekends are for desserts.

-Serenity

Sixth Wedding Anniversary, Second in Seoul.

2011-05-31T19:36:00.000+09:00

I just re-read what we did for our anniversary last year because I was going to post the link for reference here, but now it's made me want to go do those things again. We have talked about and attempted returning to Seonyudo, and we will have to make certain that it happens. I know we're in a different way this year than we were last year, but I don't want to leave this country any sadder about leaving than I'll already be.

The sixth anniversary is for gifts of candy. Because I am just a house lady with no job or children to speak of (yet), I made for Dan some peanut butter joke taffies. I'd asked him his favorite candy, and, though I'll never understand why, his savor favor rests on Laffy Taffies. The first batch I attempted crystallized, and I was so sad and considered giving up, but I read some tips, tried again two days later, and, boom, old fashioned American taffy pull right here in my South Korean Billa.

Dan bought me a decadent box of truffles (i.e. real candy) from the chocolatier down the street. There really is a little Paris-trained chocolate maker right on our street, and she is so cute and accidentally talks to us in French sometimes. She threw in a free macaroon since it was our anniversary. For real, you guys, Koreans are always trying to give stuff away. The best thing I ever did in this country was get pregnant. Friends bring you fruit, buy you ice cream makers. Coffee shop owners bring you free orange juice. Sample vendors give you whole chicken nuggets instead of thirds. Greek restaurant chefs make you your own gyros. It is blissful (and will end now so soon).

Taffies and truffles.

Jokes. I don't know if I discovered the trick to writing puns, but I found that having in mind a punchline streamlined the process for me. I wrote one joke for each year of our marriage. This is not a commentary on marriage, but I suppose you could take it that way.

Dan also got me this little box of flowers with a chalkboard card. We had a brief horticultural scare, but I think we resurrected it from its limpness, and I'll try harder to keep it alive.

Anniversary picture. Me with that beer belly.

The ceiling at Paris Baguette.

We saw this fellow at the bank with his feet turned out like a plié. The general Facebook consensus was that it is a result of some sort of vitamin deficiency (and being good at ballet).

And, ever so romantically, we rounded out our weekend with a trip to Costco to stock up on meats, juice, and cheeses. We also went to a nice pasta restaurant and to the theater to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Current, which was much more date-like.

Tomorrow, we move! I'm stoked on it, mostly because it means I can stop the sensory overloading activity of packing crap up. I get overwhelmed.

-Serenity

Mixtape Advice.

2011-05-25T21:46:00.000+09:00

All I have for you from our easy weekend (Dan was in training for school all day Saturday, and all we did on Sunday was take some street food (twigim to be specific, which is basically tempura fried vegetables and sundries) to Starbucks and complete Salsa Sundays by eating dinner at Taco Bell) is one picture, then supplemented by a picture I took from our window today. So, before I show both of those pictures, I am going to make a blog recommendation. Though we could never get Dan to write much here, something (this baby in my belly) inspired him to start a blog elsewhere. It is called Ultrasounds: A Mixtape, and he writes it to our baby. Let all your awws out because it is very sweet. Every day, he thinks about a song to share, and then we pop the headphones on my stomach and wait for the kid to start kicking.

And now for the pictures.

We ate Greek Food and played portable board games and had ice cream with our friend Esther. All on Friday night. Baskin Robbins made claim that their color is good. I don't know what color or why it's better than other ice cream's colors, maybe they've recently recovered from the flu, but they were very braggy about it.

An across the street neighbor was moving in today. I spied at them from inside my home. This is how they do it on the fifth or so floor. We are also about to move. Hurray! Sometime early next week we'll be moving closer to Dan's school into a nicer apartment. We've had some mold/smell/door/plumbing problems here. It means we'll have to change markets, though, and I am quite sad about it. I'm a loyalist when it comes to consumerism, and our market has the nicest people. We'll have to decide if they are worth hoofing it for when there will be another shop only minutes away. I suppose whoever has the cheapest watermelons will win.

-Serenity

Buddha's Birthday, Our Picnic.

2011-05-14T16:44:00.000+09:00

Korea celebrated Buddha's Birthday on Tuesday. He was kind enough to provide a day off for Dan, and we'd planned a picnic at Seonyudo Park. It's an island. It's a park. It's great. But rain was forecast for the whole of the day, so we had to brainstorm other picnic venues. We decided to take advantage of our Lotte World year passes and lunch in luxury. I made some snacks, and we packed up some portable games and spent the afternoon walking around Lotte World and hanging out in Jamsil.

Dan got an accidental fauxhawk. The result of strenuous X-Boxing.

Rainy view from our window before we left for the day. I always like green and gray.

These flowers were hidden out in front of the Family Mart (convenience store), tucked behind some soju tables.

A little terrarium in the grid.

At our destination. The nice thing about theme parks in Korea is that you are totally allowed to bring in your own food. They even have eating areas set up for people who do. Of course, Koreans are usually bringing in kimbap and kimchi, but we had deviled eggs, saltine onion rings, sweet potater tots, and chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake. Oh, and soda and a giant bottle of ketchup.

The rain let up for exactly one second, and we took the opportunity to check out the outside of the park, which we've not yet done. Dan posed in front of their impostor castle.

You only get this kind of view in one place. Or maybe also somewhere like Epcot, but, even then, not really, since Korea has been neglected there.

This and several following pictures were of the "Music Theater", a walk around exhibit in one of the castle's spires that was neither theater-like, nor did it feature much music. Instead, it had creepy half-animatronic scenes set up depicting, I think, what was supposed to be the history of Lotte World. Mostly, we found it creepy. Pictures were actually prohibited here, and I think you can see why.

That monkey was this fox king's jester.

Here is the fox king's sad, scary dog.

This googly eyed freak was on the wall of a scene in which two suited fellows were negotiating in front of a throne, one kneeling, one equipped with a sword. Moments later, his eyes popped out of the wall down onto his face and then retracted. We don't get it. There was also something with a well and a sword hanging from the ceiling, but, by then Dan and I were retreating back down the castle steps and into the rain.

Having a belly pose in my new American maternity shirt, courtesy of a care package from Dan's mom (Thanks, Jean!). It smelled like Target (a good smell), which was very comforting.

We had walked the park trying to find somewhere to plant ourselves for puzzling, but everywhere to sit was sort of hot and not very atmospheric, so we went to one packed Starbucks after another and had to wait in line for a chance at a table, which we totally scored! But then we failed big time at assembling our puzzle. This was after hours of work, most of which by the dexterous hands of Dan with little help from me. I thought I was better at puzzles, so it was a pretty sad day for me.

-Serenity

Another Birthday.

2011-05-04T21:53:00.000+09:00

I am now 28, still 32 years from the age at which I determined it is appropriate to start feeling old. I spent my second birthday in Korea in almost identical fashion to the first. Maybe one day I will have some sort of life crisis and start doing outlandish things to celebrate the passing of time, but, for now, I am happy to have dinner with my husband and, while we're in Korea, to eat a cake from Sticky Fingers Bakery. We had that dinner at Suji's Deli in Itaewon, in search of tasty sandwiches. They were out of turkey, so I tried pastrami for the first time. It was very meaty, but a good experience for me. And the Russian coleslaw proved an unexpected delight.

One of my presents was Dan's hair and the cutting of it.

Coupled with his making hair model poses. I need to take pictures of the rest of things Dan got me. He was an exceptional gift giver this year.

An ivied wall in Itaewon. The Noksapyeong side of Itaewon feels so different from the heart of the neighborhood. It's quieter and prettier. I like it.

Suji's.

Dan tucking into the bread basket.

My 28 year old face.

The laughing version.

Doing that ubiquitous heart on the belly thing. It was actually really difficult for me to figure out how to accomplish this. I couldn't align the visualization part with the mechanics of it.

Beefy, meaty pastrami sandwich.

My cute little cake. Nothing matches mom-made cakes, though. My mom is the single greatest frosting mixer I'll ever know.

My five candles.

Making my wish and making sure it comes true.

Dan always wears me out when I let him hold the camera, so I invariably end every Dan-helmed series with this look of exasperation.

