Thanksgiving in Korea

So, obviously no one in Korea had off on Thursday for Thanksgiving, so we decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner here on Saturday.  Up since about 5:30 this morning, I have three pies cooling in the pantry, two kinds of biscotti, two kinds of stuffing and a corn casserole waiting to go into the oven, and a 17+ pound turkey waiting in brine for it's turn in the oven.  Do you think we'll have enough for 10 people?  Did I mention that everyone's bringing a side dish as well?  

Hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving in the states.  I'll let you know how dinner went tomorrow!

Korean SAT Day

 
Yesterday was Suneung, or Korean SAT day.  The Korean SAT is very, very different from the American SAT.  In Korea, students take the 9-hour test during their senior year, and it is one of the most important, if not the most important, factor in getting into a university.  I read somewhere that Korea has the largest percentage of 18-34 year olds in college, and therefore it becomes very important to get into a good school in order to get a good job.  If you do poorly on the Korean SAT, you can't re-take a month later like you can in the states - it is only offered ONCE a year!  Talk about stress.  A test that lasts all day, counts more than all your high school grades, and you start studying for often two or three years in advance.  Yuck.  

However, for us, Korean SAT day meant a lovely day off for S. in the middle of the week.  So, we went up to Seoul to try to take O. to the Rolling Ball Museum.  However, once we got there, we found out that it was one of those Korean temporary museums that was now unfortunately closed.  O. took the news better than I did.  I think strawberry ice cream helped.  

As did getting to pretend to be the Mona Lisa.

Waaaaay to far for a taxi ride through Seoul....back to the subways.

So, we decided to head over to COEX mall and go to the aquarium instead.  Two subways, a couple of smoothies and about an hour later, we were finally in the aquarium.  Going late in the day, during the middle of the week, is definitely the time to go.  There were few people and we could take our time looking at the exhibits without being pushed and shoved like we were the last time.  (Of course, we did decide last time to go on New Years day when everyone had off...we are not the smartest when planning things...)

First exhibit...check out how big the catfish is at the bottom next to O. 

Yes, those are fish in a washing machine, and fish and snowmen in a refrigerator.  Those crazy Koreans and their creative exhibits. 

Yep, the fish that eat dead skin are back....this time cleaning off O.'s fingers.  With all the time we spent there, he has the cleanest hands in Cheonan.  Video can be posted if anyone's interested. :)

There were fruit eating bats...

...really big fish...

... piranhas....who knew they were so pretty and sparkly...

...portrait of an eel by O. himself...

...lots of sharks...

...and the most awesome seal that raced back and forth with O. for almost 20 minutes straight.  If I can get the video uploader to work sometime in this century, I'll put the video up tomorrow for you all to see.  

O. had a great time.  

When did I turn into such a girl?

The pink yarn has now been turned into a little pink sweater....

and the beginnings of a pink blanket.

I've bought a little pink snowsuit and little pink pants.  When did I turn into such a girl?  I blame all these pregnancy hormones.  

Halloween 2010

Halloween is still not a very commonly observed holiday here in Korea.  A lot of students know the basics of Halloween from their foreign teachers, but kids don't go trick-or-treating and costumes aren't found in most stores.  Party stores do carry some costumes and decorations and I was able to find some Halloween themed toys at one of the larger supermarket chains.  So, we had a couple of parties - one for my friend and her two kids and then another one with all the teachers at S.'s school.  

For our party with the kids, we made homemade pizza, watched a couple of Halloween themed videos, ate lots of American-style snacks and then went trick-or-treating in the apartment.  The adults all took a bowl of candy and went into a room, while the kids ran from door to door knocking and yelling "trick or treat!"  The kids loved it and could have run back and forth all night if we had enough candy. 

 

The next night, all of us dressed up and went over to a colleagues apartment for the school party.  Again, we showed the kids that were there what trick-or-treating was by having adults in different rooms. O decided that he wanted to give out the candy, so he gave up his candy in order to have the adults come to his door.  

That is S's actual baseball uniform that he was fitted for and wears for Saturday games.  

Trying to explain why being an oven with a bun it is funny to Koreans was a bit difficult.  

O was a ghost, but spent most of the night out of costume.  

Sword fighting is a must at most parties, right?

Ice hand floating in punch.  

Witches' finger cookies.  

We convinced O. that he should have the costume on for at least part of the trick-or-treating. 

 

Lots of good food and good company made for a great Halloween this year.  

Backlog

Well, the blog postings have been far and few between, haven't they?  I haven't been feeling all that well lately, and add to that the stress of getting ready to go back to the states for a month...and the photos have been just sitting on my phone.  No more though!  I uploaded them last night (or should I say this morning, as it was 4:30 am when i was doing this) and thought I should at least give you some hi-lights of our past month or so.  

We took another trip to Bear Tree Park.

 

Things you wouldn't be able to do in the states.

 

He didn't fall in until we were walking to the next pool of water.  Good thing mama always has an extra pair of underwear in her purse, along with a very long scarf.

We took a rest on the playground. 

 

We visited our friend's kindergarten class during their open house. 

 
 
 

Note the concentration on S.'s face during building time.

And the finished product.  Good job daddy! 
 

Gym time.

Snack time, Korean-style.  Potatoes roasted and sprinkled with sugar.

  

And on the way out, a water balloon toss. 

What a good sport. 

We also went fishing in a lovely mountain stream with our friends.  

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

All the minnow-like fish that we caught with the net were given to an older couple who made them into lunch while they sat by the stream in their tent.  We had plums, tomatoes and bread for our snack instead.

 

We also got to go to a major league baseball game.  The company that sponsor's S's program at school also sponsors a baseball team.  Unfortunately they are last in the standings - they are 7th out of, well, 7 teams.  However, they had an amazing game the night we were there and they ended up winning 8-5 after getting a grand slam in the 3rd inning.  

 

The stadium built for the World Cup in 2002 is in the background.

 

Best seats in the house, for about $15 USD.

 

I wish I had better pictures of the inside, but my phone decided to die at just about this point.  For the kids that don't have a 9-inning attention span, a free train ride, playground area and moon bounce. What a great night out. 

We are headed back to the states in less than 24 hours.  Hope everyone is having a great summer so far, and hopefully we'll be able to see lots of your during our vacation!