September swings the ups and downs

After a summer that seemed to last forever, the days grow short when you reach September - by which I mean to say that this month ended in an eye's blink. I am sad to report that during the month of September I lost my recently purchased new camera, so I'm back to the old one whose batteries die after three photos and whose flash ne fonctionne pas. Also, since I only have 45 minutes to complete this post before I must wake up Iris and take her to nanny so I can take Jamie to swimming lessons, this will be quick and ugly.
This is the Samsung Children's Museum. It was, as is usual here in Seoul, very tricky to get to, especially when travelling with four children. Although the displays were entirely in Korean, thus making it difficult to figure out how our kids were supposed to interact with the exhibits, there were many activities for them: a giant house that you could enhance with roof tiles, extra bricks and new rafters, complete with building cranes to help you get your gear to the top floor; a room where, it seemed, you could administer several intelligence tests to your young to find out which of the 8 types of IQ they had, enabling prediction of their future profession (allowing you to put them in their proper hagwans now); a room of machines that shot foam balls through a variety of tubes; a room full of water tables; a mock kitchen where you were encouraged to drum on the pots and pans and garbage cans etc.; a room in which you could video your kids playing musical instruments and performing well known songs (expertly, if you were Korean); a room of the future where you could wear metal hats that claimed to be able to read your brain waves (see Jamie, top-centre); a room that taught you the science of life and had a model of a pregnant woman you could ultrasound and puzzles of key life passages including the peeing boy bottom right (potty-training?). There was also a baby-play-room full of toy cars, and sadly, that's where all four children preferred to hang out.

Look, I made kim-bap. It only costs 3$ for 2 rolls and is available in every second shop here in Seoul, but I thought I would spend an afternoon learning to do it myself.

Yesterday I went as the parent helper on Jamie's school trip. We took about 40 kids 5 and under on a 2 hour and 45 minute bus ride (the driver got lost) to a kid's farm outside of Seoul. They made ice-cream, milked a cow (well, they lined up to individually squeeze the teat of a 8-month pregnant cow, who may have wanted to spend her last trimester otherwise), fed some calves, took a tractor ride and had a picnic. They admired the tank-loads of armed soldiers who clearly thought a children's activity farm was the best place to practice maneuvers. They glanced nervously at the videographer who, despite the teacher telling him not to film our children, followed them around filming them. They were loaded on a giant swing, and told it was for "photo only," and would break if they tried to swing on it. They were invited to feed the animals from the pile of hay and grasses provided for that purpose, but were told that the animals would likely bite - especially the ostrich who was notorious for biting children. They listened to long Korean explanations for things that by the time they were translated into English, and then French, were no longer remotely interesting to them. They were shepherded back and forth to various washrooms to wash various parts of them by their helpful parent volunteer, and then they got to get on the bus for the 2 hour ride home. I guess they had fun.

For Chuseok week, I went with the children (and some friends) to Busan for the week. There I lost my camera. Otherwise you could see photos of the darling children playing on the beautiful sandy beach, the seaside temple with the stunning views, the aquarium with its school of sharks swimming along with their tiny babies riding under their fins, and the giant house that was built for an APEC conference. Sadly, you can not. September is apparently the only time that it is possible to travel to Busan beaches while the sea is still swimmable to be able to glimpse the ocean through the crowds. The sun was (mostly) shining the water was (nearly) warm, the children were grubby (read happy). I was given chocolates, songpyeon (Chuseok rice cakes), glittery nail-polish and lip-gloss (?) and free tickets to Spa-topia in Asia's largest shopping mall (not for those under 12). I ate the chocolates. The hotel lacked beach facilities (eg. an outside shower to remove sand before traipsing it through the posh lobby - apparently mine were the only kids who required such amenities). The holiday-makers swarmed my children, making it hard for them to relax on the beach. My friend's kids spent the final two days vomiting. Everything was closed for two days because of the holiday, which corresponded to the only days too rainy to play outside. When I taxied my kids to the seaside Temple (Haedong Yonggungsa) it turned out to be far away from everything else. Unable to call for a new taxi, I had to make the taxi driver wait and thus had only a very quick visit. I promised Jamie a boat ride, but boat tours were apparently not running and operators kept telling me the weather (hot and sunny) was not suitable. Instead we spent an afternoon sitting on a rock and watching the boat tours (that we, for some reason, were not on) speed past the shore. But Jamie enjoyed the train ride, he got to visit many new kid's cafes, jump on hotel beds, and spend time with his friend. I got away from Seoul, which I had quite throughly explored over the summer, and finally saw those beaches that everyone is on about. Iris got to sleep with Mommy for 4 nights, and "run around, run around, run around." Brian got to work long days in Seoul and have a lie-in on his day off. So, apart from the tragic camera loss, we are glad we went on holiday.