No pictures from the river because we never made it to the river on Saturday. The weather was completely miserable, and we ended up taking subway trains to inside places. Tomorrow Dan has the day off for Children's Day. I think we're going to a movie and lunch with Johnny. They are going to eat seafood. I'm going to try not to eat that.

-Serenity

A Passover Weekend.

2011-04-27T16:18:00.000+09:00

We recently joined a small house church who we meet with every Saturday afternoon, mostly Koreans, three Americans, but the conversations happen in English. We decided to observe a Seder service with our church as part of our Passover/Easter celebrations. Rachel brought us all Korean style baked eggs (baked in the shell on a hot stone). Jini brought some oranges. Dan led the service, and we all got sugar high on grape juice. I think my blood sugar has just now returned to normal.

On our way to Jamsil for the service. Dan playing with his very shiny 3DS.

This is the ceremonial food, not the whole of the actual meal we ate, so you don't have to feel sorry.

A round of hand washing.

Sally pouring water over her hands three times.

Dan explains the matzah, which, luckily had been mailed to Johnny from the states, because I was not eager to make sheets of it this year. It's very tricky in a toaster oven.

Dan took pictures of the food: some potato kugel and tahini salad.

Matzo ball soup. We wanted people to be able to try some Jewish foods. And we ordered the tastiest baked chicken we've had here. I also made some chocolate caramel crackers for dessert.

Sally always does a really good job taking pictures of church every week and then making collages.

Hooray for Sally! Bottom picture: (L to R) Sally, me, Teresa, Lisa, Jini, Dan, Johnny. The picture on the right switches out Sally for Rachel who is in the pink shirt holding Kuro.

After everything was over, we hung out with Johnny's cats for a bit. This is Kurosawa. I am afraid of him because cats are scary, you guys. I am also afraid of birds and bees.

Johnny's kitten, Miyazaki. At the time we thought Miya was a girl, but it turns out she's a boy. Kittens are not scary.

Especially not scary are kittens when they sleep.

Oh, and also, we live by a castle. But, really, it's a restaurant with a fancy facade.

-Serenity

Orchestrating Our Own Cherry Blossom Festival

2011-04-24T09:45:00.000+09:00

Last year, we went to Yeouido's Cherry Blossom Festival. In fact, we went twice because nothing much had bloomed during our first attempt. This year, we just walked a couple blocks of our neighborhood for an easier, arguably prettier festival of our own. And then we walked to Taco Bell. Yeouido ain't got no Taco Bell.

Some shaded blossoms.

Green leaves already triumphing.

Scattered petal litter on the ground. Seeing piles like this makes you think you can just shake the flowers off the trees and have them rain down on you, but they're actually stuck pretty fast until they're ready to cut loose. We and other Koreans discovered this that day.

Dan found some perforated petals.

Just one cluster of hold outs.

A vine broke loose on a wall that reminds us we're in Korea.

I need to take some sort of posing class. I go from making a somewhat normal face to making a somewhat inappropriate one to being confused about how to make two peace signs at the same time (right before the picture, I'd been posing with just the index finger up on my left hand).

And, even though it is not rare at all to stand and pose for pictures pretty much anywhere you like in this country, I always get embarrassed before Dan's done and start walking back toward him.

I feel bad having no Dan in this post. So here he is playing with his iPod with his computer on his lap. He's very wired.

Soon we're going to go to the river for the first time this season. I'm excited about it. Maybe we'll even fly a kite.

-Serenity

Recommencing.

2011-04-13T22:19:00.000+09:00

See who has awakened from her month long slumber and finally remembered to take her camera out into the Eastern world. It's me! For weeks I have burdened Dan to remind me to bring my camera when we go places-- for weeks to no avail. But we went down to Itaewon for some half priced Tuesday fish and chips with Korrine, and there I was with my camera triumphantly strapped across my person.

Another hindrance to regular blogging is that our life here has just become our life. We have normal weekend activities that take up the whole of each Saturday. We eat at home on weekdays. Dan has regular language and friend appointments two nights of the week, during which I watch Britain's Next Top Model and knit baby clothes. Lovely things all, but not terribly exciting.

2 for 1 fish and chips, though. That is exciting.

It was Saturday that I first noticed the cherry blossoms blossoming. What a great idea to have flowers bloom after Winter.

They line the streets around our apartment and are a very good excuse to go outside.

Restaurants in Itaewon have Tuesday dinner deals. We got a pair of 2 for 1 fish and chips, and Korrine and Dan also split the meatiest burger I've ever seen. I couldn't eat an inch thick beef round if my iron levels depended on it.

So yummy. It was very much like the Friday night fish fry my parents regularly attend in Florida, which made for a nice piece of nostalgia.

Less sentimental. Pig snouts. We have seen many things street side in Korea thus far, including roasted pig legs and all manner of sea edibles, but this was my first time seeing sheared off pig snout.

At our after dinner trip to Caffe Bene, we found some sad banana slices in the display. And these are plates of fake food, so someone purposefully wanted them to have sad faces. Weird.

Dan often has to watch his head. He also often forgets. Those times are regrettable.

Korrine and me after we completed our magazine browsing. For some reason, when I go to smile for pictures lately, I keep struggling with my smize. Don't I just look so tired here?

One more nighttime acknowledgement of Spring.

-Serenity

Dan's Birthday Dinner at Greek Joy.

2011-03-27T12:09:00.000+09:00

Dan's been 27 for weeks now, and I keep forgetting to put up his birthday pictures. We went out for Greek food at Greek Joy in Hongdae. The owner goes to Greece regularly, makes his own feta cheese (and refuses to substitute with store-bought), tailored my meal to be dairy-free, and gave the three pregnant ladies present extra portions. What a dude! Our 4 course meal included a salad, pastitsio, souvlaki and rice, and gyros. If you live in or near Hongdae, you should obviously go there. It's across from the playground.

Dan with Il Kwon and Johnny.

Heather and Maya.

Korrine with her long, luscious Beyonce hair, Sophia, and Teresa.

Me and Korrine. Thanks to Sophia who kept jumping up to take pictures from the other side of the table.

Because Maya is a PB Girl (she works at Paris Baguette), she brought Dan a birthday cake. It was Sweet Potato and Green Tea flavor. Oh, wow.

Posing with the lighted cake.

Dan preparing to make a wish.

Oops. Maybe these candles were meant to be extinguished with more immediacy.

Dan received two non-Chanel gifts wrapped in Chanel packaging.

I am the ultimate present.

Me doing a baby shower pose with one of Dan's gifts: baby booties.

Maya with a fork, successfully making the scariest face in recorded human history.

A cross-section of the cake. A layer of sweet potato mash sandwiched between two layers of green tea cake. Whipped cream and sliced sweet potatoes for edible adornment.

Johnny made an effort to like it. The general consensus was that one or the other layer was good, but that maybe the two shouldn't meet in your mouth.

-Serenity

Weekends 50-52 of 52.

2011-03-15T15:38:00.000+09:00

America and all of its yummy foods

Part of taking up temporary residence in a foreign country includes going back to visit your sending country. For us that meant a two-week trip to Ohio to see parents and friends, nephews and cousins, dogs. It also meant eating American food and eating a lot of it, because what else do you do on vacation but actively ward off potential hunger with lots of communal eating. It was a wonderful, wonderful trip.

Korea made the return a welcome one by offering two weekends of amazing weather. Turns out, I'm one of those people who get (and remain) grumpy during the winter. At least while living in a city that requires a minimum ten minutes of frozen walking time for any activity outside the apartment. Last Saturday, though, I could have walked around Dongdaemun for hours, so that is promising for the future of this blog.

We flew from Incheon to Detroit, fortifying ourselves first with friendly fruit that gave us the mouthwatering taste of juice.

Planes in Korea.

Detroit's Light Tunnel.

Ceilings and polka-dotted windows.

Dan discovering that America is not yet as free as Seoul with its wi-fi.

This is our dog! We missed him so, and we brought him a dobok so he could be a Taekwondog. It's Korean size XXL, and obviously too small for our size M American dog.

Trees, the moon, and the glow from a setting sun.

We had a family meal with Dan's dad and siblings at Golden Corral.

That meant we got to hang out with our nephew Abraham, here having a chat with his mom.

He wore the shirt we bought him at Home Plus.

Dan and Abraham.

