Meet The Troops

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Fascinating Movers

Today we had the opportunity to watch some movers right outside our back window and then again out front, a little further down our building. There are 12 floors where we live and though, there are elevators, they don't often use them when moving people in and out of our building. The kids were fascinated when early this morning the big ladder machine went up. They watched out the window and waited for the boxes to start flying up and down it!
Later in the morning, while there were still boxes and furniture 'flying' outside our windows, the kids wanted to go out and see how high up the ladder was and how far this stuff was really flying from.
We went out back and saw that the movers were moving someone out and from very high up...
They just throw everything on this little platform and let it fly down. It doesn't seem like they strap anything down even. It moves very fast too!
The kids were mesmerized!
Out front we noticed the same thing going on, only the movers over there were moving someone in and all the boxes and furniture were flying UP! See how much it all hangs over the edge...!
Faith didn't want to go inside. She would have watched them move the whole truckload in, but we had other things to do today! It was a very interesting experience in the neighborhood though and worth taking the time to check it out.  :)

Making Friends

Now that we've been here for awhile we are beginning to see the same people in our neighborhood more frequently and starting to recognize those we've chatted with outside before. It's nice to start feeling somewhat familiar with the neighbors and having them greet us as friends. We're all becoming more comfortable as the weeks and months pass by. The kids have made friends with a couple of the Korean children who speak English very well and look forward to seeing them regularly.
Here is Joy with her friend "Joy"...I'm not sure how she spells it but it sounds the same as our 'Joy'.  :)
The girls think its fun that they have the same name and you can hear them using 'their' name often in conversation and it always gets them giggling!
Behind the girls, Faith and Joshua are playing with a little boy named Daniel who lives in the building across from us. He has an American dad and a Korean mother so he speaks both languages quite well. He prefers English but sometimes mixes both of them together and it makes Joshua crack up because he can't quite keep up with what Daniel is saying. Joshua has been trying though and he comfortably uses more Korean words than the rest of us.
Daniel's mother speaks English quite well and I've had several visits with her now while the kids have played together. She is standing in the picture above...in the gold high heels and silk pants, carrying a couple of fancy purses.....I have been so surprised by how elegant many of the women here look when they are in very casual places. Several times I've seen mom's just hanging out at the playground most of the day and they are all dressed up like they are going somewhere fancy, but they are just chasing kids. They are beautiful, but they certainly don't look very comfortable while they are doing it! There are some women who dress more casually, but I have seen more stilettos on the playgrounds here than I ever saw anywhere near a playground in the States!  :)  Sometimes I feel very underdressed at the sandbox...But at least I'm comfortable right?!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Daddy's Home!

We are really loving having Daddy home! After years of the crazy Red Robin schedule and then months of having him so far away, this new Army job feels like he's home all the time! The kids LOVE that Peter is home to do all the regular everyday things with us, like eat lunch and go to the library. We are definitely getting spoiled while we're living over here and trying to enjoy every minute we've got together.
Samuel has been especially loving all his 'Daddy time' after not seeing him much for his first 7 months. Now he's getting to play Daddy's way and completely loving his time being one of the boys of the house. He doesn't say "Mama" unless he wants something, but when Daddy walks in the room he lights up and "DaDa" is all he can talk about! :)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Recent Adventures Part 2

So I meant to get this up a couple of days ago but then we went a whole day without power and I have been so tired by the end of the day when I finally get a chance to get on the computer that I can't stay awake long enough to post anything! Our days have been busy...and eventually I'll get around to posting about that, but for now here's our other recent adventure I mentioned before.

Last weekend we ventured out once again and this time ended up at Hyeonchungsa. It was a very beautiful place that, among many other very cool things, was also the site of the shrine of Admiral Yi- Sun-sin. He was well loved over here and was a great leader and military hero many, many years ago. They still hold ceremonies there every year in honor of him and his family is buried on the grounds of the park. Even without all of the cool historical stuff though, it was an amazing place to just go for a walk on a gorgeous day!
The grounds which are now a park use to be the Admiral's personal land and on it is what use to be his home, a museum and an archery site among other things. It is all kept impeccably neat. There were even ladies out sweeping the few fallen leaves off the sidewalk with a broom!

