Children's Day Long Weekend: Nathan rides a pony and Elliot's out of the crib!

Yesterday was Children's Day in Korea, a national holiday. It used to be Boys' Day until about 30 years ago, when they changed it over. So hard to imagine a "Boys' Day" in Canada... ever! There is a lot of family visiting, and outings to kids' places. We kept it really quiet here, even though there was a really fun event at the big beach, we were pretty tired from our holiday in Seoul.
We went to the Gustav Klimt exhibit, didn't make it to the foriegn foods store in Itaewon (it opened so late in the day, we just went ahead to the next stop), Everland Amusement Park, and Caribbean Bay waterpark beside it.
The Klimt art exhibit was okay, not exactly what we expected, but I was still glad we went, for sure. There were 2 paintings we hadn't seen before that I really appreciated. One was a large portrait of a woman that was just mind-bogglingly life like... the jewellery, her dress... it was so real!
The boys were so good travelling and sleeping, and had lots of fun. We did some kids' rides and the Safari animal section at Everland, checking out polar bears, monkeys and some cool birds.
Ah, Nathan had his first pony ride!!! He loved it! We'll have to get that picture up soon!
Of course both boys loved swimming at the waterpark, and Ben and Elliot spent lots of time in the health (funny stuff in the water sometimes) whirlpools. Nathan could have spent a whole afternoon on the kids' slides, and Ben got in a crazy Boomerang Water Ride he said was pretty scary!
Definitely some big news from our trip is that Elliot's in a big boy bed now! Yay! We (ahem, Ben) toted the Pack'n'Play around for all our long weekend travels (busses, subways, 2 hotels...) but there was never room to set it up as we had an extra bed for Nathan in our hotel rooms. So Elliot just slept on regular beds/sofas pushed up against something so he wouldn't fall off. It worked great, no problems at all. It was a good time to transistion I guess as he was completely exhausted come bedtime (he did great all weekend though, considering he didn't get any naps!). So when we came home late last night we pulled out the floor mattress (like Nathan's, Mom and Dad Butler) we had bought when it was on sale, just in case, and put him on it. He even napped there this afternoon, and is falling asleep right now, no banging on the door or anything! Yay!
Well, that makes travelling so much easier! Good for big boy Elliot!

New Blog Title Photo

I love this photo!
It's from our apartment complex, March 2009. Two different lovely pink tree flowers blooming, with a strong dark pine tree behind, on a rainy spring day! There's an album of beautiful spring flower photos I took this day, on Facebook, please check it out, but this is my favourite.

The Future!

I think it's in the 20's again today! Sooooooooo sunny and really beautiful flowers EVERYWHERE. I think today, in Korea, is almost the ideal summer day in Canada (you might want it warmer if you were swimming, but that's all). Which is partly to say, in YOUR summer back home, we will be experiencing another set of weather (super humid/rainy).
But today is GREAT! Don't have to turn on the a/c, but, the clothes are drying on the balcony in just a few hours!

Time is speeding by. Last night Ben and I were talking about things we were looking forward to in Canada--- presuming we will be in Kingston: lots of time with family, restaurants we're looking forward to (Lone Star topped the list for Ben, though I love their free nachos!, Greco's, some little place by the market with great bread and balsamic dip, the mostly Japanese Korean restaurant I like, Indian food!), parks, the market, the lakeshore... spending more than 30 mins. together every day when Ben's working a normal 9-5 again... Family babysitting the boys.... more family babysitting the boys.... still more family babysitting the boys (hey, we've got a LOT of Ben & Kim relationship time to catch up on!).

It's amazing how little direction we still feel about our future. It sure seems like in so many ways I should become a teacher/go to Teacher's College (after my year at home when we get back, hopefully, hopefully!!!), but I just do NOT see myself as a full-time career teacher in Canada. I LOVE teaching here, LOVE IT, so why not...? Sometimes I feel better about it if I really focus on my desire to adopt, and think about that as a ministry, but otherwise teaching at some generic public/high school in Canada seems a little... flat? Lacking *special*-ness? Lacking some degree of meaningfulness?. (OF COURSE I do not in ANY way think teaching is meaningless. It is very very important. It just doesn't seem to have the right meaning for me yet...).

And we're leaning a little back to feeling a bit uncertain about buying a house.

Anyway, it's ok. I hope it's not too difficult for our loved ones that we can't say what we're doing long term!!
We don't know what's ahead, but I am looking forward to it! God has taken such amazing care of us, we are so blessed, and I just feel like God's got a great plan, a GREAT one that will be so awesome for our little family!

Stay tuned!

PS-- Ben got in some basketball this week and is up for trying to do it regularly again. His ankle's a bit tender, but it's great for him to get into it again.

March 13, 2009, View from the school, and, things I will miss...

