Today Jared and I ventured off to Woobyland (a child's amusement park) with Ariana and Emma in the stroller. We had to walk off base, and take the subway, getting off on one station and switch to the other. On the subways they have a special seating area for elderly people, pregnant people, or people with wheelchairs. The oldest person gets to sit down, and if a man and a woman are about the same age, then the man gets to sit down. Pregnant women get first priority. No one sits in these seats unless they fit one of these categories. It's very nice to see the respect.
So, now back to my title. Korean people are fascinated with blonde hair and blue eyes. Everywhere we went we had eyes on us, and the girls were constantly greeted with hand shakes and smiles. We even had a couple of people ask if they could take their picture. What they do with the picture?? Who knows.
Friday, April 17, 2009
By Plane, or Train, or Bus
Okay, so I thought since I updated our blog with pictures (and brief explanations) I thought I would write about some of our experiences here so far. First of all, jet lag is crazy. We are in bed every night by 8:00 and up around 3:00 (5:00 if we are lucky). The girls are having so much fun, but I have to wonder what they are really thinking (like, okay I want to go home now). They are endearing, which is nice. On our way from the airport to the hotel, we took a bus. Now if I can tell you one thing about bus drivers in Korea is that there are no bus drivers. They are more like roller coaster death traps. They are one of the biggest vehicles on the road, and yet drive like they are motorcycles. They weave in and out of traffic, cut of cars left and right, and slam on the brakes just to floor the gas again. So we made it to the hotel alive, and fell asleep almost as soon as we entered our room. The first week in Seoul we played alot!! The hotel is a four star hotel with all the yummy desserts that come with it. There are alot of briefs that they give us here to aclimate us to the culture here. We even had a crash course in the Korean language.
Today we took another bus (this one was way less scary) to the train station. Jared and I have 12 bags altogether that we had to get on and off the bus. Then, when we arrived at the train station, the bus stopped at the bottom of the hill (there are lots of hills here). It took us 2 trips to get all our bags into the train station. As we waited for our train, so many strangers kept touching the girls' face or holding their hand, and kept saying how cute they were. Koreans love blonde hair and blue eyes. Everyone is so nice (and skinny!!). Most of the women here wear high heels and rush around as if they are always in a hurry. We had a KATUSA to help us get to Daegu. A Katusa is a Korean soldier that trains with US soldiers. It is mandatory in Korea that all men serve in the military at least two years. Our escort is one of the few who said that he was going to stay in.
Today we found out that our housing will be available to us on Monday, which is very soon (most people wait at least 30 days). What makes it even more perfect is that our household goods got here yesterday, which means that we will have our stuff in our house by the end of next week, hopefully. I feel so blessed by Heavenly Father.
Today we took another bus (this one was way less scary) to the train station. Jared and I have 12 bags altogether that we had to get on and off the bus. Then, when we arrived at the train station, the bus stopped at the bottom of the hill (there are lots of hills here). It took us 2 trips to get all our bags into the train station. As we waited for our train, so many strangers kept touching the girls' face or holding their hand, and kept saying how cute they were. Koreans love blonde hair and blue eyes. Everyone is so nice (and skinny!!). Most of the women here wear high heels and rush around as if they are always in a hurry. We had a KATUSA to help us get to Daegu. A Katusa is a Korean soldier that trains with US soldiers. It is mandatory in Korea that all men serve in the military at least two years. Our escort is one of the few who said that he was going to stay in.
Today we found out that our housing will be available to us on Monday, which is very soon (most people wait at least 30 days). What makes it even more perfect is that our household goods got here yesterday, which means that we will have our stuff in our house by the end of next week, hopefully. I feel so blessed by Heavenly Father.
Train Ride to Daegu from Seoul
Here are some pictures of our train ride from Seoul to Daegu. This morning we had to take a bus to the train station and then the train down here to Daegu. It took us an hour and half while the train was going almost 200 miles per hour. I though it was interesting how fast it went from a busy city will tall buildings to country with dirt roads and rice farms.
Korea Pictures
These mini statues are everywhere. This is a playground at our hotel.
This is a view of the garden from our hotel room window. We are on the 9th floor, so this is a ways down.
Random Kanosh Picutres
Jared and I took the girls to temple square. Here the girls are on the steps of the Salt Lake City temple.
Here we are as a family in front of the Salt Lake Temple.
The girls loved playing outside at Grandma Lang's house.
Here the girls are with great-great-grandma Dathel.
Jared put too much bubble bath solution in the tub. Here is the result.Sleep Kanosh
Ariana and Emmalee kept bringing Grandma toys while she was sleeping. This is their way of saying they love her.
Carinne is obviously Emma's favorite!! She wanted to be with her night and day.
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