Sadie Sleeps through Soingook Museum Park

Y'all. Jeju continues to rock my world. There is no shortage of amazing tourist traps on this island, and thankfully so many of them are close to where we live so we can make a quick little trip between nap times and have hours' worth of hilarious photos to enjoy for years to come.

Soingook Museum Park is unlike any other place I have been. It is a little chunk of land with scaled miniatures of world landmarks. Another tourist attraction purely designed for selfies and instagram, this little gem is so. great.

The hilarity starts from the parking lot.

You're greeted by this grand entrance that features two iconic castle architectural styles. Is it a fairy tale? Is it a fortress? You have to go in to find out...

Is that an African hut? It's unclear.

And before you ask, YES that is a child and what appears to be an alien in a classic car on the roof! I LOVE IT! 

This dragon is so stoked about it's light bulb holding duties. 

We arrived just as a tour bus full of people pulled in to the parking lot, so this is the kind of attraction that is on people's list when they visit Jeju, apparently. I was even more amped about this little trip as we were walking to the entrance because they had decorated for Halloween! I LOVE Halloween! Several of the miniatures had been dressed up and there were little ghosts and witches' hats tucked into the bushes here and there. 

I'm not gonna lie, I squealed a little bit when I saw the leaning tower of Pisa model. 

Gorilla is dressed up and ready to trick-or-treat. 

As soon as you turn the corner past the ticket booth you are met with ridiculousness and it is AWESOME! 

We've always wanted to take one of these photos! 

Y'all. They're ACROSS THE POND from each other! I can't handle it!  

Sadie was over it. 

There were lots of recognizable landmarks and famous buildings...

That church thing in Germany that no one remembers the name of

Easter Island

The Acropolis, including the Parthenon and Athena's temple

St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

The summer palace in Thailand

MOUNT RUSHMORE?! 

The Great Wall

Anemic Christ the Redeemer

Buckingham Palace with what I feel is a much too large statue of Queen Victoria in front of it. 

It's like you're really there. 

And then there were some lesser known landmarks...

Really? It's like they googled "pretty buildings in New Zealand" and went with the first one that caught their eye. We've been to Rotorua and saw this building, but...I mean...I don't think it's one of the most recognizable in New Zealand...

Moscow State University? ...okay....

You guys, the Smurf Village is totally a place...We were really disappointed that it didn't have a plaque like all the others that gave its location, scale, and historical background. Missed opportunity.

I'm sorry, can we just take another moment to bask in the glory of the miniature Mount Rushmore?

It's just. so. ...awesomely bad. 

There were lots of Korean landmarks that Tyler and I hadn't heard of, which will come in handy for planning our upcoming Christmas trip around the country. Neither of us know all that much about Korea or Korean history before the 1950s, so I'm glad we now have a list of sights to see. 

Like this Buddhist temple 

Sadie was over it. 

There were also other little gems that were there for no other reason than a photo opp. 

Who knew the Koreans liked the Blues Brothers so much? 

Ah yes, the classic pose-like-the-piece-of-funny-looking-art photo

Just. So good. 

"Hey look, it's Fair Use Wonder Woman..."

There were also some little haunted nooks...

I think they were going for a haunted woods kind of feel...I'm not sure why the grandma is crouched in the bushes. She looks completely calm in the presence of the creepy witch lady in the trees...

And questionable art choices...

Where's that hand going, buddy!? 

We had to take a little nap stop and enjoy the amazing weather before exiting through the gift shop.

They were both over it. 

But seriously, if you ever find yourself on Jeju island, you HAVE to go to the Soingook Museum Park! We will definitely be going back at some point because there was a whole section that was closed for...cleaning? Renovation? Anyway, it was dedicated to "Old Korean reminiscence" and I feel like it would have been pretty informative while also being entertaining. I'll keep an eye on when that re-opens so I can tell you when to book your flights. 

Until next time! 

Vicariously yours,

Safety first

In all of the countries we have lived in so far, I think it would be fair to say that the people as a whole have been pretty easy going, not overly anxious or go-go-go. But once they get behind the wheel of a car it's like they are in a race and desperate to get to the finish line! I am constantly being tailed here, no matter how far over the speed limit I am going.

Which is why photos like this one are really scary! Let me set the scene. Sadie and I went on a little adventure yesterday, and at one point I was stopped at this red light on a 6-lane main road. It's a major thoroughfare with a long straight stretch and no speed bumps. People will tear through this intersection at 60 miles an hour if the light isn't red. It's hard to see in this photo, but the cherry picker is in the middle of the three lanes so that the stop light can be repaired. Directly in front of the truck is a man standing behind a yellow sign. That man is supposed to signal for all the people to get into the other lanes...he's standing between the sign and the truck. Literally inches from the bumper of the truck.

