Another busy weekend to recover from...

Yep, another one. There was another BBQ at our friend Karin's house. I went up to Incheon on Thursday to get a couple good night's sleep and help out with getting ready. Karin's daughter Katrina is in town. Her sister Laura also came in Saturday night.

Friday, Katrina and I met up with my new preggo friend Debra for lunch. We were also hoping that my Korean friend Stella would be able to make it. We met at the Incheon bus terminal and set out for a Chinese Restaurant. Called Chinese Restaurant. As soon as we were seated, Stella called me. She was at the bus terminal and needed directions. I handed the phone to Debra, who handed the phone to the waiter for Korean directions. When he handed the phone back to me, Stella was laughing. It is her favorite restaurant!! She is regular customer!! So besides having a good friend and great company, we had someone who speaks Korean who knows the owner of the restaurant! The owner took care of us. Being the one who has to make trouble, I was the only one who didn't order the luncheon set. I got my own dish, but I ended up with everything from the set too anyway. It was all so yummy. I will definitely be going back there. I don't remember everything that came with the set (so many courses), but I know it started out with a crab soup and salad with sea cucumber. Dessert was 2 lychees with a slice of pineapple inside in syrup. Yum. They even brought us coffee. We were there for at least 2 hours. I brought out the brownies I had brought. Katrina had made them the night before. The owner gave them a try and said that they are her favorite. She loves chocolate! By the time we were done with lunch, it was raining pretty hard outside. The restaurant lent us some umbrellas.

Katrina and I got on a bus and went into Itaewon. Probably a bad idea. I needed to buy some things at the International Market though, and there was really no other time for me to get into town. It was pouring rain, but we got to the market. We decided to take a cab back to the bus station to get back to Incheon. That was our worst idea. We really should have taken the subway on a Friday evening in the rain. It took us three hours to get home. Traffic in Korea is insane. Incheon is only 20km from Seoul!!

We did get home though. We helped Karin out with some cooking, then crashed. We were exhausted!! The next day Karin, Katrina and I went to Costco for BBQ stuffs. Costco on a Saturday is also insane. Koreans are really not good at shopping either. They like to just stop anywhere with those huge carts, and stay right in your way. Surprisingly, we made it through Costco in 45 min. Grabbed some lunch, went back to the house. Karin had to get out to the airport to pick up Laura, her other daughter.

The BBQ was great. There were quite a few people who didn't know other people. Justin and I met some new people as well. We had invited some English teachers from Osan. Nicole, who brought her friend Delia, and Melissa and Aaron, who are married. It is nice to meet another couple. Seems like everyone we meet here is single. Now we have couple friends! And they are nerdy like us! They even stayed at the house with us when everyone else decided to take the party to the bar.

Next day was a lot of laying around, napping, watching movies, and eating. Justin and I made the trek home about 5pm.

Coming soon:

Today I go to my next Dr.'s appt!! Hopefully we will find out the Blueberry's sex. We also start a childbirth class today called hypnobirthing. If you haven't heard of it, it is a kind of natural childbirth preperation in which you kind of self-hypnotize. It involves meditation and breathing. I will be able to explain it better once I go to the class, of course. It is 2 and a half hours once a week for 5 weeks.

Also, this weekend Justin and I plan to go to the celebration of Buddha's birthday. There are ceremonies being held at all the Buddhist temples. Then starting Sunday evening til the next Monday, I will be house/pet-sitting for Karin.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I need to start taking more. I think I'll go back to using my old cell phone for the everyday stuff. I take a lot more pictures that way. Then I can take the camera for major events, like Buddha's birthday. Oh! I should feel ashamed to say this, but I'm in Korea so it's ok. I went to lunch at McDonald's yesterday!! And it was good!! They actually have french fries. Oh, so good.... Sometimes, you just need some real American. Even if it is McDonald's.

안녕

Banking...

Through a combination of unfortunate circumstances I'm on the verge of losing my mind and punting some Koreans! I'm trying to transfer money to our account in America and it seems to be some arcane ritual as difficult as one would suppose raising the devil himself might be. What in the world is a swift code and why can't they understand me when I say, for the 5th time, that I have no idea what a swift code even is. Let alone what my American banks swift code might be. I'd like to think that it's a routing number, but the swift code for the bank here is letters not numbers so la dee dah! Ok...done ranting...time for a deep breath and internet research rather than being upset and relying on my co-teacher. The tubes have the answers...

Posting...

Sorry I haven't been posting much, everyone. Caroline tends to have more time and, to be frank, she's better at writing than me in all ways. I've never been very good at journals and the like. She covers the big truly interesting stuff. I'm mostly interested in silly little things like seeing Korean midgets and a statue made of legos we found. I do apologize. I shall have to fix this bad habit of mine.

Meeting new friends

We've been meeting lots of new and interesting people in the past week. Especially Friday! While Justin was at work on Friday, I spent the afternoon in Songtan getting pampered. I met a couple new friends there, Debra and Tina. They live in Incheon and came down to get their nails done. So we had some wonderful pedicures and ate lunch at a Thai restaurant that I hadn't tried yet. I think it was called Sawatdee. Debra is also pregnant (that's how I met her) and is due the same time I am!! It was great to be able to talk to someone who knows how I feel!! Unlike me, she has quite a few ultrasound pics of her kiddo.

