Back to Nature

I took the kids to the Yongin Recreational Forest the other day.  Several families in our branch have talked about what a great place it is for camping, picnics, hiking, etc., so I wanted to try it out.  I love getting out of the city - away from crowds and noise and......electricity;)  We took lunch with us.

 And the rest of the time the kids played at the most amazing playground there.  Enjoy all the pictures Joe - I know how much you miss the kids:)

 Yep, back to nature.  Oh, did I mention all the bugs?;)

International Studies

1. We went to a Princess and the Frog/masquerade-themed birthday party, for a friend of Alex's (a cute little girl named Eden).  We asked Alex if he wanted to dress up like the prince, but he said he wanted to dress up like the bad guy.  Cora immediately got to work with paper, scissors and crayons.  Sometimes I am surprised by what she comes up with.  What do you think?

 2. Joe and I got to go and see Wicked here!  It was the cast from Australia, and they are here for just a couple of months.  If you haven't seen it, it's totally worth it:) 

 In case your wondering, I matched with Joe on purpose...I thought it was a very Korean thing to do, and I thought it was funny.  What I wasn't epecting was how many people there were wearing green.......'cause of the green witch and all, I guess.  Is that also a Korean thing, or do people do that for Broadway?  Just wondering.

3. We went to the Olympic park one afternoon. 

If you don't remember, Korea hosted the Summer Olympics in 1988.  That means I was 13 1/2 at the time......I don't remember it either;)  Anyway, this is a very nice, and very large park. 

We went there specifically to rent one of these!

 Joe and I remember seeing these in Monterey, and we always wanted to rent one there, but never did.  This time when we move back, you can bet we're going to:)  Everybody thought it was a lot of fun....until Joseph got his ankle scraped by the pedal and started screaming his head off bloody murder.  We made quite a scene.  It wasn't embarrassing at all.......oh wait, yes it was.  Anyway, he eventually calmed down, and we ended on a high note:)

 4. I like my kids.  We're having a good summer so far.

 5. Speaking of my kids, and their safety....the other day we were crossing the road, just out the back gate of our apartment complex.  I was in front, with all of my kids trailing behind me in a row, like little ducklings.  A car was coming towards us, getting closer and closer, and it just didn't seem like it was slowing down much, so I stopped in the middle of the road, put out my hand to stop the car (this is a very Korean things to do, and I assumed it was a Korean driver), and waited for all of my kids to cross the road, as the car continued to inch forward the whole time.  As the last one is getting across, the lady in the car - an American woman IN MILITARY UNIFORM no less - rolls her window down and starts yelling at me.  "You don't need to stand in the road with your hand up, you just need to get out of the *$#%! road!" followed by some more cuss words.  I yelled back, "I was waiting for my kids lady!"  There was a Korean gentlemen who came up behind us just then, and in a very sympathetic way, put his finger up towards his head and twirrled it, insinuating that she was crazy.  Sometimes when other Americans act like that, it is so dang embarrassing!!!

6.  I finally got my own Hanbok - custom made.  Here are me and my girls in all of our colorful hanbok glory;)

 The material on my skirt is very interesting, because it changes colors, depending on what angle your seeing it.  This is what it looks like from my perspective when I'm wearing it.

 From olive green to purple - weird, but cool.

7.  Getting my hanbok was quite an experience in and of itself.  I kind of knew what to expect, because a few of my friends had recently gotten theirs.  First of all, I took Joe with me, because none of the little old ladies in the hanbok shops speak English.  Second of all, I did not end up with what I had in mind when I went.  This is kind of what I was looking for when I went.

But these seem to be more modern, Western-style colors, rather than the very bright, traditional colors.  The little old Korean ladies at the hanbok shops are more traditional.  And they don't help you, so much as they guide your decisions when choosing colors.  They have very specific ideas about what DOES and does NOT match, and it is not the same as what Amercans would think.  Even though I went in with an idea of what I wanted, I decided that if I was going to get an authentic Korean hanbok, I might as well get an AUTHENTIC Korean hanbok, and defer to the expertise of the little old Korean lady when it came to colors.  I first chose the olive green color for my skirt, and then she told me two colors that would go with it for the jacket - pink, or light blue.  I asked her what my choices were if I chose a purple skirt instead - pink or peach (I hate peach, and I wasn't feeling the pink).   I went with the olive green skirt and the light blue jacket.  Then she chose the purple for the tie on my jacket - apparantly there was no other choice;)  In the end, I was happy, and if we end up moving back here again, I think I'll get another one!
8. These are the most delicious non-chocolate candy I've ever had!

