the lepeaus at namsan

Namsan Tower is a popular tourist attraction in Seoul. We didn't do many touristy things since this was Dave's third trip to Korea-instead we did more kid stuff..oh and we shopped a lot. :) But this was one that was on my list for a specific reason.

Dave was planning on editing this video..but he really won't have time for a couple months, so I hope you don't mind the non-edited version. :)

high fives all around

on the cable car: Dave, Haneul, and Halmoni

a view from the ride up on the cable car

our family lock

Psalm 121: the psalm Dave read to me when he proposed

8.24.12 the date Haneul joined our family

So I heard that this tradition first appeared on a Korean drama and since then couples have brought their locks here to "lock their love together forever." Its kinda cute..and when we came to Korea last time we visited Namsan, but I didn't know about the lock tradition till we got up there. I was a little disappointed that Dave and I didn't do one at the time, but now I'm happy that we were able to do it as a family.

a wall of locks-they're really cool to look at

my attempt at a sibling photo.... wah wah..

our lock on the wall, with Seoul in the background

family photo (notice both kids are not smiling. see they were happily running around chasing each other and we made them stop to capture the moment. what horrible parents we are ;) )

Daddy with his kiddos

annnnddd a fun side note. Meet Simon & Martina, a cute Canadian couple that used to teach English in Korea. Now they make videos and blog about life in Korea full time. One of their video segments is called Wonderful Adventure Now Korea or WANK (this is a perfect title as nonsense English can be found all over Korea) where they take an adventure and have challenges. For me its pretty comical to watch, but I do warn you its not 100% clean so no kids around...but they are cute and I like that they love each other and Korea so much. Anyway, for more info about Namsan, here is their WANK to Namsan.

getting to know you...

Haneul is a very happy girl who loves to jump around and lives to play. So far she has taken an interest in Pororo, legos, cars, following her oppa, coloring, singing, and dancing. She shouts "ball" (in Korean) anytime she sees one and loves to throw them around (daddy is excited!). In fact, she was yelling at all the red stone circles at Target today and was quite upset that she could not play with them.

fun with daddy

We had to visit Pororo land before we left..both the kids had a blast and we basically had the place to ourselves because we got there pretty late. They ran crazy for almost two solid hours. My favorite part: a replica of Pororo's house that you could play in. The kid's favorite part: the ball pit...something we could find anywhere! lol..

riding the pororo train

looking out Pororo's window

climbing through the window..

biiig aquaa

beniah's 1st dip in the ocean was in the sea of japan. and he loved every second of it.

beniah's first spanish word was "aqua" and its one of his favorite things. he loves playing with water in any situation so seeing the ocean was truly exciting. he looked out across the horizon and said "biiiigg aquuuaa". it was so precious and made me wish i could remember the first time i saw the ocean.

while we were in korea we visited the ocean several times. it is a peninsula, so its surrounded by water on three sides (and north korea on one side). it was fun to see all the different kinds of beaches. we were fortunate enough to visit an island to the south of korea called che ju. this island was created from a volcanic explosion so while there are a couple of sandy beaches, there is a TON of volcanic rock and the shoreline is mostly rocks. here my mom traps a crab to show beniah.

if you eat it, they will like you

in the summer of 2000 i spent three weeks in sao paulo, brazil on a short-term missions trip. i stayed with a host family along with one other guy in our group. maybe four or five days into your trip my roommate tom said to me about our hosts, "i think they like your more than they like me." not really believing him i responded, "why do you think that?"

"because you eat everything they put in front of you".

i teach geography and i tell my students repeatedly, "just because its different doesn't mean its deficient." this goes for food as well, except the kicker is food is tied to who we are as a people. have you ever heard someone from wisconsin talk about sausages, someone from maryland talk about crab cakes, someone from phili talk about cheese steaks, chicago talk about deep dish, colorado talk about beer, cali talk about sprouts, the south talk about...anything that will clog your arteries?

the same is true about those in different countries...truer, because there is a longer history of food, there is a deeper community surrounding food and frankly more likely a chance that food wasn't alway readily available like it typically is here in the states. in a lot of countries people eat all parts of animals because they didn't have the luxury of throwing excess away.

my last experience in korea was no different, i sat cross-legged, with achy knees at 18" tables with a million tiny dishes in front of me. "whats this?" i ask my mother-in-law. most of the time she would tell me, sometimes she would say, "just try it" and then she would tell me.

i would eat using chop-sticks, because thats what people use and it would take me longer to eat and i would continue eating long after everyone else was done and watch them clear dishes out of the way to move more food in front of me.

christe would look at me adoringly, "they like you".

"why?"

"because most americans don't eat this stuff."

beniah: international superstar

obviously i am completely unbiased, but it seems the korean people really know a cute baby when they see one.

i often get asked if i'm like a "superstar" in kora because i'm tall, i'm american, have red hair and pretty much stick out. "do a lot of people stare at you?" i have been asked a number of times. the truth is no, especially not in the city. although i have had my share of moments, those just mostly took place in central and south america.

this trip to south korea was quite a bit different in this regard, we seemed to get lots of attention, lots of eyes and lots of comments. and of course when i say "we" i mean beniah. it was actually a little crazy, on no less than five separate occasions did random strangers, often two or three at a time, pull out their camera phones and take pictures of him. christe's mom would then very sweetly ask for 10,000 won or about 8 dollars.

on one evening christe was really craving a waffle, which is a dessert not a breakfast in korea. so we found a little cafe were three college girls happened to be working and ordered our waffle, which seemed to take a little longer than usual because the workers were very distracted. we sit down and almost immediately the manager rushes over with a cookie for b. after his first bite we turn to thank them again and all three girls were hunched over the counter, propped up on their elbows just staring at b with these big smiles, it was then the manager quickly realized she had forgotten to bring beniah some milk.

i guess beautiful people really do get free stuff.