Mulhyanggi Arboretum

It was a beautiful weekend, so we decided to go on a picnic.  My friend had taken O. and I there when we had first moved to Korea, but we hadn't been back and S. had never been there.  So, we packed up lots of food, bought a picnic mat to actually fit all of us, and headed out on the subway.  The arboretum is about 40 minutes by subway north of us, across from Osan University.  

Because it was a beautiful weekend, and Children's Day, the park was teeming with families.   So many kids that you forget that Korea has trouble convincing its citizens to have kids.  The fact that the entrance fee was only a dollar probably didn't help either.  But, we were able to find a spot on one of the many paths and sat down to eat lunch.  All the while, there were kids with bright neon vests on, patrolling to make sure that no one tried to get a better spot by placing their mat off the trail.  Good times. 

After lunch, we explored the arboretum.

Hedge maze.  Check.  

Bonsai tree gardens.  Check.

Small pond with fountain that sprays you if you stand in a certain place.  Check.

Lookout point where the only thing you can see are some apartment buildings...check.  

Water garden area where nothing is actually growing in most of the ponds?  Check.  

However, upon closer inspection, there WERE lots of tadpoles.  We were going to just observe, but then two young women with high heels and fancy manicures caught a couple for O., and well...I couldn't let him think that his mother couldn't do the same, if not better.  So, we caught tadpoles, watched tadpoles, caught the attention of lots of other kids and their parents, and possibly frustrated a whole bunch of ahjussis that were unsuccessful at catching said critters.  

To visit Mulhyanggi Arboretum, you can take the subway from Dujong towards Seoul, getting off at the Osan Dae station - the station after Osan. More information here.   

Thai shrimp salad

Ahem. Well, it's been a while.  

As I've looked through my bank statements, I can't help but wonder at why I keep paying for a blog service that I obviously don't use.  Ah, but those old posts...what to do with them. Print them out?  Bind them in a blurb book?  Copy and paste into some obscure file that I won't remember to open?

Then there is the bigger question of what exactly I wanted to have a blog for.  

I have a thin skin.  Very thin.  I don't necessarily want people to really know what's going on all the time because I don't want to be thought badly of.  I don't want to be misunderstood.  I don't take criticism well.  I read other people's blogs, the famous and the not so famous, and I cringe when I read about an unfavorable comment.  Even when there it is only one out of a sea of postive ones.  It has kept me from writing here.  Too much going on.  Too much to misinterpret.  Too much to share. 

Then again, why blog then.  To keep a record somehow of what is going on?  A journal of sorts that has only the happy thoughts and the focused photos?  Even the photos start to bring up questions of privacy and how much of the kids' faces/identities/etc. to share.  I'm not sure of anything anymore.  

So, we'll start small. We'll start with food.  I like food.  I like making it, I like eating it, and evidently from the 20 pictures I took of the thai salad I made, I could like photographing it too.  I had to stop myself when I found myself thinking I would have to nudge the cucumber slice just a hair to make it look more natural.  Or as natural as 11 pm at night with only the light of the computer to illuminate things can be.  I am in awe of food bloggers with their beautiful, colorful, artful pictures of food.  

Thai Shrimp Salad - based off of the yummy beef version we get at our favorite Thai restaurant - but without any spicy peppers so that the kids could eat it.  

Thinly peeled and sliced cucmbers (I used 3),thinly sliced onion (I used 1), thinly sliced celery (I used 3 small stalks), 2 chopped tomatoes, cooked and peeled shrimp, bunch of chopped cilantro and garlic, fish sauce, lime juice and salt to taste.

And speaking of kids...

Hopefully now that I've gotten one post out of the way I can find my way to doing this more regularly.  See you soon.  I hope.  

 

 

Packing? What packing?

We leave for the airport in about 24 hours.  Which means we are all packed and ready to go, right?  

Which means at least we are in the middle of packing, right...?  

I got a little sidetracked.  

I knew I didn't have a sewing maching back at my dad's and I just had to make these for the kids.  So, instead of packing last night, I was finishing up this for O. (I know I have to restitch a little of the hood....just noticed as I was taking the picture).

They are beach robes sewn out of beach towels I found at sale when I went shopping this week....the pattern is brilliant!  And, they work just as well as an after-shower towel/robe.

And the ties are just made for fancy knots.  

 I'm almost done the one for Z.  I'll show you that later.  When there are things like this to be done, packing will just have to wait.  Right?

immigration office

I have been in the process of trying to get a permanent resident visa - as a Korean adoptee, I'm supposed to be able to get this type of visa which would make it easier to do a number of things here, like open bank accounts, get discounts for O's kindergarten, etc.  So far, it has required an inordinate amount of paperwork and numerous trips to various administrative offices. 

The last visit to the immigration office was supposed to consist of an interview, where I would show off my knowledge of the Korean language, Korean history and culture.  Uh...Mr. Lee....I still don't speak Korean.  I know food though. 

So, he wants to me to cook something Korean for the interview.  He is serious.  

The morning of the interview appointment I make up kimchi jeon - kimchi pancakes that are a popular snack.  I cut them up into bite sized pieces, pack them in a glass container, and put some chopsticks in the bag with them.  

We go to the immigration office and take a ticket to wait to see the next available person.  Mr. Lee gives the man all of my paperwork.  As the officer is looking over the paperwork, Mr. Lee tells me I should give him the jeon.  I whisper out of the side of my mouth, "Really?" He insists, both with words and hand gestures.  Reluctantly, I take out the container and place it on the counter.  

Imagine going to the bank to apply for a loan.  Imagine handing one of the tellers an omelet as she is looking over your application papers.  That is what it felt like.  This was not handing over cookies or brownies...this was handing out cut up kimchi pancakes that are often packed into kid's lunches by doting mothers.  

The embarrasement.  Even more so when the guy behind the counter shooed them away with a flick of his wrist as he told me I could sit down and wait "Over there."  

I still don't know if my application went through.  Maybe I should have insisted he try one of the pancakes.  

But, I do know that my love affair with doing my nails has come back with a vengeance.  Check out the latest water marbling - this time with orange! Over a white base! Someone needs to stop me.  

On our way to school...hard to believe only one more week in June!

Kindergarten Open House

O's kindergarten open house was this morning.  He was so excited all week about having us come to his school and see what he does every day.  

Here we are modeling the official "Saemi kid" gym uniform.  

Here O. is with his lovely teacher.

Some of O's artwork.

Clay masterpieces.

Some singing.

Racing to see which parent-child team can eat Peppero sticks the fastest.  Don't think you would see this in the states. 

After reading Hansel and Gretel, each student got their own cardboard house to decorate.

As you can see, O. took this pretty seriously.

However, we soon discovered as we looked around the classroom, we were the only parents to "let" our child decorate all on his own.  This was also some of the only time that the dads were involved in the day's activities.   

Z.'s activities for the day involved getting teethers into her mouth...

and practicing some walking with dad's help.