Month 2 in Seoul

We're settled in Seoul now and love it. Here are a few highlights from our second month here:

Our "express shipment" arrived from Brazil after being packed up four months ago.
This was 1,000 pounds (sounds like a lot, but it's not) of whatever we want
(the Steeves family didn't choose wisely)
 to arrive ahead of the rest of our household goods and car.



I started working as an editor for a Korean publishing company,
which produces educational materials to teach Korean children English.
I'm the only non-Asian, native-English speaker in the office.



At least one day each weekend, we head out to explore
a different part of the city. 

There is always something to do in Seoul.
We spent one morning at a children's museum near our house.
 

We spent another morning touring one the city's ancient palaces.
Look close: You'll see two mustaches in the picture. Unfortunately,
 it's "Mustache March" for Geoff and his co-workers.
Also very unfortunate, March is one of the months with 31 days. 

We love the variety of food here and often set out and about
 just to see what there is to eat. Waffles are a popular snack
(I'm not sure if they're actually a breakfast food here.)
and a favorite of Eri's. We like to eat them and
think of our friend Amabile in Brazil, who we really miss!

The street food is the best. We like Korean pancakes (don't think these are for
breakfast here either), which are cooked to order and filled with a warm honey,
 nut, and seed mixture. There's non-sweet ones filled with meat or a vegetable
 mixture, but Leo and I don't bother with those. 

 

We're good at riding the subway now!
(We use hand sanitizer as soon as we leave the station.)

Eri started swim lessons on base. Her teacher is Korean
and a little more rigid than her swim teacher in Brazil.
So instead of singing and playing water games, our 5-year-old lapswims.
She's enjoying it though and will probably represent
South Korea in the 2024 summer Olympics.

Our celeb status as foreigners continues. This group of girls asked
Geoff if he was a "soldier." Upon confirmation,
they squealed and wanted pictures taken with him.

 

We got in one last day on the slopes before the mountain closed for the season.
(This should not imply that it's getting warm here. Because it's not.)
Here are 13 adorable seconds of Eri in action.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Our first holiday in Seoul was the Korean Lunar New Year so we went to Disneyland.

 

This is a three-day celebration that commemorates the first day of the Korean lunar calendar, which is used to mark the dates of traditional festivals. It's one of the biggest holidays in Korea. Families gather to eat, exchange gifts and remember their ancestors, sort of like a combination of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Memorial Day.

 

We celebrated at Lotte World - an indoor Disneyland that feels like a Vegas casino (there's no gambling or chain smoking, but it's loud and bright, with lots of highs and lows. And, total time warp -- you're not sure if a few minutes or hours have gone by.)

 

We arrived right when the amusement park opened. No waiting in lines!
By mid-day, we were shoulder to shoulder (or rather shoulder to head --
we're pretty tall people in this country, but easy to find each other
 in a crowd) with everyone else.

Selfie on the bumper cars.

Eri and Geoff on the sea dragon. They pulled out the
 height-measuring stick, but she made it.

Showgirls.

The ice skating rink.

Eri and Mickey.

(Third from the right.)

Eri and I on the splash mountain flume.

Silly.

We rode the carousel about a dozen times.

Pirates of the Carribean.

Done!