"I'm 'IT'"

Happy Spring! I just had to include this picture of plum blossoms in my sugar mold.

I got "tagged", so here goes:

Ten Years Ago?

10 years ago our little family of three (mommy, daddy, and baby) moved in with Grandma (my husband's widowed grandmother) to help out with meals and cleaning etc. Motherhood had left me so incredibly sleep-deprived I couldn't see straight and Jim was confused about his career path. We were in a pretty pathetic and desperate state. Fortunately, we didn't stay at Grandma's long. In a nutshell, ten years ago we were young and penniless and a bit confused.

Things on my "to do" list:

1. Wander down to the "town hall" with a piece of paper that has Korean writing on it. I have no idea what the paper says but I hope that if I show it to the right person, eventually I will get the licence plates for my car.
2. Read my scriptures (my daily struggle, I have good intentions, but....)
3. Take James for a check-up at the M.D. and get his Asthma prescriptions renewed.
4. Hope that the pharmacy carries his meds.
5. Play Scrabble with Anna
6. Play "Guess Who" with James
7. Work with Miriam on her book report (The Hobbit)
8. Knit (?, yeah right, that never happens)
9. Work on my mom's birthday present

What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire? I don't know. I wouldn't want it to ruin me or my kids--I like the work hard, live modestly ideal. I think I would pay my debts and then pretend it wasn't there. (Is that possible?) It would be really fun to wander around finding people to surprise with a thousand dollars every once in a while. I have some friends I would love to secretly buy a house for....

Three of my bad habits
1. Nag at my husband
2. Nag at my kids
3. re-make the beds after my husband and children make them

Three Places I have lived:
Boston
Chicago
Dominican Republic

Five Jobs I have had:
Telemarketing: Worst job ever! Boy was I desperate during college
Lynn's Flavor Magic (pretty bad, huh. I was desperate in high school, too)
Gymnastics Coach
Top Hat Video
Autoclave Tech (most boring job on the planet--once again a desperate summer job)

Five things people don't know about me:

1. I have a house-keeper that comes once a week for eight hours and I haven't cleaned a toilet since I moved to Seoul
2. I enjoy chess
3. I wear a very padded bra
4. I love idioms
5. I wear anti-wrinkle cream

Tag! You're "IT": Julia, Robilyn, Jan and Em.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

When we moved here, we came with very little furniture. We couldn't justify the shipping cost on furniture that we had found in the alley/trash or was just plain worn out. In the end, we shipped a few dressers (four), two tables, and our new sofa and love seat. We did not ship beds or bookshelves. It was extremely nerve wracking to imagine coming to a foreign country that I had never even visited, with very little furniture, to a home I had never seen. So many times I tried to imagine our home and where I could put this and that. I wondered fretfully what to buy before we left the states. What would I be able to find in Korea?
The transition process of setting up phones/Internet, bank accounts, visas, and figuring out where to buy new appliances (like a crock pot, vacuum, and blow dryer) left our time for furniture shopping on the back burner. Jim was busy teaching his first term while most of our "stuff" sat in boxes and we slept on a hide-a-bed. Slowly, but surely we mustered our way through the urgent matters so that we could move onto the "finer" details of living. After a few weeks Jim and I ventured out and did some window shopping. It was extremely overwhelming and by and large unsuccessful. Then we found a cool town outside of Seoul and it turned out to be our "spot". The town's name is Ilsan. In Ilsan, I found a few of my favorite things. Isn't it interesting how we can "gravitate" to certain places. It's like Ilsan and our furniture were calling to us all along.

This is a picture of our front room. The windows are so big and bright. We found the rug or carpet in Ilsan. We looked through a whole pile of rugs and we were going to settle on one, then the salesman dug really deep and showed us this one. Immediately we loved it. We also found this rocker. It reminds me of the one my Great Grandpa Barber bought for my Great Grandma.

This is a picture of our bedroom. More bright, south-facing windows and one of my favorite things of all: the quilt my grandma and aunts made for our wedding. I have stored it for years because we had a king size bed, but now it fits on our queen. I call it my "comforter" because it reminds me of home and my dear grandma.

One of my greatest dilemmas was whether or not I would be able to find a "soft" mattress here in Korea. It turns out that Costco sales Sealy Pillow Top Queens. A lot of worry for nothing!




This is a picture of Gracie and Miri's bedroom. Compact. My favorite thing? The book shelf and desk. Lots of room for all of that girl garb. My rule is, if I can't see it, you can keep it. They really like the drawers. I try not to open them.














This is our front hallway. I love the grandfather clock. It was hidden in the corner of a shop in Ilsan. Jim spotted it. I had to have it.















My kitchen. The "oven" (my new best friend), small window and limited cupboard space. Oh, well. We've made some pretty nummy Cinnamon rolls in here.

I have to admit that my house never looks like this. Usually there are dishes in the sink and on the counters, books and homework on the tables (well, everywhere for that matter) and tons of laundry waiting to be folded on the couch. But, I've left all of that to your imagination. Clutter is not one of my favorite things.

Those Darn Apron Strings

Those darn apron strings. Why don’t they stretch a little longer and tie a little tighter? Last week, James and I walked down the street to the corner and he hopped on the big ‘ole school bus and headed off to pre-school. I told him I would cry if he left me and he said, “That’s okay Mom, I won’t.” He didn’t. He has been very handsome and very brave. This “pre-school” experience has been different than all of my others. After careful thought and research, we chose to put James into a Korean Montessori Preschool as opposed to the American Preschool that is connected with the Elementary school that the girls go to. Yes, I have had a few raised eyebrows as to our decision and no, I can’t read any of the notes that he brings home. So far he loves it and hasn’t complained. We play a game after school with all of the children called, “best and worst”. Each child gets a chance to share what was best about their day and what was worst. When it is James turn, each day he has said, “My whole day was best”.

