Unexpected Korea

We have now been here 5 days, and so far I feel good, apart from waking EVERY day at 4am. There are things we expected to find when we arrived: not being understood, people looking and touching the little blonde girls, lots and lots of cars, very helpful people ... But we are also finding other things that we had not even considered or even knew about. The best way I can do this is a list (sorry).

Not finding tea (regular, English-type tea) except in the international section.

Taking the girls up the Mt Achasan (meaning Mt Oops!) to the playground, and having them play with the sound of chanting Monks in the background.

Also up the mountain (when I say mountain, I really mean about the size of Mt Kaukau in Wellington) finding a huge number of Koreans decked out in full-on tramping gear - backpacks, hiking gear, boots, walking sticks and facemasks.

Not seeing blue sky.

This I think is funny - for those 'serious' mountain climbers, there is a station where they can clean themselves off with compressed air. I am not sure of the reason for this, but I think it is because a lot of the mountaineers catch the subway here, then climb, then have to subway back.

I was worried that there might not be any fabric stores in Seoul, but Dongdaemun Market is a sewing girls dream. Fabric for miles (quite literally), buttons to reach the moon, buckles, ribbons, lace, trims galore. I will have to get the girls into school so I can go shopping for days!

Cell phones and TVs that work in the subway.

Going down 107 steps to get to the first level of the subway.

Having someone at the market actually read and understand my attempt to write the word BREAD.

Mila not punching everyone who touchs her - although she is perfecting her "don't you dare" look.

Realising that we all need non-lace-up shoes otherwise we spend too long taking our shoes on and off.

Finding out that because we are in a PCUSA apartment, it is wired for 120V, so we could have bought some of our American stuff over here, but none of our new stuff works except in one Korean outlet, which is wired for 240V. Hopefully when we move downstairs to our new apartment in a few weeks it will be 240V.

Realising that I do need a hairdryer to feel human (and pretty!).

There will be many more things to come, I am certain. Today we go into the heart of the beast (Seoul), to get our Alien Registration Cards (eat your heart out Jen - not Cylon, but close), which will take most of the day. Wish us well.