Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas here in Daegu, South Korea. We were far from home and missing family and friends, but we had each other!

On December 23rd we had a huge dinner with some friends of ours the Best family (Jermie, Jennifer, Jaden, Jordan, and Jorgia). The food was wonderful and the company even better.

We got to see family and friends on the webcam and that was a blessing and a curse. I enjoyed seeing all the people I love, but it hurt not to be able to give them a hug.

Act of Charity

On December 22nd, Jason's battalion had their Christmas party for all the families and the single soldiers. As soon as we walk in the door I get roped into serving duties while Jason socializes with all the big wigs. It sounds like I would be miserable, but it was actually quite nice. He got to try to have a good time with Marley in tow. That adorable little child has an uncanny knack for sucking all the fun out of every situation. I could not help but chuckle every time Jason shot me a pleading look. Apparently he gave her whatever she wanted because she ended up throwing up a river of chocolate on the drive home.

As for Jackson, I have never been more proud to be his mother than on that day. Early on in the party one of the Chaplain's assistants made an announcement that they were still desperately short on toys to take to the orphanage this year. Even though we had already bought a few presents, Jason and I immediately handed over all the cash we had on us. The party continues on and I forget all about it. Eventually an announcement comes over the speaker that they are going to have a game of musical chairs for the kids. Jason and I start laughing to ourselves because there is no way our moose of a son is going to loose this game. As predicted, Jackson wins the game and a $10 bill as his prize. He immediately walks over and gives his $10 to the Chaplain's assistant and tell him that the orphan kids need it more than he does. (I found all of this out from the assistants wife. She also told me that her kids almost cried when they saw this and asked if they could give their money.) I love my son, but my favorite thing about that boy has always been his big heart.

ReUp

Jason reenlisted the other day for the last time. He now has only 5 more years until retirement!

Purse shopping

Yesterday was quite a long and interesting day. My friend Jennifer and I boarded a bus at 5 am bound for Osan, South Korea. I brought a backpack of things to keep me entertained for the 3 hour drive and made sure to take a Dramamine just in case. About 20 minutes into the bus ride we all start complaining to the driver to please turn the heat down. The driver responds by pretending he does not speak any English. Thank goodness for the freezing temperatures outside because all the windows were frozen. I spent the entire drive with my face on the glass trying to cool off. By the time we reached our destination I had shed every last extra layer of clothing that I could. It was so wonderful to finally escape that bus and have some fresh air. Our first order business was to spend a couple hours in the PX (the Osan PX is soooooooo much bigger and better than the one in Daegu. It is like comparing a dollar store and a Super Target.) Once 11 am rolled around we headed out to The Ville to get what we really came for........PURSES!!!! Some friends had given us directions to the places with the really good stuff. The first time I read over the directions I had to laugh out loud because it read like one of those cheat books for a video game (you know like jump on the purple mushroom.....go under the fourth black rock....). The directions told us to go down this alley and look for a soup shop and a blanket shop (let me explain something about Korea......there is a soup shop and a blanket shop on every corner!). Then we were to proceed til we came to the end, stop, and pretend to look for something or someone. The lady would find us and take us to the secret room with the good stuff. Holy crap!!! That is exactly how it works. Some of the stores have secret rooms hidden behind walls. Others you have to go up or down some narrow stairs or even through a little tunnel. It was so clandestine and I loved it!!! I feel totally safe here in Korea, but you would never catch me doing the same thing back home. After a couple hours of shopping and a nice lunch we boarded the miserable bus back to Daegu. Six hours in an oven on wheels.....pure hell, but ending up with two Prada bags and a Jimmy Choo with a wallet for $95......priceless!

Holiday Blues

Today is the last day of school before the Christmas break and I am feeling blah. I miss home. This will be the first year I have ever been away from home for Christmas. Poor Jason has been away on more than one occasion, and he has been by himself, so I know I should not complain. We have set up our tree and it is surrounded by an obscene amount of presents, but it just does not feel like Christmas here. I miss my parents. I miss driving around looking at lights. I miss the yearly fight my mom and I have trying to make everything perfect.

Traditionally we have dinner at my parents house on the 23rd with my Grandmother and extended family. This year some friends and I have all decided to get together and have a big dinner together. That should be pretty fun.

