Mr. Chicken and the neighborhood continued.

Well, here’s one way to transport Mr. Chicken.

Little mini gym are everywhere you can imagine.
 

We found a little geocache in the stone wall.

Digital Media City

Here’s our neighborhood.  Guess who’s eating more than the other? 

The war memorial museum.

Here’s a pet bunny.  He appeared quite loved by his family.

‘

Ermalyn brought them to the Seoul Tower.  When I asked Cameron about his night, he said “it was colorful”.

 

Sunday afternoon relaxing n our neighborhood.

Mommy bought Cam and Jaz both a kite. They were excited for thier fist kite flying experience.

Dongdaemun and Namdaemun

The shopping really is mind boggeling here.  We attempted to the night market last night, but everything was shutting down.  I guess so the merchants could go and sleep.  The market is cheaper at night from 10:00 pm – 5:30 am.  Well, I’ll have to go to bed early one of these nights so I can do the midnight shopping special.

Here’s the hair accessory aisle.  The ladies make the stuff right there and we squeeze past the aisles to shop.  The real deals are to be found between 10:00 pm – 3:00 am.

Need a good book?

The Cheonggyecheon Stream.  Formerly where the ladies washed their clothes, but now a nice walkway along a stream that goes through the city.

Doota Retail store.  the mannequins are in the middle of a water fountain.  Tomorrow’s fashion to be found everywhere.

You can even get custom made shoes just for your feet.

A little entertainment to lure the shoppers in.

Jonathon is feeling like a lottery winner.  Just getting a little cash for the nanny.  She likes to be paid once a month.  And we have no other way to pay her but cash.

 

My current shoe collection. Taking advantage of the winter clearance sales.  I’m sure I’ll can’t wait to buy the spring collection.

Off Sinchon for a night cap.  We tried to go to the Oregon Trail bar, but it was too full.

So we found another smoky as all get out bar and had a beer.  Where were the kids?  Next post!  They were with the nanny seeing the night lights of the N. Seoul Tower where we had date night last week.

Jasmine’s new Hanbok

Oh how she loves her new hanbok!

She was also delighted to visit the fish market.

Yummi Crab.

Making friends at the fruit market.

Cameron is just happy to find another playground.

Taekwondo Korean style!

Cameron met his master today.  I think he really liked it!

Jasmine was his cheerleader.

The journey to work. Here’s our commute (all 1.5 hours of it one way). Unless Jonathon goes to Samsung, then it’s 2.5 hrs.

 

the 10th floor elevator.

World Cup Stadium is our subwaystop.

 

going down to the subway

World Cup Stadium

How are the kids you may wonder?

Oh just fine.   We have found many playgrounds.

 

And dog shoes to watch

There’s always horse and carrage to play.

 

And parks to hike up to, with the little help of a friend. ES giving Cameron a ride and MJ in front.

Their new best friend Sun Gin.

And they love not having to ride in a car seat!  Oh that will be one culture shock upon return to the US.

Date night at the N. Seoul Tower

We had a wonderful date night last night at the N. Seoul Tower.  The view was fantastic, the company was great, and although the food was good, it was majorly overpriced!  But we enjoyed our date.  A bottle of Shiraz wine, which cost $8.00 at home was about $75!!!  Come one!  We noticed a grammer error on the menu too. It said scallops for appetizer, but they should have said scallop.  As in 1 scallop for the appetizer! We laughed about the lack of food.  Can you guess by now it was a French restaurant?  Ah well, like I said we had a great time and the view was incredible.

First we had to walk up to the cable car.  This cracked us up.

It was a long journey to get there.  First the cable car.

Followed by a yummie dinner.  We felt like we were on top of the world and away from it all.

And we were!

The tunnel of love….

Followed by the locks of love…

 

That’s the moon below his foot.

This was the beacon, sort of like the paul revere ride.  When a fire was burning, the enemies were coming.

 

This one’s for you Guido.

Ah we love date night. Can’t wait until next Saturday night!!

The Cheong Gye Cheon and the night market

We had a nice time when Eric visited us MJ watched the kids at here house all night, so we could go out and have some fun!

The Cheonggycheon river goes through the city.  We also went to the night market and walked around all night long until 2:00 am!

They have some really cool buildings here.

And very interesting shopping.  My favorite is the shoes!

There are lots of temples here and the city is getting ready for the Buddha’s birthday festival.

I bought 11 pairs of shoes in 2 days.  I couldn’t help myself! They are so cheap!

Gyeongbokgung Palace

History of Geongbokgung Palace.  In 1395, three years after the founding of the Joseon Dynasty by Yi Seong-gye the new main palace, Gyeongbokgung, was completed and the capital of the new dynasty was moved from Gaeseong to Seoul.   The palace was destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasion of 1592 and was not reconstructed until 1868, the fifth year of King Gojong.  During the Japanese occupation, most of the palace was torn down, only a few buildings were left standing.  An effort to fully restore Gyeongbokgung to its forer glorty has been ongoing since 1990.  At this point 50% of the structures have been restored.

Here’s the palace and the guards watching over it. The kids were a little uncomfortable with the swords, bows and arrows and other weapons.

This is the only picture of the 5 mountains and two moons.  It’s where the King conducted his official business.

 

Here’s the national folk museum with a free childrens museum of activities the kids can do like they did way back then.  Grinding food, ironing clothes, and even dressing up.

Eric and Jonathon’s night out on the town. The theme was laughing at all the funny signs.

