8 Great Things About Being Back In Korea

(Please excuse the weird spacing and font size. The format is messed up and I can't figure out how to fix it.)

We survived another long trip! It was better than anticipated because

I set my expectations very, very low. We all got at least some sleep this time, the little guy

was easier to handle, and we were coming back to a familiar home.

After a rental car, shuttle, two planes, a bus and a taxi, we finally walked in 

the door and got a big surprise. Our friend JD, who 
had been watering our plants, left all kinds of goodies for us in the fridge. I 
was not looking forward to piling into yet another mode of transportation to 
buy food at the grocery store, and she saved us from that! She made hummus with 
veggies, falafel, French toast, mac & cheese, a watermelon, beer, milk and eggs. 
What a terrific surprise and such a relief! Preparing food for someone in need 
is probably one of the best gifts you can give, in my opinion. I won't forget all the people 
who brought us meals after Jonah was born and I won't forget this! 

Equally surprising, but far, far less pleasant was the amount of dead insects in the 
house. You would not believe how many dead fleas were all over the floor and 
around the windowsills. If I collected them all together I would have at least 
two hands full. Plus all the other unidentified mutant bug carcasses on the 
floor. And the spiders! Oh yuck, the spiders. Fortunately, they seem to like being 
outside, but they are huge and they're EVER-Y-WHERE. Its like the bugs here are supersized. 

The copious dragonflies are the size of hummingbirds and insects that might otherwise not look 

scary ARE scary because they're so large. 

Anyway, the food was terrific. Thanks J!

Here is my list of great things about being back in Korea:
1. My bed
2. My pillows
3. My covers
4. Not living out of a suitcase
5. This soup

I have been craving this soup for weeks! This is cold buckwheat noodle soup with shaved ginger, cucumber, sesame seeds and half of a hard boiled egg. The chunky stuff on the sides is crushed ice. Its amazingly good.

6. Seeing the change in the landscape. It was so bleak in winter and now the land is bursting with vegetation, mainly food crops. Like I said before, some kind of food is growing on every available patch of soil.

Planting had just started when we left and now its tall and bushy.

I wish my pictures were better. There is every shade of green as far as you can see.

Here is the view from our backyard in January.

Here it is in July.

7. The incredibly generous and kind people of Korea.

On our first morning back we went out for a walk. As soon as this lady saw us she immediately took handfuls of beans from her bag and then went to this bush to pick peppers. She's working so hard and gave us so much. This kind of generosity and kindness is something we've experienced over and over.

She filled Jonah's trunk!

This is her bike.

8. Finally, it feels great to be back in Korea after a long, rejuvenating trip back home. I'm glad the boys were able to reconnect with friends, cousins, grands, and great-grands and can now get back to a familiar, comfortable routine and sleep in their own beds. I realize again how lucky I am to be from one of the most beautiful cities in the world (SAN DIEGO!) and to have so many people all over the US and world who I love and who love me. We went so many places and visited as many loved ones as we could squeeze in. There are many more who I wish we could have seen and who I would have liked to spend more time with. Next time! And now I feel very grateful for the opportunity to make even more friends in a very beautiful country in yet another corner of the earth.

That said, the spiders alone could put me back on a plane tomorrow! Ghheesh!

This little fella has a lot of big, big brothers.

Marc gets credit for the photos!