Korea

Here's my very brief recap of our trip to Korea. Considering we took over 300 pictures there's no way I can show them all. So here are the highlights! If you are friends with me on Facebook some of these pictures might be a repeat, but I've tried to add different ones to my blog just for the sake of something different to look at.

We were gone 9 days, 2 of which were traveling. We knew it would be really hard to take Emmett with us on such a big trip so we decided to leave him at home with Grandma (Mike's mom). I had a lot of anxiety leaving Emmett for the first time. We booked tickets 1 month in advance and I swear I didn't sleep well the entire month leading up to the trip. He did great though and it ended up being nice to have a break for a week!

For those of you who don't know, about a year and 1/2 ago my dad got recruited to work for a company in Korea called Woongjin. They are there for at least 2 years and he is working for them as a chemical engineer and helping/consulting for the company as they build a new polysilicon plant. Which is what he has done most of his career in the states. They live in a town (population about 70,000) in the middle of Korea called Sangju. We got the tour from my mom while we were there and they are the only Americans in the town. Lots of people stared at us while we walked down the streets as towns like this don't get tourists. Most people do not speak English there. And if we really needed help getting directions or something we tried to snag a teenager or young adult as usually they were the only ones who could pick out a few English words for us.

We took a bus into Seoul and spent 2 days there. There's a temple in Seoul, and it has dormitories in the basement for people to stay overnight if they are traveling from far away. So we did a session there and slept at the temple too. Other than the fact that men and women were separated in their own "dorm" it was a rather cozy hotel for the night.

While in Seoul we did a lot of shopping, road lots of subways, and sightseeing. Its a huge city (about 11 million) so there was lots to do and we probably only saw a smidgen of it.

We got to go on lots of hikes to see various Buddhist temples. Buddhism is the main religion in Korea and there are temples everywhere. They are always on mountainsides and its very remote and actually quite peaceful and beautiful. Monks live in them and people go there to worship and say their hundreds of prayers.

This guy was banging the drums as part of the monks sunset ritual.

If you saw shoes outside the door then that probably meant someone was inside praying....(or sleeping, not sure which)

This picture was probably a little inappropriate of me to take, but the lady on the far right is doing her prayers to Buddha. Shortly after taking the photo a woman came up to me and shooed me away saying "no picture".

Kimchee pots. A type of Korean food that they serve at every meal. They sit in these pots and get "ripe" or rot. One of the two.

The rock wall on either side of us was made by people stacking rocks one on top of another. There was no mud or cement holding them together. Supposedly it means good luck when someone makes a "rock stack" (sorry don't know the real term).

The food...oh the food. It was really hard to eat. Koreans eat the weirdest food. The boys (Mike and Nate) loved it. Krista and I on the other hand had a harder time. I don't like fish, and I don't like spicy. Both of which are very popular in Korea. There were moments when I thought I was going to starve and then there were times when I thought I was going to lose whatever food was left in my stomach. But mostly I ate out of my mom's cupboards as she had quite a bit of American food. But there were SOME edible Korean dishes that I tried as well. So I can't say it was all bad.

And I have to throw this picture in. Here's a picture of a funky little squirrel we saw on one of our hikes. It had really tall furry ears.

It was an awesome trip and when we got back we were so glad to see Emmett again! For the first 2 days he kept repeating "momma" "dadda" and pointing at us like he couldn't believe we were actually there. So I think he'll forgive us for abandoning him for a week, however he refused to go to nursery on Sunday without Mike in plain sight. I think he's a little nervous now. :)

My Husband, The Food Snob

The other day I was talking to Mike about how I scored 2 free packages of Bar-S hot dogs at the grocery store that day. Emmett likes hot dogs and I was happy with myself. He was not that impressed however and replied to me how gross Bar-S hot dogs were. He said, "They're made of scraps and junk." And I responded, "Sorry, but all hot dogs are made that way". He said "Not the ones we buy." I was confused, "Which ones are those?" He said, "You know, brats".

I got a good chuckle out of that. I never ate a bratwurst in my life until I met Mike. Mike is the type of guy that loves to eat good food. Not just tasty, but good for you food, too.

One Sunday a couple weeks ago it was time for dinner and there was not much in our cupboards since I hadn't been grocery shopping that week. Mike was tired and hungry after he got home from his Sunday meetings. I suggested making some grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup (something that requires a whole 3 ingredients that we had on hand). Mike went on to say how he wasn't in the mood for "that kindof food", and I didn't feel like waiting for something else. So we decided to make our own separate thing. Sometimes we do this if we're in the mood for different food. So I proceeded to make Emmett and I some grilled cheese sandwiches and Mike miraculously wound up making beef and bulgur pilaf with mint. After that day I have since dubbed him "The Food Snob"

Mike loves to cook. Not just your regular old mom-type recipes (which is my specialty) but gourmet food. Recipes that includes various ingredients like falafel, bulgur wheat, Asafoetida, chickpea flour, or garam masala. He really enjoyed the movie Julie & Julia, and even contemplated buying her cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" but instead he decided to purchase a cookbook online called "Savoring India".

His latest adventure is cooking Indian food. He bought a bunch of Indian spices and one of them was stinking up the house so bad I made him take it downstairs. In the basement. In the unfinished cement storage room, just to get away from it. Sunday night we ate Aloo Tikki (potato patties with spicy pea filling). Monday night we had Makhanni Murgh (buttered chicken) with basmati rice. Then on Tuesday I cooked, and we had Tuna Noodle Casserole.

Thankfully, my husband enjoys any simple thing I cook and eats it gladly, as long as its not Bar S hot dogs. Which is now in the freezer and will wait to pull them out until the summer BBQing months arrive. We'll see if I can surprise him with a hot dog on the 4th of July and if he'll really know what it is.

Pic taken about a year ago. Mike busy making granola.