Dan's sisters and brother with their dad.

We shuffled around a bit until we landed at our friend Lacy's house, where we stayed for the majority of our trip. We brought Tater with us for quality time. Unfortunately, he found outside some other dog's tennis ball and laid for extended periods of time guarding and gazing at it.

My parents and brother made the drive up from Florida to see me and visit my grandma. She lives in a town in which Frostie is pretty much the only restaurant. Just so happens it's right near her house. We went and got sandwiches and successfully and thoroughly confused the waitress during their three customer lunch rush.

We played lots of Rummikub at my grandma's house. My dad elected instead to play online Mahjong. How Joy Luck Club of him.

Dinner at Dewey's Pizza with Lacy, both of us working to record it.

After-dinner treats at Graeter's.

We don't know why Dan's hair looks like that. I think a trip to Blue Club is in order.

They had cupcakes for sampling.

Dan got some ice cream in a pretzel cone.

I got strawberry sorbet.

Ye olde ceiling.

So, somewhere Lacy has a collection of ridiculous self-timed shots of the three of us from this night. This is what happened when we tried to look through them.

Trying to get a nice friend photo.

Being alternately bad at straight faces.

A brief walk across the street to Hyde Park Square.

Though our first week in Ohio boasted sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s, the second week was back to frost.

Dan and Russ with some KSocks we brought him.

Getting a family shot can sometimes be difficult...

...especially if your big brother (though I don't remember him being so tall) is a bit of a cut-up.

We rounded things out by visiting again with our nephew (and his parents).

Tater got to hang out with and get walked by his cousin Curbie.

On our last night, Dan and his mom told me I should take more pictures of the pup. So I did, and he obliged quite amicably.

Sleeping on the couch during the Oscars.

And then, just as quickly as we came, we flew away.

Kid shoes.

The calmness of the skies reminded me of the calm in the middle of the sea when we took a cruise several years ago.

And then we hit some turbulence flying over these mountains, which I think might be Montana, because the pilot mentioned there'd be turbulence over Montana's mountains. Actually, I've never been on a flight that was so regularly interrupted to point out that we were (obviously) experiencing turbulence. It really put a damper on my movie watching.

Clouds above and below.

Somewhere near Seattle.

I think we did enough on our to do list to hold us over for another year, though we immediately regretted not having gone to Chipotle that one last time.

-Serenity

Weekend 49 of 52.

2011-02-09T12:49:00.000+09:00

Lotte World Talent Show with Foreign Friends

This pretty much concludes our first installment of weekends in Korea. The upcoming weekend we'll spend flying to America, defying gravity and time zones, and then we'll spend what would have been our final two weekends doing American weekend things (like eating BBQ made with pulled pork instead of grilled and hanging out with our parents). Luckily, we did something hilarious like entering ourselves into a talent contest... and winning!

It was probably the strangest thing we've experienced in Korea so far. We signed up to sing Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" with Dan playing guitar. For some reason, the Korean host thought we wrote the song. I hope that's not why we won. We got to the park at 2. We were ushered into a picnicking section to the right of the main stage, where we sat practicing (we played Scrabble Slam) and primping (I brushed my hair) until 5:20 or so. Then we single-filed it to the backstage area and took our turns. There were 7 or 8 acts and 2 non-competing Russian dance performances. Only two of us sang songs. Everything else involved cultural dance. Not at all what we were expecting, but it was fun to watch, fun to hang out, and everyone was super, super nice.

We were sat next to the young group of kids who'll you'll see next to us in the photos. We took turns watching each other as Dan strummed his guitar and the girls and boys got various makeup applications, including glittery eyelashes. The boys, as is seemingly a common theme in Korean entertainment wore dresses and wigs. We tried to get their youngest sister to speak to us, using our limited Korean children's vocabulary. She preferred to keep staring, though she did eventually high-five us after we won. Victory in so many ways!

We don't have photos of the competition itself, but we do have footage, and Dan will compile it, and we will put it here. Our friends Heather and Jessica came to watch us and took some pictures of our conquest. The lady speaking with us is famous and French, and I think maybe she sings the song that plays during the closing fireworks show at Lotte World, which is one of my life goals. Photo by Heather Moore.

I am confused about how we got into this whole thing. Photo by Heather Moore.

A similar picture, but look how stoked Dan is. Note the cross-dressing boys on the left. Photo by Heather Moore.

Pictured with the other contestants. Photo by Heather Moore.

All participants were awarded with yearlong passes into the park. Excellent consolation prize. At first, they had printed Dan's face with my name, and it was very difficult to explain that it was incorrect, even though we know the Korean words for "my name". I think it's because Serenity is not a name to most Koreans, least of all one with gender specificity.

Unrelated, but sweet. Because I had already gone out earlier on the Saturday, Dan went and bought me dinner. I didn't know what I wanted, so I gave him no direction, and he came home with heart shaped falafel and a tub of hummus. He is the best.

-Serenity

Weekend 48 of 52.

2011-02-02T15:33:00.000+09:00

Lunch at Loving Hut, Bake Sale to benefit Asan Animal Shelter, Soul Underground Session with Film Star

Some promising weather news: it has reached above 30 for the last two days, which means one layer of pants and only a coat instead of a coat stuffed with hoodies and lighter jackets. What happy news. Our weekend could not actually have happened without this most brutal Seoul winter, as we spent Saturday at a bake sale raising funds for dog houses and medical care for the little frozen pups at the Asan Animal Shelter. We pre-ordered a box of cookies, brownies, muffins, bread, which secured the donation of a dog house. It also secured for us our only chance of buying anything. By the time we got to the cafe after eating lunch, every last item for sale had been purchased, and I think people were eyeing my box hoping I wouldn't show up.

Lunch we had at the Loving Hut Buffet, the delightfully militant vegan restaurant with its 24/7 propaganda TV that we went to for the first time so long ago. I'm pretty sure everyone who takes the time to read the subtitles on the propaganda TV thinks it's hilarious. We saw some Koreans chuckling to themselves, while we were openly cackling. At the time, we were learning how to delete memories of bad past lives with our computer souls, while clinging to the hope of one day owning our very own UFOs. I don't know what that has to do with veganism, but somehow both will save the planet.

And we ended our Saturday back at Soul Underground to play another show. Our final Korean show before our journey to the New World is this Saturday, and then Dan is letting me rest for a while. Thanks, Dan.

Buried arches.

Just let go of your small self and then you'll be great. Some encouragement from the Loving Hut. It is usually more pointed than this, but I didn't see the "Go veg, save the world" slogan this time.

At tiny Cafe Harunohee for the bake sale.

My box!

The cafe's busy dog.

Lots of people brought blankets for the dogs, and the event raised almost $900. We thought we had come a bit far, traveling around 45 minutes by subway, but we met up with a couple who'd taken a three-hour bus ride. Unfortunately, they didn't get any baked goods (though I offered a conciliatory cookie) and just dropped off some blankets.

The cafe. Dan translated the Japanese as spring day.

We witnessed some street food in action on the way home.

Right now Asia is celebrating the Lunar New Year, so Dan is off for the rest of the week. Tomorrow we're going to participate in a Foreigner Talent Show at Lotte World that I'm pretty embarrassed about. Cool.

-Serenity

Weekend 47 of 52.

2011-01-26T14:36:00.000+09:00

Soul Underground Session: Acoustic Night, Dunkin Donuts, Snow

I left the house this weekend. In fact, from Thursday through Sunday, I left the house every day. And it was cold, but I survived. The weather still isn't great for doing Weekend Things, but our hankering to do them lingers on. They may have to wait until our second round of 52 weeks commences (sorry, Tiffany).

This weekend, though, we played a show at Soul Underground, we had Doughnut Saturday at Dunkin Donuts (usually Dan just goes and picks them up), and I took pictures of the endlessly replenishing snow.

I took these pictures from Luke's Facebook. I hope he does not mind. This is Dan watching a band at Soul Underground. Photo by Luke Shackelford.

Me engaging in nervous laughter during setup. Photo by Luke Shackelford.

Dan was petitioned to tell a story in Korean. He told a short story with none of a story's necessary elements, including plot and denouement. It was not a great story. Photo by Luke Shackelford.