We had a heavy rainfall last night and all morning. I’m sure there will a whole season of this but it was the first after a winter with only four snowfalls in our city.
After my last class—a truly enjoyable one, full of sincere effort from some of the most endearing, happy boys—I stood out on the balcony of our new English class room. I was thinking about how much I love teaching at this school, and how hard it is to imagine that I could enjoy another group of students, teaching any other material, more than this. I was thinking about how I could stuff them in my suitcase, and just teach the same job, but at home in Canada! Which led me to think about how I wish I could take the mountains I was looking at home with me, too.

After the rains the clouds are heavy, still quickly moving, many different shades of blue, grey and even a dusty yellow (probably the Yellow Dust blowing in from Manchurian China) and formed in all kinds of shapes and depths. They are sunk low onto the mountain tops. When they are this low on our small mountains, it’s easy and exciting to imagine that if you could just find a tall enough building you could lean out a window and be in a cloud yourself. Or perhaps that if they somehow sunk just a little lower, you would be crushed by them right where you are.
To the northwest, dense, pure white fast moving mist is rushing up the mountain faces in Mureung Valley where water comes together in rushing torrents as it collects down the mountain faces. I imagine the Falls in the Valley are thundering today, a sight I have yet to see.

Under the clouds, the mountains have turned a slate grey blue instead of their wintry browns and dark greens. In front of me, there are a few small fields both tilled and freshly planted for spring, and also those still dressed in their dry, worn, yellow browns of last years’ leftover grasses and stalks.

In between is what most would call an ugly scene of construction, industrial bridges, factories, warehouses, and a the beginnings of the commercial harbour. But it seemed to fit in that at least it was honest. People doing honest hard work that is what it is, as opposed to the expanses of overly large, empty houses I know exist in some places back home, which are not the beautiful perfect buildings they try so hard to pretend to be.

I wished Ben was standing on the balcony with me to see this quiet scene together. I wished he could come teach with me here next year so we could stay one more year! But I know we will be very happy at home, and I am excited about that too. I will just miss my “boys” and the mountains.

2nd Semester and Korean Cooking

Teaching's going well. I have the 1st and 2nd grade like last semester, which I
really like. They're all pretty darn cute.
We opened an English Zone this semester at our school, it's a bit of a trend. Usually the kids stay in their room (except for music, home ec., etc.) and the teachers move, but the E.Z. is a special classroom where the kids come to us, and they spend tons of money loading it will all the best technology and English language posters, etc., to encourage the kids and help them learn English. Koreans are very serious about school in general, and definitely spending money to learn English. So we have a nice classroom! Instead of a chalkboard we have 2 whiteboards, and a massive touch screen HDTV television. That's pretty fun., It has a program called "TwinPen" that allows you to use the TV like a chalkboard, but a really fancy one. I'm doing that this week a bit. The kids get excited and I feel cool. =).
We are showing english movies at lunch and in the morning to get the kids exposed to more english, in an INTERESTING way, and I think it's a huge success. Especially at lunch, there's about 35 kids at any one time in the room (some come and go), and they're really interested in the movie. We've been showing the Jurassic Parks so far. (That was my movie choice. Hee hee.). We have lots of new English books (sports, science, Ripley's believe it or not, Spongebob, lots of comics, easy reading chapter books) set out and more and more the kids are picking them up and looking through them and reading them while they're in the classroom, or between classes. That's awesome! Good, fun, english practice. I’m pretty excited about it.
I have been cooking  a lot more Korean food the past couple of weeks. A couple of really tasty dishes, some okay, and one or two not good. I messed up one, blech. I will try that one again! Otherwise I've really been enjoying it-- beautiful colours, great flavours, and it's not too crazy but it feels exotic. Sesame, soy, ginger, hot peppers, garlic... mmmm....
Some good ones were a Pancake (koreans love pancakes, but they're often savoury vegetable pancakes, as opposed to "flapjacks" or "hotcakes") with mashed white Korean sweet potato and chopped green onions with a soya sauced based dipping sauce, the boys and I loved that one; and a Fried Potatoes with Red Pepper, sesame seeds and green onion, and a Mushroom Medley stirfry with Zucchini and Tofu and ginger that was incredible. So tasty.
No crazy fish or seafood at our house. And No Seaweed!!!! Yuuuuuuuuuck! Except the crispy thin salty sheets that Nathan likes. But otherwise, no no no. Blech. Yes, I know it's good for you. No thanks. Ugh. Can you tell how I feel about seaweed?

Back to School!

Yesterday it snowed for the 3rd time since we came to Korea. It pretty much melted as soon as it hit the ground in town, but the surrounding mountains are beautifully frosted and have much more texture to look at than when they are simply bare in winter. Other places in Korea get a lot more snow than we do, even the next bigger city up the coast from us, Gangneung.

