life with the lieutenant

My blogging break was not intentional, yet here we are, almost a month later. How did that go by so quickly? It is the same old song and dance- "How is it only 2:20?!?!" followed a few minutes later with "How is it already May?!?!"

Our days have not really been worth recapping lately. I haven't taken too many cell phone shots because otherwise I'd have approximately 8,000 pictures of my kids doing (mostly) the same things everyday. We wake up, eat breakfast, do a chore (maybe), throw on some clothes, cut up an apple, grab our bikes, and go to the playground. There, we meet our neighbor (with two boys) that has done the same thing. The kids ride in circles, argue over who gets to play with the purple car, eat apple slices, pick us flowers, and generally become incredibly filthy. To look at our playground, you would not know it was covered in black sludge, but once my children are done playing, you can see it as clear as day. My neighbor and I chat all the while about who said what on FB, making up our own stories about what's happening with our neighbors, and whining about why everyone demands dinner EVERY FRIGGIN' NIGHT. We watch moving trucks and lifts and boxes being raised and lowered. We probably see 3-5 households move out each day while we are outside lately. We lament about why it's not us. Why are we forced to stay and sweat through the summer?? And then we tell each other that one day soon we'll wish we still lived 20 ft away from each other, got to hang out at the playground all day, and the only major decision we had was what to make (or order!) for dinner that night.

I'm trying to soak up our time left here. Especially while the weather is as glorious as it is now. We are outside all day long except for lunchtime. My kids' legs are covered in bruises and scrapes- little badges they've earned from riding the big bikes to learning how to jump on and off a moving merry-go-round. Everyone seems to be falling a lot more lately (our neighbor's son had to go to the Korean ER to get ten stitches in his head the other night!) so we encourage helmets to be worn, even when not riding a bike. It just seems to be safer for everyone involved. Luckily most injuries are minor and can be cured with kisses or pouring cold water on the "wound" (Sam seems to think this heals all). In extreme cases, we have to go get ice cream. Man, what torture for all of us.

Korea is awesome though. We are still hitting up parks and saying hello to strangers and accepting candy from anyone that will give it to the kids and going to every playground we can park a double-wide BOB at. We love it. We are also having to look towards the future and begin planning our next steps though, and I feel like it's almost taking away from our last bit of time in Korea. We go onto google maps and see street names- "Oh won't it be so nice to know where we're going again! We can read! There are letters! Not shapes!" Half of our adventures here have happened because we can't read anything and no one can provide driving directions. I think I might miss describing a place to someone by saying, "Go past Dunkin Donuts (it is truly a directional landmark here) and when you see the dancing man (literally, a man who is not employed by the stores he is dancing in front of- he just loves to dance), turn left. Go past three chicken places and turn right. Then go around the corner and you'll see that market. You know the one- the guy that sells the overpriced strawberries. Well, right across the street is a white storefront and that's where you get the best macarons!!"

We are stopping off in Hawaii on our way back to the States because the Army was nice enough to let us have a nice long layover there, and then we will be headed to Philly. When we first got the Hawaii news, I was so thrilled. Now it feels like a blip on the map. I haven't thought about it in weeks. Not that it isn't an incredible opportunity for us and we will for sure have tons of fun (and use more SPF than anyone on the planet in a week's time), but I feel like a million other things have come up since then. It also still doesn't feel real that we'll ever leave Korea. Thankfully, I ordered swimsuits and things for the kids while we were still in our "Rah rah! Hawaii!" stage because our mailroom is shutting down June 1, and we'd be S-O-L. (Yes, we will not have mail for 2.5 months?!?! I told Steve that is one way to save some money...)

Although it started out as a joke between Steve and me, we are (seriously) moving back to his hometown. ("Ahaha haha haha.... ok... yeah I think that makes sense actually...") There are lots of jobs/family/opportunities there and we are excited to have a direction instead of just closing our eyes and picking a spot on the map. (Funny how my finger would always end up in Guam or Puerto Rico...) And house-hunting from halfway around the world is not nearly as fun as I originally thought it would be. My in-laws are amazing at checking out houses, doing drive-by's, scheduling walk-throughs of homes we're interested in- but I just wish we were there to do it ourselves. My poor MIL is assaulted daily by my text messages about potential houses and what do you think about this house? This street? This town? Is there really no central air? Doesn't it snow there? Why is there no garage? ARE THOSE REALLY THE ACTUAL PROPERTY TAXES OR IS THIS SOME SICK JOKE?! Let's facetime.