It was a hot day so we had to stop for some Korean apple juice from the vending machine....it was VERY yummy!  :)

This is the small outer entrance to the Admiral's home. 
Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures inside any of the buildings, but there were lots of cool things inside. I especially loved the museum. There were tons of amazing swords and other weapons from long ago and a smaller replica of the boat he built that helped him win his battles. It was so detailed and pretty in person...here's a picture of it I found online since I wasn't able to get one of my own. They called it the Turtle Ship. 
The security guards looked pretty serious about no pictures, so I didn't try to take any for fear that they would take my new camera away! This is the first gate leading up to the shrine...

Joy was impressed by and pointed out all the detailed painting on the building that housed the shrine. 

This is the view from the top. We walked up hill quite a ways! The kids were troopers....it was so beautiful I don't think we noticed how high up the hill we were going until we were up there. 

Samuel enjoyed a ride in the stroller that day....it was too hot to ride in mom's pouch!
Afterwards we ate at a place close to base that caters to the American's around here. It was called "Bacon and Eggs".  :) It had really simple American food and looked like a good place to stop on our way home to cool off and fill our bellies. 
He looks like he's up to something huh?!  :)

Monday, August 23, 2010

Recent Adventures Part 1

We are trying to get out and see something new every weekend and really get the most out of this amazing opportunity to experience living in a different country for awhile. Last week we drove up to Seoul (about 1 1/2 hours away) and went to the COEX Aquarium. It was VERY cool and we all really enjoyed it.
We saw a little bit more of Seoul than we did last time and got a few pictures of some of the cool buildings there are in that HUGE city.
Ok, this next picture isn't very clear, but I wanted to show you a glimpse of one of the attendants in the parking garage. Most of the large parking lots around here have them too. Even the free lots...there are just nice Korean attendants to bow and greet you as you come in and smile and wave as you leave. 
There were several in the parking garage. The women were all dressed like this and the men....well, they were dressed like this too, only their shirts and hats were blue! LOL! Yes, they even wear the little white gloves.  :)
The kids were each given a little 'goodie bag' from the aquarium that had cool books in them but of course, we can't read them...YET anyway.   :) Maybe someday we'll get around to reading Korean, I hope so. 
There was SO much to see!
It was really cool how many different things they had turned into aquariums.....
The Coke machine, a computer, telephone booth, fire hydrant, tv, bed, refrigerator, a toilet.....and so many more things.
The kids loved this one. We didn't get a picture of the whole thing, but it's a big bathtub that was turned into an aquarium and it has slits at the top for you to stick your hands into. The fish would nibble on your fingers...
This was one of the kids FAVORITE memories from the day! I was really surprised they were so brave. 
These were the girls' favorite fish out of the tons that we saw that day.  So sparkly!
Joshua loved watching the HUGE stingrays and Joy thought they were kind of scary. 
Some of their exhibits were so beautiful and lifelike....
It was definitely a day of beautiful sights. 
(For our fellow Veggie Tales fans) Yes...we all sang "Barbara Manatee!" while we enjoyed this view.  :)

There was a hands on area where the kids could hold starfish, and other sea creatures. 
She didn't want to at first, but eventually Faith decided it was okay to hold a starfish after seeing that her brother and sister still had all their fingers....she's no fool.  :)
The kids took turns being eaten by a shark...
Joshua really thought this was REALLY cool. We made sure he knew that it wouldn't be nearly as cool in real life. Only the plastic sharks are safe... :)
The girls were curious and freaked out at the same time by the giant spider crabs. I thought they looked pretty creepy!
We saw a pretty church on the way home too...
It was another fun adventure for the Adams family and we've had even more adventures since. Maybe I'll get a chance to post Part 2 tomorrow.  :) I'll try.