After Justin got off work, we met with the Osan English Teachers group from Facebook. There was about 17 of us altogether. We had some great Korean dinner, then went to the Garten Bier. We really like everyone in this group. And the crazy thing is, they all live within a few blocks of us!! And we never knew it. They are from all over the world. South Africa, London, Manchester, Australia, Michigan, etc. It was so much fun getting to know these great people!!

Smokey Saloon

I don't know how I forgot to mention this!! Justin and I found the BEST place to get hamburgers. REAL hamburgers. Those of you who know me, know that I don't eat beef. Well, this is different. This has got to be the best burger I've ever had. I saw this place, called Smokey Saloon, on someone else's blog. She mentioned that they had sloppy fries, and that's what really sounded good to me. So Wednesday, we were in Itaewon and tried it. I ordered the fries, and Justin got the Cowboy burger. I took a bite of his, and called the waiter back over to order one of my own. Oh my gosh. So juicy and yummy. The Cowboy burger has sauteed mushrooms, a vidalia onion, and monterey jack cheese. The place is really tiny, just a few tables and the kitchen. There is always a line out the door, but it is worth it. There is a great atmosphere too. When we were there, the place was filled with Koreans (of course). It was so funny to watch them eat burgers. They would take the top bun off and eat the rest with the knife and fork! Don't worry, though. We showed em how it's done.

First Doctor Visit!!

I went to the Doctor for my first prenatal visit today. It was great! I am going to Dr. Jung, who is the only natural childbirth dr. in Korea. He was very nice and willing to work with me. All he did today was the sonogram. I got to see the Blueberry!! Man she is active. Kicking, jumping, crazy! Dr. Jung pointed out her heart, her brain, her eyes, nose, fingers, and genitalia! He asked me if I could tell what it was, and when I said, "nope", he said "exactly". Next appt. he should be able to tell if it is a boy or girl. He said she is very healthy looking. Next time I will be doing a bunch of lab work.

No pictures this time. He gave me a cd, but it ended up just being the heartbeat. I will ask him for pictures next time. I am so excited!

Easter Weekend

It was a wonderful weekend. Friday I made a trip to Insadong for some shopping. I ended up getting the best deal ever on some beautiful dresses. After, I went over to Itaewon to meet up with Karin, Wil, and Justin. We had a nice long dinner at Pancho's, a "Mexican" restaurant. Better Mexican than I've had here so far, but it really isn't Mexican food at all. The best part of the restaurant was the entertainment. It was this guy who is part Chilean, part Phillipino (I think), and he is a belly dancer. They lowered the lights, he wore a candelabra on his head (it was lit), and he danced around to Shakira. It was good fun!
We walked over to Spy Club after dinner for some pool. They had a huge bowl of sliced apples that were just yummy.
After about 3 games, Justin and I decided to call it a night and make our way back to Incheon. That is when the adventure for the night began. We took the subway to Seoul Station to catch a bus. There is a bus that stops right in front of Karin's apt. building and it comes every hour. There is another bus that goes out there, but not that stop. It comes every 15 minutes. So we make it to the bus terminal right on the hour but get confused as to where our bus should be. By the time we figure it out, it is pulling away. So we get on the other one instead of waiting an hour. Traffic was crazy, and it took about 2 and a half hours to get to Incheon. I was carefully listening to the stops for the ones that sounded right, but none came. We got off at the 2nd to last stop and caught a cab. We were much further from Karin's than we should have been. We are dropped off at the apt., but I'm completely disoriented. I know the building number though, so we start looking. There are several buildings in this complex, and they are all 20 stories high. As we are walking down a path, we see a mysterious animal ahead of us. It keeps just far enough ahead that we can't make out what it is, but it stays on the path. My best guess is a raccoon, but we aren't sure. It's bigger than a large cat, walks like a raccoon, but doesn't have raccoon markings. Finally it disappears into the bushes and we find the building (at the same time, really). We make it upstairs and crash.

Saturday was relaxing. We took a walk and waited for everyone to get back so we could start prep for the BBQ we were having. Karin, Wil, Tim, and Tim's friend Boyd all show up about the same time, and we start grilling. There was so much food!! Steak, chicken, Brats, shrimp, mashed potatoes, homemade applesauce, salad, cheese and crackers, chips and salsa. We put quite a big dent in it too. We met some new friends. Monica, who is a friend of Karin's, and she brought her Korean friend Stella. Lots of fun!! There was quite a bit of wine drunk (not by me, don't worry), and it was a great night. The next day everyone just slept in and watched movies. Of course, we ate quite a bit of the leftovers. My favorite part of the meals was Karin's Key Lime Pie. Oh....so good. She even whipped her own cream. Yum!!
It was such an awesome weekend. A great Easter spent with our Korea family.

Children's Grand Park

Last Thursday, I made my way up to Children's Grand Park in Seoul. I met with two other women from the Expat Mom's Club that I belong to. They have a meeting once a month or so. Not many were able to make it to this meeting, so there will actually be another one this Sunday. Sarah and Rebecca both have 3 month old kiddos. Cute!! It was a lot of fun strolling around the park, hanging out in the shade, talking. The cherry blossoms were out, so it was just beautiful. They even have a small zoo there.


Afterwards, I headed out to Incheon to see Karin. And there is where I spent the rest of the weekend!

REAL Indian Food

Last night Justin and I made Chana Masala. It was SO yummy. It took a while to find all the ingredients, and Justin even had to make two more trips to Lotte Mart, but we did it. There was some guestimation, and some substituting. I was able to make raita as well. The yogurt that I found is a little too watery though. At least it all tastes the same. Here are some pictures.