COEX Mall & Aquarium

On Sunday we made our second trip up to Seoul. Since its still too chilly to walk around outdoors, we ended up going to another mall. This is not my idea of site-seeing but better this than sitting at home all weekend or freezing outside. But this wasn't just any mall. Coex is the largest underground mall in Asia and located in Gangnam. I really want to see Gangnam and hopefully next time it won't be the underground! This mall is HUGE. It's all on one level so it just goes on and on forever. The upper levels above ground are for a convention center, exhibition halls and a musical theater. The mall itself has 2 food courts but dozens of other small restaurants all over the place. Our first stop was for lunch.

This was Toby's lunch and one of the few things I've found so far that doesn't taste the same as everything else and doesn't contain anything that scares me. It was just rice, tofu, bean paste, dried seaweed flakes and chopped kimchi. Ok, it kind of tasted like everything else but at least it didn't have the ubiquitous red sauce that coats most Korean food. Its a good thing I can handle spice, because the red sauce is spicy! Anyway, below are two restaurants we did NOT go to.

Here are a few things we saw while wandering around...

BONGZI...That's the place made by Jesus. Hmm.

Hello Kitty store

An information robot (with a face) that rolls around

I'm not sure if this is one of those Korean-trying-to-use-English-word-logos-that-doesn't-work banks or if it actually holds humans.

Foreign countries always have such interesting and funny bathroom diagrams.

Is that Bruce Willis or...m-m-my DAD???

After all of this fun, we headed to the Aquarium - also huge.

There's a room with fish in all kinds of appliances. Fish in a fridge, fish in a vending machine, fish in a toilet.

 What will they think of next?

He didn't quite get what he was supposed to do.

We saw turtles, seals, manatees, sharks, rays, jelly fish, a gator, penguins and fishies of all species. After awhile I couldn't wait to get out of there because it was so crowded and hot! Koreans like WARM spaces. And we noticed that very few people take their winter coats off inside. I normally run cold, but this place was sweltering and they all remained bundled up. Something else I've noticed is that Korea is a baby-wearin' culture. Most people don't bother with strollers because they're too bulky and public places are usually crowded and don't always have ramps or elevators. So moms and dads wear their little ones in Ergos or Ergo-like carriers. It's really great! I've never seen a parent lugging a heavy car seat around or a baby in a car seat outside of the car. They even have these carriers with a "shelf" for a baby to sit on with or without straps. It requires a picture if I can get one some day. We've also seen a lot of moms (and dads) wearing terry cloth "robes" around the carrier to keep the baby warm. It's wonderful to see.
Next we faced the challenge of walking all the way back to our car, wherever it was. I am terrible about noting where I park in parking garages, so its a real good thing that Marc has that GPS brain thingy because I would still be there searching for our car. We hit a lot of traffic on the way back to P-taek but it was a good, fun-filled day!

Kid-centric Korea

When we started telling people we would be moving to Korea, one of the first generalizations I started hearing over and over was that Koreans love kids. I'm here to tell you that it's all true. Sure, there are a few grouchy old codgers, but mostly every single person who sees our kids will react in some way whether its clucking at them, coo-cooing, waving or touching their cheeks. Women see us coming and start pointing, giggling and trying to get the boys' attention. It's so sweet. Back in the US I would probably grimace at the cheek-touching and think "keep your paws to yourself, lady" but here it doesn't bother me at all because I know it's part of their culture to dote on children. Plus I totally get why they would want to touch and squeeze cute cheeks. Anyone who knows me knows that's all I really want to do in life - squeeze and kiss fat baby cheeks. It's my dream job. So it's good that I'm now living in a culture that won't shun me for my weird cheek obsession. 
All of the attention on the boys is probably due, in part, to the fact that they're blond and stand out among all the dark-haired kids. For once its pretty easy to find them in a crowd. And we've been in some crowded places, namely malls. That's where we've been going to walk around on the weekends since its so cold out. Another mom told me that the big stores around here have kid areas. Ok, cool. I'm thinking a little padded area, maybe something like Småland at Ikea. That will be fun. The first place we checked out is LotteMart. It's like Target except its 7 stories tall with 3 stories just for parking. Seeing their bright, neatly organized aisles was pretty groovy. 

Gleaming

Neat and tidy shoe racks. And it's the kid section!

Two rows of super fancy rice makers

I never knew I wanted a loaf pillow!

And then we came across this little kiddie area. This must be what the mom was talking about. Eh, but the boys think its fun.

Communing with the natives

Big brother taking balloon from little brother.

When we were done with that level of the store we went up to another level with the food court and, BEHOLD, a kid zone that puts Småland to utter shame. THIS is what the mom was talking about!

There are no rules as far as I can tell

Behind this is a little zip line for the kids to ride down

Cess pool, I know. But really fun.

For ₩5 (a little less than $5) your kids can go wild in here for two hours while you shop. It's run by sweet, college-age girls who really seem to like the kids. They chat with them, play tag, and give them water or juice. And the kids can do whatever they want and yet it somehow remains relatively tame. I had no qualms about leaving Toby in there to have fun while we checked out the rest of the store with Jonah. The poor boy has been mostly stuck in a hotel room, so this was some huge fun.

Then the next day we went to another shopping center but this one was more like a mall with expensive clothing stores. And there was another kid carnival going on. Also ₩5 for two hours of playing. 

This shows about 1/5 of the area.

