P.N., R.N.

My mom's cousin (my first cousin, once removed!), Paulette, came to visit us for a week. She was our first out-of-town, flew-across-the-ocean guest. The plans started back in June when I went home for my cousin's wedding. Paulette spontaneously (as she does) asked if she could use her vacation time to visit us and of course I gave her a huge YES. Korea is one of the few places this seasoned traveler has not seen so it made perfect sense. She graciously offered to take the bus from the airport since its almost a 2-hour drive one way for us. With anyone else I would be worried. How would they know where to go? Will they figure out how to make an international call to reach us? Would they get on the right bus? Will they be totally overwhelmed? With Paulette, I knew I had nothing to worry about. She's smart, savvy and self-reliant. I gave her the bits of information she requested and she took care of the rest. NBD. Even Marc questioned how this was all going to work to which I simply shook my head and said, "she's got it." And she did. She had it all figured out and we met her at our local bus depot on Wednesday evening. Yippee!! A familiar face! A blood relative! Here!

Upon arriving at our house she unzipped her rolling suitcase and, like Mary Poppins, began removing an absurd amount of gifts and Trader Joe's treats for all of us, including wine! Among other things, the boys each received big pencil cases full of colored pencils, pads of paper, sharpeners, stickers, and markers. It was getting to be bedtime for the boys so I did the routine and then thoughtful Paulette took over the book reading with some Ballpark Mystery books she brought herself. Jonah went to bed that night with his pencil case. As I turned off the light he was proudly removing each item one at a time saying, "I have this. I have this. I have this..."

Playing with his new Magformers shapes.

Helping to carve the pumpkins. Jonah says, "Ew".

At Toby's soccer game.

On Friday we picked Marc up early from work and got Toby at 11:30 after school, then we headed to Seoul. The plan was to shop, eat all the foods we can't get in Pyeongtaek and get Paulette on a tour to the DMZ. That night, of all things, we ate at an Austrian restaurant very close to our hotel that a friend recommended. It was super shmekt and nice to eat something other than Korean food at a restaurant.

I'll never tell who let him taste the beer bubbles.

Ehh...maybe not.

Now we're talking. Real Austrian hot chocolate.

Saturday was the big walking/shopping day so we took her to our favorite corner of Seoul - Samcheong-dong, a cute, artsy/trendy area of restaurants and artisans. Its kind of a refuge from big, loud, crazy Seoul. Anyway, it was perfect for Paulette, who likes to find unique jewelry and bags. The only disappointment, since she kind of has a "thing" for shoes, is that the biggest size in Korea is an 8 and she's an 8.5. Boo. I already know not to bother trying to find 9.5/10 for myself. I would need to custom order shoes. I guess it would be like a woman in America trying to find size 14. Good luck.

Slightly disturbing flower pot.

Thai noodles for lunch. Just break open the box and share!

One of those candid photos that turns out kinda cool. Thanks, Marc.

We were both successful in finding a few cute things for ourselves and Christmas gifts for others. I don't go shopping very often mostly because I'm exceedingly indecisive. I can stand there comparing two items for 30 minutes, arguing with myself about which one is better. And then after I decide and purchase something, I almost always immediately regret it and feel like I should have bought the other one. Paulette can look at two things, ask a few questions, and give me good reasons why one or the other is the best decision. Its so simple! I need that single voice of reason to make the squabbling voices in my head shut up. She just knows what she's talking about. She's also dangerous to shop with. She will convince you that you need something. But I think its just fun watching other people spend a little money on themselves especially when they really like what they've found.

I needed a new bag and wanted to find a cute backpack. I like what I have now but its basically a big shoulder sack and I get so frustrated digging around for my ID, keys, a diaper, chapstick, etc. Whatever I need seems to be at the deepest depth of the bag. A backpack has compartments, feels nice and even and doesn't bang the heads of little ones next to me. We went to a few bag places and I wasn't feelin' it. Then we rounded a corner and I found Cute Backpack Store! That's what I'm calling it. It came down to two different styles of the same pattern. (A huge predicament, for me.) Paulette quickly helped me resolve the issue and I'm so pleased with it. She was right. Plus it was waaaaay cheaper than I thought it would be.

I don't always shop, but when I do, I should shop with Paulette.

This backpack screams "AMY"

After a day of casual strolling, we finally had dinner at Vatos Tacos, the legendary, hip Mexican food restaurant that every ex-pat-who's-anyone in Korea knows about. We had a 45 minute wait and it was worth every bite. OH! I have been craving these flavors and was ultimately satisfied and stuffed. 

Some kind of beer-margarita concoction. Obviously what Marc needed after a long day.

On Sunday, Paulette hopped on a tour bus to the DMZ and Marc and I took the boys to Children's Grand Park...again.We met her that afternoon and drove back home.

Have I mentioned that Paulette is a nurse? A real, live nurse. We could ask her any question and she would have an answer faster than Google. She just knows stuff. She's been doing medical research for several years and that's what takes her all around the world. She even visited me in Paris back in 1999. How cool is that? She's the perfect house guest because she gets up early to make the coffee, doesn't need to be entertained, offers to help out and is just really enjoyable and interesting to talk to. I guarantee you would love Paulette. She's fabulous.

One of the most memorable parts of her visit, for me, especially because I got sick on Sunday, was that she offered to cook. (And she's a really good cook, too.) In one day she made chili, stuffed peppers,  veggie lasagna and chicken soup, then potato pancakes the next day. Anyone who's sick needs someone to take care of them, but it was especially meaningful to me, as a mom, who usually still has to take care of everyone else even when I feel like Death. I got to rest, take naps, eat her delicious food and basically take care of ME for a whole day. I think that's why I got well so much faster than I usually do. And I've barely had to make anything since she left because we're living off the leftovers. Love it!

Weeeee! Paulette is fun!

Learning colors with the help of 99 Birds

Saying goodbye

After dropping her off at the bus depot, poor Jonah kept asking, "Where Pa'ette go?"
We loved having you, Pa'ette. Thank you for using your time and money to visit lonely, little ol' us in our corner of the earth. I wonder where we'll meet again?? XXOO

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!