Life is tough but so am I
Yeah my title is a bit cheesy but yesterday was maybe the first day when I was really aware of how difficult it can be to be a foreigner. We've been able to get by enough with the tiny bit of Korean we know but it would be so much better if we could learn more.
Saturday September 1, 10:30 AM
We had several errands we needed to get done today so we set off to go get some stuff done. The kids need specific things for their school uniforms: Finn needs black shoes and gray socks and we needed indoor shoes for Lucy. We started by taking a bus to a place called Hi-Mart but they didn't have what we needed, however, we did find an iron so that was helpful. It was now around 11:30 and we were all getting hungry. The kids are still picky about Korean food (getting better though!) so another challenge was finding somewhere that wasn't Western food, healthy, affordable, and appetizing for all 4 of us. And at this point I was just hangry enough to not want to spend a lot of time translating a menu especially when the kids get so fidgety in restaurants.
We stopped at one place but unfortunately it was tiny so we had to find somewhere else. We were going to just go to a kimbap chain but the kids really only eat ramen there so I didn't really want that since it's just not that filling. Fine, we'll just go to Taco Bell. We crossed the street to find a Korean place that had a little twist on regular Korean food: i.e. chicken curry ramen, and yummy varieties of kimbap. Cool, let's do that.
At this point Lucy is starting to lose it: she's hungry and getting ready for a nap. She ate some of the curry ramen but demanded to get up for water, to hold a phone, and change seats, etc. Our table was also right next to another table so like, they were literally sitting next to me. So not only was I in close proximity to a stranger, my daughter was also starting to freak out and draw even more attention than our family regularly receives. I finished quickly and took her outside because, you know, NO ONE wants to hear a screaming child in a small area.
12:30ish
Ok we're doing better now but Lucy is still irritating and I feel like we have so much more to do and all we've done is purchased an iron and eaten. Brett stopped for some extra food but the line was long, Finn needed to go potty, and I didn't really want to be stuck in the bathroom with two kids at this point. We abandoned the extra food and took the kids to the bathroom. Ok better, sort of. I decided maybe we could try and get our phones sorted out; we still needed a phone plan.
1:15ish
We walked into the cellphone place and I communicated for a bit using text translations with the manager. Thankfully my amazing teaching partner saved the day-- he called the establishment and went back and forth with the manager and myself figuring out our plan. SO SO helpful. Will definitely be buying him some beers.
The kids of course only lasted for so long (maybe a half hour) before they started fighting over what they could watch on the phones in the store. Cue more screaming... In an echo-y building 🙉. Brett took them out but they were still being awful. We traded babysitting duty and I finally got them to hold it together for a bit and we got fries at Burger King.
2:15ish
Finished 😳. It was nice to get that taken care of but again, it took longer than expected and the kids made it harder. We decided to divide and conquer so Brett took Lucy home for a nap and I would take Finn to try and find shoes. There was an ArtBox across the street and I didn't think they had shoes but there were a couple things I wanted to check while I was there. We went in but I was literally so overwhelmed that we left and just sat outside for a sec to figure out what to do next.
I found a Lotte Department store not too far away and there was a three story Daiso (dollar store type place) across the street so might as well hit that up on out way. No luck with shoes but I did find a toothbrush set and a cute kitty pillow: items Lucy needed for school. As well as a yoga mat and a few other things but no shoes. So we kept going.
Ooh a place to get contacts! Took me a second to find the actual entrance but the ad was there... Figured it out. Contacts were in the basement as was a small cafe. I had one contact with me so I just showed that to them and they got me a box. Handed them my ARC (Alien Registration Card) for my name and address. Paid and left. Maybe the easiest transaction of the day...
We stopped at McDonald's and I got Finn an ice cream since he was starting to complain about all the walking. I was also on the lookout for coffee that wasn't Starbucks but literally everything was on the opposite side of the street 🙄.
Lotte Department store was huge, as is everything in Korea, and fancy. So nice that I made Finn finish his ice cream outside. We went up to the kids floor (6 flights on an escalator) and found some nice expensive shoes and headed right back down to the exit...