Ski Resort

I took way to many pictures to post right now. I will try to get more on here soon.

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Korean Alps with some other military families. The Muju Ski Resort was only a two hour bus ride away, but it was totally different than Daegu. The entire place was designed like an Austrian Ski Village. We all had such a wonderful time day and night sledding. Marley loved the snow and was so sad to leave it. She told us she wanted to go back to "snowman." I have to say the views were breathtaking, the food was first rate (we got steak and lobster dinners), and the company was perfect. We really had a wonderful family vacation and we cannot wait to get to go back again.

Pictures with Santa

Marley was absolutely petrified of Santa and these pictures were taken after 10 minutes of calming her down. You cannot really tell, but yes those are REAL tears streaming down her face. I know that I was supposed to feel sorry for her and comfort her, but I was too embarrassed to even admit I gave birth to her. Apparently I will not be getting any pictures with Santa any time soon. The upside to this story is that I did not spend the better part of a day waiting in line at Northpark for the good Santa only to have this happen!

AWWWWW

Wish that this could have been my Christmas card picture, but it just did not show enough of their faces.

Happy 3rd Birthday Marley!!

Today is Friday and the boys are out playing golf in the rain. Marley and I have been cleaning the house and organizing all the groceries that I have already bought for our Thanksgiving Day feast. Because of the time difference we are so sad that our family will be deprived of the traditional Cowboy game. Some friends here are putting together a football game out in the field near where we live for all the dads and their friends. This will keep them out of our hair while we finish up all the cooking.

In addition to all the Thanksgiving plans, we are gearing up for Marley's 3rd birthday. I cannot believe that she is getting so big already. She is so excited and has demanded a Diego cake. I am fully aware that Diego is meant for boys, but she does not care. She told me that I get to have a princess cake and she wants Diego. I tried for two months to change her mind and finally conceded defeat. I ordered the Diego cake yesterday.

Since Marley's birthday falls the day before Thanksgiving, I am going to have to tweak my normal three days of cooking. On the other hand, she will have tons of new presents to occupy her and keep her out of my kitchen.

Bennigans

On Sunday my friend Leslie and I decided we would escape our families for a while. We tried to go to the fabric market, but they were closed. We tried to go to the ribbon and flower markets, but they were closed. At this point we were driving around Daegu trying to find someplace to go, because there was NO WAY IN HELL we were heading home. Eventually we found E-Mart (Korean equivalent to Target) and checked out what all they had. By now it was time for lunch. Hmmmmmm.......where to eat??? We decided to go downtown and eat some American food at Bennigans. After climbing the two flights of steep stairs we reach the doors and are greeted by two very sweet Korean young women. We follow one to our table and Leslie starts cracking up laughing. When she caught her breath she finally says to me, "did they just say "Welcome Americans?'" Once I finished crying from laughing I told her that they had said, "Welcome to Bennigans." Now we are both rolling on the floor. Eventually we calm down and pick up our menus. In the right hand corner of each of our menus, in big white letters, are the words "Foreigners Menu." Wow, I have never been the foreigner at a restaurant before! Everything about Bennigans was the exact same as it is in the States. Leslie and I both ordered the Monti Cristo and each of us ended up taking half home to our husbands. It was so nice to have a little piece of home for a little while. While we waited for our change, I figured I better go to the restroom since we had a long walk back to the car. I don't know why this shocked me, but there was a bidet (toilet that squirts you with water). It had a heated seat and buttons so you could control the angle of the water spray. It was crazy! Had I been able to get over my phobia of germs I might have given it a try, but there was no way since it was a public toilet. The really sad thing is that this is not even the strangest toilet I have seen in Korea. Some places just have a hole in the ground for you to use (Americans call these "squatty potties"). I prefer to just hold it until I get home.

Happy Halloween 2009! Jackson was Ghost Rider (Marley was scared of the mask) and Marley was a princess. We all went over to the other base and went trick or treating at the housing over there. It is not a huge housing complex and less than half of the people participated, but the kids still walked away with about 1/3 of their bags filled. It was a whole lot of walking for very little candy, but we had fun.

Band-Aid Princess

Here is Marley in her Halloween costume. Jackson had his costume on and ran out the door before I could get his picture. Tonight was the carnival at the school and tomorrow we will trick or treat for some serious candy.

