Flashback Friday

This is a random picture I found when looking through pictures from Korea.  This is in the middle of nowhere....

A favorite souvenir from Korea...

Any of you who are new to this blog may not know that we recently spent a year in Korea.  If you want more details, click on Korea or Korenglish on my sidebar, and you will get more info than you need.  There are many souvenirs I treasure that we brought back as reminders of our time there and our travels through the year.  This is one of my favorites that I have yet to post.  I was waiting to actually display it on a bed.

I chose these fabrics from Happy Quilt (with some help) and took them to a quilt maker to make a bed set for Adeline's "big girl bed."  I LOVE how it turned out, and it cost a fraction of what it would have cost to get something similar here.  I love the girly scalloped edges and the 5 decorative pillows....and it's one of a kind!

For those wondering if we are working on transitioning Adeline to this bed...not yet.  The mattress just came in last week, and the bed is almost as tall as her.  I think we need to take out the box spring for now.  Our plan is to talk about her "big girl room," let her sleep in there for naps, and make the transition when she is ready.  I am in no hurry to have her unconfined.  I figure we can use a bassinet for a few months with the new baby before really needing the crib, and shoot, Adeline slept in a pack-n-play for most of her first year of life because we didn't want to send her "nice crib" to Korea.  She's been pretty good with most transitions so far (weaning, decreased paci use, moving around the world), so we figure she'll let us know when she's ready.  I'm just having fun getting her room ready for now...

I love Joseph...

Talk about a fun mail day...!!!!  Woo hoo!!!  This, is yet another advantage to living in Korea (one those of you who are still there MUST take advantage of...).  Joseph is a portrait painter stationed just outside the BX on base.  HE. IS. AMAZING!!!  After my photo session with Adeline when she was 6 weeks old, I planned to do something special with her and Patrick when she was around 1 yo.  This was perfect!  Here is the picture we gave him...

and here is his painting...

and a close up so you can see the detail...

I LOVE IT!!!  Thank you to the Evans family for shipping it to us (let me know how much we owe you for the packing....I saw how much the shipping was).  We game him the print almost two months before Patrick came home, but he was so backlogged, he wasn't able to finish it in time.  Joseph emailed me to say he is starting a website, and it may be up by next week.  You can email him pictures, and he will mail your portrait when he is finished.  You can even send him multiple pictures, and he can combine them into one (for example if you wanted a family photo, but someone was missing...he will add them in OR you have the perfect photo except for the little cherub with their finger strategically placed in his/her nose, he can fix that).  This is my new favorite memento of life in Korea (yes, it's even better than the purses).  I will probably give him more business in the future, and I'll let you know when his website is up so you can take advantage of his talent (and cheap prices) as well.

Closure...

I've been hinting that I still have thoughts floating around in my head about Korea, but I haven't had the mental energy to sit and actually put those thoughts to words.  It has sort of been a right of passage for bloggers who leave Korea to type a list of top 5 or 10 things you will miss and NOT miss about being in Korea.  I think I'll just make a list of random thoughts.  Some good about Korea and some that make me thankful to be in the good ol' US of A.

1.  Many people said the one thing they do NOT miss about Korea is the driving.  I gotta admit, I kinda liked it.  I liked being able to go through red lights on some random back road when I didn't want to wait.  Let's face it, the traffic isn't any worse there than in DC...I'm just sayin'...

2.  I don't miss the speed bumps every 30 feet on back roads.

3.  After about a week of being home, I realized I still take my shoes off as soon as I walk in the door at someone's house....it just seems right now.

4.  I love walking outside and finding GRASS.  I love the smell.  I love the feel of it on my feet.  I love to watch Adeline run and play.

5.  I miss my huge, long, deep, and wide kitchen sink.

6.  I don't miss the open drains....pee u!!!

7.  The smells in general are just a lot better here....trust me, 'nough said

8.  I really liked my daily life in Korea.  It was so easy to find community, and we met some wonderful people there.  I miss my friends....but then again, a lot of you already moved...and we always have the bloggy world.  :o)

9.  I am so happy to be reunited with my friends HERE.  I guess I'm just happy anywhere where there are people who I love and who love me.....

10.  I miss my book clubs.  Here is a picture of one of them (small attendance that day).  I read a lot of great stuff...and some not so great.  Still, there were good discussions and my reading horizons were stretched to read things I wouldn't have picked up on my own.  Yes, Gretchen, I know you want this picture....

11.  I will miss Patrick's work schedule.  We had more family time than we ever had and probably ever will have again.  I know not many wives there can say that, but shift work was great for us.

12.  I miss Patrick.

13.  The purses...yeah, they were fun....

14.  The traveling....yeah...also a good thing.

15.  Korenglish...always good for a laugh.

16.  Having signs in English that make sense...priceless.

17.  Watching Adeline with her grandparents brings me so much joy....and I know they are thrilled beyond words to have us here.

Our house was packed up Monday morning.  Patrick is living in a hotel on base for three nights.  He will soon be in my arms again (Thursday at 3:20 pm to be exact).  We still need to sell our car...pray.  Patrick may need to give POA to someone else there if we don't sell it in the next few days.

In summary....it was a good year.  We are glad we went.  We are glad for the experience of living in another culture and being able to travel in a short amount of time to other cultures.  A year was enough.  It is good to be home...

This is what happens...

...when you are leaving Korea in 2 weeks

(yes, I've been home for a week and a half...I told you I had some Korea posts left).

Your mom's friends go nuts ordering knock-off purses and you go on a MAJOR shopping spree. I'll post some pictures when get together to distribute them.  The purses I'm holding here aren't even all the ones I bought!

Patrick picking up his suit and sport coats from Mr Lim, a Christian, and one of the many tailors in Korea that offer custom suits for a discount (although, I'm not so sure we saved that much money). At least they fit him really well and will be a reminder of Korea.

Play Group

This is one of the many things I miss about Korea. Adeline and I only started going a few weeks before we left, and even then we were sporatic attenders. However, it was a great diversion for the morning and a great way to connect with some other moms. Adeline LOVED the ball pit.

Too cute...she found this net and walked around picking up all the balls.

The Zoo...Among Other Things

So, I still have some unfinished Korea posting business, so I will be doing a few more posts on this side of the world about that side of the world...yes, I even have another Korenglish post for you. Stay tuned!

During our last weekend in Korea, we went with our friends to the Flower Market and then to the Seoul Grand Park Zoo. It was a very fun day, but I didn't get very many or very good pictures...sorry!


Below, you will find an entertaining picture of a monkey reaching through the bars to get a cracker from a man who clearly could not read the English sign saying "Don't feed the animals." The quality of life is not the same here as it is for animals in the US. We were disappointed by how run down some of the areas were. When he started feeding them, the monkeys went bananas! ;o)

Not a great picture, but they had a fabulous dolphin show. Too fun!

So on a totally different note, this adjusting to jet lag thing has been hard! I have been doing pretty well, but my baby girl is strugglin'!!! The first night, I had a hard time going to sleep and was wide awake by 4:30. Adeline dozed off and on in 1 hour increments for the first two nights. I have been waking her from her afternoon naps after three hours to try to get her back on track, but I think she is just crazy exhausted by this point. She has been waking up at 3:30 every morning. Yesterday, my mom and I decided we should let her sleep as long as she needs to for her afternoon nap to help her try to catch up, and we would put her to bed a bit later if she woke too close to her bedtime. Well, she fell asleep in the car on the way home from visiting a friend today, and so I put her down in her crib when we got home. She has been asleep since 2:30...it is 10:30. I am hoping that this will help her to get back on track. I am hoping she doesn't decide midnight is a good time to be awake for the night. She usually sleeps 12 hours, and one night a few weeks ago she slept for 14 1/2 hours after a particularly busy day. Here's to hoping this will get her back on track. I'll keep you "posted."

While you're praying....I spent a lot of time on the phone today with a lot of different people, few of which were helpful, as I tried to resolve the issue of Adeline's ticket. One agent even hung up on me as I was asking a question, and I was not even raising my voice at her. I was a bit defensive, but I was really trying to be mature and kind to the woman keeping me from my refund. sigh....
I got a few leads which may help, but I purchased the ticket a year ago, so it is hard to track the record of the sale. I somehow need to prove that I paid for an infant ticket in July of 2007. I'll be back at it tomorrow.

Adeline is crying...gotta go....PRAY PEOPLE, PRAY!!!

Goodbye Korea...

So today has been full of packing, packing, laundry, and more packing. Tomorrow morning, Adeline and I leave Korea forever. I have so many thoughts floating through my head about what I'll miss, why I can't wait to get home, and then various other "what am I forgetting?" thoughts mixed in there. I don't feel eloquent enough or have the time to write about it all now. If you think of us Friday night or Saturday for those of you in the US (or anytime Sat for those of you in Korea) pray. In order to save the over $2000 that it would have cost to get a seat for Adeline, she is riding "in my lap." We all know how long that will last. I am blessed that she is indeed "a cuddler", however she is 16 mo and has an agenda that usually involves moving and exploring (pray for little turbulance so we can pace the aisles). We have two layovers...a quick one in Tokyo and then 3 1/2 hours in Detroit. We finally get into Baltimore at 7:07 pm (love those flight times...not 7 or 7:15, 7:07).

Tonight we say goodbye to some dear friends, and tomorrow we reunite with some we haven't seen for a long time. Goodbye Korea, this chapter is done....well, almost...Patrick still lives here. :o)

How do I know?

<--- THIS is the proper way to grip a golf club.  How do I know this, you ask.  Because Christie and I took golf lessons!!!  I have been meaning to do this post for a while, but I kept forgetting my camera to take a picture of us with our instructor, Mr Park.  Patrick took lessons as well, but he is...ahem...just a tad more advanced than Christie and me.  Our usual system was for Christie and I to take our 1/2 hour lesson while Patrick watched Adeline, and then we would switch.  Adeline LOVES all things ball, so she was very excited to play with a whole bucket of them.  

Twice, we had combined lessons on the putting green where Mr Park taught us the proper form for putting and chipping.  Adeline loved these lessons.  We just let her run around the green, picking up balls and playing with a golf club.  She spent most of her time collecting the balls in a basket and then dumping them out again or just running in the grass, which is a precious commodity around here.  Don't worry, we made sure we practiced hitting towards a flag where she was not standing.

It's a small world...Germany!

In this post I told you about the not so politically correct Germany exhibit in the It's a Small World ride.....and you thought I was exaggerating.....

THREE CHEERS FOR GERMANY!

Everland Revisited

A few weeks ago, we made another trip to Everland with our friend, Christie.  Oh course, we hit all the Everland highlights that I posted about before, but I thought I would share a few other things with you that the park had to offer.

This is the biggest drop on a wooden roller coaster in the world (I hope I have that statistic right).  Anyway, it is a CRAZY drop, and I went on it!!!  I am not a huge fan of roller coasters at this stage of life (I used to love them), but this one was really fun.
Here's Pat and Christie on this crazy, spin you around and upside down ride...yeah, I just HAD to stay with the baby.  :o)
Christie and Pat at war in the ballroom.  I think Adeline was a little overstimulated in here.

They had a very nice parade.  It would have been nicer if it wasn't quite so loud and was in a language we could understand...but I guess that is being a bit unreasonable.  Although, I find it interesting that almost all the signs in Everland are in English...many without even having the Korean translation.

She's big stuff!

This park is VERY family friendly.  I love these baby rooms.  They have nice changing tables, a water cooler, and rooms with comfy chairs and a curtain for nursing moms (not that I needed that room, but still...really nice).
The rose festival for the season was beautiful.  There really is a lot of variety at this park.



and we're done!  Adeline just decided to fall asleep in her chair like this for about an hour and a half...perfect for us to take turns riding that huge coaster.
Stay tuned tomorrow for Germany pictures...I just couldn't disappoint you after the popularity of this post.