Saturday was a nice day. rick didn't have to work so i got to spend some time with my new friend, Mr treadmill and take a shower without 2 children watching me. very rare thing for me these days. rick took Ethan out for awhile so i took my time getting ready and since it was date night, spent some extra time on the hair and makeup in preparation for later that night. right after i finish, rick calls and says hey, i told my friend from work we would go hiking with him and his family as soon as the baby wakes from her nap, OK? OK, so not my first choice for things to do considering my morning but, we are leaving Korea soon and have decided to try to make sure we get alittle history in while we are still here. i mean really, how often do you move to Korea? so Addison woke up and we went hiking. the family we went with apparently does this often because they were all decked out with hiking poles, gear and special backpacks. i liked it and thought that it was something i might like to do more of in the future. i mean everyone hikes in Houston right? so, it was fairly good temperature for this (about 45 degrees F) and Addison was strapped to rick in a snowsuit, making my experience much easier. the destination of the hike was pretty cool. All i really knew is we were going to the smokestacks. i have heard people talk about hiking there but i had not seen them yet. So, we drive the car off a road that is pretty hidden and brings back memories of going the wrong way up the mountain, park and then hike your way up to this huge stone smoke stack. its pretty high and i was nervous with Ethan trying to run around with the other little boy there. According to history, back in the day these stacks were used to signal when ships from Japan were coming to attack during war. They are strategically placed all over the island so you can signal from one end to the other. during the day they would send smoke up to warn the others, and at night it would be fire. i am guessing they got a lot of use over the centuries as the Japanese used to invade Korea for about 200 years whenever they got bored. the smoke stack itself was impressive and the view was amazing.It is said that from where we stood you could see part of japan if it was a clear day (which it wasn't). anyway, you could see all of okpo...
we continued to hike up into the mountains to a clearing to have a snack. in the clearing there was, of course, the obligatory exercise equipment which you find everywhere on the island, apparently even up on the mountains. so odd how exercise equipment is everywhere. even odder is the fact that the equipment seems to be used fairly regularly. Koreans are very into exercise i guess. from what I've been told, as a culture they believe babies should be chubby and adults should be thin. as far as I'm concerned, i get way more than enough exercise climbing the mountain to our house everyday, and so far, no one has called me largie. oh wait, i should back up... we moved when we returned to Korea.
the constant should we or shouldn't we was finally laid to rest when we returned to Korea on Tuesday and on Friday , we packed up and moved to the row houses. there are things we miss about the apt (forskin) but overall like it much better here. in fact we wish we could have been here from the beginning. not that the apt was bad, but this is a townhouse, giving us much more space on 2 levels and feels like a home. The only thing that truly has been a surprise to us is how steep the mountain is we live on. driving to it doesn't really give you the full effect of how it will feel pushing a stroller up it twice a day, but hey, the exercise is good. i have yet to make it up the hill without losing my breath. For this reason Mr treadmill hasn't seen the action he should yet. anyway, here's some pics of the new place:
later that night, date night, we went to the opening of a new bar in okpo called shamROCK to see some friends of ours band. the drummer in the band is an engineer for a different company but is from Maine and married to one of the friends i have made here. another friend of mine (another of the coffee moms) is actually singing in the band now and was making her debut. this was the first time going out together without the kids since we moved. very cool that everything is still within walking distance just a different direction your coming from now, so with both kids asleep and a sitter at the house we headed down that hill. the bar was very small and situated across from another newly opened bar called "bunny boiler", apparently a shout out to basic instinct fans of Korea. maybe there's some secret cult of people here that like that movie and opened that bar, i don't know, nothing surprises me here anymore. so we packed ourselves into the bar along with everyone else you always see in okpo. Rick kept saying "wouldn't even know your in Korea" (i think that what he said anyway because it was so loud inside) because it was such a diverse crowd but very few Koreans. its funny how the groups cluster together when you look around. oh look, its the American group, there's the teachers group, the Norwegians are over there, and don't forget the young Korean girls with unattractive men who could be there fathers, that group is always around. we noted that a Fire code at shamROCK is apparently not mandatory. as packed as it was, people just kept on coming and we struggled to find our place. band was good , beer was good (hoegarden on tap), separate bathroom for men and women (only sharing a sink this time) and after drinking 3 very quickly slammed beers which i am convinced were drugged due to the hangover i felt the next day, the baby sitter called. Addison will not sleep, calling for you she said, and apparently cutting yet another tooth. i think she checks the calendar and plans the event around date nights. the babysitter is a friend of mine recovering from a recent back injury so i didn't want her to have to walk the floor with the baby, so home we went. very big bummer, was just settling in, and now its raining outside. suddenly not so cool that everything is within walking distance. and oh, by the way, walking up the side of a mountain slightly drunk in the rain my sound poetic, but in reality it is a bad, bad thing, no matter what country your in. so rick is leaving to go offshore again this week but we believe he should only be gone about 8 days this time. i will do my best again to not lose my mind while he's gone and remind ethan that he is not indeed in charge with me when rick is gone like he likes to tell addison.
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