She will deserve multiple bottles of champagne if we ever find something. Or even if we don't, and we end up living in her basement. I'M KIDDING, WENDY. We'd obviously live upstairs with you.

Sam and Molly don't seem to grasp the concept that this isn't our permanent home and maybe they even consider themselves Korean at this point, who knows. We talk about going back to Pennsylvania and Sam excitedly tells me that he can't wait to bring Marci and Odie (the dogs) back to our apartment (here in Korea) and show them his playground and bike and bedroom and and and. We tell him that we're going back home, and he looks at us like, "You're crazy. We live HERE." Breaks my heart. I think Sam has a few memories of living at Ft Campbell (jogged by photos), but Molly has truly never known any different. Her ego is gonna take a hit once she is not constantly oohed and ahhed over by adoring fans.

I'll tell ya one thing- I happened to browse the Philly craigslist while Steve was on overnight duty, and whoa mama. I forgot how much I miss yard sales and craigslist and used things that aren't total crap (which is the only thing anyone is selling here). Found the dollhouse I got from Santa, Christmas of '93! Although it came up when I searched for "vintage" something or other and last time I checked, 1993 is not really ye olden days. It was like, seven years ago. Other than that, it's like a treasure trove of goodness.

Part of me can't wait to get back. I'm ready for Steve to have a job that he doesn't hate. I'm ready to wash my hands of the Army. I'm ready to fling my car door open wide and have excessive amounts of room to get out! And maybe even buckle my children in from a location besides the driver's seat while sweating and breathing heavily and cursing under my breath! I want to use every last feature of my Amazon Prime subscription! Getting something in TWO DAYS?!?!?! SAY WHAT!!! I'm ready to walk into a store and buy shoes for my Goliath-sized feet without someone looking at me with shocked eyes and pointing me towards the men's section. I'm ready to find a babysitter. Our area has one babysitter right now and lately even I've been giving her the side-eye. It will be one of the few pluses to living among English-speakers.

But I won't lie. Part of me still wants to stay. I'll miss the people. The weather. The food. The safety. The smiling. The politeness. The way this country seems to take pride in their appearance. (Have yet to be able to visibly see any sort of "class" structure here. Everyone dresses so nicely.) The way this country values nature and being outside and active. The way they value children. I think I might miss that the most. I have never once had to worry about Koreans being anything but sweet to my children. I'm not worried when an older man on the train asks my children their names and offers them candy. He shakes Sam's hand, kisses Molly's, and says, "Meeting you has been my greatest pleasure." Then he inquires as to how we like Korea, where we are from (Sam: Korea!), and if we need directions anywhere. I hate more than anything that I will have to "re-train" my kids to not take candy from old men and don't give hugs to strangers and no, don't ever talk to strangers or hold their hands. It makes me sad that we are leaving a place like this for a place like America. I know that makes me sound un-American, but living here has really changed my perspective on quite a few things. It might be the greatest nation on earth in some regards, but it is really horrible in other ways. I know South Korea is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it has been perfect for our family at this stage in our lives. Who woulda thunk that Korea (the shit assignment!) would be the best thing for us. We could not have experienced this in Europe or Hawaii, even though we really thought those would be our dream assignments. Living here has really opened our minds to different ways of doing/seeing things. I'll forever be grateful for that.

I tell Steve all the time that leaving Korea for Hawaii is a very tricky way to get me to leave! How can anyone be upset when they are headed for a Hawaiian vacation? When we board the plane from Hawaii to Texas though (short layover there), I think I will really have a bad case of the boo-hoos then. He has promised that we can come visit Korea whenever to ease my depression over leaving. It won't be the same though. I want to go to our little country town, ride the elevator to the 13th floor, get off at our tiny apartment, curse at the bikes I'm tripping over while simultaneously smelling someone cooking Ramen and garlic and then walk inside and find my family. In my euphoric dream, the apartment is clean and no one is whining about who gets to play with the empty toilet paper roll (why are kids so obsessed with garbage?!?!) and there is a breeze blowing through the windows and we call our neighbors and meet them at the playground and life just keeps happening. I'm not too delusional though (despite what it sounds like!), so I know that things will never be the same once we leave here. And that's life. Still makes me a little weepy though.

Anyways, all of that to say, we are still here. Still chugging along. Setting up dates for HHG shipments and car shipments and looking at our scared furniture like, do we REALLY need to keep you? Ok, bookcase, you can come back to America with us. But don't you start falling apart or I will have to pay $5 to throw you in the trash pit downstairs. (Add that to the list of things I won't miss- paying for garbage!) I'll try to blog with a little more consistency, but I can't guarantee anything.