That was frustrating. Where the hell do you find kids stuff here? That isn't super expensive? This is where I was so frustrated I don't know more Korean because last week I stumbled upon a store that looked like it sold a bunch of kids clothes but it was closed last Sunday and it was a ways from where we were. But there have to be more of those, I just don't know what to look for ðŸ˜. I thought maybe there'd be a shopping area in the subway but not this one. Back to the stairs...more complaining from Finn. Fighting back tears from Mom. Crossed the street to the grocery store. Don't have the yogurt I wanted. No men's deoderant. Side note: Literally, every grocery store is different. I have found good prices on certain fruit at one, Greek yogurt at one tiny convenience shop, diet Coke at some, etc. My lesson I'm learning is that there is little one stop shopping and that is exhausting.
Maybe 4ish?
We finally got on the bus and yes it was around 4 because I still hadn't got coffee. 3 stops and what luck! A coffee shop directly off the bus! Nevermind! It's closed! Tried Starbucks... Couldn't do it. So expensive for what you get, especially here. The name brand places charge a ton for smaller sized drinks-lots of ice, not a lot of liquid. Anyway, feeling a bit defeated, we made it home.
Being the ridiculous human beings that we are, we decided to go to a street market in Seoul for dinner at a place called Dongdaemun. Supposed to be a really cool place with tons of food stalls with all sorts of yummy and weird foods. I mean, that sounds fun and not too crazy. Just a long bus ride and then eating food. Ok let's do it.
5ish
Still no coffee and we got to the bus stop as our bus pulled up so missed my chance ðŸ˜. However, the bus was so crowded we couldn't get on so we'd be waiting for the next one. Since I'd only have time to pop into a convenience mart, that would have to do. Bought a bottle of cold brew and a canned latte to have a mix of black and sweet coffee. More disappointment as the cold brew was not cold. Ugh. Whatever sometimes coffee is coffee. Bus ran late and this one was pretty crowded too but it had to work this time. The kids actually lucked out and were able to squeeze into little areas for a "seat" containing them better than a regular seat.
Two nice Korean girls were trying to say hi to Lucy but she looked a little nervous. It took me a second to realize that their face masks were causing her to be that way. (People wear masks for a variety of reasons: they might be sick so it helps spreading germs, sometimes to keep out pollution) I communicated that their masks were making her nervous so they moved them off and got a smile out if Lucy which they then giggled at and then got off at Gangnam station. It was surprising how many people stayed on the bus for a long time. We were convinced everyone would be getting off at Gangnam! We were happy that we didn't have a transfer though.
I didn't want to say anything on the trip but the kids were the best behaved they have been on the bus especially considering that that was the longest trip we've taken! Lucy has been obsessed with buses since arriving in Korea and loves to point them out and now she's obsessed with what she calls "baby cars". We think she thinks certain cars are cute? Or particularly small? Whatever it is, it keeps her attention so we look out the window for "baby cars".
6:30ish
Arrived in Dongdaemun! Such a cool area! But I was hungry and wanted to find food haha and knew the kids would too! There was an area that had a bunch of sort of food trucks that we just looked around and kept going. We found one stall that had some delicious mandu (dumplings) that we got as an appetizer.
We got a little turned around but saw a cool fortress. We got on the right track and walked down by the stream and saw some cool fish and a fashion show (?!).
We finally found the market annnnd it was closed?! Couldn't figure that one out so that was more than frustrating and disheartening. I had had my heart set on street snacks and did not want to sit in a restaurant at this point so we kept walking to see what we could find. We passed a dog soup place (😲🤮) and various other interesting food choices but not like street vendors... By now it was 7:30 and dark. I always panic more at this point because the kids haven't eaten and we have a long bus ride back still...
Good thing we remembered that there were all those food trucks back by the station so we headed back that way. We found a street vendor that sold the chicken I was looking for (and a hot dog for Lucy 😂) so that helped. We went to the food trucks and Brett got a yummy hibiscus lemonade and we split a cheddar cheese corn dog. A lot of times they add sugar to these which sounds really weird but on the plain ones it's actually really good; just not sugar with cheddar cheese...
We finally got back on the bus around 8:30 which was fine but also a bummer because we wanted to watch the Korea vs. Japan soccer game! (Here's why it was such a big deal) But, this is Korea and everyone watches everything everywhere so three people around us had the game on and they shared!
So, moral of the story is that there isn't really a moral just that being here still poses major challenges despite living here before. I do beat myself up for not knowing more but at the same time I need to make more of an effort to speak the language; I think I'll just feel better overall. I also still managed to get a lot accomplished despite some hurdles and got 10 miles of walking (almost 23,000 steps)!
