The Dickinsons: Live from Seoul - Family Update January 08

Family Update - January 2008

With the coming of Christmas and New Year the Dickinsons in Seoul have officially all been in Seoul for 1 year. And what a strange and wonderful year it's been. As with the rest of the year, the final quarter found us happily buzzing about Seoul and the globe. Here's the monthly accounting of our activities...

Oct

October was one of my busiest months for work, with several visitor's from out of town stopping by Seoul mid-month and then I wrapped up the month with travel to the US for meetings spanning into November. It was, however, very nice to be home in Michigan for Halloween and check in on the house. Several people were a bit surprised to see me at the door handing out candy on All Hallow's Eve. My neighbors were good enough to have me over for a short Halloween party afterward though which was a great chance to chat with our friends in Waterford. A very busy trip home and not enough time after work for visiting with people. Still...hard to beat any trip to the states.

For the rest of the clan, there was of course Halloween (we had a black cat and a wizard in our midst this year) and there was no shortage of school and social activities. Nancy went to the kids school for both Halloween parties and also went to a pottery village here in Seoul with the other wives from the apartment. And while I was handing out candy in the US, Nancy and the kids went Trick-or-Treating at the apartment on a cold and blustery Halloween night (great time to go door-to-door indoors - hooray for apartment living). Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately) only the expats in Korea celebrate Halloween or I'm sure the kids could have managed to collect some really interesting goodies for the local homes.

Nov

As mentioned above, I started November on the road in the US and spent the first weekend of the month with a quick side trip to my Mom and Dad's place in North Carolina. We spent a nice couple of days doing a little Christmas shopping and I had a chance to see Dad's progress on the latest restoration work on the '68 Century Runabout as well as the latest progress on the airplane. Both look great. I even got a quick tour of the airport where Dad is working a bit and Patty and Tom Kent dropped in for a visit on my last day there so I was able to catch up with them for a while too. Mostly though it was just a great chance to spend some time with my folks as I was "in the neighborhood" (hey, at least there was no ocean between us - a 1.5 hour flight is nothing comparatively).

After a very short return to Korea (3 days), for me the next stop was Germany for a week of meetings . Unfortunately, there was no time for sightseeing and the weather was horrible (rain, cold, blah). So while it was a good business week, there are no photos to share with you this time and no stories. Unless of course you want to hear how Avis ripped me off for 145 euro's on a mirror I DID NOT scratch (ok, I'll spare you).

Josh stayed busy this month with school and his final soccer practices of the year. Josh played goal twice in the last few games (they rotate positions) and only allowed 1 goal. Soccer is quickly becoming a passion for Josh and he's now collecting soccer jerseys in addition to working on his soccer playing skills.

While Sarah had a fairly quiet month with mostly regular school activities, Nancy was out and about again. She attended a wine party with her Hillside cohorts (the other apartment complex wives) and she went with the kids to several school events including Thanksgiving feasts and Josh's Korean Days events (the elementary students spent a week studying Korean Culture.including a day where everyone dressed in traditional Korean outfits called Hanbok).

December

As the excitement mounted to Santa's visit on the 25th, we found ourselves with plenty to keep us busy. Nancy and I attended the AWC (American Women's Club) Christmas Ball at the Hyatt Grand Ball Room just around the corner from our apartment. It was a great time. The theme was an American Western Lodge and the Hyatt Main Ball Room was decorated to fit the part. Nancy and I gussied up - she in a stunning red dress and me in my new custom made Tuxedo from right here in Seoul. We looked stunning of course and had a terrific time. The food was great, the band was top notch and we partied away with our GM and Hillside Apartment cohorts until the wee hours. A fine night by all accounts.

Next up was Sarah's Middle School Christmas Concert - a 2 hour affair that included choir, band, orchestra and bells...very impressive. And of course there was Josh's Elementary School Christmas Concert - a 2 hour affair featuring singing, music and a full costume Christmas Story Re-Enactment.

Finally, we had Christmas day upon us and between Santa and the Grandparents we had one extremely well stocked Christmas tree loaded with gifts. Needless to say, that was a big hit and we spent a fantastic day relaxing and playing with all our new gifts and thinking of all of you back home.

On the 26th we really got busy and rushed off to recharge our batteries by flying out on a Korean Air 777 to Guam for what was to be a short 4 day fun-in-the-sun trip. After a great 4 days on the beach however, we had a last minute rescheduling when our not so welcome friend "Chuck" paid Nancy and Josh a visit and they both got very bad cases of the stomach flu in all it's glory just a couple hours before we were due to leave for Seoul. So, we scrambled about and ended up extending the trip until the 3rd so they could recover and Korean Air could find us seats on the sold out New Years flights. When all was said and done the extra days were welcome and "Chuck" didn't get in our way too much. I found it was very hard to complain once everyone was well and I was situated poolside in a lounge chair sipping a Pina Colada in the sunny weather.

Next up....

So far the new year is pretty much a clean slate. The kids are back to school on the 7th and Nancy will be off comparing Christmas travel notes and visiting the local sites with her buddies shortly after that.

I have no immediate travel plans although return business trips to China and India are very likely in the 1st quarter of the year as well as a possible trip to Australia. But, for the moment at least I've got no definitive plans to be out of town.

As for the rest of the year, we have Nancy's parents Art and Elaine visiting for certain in May so we are planning for that. Nancy and the kids will of course be heading home in late June and I'll arrive for a short time in late July. We'll let everyone know when and try to schedule time to catch up with as many of you as possible.

Also, somewhere during the year we want to see the Great Wall in China and I really want to get to Thailand with the family as well as possibly make a quick trip to Jeju Island here in Korea. And....well, there's only 2 years left on the 3 year assignment and there is so much to see and do here. I'm sure we won't be bored. Next update will be in March barring some urgent happenings.

As usual, for now...

An Young He Kah Say Oh.

("Go in peace" - Korean Goodbye)