The Dickinsons: Live from Seoul

Family Update - September 2007

Well, almost a full year under our belts and Seoul is definitely home to us now. Moving about the city now has become, well, as easy as it gets in a city of 18-24 million and while there are always surprises we seem to have less and less now. Here's an account of the highlights of our last few months...

June

School finished up with some nice activities for the kids with Sarah going to Caribbean Bay Waterpark for her year end field trip and Josh getting swim lessons at the school. After school ended, Nancy and the kids spent a couple weeks catching their breath and enjoying the city a bit. This included a trip to the skating rink and using the inflatable pool our apartment manager purchased for the kids to use with temps running up to about 30-32 C (er...86 to 90 F) and humidity creeping up around 90 percent. Lucky for them they boarded a plane to Detroit on the 28th of June and beat the start of the monsoons by a week or so.

For me, June saw an increase in my work schedule and more travel. This time it was off to Germany for 10 days with my GCA staff Sandeep and BH. A good trip and as usual Germany was beautiful (this was my 3rd trip there in the last 2 years).

July

Back in the US, Nancy and the munchkins got back into the US swing of things by visiting some old friends and learning to shop again without haggling (ahhhhhh). Art, Elaine and Sandy (Nancy's parents and sister) came down and helped her open up the house in Waterford (our "Vacation Home" - always wanted one of those or at least that's the attitude I'm taking since we couldn't sell it) and stayed for a few days to help Nancy, Sarah and Josh celebrate the 4th of July.

While Nancy and the kids adjusted back to the US, I held the fort in Asia for a couple of weeks at work including a quick 3 day trip to Thailand again with Sandeep and BH to host our AP audit workshop. Unfortunately for me, Thailand was well into Monsoon season, so while I did get to do a little shopping, there was little time for sightseeing and the steady drizzle (and occasional downpour) made photos touch and go. Even so I saw enough to shortlist Thailand for a return trip with the wife and kids during our time here.

After a quick return to Korea, I jetted off to Detroit to join Nancy and the kids around mid-month. My mom and dad arrived in Detroit on the same day I arrived which made for a very nice reunion. This got even better when Jason (my brother) joined us a few days later and we all had a chance to attend my cousin Tim's wedding and spent time with the Sudz side of the family.

But July still had a week to go after that so we said sad goodbyes to our families and our little family of 4 headed off for a week of frolicking with The Mouse. That's right, a quick plane ride to Orlando and 6 days of fun and sun in Walt Disney World. Staying at the Polynesian and visiting Epcot, MGM and the Magic Kingdom we had a ball with a couple days of just hanging at the pool thrown in for good measure. We even had a chance to ride with the driver in the cab of a Monorail. A nice time for all of us to just spend some time together and relax and decompress.

Unfortunately, even with all that we left much to do undone and for those of you we didn't catch up with in our July marathon visit, all we can say is "Sorry" and "we'll catch you on the next trip". We learned a bit on how to make this trip more efficient and next time we'll be better able to organize things.

August

We all returned together to Korea on August 3rd. For me this meant a return to work and for Nancy and kids, after one week back they were back to school (yeap one month before all you folks in the states). Sarah started her new school year in Middle School as a 6th grader and Josh is now on to 1st grade. While not with out a few bumps and thumps, the new school year has started pretty well and everyone has settled back into a routine of sorts already.

Compared to other months, August was one of our more dull times here. Monsoon season lingered on through almost the entire month (booooooo) so we all got used to carrying an umbrella everywhere and I think Josh may have actually gotten tired of jumping in puddles (ok, that would be exaggerating). I can also tell that the same rule that works everywhere else in the world, also works here...don't bring an umbrella and it will poor on you, bring one and it won't rain a drop.

Anyway, the rain finally lifted in the last few days and we did manage to get a couple of good activities in. For one, the school hosted an open house day and we dropped in to see the school and get our free squirt guns. What a ball! Someone at the school had really been using their heads. With temps and humidity hovering in the upper 90's, giving all the kids squirt guns and giving them the run of the soccer field as a simple all afternoon activity was fantastic. Parents got doused by kids, kids got doused by parents...it was a great time.

The day after the great squirt gun battle, we finally had a chance to use our membership to Seoul Club (a local country club GM provides us membership to). We had struggled to get our membership activated which finally happened when we returned, and rain kept us away until the final week of September, but the clouds broke for a nice sunny day and a pool party for the membership. We had a great time just floating around and eating Mexican food (the party theme) all day. Reminded me of a day spent at Red Run with my Grandparents as a kid. Fun, fun, fun.

September

September kicked off with a trip to India for me. I'll leave most of this discussion to the "travel's" section but it was an interesting trip. A full week in India was interesting and the food and the people I work with there are fantastic. But it's not the kind of place I'll plan a recreational visit to. Unfortunately, the most common thoughts I can share on India would center on the words "poor" and "unkempt". Some would say that's being kind. None would likely say those are exaggerations. While I'm glad I went and that I made some very good new friends there. I'm not going to be anxiously awaiting a return visit.

At the end of September all enjoyed a nice vacation week for the Korean holiday of Chusok. This is when Koreans gather together with their family and give thanks to their ancestors and for the year's bountiful harvest. It's sort done up like the US Thanksgiving holiday only with out the football games to watch (several women coworkers here tell me that the women cook and clean all day and the men sit about and watch baseball or Joku - foot volleyball - so really almost EXACTLY like US Thanksgiving).

The family and I took this time to see a bit more of our local sites. We visited the 63 building (tallest building in Korea - 63 stories), Drove to the Northwest coast, hiked in Buhkansan National Park, and visited the walled city of Suwon. All in all a very relaxing pleasant vacation.

Next up....

Well there's lots on the horizon for us as usual. I have several trips for business although nothing exotic - the US at the end of October and Germany in November. Also, we are hoping to wrap up the year with a Christmas trip. So far we are thinking of Thailand, Vietnam or Guam for a sun, pool and beach trip or possibly hitting Japan for some skiing and to see the infamous snow monkey hot ponds (what, you've never heard of this?).

In between we'll do the usual bevy of school activities and we are also hoping to attend an Embassy Ball or two. More and more and more to come and, of course, the unexpected is never far away here.

For now...An Young He Kah Say Oh.

("Go in peace" - Korean Goodbye)