Update...

It has rained the last two days and I have been caught up in the minutiae of life so not much time for posting. Will put something together over the weekend.

First day of Kindergarten...

So today the children went off to Kindergarten for the first time. They seemed to have a good time although of course they couldn't really communicate with the other children. I guess that will come soon enough. In other news, Emily has stopped wearing nappies. She's been very good so far in not creating too much in the way of extra washing...

대성사 - Daeseongsa

Our flat is very close to the Arts Centre and so we strolled up there on Saturday afternoon. The Arts Centre is situated at the bottom of a mountain and philistine that I am I was much more interested in exploring the mountain than looking at the Opera House. Anyhow, I convinced my friend to join me and we set off uphill and I'm glad we did. We came across a temple and had a wonder around. The children were quite fascinated with people lighting incense sticks and we let them have a go (I guess they'll be reincarnated as dung beetles or something for such blasphemy). Click for larger pictures and captions.

Emily

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Alex

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삼청각 - Samchonggak

On Friday we took advantage of the mysterious disappearance of the monsoon rains and went out for the afternoon. We took the free bus from Gwanghwamun up to Samchonggak which is up behind the Blue House. It was cool up in the hills and there were quite a few people sitting on the terrace of the coffee shop that is up there. As we are still financially challenged until we are both established in work we nipped around the corner to the vending machine to share a can of 이프로 (2%). The children spent some time playing in the temporary sand pit set up there and we just sat and chatted.

Random Photos of Seoul...

A lot of my readers (I know you're out there even if you're not leaving comments) have never been to Korea and since it is rarely featured on Wish You Were Here? I guess you don't really have any concept of what it's like here. Over time I will endeavour to take some photos of normal daily things so you can get a frame of reference on our life here and here's the first installment (click for bigger pictures):

Seoul is basically a forest of apartments:

It has wide streets often 5,6 or even more lanes in each direction):

It even has an Anglican cathedral:

Refreshing...

The animals went in two by two...

In anticipation of the impending monsoon season which was originally supposed to start today but which has been put back til tomorrow or Friday, I took the children to the zoo at 대공원. This was mainly because I figured it might be last chance for a couple of weeks to spend some time outside but also because I have been inculcated by AFKN to believe that the monsoons will be like the floods faced by Noah and I just wanted to make sure that they had two of each animal.

The quality of the zoo varied. Some of the animals seemed to have quite a bit (I hesitate to say enough as I am not an expert) of space and others had a lot less space than I thought they would need. Nevertheless, the children like to see the animals and it was only 6,000 won for the three of us including tickets for the zoo and entrance to the dolphin show.

The dolphin show was fairly entertaining, especially for the children. Actually, for me the interesting part was not so much the tricks performed by the animals as I'm quite aware what a dolphin or a sealion can do but it was the interaction between the keepers and the animals. The keepers were very much involved in being part of the tricks including surfing on dolphins, and being launched out of the pool and on to the side. I ended up wondering what would make a Korean high school student become a dolphin trainer...I would really love to be able to chat with them and find out why and how and what their parents' reactions were...

Anyhow, it was nice day out to keep the children entertained and they have all the must have animals. Also it wasn't at all crowded. If you want to go there, take subway line 4 south to Daegongwon which is just after the stop for Seoul racecourse. At the same site is Seouland and an art museum.

Art?

The internet is cool but I'm sure you already knew that. I was browsing random flickr photos today and came across on a photo. A quick click on a link and suddenly a few hours have disappeared as I play around with my own photos. As usual click to have them leap out of the page at you...

What can you see from your balcony?

They say that you can Seoul Tower from pretty much every apartment in Seoul. Well it is certainly true of ours...(click for a bigger size)
Although the apartment complex is showing it's age, I quite like it. The two things I've noted so far is that there is a surprising lack of restaurants in the neighbourhood. I guess they are around but will require some exploring. The other thing is that the nearest subway station is due to be closed for six months from next January for asbestos removal. Bugger!

Happy Birthday to Granny...

When I were a lad...

...we didn't have beds with mattresses made of latex that moulds to your body shape, we slept on the floor and we were glad to have a roof over our heads...and so it is for Emily and Alex. Yes we are all sleeping on the floor in the traditional korean way until our beds arrive.

Moving day...

We are moving in to our apartment tomorrow so expect radio silence for a few days until the internet is connected. Now, I'm sure you're all probably sitting there fretting about how they're going to get our stuff up to our 8th floor apartment, well you need worry no more. Although the majority of our stuff won't be arriving for at least another month I don't want to leave you fretting for that long so I taped some video of "the korean moving experience" as someone moved in to the 12th floor of the apartment block opposite:

Abracadabra!

The week so far...