Look - it was Brian's birthday. He ate steak and salmon, cake and ice-cream, played with his kids and built some Lego. I'm sure he has never been happier.

Here is the boy in a bubble. Properly, I guess this should be paired with photos of our children surrounded by Koreans remarking on their features, praising their antics, and trying to film them thus providing a montage that underlines the whole hamster-in-a-cage phenomenon that is their lives, but instead it is just Jamie enjoying rolling around on the surface of water in a giant ball. Also metaphorical I think.

Sorak National Park

Mid-August we went on our first Korean mini-break and drove to Sorak National Park in Gangwan Province (Heavenly Blessed Land: Gangwan-do). The drive was quite lovely with mountain views and glimpses of the East Sea (Koreans don't say the Sea of Japan). Upon arrival, we took the Sorak Cable Car up Kwangomsan (a high, and very windy mountain), and admired the vista. There was a very small temple (Allak Temple) harboring a very wide monk with very bad cell-phone reception. I may have preferred chanting to shouting - but you have to stay connected I suppose.

Day two we trekked the easy Piryang Waterfall Trail, to admire the 13 waterfalls along the path and marvel at the trail's namesake that is said to look like a great flying dragon wending its way down the rocks. Climb was a bit rocky and unstable at times, but Jamie is a trooper and Iris enjoyed the ride. It was amazingly refreshing to be away from Seoul, and the mountains were indeed lovely.

The area is also a big beach destination. The East Sea beaches are lined with tenement no-frills pensions, tourist draws (horsewagons, family bikes, an Edison phonograph museum, and a man-made lake to stroll about), and boast sandy beaches equipped with requisite inner-tube rentals and beach umbrellas. Once again the beach day we chose was a rainy and windy one - but we played a bit for form's sake.
At the entrance to the National Park is Shinhungsa Temple which boasted a very large Buddha, vibrant guardian statues, and dragons adorning the stairwells. Jamie and Iris really like running about in sandy temple grounds, and mountain temples are extremely picturesque.
We stayed in the Kensington Stars Hotel, a British Theme Hotel complete with double-decker buses (this one unfortunately advertising something slightly rude), royal nick-knacks and peeling Victorian-inspired wall-paper. There were oh-so-British family Norebangs in the basement, but we did not indulge. The hotel had a great location, but not much else in its favour.
A few asides. Bottom right are the anti-tank defenses that line the roads. When blown up, they litter the highway with heavy concrete blocks preventing enemy passage. Top right are pictures of the Tyrolean-hatted bear and his small cub who offer advise throughout the National Park. The mountains are known for Sanchae or mountain vegetables, renowned in Temple food. The easier trails come to groups of colourful kiosks where women sit sorting and washing these chewy and slightly furry delicacies (centre bottom). Sanchae bibimbap (mid-left) is a regional dish that we ate at practically every meal while away. My jaw muscles were very strong by the end of the trip. Soraksan was well worth the visit, and would be stunning (though crowded) in the Autumn. The beaches probably merit another look next summer. Jamie thought it was all too far away and there wasn't enough for kids to play - but that was only because he wasn't allowed to stop at the giant Santa's Bouncy Castle at Sokcho beach. Next time we will take Brian to the Edison museum and let Jamie take a wagon ride. I will be happy to merely gaze at misty mountains and chew furry roots.

If the shoe fits

I really liked being a tourist when my friend Isabel came to stay at the end of the summer. Taking advantage of my nanny, we had a couple of baby-free days of just exploring parts of the city that I have always meant to spend more time in. Namdaemun market, pictured above, for example, still manages to take my breath away with its sheer number of ... everything. On this visit we were particularly struck by the sparkly belly-dancing gear, the dark food-alleys, the dank basements of imported goods (like the Creap Coffee featured above) and a wide array of gifts you wouldn't wish on anyone - like the robotic soldier toy who crawls along the ground preparing to launch his assault, the potty-sitter with sounds to match, and the temple socks declaring the surrounds a no-fart-zone. As always the range of vibrantly patterned polyester Ajumma clothes, complete with permed and visored Ajummas who don't hesitate to try on sequined cross-trainers (does this shoe fit?) and floral stretch-pants in public, won my vote for best Namdaemun sight.



