A Little Moore Perspective AFTER Korea

First, let me apologize for our lack of posts…moving back to our own house in our own country has been an adventure in an of itself, but for now, I’m going to focus on the most exciting piece: Big Mac’s arrival!

For those that just want the quick stats:

Judah Anderson was born Wednesday April 8th at 2:27 am.  He weighed 8lbs, 5oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Labor only lasted 3 hours and was incredible.

For everyone who wants the full story:

The first time we went to see the doctor in Korea, he told us we were due April 7th.  I had soooo many emotions at that time.  One of which was an overwhelming dread of going through labor and delivery again.  And since we found out so late that we even were pregnant, I felt a little cheated out of some prep time.  Cadence’s birth was extremely intense, and while I was grateful for the fact that the labor for her was almost 5 times shorter than Ezekiel’s (from 44 hours to 9!) the intensity of it left me longing for the “That was awesome!  It will be so cool to do that again!” feeling that I had after Ezekiel’s.  We began praying immediately specifically about that aspect of it, and for my attitude as it approached.
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Hello faithful readers!

We are in fact back home in the US after 30 hours of travel from door to door. We were so excited to see so many of our family and friends greeting us as the airport. That really meant a lot to us, so thank you!!

The blog updates have gotten away from us, but we still have plenty of story to tell.  Although our adventure in Korea has come to an end, we’ll continue to update our site with pictures of places we visited and stories of our trips.

There is so much to do with a new baby coming and getting my work going again! The jet lag is killer and we just want to sleep all day but we are getting adjusted and hope to be able to visit many of you soon. It feels good to be home :)

Back in October my school took three days for the students to take mid-terms.  I’m not exactly sure why they call them mid-terms since by that point we had only been in school one month, but sometimes it’s just easier not to question too much.  Anyway, because of these so-called mid-terms, we had a short day Wednesday, a class picnic Thursday, and no school on Friday.

The homeroom teacher and one other teacher at random was assigned to chaperone this picnic.  The class can go anywhere they choose and is responsible for coordinating all of the necessary reservations and transportation.  Because my teaching situation is different, I was not assigned a particular class, but chose to go with the class Ki Eun was assigned to.  I was really happy to hear that it was the student Kelly’s class.

Several students came to me at my desk asking where I would like to go or if I had suggestions.  While this was very considerate, at that point I had no idea where to go or what to do!  I said that I would be happy wherever they chose.  Originally they had intended to go to a University to take a tour, but Ki Eun said that the only reason was to finish early and then be able to go home earlier.   But after finding out I would be going with them, they changed their minds and decided instead on a place where we would learn how to make rice cakes.  Kelly even offered to make a lunch box for me!
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When we moved in to our apartment, we noticed some funny smells. For one, we could smell all sorts of different foods being cooked throughout the building, and probably the complex. There was some kind of odor coming from under the sink, which we could never find the source to, so we loaded it up with Lysol in an attempt to neutralize it. Then there was this stagnant, fishy smell that just kind of permeated the air. But who knew what it could be. We are, after all, in an foreign land half way around the world with completely new foods and customs, not to mention all the seafood they eat here. It could be anything!

So a few weeks later, I’m jumping around in the living room one evening, playing with Ezekiel, when I notice something on top of the cabinet right next to the front door. It was normally out of eye sight, but I caught a glimpse on my way up to the ceiling. I go over to inspect and to my shock find that we have a sizable, dried up fish friend watching over us. What a lovely gift for the previous tenants to leave us. Boy, was he putting out a rotten stench! After snapping a few shots, I promptly took him out to the trash.

We not-so-lovingly dubbed him “Fish Man.”

Times, they are a-changin.  I can’t believe that we have been here for 2 months already!  And in that time I have seen many changes.  Walking to school, I went from being in sunlight to walking directly INTO the sun.  The days are getting shorter.  I went from being exhausted and feeling-like-I- need-another-shower-sweaty, to being slightly winded and chilly.  The students stopped screaming and cheering when I enter a room and now just greet me with an excited “Hi!”  We can now drive around the city in the back of the taxi and recognize where we are going.  We can see pictures of our city and find it familiar.  And when I walk home, I am incredibly blessed by a view of a mountain with changing trees on one side and a beautiful sunset on the other. 

Our children are changing daily and I am constantly surprised by how big they are getting and the new things they are learning and are capable of.  David and I are changing, too.  We have grown so much closer in this city where we really have few obligations or social commitments other than each other.  I have seen David blossoming in his new role and I can see how much better of a relationship he has with our children now because of it.

But there are more changes to come. 

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Two weeks after I started teaching, we had a day off for a holiday.  Because in many cases Koreans use the Lunar calendar, holidays can change from year to year, and this year, Chu-seock (pronounced “chew-sock”) fell on September 13th, 14th and 15th.  Unfortunately, only one of those days was a weekday, so we only had one day off school. 

Chu-seock is basically Korean Thanksgiving.  It is a time for family and eating.  The actual holiday is the middle day and the other two are given for traveling.  In general, families go to the elder parents’ homes to eat and praise their ancestors.  The original intent was that the ghosts or spirits from the ancestors would come and eat from the food first and then the family could eat.  These days, many people do not really believe this will happen, and participate in this holiday for cultural reasons as opposed to religious, and people of all religions take part.

Because we had only been here 2 weeks, we were not sure what to do, so we made no plans.  On the Friday before the holiday, one student brought me a plate with some Korean treats and a note explaining that the treats were hangwa, a traditional Korean cookie.  I waited to sample one until I got home so David could try one also. 