Our winter feet. Photo by Luke Shackelford.

Look at Hongdae's pretty tree lights outside the window. Thanks for dressing up, Hongdae. Photo by Luke Shackelford.

Here is further proof of my existing outside our moldy apartment (not spoken poetically but because our apartment is actually quite moldy).

Dan is excited about it.

Snow falling.

Outside our window.

I never understand people who practice futile activity. We had a neighbor in Ohio who would pluck every leaf from his yard immediately as it drifted over. He is also the sort of fellow who would shovel his walk in the middle of a snow storm. Maybe I don't understand because Dan and I were always too lazy to do much more than salt our steps for our postwoman.

Snow stack.

And now I have to go eat my afternoon snack of some terrible, terrible brownies made from a vegan recipe in an effort to use up bananas. Bananas are not eggs, vegans, and they make brownies taste yellow when they should taste brown. [EDIT: The brownies are wholly inedible, and I will just let my bananas rot next time.] [EDIT AGAIN: Dan salvaged the pasty, beany brownie goop as a smoothie starter.]

-Serenity

Weekend 46 of 52.

2011-01-17T19:00:00.003+09:00

I'm not even going to fake it, friends. It is too cold to go outside.

-Serenity

Weekend 45 of 52.

2011-01-13T11:01:00.000+09:00

High Street Market

I have been lazy about this post, because I took nary a single picture last weekend. I honestly meant to bring my camera to Itaewon when we went to check out the High Street Market, but by the time I realized I'd left it on the bed, I already had my boots on, and I didn't feel like taking them off to walk back into our room. Boots are labor intensive! But we went to High Street Market to check out some Western foods and deli meats, and we sampled jerkies and breads and we bought a huge jar of pickles, some turkey, ham, and ground beef, and Dan had a cookie. The prices were the lowest we've seen, even when it was just by a couple hundred won.

Another thing about last weekend was that it was Dan's last before going back to work, and all you want to do on your last free weekend is nothing, so that's what we did.

Oh, and now I will post something so old, by now, and so topical that it is pretty much irrelevant, but this is us singing "O Holy Night" at our Christmas show so many weeks ago.

-Serenity

Weekends 43 and 44 of 52.

2011-01-01T13:13:00.000+09:00

Lotte World, Lotte World Folk Museum

Bonnie is here! We've tried to brave the ridiculous cold and go show her things. So far we've had most of the good foods: Korean Pizza with sweet potato ring around the crust, Dalk Galbi, Bibimbap, Jjim Dalk, Korean fried chicken, Donkatsu, Paris Baguette, Pho, and right now she is off having an authentic Korean dining experience at the home of one of her Korean friends.

On Sunday we took her to Lotte World, the world's largest indoor amusement park. It was still decked out for Christmas, complete with constant Christmas caroling, live and canned. We couldn't believe how much they were able to pack into an indoor stadium type space: some quality coasters, a parade, fireworks, so many snack booths, food courts, even video game arcades and traditional arcades. Our favorite ride was the boating adventure through jungle rapids. We sort of bookended our day with it, staying completely dry the first time despite warnings that we'd get wet and then with Dan and me getting soaked right before heading back home in the 10 degrees. That part was not awesome.

By now, our 2010 is over, and we rounded it out in concert at a local coffee shop, playing the show pretty much especially for Bonnie. Our first activity of 2011 was eating Korean Bugles and finishing up an episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey. So much scandal! Right now I am ringing in America's New Year by watching some sort of unidentifiable livestream of Times Square. I have never heard of any of the people they have performing, but I appreciate the festive background noise, so Happy New Year!

Our little Christmas tree and collection of presents. We also did stockings and filled Bonnie's with Korean snacks and teas. Because Bonnie is awesome, she brought over Dan's present from his mom and Dan's present from ~~himself~~ me, which we'd had shipped to her.

Christmas cakes were abundant in Seoul, so we bought one from Baskin Robbins and got for free a very strange knitted hood.

Bonnie and me in the Lotte World complex. I still don't get what this statue is for, but it's funny.

The regular entrance and the grande scrolled entrance.

We were immediately greeted by the sexy Santa band.

Lotte World takes advantage of four separate floors of fun, not including, but looking down on, the skating rink on the basement level. This is not Hans Brinker's Silver Skates, you guys, these people are not messing around.

The domed ceiling allows the park's ambiance to change as the sun goes down. It's such a good idea. By nightfall, it felt like we were outside as the park lit up from the ground up.

Our first order of business was the hot air balloon ride around the world. It even ascended and descended like I'd imagine a real balloon would. We rode with a father and his 10 year old daughter who was in a fit of tears by the time it was over. Uh, what?

Packed in.

Spying the skaters.

Sorry folks, Closed.

The monorail as a ride, not a mass transit device.

Happy Christmas.

An indoor log flume.

The gateway to Magic Island. There is an outdoor section of the park, but it was too cold for us.

To prevent from being injured, please take off your earrings while running. That seems inaccurate.

Look how glad Dan was about the French Revolution! For real, such a perfect reveler.

Our dry run on the jungle rapids.

Posing with some Christmas decorations.

Nighttime at Lotte World.

The park also features a really cool folk museum. It was definitely more kid friendly than the other folk museums we've been to, with several try-ons and games and models. Dan is backpacking through history.

Bonnie grinding some grain, finding it inefficient.

I mean, I'm pretty sure this is Gyeongbokgung, where we took Bonnie the very next day. If I am incorrect, though, this looks an awful lot like Gyeongbokgung, where we took Bonnie the very next day.

-Serenity

Weekend 42 of 52.

2010-12-23T12:30:00.000+09:00

Kindergarten Christmas Program, Insadong Musical Instrument Market, Christmas Show at Cafe Ben James

I have deceptively few pictures from last weekend, but it's probably because everything we did was deceptively low-key. We went to see the Kindergarten Christmas Program at Dan's school on Saturday afternoon, after which we went to check out fortifications for our respective instruments (strings for Dan, reeds for me) at the Musical Instrument Market in Insadong. And then we played a Sunday Christmas show at Cafe Ben James right in Hongdae, and that was a lot of fun. I think Dan is working on a Merry Christmas Carol video from that.

My friend Bonnie is set to arrive in Korea tomorrow night, and then she will spend Christmas and New Year's with us. If it is not too cold, that could result in many interesting things.

Another Dan + Christmas tree success.

Aww, little angels.

Are you wondering why would I take a picture while everyone's leaving?

Because, look! this is in the middle of the thing. The parents bum rushed the stage anytime their kid was singing, effectively voiding any sense of civility and any semblance of a view. It was a little bit insane. And then they'd hurry back to their seats to watch the video they'd just captured. I mean, I know most people don't care about other people's kids, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to fake it.

Pianos at the market.

Dan wanted to go look at Taylors, but the shop was packed.

Sun setting on buildings.

Looking down on a flower shop.

This is truth in advertising: banana shaped and colored Circus Peanuts, which are banana flavored (and delicious).

Lego candies. But very hard to build with.

Dan hanging out in the cute little artist's section at Cafe Ben James.

-Serenity

Weekend 41 of 52.

2010-12-14T12:30:00.000+09:00

Water Heater Repair, Hongdae

When we woke up Saturday morning, we found that our apartment was without power. We promptly ate up the perishables in our fridge (leftover chicken soup and taco meat), then Dan went to Dunkin Donuts to charge his phone and call someone at the school. When he got home, we found the breaker box right in the middle of our kitchen in front of our faces, flipped the switch, and had power again for about ten minutes. So Dan re-called someone from his school, and then his boss came out with an electrician and replaced the fuse. We had power again for about ten minutes. So Dan re-called his boss, who came back later in the evening with a different electrician who discovered that our water heater was overloading the circuit. He fixed the water heater, and all was well, and the day was over. But, it was kind of nice to be stuck inside for a day of lounging around, and now we can take consistently hot showers again.

More Christmas decorations. Cardboard letters wrapped in yarn and twine.

Some Kirigami Christmas trees.

At some point on Saturday, Dan mentioned that it was the kind of day that demanded pizza. So we did that.

We also made some more snowflakes out of old magazines.

Dan got bored after two.

Our current snowflakescape.