As far as I can tell, James does not understand a word that they are saying, yet he sits and listens (I’ve been peeking in on him during class). It’s made me wonder, does he understand what I’m saying when I talk? Does any young child? I have a whole new perspective about children; their resilience, their open-mindedness, their innocence, and their capability.

It's in these moments of life when my children “hop on the school bus” that I realize their childhood is moving forward and onward, slipping through my fingers. What remains are the memories that are imprinted in my mind and theirs. Their memories will play a large part in who they become. My memories? Well, they will keep me company, I hope.

One Last Hoorah...I Hope.

I read a children’s book while I was in Boston called, Winter is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer. The book left me with a cozy feeling and an appreciation for some of those cold, dark winter days. Today it was 50 degrees here in Seoul. Wow. Spring is creeping around the corner and I can breathe a sigh of relief that those big, fat winter coats can soon be stored away and we can pull out the lightweight jackets (which take up a lot less space, phew). Here is one last hoorah (I hope) for winter, and a peak into our ski trip to Yong Pyong.


This trip I skied in jeans and this motivated me not to fall down (which I didn't). I was very cautious and a bit boring. Susan Grace and Miri really did a great job. This was their second time skiing. Jim had a fun "night" out skiing from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a. m. It actually snowed on him- real snow, none of that man-made stuff. For the younger ones there was a great sledding run, complete with a conveyor belt that pulled us up to the top. Something about zooming down the ice on a piece of rubber makes me feel like I'm ten years old again. That's gotta be good anti-aging cream, right? If anything, it's really good for the soul. One thing I found different about skiing in Korea was that the pedestrians or spectators just wander around on the bottom of the slopes. We had our stroller out there and all of the kids playing around while the skiers were coming down the mountain around us. Wierd. I decided after a half day of skiing, I'd rather be the pedestrian than the skier, especially if I'm in jeans.

Aside: When we walked into the condominium there were no beds! In a nearby closet were nicely stacked and neatly folded "pads" (thick blankets). At night we threw these out on the floor (kind of like sleeping bags) and then folded them up again in the morning. The children thought it was great. My back didn't. This "Eastern" style of condominium is referred to as "Ondul" style.

A date that's thrice as nice

Starlight,

Star bright,

First Star I see tonight.

Wish I may,

Wish I might,

Have the wish,

I wish tonight.

Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance,

Seoul Foreign School,

February 23, 2008
The Grand Hilton,

Seoul, South Korea

To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter. ~Euripides

Starting Over

Today I made bread for the first time here in Seoul. It’s been a while since I’ve made bread, at least six months. I have been making bread since I was a senior in high school when my Aunt Diane taught me how to do it. There are a lot of things about making bread that I love: the smell of the wheat, the feel of the dough, the warmth of the house while it’s baking. I find it very rewarding to bake bread. I usually feel satisfied when I pack my baked bread away into bread bags and then into the cupboard or freezer. A good friend of mine once told me, “if you do something enough, it becomes so easy to do—it’s like falling off a log”. Well, I think I was about to that point with my bread making….until, I moved here. I have postponed my first bread making experience for fear that maybe I won’t be able to make bread here and I am going to have to admit that to myself. A fear that that part of me and many other parts of me can’t exist here in Seoul. Today I faced that fear and made my bread.
When I left Chicago, I had a 50 pound bucket of wheat that I left in the trash because the moving company wouldn’t include it in my shipment and I didn’t know what to do with it. So many times since I’ve been here in Seoul, I’ve thought about my bucket of wheat in the garbage. What a tragedy. And so, from day one in Seoul I have been on a quest to find wheat. Like many of God’s blessings, my wheat found me, I didn’t find it. A woman from my church was moving back to the states and she invited me to clean out her pantry. In her pantry was a 5 pound bag of whole wheat. I smiled and took it home where I packed it carefully into my cupboard waiting for the courage to attempt my bread. I think my biggest fear of making my bread was my “oven”. It’s a glorified microwave, really. It’s the size of a microwave with a round rotating tray. It has three different modes: microwave, grill, and convection oven. All of the buttons are in Korean and so is the owner’s manual. For the last six weeks I have experimented with some success and a lot of failure with the little oven. Like many other aspects of my life, my quest to “figure out the oven” has been a study in optimism, innovation and endurance; marked by an occasional triumph and many failures. The bread? It got a little burnt on the outside (a common dilemma of mine with the convection mode and converting Celsius to Fahrenheit) and one loaf stuck to the pan...UUugh. But, I discovered that it is possible to have homemade bread in Seoul and I can make it, if I’m willing to put forth a little bit more effort. It is frustrating to feel like I am relearning my life all over again, just when I felt like a well-oiled machine, but like another good friend once told me, “We never arrive”. So, here’s to my journey, and hot bread and honey.

Namdaemun Gate

A few weeks ago an arsonist set fire to the Namdaemun gate, one of South Korea's most historic sites. Located in central Seoul the gate is the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, and was given the status of "National Treasure number one" in 1962. It was first constructed in 1398, rebuilt in 1447.
Sad. I never got to see it.