First few days in Seoul

After a 12 hour flight from SF to Seoul, we arrived on Saturday afternoon. After attempting to get cash and buy metro cards, we gave up when the "global" ATM refused to accept our cards and took the airport bus, for which could purchase tickets with our credit card. We are staying at a hotel in the Mapo area. It is close to a subway stop, and there are lots of restaurants around. For dinner, we went to get kim chi jigae (pork, tofu and cabbage stew) nearby. We got egg sandwiches on the first morning and then took the metro to the apartment where Kyusik and his family lived until they left for Malawi when he was three. We then hosted a Korean buffet lunch for Kyusik’s 3 maternal uncles and their spouses, kids, and new son-in-law. In the late afternoon the boys went swimming in the hotel pool with my MIL while Kyusik and I shopped but didn’t buy anything except for some crispy sweet rice snack. For dinner we walked and waited for an hour for a cold beef noodle soup called nangmyun. 

On Mon, we dropped the boys off at SFS. Bryce had packed a school-provided duffle. We will pick him up on Fri afternoon. Acadian is attending a Korean cultural camp this week where he visits different palaces and museums around Seoul. He will do a STEM camp next week at the school. Kyusik and I worked all morning and most of the afternoon but we went to get kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) and dumplings near the main palace of Gyeongbokgung. We got pretty soaked on the walk back to the metro. Then we sent Kyusik’s parents out to pick up Acadian at the bus stop. Unfortunately we didn’t realize they’d updated the camp bus schedule and sent them out an hour early. We then rushed to call a taxi to pick him up at the school and fortuitously, I spotted the bus driving by. Kyusik made a mad dash to get him, running underground through the metro to avoid the traffic of the crazy multi-lane streets. Fortunately the bus waited a little bit, and we were able to retrieve him. For dinner we went out with Kyusik’s oldest uncle to a special bibimbap place that served lots of delicious mountain vegetables. On Tuesday, Kyusik and I had jahjungmyun (black bean sauce noodles). It was a tiny place with 3 tables where you wait outside and place your order. The chef only starts hand pulling the noodles once you are seated. We also shared a sweet and sour pork dish called tang soo yook 탕수육. For dinner we went to a place that specializes in pork belly that gets grilled tableside. You get all sorts of yummy greens to wrap the ssam, which you eat with a bean sauce, garlic clove, and pickled veggies. The oil from the meat occasionally splashed Acadian and me. We all donned aprons so we wouldn’t get our clothes dirty. The servers kept calling Acadian an eggy, which means baby in Korean. Maybe because he is still toothless! Sadly one of his front teeth is slowly starting to descend. Maybe he will have both by Christmas, but it’s been over 6 months that he’s had a huge gap in the front. Yesterday we went to get kalguksu dumpling soup and bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes) at Gwangjang Market. We also got some chewy fresh hot cinnamon and sugar twisted doughnuts and red bean filled doughnuts. For dinner we went to a soondobu (spicy tofu soup) place in the bustling area of Myeongdong. The church where Kyusik’s parents got married is also located there.