Little Monkeys

Well the weather is still cold, but it is amazing how you acclimatize to your surroundings. It is hard to imagine leaving the house without putting on two jackets and always ensuring that your gloves and beanie are in your pockets. It is extremely hard to believe that in just a couple of months we will be back to wearing shorts and t-shirts! Hopefully by then our school gym and soccer pitch will be finished and we can make the most of the good weather while we have it. In the meantime, we have been looking for indoor activities that we can partake in, as we are not yet crazy enough to go to the park when it is 0 degrees. One thing we have found that the kids really enjoy is indoor rock climbing. There is a gym not far from our place and they have a range of low bouldering walls – this means that you climb across instead of up. The kids put in a good couple of hours of solid climbing each time we go, with lots of grunting and groaning, and some severe red faces for their efforts. The only trouble is that now they want to climb everything they pass on the streets – brick walls, dirt banks, trees, you name it, they want to try it.

Lotte World

Continuing our quest to visit every amusement park in Korea (well at least in Seoul and Suwon) we ventured to Lotte World (pronounced Lot Tae World) during the holidays. This particular amusement park is part of a huge complex that includes Lotte World Hotel, Lotte Department store, a shopping mall, a five-cinema multiplex, a billiard hall, an art gallery, and a wide variety of restaurants and fast food stalls. The subway stop is actually under the department store, so you don’t even have to go outside to get from the subway to the shopping centre. The park itself is one of the largest indoor amusement parks in Asia, if not the world. It consists of a wide variety of rides and attractions, an ice-skating rink, a bowling alley, a swimming pool, a folk museum, and an outdoor section (that you get to via monorail) called Magic Island. Speaking of magic, Harper got a Harry Potter magic trick set from Santa this year, so he was very keen to see the magic show while we were there. He was even more excited when the magician actually did a trick that he knew how to do. Promise was a little scared during the show as there was lots of loud music and smoke. The kids particularly enjoyed the balloon ride around the park, and the Frog Hop ride – they both laughed their heads off on this one. It was a great day and we all had a lot of fun – the Koreans certainly do a good job of providing plenty of entertainment for families.

Noraebang and Duck!

As I write this on a Saturday morning the snow is falling again and everything is turning to white. We have had some lovely weather lately, around 8 degrees during the day, but still going below zero during the nights. The cold weather hasn’t stopped us doing anything though, and we have been and about quite a bit during our Christmas break. One of our outings saw us head to the local Noraebang (pronounced Nor Bung) and Duck Restaurant. A Noraebang is a Karaoke room (bang means empty enclosed space) that you can hire on an hourly basis. Jenene had been previously with a few of the girls from work and we thought it would be a fun activity with the kids. Luckily they had quite a few Christmas Carols on the list, so the kids were able to grab the mics and sing their little hearts out. They really enjoyed hearing themselves and yelling into the mics. They got a bit bored with singing after about 40 minutes, so they were quite content to jump around and dance while Jenene and I murdered a few old time favourites. When Jenene pulled out “Wake me up Before you Go Go” we knew it was time to leave. I handled Footloose quite graciously, but this was going too far.

Putting the fear of Avian Flu in the back of our minds, we went to the Duck Restaurant (not sure what it’s really called) which is a place that we pass everyday on our way to school and we have been wanting to try it for some time. This was our first traditional dining experience where you leave your shoes at the door and sit on the floor. This was quite a novelty at first, but when you’re 6 foot 3 inches tall, the novelty gives way to uncomfortable leg pains after a short time. The food was great, and one of the dishes was BBQ duck, which actually tasted like pickled pork – delicious. After a big feed of 2 types of duck, a duck soup, and a wide variety of side dishes, we were treated to a traditional Korean dessert – sweet beans on shaved ice. The beans were the colour of kidney beans, but resembled the shape of a slightly larger baked bean. The beans were congealed in some type of caramelized sauce, and were served on top of a bowl of shaved ice. It’s one of those dishes that you aren’t sure if you like it or not, so after eating about half of it you stop, just in case the latter proves to be true.

All in all it was a very enjoyable evening and the kids keep asking when we’re going singing again. You can be assured that all who come to visit us here in Suwon will be subject to the Noraebang and Duck experience.