The Day After

We made it through our first night with Alex.  Dana had the rough end of the deal as she slept next to him and comforted him when he cried.  I could hear his upset cry when he woke up - the emotions he must be feeling and not understanding is hard to bear.  I wish I could explain it all to him and tell him it will be alright, but only time will answer some of those questions and heal the pain.

So we started our day groggily.  Cami and I went for a little walk looking for breakfast.  We decided on a Paris Baguette place nearby and got a sampling of items for everyone to eat.  Despite the name, it is Korean based bakery that seems to be everywhere you find food.  The menu items don't scream "Korean food" as it is a bakery.  The favorite one was kind of like a pig in a blanket - a long sausage in a bread with slits.  It was over a foot long so they asked if I wanted it cut and they used a scissors to cut it into bite sized pieces.  Using scissors in Korean kitchens is quite common.

After breakfast, we slowly got moving and made the trip to Lotte World again.  On our previous visit, we had run across a little booth where you can rent hanboks and have your picture taken.  You pay for the hanbok rental and then you can take pictures with your own camera.  Originally, we had wanted to get portraits done by the photographer that did our gotcha day pictures, but with the cold weather our outdoor options were limited and we also had no idea how Alex would adjust and what kind of schedule we'd be on.  So we chose this option as the investment was less and we could do it more on our own schedule.

It took us a while to get all dressed up in Korean royal garb and as our family got changed, a crowd started to grow.  I'm not sure if a crowd gathers for all people who get their picture taken or not, but perhaps it was the cute toddler we had in tow.  I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with the fact that two, tall fair skinned Americans had four Korean-born children.  But it didn't matter and the pictures turned out well.

It's good to be king and queen.

After that, we got lunch at the Lotte World food court.  That was an experience itself.  The food court appeared to have several different restaurants  but we couldn't figure out to order food as there was only one place to order and it was not near the restaurant where we wanted our food.  Fortunately, the cashier explained the system to Dana.  You order at the cashier from any of the restaurants n the food court, they give you a buzzer, and then when the buzzer goes off, you go to the appropriate restaurant to pick it up.  So we got our food ordered and then found a place to sit.  Ben and I went to find a better place and while we were away, the buzzers started going off.  Dana, with Alex, Ian and Cami in tow was trying to figure out how to get the food when a young man who worked in the food court must have had pity on her and went to get the food for her.  When he returned, another buzzer had gone off and Cami handed it to him.  So we had our food delivered.

Ben's meal at the Lotte food court

After we finished, we weren't quite sure how to return the trays as it appeared you should return the trays to the restraunt where the food came from.  Since we hadn't picked it up and we weren't quite sure how to read the receipts, this could have been a challenge.  But once again, a young man appeared and cleaned up our mess.  I'm not sure if it was pity or sheer kindness or what, but we really appreciated that help and it's a reminder that whenever we see a foreigner from another country visiting the USA, we should do what we can to help them out.

With our tummies full, we went to the Lotte World ice rink for skating.  All the kids, with the exception of Alex, were up for trying skating.  However, Ian was still too young and Ben changed his mind at the last minute.  So it was Cami and I for some skating.  We both started out pretty shaky, but by the end Cami had really improved.  A few lessons or practices and she'd be proficient on skates.  While we were skating, Dana and the boys played a shooting game and visited the nearby Pororo stores.

Ian shooting to win a prize

Cami and Daddy skating

After we finished up skating and a bit of shopping, we took the subway back to our guest house, regrouped, continued packing, and then walked down the street to dinner at the place where we had gotten take out.  We ordered a variety of dishes.  The place is a bit small and fairly busy so we took up a fair amount of space and Alex was being pretty busy.  At one point near the end of the meal, he grabbed my bowl and flung it to the ground.  That was a bit embarrassing and a reminder that a split second of inattention with a toddler can lead to trouble.

On the way back we stopped at a convenience store to get some water and juice and then finished the short walk back to our guest house.  We did some more packing - trying to fit everything into a suitcase was a challenge - while getting everyone ready for bed.  Tomorrow we leave for home! 

We never really got organized in the guest house!  It felt like we unpacked so we could repack.