No the Dora band-aid was not supposed to be part of Marley's costume. Earlier in the day she flipped off the couch and split her eyebrow open. It was not bad enough to need stitches, but I bet it will leave a small scar.

My babies

I love this picture. We were all in the living room watching "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and I could not resist taking a picture of how sweet they looked.

I bought these cowboy boots at one of the markets here for Marley to play dress up with and now I cannot get her to take them off.

Jackson tickling Marley to the point of tears. They were having so much fun that day.

Our Hood

This first picture is of the little Korean grocery store just outside the base. None of the products are in English, but most of the time we are able to recognize packaging. The kids love to stop here because they can get ice cream bars for like 50 cents. Jason and I get such a kick out of the owner and his family. They all love to show off the new English phrases that they have learned. Each time one of us goes in there we try to teach them a new slang term that they might hear from the soldiers and their families.

This is the main street leading to the base we live on. The Americans have nicknamed it Suicide Alley because it is narrow and traffic can be crazy.

Good Food

This is one of our favorite places to eat here in Daegu. They serve American style Chinese food and it is so good. You have to be very careful when you tell anyone here that you are headed to Shanghai Grill because everyone wants you to bring them something back!

Hook Em Horns

Fractured Hand

Sorry I forgot to update everyone on Jackson. The x-rays came back and Jackson has a deep fracture of the 5th bone in his hand. The doctor put a removable cast on his hand that can be taken off for showers. Most of the swelling and bruising is getting better and he does not seem to be in pain unless you squeeze it. The only thing that seems to be bothering him is the fact that it hinders his fun on the playground.

Not the way I wanted to spend my time with the car!

I took the kids out to the playground today since the weather was so nice. Marley had a wonderful time playing on the slides. Jackson and a bunch of his friends were practicing wrestling and having a great time being boys. Leave it to one of my kids to be the one to get hurt. According to Jackson it took four other boys to wrestle him to the ground, but in the commotion he hurt his hand. He immediately came over to me crying and I sent him in the house to wash his face and compose himself. About ten minutes later he comes back outside and he is still crying. When he first came over to me I assumed he was just being a baby, but for him to still be in pain after ten minutes I knew I needed to look at it. Sure enough he had swelling and pain on the outside of his hand between the pinkie and the wrist. We all pile into the car and head to the after hours clinic for an assessment. Basically the PA told me that he needs an x-ray (duh!) but that since it is a four day weekend the clinic will not be able to do this until Wednesday. I was given the option to take the kids up to the Korean hospital or have the clinic put on a temporary cast-like splint and wait until Wednesday. The idea of going to an ER and spending an eternity waiting is bad enough, but then to compound that with the fact that very few people speak English made the decision easy. The clinic immobilized his hand from fingers to elbow, gave him an ice pack, told me to give him Motrin, and sent us on our way.

Long time no write

I know it has been a long time since I posted on this blog, but there has not been a whole heck of a lot going on lately. Jackson and Marley were both sick most of last week. Marley was running a low fever and throwing up for the better part of the week, and Jackson spent most of the week on the toilet. Jason and I finally won the battle against some terrible sinus headaches. All in all it was not the best week for us and I decided that I would spare you the yucky details.

Jason left on Thursday for a field exercise and he will not be back for at least 8 days. I love him with all my heart and I miss him when he is gone, but I have to admit I did a happy dance when he left. THE CAR IS MINE!!!!!! ALL MINE!!!! I can go where I want, when I want. I get to watch what I want on tv. I can stay up as late as I want without feeling guilty. I can cook what I want, and yes cereal is ok for dinner. I get the whole bed to myself and the sheets don't smell like fart! I know that I will be so excited to see him when he gets back, but for now I am enjoying myself.

