Katelyn and Gregory Haskins find their way through—and around—the world
Of course, this week was American Thanksgiving, which we missed dearly. We knew going in that this would be tough, but we vastly underestimated the scarcity of turkey in this country. We tried to fill the void, thus, with an Australian-themed American restaurant of choice, but alas Korean Outback was not up to par. Who knew they’d have kimchi on the menu?
I think this goes without saying, but in a twist of irony I’m going to anyway: it has been a tough year for Michigan football. I guess the depressed expectations and physical distance have dulled the pain for me—us—in particular, but no self-respecting Wolverine would say they haven’t come out of this season licking their wounds.
For those of you wondering about the weather here in Korea, you should know that we had our first snow today—and in a pretty big way with huge, soft flakes that certainly got my kindergartners excited. On a related note, it now takes a lot longer to get those kids out the door at “home time.”
On Tuesday we arrived at work only to realize that we had missed the memo on an important (unofficial) holiday: Pepero Day. Pepero, a chocolate-covered-breadstick-type-product is the gift of choice for your friends and classmates—and lucky for us, teachers too. The ostensible purpose of this whole ordeal remains unclear, but you can think of it like a cross between Valentine’s Day and Sweetest Day, although this doesn’t even try to seem genuine; it’s 100% pure, Grade-A marketing ploy, and the Lotte conglomerate couldn’t be happier about it.
So Greg and I had our first visitor this weekend! My dad hopped across the Yellow Sea from Shanghai and stayed with us for three wonderful days. He spent some time winning over the hearts of my kindergartners (they almost wouldn’t let him leave) and we, in turn, had fun trying to impress him in Seoul—not an easy task considering he is so well traveled. Nevertheless, we think we may have succeeded on the last day with a trip to the Noryangjin fish market and a live octopus lunch. I don’t think I can adequately describe how great it was to have my dad here for the weekend, but as always, the pictures will speak for themselves:
