Lighting the Night

Recovering from this weekend doesn't do it.  With the Apple Festival on Saturday, you would think we would take it easy on Sunday right.   Nope.....

We headed to the Seoul Lantern Festival with some friends.  We did some quick research and found out that the festival is in the same part of town as the Blue House.  Since we haven't seen that yet and it was another pretty day in Korea, we hopped a train earlier than the Haugh's and Kaercher's.

This time, we even figured out how to take the rapid train and shaved 30 minutes off of our travel time.  After arriving at the station, we immediately found the location for the lantern festival and went about wandering the neighborhood.  

Chongwadae translates to "The house with blue tiles" and refers to the grounds as well as the building of  the Oval Office of President Lee.  The grounds are beautiful from what I see online, but I want to visit in the spring when the gardens are in bloom.  After walking up and saying, "yep, there's the Blue House," it was time to grab some dinner and meet our friends at the festival.  

The festival is different than the one we went to in the spring.  This one was along a walking path that lined the Cheonggyecheon.  It was crowded, but nice to walk along and enjoy the lanterns.  They had traditional lanterns, different lanterns from all over the world, ones depicting storybook characters, and lanterns celebrating Korean heritage.  What was great was I was able to get some good pictures this time since they weren't moving. 

After about an hour, we had enough of the cold and walking, so we headed to warm up in Holly's Coffee.  Apparantly, Holly has had time to become a coffee mogul here in Korea.  We enjoyed our coffee and treats and decided to hop the train back to Songtan, as it was getting late. 

The "Life"

Ronnie and I were able to enjoy a childless meal today and I was telling him this story that I'm about to share with you.  He immediately asked if I blogged it; obviously I haven't.  But first a little backstory:

We are a military family through and through.  Counting up, we've lived in five states and one country in our almost ten years of marriage (Ronnie has been in three more than I for training so that would make eight states for him).  Holly was born in North Carolina; Sarah in Texas.  I know more abbreviations than any one human should know.  And we have conversations that play out like this:  husband comes home and says we have orders to move to _________; wife says Awesome, I think so-and-so are there now.  Kids are uprooted from friends, activities, schools, and homes for a new unknown, but make new friends, take up new activities at their new home and school. 

Such is the life of a military family and the upbringing of military brats.  One that I lived growing up, albeit only slightly, and one that I'm asking my kids to live with Ronnie and I. 

There are things that happen when you're a military brat that you really don't think twice about.  It seems like second nature to us, but to others it would be odd.  We're already starting to talk to them about moving next summer, but we don't know where just yet.   We instantly stop in our tracks and stand at attention anytime the national anthem is played.  And then you have things like this that happen:

Sarah and I were heading to the commissary a few weeks ago.  I can't remember where Ronnie and Holly were, but they weren't in my car with us.   Anyway, we were driving by the O'Club when I noticed the street was blocked off and several Airmen in SWAT type gear.  I knew they were running some scenarios on base, but I hadn't seen any of them.  Then Sarah says, "Mommy, there's a boy with a gun over there."

I quickly whipped my head and saw what looked like a sniper lying in the bushes with his gun pointed at the building the SWAT-looking guys were around. 

I said, "Yes, he does have a gun, doesn't he Sarah?"

Sarah said, "What is he doing?"

I said, "Well, he's going to kill the bad guy."

Sarah said, "Okay.  Mommy, can we get some ice cream at the commissary?"

And just like that the conversation was over.   What child would just accept the explaination that a guy laying in the bushes with a gun pointed at our car was going to shoot a bad guy with no further questions?    Only the military brat is the best answer I can come up with. 

Curiosity Doesn't Always Kill the Cat.....

Like I posted earlier, fall has definitely come to Korea.  The mornings are getting more and more crisp, the leaves are now in full color, and the days are getting shorter.  A few weeks ago, I was picking up some apples at the market when it dawned on me...  there were apples at the market!  Generally speaking, freshness is of utmost importance to the markets and they don't carry anything that isn't in season. 

Later that night, in one of my daydream/random thought sessions, I was thinking that these apples have to be grown somewhere.  A few Google searches later landed me some information about apple farms and farm experiences.  After some more research I found out that there were farms in our immediate area, they offered apple picking, and they were going to have a festival!   SCORE!  

We set out Saturday morning for Yesan-gun, an area south of us, with lots of friends in tow.  A little while later, we arrived at our destination.  The orchards here don't look like what you would picture in your mind.  Then again, the apple business didn't start flourishing until the mid-80s (from what I could gather on Google). 

The festival was so much fun.  They had the Three Korean Tenors (and other entertainment), traditional Korean basket-making, and hands on apple activities.  The girls and I made pies, apple jam, and apple wine.  We watched them make fresh apple-infused sausage and then throw it on the grill to serve up.  We were treated to samples of apple wine and barbecue.  Last but not least, we headed for the orchard to pick our apples.  The day was just perfect and we had a fantastic time!

Starting Back at Day One....

Today is day one of my running plan.  I have lost a lot of my conditioning due to a lackadaisical approach to running the last few months.   So today is day one on a semi-conditioned 5K plan. 

What am I training for you ask...  The Seoul Marathon.  

I'm running the half marathon while Ronnie is training for the full.  And we're running for a good cause, The Knights of Heroes http://www.knightsofheroes.org/. This is a fantastic charity and one that hits close to home.  

Be looking for updates from the both of us over the next few months as we fundraise, replace shoes, and push me beyond my current mileage.

Falling Down

The leaves are that is, not me.  

After our quick hop to the States in September, our temperatures have continued to drop.  We've gotten below freezing already and morning frost is starting to be a daily occurance. 

Watching the leaves change is another reminder that I've been here a year already.  I was amazed at the color last year, and this year I'm getting to appreciate the subtleties.  Oaks versus maples, azaleas versus cherries still on the trees.   Here are my my favorites of what I've seen thus far. 

They look like butterflies to me

Yes I put a filter on this, but the bright red fruit on the otherwise sparce tree caught my eye

Sarah "The Don"

So Sarah fired Holly. Not sure what they were doing or what led up to it, but all I heard was, "Holly, you're fired." A little part of me wanted to go show Sarah the proper way to invite someone to find a new job, but Holly's response was "You can't fire me Sarah cause I'm not playing with you."


I have to say, even though I've seen that exchange before, but I've never laughed as hard as I did this time.

Ne?

In case ya'll were wondering, Korean's don't know or understand what a thingajigger is.  Guess they don't teach that word in the Engrish classes here.  Here's how I know...

I split lunch with a friend of mine today.  She went to get a drink while I waited for our order.  When our sandwich was ready, I knew we needed another plate or something so we could  half it.  So, I asked for another "sandwich thingajigger."

The poor guy just cocked his head to one side and said "Ne?"  That would be the equivalent of "huh?"  I held up our sandwich and said can I have another sandwich holder thing.  He then said oh and handed me one, kinda giggling and smiling at me. 

I guess he hasn't gotten to the southern part of his Engrish lessons.