June 12th

The past few days have just been crazy. I took more pictures to post but I've got to send all the pictures to my email so I can delete the "old" ones on the camera. It's makes it more difficult to download them on the computer if I don't delete the old ones. So, I'll try to get them all done this weekend.

Kids are loosing up and starting to venture out. Muriel is really liking her Tae Kwan Doe class now. We have finally convinced the kids to wear only their underwear under their uniforms. They keep complaining that they are HOT. Well, wearing 2 layers of clothing will make you hot when exercising. Mikey is getting the idea that behaving is a good idea. He's getting better. The car rides are still hard for him. The kids know the way to school and help me make sure I get there right. I've taken a wrong turn a couple of times and ended up arriving later than usual. It also didn't help that Mikey unbuckled and got his middle finger caught in the hole of the buckle! I had to find a place to pull over and take care of him. He was screaming about it too. I told him to leave the seat belt alone! People were looking at me weird too. No one could figure out what I was doing so they just stared at us while passing by. I'm sure they thought I was beating my child due to his screaming.

The kids are finding the street vendors very interesting. We see a lot of fresh seafood and fish fresh out of the water. Mikey screamed like a little girl when this lady picked up a live crab to show it to the kids. He actually ran behind me and hid! Jessica and I could only laugh. Muriel wanted to know if the fish were still alive. Those fish are covered in ice, do you really think they are alive? Muriel only giggled and said no then pointed out the fish with the bait sticking out of its mouth. Another lady was selling dried fish and shrimp. Oh, those stink! You'll see squid and seaweed too. It's crazy to see a nearly stack of seaweed dried in sheets almost 2 feet thick. Lillian likes squid jerky and routinely asks for it. So, every time she sees it on the street, she wants to get it. We absolutely will not get anything from street vendors. Lord knows when the last time they washed their hands.

There's animal hospitals all over too. You think it looks like a pet shop because the dogs and cats have colored feet and tails. We've seen a white cat with yellow and orange feet and a green tail! The white dog had yellow and orange feet and wiggled it's stubby little tail at us thru the front window. It's crazy. I know people will color their own hair but animals are not to be fluorescent! The girls think they are pretty and Mikey just laughs at the animals. He thinks it's hysterical to see dogs and cats multi colored.

Amongst the street vendors was the dumpster diving sales (that's what we call it). It's where the stores put out bins of clothes, socks, shoes etc. We headed for the shoes. I wanted to find Lillian a pair of sneakers with high sides so her insert will fit in the shoe without her foot falling out the top. Muriel cruised the high heels because the women here have tiny feet. So tiny that Muriel can fit the high heels! Mikey thought the colors were pretty and kept showing us pretty shoes and asking Muriel if she wanted this shoe or that shoe. Muriel would bring me shoes she thought I should wear. Well, my foot is too big for all of the shoes. If you wear a size 3, 4, 5, or 6 this is the place for you to buy shoes- cheap!

I did buy Lillian a pair of sneakers plus another pair the next size up. The lady kept telling us the shoes where too big. Koreans only buy what fits now. They don't buy the next size up ever. So, this lady wasn't happy when I put a pair of shoes on Mikey that were the next size up. I didn't buy them. I thought they looked ugly on him. I know, I'm being picky.