An Act of Kindness

I was sitting at a new coffee shop getting ready to do some grading and a lady started to chat with me.  While this may be normal in America it is actually quite rare here when you are a foreigner with limited Korean abilities.  So this lady saw me wearing my school lanyard (I'm a nerd a wore it in public) and it turns out she has a child in the elementary school where I teach.  We chatted for a while and I enjoyed having an English conversation with a complete stranger, and then I hunkered down to keep grading.  After a while of working this lovely treat was brought to my table, courtesy of my new English speaking friend.  

In the grand scheme of life this chocolate treat wasn't that expensive but her random act of kindness meant so much.  In fact, it made my day.   Loving people (strangers even) in little ways has a big impact.  I'm excited to return the favor to another person in the future. Thank you random stranger! You rock!!! 

Korea ROcKs--Part 5

For the past four years I have sponsored the Global Issues Network (GIN) club.  The GIN club is based on the book High Noon 20 Global Problems: 20 Years to Solve Them by JF Rischard. In his book Rischard discusses how it is impossible for one person to change the world alone but it is possible for networks of people to work together to create change.  Thus, schools across the world have created "GIN clubs" that all work together to bring positive change.  

Our GIN club meets every week and hosts various events for the school to raise awareness and funds for numerous causes.  Just recently our club hosted a 3 on 3 basketball fundraiser for UNICEF.  One of our GIN club girls sported a skirt to play in her game! Haha! Only in Korea...

As you can see Everett enjoyed the games too. 

Here are the different issues outlined in Rischard's book: 

20 GLOBAL PROBLEMS: 20 YEARS TO SOLVE THEM

Sharing our planet: Issues involving the global commons 1. Global warming 2. Biodiversity and ecosystem losses 3. Fisheries depletion 4. Deforestation 5. Water deficits 6. Maritime safety and pollution

Sharing our humanity: Issues requiring a global commitment 7. Massive step-up in the fight against poverty 8. Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism 9. Education for all 10. Global infectious diseases 11. Digital Divide 12. Natural disaster prevention and mitigation

Sharing our rulebook: Issues needing a global regulatory approach 13. Reinventing taxation for the 21st century 14. Biotechnology rules 15. Global financial architecture 16. Illegal drugs 17. Trade, investment, and competition rules 18. Intellectual property rights 19. E-commerce rules 20. International labor and migration rules

Korea ROcKs--Part 4

I have loved getting my nails done on the cheap with my friends here.  

Nail Forever you have rocked my toes off the past few years.  Thank you for your weird nail polish colors, inexpensive pedicures, and for always telling me that I have too much dead skin on my feet (which I totally don't).  

Korea ROcKs--Part 3

Crazy Mascots. 

They're friendly.

They're everywhere.

They usually are nonsensical. 

Crazy Mascots, we'll miss seeing you in all the random places you reside and for all the random things you stand for (like the one in the bottom left is advertising weight loss because why wouldn't a raccoon want you to lose weight?!). 

Korea ROcKs--Part 2

I mentioned a while back that we are starting a new blog series focusing on the things we will miss about Korea.  For our second installment we want to discuss Cafe Pascucci.  

Tom and I have spent a lot of time in coffee shops over the years.  Numerous places have come and gone in our area but for the past two years or so Cafe Pascucci has stolen our heart.  We love sitting in the comfy chairs by the big windows at the front so we can watch people come and go.  We love the owner and his fluent English abilities.  We love the baristas who know our drink orders and our names. We love when Everett takes a nap in his stroller there so we can journal and read.  Pascucci has been our go to place to hang out for quite some time.  

Everett has practically grown up there! :)  

But seriously...we love this place. It will be missed! 

9 months old

Happy 9 Months Everett! 

cherry blossoms

All week Tom and I had plan to go into Seoul on Saturday as a family to see the famous Cherry Blossoms.  As the weekend was approaching we realized there was a 100% chance of rain on Saturday.  Dang.  We debated for a while and thought we may still try to go into Seoul anyway.   Then 3am Saturday morning I get hit with a big wave of sickness (I will spare you the details).  Our weekend plans were officially foiled.  I spent all day Saturday fighting the yuckiness in bed or on the couch.  I'm starting to recover now, but it's been a rough one. Tom has been super dad as he has taken care of me and the bubs. 

Good thing on Friday we executed our back up plan...

Kyung Hee University is close to where we live and has a few nice walkways where some cherry blossoms are in bloom.  We took a little stroll around the University after school on Friday just in case we couldn't see any in Seoul.  They sure are pretty! 

the first hair cut

As you can see below, it was time for Everett to get his first hair cut. 

Tom and I attempted this without really thinking/researching about how to cut a baby's hair.  Overall I think it turned out okay, but there are some rough patches! haha!  If it gets too much longer I think he'll have to visit his first barbor because Tom and I displayed our incompetence pretty quickly.  

