Mark, Ash, Amelia & Syd: January 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

In Transition

We moved! Horray! I think the walmart style lighting and plastic couch were slowly killing my spirit at the hotel. So moving was a really great thing. Mark somehow organized this taxi van to pick us up and we made it. Our new home is in Hannam-dong, which I realize taxi drivers have no idea where you are talking about if you say hannam-dong, you have to say hanNAM-dong. We live by this hospital so I just say the hospital name now which gets us home pretty fast because they think we’re sick. Our place is wonderful, lots of light, all of our stuff arrived and we have our own dryer….heaven!(must resist doing 6 loads of laundry a day in amazement of modern delights) Amelia is no longer a resident of the kitchen (for those of you not buddies from Boston, she slept in the kitchen of our 1 bedroom apt there for about 6 months) and has her own space with a crib we realized is missing a screw and had to be tied together with ribbon from a cookie box. In all the change she has become attached to a Nepali men’s formal-wear hat Mark bought in Nepal. She loves this hat, I think it might be a similar attachment item to her blanket which she interchangeably calls “blanken” or “bacon”. Mark started work and will be on a project, which has some travel in the US. The girls and I will stay here but I am stocking up my amazon cart and making lists of things that are hard to buy here like: pyrex, vanilla extract, “just add water” baking boxes (I miss you chocolate chip cookies that deceptively look homemade!) and A&D ointment (this stuff is like gold among mom’s groups, could be an official mom’s group currency). Mark being gone at work all day is strange but also really exciting to learn all about the work culture and funny nuiances which are deserving of PhD quality research. We are traveling to the warm Phillipines for lunar new year next week so more to come then.

Helping clean the windows. Window crayon is harder to get off than I thought..whoops.

Nepali hat!

"Sink baths"-for the infant on the go.

Striking need for a bouncer seat...sorry Syd.

Serious sleeper.

Caught with Nepali hat again.

Does this hat match my shirt?

Trying on a new hat style.

Nope. Nepali formal wear forever!

Going outside to face the brutal cold.

4 month celebration with new friend.

Desperate for cake.

Couldn't resist posting this one..

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Around Town

Hello friends! Mark is in Japan for 2 days getting his work visa so I wanted to post some pics of what we have been doing the past week. We've been getting out despite the freezing temps and trying to see more of the beast of a city. For New years eve we went over to another samsung guy's house who also had kids, Amelia made it until 11 and we got a cab back to our hotel just in time to see the anti-climatic ringing of the seoul bell on tv. Holding out for lunar new year! We also found a play center where you can rent toys!(I nearly passed out when they explained the system of a toy library, ingenious!). We went back the next day to watch a small production called "The Turnip" where I think a farmer planted a seed, grew a turnip then solicited his wife and farm animals to pull it out. Amelia got scared then was consoled by the abundance of lollipops available after the show. We also happened upon a semi-creepy doll show that was worth noting. We're still in the hotel but I think we'll be able to move into our apartment on the 17th which I'm interested in seeing if our stuff from boston actually made it since we chose the cheapest option called "best ever shipping"...unlikely. Also, some funny pics around town!