Two Weeks In

Yes fellow travellers, we have lived here for two weeks. So, what have I learned? I can shop for food once I locate the grocery store in the underground warren that is its home; I can get in and out of the many gates to my home if I remember my cheat sheet for the number codes; I can sort garbage now that I know the food waste is actually for animal feed and thus can not include tea bags and coffee filters. I can do laundry up to the point where it needs to emerge from the machine dry; I can use almost half of my heating-up implements for cooking, I can work the television but still can't understand what is on. I have a 50% success rate of taking a shower without flooding the bathroom; I have managed to use the intercom to unlock the door about 20% of the time; I have only set off a house alarm once, and it wasn't my house. I have taken cabs and subways but not buses; I have entered a shop alone and made a purchase, but not a restaurant. I have had a number of conversations of all sorts with many people, but they have all been in English. I have tried both Korean and French, but have failed to be understood. I have mastered gesturing and embarrassed smiles.
Last week I managed to procure a neighbourhood map from the community service centre, many glossy books and instruction sheets from the foreigner centre, and photos for foreigner cards. I had one neighbourhood tour, signed up for weekly Korean classes, went to a dinner party, and secured one job offer to teach pre-schoolers English full-time. This last transpired when the babies and I crashed a nursery because we heard English children's voices. I gave the director my contact info, and following what I suppose was a phone interview where she had me admit that it was highly unlikely that I would become a Christian, she tried to hire me for an October start-date. I turned her down, since Iris is still very small, but once she grows it might be nice to try teaching the under 10s for a spell.
And now here are some photos:

Here is the street leading to our subway station. It seems to be pretty complete if you can make out the signs. We have many bakeries selling sort-of French pastries. Our first attempt at buying a chocolatine ended in bean-paste filling and tears, but we did have a cream puff we enjoyed. In the bottom left are two inflatable white people modelling underpants. I have seen these two around Seoul, mostly in underpants, once having the dead skin eaten off their feet by "Dr. Fish."

Here are the children doing their best to make their own fun with no toys at all. They had some Duplo a neighbour lent them, a turquoise quilt that Jamie calls "the sea," a bumbo chair which became a car, some grocery boxes as a train, an egg-carton caterpillar and wooden spoons that served as paddles, drumsticks, and crutches. Our air shipment, consisting almost entirely of toys, arrived on Friday - so now it is only the parents who must make their own fun.

Here is the subway. Seoul Metro is very easy to use and quiet, clean, and civilized despite the large population. There are cheerful cartoons that remind you of dangers and teach you how to behave politely. Whenever I get on with children in tow I am given seats, but possibly only so the grandmas can have closer contact with the babies for further prodding, clucking and gift-giving. Yesterday Jamie scored an adhesive coat-hook with a picture of a puppy and some seafood crisps, and Iris had her photo taken twice.

Here is Dongdaemun fashion market. This section seemed to be entirely fabrics and accessories - a fun-box haven. Those who know me can imagine my delight at seeing stores of nothing but buttons or feathers and having a department store with floor descriptions that read "Fabric . Stuff."

Beneath the market streets is a valley-river walkway from a recovered underground stream that had formerly been paved over. Seoulites were spending quality family time here frolicking and sitting and eating picnic foods entertained by a river-wide PA-system and many waterfalls and fountains. Jamie met a tiny dog the size of a gerbil, and Iris had unlimited access to my hair as she rode around in the Ergo since Jamie wouldn't leave the newly air-shipped umbrella stroller.

We all must put our garbage in special bags. Our household ones can be purchased at convenience stores so they say. They do not contain much, and don't fit in my garbage cans, and the instructions for what constitutes garbage are generally in Korean. Most things are recycled. Here is an old woman pushing cardboard recycling and her male counterpart with his motorized conveyance. Top left is the cardboard recycling depot in Insadong market.

Here is my favorite escalator warning about the risks of heeled shoes. Here are some heeled shoes that are for sale at the bottom of the escalator in my subway station. Here is a lovely young lady wearing said dangerous footwear while at the Seoul aquarium.

Here are the kidlets at the Seoul aquarium. There was a nice glass tunnel that allowed Sharks to swim over your head, and Jamie enjoyed the moving sidewalk. Iris enjoyed pulling my hair and chewing on the straps of her Ergo since Jamie couldn't be convinced to let Iris have a turn in the umbrella stroller.

