Moving On Up

Yesterday was moving day.  Back home, in Idaho, that would mean you bribe a truck owning friend with some beer and pizza, scrounge up some boxes from the grocery store, and go for it.  When we decided to move into a new apartment, we never considered HOW we were going to move.  We don’t have that much stuff, after all.  Surely someone would have a truck . . .

So, my husband started asking around at work.  He was promptly informed, after being laughed at, that is not how things are done in Seoul.  You can’t rent a u-haul type truck and if you could, where would you find all those boxes?  Of course, silly Americans, you are supposed to hire somebody to do it!  One of the things we find fascinating about Korea is that there is a very “anti-do-it-yourself” mentality.  People don’t fix their own cars and appliances, they don’t mend their own clothes, and they certainly don’t move themselves.  Some of it is reasonable, where would you store the tools to fix your own car, after all?  But my theory is that having someone else do for them what they can do for themselves provides someone else a much-needed job.  That is how Korea stays working.  So, we provided a days work for three men and an ajuma by hiring a local company to move our stuff.   It was well worth the 800,000 won.

They did a fantastic job.  They showed up with all reusable, eco-friendly materials.  Three hours, and several “miguk” beers later, they had the place packed and loaded on a flat-bed truck.  By the time I retrieved the cherubs from the old bus stop in the afternoon, they had the house unloaded and were gone.  When they left they took all the reusable boxes and crates and their garbage.  Efficient!  The ajuma even unpacked and organized my kitchen, God bless her!  It is not all roses and lollipops.  We are left with stacks of stuff that needs organized.  And when the movers arrived to unload, so did two real estate agents, a maintenance man, and the hper-concerned-about-her-floors land lady.  It was a bit of a chaotic mess.  But, I will take that over moving myself any day.

Plastic boxes! They were even color coded by room.

Love these stacking bins! They have metal bars that flip over and provide a nice place to stack the next box. Very effiecent and sturdy.

They didn’t pack these carefully or tightly but (almost) everything arrived intact.

This is Seoul’s version of the Beverly Hillbillies. They loaded all the crates and boxes onto this truck then strapped it all down. We were certain something would fall off. We were wrong.

The big truck. This truck contained: a recliner, a child’s easel, and 4 bikes. I’m thinking they could have gotten the boxes in there, too. But what do I know.

Yeouido Spring Flower (?) Festival

Well, it was definitely a Festival, but Flower Festival?  unfortunately, due to a later than usual Spring, it was sorely lacking in the “flower” department.

You see, Spring in Korea is marked by the arrival of the Cherry Blossoms and other flowering trees, and the numerous festivals that ensue.  Last year, during our jet lagged, newly expat stupor, we missed that this notorious part of Korean life was exploding all around us.  Yes, we remarked at the beautiful trees, but didn’t take the time to soak it all in.  This year, I promised myself I wouldn’t miss it.  Sunday our son was at a local amusement park celebrating a friend’s birthday, so we ceased the opportunity to spend some alone time with our daughter by joining millions of Koreans at the Yeouido Spring Flower Festival.  Although the trees were not quite in their glory yet, it proved to be a beautiful family outing.

Yeouido is an “island” located in the Han River.  It is the home to the National Assembly and Seoul’s Financial district.  Smack dab in the middle of all the money and politics lies a beautiful family park, Yeouido Park.  To access the park you can take Subway line 5 or line 9.  We took line 5, exit 2, and walked straight out the exit and ran into the park.

Yeouido Park is very easy to access via the Subway lines 5 and 9.

Snacks! The streets surrounding the Festival were littered with vendors selling anything from Fried Silkworm Larvae to Crepes. This lady offered dried fish, fried silk worm and crunchy fried potatoes. Least you should think that the fried potatoes are french fries - they most certainly are not. She was also sweet enough to pose for a photo

The festival included a lot of musical performances. This one, in particular, was very LOUD and sent our daughter scurrying the opposite direction with her hands firmly placed over her ears.

The festival also included a courtyard full of booths. Not very foreigner, friendly, unfortunately, as there was very little written or spoken english. But we did get lots of smiles, hugs and freebie's for our daughter.

Here you can rent scooters and in-line skates! Think MILLIONS of Koreans on scooters, skates and bicycles and you will understand why we told our daughter "no" on this particular item of fun.

We will definitely be back to this park with our bicycles. On a less crowded day, of course. This paths wrap around the entire park. One is for walkers and is very nice and spongy. The other is for bikers. You can see some cherry blossoms desperately trying to emerging from the trees in the center.

The park has several different "areas" to explores. This was the ecological pond, complete with board walks and great photo spots.