In the States, there would be cones a half a mile out, signs telling you to merge into one lane, maybe even a cop with his light flashing. Here is one dinky man with a red mini light saber half-heartedly waving it and hoping no one plows into him at 90 miles an hour. Seriously if the light hadn't been red I would not have realized in time that this truck was at a dead stop.

Safety first, y'all!

Vicariously yours,

Sadie Sleeps through Norimae Themepark

 Sadie and I ventured out to a nearby park that we see every time we drive into the city. Its gate says "Norimae Themepark," but we've come to find that every thing is called a themepark here, so I don't think Korea quite knows what that word means. My first exposure to the word Theme Park was when I was taken to DollyWood as a young girl, so I was not so secretly hoping Norimae was the name of a little known Korean country music star and this trip to the park was about to rock my world.

Welp, it wasn't dedicated to K-Twang (which is what we need to all call Korean country music if it ever becomes a genre), but Norimae park was still pretty great. It's a very nicely kept park with a beautiful pond in the middle and all kinds of nice winding paths through manicured gardens. There was also a bunch of this:

Little nooks along the paths with instagram-worthy photo backdrops! This park knows its audience: young couples curating the perfect life in social media.

There was a sign that frequently popped up that read "usual path," which I found really funny. Does that mean the other direction is the unusual path?

I never did figure out what the volcanic bomb was. It was just a little path, from what I could tell...

My options were "Mrror funtain square" or "Traditional house" 

Yes, but is it THE way out?

The signs were helpful and entertaining all at the same time.

This was the gate to the traditional house

I was disappointed that I couldn't go in the traditional house!

Despite its nonchalant entrance that is sort of tucked into a curve in the road, this park was heavily attended on the day Sadie and I went. There was a school group of young kids who were having a great time intercepting Sadie and I as we meandered and practicing their English. All they could say was "Hello" which was right on par with my level of Korean vocabulary: "Annyang Haseyo" which means "Hello."

Gotta make the boyfriend take the perfect Instagram photo

As we wandered along we found a bonsai garden and a George Orwell novel. 

See what I did there?

Sadie was practicing her goat face

Hello goat! One day we will teach Sadie about the inhumanity of making two goats live in such a tiny enclosure.

She was unimpressed with the conditions, though the animals were being better taken care of than at DinoSaurLand Park, it seemed. 

HALLOWEEN!

Throughout our walk it was hard to tell if Sadie was asleep or just hiding from the sun. I think my child might be part lizard.

One of the photo backdrops featured fake Jeju tangerines tied to a real Jeju tangerine tree.

I'm glad to have discovered this little park so close to our house. It'll be a great little dose of nature between naps and I'm definitely adding it to my list of stops for friends and family when they visit.

Vicariously yours,

New little facets of our life

 Parenting:

So when I took Sadie for her orthopedic check up a few weeks ago, I was stopped by all kinds of Koreans who wanted to coo at my daughter. I can't blame them. She's a cute kid. One lady, though, went on and on at my in Korean while I was in the bathroom trying to situate Sadie and the diaper bag in such a way that I could access what I needed so I could pee. I gave her the universal I'm-sorry-I-don't-speak-Korean-and-I-have-no-idea-what-you-are-saying-also-I-really-have-to-pee-but-I-don't-want-to-be-rude expression, but she kept right on talking and gesturing at me and Sadie. I have no idea what she said, but she had a lot to say.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I'm talking to some of the new parents here and they tell me that it is Korean custom to not leave the house for the first 100 days of the baby's life and it clicks that maybe the lady in the bathroom was giving me what for because I had left the house with my tiny, clearly younger than 100 days old, baby! I'll never know, but now I think I have an idea of what folks might be trying to tell me.

 For how much Koreans love babies, they sure don't love modern parenting conveniences like changing tables in restrooms! This was the scene on the floor of Starbucks bathroom a few weeks ago while I was killing time between hospital appointments. I later found out from a local that Koreans have no shame about bodily functions, so they won't be surprised if I just change a diaper in the middle of a crowded room.

 While breastfeeding isn't exactly discouraged in Korea, it's not all that encouraged either. It's very odd where nursing rooms can be found here. For example, there were at least 3 breastfeeding rooms at DinoSaurLand and one in each of the larger grocery stores, but there wasn't one in the hospital! This was the scene in one of the stalls after the ultrasound appointment a few weeks ago. I don't think I would have been asked to leave or stop had I whipped out a boob in the waiting room, but I get the impression that Koreans are pretty conservative about breasts, so I figured I might as well find somewhere private.

