Things that Could be Good on Vacation Days

1. Driving in the car for very long makes me fall asleep, and I never used to be a good long-distance driver for that reason. Loud music, a cold drink, snacks, the window down - none of that keeps me awake. Enter, sunflower seeds.

These things are great. As long as I'm sucking, chewing, and spitting, I can drive for hours and hours. The only drawback is that if you consume an entire bag, your tongue will be quite raw. Also, when we moved from Texas, my friend Polly gave me a bag of lemon heads for our drive to UT. So, I alternated between sunflower seeds and lemon heads. Yummy, but a huge mistake, because the Lemon heads significantly accelerated the raw-tongue phenomenon. It wasn't pretty.

2. While stuck in traffic, there are always things on the side of the road to keep you entertained. Like the guy peeing (sorry, no picture available at this time). Or the mannequin dressed as a construction worker waving a flag.

Or the beautiful Korean countryside.

3. For outdoor activities, I like this no-rub spray-on suncscreen. Sure, it's more expensive then the rub-on kind, and it lasts only a tiny fraction of the time, but here's the thing - I Do Not Like to Rub Sunscreen on Four Children and Myself (does anybody?). So to me, it's worth it.

4. Do you kow what hotels are really good for? Free air conditioning.

Okay, technically you ARE paying for it, but it doesn't feel like it. You just crank that baby up, like you don't do at home because you don't want to have to file for bankruptcy because of your electric bill. And even if it gets too cold in your room, you don't care because you can just wrap up in a blanket (as opposed to actually turn it down). It's funny how when the maid comes in to clean the room, the very FIRST thing she does is turn the AC down/off.

5. Souveniers are fun. They help you remember the place that you visited, or in our case, lived. Cora got a beautiful Asian dress. JT and Alex picked big soft mink blankets that are so popular here in Korea (not actually made out of mink). And Madelyn? Well, nothing says Korea like a Disney princess purse, right? We couldn't talk her into anything else. For myself, I got a T-shirt.

Anybody know what it says? I do, and it makes me laugh.

6. The Splish and Splash down at Camp Humphreys.

This is a rare treat at a military base, and we went and stayed down there for a few days to enjoy it (this picture only shows a part of the place). I especially liked how one of the life guards had his swim shorts Rolled up to the tippy-top of his thighs. I don't know why Joe doesn't do that.

7. The weather can make or break a vacation. I really like it when you wake up to cloudy, rainy-looking skies, but then it clears up right when you go to do something fun, and as soon as you are done and you go back to your hotel, then it gets cloudy again. It feels like someone is on your side - like they want you to have a good time. Thanks.

8. My kids are good to have on vacation. I can't tell you how many times we think, this would be soooooo much Easier without the kids, and it would be.....BUT it wouldn't be Better. I LOVE watching my kids have fun, explore new places, try new foods, and see new things, and have truly grand adventures. It's great to experience it myself, and sometimes it's even better to experience it through my children. Crazy times 4!

9. Maybe you've never thought of this one before, but Sandbags can be useful on vacations too.
For example, if you were to high-center your car on a bar at the toll booth, and there was a construction site nearby with sandbags, you could ask the construction workers to bring over sandbags and put them under your tires so that you could get yourself out of there instead of calling a tow-truck. By the way, this is just a random example of what to do with sandbags, and I can neither confirm nor deny that this actually happened to me.

10. When you've been gone from home for a long time, or even just a few days, it's always good to get that "It sure is nice to be home" feeling, as you're pulling into your driveway. I am sorry to say that we don't really get that feeling here. We did in Texas. Maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet. Or maybe it's because we live in an apartment instead of a home. Joe thinks it might be because we're at an Army base right now instead of an Air Force base, because whenever we go down to visit Osan AFB, we DO feel more at home there. I don't know. The thing is, we're really enjoying living here, so I don't know what our problem is. Oh well, someday we'll be in Utah again, and then we really will be home!:)

Wannahockaloogie?

Cora's 3rd grade teacher is from Hawaii, and at the end of each year she does a Luau for the families. She teaches the kids different "Hawaiian" dances and songs to perform, and everybody brings food to share. Cora's luau was this week, and Joe took a day off so he could join us. Cora had told us about some of the things they were going to do, and I kept saying, "That's not Hawaiin, that's Maori." Well, not everything they did was Maori, but they did a Poi dance (supposed to be only performed by women, hehehe)

This is the Titi Torea

And the boys did the Haka (I'm not sure they had the Feirce thing down)

It was fun to watch those because it reminded me of being in New Zealand. The kids were very cute. They also sang The Hukilau song and did a little Hula dance to it (Cora really knows how to move her hips, hehehe)

Cora's favorite part was when they pulled the dad's up, put their grass skirts on them, and tried to teach them to Hula. I'm pretty sure that was Joe's favorite part too;)

Madelyn and Alex loved it all and tried to dance along.

Afterwards, I told Cora's teacher that I recognized some of the things from New Zealand. She replied that Hawaii didn't have anything original, and they stole everything from New Zealand. I'm pretty sure she was kidding;)

Driving

I'm not actually Korean, but I drive here, and Joe says I'm starting to drive like I'm Korean, so I just have to do this post. If you REALLY want to experiece Korea, you should drive here. It is very hard to explain what it is like, but I'm going to give it my best shot anyway (I've edited this post about 100 times, because it was too long, and I didn't want to bore you to death:))

You know the line in Pirates of the Carribean that says, "The code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules" That's kind of what driving laws are like here - they're pretty similar to the driving laws in America, but it's much less predictable here. Some people obey the driving laws, and some....feel less compelled. Quite honestly, I don't think that anybody knows what anybody else is going to do at any given moment. Because of this, you (as a driver) have to be:

1)more aware of your environment - No relaxing Sunday drive here. You have to devote all your attention to the task at hand, concentrating on your next move, and making sure you don't hit anybody.