The elusive Cherry Blossom! I felt very privileged to have gotten this shot. Considering that I had left my SD card at home in the computer and was able to take (or at least keep) only about 12 photos. This was my first (and only) cherry blossom picture. What a cooperative little bee

Bike rental madness. So thankful that the bikers had their own (very crowded) path.

picnicking appears to be a national past time in Korea. Every park, when the weather is warm, is dotted with happy families on these fabulous picnic mats, enjoying each other. It is a phenomenon that I have been envious of since we first witnessed families picnicking at Seoul Grand Park on Children's Day last year. This day, we decided to give into our inner Koreans and purchase a mat of our own and sit down for a delightful picnic.

This is most definitely NOT a cherry blossom. Anyone know what it is? I sure don't. But I do know, shh . . . . ., that it is much more alluring to me than the cherry blossom.

After all the nature looking and blossom searching, we stopped at the park's Family Mart to buy "lunch." It was truly and unhealthy feast. Here is our very Korean picnic mat with some of our lunch. Mia dined on fish flavored (and fish-shaped, of course) crackers and Oreos. All washed down with some Choco Milk.

Josh and I enjoyed a convince store version of Omerice (rice, meat and veggies wrapped in egg), Gimbop, and beer. After our little feast we lounged around in the sun while our daughter played at a playground. It was a very good day, indeed.

My advice is to go early.  We left at around 3pm and the park was filling up quickly with hoards of people streaming out of the subway.  We were giddy with thankfullness that were going in the opposite direction of the masses.

Election Day!

This morning is a dreary, rainy morning.  The kids are off to school and I am sitting here blogging with my hubby snoozing in the recliner next to me.  Yup, it is a weekday and my husband is home.  He has the day off of work.  Why?  Well, election day, of course!

Today is the day when South Koreans get out and vote.  They will be electing roughly 300 people to fill seats in the National Assembly.  The National Assembly is South Korea’s legislature and are elected to 4 year terms.  Koreans take this election very seriously.  So seriously, in fact, that most people are given the day off work in order to vote.

How many more Americans would participate in elections if given the day off?  Sadly, I don’t think it would make that much of a difference.  Yet South Korea is still a very new Republic.  They have not forgotten how powerful their vote can be, if exercised.

Here is a great video, from my favorite Korea expat video bloggers, that captures the essence of hype surrounding these elections:  http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/korean-elections/

So how will we, who don’t have the right to vote in Korea, utilize this election day off work?  Who knows.  Lunch date with my hubby?  Shopping?  Sightseeing?  Hopefully somewhere in the day, I will follow the lead of my Korean neighbors by figuring out how to absentee vote in the upcoming U.S.A elections.

Happy Election Day!

A Year Already ?!?!?

It seems an eternity and yet yesterday, when we packed up our belongings and left our little house on Rygate Court in pursuit of life in Seoul.  This time last year, we were packing, shipping, cleaning and saying good-bye.  Tears were shed, friends parted, life changed.   Has it really already been a year?!?!?

This time last year, this is what our existence looked like:

Yesterday marked our second, yes second, Easter in Seoul.  It had me a bit sentimental.  Oh, how we miss Idaho.  My heart aches when I remember my irreplaceable friends, our church, our family, the neighborhood buzzing with friends and fresh air.  On the flip side, oh how we love Seoul, the culture, our new friends, our school, the lessons Seoul is teaching our family.  All so very, very, bitter-sweet.

As I type this I am streaming Pandora.  A very fitting, well-loved song that just about says it all is pumping through my apartment.  Seasons of Love, from Rent.  My kids have taken to singing it at the top of their lungs these days, when it pops up on the playlist.  They love it mostly because they can proudly boast that they know that there is 525,600 minutes in a year.  I love it because of the truth it speaks.  Many of you know it well, but for those who don’t it goes like this:

“Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes,

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Moments so dear.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights.

In cups of coffee

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes

How do you measure A year in the life?

How about love? How about love? How about love?

Measure in love.  Seasons of love. Seasons of love.”

 

And that is my prayer as we embark on the next year of our adventure in Seoul: that we measure it not in miles that separate us or strife that we may encounter, but that we measure it in LOVE.

Loving SISO

Being the Mommy of an aspie daughter in Seoul, I get the opportunity to experience things that many expats don’t get to encounter in their daily lives. In addition to all the tourist ”hot spots,” I get to frequent psychologists, therapists and doctors.  Our expat experience, like our family, is a bit ”abnormal.”

