Updates

Confidence as fashion statement.

The boys and I have been here 4 weeks and 4 days now.  Here are some updates and general notes about family life:

(1) Nick completed all his final grading Saturday - HOORAY!  I can't wait to clean his office - apparently the cleaning ajeemas only enter offices to wax the floors once a year, and the office has seen some better days.

(2) Elisabeth will be done with school in 2 weeks on July 12 (remember, her semester started in early March).  Hooray!  She is amazingly self-sufficient - gets herself up and ready, goes the boys' room to pack a snack or lunch, and rides her bike - all on her own if I've overslept.  : )

Help wanted - including delivery (note the scooter)!

(3) Because Nick has been so busy with teaching and grading, we are still eating pretty much like the boys and I did in Sioux Center - lots of packaged or easy food (fruit, sandwiches, chips - have you tried the Hot Spicy flavor of Sun Chips?  I'm addicted); Nick has made a few meals, but not a lot of fancy stuff - it's amazing how much of his cooking relied on an oven, a big kettle, and more than 2 (small) burners.  We have a few pots and dishes and such, but nothing fancy - we plan to buy a counter-top convection oven (basically a super-sized toaster oven) from a woman who's moving. 

Happy bagels! (pronounced bah-ee-gahls here)

(4) The campus has at least 16 places for food - not bad for campus the size of Dordt's!  The cafeteria is called 12 Baskets and has, well, 12 little restaurants, similar to a food court.  I have fallen in love with a couple of them:  Apple in the Tree only serves bagels, cheesecake slices, cheese pretzels, and packaged sushi.  You enter what you want into a computer, then hand the lady your money (or scan your credit card) and she gets what you want.  It cracks me up that they do NOT wear gloves to prep our bagels - everything else but medicine and food service seem to require gloves in Korea.  There is also a little coffee shop ("His Beans")  that sells WAFFLES TO DIE FOR - about $2.50 each, with either chocolate, caramel, or real maple syrup and sliced almonds, each packaged in a little paper envelope (no plates or forks or chopsticks needed to happily munch this tasty snack/meal).   

(5) Our new apartment building?  We've heard that we'll get moved in mid-July.  We've also heard early August.  I would be happy to move before the snow flies, which might be in January.  

(6) Our stuff from Sioux Center was shipped from Omaha to LA, put into a shipping container, and has left on its 50-60-day trip to Korea.  I would rather it wait to arrive until we move to the new apartment, as we have nowhere to put it amid our 3 studio apartments. 

(7) It is officially monsoon season now, but I have yet to see it.  It rains a bit each night and early morning, and we had some wind one day (maybe 15 mph).  It's warm (70s or 80s) and steamy (75% humidity) during the day, then down into the 60s at night - our windows are open most of the time...

(8) ... except that we must close the windows because of the DRUMMING.  About 20 students are learning traditional Korean drumming/dancing - and they practice 2 or 5 or 12 hours a day behind the student center - which is roughly a football field away from my window.   And it echoes nicely from all the brick buildings.  I could live with the drums themselves - but it's the two pot-lid-bangers that just about drive me to drink. This is what it sounds like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nloVN7dgfx8 (our practicing students are not this graceful yet and sure aren't wearing the lovely dresses).  Fortunately, 2 of our 3 studio apartments have air conditioning.  Unfortunately, neither of those have reliable internet access. 

(9) The boys and I got our alien registration cards yesterday - hooray!  Now we are allowed to legally get cell phones and get driver's licenses (for a fee, we can just transfer our Iowa licenses), and open a bank account.  We were afraid we'd need to go to Japan to apply for a Korean visa before our alien cards could be obtained, but for some complicated reason we didn't have to do the trip to Japan.  Which is good in a lot of ways, such as the apparent Korean hatred of Japan (it's not even called the Sea of Japan here - it's called the East Sea) and the lack of people to help us translate (Korea students take English classes from 1st-12th grade and start Chinese classes in 8th grade - I haven't found anyone from Japan here or who speaks Japanese, though there are some North Korean students here as well as folks from Nepal, Kenya, the US, etc.).  

(10) The students have moved out so we have done a bunch of "dumpster" diving - though it doesn't involve dumpsters OR diving.  More on a separate post. 

That is surely enough news for now.  Let me know if you'd like to hear more about any particular topics.  : )

On the entrance to 12 Baskets.  : )