Hanok Village

Hanok are the traditional Korean houses with the gorgeous wooden doors, heated ondol floors, and the giwa (tiled) roofs. In Northern Seoul there is a village of Hanok that have been beautifully kept and restored. Many are still used as family homes but others are now tea houses, artisan studios and shops, guest houses, or restaurants.

We started the trip from home on the PACKED 5500 bus. Stuffy, scorching hot, terrible traffic, hurky-jerky driving.........all added up to terrible motion sickness for me. I barely made it across the Han river and to the closest bus stop.
After several minutes and a bubbly drink we took the rest of the way in a cab! Thank goodness.

 The day was absolutely gorgeous warm fall weather with lots of sunshine. It was a great day with family in such a beautiful place. I am so glad that some Korean families still live in the traditional Hanok. But, you can see that the rebuilt versions are so out of reach of the ordinary Korean. These are ornate works of art, and expensive to boot!

 Delicious Japanese food at a Bento place in the village was the end of a great day.

From here we headed to the subway to avoid a bus ride home. As it turned out it was Yaya's first subway ride!

 Yaya enjoys the special seating area her years on this planet have awarded her with. This section is for the elderly, disabled, and the pregnant!

Haven has had many older Korean women offer their lap in this section so she will have a place to sit.

So kind.

Halloween in Korea

Halloween in Korea!

While not celebrated in Korea the way it is in the States, Halloween is definitely here! You can find Halloween candy and decorations pretty much anywhere.

We got to celebrate Halloween both at school and in the Good Morning Hill apartment complex.

KIS represented Halloween with style! We took over Good Morning Hill and trick or treated in every apartment of a KIS staff member. The kids had a blast and brought home a pile of candy.

It was perfect.





On Halloween we had a BIG celebration at school. Unlike US public schools, our private school makes the holidays a HUGE splash. Most of the school day was a celebration of Halloween. Plus, the moms decorate the classrooms and hallways to the nines.

Finlay dressed as Darth Vader for the weekend and Harry Potter for the KIS celebration. The day started with trick or treating all throughout the Elementary, Middle, and High Schools. Then through the administrative offices turned Haunted House.

Yaya had a chance to help in both Haven and Finlay's classrooms. She helped Haven and the first graders play pin the nose on the Jack 'O Lantern. In Finlay's she made Gak with the fourth graders.

A parade through the schools and class parties rounded out the day. Happy Halloween. At home I made bloody brains with eye balls, vegetable skeletons, and spider deviled eggs. Then we slept!

Bundang Central Park

This happened a month ago. It was a beautiful fall day in Korea. Sun is out, temperature is mild, and the trees are gorgeous. So, we decided to head to one of our favorite parks to show my mom. We walk along the river for a bit until we came to the central square of Bundang Central Park. We found this park back in August kind of by mistake. It is surrounding by the river on one side and contains an amphitheater, hiking trails, a large pond, gazebos, cultural center, weight lifting park nestled in the woods at the top of the hill, burial grounds, you name it!

 Gorgeous, isn't it? This is a very popular park. When we were here in August the grassy areas below the trees were full of families setting up tents and mats for a day at the park. Fathers were playing badminton with kids and bikes were everywhere. Even though the October temperatures are much cooler, the grassy areas were attracting lots a families prepared for picnics and play.

We just randomly happened to pick this park today and were thrilled to discover they were having a free cultural festival. It was the Color Festival celebrating fall and Korean traditional crafts.
Our family was welcomed with open arms and one young lady working for the park spoke English and took us under her wing while we tried everything!

Yaya, Haven, and Josh each learned how to use a traditional Korean technique to bind a book with needle and thread.












Next we were taught a folding and dying technique to make handkerchiefs. The dyes were all made of natural herbs and barks.

 After dying the kids tried pounding rice flour into rice cakes. The wooden mallet was heavy and huge. The rice mixture was extremely sticky. In the end we all tried a sample dipped in bean powder. It was not my favorite! I prefer the kind with the sweet sesame paste inside.

These rice cakes (tteok) are made for celebrations and are also found in every grocery store and specialty shop. They can be sweet or spicy. The sweet ones can be filled with sesame or sweet red bean paste.

The Curtiss Family is Stepping it Up!

Yep, that's right. We now have a cell phone, a car, and an oven. I know, the shock probably almost killed you. Such luxuries!

We went almost three months without these items. Doesn't sound like long but each allows us to accomplish things in life that we were missing out on!

 The Car: important for trips to the grocery. Allows us to skip the bus, subway, and cab required to purchase food to keep our family alive. We can now make a "quick" trip to the store without carving out three-four hours for the task. Life changing! Plus, we have taken the car to cool parks and hiking destinations that would have required crazy bus trips. And we are driving to the coast next weekend.

 One challenge though is remembering where you parked. This is the lot under Kim's Club and 2001 Outlet. It goes to B9. That's 9 stories underground. I find it helpful to use the camera on my phone to take a picture of the nearest post so I can find the car after I shop. Yeah phone!

 The car runs on liquid petroleum gas. Just like Oregon, you don't pump your own. And, when you fill up you often get a package of wet wipes, tissues, or a bottle of water. Such service.



















The OVEN: I think it speaks for itself. We were beginning to run out of stove top ideas. This is the first batch of cookies in the new oven. Our oven is a bit of a powerhouse. It is not only a convection oven, but a microwave, broiler, grill, crisps, and proofs. Plus, it can do many combinations of the above simultaneously. Before you get too jealous, it is pretty small. Notice there are only four cookies on each sheet. Those are regular sized cookies! So we are trying to find appropriate cookware for the oven. Sounds easy, but in Korea there is very little baking going on. I can buy a Pyrex baking dish from a special shop for foreigners or online but an 8"x8" dish will cost between $30-$50! So far I am improvising! But, we are enjoying baked goods. In fact, banana-chocolate chip bread just came out!

Ceramic Village and Insadong

Early Saturday morning we woke to head on a trip to the Ceramic Village and Festival. This was going to be a whole family event but Yaya and the kids decided to stay home. Turns out I think it was the right decision as it would have been a bit boring for the kids.

 The festival was held at a beautiful park, the leaves were beginning to change into autumn colors, and there was a little chill to the air.

All throughout the park were ceramic demonstrations and displays of beautiful designs.

 There were a few giant kilns throughout the park that were all decorated like the one to the left.

Josh and I joined a couple other KIS teachers and took a taxi to the ceramic village down the street. It is a small village with nothing but shops full of ceramics. I pictured shops filled with the same imported items over and over. Much to my surprise and delight each shop was different and many were filled with artisan goods rather than mass produced items. We found a couple of choice items and headed out. It is worth a trip back.














As soon as we arrived home the family boarded the 5500 bus and headed to Insadong. This is an area of Seoul which is a fairly big tourist draw, but not tacky at all. It is a pedestrian street with cool traditional shops all along and alley ways to each side filled with restaurants. At one end of the street is a stage where we watched some traditional singing and at the other is a giant sculpture and a view of the close-by palace.

 A huge novelty that people line up for are these tube shaped ice cream cones. The kids love them!


We did a bit of shopping. Mom found little gifts for family back home and I treated myself to a pair of earrings made by a local.


For dinner we settled on traditional Korean. None of us liked it! The atmosphere was nice and there was a table full of drunk Koreans across the aisle that provided good entertainment!