We're on a Trip, not a Vacation!

Acadian left to spend 2 weeks at Cazadero Music Camp. My friend Jeny dropped Acadian and her son Sawyer off in Berkeley to catch the bus to camp. The past 2 years he's only gone for 1 week, but this time we will see him perform in 2 concerts, one this Sunday and another on July 4th.  I already saw a photo on Instagram of him and Sawyer during their daily 3 hour keyboard sessions.   Bryce is doing a learn to row camp at Lake Merced for 3 hours every morning. He likes it so much that he's now signed up to do a 2nd week of continuing skills camp next week. He'll be missing the last 2 days of rowing camp because he's headed to Irvine to play in a waterpolo tournament. Luckily for us, there is a van that one of the coaches will drive, so we don't have to go! Last Saturday, the four of us went to the annual Pride concert by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony because Kyusik's best friend Dave was playing the cello. In addition to a Wizard of Oz and Brahms piece, they perfor...

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...