Typhoons, another palace and a date night.

This week has been busy, well part of the week busy the other half stuck at home waiting for better weather.

Typhoon Bolaven

On Tuesday school was cancelled due to Typhoon Bolaven, thankfully by the time it got to us it was nothing more than a bit windy and some rain. We did however have a lovely day at home, catching up on a little dragonvale and other ipad apps.  I think it did cause some havoc further south of us hitting some farming communities so I am very happy I did not get us. The boys will have to make up the day off school one Saturday in the future.
By Thursday Typhoon number two was upon us, again by the time it hit us it was only a tropical storm. Though it rained A LOT, and Olivia, Molly and I decided to spend the day inside and not get wet. Connor and Art looked like they just got out of the shower when they got home.


By Friday I was SO ready to spend some time out of our apartment and thankfully the weather gods looked kindly upon me and provided beautiful sunshine. Olivia and Connors scooters had just arrived from Australia, so we took them out for a spin. Olivia did really well seen she was only just getting the concept of how to work hers just before we left Australia. After taking Olivia for a scoot the dog for a walk we ventured out to the shops in the search for some wine I had brought the week before. I had found some wine on sale for 5000 won (about $4.50) and had only brought one bottle incase it was terrible. I was actually pretty good, or maybe just good in comparison to some other bottles I have had lately. Anyway was pretty disappointed to find out the were all gone :-(.

Connor wanting me to take this photo.

then this one of their backs..

Friday night Art and I got to go out with NO kids!!!! I had meet a lovely lady from Australia a couple of weeks back, her daughter goes to KIS. So Alice is now our brilliant baby sitter so we can have a life and go out. I was getting slightly worried that we would never find someone in our Dong to babysit for us, but along comes Alice. She lives about 6 subway stops away, but seen as it is SO safe here her Mum does not mind her catching the subway alone. So we went out to a local Chinese restaurant with other teachers that live near us and the Chinese teacher from KIS because she loves the restaurant here. She was able to tell us what to order and how to eat it, and it was VERY yummy.

Spooky tree.

Saturday we all went to Changdeokgung Palace, it was a nice day but a LOT of walking. Connor did so well, because he usually complains when he has to walk anywhere but he ran around most to the day easily. The palace was gorgeous, the secret garden beautiful and there was even a performance of Royal Ancestral Rite Music. Connor thought the music was very sad but found it interesting. He is a bit upset that we could not see a king or a queen at the Palace or that he could not sit in the King's chair.  


















Today was Australian Fathers day, so we made Art eggs and bacon for breakfast and gave him a little gift. Later Connor was lucky enough to be invited to his friend Ben's house for a play. Ben is another Aussie who's parents teach at KIS and they live at Good Morning Hill apartments. Takes us about an hour via public transport and walking to get there. think in would only take about 20 minutes by car. The Apartments had three or four playgrounds so we tried them all out then had a little picnic afternoon tea. Lisa (Ben's Mum) said that all the playgrounds have ccvt cameras, so if you put your tv on the right channel you can watch keep and eye on your kids while they play. Not that they have done that yet but it sounds pretty cool.  
So we had a busy but nice end to the week.

Gyeongbokgung palace

Today thanks to my lovely husband I got to go out and explore, WITHOUT the kids. So with new friends Kimberly, Milana, Erin and her husband Paul we went to Gyeonbokgung Palace. We took the subway there and was very happy to find out we only had to change trains once so it was less than an hour away.

Us with our tour guides.