The nightlife is absolutely crazy here.  Millions of people out and about all night long.  Let’s see, we have the Swetty bar, Cocks, the Ho Bar, the sexy bar, and a million more bars with hilarious names. 

And yummie munchies everywhere.

Insa-Dong

Here’s where we can finally see fellow foreigners.  This is the area where the traditional Korean crafts can be found.  Jasmine got to paint daddy a mug with a little help from Erica.

the art work is everywhere and so interesting. 

Yummie yummie lunch time.  Jasmine is the more curious one when it comes to food.  Octopus, squid, anchovies with the head on. I love how open minded she is with food.  Cameron, however, just eats rice rice and more rice.  Then he’ll have rice with his rice.

Then there’s my attempt at Korean cooking.  The supermarkets are so intimidating!  I don’t know what to buy or how to cook it! 

Every Korean meal comes with many side dishes.  I’m actually liking the food very much.  Hot and spicy and just very different.

Pictures of Bukhansan Mountain climb

Enjoying some free tea at the temple.

 

Here was our final destination.  Our 2 hour ‘walk’ turned into a 4 hour hike.  It was a little bit hard for Erica and I as we did not wear the right shoes, but we did just fine!

Bukhansan National Park

We had a nice hike up Bukhansan Mountain.  We were expecting a 2 hour walk, and not a 4 hour hike up a montain.  Next time we’ll dress a little more approprately.  But my boots and Eric’s work shoes did the trick.  We got many stares as everyone here dresses exactly alike when hiking a mountian.  Fancy gortex, fancy hiking pants, a walking stick and formal hiking shoes.  It was a very beautiful hike and granite is the dominant stone here.

Digital Media City

Here’s a few pictures of our neighborhood.  They are currently in a major building spree.  In 2015, you will hear about DMC as they open the worlds tallest observation deck and the 2nd world’s tallest building.

This city also has a reputation for having the worlds longest art gallery, which is all around the future buildings about to be built.  Here’s a few of my favorites.  I’m curious about so many cat art work because so far I’ve only seen 1 cat in the agriculture market (probably to catch the mice at night) and 2 cats at our neighbor’s house, which they brought with them from the US.  Koreans are not so much into their pets.  I do see more dogs than cats though.  Animals are not a big part of their lives.

I’ve never seen more fish (dead and alive) in my life though.  Everywhere you go restaurants have live fish and octopus living in a tank until there time has come. 

We live right near World Cup Stadium.  If you’re a soccer fan, I suspect you know this place.  They also have a really big park next to it.  Very nice place to relax.

Erica to the rescue!  Erica is a friend of our co-worker and she helped me out the 2nd week we were here.  She was such a delight to get to know and I really enjoyed her company.  She helped me get around the first week and helped me navigate the supermarkets, agriculture hall and the bus system. 

Fishing on the Han River.

Stature in our neighborhood.  Tonight we learned it lights up at night.

The buildings here are so cool and modern.

The Seoul Train

Stature of the Great King Sejong.

Yeouido Park, the central park of Seoul. I’ve been in many big cities before, but the feng shui of Seoul makes city life actually quite nice.  It’s its the cleanest city I’ve ever seen and also the most orderly.  I’m not fond of being bumped into all the time and was surprised at watching a man clock Cameron in the head as he cut him off and didn’t even “notice”.  But for the 2nd largest metropolitan city in the world, it’s a pretty darn nice place to live.

The charry blossoms are absolutely gorgeous!

Ok kids, come on.  Well, this poise led me to me taking away the playground down the walkway.  Cameron cried and cried because I said no playground after he would not cooperate for a picture.  The problem with that is that every time he cries, people come out of the woodwork to give him candy, shower him with affection and attention.  So the lesson he’s learning is cry and I get candy from strangers.  Not quite the discipline I’m aiming for.

 

View from the 63rd floor of the observation tower at the highest building in Korea.

the kids were mesmerized by how small the people and cars looked.

The mighty Han river.  So magnificent.  We cross it every day going to work.

What’s his is hers and what’s hers is his in the world of twins.

Life in Seoul!

First we had to have a going away party.  Wii can dance!

Much to my delight the blog is still here!  So, here goes.  We had a nice flight, but didn’t like the 2 hour delay in S.F.

First home in Gangnam was the MChereville.  Jonathon and I loved the location but when Cameron spend the afternoon picking up business cards on the street of ….ah, not sure, probably girls at your service, we decided it was not quite the neighborhood we should be hanging out in.

But Jasmine was happy to learn how to iron.  Pretend ironing fortunately. But, as you can also see, we were a bit cramped.

 

But Jasmine found snakes on TV so she was delighted with the place.

This one’s for you Holly.

So we moved to Digital Media City.  I’m sure you’ve never heard of this city before, but you will in 5 years. They are currently building the 2nd tallest building in the world with the worlds tallest observation platform.  133 stories.  We do like our new diggs though.  Much more spacious.

 

The beds might as well be cinder blocks though.  So hard.  I don’t mind but Jonathon doesn’t care for them.  The following is heated.  The floors, the towel racks and the toilets.  Between that and hot flashes, I pretty much keep the windows open 24/7.

Oh we had our learning curves.  Yes this washer is all in Korean.

And the microwave, dishwasher, ac, lights, etc.. But I do feel like I live in The Jetson’s house.  Everything is electronic and very high tech.  Even the toilet beeps every time it’s sat on.  For the first week, I kept thinking it was the doorbell.

I’ll split this up so it doesn’t take forever downloading the link.

Oh blogger, are you still working?