Day one in Korea we found ourselves sticking pretty close to home. We took a small walking tour of our neighborhood and ventured a few blocks to the First World Towers. We spent a good hour perusing the grocery store trying to identify foods for Finn and played charades with some Korean mom's to find out what they feed their babies. Formula was the best answer I got.
Our apartment is new age and sparse, just the way John likes it. They only challenge new age presents is that everything is electronic, and with electronics come directions, in korean of course. Luckily we have figured out how to turn on the air conditioning and we can do the most basic operation on the microwave/convection oven. I did accidentally push some incorrect buttons and baked Finn's oatmeal in his plastic bowl for a short period of time, oops!
Day two we spent wandering the streets of Songdo. What started as a short stroll turned into a five hour self-guided tour. We found central park which we had seen so many pictures and happened upon the Chadwick International School as well. The city has many high rise buildings, both office and apartment, and the apartments seem mostly inhabited, but we can't figure out where all the people are. We walked and walked and ran into only a handful of people. Jess' theory- they commute or they are all on summer vacations somewhere that it isn't hot, humid, and rainy. John's theory- they are all vampires and have an intricate underground tunneling system they use to get around during daylight hours. I guess only time will tell.
Day two we had a breakthrough when we realized that there are only 1800 expatriates in this country and only about 300 are from the US. No wonder no one speaks English at all and we get looked at and pointed at all the time. We were starting to feel that the city is not very international for an international city after all.
Today, day three, we felt especially adventurous after our walking tour yesterday. The subway and the local E-Mart were calling our names (mostly, John just wanted to find a full size towel so we could stop using Finn's to dry off with after our showers). The subway was amazing, clean and easy to use, it even spoke English for us! After only four stops we exited the subway and walked straight into the E-Mart Mall experience. Imagine a multi-story target/department store/grocery store. It was amazing. The only trouble was whoever was pushing the cart could barely make it through the store because everyone wanted to stop and see Finn. He was the main attraction in the shopping center. Women would stop shopping, or working and come to touch him and play with him. And he just ate it up. Put on his charm and smiled and giggled for them all. I wonder what this will do to him when we come back to the states and he doesn't get this kind of attention!
All in all a very successful outing, including a trip to the E-Mart cafeteria, where we ordered our meals by writing numbers on a piece of paper. John fed Finn kimchi, which he was not partial to, but I find quite delicious. And we left with our own set of metal chopsticks and large spoons (the customary utensils here). We're hoping to make it to the park this afternoon so Finn can play, maybe meet some of our neighbors, who knows.
Until next time,
annyeong-hi gaseyo (goodbye)