On Sunday, we met our friend Shin in Hongdae so we could catch up and eat lunch. We saw that our local Taco Bell is almost ready. This is totally going to change our Friday nights.

Hongdae is decorated with glittery Christmas lights.

The rear view.

After climbing stairs up mountains and up hills, this weekend really was a nice break, lazy as it was.

-Serenity

Weekend 40 of 52.

2010-12-07T13:43:00.000+09:00

Haneul Park, Nanjido, Christmas Decorating

Last week we conquered a mountain. This week, we conquered a trash heap. Haneul Park (also Sky Park) is part of the World Cup Park complex and is built on what was once a landfill. Dan's students promised that he would find trash if he dug in the ground. We didn't dig, though, and I think the only trash we did see was relatively new. We climbed a zigzagging staircase and further up an incline to get to a sea of tall waves of grass and one of my favorite views yet of the city. We had a really pleasant walk around the park, and we even got to see some fireworks at the end of a game played in World Cup Stadium.

A Christmas tree in World Cup Stadium station. We're collecting them.

A hidden waterfall and some camouflage berries.

These trees and other flower pots were wrapped in straw for Christmas.

We posed with the pinwheels.

The staircase.

With its 291 stairs.

Cold winter sky.

World Cup Stadium.

Across the sea.

Mike and Ikes grow on trees! Dan never lets me eat any berries I find. I bet he would if we found Zours.

We saw several uprooted trees. They were huge. That seems dangerous.

I always get embarrassed.

We decided that most pictures of things in Korea should be puzzles. You solve that!

We were careful.

Leaves.

We did some cotton picking. For real, I took that home with me.

The sun and the sky in Sky Park.

Because this wouldn't be a Korean destination without a designated photo zone.

How Midwestern.

In case you were wondering, yes, I did rub that on my face, and it was very soft.

A plane following the cloud's trajectory.

Some sort of tower.

I like this collection of mini trees.

This looks like an undead daisy.

A view from the edge. We can't get over how varied this city is.

This is Dan standing in the bowl he was walking to above. We speculate that the bowl exists chiefly to promote the purchase of these little love locks. Korea is beating you at capitalism.

Very cool.

We decorated for Christmas with our limited space and means.

I made some snowflakes, tinfoil and otherwise, while Monday Skyping with my parents. (Mom, the one on the right is the one you haven't seen.) It's all in the 6-fold.

And we found some LED lights at the Home Plus in the bowels of World Cup Stadium. We thought we were buying multi-colored lights, but this is just as well. It is bright enough to knit by even with the light off.

Paper and string.

And I knit a string of lights based on a crochet pattern I found on Ravelry.

I put Dan to task ordering the colors, because I had enough scrap yarn to knit 10 reds, 6 blues, 5 pinks, and 4 greens. He is a logic puzzle solver for fun.

-Serenity

Weekend 39 of 52.

2010-11-28T22:31:00.000+09:00

Inwang Mountain (Inwangsan)

I am no great hiker. Even more am I no great mountain climber. Lo, Dan likes to do these things, and we got an email from another Dan at Justice for North Korea to go with a group of North Korean refugees, some South Koreans, and some foreigners to climb up Inwangsan. I had already promised my Dan that I would hike with him this weekend, so it was all very serendipitous.

So we huffed and we puffed our way up a mountain, and, yes, you will see that there are stairs carved out of rock, but that's still some serious solid inclining. We went out for barbecue after the altitudinal adventure, and we met the runner of this blog and chatted about the runner of this blog, both of which I read on the regular, and it was like there was no such thing as the fourth wall.

I'm not trying to pooh-pooh any parties, but this view from halfway up the mountain was more impressive to me than the view from its summit.

Dan in front of a heavily barbed fenced-in area.

Rock faces with faces and with trees.

Old steps.

There was a consistent whirring of cold wind.

Guard rail above the city.

Follow the path marked white. Make hiking faces.

Some leftover berries.

We got hot, and then we got cold again.

Taking in the view for a few minutes.

Another mountain.

At the very top. Doing a conquering pose.

A great Korean wall.

Snow on the ground. And Dan said it was snowing earlier tonight. Well, come on, then.

Our group.

Some moss on the descent.

Probably the last of the red-leaved trees I'll post this season.

Pine roof.

We met here briefly.

And then we got real short and fat, despite all of our aerobic exertion.

Gingko nuts on the ground. Usually there are ajummas fighting to gather them in black bags. I just like them because they smell like parmesan, and I can't eat cheese.

-Serenity

Weekend 38 of 52.

2010-11-26T10:25:00.000+09:00

Hongdae Free Market, American Thanksgiving

I know I am late blogging the weekend (during which we laid low entirely in Hongdae, watching a friend perform at the Hongdae Free Market and meeting other new friends for coffee), but now I have bonus pictures from our American Thanksgiving dinner. Dan organized the celebration with the other English teachers at his school. We were able to purchase a turkey and ham dinner from the Dragon Hill Lodge. The meat was awesome and completely undoable otherwise, but the sides were lackluster and we didn't even get the advertised beans almondine (mixed vegetables instead) and gravy (raisin rum sauce instead). Luckily, our meal was supplemented with roll cake, lemon cake, nut cake, sweet potatoes, deviled soy sauce eggs, tomatoes, oranges, Tropicana Sparkling, Shany rolls, chocolate peanut butter pie, and the pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes also from the Dragon Hill Lodge.

The food was abundant, and it was so good to spend time with the teachers. We laughed a lot, and Dan said the day was one of his favorites in Korea so far (Thanksgiving coincided with Happy Day at the school, a day for students to shirk class responsibility and watch movies and play games and eat and sell snacks). And now AFN Korea is airing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which I had given up seeing (but what's a Thanksgiving without various recording artists enthusiastically lip-synching to pre-recorded tracks?)! Thanks, Army!

Back to the weekend. We are starting to see Christmas trees are wreaths and things.

While the leaves keep falling right off.

Sticks for trees.

Snowflake assembly.

Some stubborn leaves.

Our friend Chekone (like check one, check two...).

No lie, I wore the girl version of this exact outfit on this exact day.

This kid was being awesome, wearing a bear on her head, clapping and running, and being glad about the music.

A music poster. I didn't know Bob Evans had a band.

A building in Hongdae.

Mix and match.

We ran into some Santa boys offering prizes if you could beat them at Paper, Rock, Scissors. Seems easy enough, but Koreans are experts at this game, settling every score with a quick round. We got the conciliatory coupon.

A Chocolate Cake cafe seems like the best idea.

We accidentally went to three coffee shops on Saturday, which bumped our week-long total to 8. Uh, what?

Fantastic use of chicken wire. I want this.

Our view from dinner on the second floor.

Yonsei University students in a Globalization class interviewed us as foreign musicians about the global impact of music. It was a really interesting conversation and maybe Dan will teach them to play guitar now.

Sometimes robots hang out in our closet.

Our Dragon Hill Deli box of delights that Korrine trucked over to pick up.

Food, food, food!

While Marius carved the ham, Rachel carved the turkey. Luke looking on.

Jessica waiting for it.

We did a musical chairs style buffet line, circling around the table. Jeanie, Maya, and Jessica all used chopsticks. Maya was caught eating in line!

I asked Dan to lift something Thanksgivingy up to his face.

Korrine sharing the gift of Reese's Cups with Rachel.

Korrine's first taste of pumpkin pie, because pies in Australia are savory. I think her reaction was, "Oh, that's okay." I kind of hate pumpkin pie.

Then Maya got into it.

Giffed.

A conversation about leg warmers led to Korrine flash dancing us.

Chocolate peanut butter pie with Amish peanut butter.

And I forgot to take a picture of the Boston Market style sweet potato casserole until this morning. I wanted to show how Korean sweet potatoes are starchier and yellow instead of soft and orange. It made for a heartier version, but you can't go wrong with brown sugar and marshmallows.

So, that has been our most successful overseas American holiday, but actually celebrating (instead of forgetting about it, like the Fourth of July) made home seem a little bit further away.

I think we are going on a winter hike tomorrow. Sounds cold!

-Serenity

Weekend 37 of 52.