They are chewy, and come in all different flavors, but these are PEACH.  Heaven.  What happens when I go back to the States and I don't have access to these anymore?  I'm stocking up now;)

9. Driving down this street in our neighborhood (which we drive down almost every day), we can see a large mosque on top of the hill. 

There is a pretty good sized muslim community here in Seoul, and in Itaewon (a shopping district next to our neighborhood), there are a plethora of middle eastern restaurants, bookstores, and other shops.  They also teach arabic classes at the mosque to anyone who is interested.  After Joe got into the Iraqi class, we walked up around the mosque, stopped in at a book store, and bought some books to help Joe get a headstart on the language, as well as a copy of the Koran that is in both arabic and English. 

We have some good friends who have been living in Saudi Arabia for the past 5 or so years.  It has been so much fun to discover that part of the world, vicariously through them. A beautiful and mysterious country and culture. So different from anything I've experienced personally. 

Joe is really looking forward to learning Iraqi and more about that country as well, and so am I.

10.  We only have a month and a half to live deep and suck the marrow out of Korea;)

We've Decided to Keep Her

Madelyn doesn't turn 7 until July, but it's hard to invite friends from school to your birthday part when it's in the summer.  This year I told her we could celebrate early to avoid that problem.....but there was still a problem.  As soon as school gets out here (which is rather late), most people either move or go on vacation.  I had talked to Madelyn beforehand about how we might not have a lot of people show up, and she was fine with that.  I figured if at least 3 girls showed up (out of the 11 girls we invited), then that would be pretty good - 3 girls came!  Including my other kids, we had a party:)

Madelyn wanted a Hello Kitty Party, and that's what she got.

 I got a couple of Hello Kitty craft kits, and everybody decorated frames.  They played pin-the-bow-on-Kitty.  They watched a couple of Hello Kitty Cartoons.  They ate, they celebrated, they played!

Happy Birthday Madelyn!  Here are some 7 things about Madelyn:

Madelyn loves 1) her friends, 2) playing video games, 3) swimming, 4) pineapple (the fruit, and the word itself - don't ask), 5) bandaids (she's rarely seen without one), 6) wearing dresses or skirts, and 7) Hello Kitty

Madelyn doesn't like 1) carrots, 2) being teased, 3) watermelon, 4) when I'm right and she's wrong, 5) sleeping in her own bed, 6) having her birthday when school is out, and 7) getting rid of clothes that she has outgrown.

Madelyn wants to 1) start a ballet class, 2) and be a ballerina when she grows up (I guess we better look into ballet classes in CA), 3) swim in the deep side of the pool without a lifejacket, 4) go to Disneyland, 5) be the center of attention, 6) never be grounded again, and 7) be a firefighter? (I guess this mostly has to do with the pole that they get to slide down....her words, not mine)

Madelyn is 1) a girly-girl, 2) sassy, 3) sociable, 4) adaptable, 5) determined, 6) loving, 7) dramatic

We love you Madelyn!

We Miss You Dad

Our Father's Day here is missing one very important thing - a father.  Joe is off to NCOA for 6 weeks in Japan, and we miss him oh so badly.  And what's worse, I won't even be drowning my sorrows in the U.S. Open - they play it in the middle of the night here:(  But I digress.  The kids and I put together a little something for Joe (we did something similar to this with just Cora and Joseph about 4 years ago, only about me instead of Joe, and I posted it here and here).  We love you Joe, and we can't wait until you get back. 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

What makes Dad happy?

      Cora - Family

      Joseph – Me, and the family

      Madelyn – When I say, “I love you”

      Alex – He loves us when he gives us hugs and kisses at night-time

How does Dad make you laugh?

      Cora – Being Dad

      Joseph – By being funny

      Madelyn – By making funny jokes

      Alex – Because he wants to tickle me

What does Dad do when you are not around?

      Cora – Work, or talk to Mom, or go biking

      Joseph – He does his job

      Madelyn – He plays games

      Alex – He will be sad when I was lost

What is Dad really good at?

