We're on a Trip, not a Vacation!

I insist upon going to Gwangjang Market every time we are in Seoul for the fried, freshly ground mung bean pancakes. They are served piping hot and accompanied by soy marinated raw onions to cut the richness. The last time we went to the market, we also discovered a delicious glutinous rice doughnut place, which we were able to find again. The boys also got freshly squeezed fruit juice. We managed to squeeze this in on the last day before we flew out.  I also booked a few pampering appointments for my mother-in-law and myself. These included an 18 step scalp treatment, where they zoomed in with a camera on your scalp to show you how unhealthy it is beforehand and then the vast improvement afterwards. I also got a makeup lesson, but the foundation the woman applied made me look like a ghost. She also showed me how to apply fake lashes. I will not go to the trouble of applying lots of makeup because I just can't be bothered, but I did buy some brow powder. I also took my MIL to a col...

     On the day we got to Korea, we went to a korean spa, aka a "jinjilbang". We got dos lockers: one for our shoes, and another for our other things, like clothes. We also were given these pajama things for wearing for later (the colors were based on size, so 1 got green ones and everyone else got brown and yellow ones.). First, we had to take off our clothes and shower, and then we could go into the hot and cold pools. I finished showering first and went slowly into the hot one, and then took a quick dip in the cold one, but the coldness was lowkey kinda painful. Daddy, Haraboji, and my bro soon joined me and I was able to later stay in the cold pool for a minute with Daddy. I started to get a little too hot from the hot pool, and cooled off and went into the sauna. After the sauna got too hot, I cooled down and dried myself before putting on the green pajamas. After everyone had put on their pajamas, we met up with Mommy and Halmoni upstairs where there were more sauna...

The trip in Korea has been very fun so far. A highlight was the hike day with daddy’s uncle where we hiked up a big mountain. Even though I was very dehydrated, it was fun to talk to Acadian, and the kimbap we had brought was very yummy. Later that day, Acadian, Daddy’s Uncle, Halmony, Halabogee and I all went to dinner at the top rated Japanese style ramen restaurant in Seoul. I got the tonkatsu ramen which was really good. By the end I was so full that I didn’t even have room for dessert. Another highlight is from the day before the hike when I went to a fancy beef place for lunch with Daddy, Mommy and Daddy’s Uncle. The whole meal was delicious and all the beef was very juicy and flavorful. To top it off was a yummy crunchy rice ice cream. At dinner I earned $10 from Acadian for taking a huge bite out of a spicy pepper but I had to drink ice water and numb my mouth for the rest of the meal. I also went shopping and found some cool shirts from a Korean brand called ThisIsNeverThat. I...

Acadian qualified for the Marin County Middle School track championships, where he ran the mile. His PR for the season was 6:02. We are very proud of him.  When I first heard about BTS performing at Stanford Stadium after a 4 year break from music (so that they could all do their Korean military service) I tried in vain to get these highly coveted tickets. The 3 days they were performing at Stanford was their only stop in Northern CA. I even signed up for an ARMY membership, which is what BTS fans are called. ARMY=Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth which alludes to their hip hop roots. Through the help of Kyusik's high school friend, who connected us to a journalist who has written articles in the Atlantic about BTS, we managed to get 3 tickets at their face value of $300/each. The concert happened to be on the Tuesday that Acadian turned 12, and since Bryce had already accompanied me to a Coldplay concert at Stanford, he said he'd be fine skipping out. It all worked out we...

    One of my highlights of the trip was going to a matcha store in Tokyo because we got to try some of the ice cream and it tasted very  delicious.     Another highlights was the fish market sushi. We woke up at 5:00 and went with Brian to the fish market by train. Coincidentally we were seated at the same spot we had sat at the last two times and the sushi chef remembered us from before. The sushi was  delicious, especially the fatty tuna, but unfortunately Acadian had a hard time eating the fish because of his new expander so I tried to help by telling him to swish it down with soup and tea.      Next, we went to a train station store where we bought some bento boxes in preparation for our ~2 hour train ride to Nozawa Onsen. I chose two bentos: a katsu sandwich box and a chicken karaage box. I didn't end up eating the chicken until later, but they both tasted delicious. When we got to the Nozawa Onsen train station, we took a bus...

      Before we got to Japan, Mommy gave us a list of ramen places that were supposed to be good and asked us to choose one that looked good from there. I chose one called “Ginza Tsukiya” because it looked like it had good Tonkatsu ramen, which I love. We went there and all got a nice bowl of Tonkatsu ramen and followed the instructions on how to eat the ramen; there was a specific order in which to eat the ramen. There was a light but extremely flavorful broth and thin noodles that you could slurp down with ease. It was so good we ended up buying some ramen kits from them so we could eat it at home.      The next day, we went to the Studio Ghibli Museum which Mommy and Daddy had been waiting 16 years to go to (ever since their honeymoon). The museum was intricately designed and the building looked like it was brought to life from a Ghibli movie. There were tons of interactive activities that I enjoyed, and a lot of pictures that everyone else seemed t...