Bills, Bills, Bills

For the entire first year I was here the school collected our bills, paid them and charged us one lump sum at the end of the month. Once we added 4 teachers and the respective students, ours bills got to be too much for our lone accountant. When I was first told I would be in charge of paying my bills, I was sincerely distraught thinking of the Korean website I would be putting my US credit card info into or (god forbid) the idea of needing envelopes and stamps to mail cash or get checks from the bank. But Korea has evolved well beyond such things. Just follow these simple steps:
1. Walk into the bank.
2. Find the special bill machine, which you are quickly lead to by your friendly neighborhood English speaking security guard when you walk in holding a bill and looking confused.
3. Insert bank card.
4. Insert bill.
5. Press two buttons and a receipt prints for your confirmation of payment.

Downfall = have to go in during bank hours....but I still think it's pretty sweet.

Who needs a pet store....

when you can buy a bunny in the subway?

RENT

Saw the tour of RENT yesterday with the original Mark and Roger. I cried. The lovely Sara made this absolutely fabulous video of our fun jaunt in musical land. <3

The Sounds Around Me

When one thinks of the most common neighborhood sounds that would keep you up at night slamming doors and crying babies comes to mind. But not in Korea. I have found that the most common tread is people awakened by cat fights (literal cat fights) outside their window. Sometimes I'm worried because I think it's a baby crying or kids screaming until you hear the hiss at the end. It can get pretty crazy intense.

In High Tide and In Low Tide

Muuido has quite the interesting aesthetic. A small island off the coast of Incheon in the Yellow Sea, we were able to take the airport bus, plus a 15 min bus to a 5 min ferry to get there. Once stepping foot on the island, the Megans (Megan 1 & Meaghan 2) and I had exhausted the extent of our planning, so we just started to walk. According the posted map there was a hiking trail that would take us to the beach on the other side of the island. With little understanding of where we were we started up the stairs. Almost two hours later we completed a circle back to where we started and hopped on the $1 bus instead.

Once we hit the beach we searched for the tent rentals to no avail, and so were stuck paying $40 bucks for a beach side hut no bigger then a tree house. A rip off to say the least, but we did have a nice view. We were warned that it wasn't really a beach beach, but I wasn't sure how to interpret that. Turns out at low tide the water retreats for a good mile or so. All you can see is a big sandy mud pit. We settled into the dry sand anyway and all took a nap. By the time we were looking up again the water had started to creep in. I would say it took about a half hour before you could go swimming just fifty feet away from where we set up camp. It was crazy.

Diner consisted of my first sea shell grill session. It was crazy. When you put the shells on the grill they start to slowly open then they spit and pop. Lots of laughing and screeching was going on at our table as we attempted to man the grill and eat some crazy "meat" inside those bad boys, all while wearing a Michael Jackson glove. We even eat conchs. Just throw it on the grill and then pull it right out. It tasted nasty though.

We returned to our beach hut to see many expats gathered by a fire. Of course we all hung out because we are all white and that's means we are all friends. Ended up walking out in the low tide mud to check the most amazing thing I have ever seen in nature. See the video posted on Megan 1's blog. http://megsesladventure.blogspot.com/

All in all a lovely little get away full of fun and adventure. Around 250 pictures are on the way.

Pediatric Health Care

Two things I noticed about my children:

1. They get all their immunizations shot into one arm at one time around the age of 4. All of my kids have a crazy scare of 12-15 dots perfectly formed into a rectangle on their arm. I just imagine the doctor jabbing this huge block into their arms. Crazy.

2. Dental care is nuts. I have four year olds with sliver teeth. How does that happen? I can't decided if it is because they over do it or under do it. Either way, I've never seen kids with silver teeth before...