End of the School Year

 We'll be taking off soon for a summer in the states (on a plane thank you very much, even a fairy's wings would get tired on a trip THAT long) but I wanted to get one more post out there before we leave. Jeff went on a business trip at the end of May and brought us all back some cool things - Sasha even wore her wings to school one day - but he missed the Korean elections. This fiasco you have to see to believe, but I have VIDEO!!
There were like 20 numbered candidates. They all put on public spectacles at all hours of the day; seriously, like starting at 6am, with dancing, singing, and other public craziness. If I were Korean I would immediately eliminate any candidate whose shenanigans woke me up but whatever. You can see the people representin' candidate #5 Here.
This went on ALL DAY LONG for about 2 weeks. We were ready to celebrate when the election day finally came and went.
  OK, what else. We discovered Korean Porridge (YUM) and I went there to eat with the kids and Sasha's bud Emily. Emily at the age of 8 is one of the sweetest kids ever and somehow manages to tolerate Sasha and her really special perspective on personal space:

 K.O. # what number are we on anyway??? Yeah, saw this the other day and have seen it again 5 times since. Adult on moped with child or CHILDREN on same moped. Adult has a helmet. Kids? Nope. Wow....

 We had a clothing swap for the community and cleaned out our closets and then were able to grab some new stuff. Here is what my kids wanted the most. Yeah, it's like 85 degrees outside.

 Maximus doesn't love me anymore. Kids get all the attention....

 ....and all the sweet lovin'. I haven't been drooled on in weeks. He'll miss me when I leave him alone in an apartment for 2+ months with just Jeff. Oh yes, you'll miss me then MAX and wish you had been a little nicer. Bwah ha ha...

 Sasha had Sports Day at school. She was on the Cheetah team and they Won!! Ted missed his sports day due to Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. That was an adventure.

 Go Cheetah Team!

 If you get a Korean pedicure they put jewels on your toes. I like this very much. I actually don't know what I am going to do when I get back to the states and have to deal with feet that have no Bling. Jeff says I should get it done every week as he has never seen anyone so psyched about their toes. But I mean come on, who wouldn't be psyched?

 Dragon boat races! That's Jeff's company NOV's boat about to win their heat. They have a lot of Norwegians working for them so their boat team is HOT!

 Last Sunday we went to a water park in Geyongju (Sp?) called "California Beach".  It was awesome. The only downer was when Teddy got sent down from the tower where the big rides were because he was too short. He was MAAAD. Can't wait to hit the Disney waterparks, but I think we will wait until T-Man can do it all. He is such a dare-devil! Here's Sasha in the wave pool:

 Sasha heading toward one of the kid slide areas:

 Kids and Dad warming up in one of the hot pools:

 On Wednesday, we had the parent recital for our little fiddle group we started. It was awesome. I am so proud of all 3 girls! Video Here.

 We had a dessert party after the show with the 3 families. Yum!

Then there was the end of year picnic. The whole community came out for it and we had food, games and the kids did different performances. The year 5 and 6 classes did an amazing Korean dance and a fan dance:

There are a bunch of HFS kids that do Tae Kwon Do, and they did a performance with their teacher:

Here's Ingrid, Oyvind, Emily, and SolG giving it their all!

The Kindy Class sang 3 songs in Korean. They were Hysterical!
 Check out who is rockin' the mike!
Kindy Video Here. 

The girls and I got to perform again and we did our fiddle line up trick better than we have ever done it!
Video Here.

Another shot of the Ulsan Celtic Fiddlers:

Sasha:

Sasha and Maddie had a great time together at the picnic as always. Thank goodness Maddie will be here when we get back in September!!

Poor Ted!! That isn't the case for his BFF. Ryota leaves just a few days after we do and then stays in Japan. Teddy will be so sad when he goes to school in the fall and Ryota is gone!

We also had to say  good-bye to Ted's awesome teacher, Mrs. McAloon. She and her husband are heading back to England. Thank goodness Ted got to have her as a teacher before she left. She's incredible. When we got here Teddy didn't know his letters and now he is READING!!

 

Yesterday we went to Old Downtown to get presents for people back home. One thing that always freaks me out is how tight the parking spaces are here. I can't park the car without 10 tries and bursting into tears at least once. But here's how tight the parking is: Every car has side view mirrors that fold in at the touch of a button. REALLY! Because without folding them up you seriously might rip them off! Also the spaces are so small that half the time you park and then can't open the doors to get out! Here's Jeff who had to roll into the backseat and then crawl over the carseats to get out the backdoor!

After shopping we went for a much deserved beverage. Korea was playing last night and Team Stolasz was showing support for the Reds!