Insadong: another perrenial favorite. We had a relaxing rainy stroll exploring the shops and galleries of Insadong-gil, and this time we did two big tourist tickets: the Old Tea House (yes, it's really called that) with its range of warm fruit teas, aging woodwork and live free-flying birds, and Sanchon Buddhist Restaurant, with it's lotus flower interior and fresh mountain fare. I really enjoyed both, perhaps because we caught them on a quiet rainy Monday, the better to evoke the traditional ambiance of the places, and that apart from us, they were fairly tourist-free. But the fact is, I like being a tourist in Seoul. It's not as though I am ever going to fit in, or fully understand what's going on - so why can't I just stand out, and take in what the city has to show me? If the shoe fits - I should probably wear it. Unless, of course - it's a a high-heeled Korean shoe. Which brings me to Dongdaemun. Apparently most of the big department stores here in Fashion Town are closed Mondays, but that allowed us to spend some time in the back alleys. We found Toy Street, Work-shirt Street, and Shoe Town. In this district you can wind your way all along the path of life for the perfect Korean shoe. Shops selling rubber soles, high heels (just the heels), buckles and embellishments give way to alleys and alleys of vendors of the finished creation. It is indeed an amazing sight, and a good source for craft supplies if you are of that persuasion. If the shoe doesn't fit - take it apart and make a different one.

Apart from permitting the exploration of some of my favorite neighbourhoods in more detail, and at a more sedate pace (we also did Bukchon Hanok village and I finally found the elusive Jeongdok Public Library and an education museum that may be child-friendly), Isabel's visit also took me to places as yet unseen. We went to Jogysa Temple in Insadong, but sight-seeing amidst the prayers and chanting was a little uncomfortable. Visiting the Bongeun Temple (1488) near COEX seemed less intrusive. Close by the temple is the "three royal tomb park" (Seonjeongneung) where the Bongeun Temple's founder, Queen Yun, lies buried. The Temple-tomb-trek here is a good one for visitors, offering a taste of historic Korea amidst the furiously-forward-facing-future-friendly COEX sky-rises. We lost our camera at the tombs, but responsible Brian went back for it an hour later. The delighted guards, who had been waiting for that foreign fellow they saw in the photos to appear in real life, happily handed it over. The shoe quite visibly fit. And here, below, are the photos that the guards had to entertain them in the duration. Those foreign children sure are cute!

A drowning man

When a friend asked Jamie how he liked living here, he said "Everything is CRAZY in Seoul." I think that's part of what keeps me sane. Last week, for example, I found myself downtown on a very narrow cobble stoned street, made narrower by the presence of a group of blue-shirted protesters singing mournfully under flowery banners. I edged across the street only to come face to face with a long line of riot-gear-clad police who had arrived to oversee the rally. Sticking to the middle of the road now, what should I see coming, but a parade of feather-hatted, drum-and-conch-shell-playing, regally bedecked reenactors doing their hourly changing-of-the-guards march. I deftly wove my way through these three colourful lines of men and thought indeed - things are crazy in Seoul.
Presenting, for your diversion, a few of the things that have amused me over the summer. Ah, English signage - how I do love you. Most recently - here is some historical erasure, meaningless large-scale billboards, polite invitations, warning signs, and suchlike.
As you can see, I am still loving the matching outfits, and the kids seem happy to play along. I

am also very fond of the way that cute matching couples are always equipped with a camera; and the boy is forever photographing his sweetie, even though he, and his matching pants, do not make it into the romantic record. Charmed by my children, a group of farmers at the Folk Village gave them this strange fruit. Spiky and squishy on the outside, it is filled with sweet red seeds resembling guts. If anyone knows what it is, please tell me. And finally, a small video demonstrating the inventiveness of Koreans, especially when it comes to cleanliness. Such are the fragments we shore up against our ruin: life rings to rescue a drowning man.

