12 things i like about korea

so rick left today to do sea trials where he will be gone for an uncertain amount of time out on a ship learning yet another new skill. we found out about this on tuesday, which was ironic because on bad attitude monday we sat up and talked about how this weekend we were going to get out of okpo for some fireworks in Pusan and go to costco in the city. we felt that might make the "bad attitude" go away. so change of plans. i am alittle freaked out about being in korea with the kids alone and rick out on some ship and i don't know when he's coming back but i also have made alot of friends here who go thru this all the time and are available to help as needed. rick on the other hand is about to truly get his korean adventure. i tried very hard not to say things like " are you freaked out? what do you think about all this, do you know what you are suppose to do?" but I'm a talker and it came out anyway...so before i list the 12 things i like about korea, I'd like to say I'm always very impressed by rick's ability to go with the flow and do new things. 6 months ago i would not of thought my car engineering husband would be going out to sea, but hey, off he went. he will do great...

12 things i like about korea:

1. sticky rice- we have a rice cooker and we all love sticky rice. goes good with all meals and is pretty healthy. it tastes nothing like rice back home, much, much better.
2. our water cooler- it gives hot and cold water so you never need to boil anything. much quicker when making oatmeal and bottles.
3. the ocean- especially at night. you look out your window and there it is, it really is beautiful. we went to a beach last weekend for a bbq and i stopped and watched Ethan running in and out with the mountains in the background and thought, this is amazing.

4. no crime. very safe here. when we first came, i remember exactly how i felt leaving the apt alone with the kids for the first time.I was so afraid and had no idea what was going on. i didn't want Ethan to be afraid so i acted like i wasn't but we didn't go far. now, i walked home from ladies night out at midnight alone and thought absolutely nothing of it.
5. the different cultures-okpo is this huge melting pot of cultures due to the shipyards and everyone pretty much coming from everywhere else. yes there are alot of Koreans but there are alot of people from Scotland, Ireland, new Zealand, Australia, the states, England, Norway, Sweden, etc... all of the mom's i know are from different places. i love to here their accents and notice how their children dress. my favorite accent right now is the Scottish one. it sounds lovely. rick says that when the Scottish men get to drinking, you have no idea what they are saying...
6. back to the culture thing, my child is becoming more aware of different cultures and places. we talk alot about where we are from and where others are from. his 2 favorite friends at school are from Australia and Germany. i volunteer sometimes at his school and when i went last week they had all made different flags of their countries, held them up and stated what they were. it was amazing to see all the different places and their flags. Ethan held his American flag up and said "Michigan" when asked what country it was. we will have to work on that...
7. paved sidewalks- all of the sidewalks are pavers. really nice to look at, however due to the extreme sloping of the streets, not always flat and difficult to walk on.
8. no tipping-this is initially uncomfortable but you get used to it. you don't tip, its not expected or wanted. i took ethan for a haircut yesterday and i was really bothered by not tipping.
9. mini marts- they are everywhere and are usually open 24 hours and carry a wide variety of groceries including eggs, bread, veggies, fruits and so on. better yet, we have one in our bldg so you can just run downstairs and get something if you run out.
10. korean bbq-still love this and think it is very cool to sit on the floor and grill your own food.
11. chopstick usage is everywhere-when i set the table for dinner i now include chopsticks and yes, Ethan can now use them to eat (Addison not so much)...

12. our Korean agent- this is someone who helps you in your apt with things like getting water, changing light bulbs and setting up the Internet. his name is JB but we call him everything but JB. this is because when we first came rick told me that Korean people go by their last names, which is not true. so, when i looked at JB's card, his last name is jeung so i started calling him something that sounded like "john". i constantly used his name when talking to him and referring to him, ethan called him john and when i had to phone him, no one i spoke with had any idea who "john" was. so i asked him and he told me his name is JB. i felt pretty stupid, so as a payback to rick for misleading me, i changed JB's name every time i talked about him, like "RT came over today to fix the dishwasher" or "do you think JR could tell us where to get the red bags?" i did it so much that rick had no idea what his name was for the longest time. silly, i know, but it became a big joke between me and rick until rick really needed to contact him and didn't know his real name to do it. so, that is over now, but i still really like LQ. he thinks i am really funny, speaks limited english and is bewildered by Ethan's behaviour and Addison's toys. whenever i ask him how he is doing is says "not so good" but i don't know why because he is smiling...
so tomorrow i am off to make baby food with the other moms and to kill time until rick returns. i am going to attempt not to have any adventures while he is gone...