Three weeks and going strong

Monday October 21 - momma needs happy hour, enough said

We were introduced to a fantastic Mexican restaurant just a few minutes walk from our apartment! Everyone enjoyed the meal and atmosphere, until it was time to leave because E refused to eat anything but chips so we had to cut him off. There was some serious tears on the walk home. One thing that tells us apart from the rest of the population around here, we can tolerate with a little crying for something like that. We had a young college age woman stop us all concern (as if I was beating my child right there in the middle of the street) we explained he was upset because he wanted more chips and we said no. I'm betting there isn't a lot of "no" to children his age. But there you have it. Parenting at its best. 

After a trip home for a much needed nap we made our way to Namdaemun Market. We had heard how fun this was during the evening hours and wanted to experience for ourselves. Last time it took us forever to find it and we were hot and hungry by the time we arrived I ended up eating a crab stick from a  street vendor. Not a choice I would recommend but stubborn pride got in the way last year, I wouldn't have admitted that last year. 

 

This is the largest market in Korea, everything from housewares, clothing, and food. 

If nothing else this is the place we discovered the most wonderful donut/pancake goodness. Not to think that is all we had for dinner we also had fruit on a stick. 

This is at the enterence of the market. Sungntemun Gate: "Korea's National Treasure #1" the wooden structure was complete in 1398. It served as the main enterence through the fortress walls of Hanyang. 

 Tuesday October 22- City Bus Tour

Now up until this point I have recommended this tour to everyone. We really enjoyed it, especially the ac last year and it gave us a whole day for $10/each. Oh how things change when you have a 3 year old along for the ride, I mean ruling the world. Lets just say we spent the last leg of the tour with a plastic bag in front of Evans face and me fanning him hoping he wasn't going to get sick everywhere. He hasn't been car sick in over a year but Seoul traffic and driving has cnearly put me over the edge so I can only imagine what he was feeling. We got back home by subway. 

For starters this was what welcomed us in the subway staton as we exited, Evan's new favorite cartoon (Larva- seriously a cartoon about slugs, no words just grunts, based on. "Tom&Jerry" type cartoon)

Evan listening to the tour guide in a variety of languages, he kept switching from Japanese and French. 

It wouldn't be a proper day with out locating a playground, we got turned around in side streets areas in Itaewon but claimed a victory when we found this beauty. Then we found yummy Greek gyros for lunch.  

A stop at the Namsan Mountian Tower, if nothing else the city bus tour got us up most of the way, we did the rest.  the Freudenburgs are NOT mountain climbers and didn't even attempt the climb from the starting point. don't judge. Did I mention the 3 year old?

It is the largest park in Seoul. It is 262m high.  The tower is the 10th highest tower in the world. 

Tradition is that you place a lock on the tree to symbolize true love forever. I learned this last year so I made sure we brought a lock this time. 

Now don't judge this is a selfie portrait!

 Next stop on the tour that we got off was the Dongdaemun area, I didn't realize we would actually spend much time here this morning so I didn't look up the map online to find the wonderfully hidden toy market. As we were hunting around the area we found several alleyways lined with stores completely dedicated to aquariums. I find the whole thing fascinating that you can pick any one thing and there is a street lined with that one speciality. 

By the way we found the toy market without a map, to be honest it was a surprise, we remembered about 75% of the way but cannot believe we happened upon it! Not sure we could do it again. 

Wednesday October 23

Just a quick tour around our neighborhood:

Our neighbors, makes you wonder. . .

Our favorite burger place, Craftworks Brewery. There new location is just a few minutes walk from our place   I had the pulled pork and it was delicious!!

Directly behind our place. 

This the night doorman, Both the day and night doorman adore Evan, although Evan has yet to try to speak to either but they talk up a storm to him. Evan is always shaking their hands or giving hugs. 

Thursday October 24

We had big plans to check out the area just east of us, the Coex. It is supposed to be the largest underground shopping in all of Asia. Well big fat disappointment. It was under serious construction and it was a total miss. However there was a university/technology convention in one of the exhibition halls that Dan made the rounds checking out all kinds of robotics and such. We looked even more out of place than usual. 

My attempt to make a better call for the afternoon was the DCube City complex that our friends, the Germanns, introduced us to last year (thank you Phil and Julie!). We visited the Pororo playground which made Evans day. Pororo was the cartoon that really got us through some tough transition days last year when we brought him home.

Riding in the yellow Tayo bus

Lovin on the polar bear

Loves sharks

He jumped up and down when he saw robot!

High 5!

 And after sharing a giant bowl of bulgogi rice we splurged!

Ahhh pumpkin filled donut goodness!