He looks like a little boy! Where has our baby gone?!  

aloha

Check out Everett's new swim clothes that he's going to sport in Hawaii!!!  Granny Jer sent these our way this week (thanks Mom!) and it's another great reminder that we are about seven weeks away from kicking it in Hawaii.

We're going to have a four day layover in Honolulu on our way back to America.  We're hoping that the nice Hawaiian sun can dry up our tears after saying goodbye to Korea and pump us up for our move to Missouri.  

We officially have 51 days...

E getting his crawl on

Thriving Home

One of my good friends back home, Polly, has a great blog called Thriving Home.  According to their site, "In a nutshell, Thriving Home is about taking baby steps to live well, eat well, create well, and parent well."


I was recently featured on her blog.  Head over to her site to check it out!

around the apartment

Even though we had a three day weekend over Easter we had to spend a lot of time in the apartment fighting off sickness.  Here are some things E discovered:

1. He rather play under the exersaucer than in it. 

 2. He can pull down clothes and push around the drying rack while Tom was folding laundry.  (As a side note, we can't wait to have a dryer once we move!)

 3. All important things in life should be done with your tongue sticking out (or at least that's Everett's new philosophy).

 4. There is a box in the corner full of toys! Lately he just sits by this play bin and pulls everything out. I love this pic below; I caught him looking at the pictures of family in his photo album.

Hopefully all of the sickness will stay away now that spring is here!  We're ready to get outside and play.  Korean weather is usually a month behind the Mid-West, so we're just now hitting the upper 50's and 60's and it is beautiful!

Pulling Up

Our little man started pulling up while we were on Spring Break in Busan.  Now that he has figured out this new skill he is pulling up CONSTANTLY.  Everett has become quite the adventurous explorer.  Here is a quick video of him pulling up on his toy box.  In this video you will also meet Everett's favorite toy that is fondly referred to as just "Monkey."

our new piece of furniture

A year ago Bonnie and I went out shopping for furniture when we knew we had Everett coming our way.  When looking for stuff for the bubs we stumbled upon a store that sold awesome solid wood  furniture.  We fell in love with the china cabinet pictured below but didn't pull the trigger on it back then because we had no idea where it would fit in our tiny apartment.  Well over spring break we went back to that same shop and pulled the trigger.  It looks gigantic sitting in our entry way but it will look great once we get into a house back in the states! 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the Meyer family!  We actually had a really low key Easter because both Everett and I (Bonnie) have been sick all weekend.    We tried to get a picture of Everett in his Easter clothes from Granny Jerre but he wasn't feeling getting his picture taken today.  He's just a busy boy that doesn't want to stop for a pic.

This is his serious male model (think blue steel) look: 

 Seriously mom?! I don't want my pic taken!

 Getting a little better....

 This is the best we could do:

Happy Easter.  

Praise Jesus...the tomb is empty! 

Korea ROcKs--Part 1

As we gear up to leave Korea at the beginning of June (June 5th to be exact), we wanted to start a blog series of things we love and will miss about Korea.

One of the things at the top of our list is our local galbi restaurant, which we call "Black Circle." 

Black Circle is located about halfway between our apartment and our school, making it only about a ten minute walk from either place.  We have gone there faithfully for the past four years.  The owners know us.  They know our order. They know we usually need a table for four because we come with friends.   We are always greeted with knowing smiles and kindness even though we do not share a common language so we can't easily communicate.  And let's not forget...the food is DANG GOOD.

So here's the low down:  You pick out what cut of meat you want and then you cook it yourself on a grill in the middle of your table.  Once cooked, you can take a piece of lettuce and roll your meat up with rice, onions, kimchi, red pepper paste, or whatever else you like to make a tasty wrap.  They also bring an array of side dishes to eat with the meat.

Lately when we go eat there the owners are quick to offer to hold Everett so we can eat.  At first we were a bit leery, but then we realized that we've known these people for four years and E loves hanging out with them.  It's not something we'd probably do in America, but we're in Korea and this is how we do life here.  Here is the owner and E:

 The owner decided to read the paper with E.  You can tell in both pictures Everett's eye was focused in on the TV in the restaurant, which is something he rarely sees at home.  The owner's wife is also in the picture; she's such a hard worker and loves to carry around Big E.

Great food and great people...one of the big reasons why Korea ROcKs.  

As a side note:  South Korea is formally known as the Republic of Korea (ROK)...hence the Korea "ROcKs" comment in the title.  (I'm a nerd.)

2 new tricks

Check out our little man doing two of his newest tricks.  I can't believe he is 8.5 months old!  He has been pulling up lately too but we need to capture it on video.  Enjoy!