Camping: This month we went on our first family camping trip to one of the beaches on Korea's northeast coast. (No one liked my idea of setting up the tent in the living room and making s'mores in the microwave.) We had a great time road-tripping around and stopped by one of the two demilitarized points in South Korea, where you can look over the boarder to see North Korea.
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| Roasting marshmallows. |
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| Up with the sun, but that's our norm. |
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| Fanning the flames. |
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| Looking for Kim Jong-un. |
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| Outdoorsy on any continent! |
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| The drive home. |
Disney on Ice: We took Eri, Leo and Eri's bff Dylan to Disney on Ice, which was a compilation of the most-famous scenes from the most-popular animated movies. I had incorrectly assumed the songs would still be English, but this didn't faze us. The best part was hearing hundreds of little girls in the audience belt out "Let it Go" in Korean. It was so cute and the song definitely did not lose its impact as a feminist call for freedom / LGBT anthem.
Air Force Ball: Date night got an upgrade. For the first time, Geoff and I went to the annual Air Force Ball. This has been our only formal military event since Ring Dance at the Air Force Academy when we were 21. The ball felt like a cross between a wedding and the prom, and we had a blast.
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| Gunning for Prom King and Queen ... |
Food: Part of the fun of living abroad is trying new foods. To a certain extent. Sometimes you get tricked, like when I thought I was buying a bagel with blueberry cream cheese at a Korean coffee shop. It was actually a bagel with black beans in cream cheese. (Also, nothing magical happens when cream cheese and black beans are combined and this tastes exactly as you would expect.) Other times, you know it's not gonna be delicious because items in the dish are unidentifiable and/or stink, such as this fish soup below. A quick picture and a text to a Korean friend confirmed that these were fish internal sex organs floating in there. Most of the food in Korea, though, is very good. We love going out to eat here because native dishes are spicy, plus there are a lot of international restaurants to choose from, too.
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| My guess was brains of some kind of sea animal. |
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This drink that looks like dirty water tastes like dirt in water.
We later found out it is some type of root juice with amazing health benefits. |
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| A sure thing. These milkshakes tasted as good as they look. |
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| Sometimes it's best just to make it yourself ... |
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... or go with the familiar. I found Leo spooning strawberry
cream cheese into his mouth. He cried when I took it away. |
Reading at Eri's School: Last month I published my first book, a children's story called "
Daddy Flies." As an almost-famous author, I was a guest of "Deer Class," which is Eri's kindergarten, to read the book and answer adorable questions. Eri was so proud, which kept me from crying so as not to embarrass her and really alter the memory of Mommy's visit at school. I hope she never forgets. I still remember how proud I was when my mom, a dental hygienist, visited my classroom with an oversized mouth and toothbrush and showed us "little circles" while everyone gathered around.
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| "Welcome to Deer Class Mrs. Brye" |