Saturday September 1, 10:30 AM
We had several errands we needed to get done today so we set off to go get some stuff done. The kids need specific things for their school uniforms: Finn needs black shoes and gray socks and we needed indoor shoes for Lucy. We started by taking a bus to a place called Hi-Mart but they didn't have what we needed, however, we did find an iron so that was helpful. It was now around 11:30 and we were all getting hungry. The kids are still picky about Korean food (getting better though!) so another challenge was finding somewhere that wasn't Western food, healthy, affordable, and appetizing for all 4 of us. And at this point I was just hangry enough to not want to spend a lot of time translating a menu especially when the kids get so fidgety in restaurants.
We stopped at one place but unfortunately it was tiny so we had to find somewhere else. We were going to just go to a kimbap chain but the kids really only eat ramen there so I didn't really want that since it's just not that filling. Fine, we'll just go to Taco Bell. We crossed the street to find a Korean place that had a little twist on regular Korean food: i.e. chicken curry ramen, and yummy varieties of kimbap. Cool, let's do that.
At this point Lucy is starting to lose it: she's hungry and getting ready for a nap. She ate some of the curry ramen but demanded to get up for water, to hold a phone, and change seats, etc. Our table was also right next to another table so like, they were literally sitting next to me. So not only was I in close proximity to a stranger, my daughter was also starting to freak out and draw even more attention than our family regularly receives. I finished quickly and took her outside because, you know, NO ONE wants to hear a screaming child in a small area.
12:30ish
Ok we're doing better now but Lucy is still irritating and I feel like we have so much more to do and all we've done is purchased an iron and eaten. Brett stopped for some extra food but the line was long, Finn needed to go potty, and I didn't really want to be stuck in the bathroom with two kids at this point. We abandoned the extra food and took the kids to the bathroom. Ok better, sort of. I decided maybe we could try and get our phones sorted out; we still needed a phone plan.
1:15ish
We walked into the cellphone place and I communicated for a bit using text translations with the manager. Thankfully my amazing teaching partner saved the day-- he called the establishment and went back and forth with the manager and myself figuring out our plan. SO SO helpful. Will definitely be buying him some beers.
The kids of course only lasted for so long (maybe a half hour) before they started fighting over what they could watch on the phones in the store. Cue more screaming... In an echo-y building 🙉. Brett took them out but they were still being awful. We traded babysitting duty and I finally got them to hold it together for a bit and we got fries at Burger King.
2:15ish
Finished 😳. It was nice to get that taken care of but again, it took longer than expected and the kids made it harder. We decided to divide and conquer so Brett took Lucy home for a nap and I would take Finn to try and find shoes. There was an ArtBox across the street and I didn't think they had shoes but there were a couple things I wanted to check while I was there. We went in but I was literally so overwhelmed that we left and just sat outside for a sec to figure out what to do next.
I found a Lotte Department store not too far away and there was a three story Daiso (dollar store type place) across the street so might as well hit that up on out way. No luck with shoes but I did find a toothbrush set and a cute kitty pillow: items Lucy needed for school. As well as a yoga mat and a few other things but no shoes. So we kept going.
Ooh a place to get contacts! Took me a second to find the actual entrance but the ad was there... Figured it out. Contacts were in the basement as was a small cafe. I had one contact with me so I just showed that to them and they got me a box. Handed them my ARC (Alien Registration Card) for my name and address. Paid and left. Maybe the easiest transaction of the day...
We stopped at McDonald's and I got Finn an ice cream since he was starting to complain about all the walking. I was also on the lookout for coffee that wasn't Starbucks but literally everything was on the opposite side of the street 🙄.
Lotte Department store was huge, as is everything in Korea, and fancy. So nice that I made Finn finish his ice cream outside. We went up to the kids floor (6 flights on an escalator) and found some nice expensive shoes and headed right back down to the exit...
That was frustrating. Where the hell do you find kids stuff here? That isn't super expensive? This is where I was so frustrated I don't know more Korean because last week I stumbled upon a store that looked like it sold a bunch of kids clothes but it was closed last Sunday and it was a ways from where we were. But there have to be more of those, I just don't know what to look for ðŸ˜. I thought maybe there'd be a shopping area in the subway but not this one. Back to the stairs...more complaining from Finn. Fighting back tears from Mom. Crossed the street to the grocery store. Don't have the yogurt I wanted. No men's deoderant. Side note: Literally, every grocery store is different. I have found good prices on certain fruit at one, Greek yogurt at one tiny convenience shop, diet Coke at some, etc. My lesson I'm learning is that there is little one stop shopping and that is exhausting.
