Visitors

Mum and Dad are here so I am fairly busy with them. It is so nice having someone around to share all the fun things and not so fun things here. These are some shots from our day the Korean Folk Village.

Aussie Aussie Aussie

Well Miss Emily needed to do a project on her culture. So we have spent the last few weeks preparing a huge poster on Australia. She presented it yesterday wearing Dad's soccer jersey and she served vegemite on bread. She even convinced Paul to play the didgeridoo - which took very little convincing as Dad loves to be centre of attention. I am starting to think there projects are more work for Mum than the kids.

Crazy Busy - for something new.

I think I am going crazy, everything feels like it is moving at a frenetic pace. We have end of term stuff at school, marks and reports cards due and I have a year book to produce as well. On top of all of this I am spending hours doing Visa stuff also for the move, yadda yadda yadda.

Ok now more whinging. Mum and Dad get here in 5 sleeps and we are all excited. They will be here for 2 weeks. They are in Thailand now and Emily asked me last night if they might see those weird people in Thailand. "Weird people?" I asked. "Yes, the ones that look like girls but sound like boys!" Hmmmmm.....subject changed rapidly. I think we have exposed out children to too much in the world. The subject change worked, next time I will deflect to Paul.

Other than that not much else to tell. We had our passport shots taken yesterday and as I have nothing else to share, here you are.

Claudiaisms.

Claudia has become very animated in her opinions and her stories. I have decided to start recording them so that I can remember them. Hopefully you may enjoy them too.

Last night when I was putting Claudia to bed I found a story book torn to shreds in her bed. Now this was a beautiful new pop up book that she had just been given from her teacher when she was in hospital. I asked her why she did it? Her reply was.........


Well, Mum (with hand on hip) it was a story about peas (The Princess and the Pea) and you know how MUCH I hate peas!!!!! They are disgusting and I can't have anything around me with peas in them!

So there you have it.

I have not posted here for nearly two weeks. I can at least say I am not lazy. Claudia had a severe kidney infection and spent 7 days in hospital on a drip.

It all started with her waking on Monday morning around 2am with a really high fever. Then then pain followed. As soon as I saw her doubled over in pain, I thought, hmmmm, bet that is another kidney infection! Well, I should have bet on it because I was right. She was admitted to hospital with a 41 degree temp and an infection level of 48/50. Normal people sit at 10/50.

I chose to move overseas, so I need to suck up the experience, but 6 hours in a Korean emergency room is not for the faint hearted. Did you know people froth at the mouth when they fit. Did you also know that your head bleeds really badly when it is cracked open?

I do because I saw it wheeled past me.

We finally made it to our room around 1.30am and when I asked where I was going to sleep, they pointed to a mat that goes on the floor - great I thought. Anyway we got past the crappy sleeping conditions and I ended up sleeping in bed with Claudia. It was cramped, but it was softer than the floor...just. Also, Korean's have this belief that if you are cool or wind blows on you, you will get sick. So the hospital was heated so hot, I was sweating. I even considered sleeping naked, just to get cool - not such a pleasant sight for my neighbours.

She had many tests and the doctors were fairly concerned that as this was her second infection that she may have kidney damage. Praise God this was not the case. Then they were concerned she had kidney reflux, once again not the case. In the end they put it down to bad luck. After 7 days on a drip she came home and is now back in school. I am so glad she is better and I never have to go back to that hospital again.

Also - I will never ever complain about Australian medicare, hospitals or health funds again. Out bill was over $4000.00 Australian dollars. We get it back, but still had to pay it up front....OUCH!!!

This is set up. I asked her to smile - I know asking too much.

She met a little friend in hospital.

Just my toilet humor coming out! Well seven days in a hospital will make anything seem funny.

Our name tag. I find this funny too!

Number 1 is ours and only our last name.

The name below is the girl next to us - her first and last name.

Another week

Well another week has past and that means we are another week closer to leaving and I still have done nothing to get organised. I think a lot has to do with this game call Boomshine that someone sent to me. Here have a play! http://www.k2xl.com/games/boomshine/ - Watch out it is highly addictive!

Well we had two birthday parties this weekend, both at the same time. So Paul went one way with Emily and I went the other with Claudia. I hit the jackpot - good food. Paul got the not so good party with little kiddy chairs and no food for grown ups. After the party Claudia and I went to the markets to get some fruit and veges. I love going to the market because you can get really fresh food and it is always such an adventure. It was cold, I mean really cold and Claudia whinged her guts out, but I had fun and just kept putting food in her mouth. Here are some shots I took (yes I take the camera everywhere).

Don't these look delicious? Wrong, as Miss Corky found out the hard way - filled with bean paste. Bean paste is the biggest disappointment of Asia. You will see this lovely looking donut or cake, you bite into it thinking you are about to taste something amazing and yuck, you get a mouth full of warm, lumpy bean flavoured goop.

These are not sticks for the fire, these are an ingredient in Korean cooking. Never been quite game to give these a go. I have no idea how you would prepare it - do you need a hammer or a saw?

Another one of my greatest frustrations in Korea - shoes that I can not buy. the biggest size you can get here is 250 and my size is 255. Trust me I have tried to squeeze my feet into them, but I always regret it after I have bought the shoes. I stand in the shop and think, "I can do this, I can handle the pain." I then wear them once home and hobble. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never get shoes to fit me here........but they are so pretty.

Fish is such a key component to Korean cooking, I just can't cope with the taste. The fish here has a really strong taste and lots of bones.

This is crab kimchi. It is marinated in this mixture of soy, vinegar, chilli and herbs. It is raw!!!!! Paul got put on the spot at a work function and has to try this. I just looked at hime sucking this hot raw crab into his mouth. I felt for him and when he swallowed it, and smiled, I was so proud of him. Anyway they do onions the same way, and they are amazing, but crab - not thanks.

These turning symbols represent a barber in the western culture -not in Korea!!!! They are brothels. So if you are ever in Korea, don't make the mistake of thinking you will get your hair cut. The amazing thing is that they are everywhere!

Feel like some meat?

I am offically old!

We had our school dance on Saturday night and it is officical - I am old! I had to chaperone and I didn't know any of the songs! It brought back so many memories of the Churchie dance, although Korean kids are not big dnacers!

I have put a few shots I took on the night. I was offical photographer. I haven't edited these yet, they need some serious colour work, but I wanted to show how serious the kids took it. Now this was a dance, not a formal or a semiformal! Girls had dresses made and their hair done. I helped a girl cut a price tag from her shoes and they cost 258 ooowon, which is almost $300!

It was stuffy day on Friday - you bring your stuffed toy to school. Anyway, here are my cuties with there stuffed toys. Claudia's hair looks bad beacause I had to hide the infamous goop.