2) more aggressive - Changing lanes, for example. You can't just expect people to let you in, or you'll never get over. You have to literally force the nose of your car in, because the person who's fender is in the lead has the right of way:)

3) more brave - Don't be scared, just act like you know what you're doing, and then do it aggressively. It's not about being polite or rude, it's just getting where you're going.

In some crazy kind of way, there IS actually a weird sort of orderliness to the total chaos....once you get the hang of it. Joe and I call it "Survival of the Fittest". Here are some of the things you have to deal with when getting around.

BUSES - buses are on a schedule, and come hell or high water, they're going to stick to that schedule. What that means is - Watch Out for the Buses! Bus drivers here would probably be really good Nascar racers, 'cause that's what they drive like....only in a bus. They drive fast. They'll merge into your lane when you're right next to them, and expect you to get out of the way. They're bigger - they have the right of way. They'll drive down the middle of 2 lanes (who needs those pesky white lines anyway?) Stop signs and traffice lights are often treated as more of a suggestion. They'll drive through red lights, and if you're in the way, they'll just get into the left turn lane, and drive around you to go straight through the light. Buses have their own designated lanes, marked by blue lines on the road. They expect you to stay out of their lanes, but they'll weave in and out of the other lanes at random.

The first time we lived in Korea, when we had been here about a week, we took a bus for the first time and thought we were going to die. We laughed the entire 1/2 hr. ride there and back, but it was a fearful kind of laugh. Now Joe rides the bus almost every day...and he still gets kind of nervous sometimes. Of course, not all drivers do all of these things all of the time, but it happens often enough that you become cautious around the buses.

TAXIS - taxis do ALL the things that bus drivers do, PLUS....They will stop in the middle of the road, as opposed to pulling over to the side, to pick up or let out passengers. They will turn left from the right hand lane if there is a green arrow. The will make U-turns where they're not supposed to. They are always Parked in the right hand lane (when there's no shoulder), with their hazard lights on, making traffic go around them. They get you where you want to go:) Joe thinks they're worse than buses.

MOTORCYCLES - there are a ton of these guys on the roads, and most of them are delivery drivers (they deliver everything from groceries, to dry cleaning,



to McDonalds). I especially hate seeing the ones without helmets, because they drive so dang dangerously. They do ALL the things that buses and taxis do, but they're worse. They weave in and out of cars, drive on the wrong side of the road, drive on the sidewalks, and just act like they are on a suicide mission - really, it's just a delivery....someone should tell them.

PEDESTRIANS - Many people still use hand carts here to get stuff around. The ladies who deliver milk and yogurt, the city workers who keep the streets and sidewalks tidy,

people who collect recyclables, etc. They'll use the sidewalks when it suits them, but just as often they'll use the street with no shoulder.

Also, pedestrians here will walk right out in front of you any time, so you've got to always keep your eyes open so you don't run them down. They tend to do this less at major intersections with crosswalks, but they're much worse on the smaller streets. Sometimes they'll walk down the middle of the street instead of on the sidewalk. In the picture below we were at a University campus. It was between classes, so their were hundreds of students walking around....in the road. They paid us absolutely no attention whatsoever, taking their time walking, and we just had to inch our way behind them.

U-TURNS
This is one thing that drives me crazy - you can not make U-turns or left-hand turns at every intersection, and definitely not in the middle of the block - only at designated intersections. Many times you will need to turn left, but you can't, so you have to keep going until you find a place where you can make a U-turn, and then back track. Often you'll see signs like this.

Zoom in if necessary. On the left-hand side of the sign it says no U-turns. On the right-hand sign it tells you a round about route to go if you need to get turned around.

Okay, that's enough for now. Let me again clarify that not all Koreans drive badly. But enough of them do that it's a little crazy. We've noticed that driving in Seoul is actually not as bad as driving in Peyongtaek, even though Seoul is more crowded. I think it's because there are more wider streets here. That sound gramatically incorrect, but what I mean is, there are more streets her that are wide. It's always worse on the smaller streets. Here's the side street by our apartment.


It's actually not that bad, plus it's a one-way street, so there's plenty of room. But it's a little trickier when people are parked on both sides of the street (which they're not supposed to do.)

So, I hope that's given you a good look into what it's like to drive here, and a good laugh to boot - I know I'm always laughing while I'm driving (it's better than road-rage) :)

Old School

A few weeks ago we visited the Korean Folk Village in Suwon. This village is set up on 240 acres, where you can experience what life was like way back when (well, really up until through the 1800's). There are different sections of housing (over 260 houses) to represent poor, middle-class, upper-class and royalty. There are also temples, gardens, a market, a museum, an amusement park, a sculpture garden, numerous shops, and much more. They even have a haunted house. Everyone is dressed in traditional Korean clothing. You can watch people making a variety of traditional handicrafts, and buy what they make (although souveniers there are pricey). There are a few hands-on things for the kids to try. You can eat all kinds of Korean food, and the whole place just smells good. You can watch the recreation of traditional ceremonies, music , dance and acrobatic performances. This is a FUN place to go. We have been before, and I know we'll go again. Here are some pics.

On our way to Suwon we were in horrible traffic. As far as the eye could see, bumper to bumper.

It took us 3 hrs. to go 30 miles, and I have to admit that the last 15 minutes we (due to an iminent mental breakdown) hopped into the bus lane to go the rest of the way - it would have taken us another hour if we hadn't - and we got a $60 ticket from a traffic cam. It was worth it. When the traffic gets bad here, it is so bad that people will walk inbetween the cars, ON THE FREEWAY, selling snacks.

Only in Korea:)