Mommies Gone Wild

Saturday night me and 6 other moms (Leslie, Misti, Stacey, Jennifer, Paula, and Jamie) went out for Misti's birthday. We started out the evening having dinner and margaritas at the Holy Grill. It is a Canadian restaurant that serves Greek and Mexican food (well they think it is Mexican food). After cake and singing we headed into downtown on a mission to have fun. The first place we stopped was a little stand (as seen above) that sold liquor in a bag. They fill this plastic bag half full, put in a straw, and release you on the public. Holy crap! This was not normal alcohol. I think this stuff might have been grain alcohol with a touch of flavor. I am not kidding when I tell you that this stuff had one heck of a kick. Needless to say, within about 5 minutes we were all making each other taste the other persons drink and figuring out that drinking from more than one at a time made it taste better! At our next destination we opted for the drink they called the rainbow. It ended up being a shot with like 5 layers of different colored liquor. The bartender lined up all the shots and then slid Bacardi 151, that she had lit on fire, down a long knife into each drink. Soon all the shots were on fire. It was so cool. She handed us all a straw and told us to stick it into the fiery liquid and drink quickly. Woooooow! I am not ashamed to admit that I might be getting to old to be drinking that kind of stuff. Last we headed to another bar that most of the Americans call The Ice Bar. When you order a beer they bring it to you in a mug made completely of ice. As soon as you finish your beer you are supposed to take the mug of ice and throw it at this target. If you hit the target you win a prize (like fries or a free beer). We all decided to call it a night at around midnight. Most of us were exhausted and I for one had blisters on my heals from wearing cute shoes instead of comfortable shoes. Two of the girls headed home in separate cabs and the rest of us all piled into one cab to head home. As soon as I got in the house I took two Alleve, drank a glass of water, and fell asleep. As strong as the drinks were and can you believe it, I woke up without a hangover! I had a wonderful time with some great women! I laughed myself stupid and I cannot for next month when we can do this again.

Yeah me

Today was one of those days where you realize you should just go back to bed and wake up tomorrow. First thing this morning my cell phone decided that it wanted to go swimming in the toilet. Yeah me, I now get to have a pee phone! I swear if they were not so expensive I would just get a new one, but since they are I got to go fish it out with my hand. Later in the day, Marley comes to me saying yuckies and spitting into her hand. I smelled something funny in her mouth and told her to show me what she got in her mouth. My genius daughter had decided to chew on a glow in the dark necklace until it leaked into her mouth. Yeah me. We wash her mouth out and I get to have a conversation with poison control. Luckily poison control said that this happens all the time and that the little bit she got in her mouth would not hurt her, but it would taste pretty bad. Thinking that the worst of the day must be over, I took the children to the park. We played outside for a few hours and came in for dinner. Once we got into the house I gave Marley a cup of milk and we sat down to wait for the pizza to get here. (yes we have pizza delivery here, but it is like rubber cheese on cardboard.) Marley comes across the room and tells me to rub her back. Apparently I did not get what she was trying to tell me and next thing I know she is projectile vomiting all over the living room. Yeah me, I love a good puke bath. Now I have bathed the two of us and mopped the floor just as the pizza man arrives. Marley opts for bedtime, so just as I am pushing play on her movie I hear her blessing me with another round of vomit. I pick her up and we race to the bathroom where we get to take ANOTHER shower. Her bed is stripped and she is back in bed on a towel watching her movie when I finally get to sit down to my pizza. Only a mom would still have an appetite after all of the mess! The house is finally quiet and I have my fingers crossed that Marley is finished with whatever bug she had. (FYI I did call poison control back and they said that the vomiting was not related to the necklace incident, just a wonderful coincidence that they happen on the same day.)

Korean Musical

One of my friends here got free tickets to a Korean musical and I was lucky enough to be able to go with her. I have to say that this was an extremely cool experience. I was not able to take pictures or I would have posted some. All of the dialog was in Korean (with English subtitles), but all of the singing was in English. We had a great time giggling at the translation goofs and some of the subtle humor of the musical. Apparently Koreans like their humor to be very over the top slapstick, whereas Americans appreciate subtle humor. My friends and I would find ourselves laughing yet the Koreans would be straight faced. I have to say I thought this was an awesome evening and I will be going back when they have a new production.

TMI

Today when Jackson got home from school he walked into the living room, very nonchalant, and said he wanted to know what a word meant. He hands me his little note taking spiral and at the bottom of the page, in his own handwriting, is "hikey." I decided I better find out the context the word was used in before answering him. Jackson begins to stumble over his words, I can see that he is pretty uncomfortable, so I calmly wait for him to finish. He tells me that he has overheard a kid ask the teacher what the word meant and the teacher refused to answer. Damn it..........my fear was correct. He really was asking me what a "hickey" was. I decided to take the scientific approach in answering his question. I googled "hickey" and found a picture for him to see and then began my explanation. As soon as I start giving him details his hand immediately goes to cover his mouth. He is completely appalled, yet still morbidly curious to hear the rest of the explanation. Not two seconds after I finished talking, he ran to his room and I could hear him dry heaving. I know that I need to have "The Talk" with him about sex soon, but I am not sure either of us can stand the embarrassment of me telling him! Poor kid will never be the same!