School is over but we are still having fun, and it looks like we will right up until we leave! Still a few parties to go to and of course there's always the pool! The kids drag this little kiddie pool up to the outdoor shower and fill it with hot water. After they have been swimming for a while and have blue lips they all jump in there and get warm. Rub a Dub Dub - that's a lot of kids in the tub!

Whew! When am I going to pack? So that's it, the last blog entry from SK until September. I'll keep posting over the summer though on my new iPad than Julian is hauling home from the US for me RIGHT NOW!! Woo Hoo! So I should have time to sync the thing before I get on a plane and fly it back. See you state-side everybody!

PS: NC 4th of July Pig Roast is ON!! Start driving.....

That's how we roll in the HFC...

   So what can I say about this fabulous little community we have found here at the Hyundai Foreigners Compund (HFC). There is literally ALWAYS something going on here and it's always fun. Makes me kind of glad I live up the hill because I fear that if I lived just a stroll away from the clubhouse I'd end up with M.O.S. (Missin' Out Syndrome) and have to stroll over to the clubhouse JUST to make sure that something cool wasn't happening without me.
   The pool is in full swing (so fun I haven't taken pictures yet - either that or I'm just too busy picking up Teddy's hurl because HE'S having so much fun that he puked his snack). It's great to grab the kids after a day at school and head over there for a few hours to cool off and check in with anyone you haven't already seen 3 times that day.
   Each weekend at the clubhouse there is something going on. May be a "pour out" (going away party of sorts) for somebody leaving, or a quiz night or a birthday or whatever. If there's nothing, Zoe will probably come up with something brilliant to keep us from having a boring Saturday night.

Last night the band H.A.I.L played. This is great little garage band made up of a few rogues, a few teachers, and Hugh, the headmaster at the kids' school. Why couldn't I have had a principal that played in a rock band when I was growing up, and how tragic is it that my kids are too young to appreciate it?

This event by the way came AFTER quiz night, which is like a 7 round trivia game with 30 of your closest friends. Always our fav. So we got a double whammy of fun. And let me tell you, when we all got on the bus to go to a waterpark this am, there were quite a few people feeling the pain.

Here's H.A.I.L in full swing:

Taking a break from the noise level, crowd and the smoke inside!:

This is the picture I snapped just before when "no one was ready yet"... love this shot because so many personalities come through in it. And Hailey (grooving in the jeans) is making her classic Hailey face that always cracks me up so I'll be able to look at this one when I'm home this summer and laugh!

Right now it's also World Cup. I know, I know, those of you back home are like "World what?" but in the rest of the world Soccer is apparently a HUGE deal. Huge as in super bowl Sunday that lasts for weeks kind of huge. So there are viewing parties in the clubhouse if Korea is playing (or come to think of it England,  Australia, Brazil... OK, pretty much like any country except the U.S. cuz we're kind of lame that way). Here's a crew wearing red in support of Korea, and celebrating a goal. Wish this picture came with a sound track...

 And then there was 70's and 80's night. Zoe planned it to keep us from having a boring Saturday. It worked pretty well. The Australians in general may warrant their own blog entry but for now I'll just say that I call Zoe my cruise pursor. You know... the person who tells you that there's gonna be BINGO on the Lido deck at 4pm? I just check in with her on Mondays and my week is beautifully planned - it's as simple as that. Really don't know what I'm going to do without her all summer long. Here's me with 2 of my best hiking buddies, Zoe on the left and Karen in the middle.

 Zoe and her husband Julian. Like I said... there will be a blog entry.

 The Brays. Kellee (in the middle) is another of my fav hiking buds. Abbi on the right is our rockin' babysitter. Dale on the left is probably going to be Sasha's teacher next year.  I tell you, with this crew at the HFS my kids are either going to be brilliant or need lots of therapy. Maybe both?

 So that's just one of the reasons why I say that I am looking forward to my trip home in - holy smokes, 9 DAYS! But that I will also be very glad to come back to this nutty place in September...

Recently....

Ahh, spring. New season, new look for the blog. We have been BUSY again, with many events and end of year school activities. It also seems like many families leave at the the end of the school year so we have started saying good-bye to friends that have already become dear to us. It seems like every day is either a sports day, PTA meeting, end of year celebration of some kind, or a good bye tea in the clubhouse for someone. So this is going to be a little stew pot of recent events...

Ok, so Sasha's grade up to year 3 went to some botanical gardens for a field trip. She had a blast and asked to take the camera on the trip. I nervously said yes, but she brought it home in one piece.