How I spent my summer vacation

So, in the 5 hot and rainy weeks between my return from Australia and Jamie's return to school we did the following: 3 Kid's cafes, 2 birthday parties, 2 public swimming pools (several times), 2 science/nature museums, 2 history museums, 2 children's museums, 1 folk village, 3 amusement parks, 2 palaces, 1 tower, 2 movies, 1 musical, 3 zoos, 1 dolphin show, 1 beach, 2 art shows, several playgrounds, 2 swimming streams, 2 river parks, 1 war memorial museum, 1 mountain adventure and many walks around different neighbourhoods searching for something else fun. Time just flew by. As you may have noticed, there has been no blogging. I'm not sure I can remedy that - but here are some photos.

This is the Gwacheon Science museum, located just outside of Seoul Grand Park (home of the Seoul Zoo, the Contemporary Art Gallery, the Children's Zoo, and Seoul Land). The Science museum is itself a giant complex containing 6 galleries, a planetarium, several outdoor ecological experiences, some trains and a rocket, and a life-scale dinosaur walking trail. In one of the galleries you can see some of the prehistoric sea creatures first discovered by Mary Anning, heroine of two of the novels I just finished reading. We saw very little of the museum on our first visit, but we did go to the special exhibition of kinetic sculptures by Theo Janson. These wood and sail monsters could move with the help of compressed air tubing and a skilled operator, and the demonstration, though long-winded and in Korean, was pretty cool. We could pose beside cut-outs of Mr. Janson (they really love the 2-D photo-op here), and there was an entire tent filled with building tubes and blocks where we spent a happy few hours seeking shelter from a deluge and building towers.

Ah birthday parties. With two children, we seem to be attending them fairly regularly. I finally went to a real Korean 1st birthday complete with baby boy twins, matching family outfits, a ballroom full of people and food to feed them, door prizes, video presentations, speeches, and fortune telling. I think they picked a car and money - but it was a little hard to follow. Also Jamie's favorite friend turned 4 and the kids had a ball at their own Banyan Tree gazebo bash. It was a nice way to end the long summer. When not invited to the pools of elite private clubs, the likes of us go to the public pools that line the Han River here in Seoul. Public pools are remarkable here. Amazingly crowded (but clean), they usually are a sea of tents and picnic blankets surrounding pools (generally 4: toddler, kids, lane-swim, play) that are chock full of floaters, pool rings, barbie-boats and the like. Families wear matching swim wear, order fried chicken to be delivered to their tent, and spend the day munching kimbap and taking turns pulling the young on inflated toys. The secret is not to resist. We bought many pool toys, erected our tent (useful when seeking shelter from the monsoons that hit every day of the summer), ordered our chicken and rode with the crowds.
Playgrounds: kids love them. Amusing the very young is not that tricky if you can bear the heat and the fact that kids get amazingly dirty and wet whenever left unattended for more than five minutes.
Many Seoulites go to beaches in the summer months. We only did this once, on a rainy day early in the season. Even to drive to Incheon beach is fairly far for a day trip given Seoul traffic, and on sunny days they are reportedly wall-to-wall beach umbrellas. The season is short. Beaches close here on August 31, which I think simply means that the restaurants (mostly live-fish BBQ) and other services (inner-tube and beach-umbrella rentals) that line the beaches shut-down. We have noticed that Koreans like very much to do things that other Koreans are doing (preferably many other Koreans). When the services go, so too do the people; empty beaches might as well be closed because no one would want to be there on their own. Koreans like crowds, so we have different ideas of a good beach day. The day we went, however, was perhaps too deserted, cold and drizzly even for us. The children were chased by a group of walking ajummas who wanted to hug them while having their photos taken. The children were not on board and ran away. Children can run quite far on a beach. I burned myself while trying to BBQ prawns, and Iris broke her shovel. We did not repeat the experiment, but there are many summers ahead and many nearby beaches to explore.

And so I will leave you here with a photo from the last day of school in June, and the first day back in September. The time in between I had little opportunity to draw a breath, let alone a word-picture describing our life. It is enough that we saw, explored, and experienced more of this vibrant and vibrating city and kept our growing glowing brains alight. Jamie is now in Moyenne Section (bilingual), and Iris has a new nanny 2-days a week - so you may be hearing more from me.