2010-11-17T11:44:00.000+09:00

Seoul Lantern Festival, Tapgol Park, Dongdaemun, Bangsan Baking Market

Before I bounce Dan's post down, I want to direct your attention to it. Living in South Korea has given us an unanticipated ache for the people of North Korea. We aren't sure how best to promote justice there, but we feel like the movie "North" is a step in the right direction. They need funding. You can donate as much or little as you like. They have 45 days to reach their goal of $6500, not a large amount for a movie, not a small amount for independent movie makers. You can donate by clicking here.

Now, on with frivolity. It seems like we end up in Dongdaemun every other weekend, right? But I have chocolate and knitting needs that only the Dongdaemun markets can satisfy. We made sure to supplement that activity with a trip to Tapgol Park, home of the Wongaksa Pagoda. The pagoda is 500 years old, 10 stories high, hewn of marble, and is considered one of Korea's national treasures.

On our way to the park, we decided to revisit the Seoul Lantern Festival in the daytime so we could actually get near some of the lanterns.

Cold days make fog.

Always with the stacked buildings.

A soldier filming his friend.

Jocund percussionist.

These are some G20 lanterns. One for each country involved.

America means cowboys. I would like here to wonder aloud at our lack of national dress. I want hanbok or kimonos or anything. How come we don't wear pilgrim outfits at special events and weddings?

Christmas tree booty.

Under a bridge over the stream.

Dan had a task keeping up that leaning tower. Now we don't have to go to Pisa!

Chinese lanterns.

Hands on lanterns from Japan.

Sometimes they put cabbage in public flower pots. That's weird.

Traveling salesman.

Tapgol Park view coming and going.

Wongaksa Pagoda.

Such red leaves.

Dan waiting by a street lamp as I set up the camera for a little photo shoot for our band. You can see those photos here.

This is the Monument of Wongaksa that essentially exists only to commemorate the pagoda. A marble pillar atop a granite turtle.

More leaves on roof tiles.

Seoul Cinema, since 1978.

We found a pile of giant leaves in the street.

Bigger than everyone's heads!

Old and new construction in Dongdaemun.

A notice on one of the shops.

The length of Cheonggeycheon boasts varied installations. At one end, the Lantern Festival, then a street sign sculpture, and later a fountain.

Resting after a long day's walk.

We hit up the new Maxtyle mall. Pretty sparse. No, but there really are shops there, just not on every floor yet.

Doota mall with decorations. And we think these are stadium lights from the old Dongdaemun Stadium.

Having nothing to do with anything, I made these tortillas today, and I was very proud of them.

You should make them. They are fluffy and tasty and easy to do and then you, too, will feel so proud. Recipe here.

Stamps on our stove hood.

And here are my new Norwegian shoes. An homage to graph paper.

-Serenity

Will you help us help them?

2010-11-16T14:05:00.000+09:00

I have two or three unfinished posts that have been sitting in draft mode for months, simply because I'm really bad at a) being consistent and b) following through. I am just as interested in sharing those posts with you, but this is time sensitive and a bit more important.

A general disdain for North Korea and its treatment of its people wasn't something we were without before we came to South Korea. Nearly everyone in the world has an idea of the goings-on in NK from bits of news, but I think it's fair to point out that most people aren't aware of the full gravity of the situation.

A small glimpse: during the mid 90's there was a great famine in the country. As many as 3 million people died of starvation due to an incompetent government that valued the ideals of communism more than its own people. This is something that most people in Western culture aren't fully aware of. It's sad to say, but that is only one of many issues the country has had.

With any tyrannical government comes immense fear of dissent. You can't really hold hands with an iron fist. Currently, there are anywhere from 5-7 political prison camps known as "gulags" that hold North Koreans who are seen as political offenders. You could be sent to one of these camps for saying something bad about "Dear Leader (Kim Jong Il)," being a Christian, crossing the wrong person, attempting to defect, or even watching a South Korean drama. These camps are not unlike the ones we saw in Nazi Germany. While there is debate whether NK citizens are used for science experimentation or are gassed in gas chambers, we do know that there are tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of prisoners who have died from "a combination of exhaustion, disease, starvation, and arbitrary brutality."

This practice does not exclude children nor women.

Something has to be done. Obviously, our ability seems limited at first. To take down one of the longest-standing and deeply-corrupt governments in the world is no small feat. That's why most North Korean justice organizations are currently working on awareness as one of their top priorities.

Most Westerners have heard about Darfur but probably have no clue what the word gulag means. A small Japanese film group has taken it upon themselves to try to raise awareness through a popular format: animation.

Serenity and I really believe this is a legitimate way to turn people's eyes toward a situation that can no longer be ignored. From the group's kickstarter page:

A group of animators and human right activists from Japan have determined to produce an animation film to inform, inspire, and empower others to raise a voice against heinous human rights violations inside North Korea's notorious concentration camps, where over 200,000 "violators" are overworked, tortured, raped or publicly executed today.

Using the popular and accessible so-called "Anime" style, the film will graphically depict the survival of a young boy who grew up in the camp and escaped to a freer world.

The cost to get the project started isn't small. It will probably be very difficult to obtain, but it's necessary.

Please watch the informational video below to see if this is something you feel called to help with. If so, you can click through on the video and find out more details.

I'm not sure if this is too didactic, but we can't stay silent.

~Dan

Weekend 36 of 52.

2010-11-10T13:00:00.000+09:00

Cafe Rumi, Unhyeongung Palace, Insadong, Seoul Lantern Festival, Bosingak Bell Pavilion

We kick-started last weekend with mid-week fun at Cafe Rumi, a TV and Wii room, to celebrate Luke's birthday. We bowled, we boxed, we ice-skated, and we had bottomless soda and ice cream. A fine way to spend a Wednesday.

On Saturday we went to our third palace (1 here and here, 2 here). I have been surprised at the differences between the palaces. This one felt more casual and had mannequins set up to display the clothes and practices of the time. After the palace, we walked through Insadong. Dan and I got harassed by a drunk man alternately trying to give us things and get us to bow low and say we were thankful. But for real, he followed us the length of Insadong's main road, pressing a crappy mirror compact into Dan's chest, until a vendor told him to leave us alone. It was not awesome. At least we got some tasty street food. This time a stuffed and fried pancake called hodduk.

The Seoul Lantern Festival is on, so we tried to muscle our way down to Cheonggyecheon Stream to see the light show. It was completely packed, complete with police officers manning the stairs and a queue snaking around stream's wall. We abandoned that idea, peeked down from street level, and then moved on.

Luke, being celebrated, and Maya playing a doubles tennis match.

Decor included a balloon butterfly and lots of ornamentation.

Standard Dan.

Luke being a very concerted bowler.

Korrine contemplating position and form.

Rachel accidentally hit Maya in the face while bowling (sound familiar, mom?), and then they reenacted it.

I bowled strikes from the floor.

Dan with a giant frog-like floor pillow.

A Korean spare.

Korrine's birthday being when it was, she was still receiving gifts on Wednesday. Here she models and makes use of a magic cape.

Nothing says "I love you" like making a heart with bent arms.

Kim Yuna suggests that readers be white... I think the nuance may be lost in translation.

Only Maya could make Wii boxing look like a dance party.

Rachel actually conquered Maya and went on to face Dan in the final show down. She took it seriously, but Dan prevailed.

Luke delivering punches.

The view of Hongdae from the smoker's pavilion. Smokers always get the best views.

The rest of the view.

These lil babies, particularly the one on the right, were quite taken with our group and kept checking in on our room. Then they saw us off.

The palace had huge trees in their various stages of fall photosynthesis adjustment.

Traditional clothes. I especially like the hanger system.

Leaves nestling in roof tiles.

Under the awning.

Holding meetings and painting lotus flowers.

An outdoor kimchi closet.

The kitchen.

Locked window screens.

There was a picture point but the resultant picture was lame.

Carved.

From the Kozza Cam (Korrine's camera). Dan helping me traverse a ledge.

A persimmon tree from which we commissioned Dan to fetch us a persimmon. He made a couple good leaps, but to no avail. And then we realized we were all on CCTV trying to steal palace fruits.

Rooftops. With the Kia building in the background.

Royal ladies.

Posing in order to remember the name.

Colliding wall patterns.

The sun feigned lunar. It was a little creepy.