 She took about 50 pictures of plants and animals that she saw on the trip. What a photographer! I'm thinking it might be time to get her her own camera. Here's one of her shots:

Teddy's class and the year above him had a spring picnic. The moms met the kids at a nice area on the compound right at noon. Here's the kindy gang getting off the bus:

Teddy and good buddy Abdul:

And of course, BFF Ryota. Sadly, Ryota and his family are heading back to Japan for good at the end of the month as his Dad's work project has come to an end. I feel so sorry for Ted. First I rip him away from the Manatee class and his cousin and now he is losing his best friend AGAIN. The kid's gonna have attachment issues....

We had such a nice picnic under all the beautiful flowing trees!

In other news we have found some tasty treats here in Korea. These little things are tiny plastic pineapples. You pop the green top off and the little pot is filled with pineapple ice cream and it's YUM!!! I love tasty food that's presented in cute little packaging. We re-use the pineapple containers for all kinds of things including school snacks.

The kids are celebrities here. Wherever we go people run up to say "hi", ask their names, and ask to have their pictures taken with them. Recently we went to Jinha beach for the day and Jeff and I felt like Brangelina. We were literally mobbed by papparazzi!

See those Koreans with the giant cameras all shooting something down the beach? Wanna know what they're taking pictures of?

My 2 kids playing in the sand. Seriously. It was BIZARRE...

We walked down the beach and splashed and played in the water and on the rocks.

When we got back we got an interesting lesson in the very VERY different views that Asians and Americans have when it comes to personal space. Ok so first of all, the beach was EMPTY. There was plenty of space to spread out and have your own area. So we had a blanket down and had plenty of space around us. The crowd levels at the beach that day:

When we came back the people with the blue tents (Green tent was not there yet) had literally put their tent stakes touching the corners of out yellow blanket and were playing in front of, and totally taking over our space including walking across our blanket and playing with our toys. If these people had been one of my relatives, I would have been like "Dude, there's no need to sit on each others laps eh? move down a few feet." But these were total strangers!!! I glared at them, gathered up my things and pulled my yellow blanket 1 blanket width away to create a buffer zone. They literally looked at me like "Geez, what's your problem?"
Then 5 minutes later, the green tent people came and set up in the notch of space between me and the blue tent people. WHAT ON EARTH??? And they were not "with" the blue tenters in any way. Green tent people had 6 adults and about 50,000 children and they were aaaaalllll up in my business. I couldn't handle it. COULD NOT. I mean look at the empty beach in the shot above and then look at this set up:

Can anyone come up with any reason for the 3 parties to be that close to each other (other than the fact that I'm super-hot and usually smell nice I mean...) We pretty much had to leave the beach after that.

There was windsurfing races going on so that was fun. FYI, the Koreans wear clothes to the beach. Not shorts and T-shirts but nice dresses, tights, socks, long pants - CLOTHES. They swim in the clothes and then lie in the sand. With their SOCKS ON. All covered in sand like shake and bake chicken. Only being drooled on by sticky cotton candy eating giants could possibly be more uncomfortable than lying on the beach fully clothed and wet and all coated in sand. Help me understand....

He's wearing socks. Sometimes being in Korea is really fun and sometimes it makes me want to go to sleep for like the next 2 weeks.

Swimming in clothes. The stores by the way are full of swim suits and they're pretty darn cute too. Hasn't really caught on yet I guess...

Ryota and Ted had a fun playdate after a Saturday birthday party. Sasha went to play with Mizuki and I left the boys with Dad and went to get some groceries. Gotta love a lazy Saturday afternoon. This is how I found the 3 boys when I got back:

We had a huge Spring Festival sponsored by Hyundai. We all got T-shirts and competed in field day type events, had snacks, drinks, entertainment, an amazing catered lunch and it was all free! What a party! I even won an ipod touch in a raffle.

Sasha, Maddie, and Lorena getting ready for the parade of nations that started off the festival:

My sweet Sash! What a trooper. She has adapted to so so many new things and almost never complains. She sees the positive in every situation and is always ready to try new foods and new experiences. What a lucky Mom and Dad we are to have moved to Korea with such a flexible kid. So when Jeff was on a business trip I arranged a play date for Ted with Ryota and sprung Sasha from school at noon. We went out to Lunch, shopped at a cool craft store, bought her an outfit, and went for a treat. It was such a fun "girl date"!

Sasha outside Paris Baguette where we went for a treat. She is a really fun kid to spend the afternoon with.

So that's all for now. The kids and I head home for the summer in 2 and 1/2 weeks! We are excited and it will be nice to be in familiar territory again, but we will also look forward to heading back here to our awesome little community in September. We have a lot to look forward to!