Home sweet home!

This blog will be about our apartment, The Sharp, which has been our home sweet home for the past seven months, and is much more homey than the dorm, where we lived for the past two years.  This apartment is in phase 2, the second of four groups of apartments.  If you look closely, our place is on the eighth floor, which is the floor above the light rose color band, and we are on the right in the jut out. 

I was trying to drive and take some pictures of the entrance.  This is a little convenience store that is in front of our building.  They sell everything, diapers, soju, fruit, snacks, pretty much whatever you need, they have.  The best part is that they don't price gouge; what you would pay at a regular store is what you pay here.  

This is our security guards, but in truth, information is a better name.  One day I was locked out of the building because my code didn't work and so they just buzzed me in, no ID check, no verification, just, sure, you look honest...

Our place does not have any key, just a code.  

It is like a quiz every day, what is the code?  I think I know...

When you come in, there is a mudroom with lots of shoe shelves.  Everyone takes their shoes off here, even repairmen.  It is nice, because the floors stay cleaner.  In Korea, western style furniture is becoming more common, but many homes stillhave low tables and pillows to sit on the floor.  Many people, including our students, sleep on pads on the floor, and so it makes sense to keep the floor as clean as possilbe.  

This is our living room, with couch, chairs, puzzle on the floor, and a view of the mountains around our school.  That big unit in the corner is the A/C.  Our place has floor heat in each room.  

This is a picture of our "oven", which does convection, toast, and microwave,  because it does so many things i am never sure if I am doing the right thing... Am I microwaving or convecting?  Is 20 minutes too much?  Who knows... It's all one big crap shoot any hoot... 

This is the inside of the oven.  The pans that I brought from the US barely fit, so it spins 1/4 of a spin and then reverses...  Unless I am using the Pizzaria Uno pan that came with it.  

Here is the washing machine/ dryer combo machine.  Actually, living here is like living IN Ikea, it is all so compact and neat.  

Here are the setting buttons for the dryer.  You can select from all of these buttons OR you can push the second from the bottom button on the right and get just what you need... Dry.

The inside of our fridge.   Not sure if this is photo worthy, but, you might be curious...

Our sink, no dishwasher, but above the sink is a handy...

dish dryer.  Which we have never used.  And don't know how to use.  I would rather have a dishwasher.  

Our bathroom with fancy toilet.  It is fancy because it has a special function(s), which are embarrasing to admit.  Like spray, blowdry, seatheat... You get the idea...

And the tub, with none of those functions.  It does have a built in headrest, though. 

This is a wall panel that shows all of the rooms in the house.  The little flames mean that the heat is on in those rooms. 

This is the light switch.  Which also controls the outlets, to prevent wasting vampireelectricity by keeping stuff running, even when it is off.

The view of the mountains. 

This is the roof of the little shop in front of our house.  In the summer it is a full blown garden, but now it is resting.

Chinese snickers.  

And lastly, the ingredients for our dinner tonight: pasta, pesto, french bread.  Ahhhh, home sweet home... 

Skate Link

I am trying something new, NEW, with this post.  I don't know if you have an iphone, or an ipad, or some other smart device, but man, those guys, (or really, one guy with an idea and lots of underpaid Chinese  kids) have created some pretty amazing devices.  Once you have a phone that is also a computer, and a camera, and a GPS, and also a phone, well, it is really hard to sit at a regular computer, and hook up a camera that is just a camera, and then wait... WAIT... For like, EVER, for the pictures to download, or whatever they do.  So this post, the first in a long time, is done completely on mobile smart devices, by a mobile, um... Well, me.  So we'll see how it goes, and go from there.  

So, let's go!  In Korean there is a letter that looks like a digital 2, picture it, and it makes the L/R sound. It is an almost french sounding, trilling sound, and it explains a lot about why asians sometimes are stereotyped as not being able to pronounce the "R" sound (as in "flied lice").  Well, that doesn't work out great for us... All of our first names have an L or an R sound.  Also, I have heard that in Korean language, the digital 2 letter makes the R sound at the beginning of a word, but the L sound in the middle of a word, so... GaLy, Riane, RiLy, BUT... Loan.  I guess the worst would be my dad, LoRand.  Maybe we don't have it so bad.  Anyway, the phonics lesson is just to explain the sign above.  

We went inline roller blading last weekend at an indoor rink about 10 minutes from our house.  

The place was not very busy, but about every half hour there were groups of about 10 kids that would come out for lessons.

  

Here is Pooks, getting suited up.  The price for three skaters, rentals, and helmets, unlimited from noon to five?  About 8 bucks.  

Whenever you hit a roller rink, it is like flashing back in time.  Hello, 80's!

One compliment I would like to give to Korea is that if they don't know how to do something, Koreans take lessons!   Kids of all ages (meaning adults, too) were mastering the fine art of rollerblading.  

