Chuseok- A Family Affair: Part Two

On Thursday we got off to a slow start. But eventually we got on the Subway and then hopped in a taxi and made it to the very nice Bomunson Mountain. Bomunson is right in Daejeon and great it you just want a nice stroll up a mountain, and it wa

s especially nice for us with a stroller. There are several hiking paths that can be explored if you stray off the paved path, but we stayed to even ground. Everywhere we went it always took 3 times how long it would have taken me normally. We were stopped every couple of minutes for people to oo and ahh over Calla. I completely understand because she is so adorable, but it was a lot more overwhelming than I thought it would be! Calla handled it great though. She even made a new friend. One little girl on the way up was intrigued with Calla, and Calla offered he

r various leaves and twigs. After our "Hike" we headed back to my place. Tina and Calla settled into their new "Home" for the next couple of days and called it an early night, as I headed over to Kristin's to hear all about her China trip!

Friday I unfortunately had

to go back to work. So Calla and Tina spent the day together. They spent time time in the park, and then explored Wolpyeong-dong, my neighboring neighborhood, and found a stall that sold yummy dumplings! At work, I got to spend the day playing games and coloring with my kids, since I really didn't have a whole lot planned for my one day week.

Saturday Tina, Calla and I decided to go to Ppuri Park. It was great!

"Ppuri Park, located in Ch

imsan-dong, Jung-gu is devoted to showing the

origins of 136 Korean surnames, which are engraved on stone sculptures. There are also hiking trails, a tree garden, a recreational forest, and a wild flower garden."

Throughout our time at the park, more and more kids started to surround Calla! By the end, the group of kids pictured were all playing with Calla. It was quite the sight! Th

e park is beautiful, and just a really nice and relaxing way to spend an afternoon. When we had had our fill of flowers and bridges and hordes of children, we decided to head back to Mannyeon-Dong for one of my favorite meals...Samgyetang.

We met up with Robyn, Kristin, and Mary for some yummy yummy Samgyetang. Samgyetang is basically just a really fancy chicken soup. But you get a whole chicken in your soup which is stuffed with jasmine rice and ginseng, and a delicious salt and p

epper mixture to dip your chicken in. It's the perfect rainy-day or fall meal. It also seemed like the perfect way to end our day. The restauran

t we go to, which is right across from our school, also gives you cucumbers in vinegar. Sounds kind of gross, but they are actually so so good. After our fabulous and filling meal Tina and Calla headed off to bed, and I headed over to Kristins to watch a movie. A very lazy but welcomed Saturday night.

Sunday was my last full day with Tina and Calla. We had many things planned, but not all of them happened. We got up and decided to make one last shopping trip. Tina ended up getting a fabulously cute dress, but other than that it was pretty much a bust. Well...that is until we found the crazy cats cafe (or something like that). Pretty much it was just a really pretty princess cafe. But I wouldn't have wanted Tina and Calla to leave Korea without experiencing one of the many great princess cafes! Our drinks and snacks were pretty darn good too thou

gh! Tina and Calla headed off to take a nap, and Kristin and I made our way to church. After church Kristin and I took Calla to the park so Tina could ACTUALLY have a nap. Of course....Calla made some new friends. But the park was a lot of fun.

Monday I headed back to work, but got a surprise lunchtime visit from Tina and Calla! They had finally made it to the spa, something Tina had really wanted to do in Korea. After school I helped lug all of Tina's luggage to the bus stop and said a very tearful goodbye.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be saying goodbye to visitors. I guess when I came to Korea I had their visit to look forward to. But that was the only family visit I'll be getting, so I guess saying goodbye to them was like saying goodbye to my whole family over again. It just really made m

e realize that it's going to be a long time before I have the company of family again.

My week with Tina and Calla was amazing, and I'm so happy and so blessed that they were able to come and visit me and to experience a little slice of what I've been experiencing and will continue to experience in my next months in this sometimes crazy, and sometimes wonderful place. I know it will go fast, and soon I'll be seeing ALL of my family.

Until then I'll keep smiling and say, KIMCHI.

Peace and Love.