One of our abnormal expat experiences is occupational therapy.  As is typical for Aspergers, our daughter struggles with some motor skills and sensory issues, so we have sought the help of an occupational therapist.  Of course, as in all things, it becomes a bit more challenging when you don’t speak the native language. Which is why we are so grateful to have found S.I.S.O.

I know all too well the desperation a parent can feel when trying to obtain help for your child whilst battling with cultural and language barriers. Resources of this sort, especially that make themselves available to foreigners through multilingual services, are hard to find in Seoul.  It can bring a Mommy to tears.   In that regard, Sensory Integration Towards Social and Occupation Well Being (or S.I.S.O.) is a God send.  We have found them to be incredibly knowledgeable, professional, helpful,kind and loving.  Our therapist speaks English very well and has established and excellent relationship with our daughter.  Our daughter looks forward to her weekly visits to S.I.S.O with glee.   Since we started therapy in November we have seen great strides in her motor skills and confidence.

Their facilities are modern and clean:

Beyond the lobby they have several large rooms with a plethora of fun equipment to swing from, climb on, jump on, crawl in and explore. Although my daughter certainly has her favorite activities, they are big enough that her therapy is varied and they are always doing something new and different.  They even have a tunnel the kids and therapists use to crawl from one room to the other.

If you are an expat parent of a sensory kid living in Seoul, please don’t hesitate to visit SISO and see how they can help you.  Their phone number is 02-325-1150.  They are located in Mapo-gu.  I cannot recommend them highly enough.  And they didn’t even pay me (or give me free O.T) to write this

Yongsan Family Park: An Oasis

Last week was Spring Break for the munchkin crowd.  We were feeling a bit sick, grumpy and generally like hibernating until Spring actually appeared.  So, by Thursday I was getting antsy and decided to take the kids to a park that my friend and fellow blogger, Miss Carolyne, had suggested we visit.  I was not disappointed.  The park she recommended, and we so enjoyed, was Yongsan Family Park.

Now, bear in mind, that our normal habitat and playing spaces include concrete, Astroturf and fake grass.  Hence, wide open spaces to run wild, throw a ball or sit and observe nature are greatly appreciated and enjoyed with full vigor.  My dear friends from the States, please don’t mock me for general awe at all the trees and greenness.  We have been in the city a long time.

For those of you fellow Seoulites with kids, this is a relaxing oasis to quickly escape from the concrete jungle.  It is located in Yongsan -gu in central Seoul in an expat heavy neighborhood, so it is easy to access by subway, bus or taxi.   Simply follow this instructions below to get to the National Museum of Korea then walk East until you bump into the park.   Or, take your time and wander through the grounds of the museum, which are adjacent to Yongsan Family Park.  Once again, we never made it into the museum, being sidetracked by the trees, nature and fresh air (well, as fresh as can be expected for Seoul.!)

• BUS: (Blue) 502, (Green) 0213
• Seoul Subway^[6]: Ichon Station (Exit 2), (Station #430 on Line 4, Station #K111 on Jungang Line)
• Seoul City tour bus: City circulation course (station. National Museum of Korea)

We walked through the museum grounds, stopping to observe this gorgeous waterfall.  All around us signs of Spring were starting to show.  Lots of budding trees and plants.   Very peaceful!

The kids were thrilled to finally find this sign that pointed us to the park.

First we visited the playground, then took a walk towards the back of the park, stopping first at the restrooms.

Where we saw this inside the bathroom stall:

I’m not sure if that made me feel safe and secure or scared.

Certainly, it gave me pause to think about why the bathroom stall would need a emergency button.

Add that to the security cameras posted all throughout the park and I quickly made up my mind not to visit after dark.

If you wander up the hill at the far end of the park you will see this lovely memorial full of Korean flags:

On the opposite side of the hill is a large field and open area to run.

There is also a nice walking path that surrounds the field, so Mom can get some exercise while the kids run amuck.

What I loved about Yongsan Family Park is the art!  This tree trunk is a giant stack of books.  So fun.

There are several sculptures built into the landscape of this park.  Beautiful!

Afterward we headed back towards the playground by wrapping around the opposite side of the hill,

where the kids enjoyed running through a huge field of trees.

The kiddos were tiring from all the running, so we started to make our way to the entrance of the park to head home.

On our way out we were distracted by this:

Butterfly Light Posts!

And this:

A Bamboo Patch! Perfect for a secret cave or fort!

And this:

A Very Friendly Bunny!

And this:

FANTASTIC sculpture! Did I say I love the artwork in this park?

And this weird little foot path:

My guess is this is descriptions of pressure points of your foot. It was surrounded by a walking path with alternating and varying textures.

 It was clear that you could take off your shoes, wash your feet here, and walk this special path to healing:

The foot washing place in the foreground with the path stretching out behind it. It curved and continued for quite some distance.