There is a movie theater entrance directly across the hall from this, so parents could conceivably drop Junior off, watch a whole movie, then pick up a very happy, worn out kid who was able to shake their sillies out while mom and dad enjoy some alone time! We would totally do this, except, well...

Ta-da! Jonah is too little for the play lands.

I don't know, it's something about the people here. I just know they're nice. In the US a lot of the kid zone things are run by people who seem disgruntled or resentful of their job, and I can't blame them. That's why I'm glad Småland at Ikea only takes kids for 30 minutes and I would only let Toby go in there when there were a bunch of other kids around. But here the young girls in charge are so sweet and welcoming and seem joyful to let kids play and have fun.

When we first arrived here I heard about a "jumping place" in town just outside the base but I didn't know where it was or when it was open. A new mom friend told me she was taking her kids and was nice enough to let me follow. As is the case with everything else here, it wasn't what I expected, but it was really cool! In the middle of the dense town streets is this permanent "tent" held up by fencing. The raised floor is six huge conjoined trampolines. Kid heaven?? Yes!

It's enclosed, but we're still outside so its really cold.

A wood-burning stove to keep warm while the kids jump.

Yet another mom told me about another play area at a mall in a town 30 minutes from here. We thought we'd check it out yesterday. And now...drum roll please...I give you Pororo Play Land...

It's like a mini indoor Disneyland!

Pororo is a Korean cartoon character.

Not your regular ball-pit balls.

Jonah being petted by a new friend.

Hugging one of the characters.

Child-size hamster house.

A crazy maze of fun.

Add a helmet and its the perfect safety device to keep him contained all day.

Slippers to wear into the bathroom.

Balloon room.

Once again, we were the only caucasian family in the entire place, so we definitely stood out. That's been the case at all the shopping centers we've been to on both weekends. There were so many adorable Korean children stuffed into their thick leggings and sweat pants - and amply filling them out, I might add. Lots and lots of super chubby cheeks beckoning me to squeeze them. But I held back. For now.

Chubby baby heads and balls.

Even the restrooms at all the places we've been to have cute tiny kid toilets and sinks and cozy baby rooms with couches for nursing and diaper changing. It's just really nice to see how much the Korean culture considers kids in an adult world. It's one of the bright spots in an otherwise really difficult transition to Korea. I think the boys will have fun here!

Mr.Toilet House

This is the blog I've had such an overwhelming urge to pass on to my readers. Before we were discharged to Korea I'd heard about The Toilet Museum and had a burning itch to see it for myself. I've certainly been making a stink about it for weeks, pushing and straining to get my husband to take the plunge and help me eliminate it from my (honey) bucket list. The Big Daddy, myself and our two little squirts headed off to Suwon, about an hour north of Pyeongtaek and a meadow-muffin's throw to Seoul. It's tucked away in the bowels of a small neighborhood. We trotted over a little bridge and braced ourselves for an explosively entertaining experience.

Ok, enough. If that was too much for you, its about to get a whole lot more offensive. Beware!

I don't get it. He's holding half of a gourd and looks sad.

Different ways of squatting on blocks.

Ohhh, it hurts so good.

For real, people. And its gold!

What mothers will do for their children!

An early restroom

Where we all do our best thinking, right?

Boy potties

Girl potties

An ancient pipe layer

What on earth? That was my first thought. Turns out this is the pre-toilet paper solution. Straddle, shuffle, done.

I knew you weren't done looking at that one!

Summitting the golden poop!

The whole reason behind this place is because of the vision of  Mr. Sim Jae-duck, mayor of Suwon City. He started the Toilet Culture Movement because he wanted Koreans to have access to better bathroom facilities and more efficient waste management. I think our relatively nice restrooms are something Westerners take for granted. We expect bathrooms to be taken care of, smell nice and be clean. Have you ever asked someone, "How are the bathrooms?" "Oh, they're so nice!" or "They're really gross. Don't go in there." We judge the quality of a restaurant/hotel/home by how clean and nice the restrooms are. In all the homes we've lived in the bathroom is my biggest concern after the kitchen. We've had some really gross ones and some good ones and the gross ones have made me dislike the whole house.
Not that long ago Korea only had holes in the ground for toilets. Some public restrooms still have that style for the old-schoolers, but they always have typical Western toilets, too.

Mr.Toilet and I.

According the brochure we picked up, the World Health Organization says that 40% of the population (2.6 billion people) do not have access to proper toilets and about 2 million people die every year from waterborne contagious diseases every year. Mr. Sim Jae-duck was very influential in creating nicer restroom spaces all over Korea, and with the help of the World Toilet Association, around the developing world, too, especially Africa. Thank you, Sir!

A picture of the toilet-shaped museum we were in.

The adorable kid-size bathroom.

A poop painting contest?? Where do I sign up?

Some Korean kids demonstrated the old way of squatting on slats. Take it easy...they kept their pants on. The moms thought it was pretty funny.

Different symbols for male/female restrooms around the world.

One of the many works of art.

Climbing yet another steamer. And footprints stepping in it??

A picture of a sweet little girl innocently grabbing the golden deuce.

We made a donation to the World Toilet Association and each boy got their own Golden Poop money bank.

Pretty exciting! I seriously hope they keep these things forever. Who else has a poo bank??

Fun Facts:  People started wearing high-heeled shoes to avoid dragging their clothes in the #1 and #2 that used to flow in the streets. And they wore perfume to mask the horrible smell. And we still love our heels and perfume to this day but for a totally different reason.