Back to Emart

All right, we went back to Emart. This time the sole purpose was to buy two goldfish for the kids. Benjamin wanted a gold one and wanted Ashley to have another color. So when we got there she picked out a black gold fish (a Black Moor variety) and we got Benjamin (he was in school) a gold colored one. We had looked around a little first, then bought the fish and left to go to the food court and have lunch. I really don’t why the States hasn’t caught onto this but here is how you order at a Korean food court. There is one central area that the registers (in this case, there were three) are located at. That is where you place your order, regardless of the restaurant you plan to eat at. After you pay they give you a receipt with a number on it (or multiple receipts all with the same number if you ordered from different restaurants). You then walk around the food court to whichever place you ordered your food from and wait for your number to show up on the digital marquee sign. You pick your food up on the tray and take the tray and dirty dishes back to the same location after you are done. The only problem is you can’t order drinks. They have water coolers located throughout the food court with cups (for free, of course). I guess Koreans don’t drink Diet Coke with their meals. I ordered (I guess I should say that James ordered…) my favorite dish Japchae (glass noodles with some vergetables and rice). My meal also came with this soup which looked like it might have been spicy. I thought I would give it a try and see how it tasted. I started to stir it around and realized there were little pieces of squid in there. So yes, I pretended I was on Fear Factor, found the smallest piece and ate it. It was rubbery and bumpy but didn’t have much taste (just the spicy flavor of the soup). At least I can say I tried it. When we got done eating, James ran back into Emart to buy a Korean microwave. We didn’t have one sent over and found after being here for a month we really miss having one. Plus, we figured that all the other appliance are in Korean and we don’t understand them, so why not get another (plus the kitchen is one of the few rooms in the house that is 220 volts). Electric and electronic devices are pretty easy to get here (it’s a Samsung after all) and it only cost us 93,000 won (I will let you do the math).

Spicy squid soup and Japchae (in background)

Lotte World

The weather is still very cold and since Benjamin was off from school for President’s Day, we decided to surprise the kids with a trip to Lotte World, an amusement park. We rode the subway to get there and only had to change lines once. Lo’ and behold, when we got off the train it was like walking into a mall back in the States. There were tons of stores: a Lotte Department store, Lotte Mart, a Build-a-Bear work shop, more little shops than you could count and even a Krispy Kreme. It felt like we were in heaven and I loved it. We kept walking past the stores and getting stares (mostly Ashley) and we saw the ticket booth to Lotte World. I knew that a large part of the park was indoors, but didn’t realize you don’t have to go outside at all after you got of the subway; everything was connected underground. We bought our tickets, which for the entire family only cost 83,000 won. It was pretty cool when we got inside. There were multiple levels to the park: the top four levels (aboveground) were the rides, the next level down was like a food court and the bottom one had a large ice skating rink. We walked around and checked things out before we ate lunch and then rode some of the rides. We were able to ride the park’s monorail around and it took us outside to see the rest of the park (the day was far too cold for us to walk around in this part). The outdoor portion, Magic Island, even had what looked like the Disney castle in the center of it.

Photo of the inside of the main park at Lotte World. You can see the dome roof above.

Here is the Magic Island Castle

Benjamin and Ashley riding Treeble's Hopper (I think this was the second time through).

Right before we left we decided to get ice cream cones and watch a show. The ice cream was kind of neat to watch. You told them what flavor you wanted and then he pulled out little ice cream cups, took the lids off, loaded the cups into a machine, held your cone under it and the machine filled it up. The kids decided they both wanted blueberry, James went with melon and, just in case the kids didn’t like theirs, I went with the safer choice of chocolate and vanilla swirl (figuring they would end up wanting mine). However, everyone was happy with their choices. The show was a non-verbal cooking comedy called Nanta. It has actually been shown on Broadway back in the States. It was really fun to watch and very entertaining to the kids. We then headed back home, making a stop at the aforementioned Krispy Kreme, and jumped back on subway, feeling very exhausted. What more can anybody ask of me?