Here are some students practicing the speed turn.

And us... Barely remaining upright...

Watch this!

Look out, here comes Galy!

Watch my speed!

I had to take a picture of this guys jeans!  Yes, those are zippers on his cheeks!  There was also a guy with a flock of seagulls sides shaved, top ponytail, hair-do but he kept giving me suspicious looks as I tried to take his picture.  

That's it for this post... What do you think of the smart version?  

Back to Khao Lak, 2013

Once again we are in Khao Lak, Thailand, one of my favorite places to be.  This year we stayed at the Ramada (no, not the Rah-MA-Da, the RAH-ma-da) again, the same place that we stayed in the summer of 2011 on our way home.  We walked into our room, and saw this great elephant and kind message. 

We tried to take some of the same pictures, so if you check out the blog from back then (there are two links below), you might see them, only now the kids are 10 and 9, not 7 and 6.  Woah... time flies when you are having fun!  Here they are at the pool, looking like big kids!

http://www.theodom4.blogspot.kr/2011/06/first-days-in-thailand.html

http://www.theodom4.blogspot.kr/2011/06/still-loving-thailand-and-live-fish.html

We have always loved walking into the town for shopping and snacks, but this time we met a dog.  The kids liked him so much they decided to name him Winn-Dixie, after the main character of a book they are reading at school. 

The sun was blazing hot, so we borrowed an umbrella to make our own shade.  It didn't help much, but it was better than nothing!  Actually we were so sweaty that at one point I thought my water bottle spilled in my backpack, but it was just sweat... gross...

So we cooled off with some frosty drinks- coconut milk, cane sugar juice, and water. 

and doughnuts.

Also helping to keep us cool, banana and nutella pancakes. 

OK, segue into another story now.  Gary has been wanting to get some suits. The guys in this store make them, custom fit, from the bolts of fabric on the wall, for about $100 USD.  So in we go.  The first day I didn't have my camera, or I didn't realize what was happeing, so no pictures.  (Gary is happy with that because the first day is all of that awkward measuring, you know, neck size, arm length, inseam... you get the idea...)  So they take these measurements, and then say, "come back tomorrow around 4."   I knew that I was bringing my camera for this!



So right in the middle of the store, try on the pants.  No being shy here.

How are they?  One cm. too long.  Off they come. 

Next is trying on the jacket, but just the bare shell of a jacket, no sleeves, no buttons, nothing but this vest-ish sort of thing.
How is it?  Measure, pin, measure and write on the vest-ish with blue chalk, pretty interesting to watch, especially for a person who can barely sew on a button.  Off it comes, "come back tomorrow."

By day 3 the jacket is starting to look more like a jacket.  The shoulders get stuffed, everything else is sewed, not pinned, and the pants are done.

These are the tailors. 

This guy looks so tough, and every day he zooms up on his motorcycle with the suit, but on his belt he has one of those little pin holders, like Memere used to have in her sewing table, remember?  Hers was a tomato.  This guy has a black hacky-sack kind of thing, but still...


In case you forgot what I am talking about, here is a picture...

 



All of this suit trying on means that we are walking up and down the street to town almost every day.  After the third day we decide that we are going for Mexican food at this place called the Rusty Pelican.

Which has the best Mexican food in southeast Asia.  Does it?  I'm not sure, but it was pretty good. 

Everyone pigged out on loaded nachos and walked home happy.



So, the suit gets made, but I wasn't there for the final fitting, or to snap more photos of Gary in his undies, ahem, I mean pants,  but when he wears it, I will post a picture. 

Other than the one night of Mexican food, we ate at the same place every night.  Right on the beach, closest to the river, by the rocks.  The place we went the first time, Tonson's, was still there, but they had a good clientele each night, and we like to share the wealth, so we waved to them, and walked a little further down the beach to My Friend.  The pictures coming up were taken over several nights, and in several stages of Chang consumption, but fear not... we are well behaved in all of them.



Kids on the beach, same spot.

Check out that proboscis!

 For some reason, I can not add captions to the pictures above.  I guess because I tried to add the pictures in after I had started, but  I would think you can figure out what is going on.   And the picture of us at My Friend, well, we really loved that place, but this picture just keeps popping up in here, no telling why.  

So a new thing that we had never seen before is the lighting of these lamps.  A guy comes around and sells these paper lanterns, and lights the flame at the bottom.  The hot air fills the lantern, you make a wish, and the sales guy releases your wish into the night sky where it floats up and becomes a thing of beauty for all to see. 

Or, you can buy your own lantern at the market, and try your luck. 

Which is what these people did. 

Let's just say it did not go well for them, and no one's wish came true that night.  They should have just paid the extra dollar, jeesh...