For dinner we tried out the Kebab place nearby, not so much a kebab as much as a yummy burrito type wrap. Fantastic dinner, tiny place, super affordable!

Evan discovered cilantro and sprite for the first time. Loved both. 

Friday October 25 

We were really pumped for our visit with Elleigh in the afternoon. We ran off energy in the morning at the playground, walked to a couple of local hotels for info on some touristy tours we wanted to check out, wasn't really thinking walking into the Ritz Carlton looking for a brochure. Not so much. Just kept repeating to Evan "don't touch anything please don't touch anything" the toilet probably cost more than my yearly salary.  If you've ever been the parent of a toddler/preschooler you know what I mean when I say we stop at every bathroom possible. 

Quick lunch at Julio's that went much better when we ordered a quesadilla for the cry baby. 

Our visit with Elleigh didn't go so wonderful. She wasn't feeling well and really had no desire to deal with us. She did however chow down on some cheese I brought. Shocked Dan was able to get this photo because it didn't last long at all. 

It was disappointing so we decided to call it a day and veg out in the apartment. We converted our downstairs futons so Evan could have some serious movie enjoyment. 

Saturday October 26

In attempt to boost our spirits we tried out the Namsangol Traditional Korean Villege, sounds fun right? The 3 year old wasn't impressed. But we found a few things to entertain. 

A traditional game

Because the village wasn't a great hit I decided we could run by the Noryangin Fish Market (something I had wanted to do but had trouble talking the family into) ummm Big Hit with entire family, plus we got a donut at the end!

This photo doesn't do it justice. These creatures were ginormous!! And moving still. 

These guys were still moving, scared Evan pretty good when a tentacle reach out at him!

Excuse the finger I was juggling the yummy donut, stroller pushing and taking a quick photo of the veggie market right outside the fish market. 

We had a late lunch at Kanival Pizza (pretty sure it is suppose to be Karnival), also in our neighborhood.  We had a half supreme half bulgogi pizza, with the best crust. With some sort of white dipping sauce. It was a great pizza and fun atmosphere. 

On the way back to our apartment I could hear Bon Jovi which of course intrigued me, as we ventured close we found a talent show? Going on just outside our building on the main Gangnam Station intersection. These young kids were attempting to be the next Bon Jovi, they had a ways to go but it was so fun to listen to a Korean version of "You Give Love a Bad Name". My heart soared. My Bon Jovi crush continues. 

Another boy band got up and sang a R Kelly song, we stayed for a few but Evan had finished his ice cream and it was a bit chilly, people were giving us a look, probably more than just a Korean kid with a Caucasuan couple look but it was the fact he was shivering in his stroller and strawberry ice cream all over his face. 

Over half way there!!!!  Ice cream and donuts making it easier!

Second week, the Freudenburgs do Seoul 2013

Monday October 14 - Seoul Grand Park

We spent the entire day in a giant zoo, we took a tram from the gate up to the actual zoo (that is how big this place is, and worth the extra Won). It was a little overwhelming where to start, we quickly realized we were not going to get to everything in one day. For those future travelers we probably spent $20 for the entire trip to the Park (Ev was free). 

Started slow with the flamingos and went from there to giarraffes, it is an interesting layout!  

You can imagine how much our snake-loving 3 year old enjoyed this. Now can you imagine how much this momma didn't love it, especially when said 3 year old grabbed its head!?!

Not the best photo but that is a dolphin the background, watched the dolphin and seal show, all in Korean but totally with it (free with admission). Loved the seals!

This is a view from the high-flying chair lift we finished the zoo with. (It was probably a15-20 minute ride)

This last one is how Ev usually finishes each outing, passed out in the stroller. 

We watched tons of monkeys, gorillas (Bimo was our fave and had tried to play with us a little through the glass). We hunted for the hippos for awhile, in the meantime witnessed tons of different animals frolicking around. 

Tuesday October 15 - Family Court Appearance

Ahh the infamous day. Let me tell you we looked sharp!  I can say that because I forgot to get a photo. We met two other families at the agency at 9am (I may have looked a little less sharp from the near jog in heels in the rain several blocks from our apartment to the agency, normally a 20 min walk). From there we rode together to the court house and waited and waited and waited. The other two families were first time parents and also new to adoption so for once I had all kinds of things I thought they should know, they were polite and probably wondered if I would ever stop talking. Our family was last to appear and with a sigh of relief we saw our judge. We had been warned on our forums and such which judges asked what kind of questions and which ones were "nice" and which were "all-business". We were blessed with kind but all-business. Some questions were whether we enjoyed our jobs, specifically if I thought it was difficult being a peds icu RN. I answered best I could, have no idea how it translated. But mostly the questions were centered around our parenting of Evan and did we support our children looking for their birth family if they desired. I expected ,more questions specific to our home study and our marriage but I guess she thought our marriage has survived Evan's adoption process we must be in it for the long haul!  We were then whisked away back to the agency where we said our good-byes to new friends and headed home in the rain (again).  Spent most of the day vegging out at the apartment. One of those gloomy days you just want to curl up with Mocha and read a book. We really miss Mocha. 