Performers of Nanta after "tasting" their creation

Big finale

Here's the Krispy Kreme at the Jamsil subway station

Movies on a Cold, Wintry Day

The weather has turned from being kind of warm and tolerable to stepping outside and having your faces instantly freeze. So on Sunday we decided to go to the movies. We went to the 3:30 showing of Madagascar 2, which we had already seen, thinking that the kids would like to see it again. Afterwards we went to the food court on post and had dinner before heading back to the movies to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The kids seemed to enjoy both of them and were very well behaved for our first ever double feature (in the same day). Both movies were fairly entertaining. It made us feel just a little bit guilty since the movies here are free for us and we watched two in one day. But I guess since the theaters weren’t full, it isn’t like we took up anyone’s seat. Now that we know the kids can sit through two movies, I think our future has changed. We have made it to the next level.

E-Mart

Okay, so we have been dying to visit a Target or Wal-Mart since we got here. I am having withdrawals for some good indoor shopping. Not the “let’s pop a tent up outside on the sidewalk and sell some hats” shopping experience. Plus the kids, especially Benjamin, have been begging for a pet fish. So I did some research and discovered that the Wal-Mart that we visited the last time we lived in Korea is no longer around (the company shut down all stores and left in 2002) and they were bought out by Shinsegae, a company that owns stores called E-Mart. Sounds slightly familiar, huh? So we went out on another shopping adventure. It was just across the road from the Costco (from the previous posting), so we knew where we were going. We went into the parking garage and parked our little car. When we went up the moving sidewalk/escalator to the entrance of the store, we spotted the shopping carts all lined up. So we went to get one (cause you never know what you might need to buy, right?) and discovered they were all chained together. After a little tugging and looking, standing back and looking some more, we discovered you have to put in a 100 won coin to get them released from their chains. Since this equates to about seven cents (saved you the effort of doing the conversion on this one), we decided to go ahead and splurge. As soon as we walked into the store, it was like being in a department store back in the States (except all the products were Korean). The store was sort of a “Super E-Mart” (forgive the pun), since it also had a supermarket, so we got to walk around and see all the different foods for sale. We found that the store did have a small pet section with aquarium fish, not to mention a baby hedgehog and Japanese Rhinoceros Beetles. We are still not sure if those would be illegal to bring back with us. We did not buy any fish because we thought Benjamin might like to pick out his own (he was in school). I was also happy because I finally found a coat rack there. I had been trying to find one here, with no luck. We have no closets in the living room or entryway to hang jackets up and I was really tired of looking at them thrown on the back of the chair. It got even better: not only did I find that, but I also found a clothes drying rack. Since our all-in-one washer and dryer takes 4 hours to wash and semi-dry a load of laundry, the clothes are still a little damp at the end of the cycle, so I have to hang some up. It’s far too confusing to try and figure out how to dry them just a little longer (if you would like, this might be a good time to go back and re-read the posting below on “getting settled into our home” where you can see a photo of the washer/dryer panel). So I felt like a princess getting the two things I so desperately needed. We did discover when we were leaving that when you kindly return your cart, your 100 won magically reappears. Maybe Wal-Mart back in the States should consider this method. More people would think twice about stealing a shopping cart if it was going to cost them seven cents! I have to say that I was very impressed with E-Mart and will definitely be going back.

Costco

So we heard there was a Costco here in Seoul. We checked on the internet and there are six of them in Korea. First, I guess I should say that we bought a car after we got here and finally got all the paperwork and such taken care of so that we could drive it. Then last Saturday we got brave and decided to go driving to find Costco. It was only about 5 or 6 miles away from our house, but getting there was a little crazy. It wasn’t just the traffic: we drove by the store at first because we could not figure out how to get in. So we did like everyone else here and made a U-turn in the road. The Costco here has a guy whose job is to just wave you towards the parking garage. On top of that, each level in the building has another employee waving you on to the next level. We got (un)lucky and ended up parking on level 5, so we got to see a lot of the employees. The only way we could have parked any higher up would have been to go up to the roof level. We got out of the car, walked to the elevator and rode it down while everyone stared at the Americans going to Costco (mostly they stare at our kids, of course).