That night we went out for Dak Galbi.  Usually the students from the schools are still in classes late into the night, but because of the holiday, they were able to leave at 6 o’clock instead.  It just so happened that many of them were arriving downtown at the same time we were. 

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The city of Chuncheon is in a basin, with mountains literally all the way around it. Inside the basin are some pretty steep hills (as you can see from Sarah’s walk to school). But there are only a couple real mountain peaks inside the basin. Our apartment is situated right next to one of these mountains, called Bong Ui (bong-ee).

Many people, including some of the teachers Sarah works with, have frequently asked us “Have you climbed the mountain yet?” or said “What are you doing this weekend? You should climb the mountain!” We got to wondering, what exactly is on this mountain? Being from Indiana, land of flat plains, just climbing a mountain seems like a pretty tall order, but around here they treat it like it’s their Saturday morning work out!

So we get up and going one Saturday with a plan to climb this mountain. We strap the kids onto our backs and head out. I’d scoped out the area using Google Earth before we left, and found that there is a paved road leading part way up the mountain that is behind our apartment complex. We followed the road up, passing a field with pipes sticking out of the ground (water processing plant?) as well as what appeared to be a cemetery. We were following behind an elderly man on his way up as well. We came to point where the pavement ended and a man was operating a large back-hoe, apparently carving out the area for the road to go further. We were not sure what to do at this point, but before we could decide our next move, he stopped the machine and waved for us to go past him.

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Before we came to Korea we watched a video about the province we were moving to, Gangwon-do.  It was pretty over the top, and mixed in with all the other thrilling things to do and see in Gangwon-do was a brief intro to our city, Chuncheon.  The man in the video said, “Come to Chuncheon, home of the famous chicken ribs.  Once you find them, it’ll make you forget about…whatever else you were looking for in Chuncheon!” We had several good laughs about other things we may forget about because we were so enthralled with the chicken ribs.  Like one of our children, for example. 

When we found out we were placed in Chuncheon, we knew we had better try the chicken ribs.  Later we found out the Korean name to be dak galbi, which literally means chicken ribs.  And while the dish definitely has chicken, it is only chicken meat, no ribs or bones to be found.

The first night we went in search of it, some of my students helped us and told us one particular restaurant was “safe.”  That was a little weird, to say the least, but we braved it anyway.  In hindsight we think they must have meant that it was less spicy than other restaurants.  The ingredient list alone doesn’t make the dish sound that great, but we actually really like it and would like to try to recreate it when we come home. It’s made of chicken, rice noodles, sweet potatoes, cabbage, mixed with a spicy chili sauce.  We had it three times in the first two weeks.   Ezekiel asks for it by name. 

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One task we still had to perform yet was to get our visas changed over from 90 days to one year and register for our ARC or Alien Registration Card. The ARC is our form of identification while in Korea. Sarah already had a 1 year visa, called an E2 work visa, because she was employed with the school. But Ezekiel, Cadence and I could only get a 90 day ‘travelers’ visa until we had actually entered Korea and changed them over. Korea does not allow anyone to get a visa longer than 90 days unless you are employed by a company, the government, or a dependent of someone who is. In this case we are considered dependents of Sarah, so we are allowed 1 year visas along with hers.

The process itself is pretty easy actually. We only need Sarah’s ARC and a letter from her employer as proof that she is working for the school. The school had taken Sarah to get her ARC a week earlier, so she was set. Soon after, Sarah had talked to an immigration officer on the phone who told her what was needed for the rest of the family and that the cost was 60,000 Won (~$55).

We had withdrawn money to live on when we were back in Seoul, but that was running out, and we had yet to find an ATM in Chuncheon that would withdraw money from our US account. And Sarah did not get paid by the school until the 25th of September, still 2 weeks away. Between the two of us we were able to scrounge up enough Won to pay the fees, as well as a taxi to get us there and back home. After that, I guess we were just going to live on groceries from the store where we could use our credit card!

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We have been here a month and a half already!  Time flies.  We are still loving it.  But I just wanted to update you on what our kids are doing. 

Ezekiel is having a great time here.  He can now respond “Anyongaseyo!” to people that greet him and we are working on “Gamsamnida!” for when he receives one of the many gifts from strangers.  He is growing up so fast and his answer changes daily about whether or not he will please Mommy and just stay little forever.  He is now completely taking himself to the bathroom, wiping, and then rolling up the toilet paper so his little sister doesn’t destroy it.  He is very proud of his big boy underwear.  He speaks in complete sentences (every English teacher’s dream!–J/K) and asks to call people on Skype by name.  Grammy and Papa Bear come in first with “”Du-in and Mea’in” coming in second and “Nina” and Papap making a close third.  Your chats with us really mean a lot to him.  He has been talking a lot lately about his “friend Isaac.”  It’s so cool to me to see what his memory is capable of.  He is learning daily.  We are still working on the ABCs and when we count, for some reason the 4 is always missing…He asks for Dakgalbi constantly, though I suspect that has to do with some fatherly influence.  He loves making tunnels out of cardboard boxes and playing with Mr. Potato Head– especially since Daddy helps Mr. Potato Head come to life.  He is a great big brother and he and Cadence are best friends.  He has a new love for peanut butter and jelly which he constantly asks for if Dakgalbi is out of the question.  He wants to help with everything, which of course includes things that are better left unhelped by a two year old.  But I can always count on him to help carry the vacuum cleane, and he loves to help me hang and put away laundry. 

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