Maybe 4ish?
We finally got on the bus and yes it was around 4 because I still hadn't got coffee. 3 stops and what luck! A coffee shop directly off the bus! Nevermind! It's closed! Tried Starbucks... Couldn't do it. So expensive for what you get, especially here. The name brand places charge a ton for smaller sized drinks-lots of ice, not a lot of liquid. Anyway, feeling a bit defeated, we made it home.
Being the ridiculous human beings that we are, we decided to go to a street market in Seoul for dinner at a place called Dongdaemun. Supposed to be a really cool place with tons of food stalls with all sorts of yummy and weird foods. I mean, that sounds fun and not too crazy. Just a long bus ride and then eating food. Ok let's do it.
5ish
Still no coffee and we got to the bus stop as our bus pulled up so missed my chance ðŸ˜. However, the bus was so crowded we couldn't get on so we'd be waiting for the next one. Since I'd only have time to pop into a convenience mart, that would have to do. Bought a bottle of cold brew and a canned latte to have a mix of black and sweet coffee. More disappointment as the cold brew was not cold. Ugh. Whatever sometimes coffee is coffee. Bus ran late and this one was pretty crowded too but it had to work this time. The kids actually lucked out and were able to squeeze into little areas for a "seat" containing them better than a regular seat.
Two nice Korean girls were trying to say hi to Lucy but she looked a little nervous. It took me a second to realize that their face masks were causing her to be that way. (People wear masks for a variety of reasons: they might be sick so it helps spreading germs, sometimes to keep out pollution) I communicated that their masks were making her nervous so they moved them off and got a smile out if Lucy which they then giggled at and then got off at Gangnam station. It was surprising how many people stayed on the bus for a long time. We were convinced everyone would be getting off at Gangnam! We were happy that we didn't have a transfer though.
I didn't want to say anything on the trip but the kids were the best behaved they have been on the bus especially considering that that was the longest trip we've taken! Lucy has been obsessed with buses since arriving in Korea and loves to point them out and now she's obsessed with what she calls "baby cars". We think she thinks certain cars are cute? Or particularly small? Whatever it is, it keeps her attention so we look out the window for "baby cars".
6:30ish
Arrived in Dongdaemun! Such a cool area! But I was hungry and wanted to find food haha and knew the kids would too! There was an area that had a bunch of sort of food trucks that we just looked around and kept going. We found one stall that had some delicious mandu (dumplings) that we got as an appetizer.
We got a little turned around but saw a cool fortress. We got on the right track and walked down by the stream and saw some cool fish and a fashion show (?!).
We finally found the market annnnd it was closed?! Couldn't figure that one out so that was more than frustrating and disheartening. I had had my heart set on street snacks and did not want to sit in a restaurant at this point so we kept walking to see what we could find. We passed a dog soup place (😲🤮) and various other interesting food choices but not like street vendors... By now it was 7:30 and dark. I always panic more at this point because the kids haven't eaten and we have a long bus ride back still...
Good thing we remembered that there were all those food trucks back by the station so we headed back that way. We found a street vendor that sold the chicken I was looking for (and a hot dog for Lucy 😂) so that helped. We went to the food trucks and Brett got a yummy hibiscus lemonade and we split a cheddar cheese corn dog. A lot of times they add sugar to these which sounds really weird but on the plain ones it's actually really good; just not sugar with cheddar cheese...
 |
| Kids are in timeout after I SPECIFICALLY said do not climb on the blowup lights |
We finally got back on the bus around 8:30 which was fine but also a bummer because we wanted to watch the Korea vs. Japan soccer game! (Here's why it was such a big deal) But, this is Korea and everyone watches everything everywhere so three people around us had the game on and they shared!
So, moral of the story is that there isn't really a moral just that being here still poses major challenges despite living here before. I do beat myself up for not knowing more but at the same time I need to make more of an effort to speak the language; I think I'll just feel better overall. I also still managed to get a lot accomplished despite some hurdles and got 10 miles of walking (almost 23,000 steps)!
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