Gotta love her

Marley came in with her diaper on, a t-shirt, a dress-up hat, backpack, and her animal hotel to tell me that she was headed off to school. She cracks me up sometimes!

Italy Italy

Apparently we have been away from home just long enough for Jason to want to eat Italian food! We took the kids to walk around downtown and then to have lunch at Italy Italy. Instead of chairs you get to sit on loveseats next to the second story window and people watch. It is a design your own pizza or pasta style of restaurant. You get to choose three pastas, a sauce, and then what additions you would like. For the pizza you get to choose the shape, sauce, and toppings. I took pictures of the little salad that they bring you that has the most awesome honey mustard dressing. You are also able to see the pasta dish that I ordered. I chose the fettuccine with spinach, fresh garlic, black olives, and chicken. They put it in a deep dish, cover it with cheese, and bake it. Sorry, but I had to take a few bites before I took the picture. OMG it is so good! Jackson ordered a pizza, but he had already started eating before I could take a good pic. I will try to remember my camera when we go eat Korean food so that you can see what it looks like.

Market

This is a Korean market that we went to on Saturday. This one has a wide walkway compared to some of the markets that we have been to. These are a great place to get huge fresh veggies and fresh fruit for so cheap. We can buy our food and stuff at the commissary here on base, but by the fruit and veggies don't last very long once you get them home. I guess the travel time to get here makes everything less fresh. Most people here go ahead and buy their fresh food from street vendors and markets since it is much cheaper and totally fresh.

Taxi Ride

Here is a picture I took the other day when Marley and I went for a taxi ride to the grocery store.

Korean Tooth Fairy

For days now Jackson has been working on one of his baby molars, trying to get it loose enough to pull. He has had his hand in his mouth wiggling that tooth as much as possible. The rest of the time his face looked like that of a stroke victim as he wiggled the tooth with his tongue. I am happy to announce that the tooth is no longer in his mouth. Since he is 10, his younger sister is too young to figure it out, and we are in a foreign country, we decided that we should have a little fun with the tooth fairy. Jackson went to sleep with this tooth under his pillow just like he always has and Jason and I sat outside reminding each other to put money under the pillow. Eventually we decided that we would make it a bit more fun this time and put Korean money under his pillow. We snuck in his room and replaced the tooth with 1 dollar bill and 1000 won and then laughed ourselves to sleep. Jackson woke up this morning and brought me the money with a confused look on his face. We proceeded to tell him that the Korean tooth fairy must have taken his tooth, to which he shook his head and laughed back to his room. I would bet you anything that he is in his room right now trying to figure out how he can keep the Korean Santa Clause from visiting and get the American Santa Clause to make a special trip.

On a stick

One of Jason and my favorite things here in Korea is the food on a stick. I will have to take a picture of the actual food sometime, but for now you get the idea. We love how it is set up like a booth at the State Fair.

Only In Korea

Only in Korea will you see a plastic surgery office directly above a McDonalds!

Downtown Korea

My friend Leslie and I took the little girls downtown today for lunch and a bit of shopping. I took some pictures but it just does not translate all that well. Downtown Daegu is very different than the markets that I have been to so far. It was a grid of like 15 square blocks with more upscale shops everywhere. Since real estate is at such a premium all of the stores go up and no space is wasted. Some of the stores are three stories tall and some just have stores on top of stores. It is not dirty or cramped at all. We wandered around for about two hours and there is no way that we saw it all.

Fireworks

Last night the base put on a fireworks show. What we heard is that the 4th of July fireworks got rained out, so they decided to do them for Labor Day. Works for me because this way we were here to see them. I have to say, they were not Lakewood CC fireworks, but for a small military base I was very impressed. I wanted to take pictures, but Marley screamed the whole time and cowered in my arms. We found a great spot on the golf course and soon were joined by friends. It was a pretty nice evening. I just wish that Marley would have seen the fireworks. I understand why she is afraid of the noise, but she refuses to look at them.

