Our first 30 days

Whoa, from South America to Asia!

After a wonderful two and half years, our time was up in Florianopolis, Brazil in December. We made a stop in the United States for the holidays, and are now living in Seoul, South Korea. We will be here for two years while Geoff works in the policy realm on behalf of the U.S. Air Force at the Yongsan Army Garrison. We cannot believe how lucky we are to continue our adventure in a new part of the world. 

Our arrival. 
We're here after two planes, 12 hours of flight, 
15 checked bags, and a 14-hour time difference.

Home Sweet Home.
After just a few nights in a hotel, our new home was ready and even furnished
(no sight yet of our household goods from Brazil). We're living on base, which is just like
living in small-town America, but in 10 minutes we can be at one of the security
gates and walk into the heart of a city of 24 million people, in a foreign country, no less.

Our new ride. 
I feel 16 again, though the car my parents let me drive then
was much nicer.  No sign of our car from Brazil and we think it's gonna be awhile,
so we bought a 1996 Hyundai (it was that or a Kia, of course) for 900 bucks. Families are only
authorized one car here, so in the event that ours actually makes it (fingers crossed),
we will have to unload this beauty.

Our other new ride.
Though this one is likely made in China.

About to be confused.
Seoul has a massive subway system, which both locals and foreigners
constantly describe as "easy" and "so easy," though we've gotten pretty turned
around every time. That aside, it does seem to be very orderly, quiet, clean
and surprisingly free of urine smells.

New friends. 
We've made fast friends with our neighbors and Geoff's
co-workers and their families. Here's our first pizza party / playdate
with the Lauderdale family. Their son Jaxon and our son Leo bonded quickly.

Shoppers' paradise.
The shopping here is amazingly expansive. There is store after store filled
with useless items, and they are all adorable. There are lots of specialty boutiques, like
stationary stores, sock-only shops, hat stores, and on and on. There's everything
Hello Kitty imaginable, including toilet paper.  

New food.
Leo, 18 months, is doing his best to master chopsticks. We love the food here.
We've had lots of traditional Korean noodle and rice dishes and also a large ethnic variety
-- Thai, Indian, Korean-Mexican fusion, Bulgarian (still confused by what this was) and
trendy stuff (french toast sandwiches and fries!).

Korean BBQ.
We went out for this famed traditional dinner with our neighbors.
Beef and pork are cooked at the table and then wrapped burrito-style in lettuce.
It comes with lots of sides, like cold-noodle salads, spicy tofu soup and kimchi.

New school.
Here, Eri is boarding the bus for her new preschool on her first day.
She attends an international school in the Gangnam neighborhood
 (yep, "oppa gangnam style" -- the very same) with lots of other
Americans from the base as well as local Korean children.
She absolutely loves it and has already picked up a few Korean words.

New language.
Eri's curriculum is all in English, with the exception of a Korean language class, but the school
definitely doesn't feel American. We like this. Here is the lunch box they provide,
which reads: "Happy Virus. It's Delicious."

Super Bowl Sunday party.
Though here it was 8 a.m. on Monday.

So. Very. Cold. 
But at least we can ski! We've been several times to a mountain with a name
I can't pronounce that is only 45 minutes outside the city. Eri is pretty fast
on the slopes, but always waits for me at the bottom.

Our backyard.
The snow doesn't bother
Eri while Leo usually cries when we take him outside.

Mmmm.
It's never too cold for ice cream.



Indoor fun.
Some days it's too cold to do much of
anything outside. So we've gone bowling. ...




... spent the afternoon at the kids' craft cafe, ...

... and lots of time swimming at the indoor pool on the base.

Happy Valentine's Day! 
One of Eri's little gifts was a "Frozen" chopstick set, similar to the
ones her Korean friends use during lunchtime at school.
Eri was excited to try them out,  but in the end wanted to know
why people don't just use forks. Because we're in Asia!