      Cora - Biking

      Joseph - Biking

      Madelyn - Teaching

      Alex – He can play games or be nice to people or be nice to us at the park

What is Dad not very good at?

      Cora – Getting himself to go swimming

      Joseph – Air Hockey, because I beat him all the time

      Madelyn – Making Cora laugh

      Alex – When he's being bad, when he's doing bad things

 What does Dad do for a job?

      Cora – Works in the Air Force

      Joseph – He learns languages

      Madelyn – He learns Korean words

      Alex – He does something that he needs to do to grow

What does Dad like most about Mom?

      Cora – She's hot

      Joseph – She's nice

      Madelyn – She is his wife

      Alex – He likes her heart because he married her with rings

If Dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?

      Cora - Popeye

      Joseph – Jerry, from Tom and Jerry

      Madelyn – a Dad

      Alex – He would be a snowman, or a cartoon, or a music, or a star, like a fish

How are you and Dad the same?

      Cora – We both have dyslexic tendencies

      Joseph – We're male

      Madelyn – We're both people

      Alex – We will be the same size

How are you and Dad different?

      Cora – He doesn't like to go swimming

      Joseph – He's stronger than me

      Madelyn – We don't have the same color of eyes

      Alex – He is bigger than me

How do you know Dad loves you?

      Cora – He doesn't like to see me upset

      Joseph – He says it every day

      Madelyn – Because I'm his child

      Alex – Because he doesn't want me to get lost

It Is What It Is

I need to record this somewhere, and I know that I'm never going to write it in my journal because it will just take way too long -  because this is going to be looooong, but I type much faster then I write;)  And anyway, the purpose of this blog is to record my family history, and this is a part of my personal history, so here it is in all it's rawness. 
For the past 2 1/2 years I have been the district primary president for the English-speaking district here in Korea.  About a month ago, we were told that Sister Stevens, the 1st counselor in the primary general presidency, and Sister Dalton, the general young women's president, were coming to visit.  There were to be 3 meetings - an auxillary training on Saturday night, a smaller focus group for just the primary on Sunday afternoon, and two firesides on Sunday night, one with Sister Stevens, and one with Sister Dalton, at the same time, but in different locations.  I was VERY excited.  Visits like this are rare to Korea, or anywhere really, and I felt like it was such a great opportunity and blessing for our primary leaders.  I immediately e-mailed all the primary presidents from the different branches, told them the details, and asked who thought they could come.  I didn't get a response from anybody.  I knew some people were out of town, and some people just forget to reply to e-mails, so I sent out another e-mail a week and a half later.  This time everybody responded, but almost all of them said they weren't coming. 

This was very difficult for me to accept at first.  I admit, I was a bit prideful in my thinking - "I would NEVER miss an opportunity like this one!"  I thought I would be embarrassed if we didn't have a good turn-out, like it would be a bad reflection on ME or something - again, my pride.  Dumb pride.  And maybe even worse than that, and I'm so embarrassed to admit this, but I was even thinking how COOL it would be to meet her - that maybe I could get my picture with her, and I would post it here on my blog.  Maybe my motivation for not missing this opportunity was worse than any reasons that the others had for missing it.

Here's the thing.  It is NOT easy to get around here.  And some of our branches are as far away as 4 or 5 hours from Seoul.  It's not like Utah, where I grew up.  The stake center is within walking distance of your house, and you can drive to the conference center in well under an hour.  Even in Texas the stake center was 1 1/2 hrs. away, and we thought that was FAR.  It was.....but it's not.  2-5 hours is far, and you add weekend traffic to that in Korea, and you could be stuck on the road for 3-6 hours, or longer.  That kind of travel can be costly too.  You can take the train, which GREATLY reduces your travel time, but it's not cheap.  Plus, if you have kids.....well, that's a whole other thing to worry about.  Soooooo, it really is understandable that people weren't going to come.  Callings in the church are important, but there are other things that take precidence, and I just needed to remember that.

Anyway, even if we had only a few people there, I was still excited about the prospect of meeting with Sister Stevens and maybe getting some one-on-one council with her.  I would take really good notes, and share everything I learned with everyone who couldn't make it.