 My kids were ready to strip off their shoe and go for it, but I drew the line at cold wet dirty feet in our chilly April weather.

 With grumbling, dry footed and thirsty kids in tow, I was determined to make a quick exit from the park.

But I had to stop and take this shot first:

The foot path in the foreground, hand sculpture in the middle, playground and memorial in the background. Large and fun park!

“Okay.  Just a few more photos and we will leave, I swear!”

There are several ponds and pagodas to enjoy on the grounds of Yongsan Family Park.

This photo was taken from the main entrance of the park.  Imagine how beautiful it will be in a couple of months!

More art!

Do you see the hint of Spring in those trees?  I can’t wait to return when they are all lush and green.

And that is where our day ended.  I took two exhausted kids and marched them out the front gate, where we hailed a taxi and headed home.

 The littlest was asleep by the time we arrived home.

 That, my friends, is a succesful adventure.

Journeying

Our family has been on a journey over the past 12 months that nothing could have adequately prepared us for.  Yes, we moved to a foreign land.  Started a new job and new schools.  Embraced a new culture.  All journeys worth journeying.  But those are not the journeys that are currently in the forefront of our everyday lives.  The journey we most wrestle with these days has a different name and nature.  This journey is Aspergers.

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis know our daughter was diagnosed as a “high functioning” Aspie at the end of last Summer.  Here is a link to the post about her diagnosis, if you missed it:  http://wp.me/s1twtC-labels   We took the diagnosis, embraced it, internalized it and danced through the process.  We owned “Aspergers.”  Now that time has passed and we have settled into life with Aspergers, I have had some time to reflect on what an Aspergers diagnosis has meant to our family.  And I like what I see.

This Month, April, is Autism awareness month.  Although Aspergers is a very mild and high functioning form of Autism, we still find ourselves new members of the Autism club.  Although we have our day to day struggles that stem from her Aspergers, we have found her diagnosis to be a blessing.  In honor of our daughter,  I would love to share a bit about the gifts that an Aspergers diagnosis has given to our family:

1) Realistic Expectations.  I have found them freeing.  When I let go of MY “dreams” for my daughter and met her where she was, I was able to see her realistically.  That extends to both my kids, really.  And it is a beautiful thing.  I am now able to see who they are, short comings and all.  I can help them come to terms with their humanity.  To see their weakness and strengths and grow through them.  And guess what?  They have both grown leaps and bounds this year. It is freeing to be who you are meant to be, faults and all.

2) Patience.  I used to tolerate ”irritating” behaviors in the people around me and then pat myself on the back for my great patience.   All the while grumbling inside.  Now I find my daughter is often in need of other people extending patience to her.  Her friends.  Her teachers.  Strangers on the bus.   And I look at them and wonder ”are they secretly grumbling?”  I no longer do.  Grumble inside that is,  when I need to be patient with someones short comings.  Well, most of the time.  Instead I try to remember my daughter and think of how things are often so much more than they seem.  I have no idea what is going on in the heart and mind of the person requiring my patience.  Instead, I find empathy and understanding starting to take the place of the grumbling and my patience is becoming more sincere.  My insides are starting to match the patient smile on my face.

3)   Innocence.  My daughter, by nature of aspergers, is naive.  She takes things at face value and is more than content to be who she is.  While so many girls her age are manipulating their social worlds and taking notice of social status, she remains clueless.  Mean girl behavior is kicking in for the 7 year-old crowd and yet, she accepts and befriends everybody.  She believes people are as honest, trustworthy and good-hearted as she is.  She is hanging on to her innocence as long as she can and I am hanging on with her.

4) Laughter.  Understanding Aspergers has allowed us to “get” her.  And she is funny!  What a joy!  Her humor is dry, witty and intelligent.  Not only do we appreciate her humor, but we are also able to find the humor in her “faux pax’s.”  Mistakes we used to find frustrating, we now “get” the whys behind them and silently chuckle.  When she sees that she has misunderstood something, she can laugh at herself.  She has set the example, teaching us to not take ourselves so seriously.  We have all found a new freedom to laugh at ourselves and our own “Aspergers brains.”

5) Closeness.  We have been forced to “close ranks” as a family.  Partly because of our relocation, but also in part because of her diagnosis.  We have become her advocates and cheering squad.  Her brother has taken up the role of her protector and teacher.  She has had to learn to communicate with us in a new and different way.  It has all made us a more tight-knit and present family: the best gift of all.

And so, we journey on into Aspergers, not knowing what else is in store for us but joyfully following out daughters dignified lead.