 

Wednesday October 16 - Mrs Choi

We made our way to the Hongdae/Mapo area of the city to explore a little before our afternoon meeting with Mrs Choi. We found a playground in the middle of an artsy university area. Then ate lunch at a western type restaurant and both got some yummy bibimbop. Dan tried some water that he said tasted like mildew socks, I opted to go without. We found our way back to Eastern Social Welfare Services building where we first met Evan. I was a bit emotional at the whole thing. We were rounding the corner inside the building, Evan in front of course and all of a sudden this tiny tornado of a woman scooped Ev up and spun him around and clobbered him him hugs and kisses over and over. I'm not going to lie I saw a look of panic but figured he would get through it. We had a great visit with Mrs Choi and her grand daughter, who helped care for Evan. It was so sweet, I felt like I was holding back tears the whole time. Evan was a bit hyper, needed a nap in a bad way. She showered him with love and us with fruit, this woman is a saint!

 

 

 

 

 

 Somehow the extra large bottle of women's centrum silver and anti-aging skin care and shutterfly book of Evan didn't seem like enough, not by a mile. I was overwhelmed by her generosity.   

We spent the next 40 min on the subway with again hyper Evan and a heavy box of fruit, totally worth it. We spent the evening exploring the neighbor a few further out in hopes of finding a market, needed a few staples. I should have taken photos of that experience. I finally found butter at $7 a package, opted for olive oil but couldn't find that either so we got soybean oil (I think) I have a feeling it isn't the best for you. Dan found sweet potatoes, we think, tasted different but we had brought some brown sugar for his morning oatmeal so thought it would work. Note for next time, brown sugar is easy to find and not expensive!

Thursday October 17 -Seoul Children's Museum

Like each day we start out with the subway so thought I would throw a photo in. 

 

We ventured back to the Seoul Children's Grand Park (future travelers keep this in mind, it's free). Just past the entrance to the park is the museum. We happened to be there with about a thousand toddlers and elementary school aged children. Each school group was wearing there own uniform so it was pretty easy to figure out who belong to who. This museum was $4/person, under 36 months free. Again worth so much more! It is fantastic! We spent the entire day there with a quick lunch in the park. 

Ev loves turtles, glad we found this shell to play in. 

 

This was an incredible maze. I didn't see the sign stating for 5 year olds and older until he was too far and there were some panics when he couldn't figure it out but with some coaching from the outside we eventually got it figured out. 

 

 

Beth, this is for you, Ev was checking the seal's ears with the little otoscope- all was good he said. 

  

That is my kid giving the seal and turtle their vaccines. Love it!

Our future chef. 

"Master of Housekeeping"

Lots of water play

Friday October 18 - National Children's Library and Visit with Elleigh

Dan and Ev spent the morning at the library which was something we would do at home, it happens to be in our neighborhood. After Dan presented his passport he received a library card ans they explored the giant library including "foreign books". 

Later that day we had the pleasure of seeing our baby girl again. This time we took a 10 minute walk to the playground and spent about 30 minutes playing with E&E. 

Forget MMs, I was armed with processed cheese, this was a winner. 

Ev loved getting to help push El in the stroller (helped him get over the fact he didn't get to ride)

She actually reached to give Apa(Dan) a hug good-bye, I couldn't believe I held it together emotionally enough to get a photo. 

Saturday October 19

We tried something new today, this momma enforced a scheduled nap time, yeah!!!

We spent the morning back at Seoul Forest because it has a great playground and we get a little subway ride out of it for Ev. 

Then there was precious nap time! Dan got to go explore the Samsung Electronics display and this momma read a book (and wrote some of this blog). P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S.

We had a great evening with new friends, from Minneapolis, of all places! We had a play date with their 3 year old Ethan and then wonderful Mexican dinner with Jill and Ross! They are also here to take custody of their second child! We are so excited for them!  And they live near us in Gangnam!

Sunday October 20

Sad to say we spent all morning looking for this market our friends told us about, let's not discuss that failure. But we found the playground that is tricky to find, a huge plus. 

Again NAP time

Then we explore the neighborhood outside Gangnam exit 7, found playgrounds for later and ate yummy BBQ pizza. 

Do you sense a theme in our trip? Playgrounds. A very different theme than last year.