We arrived at the subway station to be greeted by a bunch of middle school students that were acting as free tour guides. So we said sure we would love a free tour around the palace. Our guides Brian was in 8th Grade and our Jason (I think) was in 6th grade.  They did a fantastic job, gave us lots of interesting facts about the Palace we would not known otherwise. I really cant imagine me in the 6th grade giving up my Saturday to give a bunch of strangers a tour around a Palace in another language. They did think we were different to the other tourist they had, more into the details of things they thought.
The Palace was really cool, lots of people (well until it started to rain AGAIN). Brian our tour guide did get slightly concerned when it started to rain, and we asked him if he knew about the Typhoon expected on Monday. He was quite shocked by this news and was concerned because he would have to go to school. At KIS they might cancel school for the day (to be made up on a Saturday) and when we asked if they might cancel school for him his answer was NO, trees could be broken, roads flooded there would still be school. That is the Korean attitude to school though, most kids will finish there normal school day then go to another school, and also so some school on the weekends. For example our tour guides above, practicing their English skills showing tourist around.
The Palace cost less than $3, it was huge. We did not see all of it you could easily spend all day there as well as in the attached museum. Anyway here are some photos.

And my last couple of photos for today, just some cute or odd things from around my dong (neighborhood)

Chocoseum - to get your Culture and Chocolate hit all in one

looking for the pots on the roof, they are for your kimchi.

Markets, starting school, and new friends

Starting off with two apologies, one for the 4th of August was my last post (slack I know). Secondly for photo quality, we have been taking our little point and shoot with us and it really takes BAD photos.  Once we get our ARC (alien registration card) we will be able to get a new iphone then I will have a better smaller camera option.

Connor in his new Classroom

Since my last post school has started for Connor, Olivia will have to start later. She just turned 3 before we left and we have not potty trained her yet. Not thinking it would be a huge problem had her enrolled to start school with Connor. Two days before school started we got told she would have to be fully potty trained before starting. So long story short Liv gets to stay home with me for a bit longer, this is both a good and bad thing for me depending on the day. 

rock climbing wall

where Connor eats lunch every day, he tends to pick the western menu over the Korean Menu.

school pool

school gym

an view of part of the school

Connor is loving his new class and his teacher Ms Narsai, Starting to make some new friends. A couple of the staff kids are in one of the first grade class as well.

having a swim at school

On my last day home by myself I headed down to the Moran market, I had been wanting to go since we moved here. They only open every 5 days so finally I had the chance to go so I went. When we moved to Korea, I knew that they ate dog and I might see that at some markets. However this market was on my little tourist map so I thought it would be a safe one to visit. I made the very big mistake of walking down the first isle. The first cage of dogs I saw I thought was a little odd, to be selling older dogs I wondered why. Then it click when I noticed all the cages alongside other livestock, a butchering service and freshly butchered meat. By this stage I was starting to feel quite ill, and was very glad I had not eaten or brought the kids with.

dogs waiting....

I soon departed this area and explore the rest of the market which was full of people selling fresh fruit and veg, clothes and all sorts of lovely things I was hoping to see at the market. I however was still feeling very sick from the sights I had seen in the first isle and did not stay long or purchase anything. Since then I have been having real trouble purchasing or eating meat. I am pretty sure I am not going to return to this market or if I do not go back down that first isle. I borrowed this photo for google images because I did not take my camera out. I was not sure if I was even going to blog about this adventure because I did not want to highlight the negatives of Korea, but in the end I decided I should share both sides. If you want to see more on what they do at the Moran markets google it.


Yesterday Connor was invited to his first birthday party here, his little Aussie buddy from school little brother was turning 5 and they invited all of us along. It was held at little prince play cafe, I think we will have Connors birthday there. They have lots of these play cafes all over Seoul, they are great. You pay your $7 and the kids play you drink your coffee, total sanity breaks. They have staff on the floor keeping an eye on the kids, and there are cctv cameras every where with tv screens up where the parents sit so you can keep and eye on your child.
After the party we stopped of at Mcdonalds for lunch, was also a little bit of a bribe to get the kids to leave the play cafe.

sit back relax, and watch your kids play.

the long ride up from the subway.

After we go home and Olivia had a nap we were of again, this time out for dinner with old friends from Roxby. Art was having a department dinner at the Summerton's apartment, lots of drinks YUMMY currys and great company. Was nice to have a night out like that made me feel like we were back home in Roxby.
Anyway thats all for today, my last photo is of the walking trail I take Molly on walks for 2 or 3 times a day.