A snack vendor in Insadong. She is about to chop that up with a good-sized cleaver.

A brand new building.

As close as we could get to the lanterns.

People everywhere.

To temper our disappointment, we decided that it seemed similar enough to the Lotus Lantern Festival.

And since we were in the neighborhood, I took a picture of the Bosingak Bell Pavilion, which we have walked by countless times but never recorded.

There is talk of a possible apple festival this weekend, which would take us just outside of Seoul and keep us from the perils of modern medicine. Ironically enough, I just finished making applesauce while writing this post.

-Serenity

Weekend 35 of 52.

2010-11-05T13:50:00.000+09:00

Myeongdong, Street Food, Makgeolli, Konkuk University

Nearly a week ago, we revisited Myeongdong to do some seasonal bolstering of our wardrobes. I infamously packed only two pairs of pants to move to a place without sizes because small fits all, but Myeongdong has some Western shops and some size variety. Also, we'd heard tell of some fancy heat-retaining shirts and tights. So that Dan wasn't completely bored all day, he tried out some new street food, including a giant cream puff, a giant ice cream cone, and a Korean hot pocket. Then we went over near Konkuk University for the first of Korrine's birthday celebrations, at which we drank makgeolli, traditional Korean rice wine, mixed with Chilsung Cider, traditional Korean 7 UP.

Building buildings.

Changing leaves on a mid-street tree.

Korea seems to love a good flash mob, and it's never hard to generate a crowd in Seoul. This particular mob promoted breast cancer awareness.

Two separate designated photo zones in one department store.

It gets pretty busy in Myeongdong.

Big size ice cream corn for a big size ice cream eater.

The odd quiet alley.

Sometimes I like to rounge around.

From an outdoor coffee porch on the fourth floor.

The hot pocket and the perfect hot pocket face. Dan got pizza filled, but they also had japchae (noodles) filled.

The subway has been consistently packed full lately.

From the subway platform looking down. A stroll among bikes, a barbecue dinner, and a fruit stand.

Lotte Department store with its flashing lights.

Two gifs to prove it so.

The streets around Konkuk University.

An unorthodox traffic jam at a crosswalk.

This is the makgeolli. Served in a pot with a wooden ladle.

Korrine's coffee cake.

Blowing out the candles.

A bar's reminder of our country's holiday. We always forget to celebrate things here. It's amazing what hype does for holidays. But we are hyping Thanksgiving for ourselves and taking advantage of the local US Military Base and their turkey dinner deal, so that's exciting.

We ended the night at our market. You know, just stocking up on hoofs.

-Serenity

Weekend 34 of 52.

2010-10-25T11:38:00.000+09:00

Grease, Bukchon Hanok Village Walking Tour

On Saturday night, Dan and I dressed up for a proper date to Chungmuro to see the musical Grease. I'm a girl. I had a strange middle-school affinity for the Bee Gees. I like Grease. Dan agreed to see it with me because he likes me, and he likes Korea. We knew all the dialogue would be in Korean, obviously, but we thought maybe the songs would still be in English. We were a little bit right. Pretty much all of the song titles were sung in English as they came up in the lyrics, but that was then promptly exchanged for rapid-fire Korean. It went a little something like this*: Summer lovin' 핫 미 어 브라스트, summer lovin' 합엔드 소 바스트. Greased Lightnin' was probably the most entertaining song for the collective us, as it was sung with a very enthusiastic vibrato and an endearingly incorrect pronunciation.

Things of note:
-The girls were way better singers than the boys. Rizzo was by far the most talented in our cast.
-The boys are hard to tell apart from very far away (which is where we were sat). I couldn't tell Kenickie from Sonny from Doody. Danny was always easy to spot, though, since he spends most of his time being followed around by swooning girls cooing his name.
-You will not see the hand-jive, extol as they might its virtues and opine about its life-defining importance. That made me sad.
-The second half of the curtain call consists of the T-Birds ripping their shirts off and gyrating for the girls with floor seats. It was a bit weird.

So, we enjoyed all of it very much, but I am glad we did not attempt it sooner or with a less familiar show. Though we don't know much Korean, we could easily recognize what we did know, and that was fun for the full first half. The musical numbers were familiar and Koreans are pretty much experts at pantomime. We did start to feel the work of decoding near the middle of the dialogue-heavy second hour, but we pushed through and would reckon it worthwhile.

But then we accidentally ate pork belly for dinner, and that was significantly less pleasant.

Sunday afternoon found us in Bukchon, a traditional village area in Seoul, full of traditional craft and trade workshops and thousands of hanok, traditional homes. We walked through a brief museum at the Bukchon Traditional Culture Center and picked up a map. We really ended up just following all the other people into the hanok maze and spent several hours walking around being amazed. Because it was Sunday, many of the museums and shops were closed, so we hope to go back on a better day to see demonstrations and things like embroidery and knots and chicken art.

Out of the underground into the light at Anguk station.

We started the day with coffee. The cafe was blasting the ever-irrepressible KPop.

Then I got a little embarrassed about my public behavior.

I wore my Redneek Riviera jacket. I'm from there, but I didn't know it was called the Redneck Riviera until I moved here (though my mom did confirm that it is sometimes called that).

This space seems occupied.

Then we fortified at Han's Deli, which I think I've seen before but always ignored. Don't ignore it, you guys, it is perfect Korean fast food. Dan got omurice, and I got bbq chicken that came with rice and coleslaw and four fries. Also, free refills on $1 sodas.

Leaves and baby blueberries at the culture center.

Mobile.

Hanok roofs.

Rich people need ritzy gates.

And fancy doors.

Eaves and locks.

The prettiest hanok we saw.

There were two columns of protruding bricks. We figured they were a ladder.

Bukchon blossoms.

Seamed.

Through a hole in the wall, through a clearing in the trees.

Immediately after I wondered to Dan if the hanok owners hate people constantly walking through their neighborhood, we turned the corner and found this fence.

Wooden doors.

An alleyway.

Pattern.

At the Seolkyoung NAREAOT Workshop. Royal costumes.

We ended our tour at Books and Cooks, a cafe in a re-purposed hanok. So, this would be the basic set up. A courtyard in the middle of the square or u-shaped home, surrounded by conjoined rooms.

Cascading light parade.

Idyllic outdoor seating.

Not reading.

Window and the bathrooms.

A collection of tea sets.

Sun starting to set.

-Serenity

Weekend 33 of 52.

2010-10-20T16:41:00.000+09:00

Seoul Grand Park: Seoul Zoo, Rose Garden, Seoul Land

This is the first time I am unequivocally not recommending one of our weekend things. If you are an adult, do not go to Seoul Land. If you are an adult with children, go to one of Korea's myriad other theme parks. I don't mean to be mean, but Seoul Land was just lame. It started out okay in the Tilt House, which was satisfyingly disorienting. We attempted a couple waits in a couple lines but kept giving up before getting to ride either of the roller coastery set ups. Mostly we wandered, marveling at the flurry of activity around us, yet with no real idea of anything to do. We had some doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts, we had some ice slushes, and then we went home.

But, that is not to say that we didn't enjoy the Seoul Zoo part of the Seoul Grand Park Complex. The zoo was very zoo-like. There was a dolphin show we regrettably skipped in order to make it to Seoul Land. Our favorite part was the sky lift. Our favorite part of the sky lift was having to let it hit and collapse our legs upon entrance and then having to do the reverse (jump up and run off) upon exit. Theirs was an inertia not to be halted. We also liked looking at the baby and toddler animals in the nursery.

So, Seoul Zoo is okay, but I preferred Children's Grand Park for its proximity to the animals and variety of activities. Otherwise, the citizens of Seoul should petition to have Seoul Land renamed to something like Seoulless Land (and that is how you accomplish a burn).

It's not every day Dan is dwarfed by a flower. Or, I guess, as long as this sunflower stands, it is every day...

At the Seoul Grand Park Subway Station.

The leaves are already changing in Gwacheon.

We paid extra at the zoo for entrance into the Rose Garden.

It proved to be a W4000 bust. The great bulk of the garden featured dead flower bushes.

I did like this fuchsia fern.

And at least I got to sit outside a leaning house, admiring my jocund scarecrow.

While Dan puzzled with intellectually-thefted Disney characters.