We got inside and James signed us up and paid our membership fee of 35,000 won. No, they don’t take American Express or debit cards like back in the States; they only take Samsung cards. Unfortunately, we didn’t think about that and so didn’t bring a lot of cash with us. After standing in line for a short while, we finally got our photos taken and membership cards made and then we were off shopping (aka, dodging people). Apparently, the Koreans love Costco. We were a little disappointed because the entire store was fairly Westernized. We were expecting to be able to buy Korean products in bulk, but it turned out they stocked the products we were accustomed to. We ended up buying some bottled water ( 1900 won for six 2-liter bottles…yes, we must learn to love the metric system here) a bag of frozen chicken, and James’ favorite snacks made of rice and bean paste (찹쌀떡, known in Japan as daifuku - 大福). In total, we only spent 17,000 won. That is by far the least I have ever spent at Costco. The cool thing was it was two floors and you rode on moving sidewalks/escalators that were made to lock your carts in place. I managed to get a few pictures while we were in the checkout lane before an employee asked me kindly not to. I am not sure if Costco will be a weekly thing. Even though the samples they give out here include alcohol and they have a great selection of fresh octopus, I think I need a little more than that to go back in. Maybe a football helmet with a face mask, shoulder pads and a motorized cart…then I might be ready.

Namsan and Seoul Tower

Alright, so last weekend we decided to be brave and walk up the street a little ways and hop on the subway and make our way to Namsan and Seoul Tower. It was exciting and a little nerve-wracking at the same time. The next to last stop it got really crowded. Thankfully, James was holding Ashley because we were so packed in there I could not move. When the doors opened to get off there were more people trying to get on. So we fought our way through trying to hold onto each other; I think I was holding on so tight that I may have left red marks on Ben’s hand. We got there and walked out in the wrong direction to where we needed to be going. This is where the adventure began. We walked and walked and then we climbed about 50 steps and then we walked some more and then decided that we would cross the road because that made more sense (at least it did at the time) and then we discovered there were about 100 more steps to climb. After we huffed and puffed and used the kids as excuses to stop we made it a flat spot where there was a park. The kids took off running off like with a newfound surge of energy.

As we were watching them play and catching our breath, I looked over and saw this thing that looked like an Elliptical (exercise machine) but it was not running on electricity run and was just located next to the park. I guess they thought we had not gotten enough exercise climbing all of those stairs. I know I am always at the park with the kids thinking “Hey, I could use some cardio”. The kids had fun and then we moved on. We walked around that area looking at some statues and then we looked across the road and saw there were even more stairs. At this point, the kids were not very happy. But then, we saw where the cable car was going up. Now I wasn’t too sure about this idea, but Ben was real excited about the prospect. So we waited in line, were stared at a lot, and ended up making friends with a Korean family in front of us. The mom had bought a bag of the Korean version of Bugles (remember those?) and was handing them to her kids and Ashley was a like a little hungry puppy staring at them, so one of the kids gave her one. Ashley took it and then looked at me. I said “go ahead”. Then my mommy instincts kicked in: I had just let my daughter take food from a stranger. I kept telling myself that I saw her buy the bag and open it up. We were then crammed into the cable car with about 30 other people. I mostly just kept my eyes closed on the ride up. However, I have to admit, it was an amazing view. At the top of the mountain, there was a sword demonstration going on that we watched and then we let the kids walk around. When we were ready to leave, we went down a shortcut that we saw on the way up, hailed a taxi and went back home.

