I had been to the restaurant before, and enjoyed that it didn't have a whole lot of people and the food was pretty good. At traditional Korean restaurants, there are no chairs. There is a place right inside the door where you take off your shoes, then you sit cross-legged on the floor to eat your food. I want to try one of those, but have yet to because I am always wearing my sandals. Anyway, I ordered noodles with gravy...which I was a little nervous about, but it was delicious! It had shrimp and water chestnuts with carrots, onions, bamboo shoots, mushrooms (which I am not normally a fan of, but these were floppy dark brown ones, so initially I thought they were like seaweed or something), and some pink seafood that had tentacles on them (they were kind of chewy, but good). All these yummy things were in a broth over thick yummy noodles. I sat there all by myself, eating a meal in peace, with my shoes off cross legged on the bench watching a Korean cooking show, not understanding a word. I was the only customer and LOVED being my myself for a few hours. I do want to learn how to cook Korean food because the smells that waft into our house at dinner time just make my mouth water! I have a few resources that I am going to have to tap into :)
One of the things that is VERY different in Korea from the US is that the business build vertically rather than all spread out taking up tons of space. You could have 6 different businesses all in the same building, just on top of each other. There is a covered hallway that goes through the block and it has a few elevators that will take you up...I accidentally ended up in a coffee house on the 3rd floor the other day and our dentist is on the 4th floor above the Dunkin Donuts....which I think is ironic.
There are tons of parks and splash parks within walking distance. There is a little pond that fills up every day in our block and a huge public sandbox right across the street. I think it is to make up for the lack of yards :) The Koreans adore children and go to great lengths to ensure that all their little neurons are connected correctly...hence all the parks and other play areas. Because they adore children, we are like a mobile petting zoo wherever we go. All the old ladies stop and play with the babies, rubbing their feet and giving our kids candy...A got chocolate ice cream and crackers yesterday...and they are all shocked that they are all boys. I think it's funny when you have these tough Korean guys in their military uniforms stop and smile and wave at our kids, they just soften to kids.
As far as the weather goes, I have not sweated so much in my entire life. Even when I was 8 months pregnant and living in Missouri in July! I even started using an astringent because my face just sweats all the time...and I can feel it running down my back (I knew you wanted details like that :). I have heard tale though, that this part of the year doesn't last long (only July and August) and that in September on it is beautiful. There are SO many trees, I can't imagine it not being beautiful though. We are in the midst of the Monsoon and it is therefore especially muggy and wet; but I am loving the rain, although it prevents the kids from going to all the outdoor activity stuff. I haven't come across any incredibly huge bugs, to my surprise, except for one black and yellow spider the other day. It's leg span was about as big as my palm and it made me nervous.
Our first month here has been fabulous, although I should have planned packing a little better, had I had time to do so. TTFN!