We went to Waterpia in Sokcho last week, a Korean Water Amusement Park. There are rides in the summer, but in winter there is still an indoor wave pool, a twisty water slide (too big for our guys), an outdoor heated swimming “path” you can float or swim along in as it twists and turns past various hot tubs and an indoor lagoon, and a great variety of outdoor hot springs and spa tubs. The boys loved the wooden one, the waterfall and the one with the red water (??). I loved swimming outside in winter, steam rising from the water! That was a mindboggling experience for a Canadian! We weren’t even cold! Especially going between spa tubs, I think the water just heated you up so much, it lasted you until you reached the next one. It was also great (though nerve racking) to see Elliot deliberately falling face first into the water, and watch Nathan become more comfortable in the water by leaps and bounds. We even practiced “swimming” and he would leap from a perch shoulder-high in water, into my arms. I am a terrible swim coach. But I was so proud of him—everytime he would basically fall under the water and I would pull him up, but he kept trying, not scared at all! Elliot also spent a lot of time admiring the coloured pebbles and marbles inlaid into the pool walls. He’s into rocks.

I also really appreciated that the boys’ were on their best-ever bus trip behaviour, which is to say they were very quiet and placid, like every single Korean kid I’ve ever seen on a bus. What a relief! Elliot even had a nap, and Nathan spent a lot of time just looking out the window. This trip was the boys’ Christmas present from Gramma and Grampa Butler. Thanks!!!!

I am back to school this week after being on vacation pretty much since Christmas. What a life, eh?! I worked a little in there. And it WAS busy. But, I know to be thankful about that! Not again until retirement, I think! It’s good to be back and I love seeing my “other” boys, the students at my school. Their energy, all their different personalities, their general cuteness (hee hee) and their growing up is a wonder to me.

Nathan and Elliot also went back to daycare this week after a week off—which, in case you missed on Facebook, we forgot about. Yep, last Monday Ben and I had a whole week of dates and time together planned until Ben took the boys to daycare and it was closed!! We didn’t figure it out until I actually called the daycare lady’s cellphone and she said “lkjlsdkjfsdlk vacation laksjlk…” Ooops! That was embarrassing!
Then we finally sent them yesterday only to be told Nathan has head lice when Ben it was time to come home! Poor little guy was in tears from having his head picked at by well-meaning teachers all morning. The nit comb is a joke compared to that! And, Ben shaved Nathan’s head. As though our boys didn’t get enough stares! =) The lice thing could be a lot worse I think. Neither boy is uncomfortable, which is important, and they can still go to daycare. It is a pain that we don’t have hot water for our washing machine, or a clothes dryer, to kill any lice on the clothes and bedding. I’ve made a pile on the balcony to be isolated for 2 weeks till any nits die. Sure hope that does it!

In other little boy news, my sons like each other! They say nice things and play together every day! (Like, not all day long, let's be reasonable...). Hooray!

We are talking to Ben’s Korean Acupuncture doctor friend about possibly having his Elementary school daughter stay with us for homestay in December 2009 in Kingston (well, I hope it’s Kingston! Can’t imagine getting a big enough place in the GTA!). I was apprehensive about someone so young until we met her. She’s a pretty tiny 11 year old, but very easy to interact with, and awfully cute. We’ll see!

We just saw the pictures of our new niece, Tigerlily Beatrix Butler today (check out COME ON IN, their blog)! That’s one lovable, gorgeous, BIG baby! We are unbelievably proud of Sarah and Team Butler for their strength and hard work during a long labour. You rock Sarah! And it was a real blessing to us to be able to “be there” during the labour at home via Skype.

Happypops and the Jesus phone: the boys' update

Hey, I'm really on vacation! Whoo hoo! I'm minutes away from living out my vacation dream, which is jumping back under the covers to join my sleeping hubby for a morning nap after taking the boys to daycare. Yea!!!!
For the Our Boys Are the Sweetest Update:
Happypops : This is a classic Elliot-ism. Can you guess what is means? Take one of Elliot's favourite words, and wishes for humanity:" Happy?" "Happy!!!" (as in, Nathan's crying, or Mommy's tired, or whatever, and he wants you to be happy!), and add his favourite treat which clearly makes him happy, "lollipop" :
happy + lollipop = HAPPYPOP. Now Elliot runs around all the time looking for happypops. If that doesn't make YOU smile, well, I just don't know!!

The Jesus Phone This morning Nathan wanted to call Jesus on the phone. We had a brief conversation about how Jesus doesn't NEED to use a phone, but he was determined. What number? "6-1-1". Unfortunately Jesus didn't answer, but that's okay. Nathan also wanted Jesus to lie down beside him on his bed this morning, and sit beside him-- "we need an extra chair, like when Pete came over."
I'm not sure where these wonderful things came from, but was blessed and encouraged by them, and tried to make the most by reading a bible verse, praying and explaining and encouraging.
Nathan often has the most creative, elaborate and also, kindest to Elliot moments when he first wakes up in the morning.
Yesterday's morning brainstorm was making an antelope sticker his "reindeer friend," who is still with us today and joining Nathan on his adventures. Only in spirit, we lost him yesterday, but apparently we're okay with that.

Only 2 more sleeps 'till the Butlers are here!!!!