Packaging:

It's funny that in a place where they are so particular about the trash, there is so. much. PACKAGING! A candy bar will have the outer wrapper and then a little paper box inside the wrapper. Frozen foods will have the outer plastic bag with the cooking instructions and such, and then another clear plastic bag inside that.

Some frozen fried rice I got at the convenience store down the street when our pantry was looking sparse and we didn't have a car yet. Seems simple enough. Should just have some fried rice inside, right?

Nope! A bag for the rice and ANOTHER bag for the sauce! And it's not like they had to be separated! The instructions were to open both bags and mix them together and then microwave the whole thing in the box. 

Some produce in this country is HUGE! We've discovered Asian pears which are soo yummy and juicy, but I picked them up initially because they are larger than softballs and I had to find out what they were like. The grapefruits and some of the oranges are also comically large. But then other things like potatoes or onions are really small! I can't figure it out.

 Grocery stores always fascinate me:

Sometimes there will be English on the labels. Sometimes they get it right. 

I don't know if it is a momentary fad, but Korea seems to be obsessed with corn dogs! I've never seen so many varieties of corn dogs, and I'm American! 

We were in the habit in Australia of buying recycled toilet paper. Made me feel better about the thrice hourly trips to the bathroom I was making in the last few months of my pregnancy. Yeah, recycled toilet paper appears NOT to be a thing here! In fact the packaging is very proud to say that the toilet paper is made with "virgin pulp." And they all come in mondo packs! Nothing smaller than 30 rolls. 

The snack food game is strong here. Lots of fun new flavors, but somehow they all come out just tasting sweet. "Spicy barbecue" just tastes like candy flavored potatoes with a hint of spice. Same for the seafood flavored stuff. I was a little disappointed! 

The Grandfather Stones

Sort of like the unofficial (or maybe official?) mascots of the island are these stones carved sometime in the 1700s. There doesn't seem to be any agreement on where exactly they came from or what they represent, but replicas of them are all over the place. One theory is that they were placed outside city and home gates to give protection and bring fertility. Because Jeju is a big destination for honeymooning Koreans, the fertility bit has really stuck and you see replicas of these guys in gift shops every where. 

Vicarously yours,

The neighborhood

We're right in the middle of Chuseok (roughly pronounced "chew-sock") break at the moment, so Tyler has the whole week off from school and we are enjoying a staycation. Chuseok is basically Korean Thanksgiving. There's more to it than that, but the holiday is celebrated with a big family gathering and a lot of eating, so the sentiment is the same.

Anyway, I thought I'd take this opportunity to show y'all what our new neighborhood looks like. We're living on an island off the coast of South Korea called Jeju. It is a largely agricultural place with one big city and a nice slow pace of life. I think it's going to be a great place to get our heads around this whole parenthood thing and soak up some good family time.

We're dog sitting while a friend is out of town for Chuseok, so I've been getting some quality time with the farms of Jeju.

There are big highways and major roads around the island, but there is also a web of small farm roads that often are barely one lane wide and follow the paths along the stone walls that separate the fields. It seems like every road is called "the farm road" by the expats here. I'll ask Tyler how to get to the grocery store closest to our house and he'll say something like, "You know the farm road? Take that."

...nevermind the fact that there is a farm road in literally every direction.

All the farm fields are lined with stone walls made of the igneous rock on the island. A Korean man next to me on the airplane here said that the rock on Jeju is really rare and people were visiting the island and collecting the rock, so the government made rock collecting illegal. Apparently you have to have a permit even to just pick up a stone you see on a morning walk and take it home with you. ...not sure how true that is because there seems to be no shortage of the rock now that I'm here.

The island is covered with these rows of greenhouses. Usually inside them is rows and rows of tangerine trees. I'm not sure what the crop in front of the greenhouses is. 

Loved this little precarious pumpkin growing on the stone wall. 

Jeju is famous for its tangerines. I'm ashamed to say that I've lived here for over a month now and I have yet to stop at one of the roadside fruit stands and buy some genuine Jeju tangerines. Now that we have a car I will have to make that a priority. Apparently they're ridiculously delicious.

Jeju also grows garlic and black pigs. I'm sure there's a more scientific name for the pigs, but everyone just calls them black pigs. They are, predictably, black but look like any other pig. People, including my husband, claim that the pork from the black pigs tastes different, but I haven't noticed. Tastes like pork to me, but I guess it's more fancy because it sure is expensive! Thankfully for our noses there aren't any pig farms near our house.

So that's what the typical backroads of Jeju look like! Tyler and I bought a car this weekend, so I'll be able to tool around and get some photos of the urban areas and beaches on the island soon.

Vicariously yours,