On s'amuse bien: Seoul Amusement Parks for the shorter set

Apparently almost-four-year-olds love amusement parks. All Spring I was trying to get Jamie to do things: eat vegetables, go to bed, drink milk, walk up and down the hill without complaining, by telling him that he had to grow 100 cm in order to go to Lotte World. Come Summer - guess what? My newly taller boy was keen to discover the joys of big-boy rides at Seoul's favorite indoor amusement park. Turns out, for most rides, you have to be 110 cm - but still Jamie and his school friends enjoyed train-riding, and frog-hopping, and merry-go-rounding. Jamie was also keen on the magic donkey who, upon insertion of coin, would poo out a jelly candy. Lotte World's chief advantage is that there is an indoor section - and since this was the summer of intense heat and lots of torrential rain, that is a bonus. It is, however, fairly expensive (even with Seoul Grand Sale discount), especially since we could only go on rides for the 100cm and below set. It is far away, lines are long after noon, and Jamie is a little bit afraid of costumed characters - even if they play tubas. He is similarly none-too-fond of Korean puppet shows involving wolves eating a family of furry lambs or 4-D dino movies involving biting teeth. Also they don't stamp your hand or give you a ride bracelet so you have to keep digging out your ticket - which is near-impossible for frazzled and forgetful moms. None-the-less, a small taste of Lotte fun, and the boy had the amusement bug: "I want to go to a place with rides for kids that we haven't gone too before..."

We tried the more economical option of the amusement zone of Children's Grand Adventure Park. Here you pay as you go, and Jamie was happy to have coin after coin inserted in the various cars, planes, Santa sleds, and dwarf-driven-gondolas that were available for "kids to ride by themselves," rather than go on the more expensive amusement rides. Iris could also ride these, teaching her to say "ride ride ride" instead of her customary "walk walk walk." I ran out of coins sooner that Jamie ran out of desire, and I had to drag him away shouting "but I want this to be my house - I want to live here forever." The amusement park, to the adult eye, is pretty old and run-down, and we actually had to track the ride-operators down in order to have the rides run for us. There is not readily available food service, and the hideous beating sun nearly did me in - but luckily the rest of the Children's Grand Park includes a shade-covered stream where Jamie and his school friends usually enjoy splashing about.

Seoul Grand Park was the winner this Summer. We went on a very rainy day when lovely Isabel was visiting. The rain meant that the park was pretty much our own. There were no lines, and ride-operators who would not only open the rides just for us, but would mop off the very wet seats before we sat in them. (Yet they still gave their instructions in Korean via the microphone). Rides were run according to my children's desires. Iris signed "all done" and "down" while on the tree-hopper. The ride was stopped, she got off, and Jamie was allowed to ride 2 more times. Jamie got to try all of the covered vehicles on the truck race, some with Iris, some without, and only had to get off because Mommy and Izzy were soaked and hungry. As the only kid on the bumper cars, Jamie had his own personal chauffeur in the ride-operator. Apparently it is hard to remember to push the gas pedal all the time when you have finally achieved your ultimate desire of a "car to drive by myself that really goes." Both children were followed by the merry-go-round operator, who shouted at them "I love you I love you" and gave them lollipops. Strange for the grown-ups, but pretty standard for my young royals. There were many more rides for the 80 cm(Iris) to 100cm(Jamie) set than at Lotte World, including 3 kiddie roller coasters (one out-of-service). Although Jamie enjoyed the Santa reindeer coaster (they sure love Santa here), he screamed in terror all through the "Crazy Mouse." (though he later claimed that was a different boy who was crying.) His favorite game is now: "crazy-upside down-roller-coaster-that-only Daddy-can-ride," and he is champing to return to Seoul Land. Visa discount made it fairly inexpensive, wrist-bands made riding a breeze, and it is too big to see all of if you are small. Food service is less varied than Lotte but better than CGP; rain gear is available; and ride-operators are flexible. It is difficult to get to via taxi or subway, but there is ample parking if you drive. I'm not sure Seoul Land is a favorite for grown-ups (Everland, still to be visited, is the most praised), and some of the rides, like the "fun house," were not at all fun, and sort of smelled like a rabbit cage. However, for the soon-to-be-four-year-old and his tiny sister, both currently enchanted by all forms of motorized transit, it was the bees knees.