Little Bear

Today after Jackson went to school a group of us moms took the little kids to a place called Little Bear today. I LOVE this place! There were little houses for them to play in that each had a theme. One house had music stuff. Another house was all kitchen stuff for them to pay with. There was a ball pit and a HUGE play area with slides and a mini trampoline. One area was set up for reading and so on and so on. It was a 2-5 year old dreamland. Marley had such a wonderful time playing with her little friends and I got in some girl time. I think we will have to go back to Little Bear once a week!

First day of 4th grade

Here is by baby boy on his way to the first day of 4th grade. He said he had a really good day today at school and was excited that his desk is in the front row so he can see the board.

End of Summer

Here are some new pictures of the kids. We were at the golf course for the last day of golf camp for Jackson. It was really a wonderful deal and Jackson really seemed to love it.

Friday was also the day that we got to go and meet Jackson's teacher for 4th grade. I had already been informed that there are only two choices in teachers. One is rumored to be way too laid back and the other one has a reputation for being completely uptight. Wouldn't you know it, Jackson will be spending the next year with the tight ass! As sad as it sounds, I think I prefer her to the laid back one. On a different note, I was so excited to find out that he will be rotating to 6 different "specials" throughout the year. He will get music, art, p.e., computer, Korean culture (and language), and Chinese. I love the idea that he is going to be exposed to two different foreign languages! I think that this is going to be a hard year, but I think that Jackson is really going to learn a lot.

Mountains

Here is a picture of the view from one of the taxi stands on the base. I though everyone might want to see some of the cool scenery here.

Days drag on

Things have been pretty boring around here lately. We are getting ready for school to start on the 31st. Jackson seems to be excited about meeting new friends. Tomorrow he gets to start his first day at golf camp. I hope this will be as fun as we all expect it to be. On Friday we get to go to the school for an orientation and to meet his new teacher. Please, oh please, let him get the teacher we wanted because I so do not want to have to fight with this school. Some of the other mothers are taking the smaller children to a Chuck E Cheese type place on the first day of school, so this should be fun for Marley and I.

Watch out road.....

My friend Denise was nice enough to get up early this morning and come watch my children so that I could finally go get my Korean drivers license. I scored a 100 on the first part and got a 96 on the second part. Of course as soon as I got the license in my hand I threw the kids into our POS (piece of s**t) and we were off. We picked up Julie (Denise's daughter) and we all headed for the little resale shop on the other base. At first I was pretty nervous about driving here, but I am such a control freak that I feel much better driving than in the cabs. At least when I am driving my life is in my own hands. The initial experience was a little bit like Pole Position (that old race car game we used to play at Dave & Busters), but quickly felt just like driving in Austin traffic. The resale shop was pretty neat. They had consignment items and then they also had items that had been purchased all over Korea. Naturally I left there with a great Coach purse ($30) and a killer Kate Spade animal print bag ($15).

Cookie Monster

After Jason got off work on Saturday we all piled in the car and headed over to Seomun Market. This place is completely crazy. There are vendors EVERYWHERE with mountains of merchandise that practically spills over into the streets! We saw everything from clothing, to purses, to skin care products, to traditional Korean snacks (dried fish). I ended up buying a knock off Coach purse (not a great knock off, but not bad) for about $20. Jackson got some art supplies for less than a buck and we also got a HUGE bag of shelled almonds for like $5. As we were leaving the market (2 hours later and still not seeing everything) we happened upon the coolest vendor. This guys had a crowd around him so of course we were going to stop and see what was going on. Once we pushed our way to the front we realized it was a store full of all different cookies. Imagine it, barrels of all different kinds of cookies filling an entire store. SOLD! We grabbed a basket and started picking out a few out of every barrel so that we could take them home and try them all. Once we had all that we wanted, we handed them to the salesman who proceeded to sing to the crowd as he weighed and packaged them up for us. It was a really neat experience. To bad the cookies were not so great. They all looked so wonderful, but I really did not care for any of them.

Interesting

I need to take some better pictures, but I wanted to share this with you. In Korea all the sidewalks are done in either these cool brick patterns or the unpolished marble. The other thing that we have found fascinating is that all the major streets and highways are all landscaped.