Benjamin's Spot

How I got to my apartment. It took a long train ride almost every day to find an apartment. We got in our car and the first moment Sadie started screaming in our ear, then we made it to another toll booth in the city and without any directions we found our apartment. It was nice but Mommy wished for a dishwasher. But it would have been harder without a playground.

I like going bowling almost every day. And we always have dessert there too. And then one night Mommy told me to go to school and i was kind of angry about that because it still had nap time and computer time. That was going to be kind of hard. I like beef bulgolgi. We are trying to go to an airplane restaurant without Sadie. We have to find a babysitter but that will be hard to do.

I like my trip so far because I get to see lots of fish tanks everywhere. I miss Ajax a lot but I'm happy we made it.

Taejong-dae Park

One weekend back in Busan, Steve's coworker, Mr Im, took Benjamin, Steve and I to Taejong-dae Park. It was the most beautiful park we've seen so far in Korea. An open air tram takes you to the top of the cliff which overlooks the sea from an observation deck. On a very clear day you can see the Japanese island of Tsushima.

Hanging Out

Just relaxing and having fun with the kids in our new apartment.

Countryside

This is the view from our living room. It's really pretty. You can see rice fields, gardens and mountains. Steve and I are really happy to be out of the big city. Waegwan has a nice "downtown" area as well with shopping, bakeries, Baskin Robins and produce markets lining the streets.

Finally A Home

Since May 30th we've lived out of seven different hotels - from Richmond, Chicago, Hawaii, Busan and Waegwan, with a five year old, a 12 month old, seven suit cases, and four plastic bins, bottles, diapers, toys, a lap top, books, magazines and videos and more. Steve and I could probably write a book on how to survive living in a hotel with small children long-term; what items to order for room service, etc, etc.

So now I'm happy to report that we have just moved into our new apartment!!!! Our home is in a town called Waegwan. It's very pretty here. I need to locate my cord that attaches the camera to the computer to upload more pictures, but yesterday at the park a photography student asked to take some pictures of Sadie for her training and she emailed them to me. This one is of Sadie getting dirty in the sand.

Steve has been in Seoul the whole week but luckily Sadie's nanny from Busan stayed with us this week and helped to unpack, did several loads of laundry for me without a dryer and helped us get settled. Quite a journey, but now I feel our new adventure can really begin.

Benjamin has ALL of his toys again (praise the toy gods!) and his bike that he rides every day. We are learning our way around the army base that is only down the street from us. Sadie is learning to walk. I got my hair cut today. It took lots of hand signals some pen and paper, several pictures and about five hair dressers trying to understand that I wanted the back length of my hair and the front length of my hair more even. I'm talking in English and they're all talking to me in Korean. After about 15 minutes of coming to some conclusion that I was still a little scared about, I got a great hair cut. Usually this method works pretty well in many situations and somehow it always works out in a mutual understanding. Thank goodness for hand and body language and some pretty universal hand signals. I even made a new friend today at the dept store's indoor play area. She's Korean and speaks English very well. I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

Poor Steve is at his 8th hotel stay but will soon enjoy home cooked meals again and our Sleep Number bed. Thanks everyone for all of your support over the past almost 3 months, the care packages and fun skyping!!

Friends

Our first week here we were so fortunate to meet another US family from MN- The Hamiltons, at a grocery store's play area for kids. Cliff builds golf courses around the world so they are old pros at living overseas. Kris, who is one tough momma, taking care of her 3 year old twin girls and almost 2 year old daughter is my savior. I think I'd have cried so many times without her. She can get through the Korean grocery store blindfolded and find everything she needs for her girls. The first week here Benjamin, Sadie and I came to her apartment for a play date and she made us lasagna!! It was the nicest welcome we could have dreamed of getting.

It's so interesting and amazing to meet people here and other families that are also here for 2 or 3 years and raising kids. It's like a whole other world and when we get together it's fun to hear their similar anectodes and reports.

Thursday Kris and I and the kids went to another friend Sara's house for her 3 year old, Gustov's birthday party. We had such a nice time and the kids played so well together. Sara's family is here from Norway. We met some friends at the hotel, Katie, her husband Ken and their 3 children, who just moved here from Seattle. They will be here for at least 2 years working for Boeing. And then there are a few other families living here from Oregon for a few years working for Nike. Who knew?? Just things you never think about when you are sitting at the dinner table back home.

Life is definitely not the same and do we miss home - oh yes, and especially because we haven't moved into an apartment yet. But despite my occasional whining I'm glad our family is making this adventure and making new friends is great, some who I'm sure we'll be friends with forever.

We had to take the Korail for about a half hour before transferring to the bullet train back to Busan from Waegwan. The air condition wasn't working and it was about 1000 degrees on the train and there were no seats left so we had to stand. A few young girls were infatuated with Benjamin, taking his picture and fanning him off with their hand-held Sponge Bob fan.

Apartment Here We Come

It looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel. After living in a hotel room since May 30th with the kids we're hoping for an August 16th move-in date to our new pad in Waegwan. We're looking forward to moving out of the big city into a more countryside part of South Korea.