So Saturday came, and I wanted to make sure that we got there in plenty of time.  It usually takes us about 1/2 hour to get to the church, so we left an hour before the meeting was supposed to start, giving ourselves a little extra time for traffic.  We underestimated Seoul traffic on a Saturday night, and got to the church 1 hour and 15 minutes later - 15 minutes late.  This is why we usually never drive anywhere on Saturday night.  Okay, so a little hiccup there, but what came next was way worse.

We were at the WRONG church building.

When referring to church buildings here in Seoul, they all have names.  The Yeongdeungpo building or the Cheongun building.  We don't say, "it's the building at________(fill in the blank with the address)", because the address looks like this: 1542-11, Pyeongni 5-dong Seo-gu DAEGU CITY,703-850.  What does that even mean?!!!:)  Not like those blessed easy addresses in Utah - 100 W. 300 N.  So anyway, this meeting was supposed to be at the Sindang chapel, but the whole time I was thinking in my head that it was at the Sinchon chapel, which is the one we went to.  Of course, nobody was there, at which point I realized my mistake, and panicked, because I had NO IDEA where the Sindang chapel was! 

I called a friend who I thought might be going to the meeting to find out where the right church was.  She wasn't at the meeting, but told me where she thought it was.  We were about 30 minutes away, so we decided it was still worth going.  It took us 45 minutes to get there.  It was the wrong church too.

So 2 hrs. of driving time into this personal nightmare, the meeting is already half-way over, and I have no idea where to go.

So we went home.

I was embarrassed and disappointed, but I consoled myself in the thought that at least I had the focus group the next day, which would be a little less formal, and would still give me a chance to sit down and talk with Sister Stevens and ask her some questions.  Plus the fireside later that night.  When we got home I e-mailed the district president and 2nd counselor and told them what had happened.  I got a response later that night from the 2nd counselor.  He said I would be blessed for my good intentions.  Then he dropped another bomb - the focus group had been cancelled. 

I can't tell you how that hurt my heart.  I kept thinking things like, "If I had been more in-tune with the spirit, then I wouldn't have made the mistake about the chapel.  If I hadn't been judgmental of others....  If I hadn't had stupid thoughts like taking a picture with her...."  But I knew I couldn't dwell on thoughts like that.  I knew they weren't from a good source, and they wouldn't do me any good anyway.  And God is not spiteful.  No, never.  The 2nd counselor said he'd share his notes with me from the auxillary training, and I could still go to the fireside.

The next day was Sunday, and at church we had the pleasure of hearing Sister Dalton speak in our sacrament meeting.  Also there was a member of the seventy (I can't remember his name, so I'll just call him Elder).  During Elder's talk I started to lose it.  He talked about how lucky we were to have Sister Dalton and Sister Stevens in Korea, and an opportunity to hear them speak was something we didn't want to miss out on.  I kept thinking, "I KNOW how lucky we are, and I MISSED IT!!!"  All of the feelings of embarrassment, disappointment and sadness from the previous evening returned ten-fold.  I cried through the rest of the meeting.  I cried when I went and spoke to the District pres. after the meeting - and I think that scared him a little;)  But I got myself together in time to substitute in nursery, and was looking forward to the fireside that night.

Another confession here.  A little tiny part of me, way in the back of my brain, was hoping that when I went to the fireside that night and introduced myself to Sister Stevens, and told her how sorry I was for missing the meeting and how much I wanted to talk with her, then she would somehow find a few minutes to meet with me personally, and it would be really great, etc. Ugghhhh!

Well, I went to the fireside, and it was really nice, and I really enjoyed it, and I was so glad I went.  Afterwards, I went up and introduced myself to Sister Stevens, and told her how sorry I was that I had missed the meeting.....and then I started crying again.  I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I'm a total baby - get a hold of yourself Ruth!  Sister Stevens was sympathetic, but honestly, she didn't know me from Tom, Dick or Harry.  I went home, crying the whole way, of course.

So, lessons learned? 1) None of this was ever about ME, duh!, 2) Don't be judgmental (you'd think I would have already learned that by now), 3) Irony can be painful, and 4) Sometimes things just go really bad - the end - get over it.

There you have it kids, the story of one of the worst weekends of my life in regards to any calling I've ever had.  I'm over it now.  I am not perfect (I think I've mentioned that before).  I'm just trying to do the best I can, like everyone else.  I mess up along the way.  I learn stuff.  I keep going.