So this week has been pretty relaxing. Firstly of course we're getting over jet-lag. And secondly we're right in the middle of nowhere. To be exact, we are staying with my brother-in-law in a place called Munsan which is aout 50km north of Seoul and only about 15km from Panmunjom so we're right in the firing line I suppose. Still with ICBMs and the like, I don't suppose there is any more danger, probably less as I don't suppose this is a strategic target.

Anyhow, all we have done thus far is make a trip to the supermarket, go to the playgrounds attached to the apartment complex and walk into town a few times.
(Click to see bigger photos)
The children seem to be adapting fine. They are both on their normal schedule of bed by 8:00pm and up around 7:00am. They flag a bit in the late afternoon and seem a bit grumpy (I suspect this is lack of toys) but are ok. Emily is playing up with the food and saying everything is yucky (but then when didn't she?)
We've met the grandparents which was overwhelming for the first few minutes but calmer after that, except the children are having difficulty communicating as they are not used to speaking in Korean and seem to be having problems understanding the Kyongsang dialect...it'll come with time I suppose.

Anyhow, my observations after the frst few days...
1. Milk, juice and fruit all expensive. (Milk at 95p per litre, a football sized watermelon for eight quid.)
2. Meat, expensive but not as much as I thought. Plus they've started selling whole chickens in the supermarket so roll on roast chicken...
3. Bread, quality has improved from poor to edible.
4. Imported cheese is expensive. Domestic production has increased from just making cheese slices to include domestic brie and camembert (taste unverified). Will start internet campaign for domestic wensleydale.
5. Transport, becoming more expensive but still 50p for a single on underground that will take you a good half hour to travel. 70p took us on the train for half an hour to the next town over.

Okay, I think I'd best be off to bed as the brats are sure to be awake early tomorrow morning.

The reunion...

The one thing that the children have been aware of about going to Korea is that they would be able to see mummy again after six weeks of being without her. Of course this means that they were anxious to get off the plane and go to her. We were sitting at the back and so had to wait for everyone else to clear out before we could move but eventually we were off the plane and in to the terminal.

We joined the queue for passport control but were quickly ushered off to one side. This was a bit worrying as I had visions of having been identified as a non-desirable to be sent straight back from whence I'd come but it turned out the guy was just taking pity on me for being alone with two children and took me though the diplomat's lane. We collected our 4 bags (70kg) of luggage and headed for customs. The lady collecting the customs declarations had a long look at the amount of lugage I had and I could see in her eyes that she really wanted to nominate me for a random search but luckily she also took pity on me for having two children (it was almost worth bringing them just for the ease of passage through Incheon airport) and so we were home free.

I had been picturing one of those emotional arrivals scenes of the ind you have in movies. You know the one where the lady jumps into the arms of her man and they swing around. Well, I could see Sunme as I approached the doors but then I turned around to check the children were still in tow and she was gone. Anyhow, we stepped out into Korea proper and I looked around for Sunme. Then I saw her running towards me, arms outstretched. I reached out to embrace her and she ran straight past me to the children...

The journey begins...

Nb. Click on any photos to see larger versions.

well, it's not really a beginning, more of a resumption after all I've been to Korea pretty much every year since 1995. You'd think mum would be getting used to it by now. And to be fair, she was more restrained than usual despite having to say goodbye to two grandchildren as well this time...
But surely it was me that should have been glum, for it was me that was facing 11 hours on a plane with two children. Never mind snakes on a plane or Passenger 57, this had the potential to be a disaster of epic proportions.

Of course you always have to sit through a a few previews before you get to the main event, and so it was that we had a short and uneventful hop over to Frankfurt and a quick transfer on to the main flight. We were ushered on first, which always kind of annoys me as I'd rather keep the children out of the confined space of the aircraft for as long as possible. Still we strapped ourselves in and come 6pm we were thundering down the runway. It was the usual routine on the flight, drinks then dinner, then turn the lights down for a few hours, switch lights back on, serve breakfast and land. The children managed to grab 4-5 hours sleep each although unfortunately they overlapped rather than sleeping at the same time.

Anyhow, somehow we made it through the night, the kids weren't at all grumpy to be woken up in the morning and come 11:30am Korean time (GMT +9) we were gliding in to land at Incheon airport. Alex wasn't at all impressed saying:

"I thought we were going to Korea"

"Yes, we are in Korea"

"No, we're just back at the airport again."

Anyhow, my thoughts on Lufthansa:
The stewardesses were much kinder than last time I flew with them. Maybe they felt sorry for me having the children.
The food was ok, they had special childrens meals which the children turned their noses up at in favour of my adults meal.
They didn't have seat back individual televisions which I had last time I went with Air France and Korean Air. Being able to watch back to back films really makes time pass much quicker and I'm sure there would have been a kids channel as well (sometimes it is ok for the kids to watch ten hours of tv...)

Next post: the reunion.