Some of you may have seen this picture already, of Pooks, and her friend.  They found this little guy in the river, dead, and thought it would be just great to bring him over to the table, dead.  And drippy.  And waving around. 

Come to find out, it is a monitor lizard, not a crocodile.  Well, that is a relief!

We saw this sign at the market the next day.  The kids thought it was funny and wanted to see how low they could go without checking the ID card.  It's hard to be the mom of the year, but I did say no to that scheme.

Instead, they all got matching tattoos... um, bracelets. 

Here are a couple pics of the market vendors.

and a shirt that was for sale.  I think at the end someone fell asleep on the keyboard. 

slkt fdwie indign dnthe nsint!  :)

Also, some weird Lays: extra barbecue with a picture of shish-ka-bob.

Hot chili squid.

Spicy lobster.

Thursday.  Phew.  We decide to go on a snorkeling trip to Phi-Phi Island with the friends on our trip.  Gary decides to stay home because he is not crazy about boats, snorkeling, sun, or water.  So really, this is not a good trip for him.  

Getting ready to set sail. 

We are on a speed-boat, about 35 of us, crammed in.  We set off to our first stop, Khai Island. 

The island is small, and meant for relaxing and swimming.  



Also for having ice cream of several varieties, including, strawberry, banana, corn, red bean, green beans, and fractures.  Which I can not identify, even from the picture. 

We are ready to hit the water.  

Pooks is a natural fisherman, and devised this system for catching fish in her swim shirt.  So if she is ever stuck on a deserted island, all she needs is her swim shirt and about 80 cookies and she can catch herself some dinner :)

These limestone formations stick out of the water, especially during low tide, 

Back on the boat, and the water is rough.  ROUGH!  About 6 people puke on the 45 minute ride between islands, including Pooks,.  I would have taken pictures, but, I don't know, it just doesn't seem nice.  Instead, here is some scenery.    Pooks just takes the puking in stride, and is ready to go the second we stop. 

The next stop is Maya Bay, featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Beach.  

It was beautiful, but I don't picture Leo, or any of the other stars using these toilets.  The best part... see that trough of water at the left side?  That is for rinsing your feet AFTER you come out of the bathroom. 

Also, the boys potties are en plein air... 

Back on the boat, this time we decide to forgo the protected interior cabin, and the pukers and instead we sit in the exposed front area.   We head to loh samah bay. 

Here you can join lots of other folks bobbing around in the water.  

We can't get in fast enough. 

and since I jump in right after Pooks, there are no more pics of this area.

A couple of other drive by's on the way, and then it is here, for lunch then snorkeling.    Followed by at 60 minute bone crunching, spine smashing, ride back to the marina.  

Actually at one point the kids start to freak out a little bit.  Everyone in the back is puking (we think), the boat is smashing into the water, the captain keeps yelling at us to hold on, and so I had to pull out the big guns...  I had to remind them of our boat ride with Uncle Jay.  The day it was raining.  And windy.  And lightning.  And we were getting sprayed and hammered, and it was AWESOME!  I had to remind them that ANYONE can take a boat ride when the seas are calm, and the sky is sunny... but it's only a REAL adventure if the waves makes your teeth rattle and the wind abrades the top layer of your skin.  That is when it gets FUN!

And they bought it. 

Look at the camera... or TRY to look at the camera!

Nice hair!

Finally about 1 minute left to get to the marina, and we get cut off by a long boat.

And stuck in the mud.  

The crew gets out to push.  

And then the guys have to get out an push... I think Gary made a good decision not to come today.

Fully rebounded and making pretzel teeth to crack up the other kids. 

While Gary was home alone he found a fun place to take the kids.  So on our last morning we take the kids to ATV land.  

Safety equipment?  Nah...  Helmets?  Not us!  Just climb on, gas, break, go.

And so Pooks drives hers into the river and has to be towed out.  Meanwhile, she has a gash on her leg and knee.  She has never been happier!

And R-man is covered in mud.

Oh well... to the POOL!

On our way to the airport we get a friendly salute from the border security guard.  

OK, a couple of P.S. pictures, since I have no where else to put these.  The sunrise over Korea from the plane. 

This hilarious sign that had the "e" added on after.  I would just love to watch this conversation:  "Bob, you idiot, you forgot the "e" on Storeroome!"  "Uh... but..."  "Quiet, Bob, and get busy ordering that "e!"

And one more thing we love about Korea.  My iPhone is plugged into that cylindrical post way back there (see the white adapter?)  and no one touches it.   Actually about 8 people walk right by it and are careful not to step on it. 

OK, you made it to the end.  Now I have to show off my new Prada bag!  Genuine!  And how do I know???

because of how the label is sewn inside the bag.  They only do that on the legit bags...  From Thailand.  :)

Happy Chuseok!  xoxoxoxoxoxo