Here is Insadong market. Many Korean crafts and traditional goods as well as antiques and bookstalls are here. Picturesque back alleys full of old-style restaurants and hourly parades of robed performers coupled with street-food vendors and as-seen-on-TV candy makers add to the festive atmosphere. Here I could buy shoes to let me practice for my bare-foot mountain walks.

Here is Jamie sampling some Korean fare: noodles, sugar strand candy, temple food. He enjoys the many dishes that come to the table and sitting on the floor. He claims he loves spicy lettuce and seaweed and rice, but really only seems to eat the pickles. Iris likes to squirm around on the floor when we are eating - luckily it's pretty clean since everyone removes their shoes before entering the restaurant. We keep ordering the same thing (by accident) however, so today we actually did go to McDonalds to have a bulgogi burger instead.

Here is sweet Iris. She is growing her top two teeth and is very good at squirming around, if not exactly crawling yet. She is loved and admired wherever we go and is constantly having her hands and feet stroked and small clucking noises made at her. Yesterday, when she was finally permitted by her brother to have a turn in the umbrella stroller, this old woman in pink pants came over and strolled away with her for a private chat. Iris is enjoying all the attention so far, and luckily she has Jamie to tell her mother "That lady is strollering Iris away."

At First Glance

So here is a brief (and fuzzy) tour of some of the sites we have discovered in our first weekend here in Seoul.
Here are Jamie and Brian walking up the very steep mountain path at the end of our street. There are many trees and pleasant trails, and at the very summit - yes, it's exercise equipment.
Here are some ajummas exercising in their masks, visors, and patterned leisure pants in the inappropriately named "Grandmother Rest Area."

Here is the Grandfather Rest Area where the old fellows may pick flowers or lift barbells, however they prefer to relax.
Here is one of the barefoot walking trails, complete with diagram of how and why it will invigorate you - I only made it four steps before my shoes went back on. Pain more that relaxation I'd say.

Here we are at our closest shopping: Kim's Club. It is in the bottom of a department store (New Core) and seems to have many things we need. At 12:00 the place filled up with hundreds of young ladies wearing short shirts and white leggings who positioned themselves at the end of every aisle and began encouraging shoppers to sample and buy their particular products. We did pretty well for our first organized grocery shop, but no joy finding frozen vegetables and the corn-on-the-cob we bought proved, once husked, to be white and hard as a rock. We have no idea what it could be for, but it was certainly not food.

Here are some of the well-dressed Seoulites we saw on our palace excursion.

This, by contrast, is how Brian and I were attired. Oh well.

Here is our very extensive underground market where we can remedy our sartorial missteps.

There is English everywhere. Here, for example, beside the "Bagle" store, is a place to buy "Sandwich & Drik," "Fou your happiness."

I am very happy that our Kim's Club has a Beard Papa cream puff outlet and that there is rotating sushi in every department store food court.

Here is some department store food court food in case you were wondering: bibimbop, pork cutlet, and tofu stew set menu for two.
The two department stores nearest us have playrooms on the kid's clothing floor so Jamie sampled them both. There are also mother-and-baby rooms where I can nurse, feed, change, and nap Iris in comfort and pastel privacy with soothing piped-in music. This is Iris in the baby seat in the bathroom stall, included to show that indeed, this city is very child-friendly. Iris caused quite a stir in the Ladies I must say. I know very little Korean, but I am quickly learning "oh so pretty" "So cute" "so fat" and "what a healthy boy." I tried to say she was a girl which caused the women I was speaking to to wiggle an imaginary penis in front of herself and nod. Clearly I must practice describing my children.

Our sixth day in Seoul. We were advised to get out and see the city on our first weekend; we went to Deoksugung, which is the palace nearest my work.

It was not as unbelievably hot and humid as the last few days have been, but we had a number of drinks from the vending machine nonetheless. It turns out that J. likes fruit pop. A lot. The crushed pear beverage is 800 won (less than 75 cents).

We also had lunch at the 11th floor food court of Lotte department store. There are about six Korean restaurants, each specializing in a different type of food. We went to the tofu one.

In Korea, what have we noticed so far? Many things we might have been concerned about (old stereotypes) have yet to materialize. For me, I find it funny to see so many Western fast food chains here. These almost remind one of New Jersey or New York.

But the reality is that Westerners are quite few and far between. English is very little used. So we definitely feel that we are in a different place. And it is true that the kids are a hit wherever they go.