We were accidental attendants at the Arthropods & Insects Festival, where we saw butterflies from Indonesia, tarantulas from creepy town, and a kid with a trough full of giant beetle larvae, all squirming around.

A pretty setting for a zoo.

Dan with the giraffes in the Africa section.

Spilled candy beside a discarded ginko leaf.

A technical drawing of the hippopotamus maximus.

Everything I thought was a goat was called a sheep.

Reflecting pond.

More sheep. These are big-horned, I think, and they ate out of everyone's hands but my own. It was a very acute rejection.

Maybe this Asian Black Bear isn't fake.

But how else are you explaining that perfect white V across his chest?

A view from the sky reminding us that this is not Cincinnati.

A greenhouse full of plants grown via unorthodox horticultural methods.

Seoul Land. Should have known land.

Stolen Epcot ball. We went inside. It seems to be a museum space for semi-permanent exhibits. It was for World Vision while we were there.

Getting our poses in.

Treasure Island is an A-framed souvenir shop.

Dan defying gravity in the Tilt House.

Hall of Mirrors. And that's when our giggles ran out.

There was an inflatable pool set up with inflatable bubbles.

A photo op in Adventure Land.

A self-manufactured photo op in one of the aforementioned lines that we abandoned shortly thereafter.

Wrought.

Maybe you didn't know, but this is the World Cup.

And this was the general condition of the park: peeling decay and no one doing midnight touch-ups.

But at least it resulted in the most ironic picture of the ice cream of the future I've ever taken. For that, I'm thankful.

-Serenity

Weekend 32 of 52.

2010-10-13T14:03:00.000+09:00

Seoul International Fireworks Festival

The Fourth of July in Korea was like the fifth of July in Korea. That is to say, it pretty much happened without our noticing. We made up for our patriotic neglect by watching fireworks in October (because what are fireworks but little explosive declarations of US independence?). We walked down to the river, set up a Chinese takeout picnic, and saw fireworks in the style of China, Canada, and Korea as part of the Seoul International Fireworks Festival.

Friday's dinner was at Maya Mexican restaurant in Hongdae. Very Aztecky.

Trying out new looks.

Our picnic position. We weren't sure where to plant ourselves, so we walked until we found congregated Koreans.

Korrine helped John eat noodles. He does not yet possess chopstick dexterity.

We soon learned that our view was quite obstructed by bridge.

Even more obstructed by the constant flow of furious bike traffic. Surprisingly, we saw only two wipe outs.

The view from pillar 15.

Some blues to start.

Snuggly family.

Very colorful.

And sparkly, too.

Street lamps and firecrackers.

Dan and I walked down the river for a better view.

Screaming spirals, but we were too far away to hear them. Every boom was out of sync.

Classic blasts.

Finale.

We found some monsters on the way home.

And stopped to watch some evening golf practice. These nets are everywhere in Seoul.

On Sunday we went to Ahyeon for bland espressos.

Then to Dongdaemun where we eventually took the Subway ride away home.

This Saturday we will be playing at the Free Market in Hongdae again, but hopefully we'll be able to make it to Seoul Grand Park on Sunday, so long as any rain falls on someone else's plain.

-Serenity

Weekend 31 of 52.

2010-10-03T23:13:00.000+09:00

Hongdae, Dangsan, Hangang Park

I'm not going to say that the rain ruined another weekend of plans (plans involving Seoul Grand Park and being outside and not being wet). I will instead type it. That is what's known as semantics. No, but I don't hate the rain, though it does inspire taking shelter and eating popcorn for dinner and taking pictures of neither of those activities.

Sunday was dry enough for a walk along the river. And that is pretty much all we did.

We peered in at a street gallery in Hongdae on our way to dinner on Friday. A set of guns pointed at a toy army. Some of them had no heads. Too bad for them.

To Me you ARE PERFECT. Dan and I have both, at different times, read this out loud while walking in Hongdae and tricked each other into assuming it a compliment.

Shuffle on the street.

Some cropped couples walking in that alley.

Coffee nightcaps at the VeggieHolic Cafe, at which we now get free snacks on account of our having frequented the joint.

A beer parade on the way home. Giant puppets and castratoed clowns.

We had budae jjigae for lunch today, and I like to laugh at the melted water bottles at the various Korean restaurants. A lot of the Korean food is cooked at the table on a very hot surface (sometimes with flames, sometimes with blocks of burning wood). Plastic melts.

On our way to the stretch of Hangang Park that is in Dangsan. The Viewtiful Tower. View is Beautiful.

Through the tunnel to the river.

Fishing.

An array of apartment buildings. We pretty much live in the bottom left corner behind the skinny smokestacks.

Under the bridge.

This part of the park is not so exceptional, but it's good for a rest.

Hanging out in some flowers.

Not knowing what to do. That's why I make Dan do these things.

Windy day.

The subway bridge.

A bend in the road.

Nestled in the corner at Ediya Coffee.

Some living arrangements in Hongdae. I could go for a good balcony.

I would like this for my birthday, please. Happy birthday to me, city.

We found a Cincinnati shirt! But we didn't buy it. But Dan's hair is short now!

Look at these cute tea towels I found at our local grocery market.

And thus concludes our weekend shopping: a Taewkondo dobok for our Tae kwon dog.

-Serenity

Weekend 30 of 52.

2010-09-27T01:16:00.000+09:00

Ewha, Charlie Brown Cafe

Has there ever been a lazier week in Asia? Dan and I left the house almost exclusively to eat. It was Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), and we had every day off but Monday. Korrine went to Taiwan. Other people went to various Korean islands. We slept past breakfast every morning, did a puzzle at a Starbucks, and met three friends for three dinners. It was too wonderful.

Our first dinner was Tuesday night in Gangnam for some Asian Fusion with Nikki, with whom we hope to attend a Korean performance of Grease. I can't wait to learn what hickeys from Korean Kenickies are like (like Hallmark cards when Kenickie's an American). Thursday night we went out for chicken and 24 hour pastries with Shin (from Cafe Soul Underground) and his American friend Paula. Our third dinner was last night in Gwacheon (outside of Seoul, so there!) where we had home-cooked Jjim Dalk/찜닭 (spicy soy sauce chicken) at the behest of our new friend Il Kwon and by the hand of his lovely wife So Yeong, who also prepared Bimbimbap and a variety of Chuseok fruits. Il Kwon even made us espresso drinks, providing me with one of my best Americanos in Korea.

Today we ventured out to see the area around Ewha Womans University [sic]. We drank sad sack coffee at the Charlie Brown Cafe. And then we welcomed Korrine back at our favorite local barbecue restaurant (because everyone has one of those).

On our way Saturday to a lunch and lecture sponsored by Justice for North Korea, we saw some rappelling window washers.

An ad for the S-More Car, which is my kind of car, okay.

Our first taste of Ewha was the escavator (elevator on an escalator track).

This looks like an eye.

Since Ewha is for women, everything is much cuter than in real life.

Jagged line in the sky.

A giant pink pump that Dan refused to pose with. But, why, Dan?

I met Charlie Brown. We were such pals when I was a girl. I think he'd been waiting for me.

It was a sweet little cafe, though I think it's a stretch to attribute ladylikeness to that Lucy van Pelt. A dog's whole life is ridiculous!

A Peanuts smoking room would spark litigious debate in the States. But it looks so whimsical!

Ewha University from our third floor view.

Busy corner.

Fully loaded.

Our drinks. Charlie Brown wins your heart with his losing ways. It always rains on his parade, his baseball game, and his life.

I had a brief dalliance with Schroeder in my former years. This made Dan very jealous.

But then he visited the circus and cheered up.

Through Sally silhouettes.

Dan mocking Linus to his face! This picture proves Dan's keen sportsmanship, because directly to his right was the cafe's cashier, and I made him stand there like this for no short period of time.

Construction in Hongdae on the way home. That is a tiger with rabbit years. A tigit. A rabber.

Someone hates someone's self.

A flower Dan swears he grew up smelling in his Midwestern back yard.

Too Cool for School says the blue giraffe.

Oh, maybe you noticed we didn't go to Lotte World. We just kept justifying for ourselves reasons that we shouldn't get out of bed. Oops.

-Serenity