Here's a view of the city from the top of the mountain -

Ashley's Birthday

My little girl turned three. I cannot believe it; it seems that I only yesterday I was holding her and rocking her in my arms and now she is sassy, putting her hands on her hips and saying “don’t want to”. The party was a little challenging since we just arrived and have not really had a chance to make any friends her age. There is another family that we knew in California that also arrived at the same time that we did. They actually have a little boy who is just a little older than Ashley. So we called them up and invited them over for pizza, cake and ice cream. We kept it simple until the clown showed up. Benjamin, Ashley’s older brother wanted to surprise her by being a clown for her party. So James went out shopping and found a party store. He bought the clown wig, squeaky nose, and a bag of twisty balloons for him. Benjamin has developed the ability to make balloon dogs, spoons, worms, snakes, and now swords.

Here she is with a set of Pororo wind up characters -

Her Cinderella cake that she was so excited to have -

Another gift, a Doraemon hat for those cold Korean winters (although Doraemon is originally a Japanese cartoon, it is also popular in Korea) -

And here is the world famous "Ben the Clown" working on a balloon dog -

We even went all out and called Pizza Hut for delivery. I think James was on the phone for 10 minutes trying to use his Korean skills to place the order. I was beginning to think he traded away our first born for the pizza. We ended up ordering a cheese pizza to make the kids happy and a Bulgogi topped one for the adults.

Here is pizza delivery Korean style -

And a picture of the bulgogi pizza, which is rather tasty -

Overall, it turned out to be a great birthday for her. She really enjoyed it; especially “Ben the Clown “, who incidentally only charged us 2000 Won (about $1.50 at today’s exchange rate). Let me know if you want to hire him…I can provide contact information and references.

Getting settled into our home

OK, we had our things delivered and this is what it looked like:



It took several days to unpack and try to fit things into the rooms. Korean residences typically do not have a lot of closets, which means there are no linen closets or a hall closet for jackets. We are currently on a look-out for a coat rack to put near the front door, but can’t seem to find one yet. It will probably be cheaper to have one made locally than to try and order one and have it shipped here. However, that is just the tip of what I have to go through. All of the appliances in the house are Korean so, yes indeed, everything is written in Korean. You get an “A” for following along. This means the washer/dryer (an all in one unit), the range…even the toilets (because 2 out of three of them are bidets). At least at the beginning, I had the excuse that I did not know how to work the washing machine to do laundry. However, that only lasted a couple of days before James translated every button on it and drew up a guide for me. I have learned that it takes about 4 hours to do one load of laundry. At least that includes the drying being almost completely done. Needless to say, I do a load every morning when I get up. So after figuring out how the buttons work we then learned that there is a drain hose that is underneath the sink that sets beside the machine. The hose is connected to the washing machine but was just hanging under the sink. We discovered it when we saw water pouring out from the cupboard below the utility sink. So we then figured that is why there is a drain in the floor. So I have to set up the hose at the drain each time I do laundry. Strange, huh? Maybe that is one of the reasons we don’t drink the water…

Here's the controls for the toilets:

And here's a shot of the washing machine/dryer controls:

Arriving in Korea

After flying for what seemed like forever, we finally reached our destination: Seoul, Korea. The flight was fantastic; Korean Air is absolutely the best way to travel. The kids did wonderful on the flight and the only problem we ran into was trying to keep them awake the last several hours. Yes, I was already trying to get them used to the time change -- not to mention I was ready for bed once we got into our hotel that night.

It took us about 4 days to recover from the jetlag and turn back into normal people. We were only in the hotel for 13 days before we had signed a contract for the house we found. However, it was a long 13 days since the weather was too cold to take the kids outside to play and we were all starting to get all over each other’s nerves from being cooped up in a small room. So you can only imagine our excitement when we moved into the house.

James did all the running around with the realtor looking at apartments and one house. After narrowing it down I was taken on the adventure out in the city with a Korean driver. That was when I realized how many cars, buses, and cabs are on the road at once and that everyone does their own thing, expecting the other person to stop.

Benjamin, our 6 year son, is enrolled in the American Elementary school in Kindergarten. He seems to like it -- no complaints yet. Ashley, our soon to be 3 year old daughter, is on the waiting list for preschool.

More news later on the house we are renting, hopefully along with pictures.