Month: May 2016

Is it broken?: An unsuspecting nose and finger.

/ Ali Craft / Leave a comment

We are those people. Injured? Sick? We head straight to google. Need an x-ray? Nah. We are more self-diagnoses kind of people…at least until things get really bad.

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That brings us to a few weeks ago. If you are not in close contact with middle schoolers, you may not know this but, they have a very limited attention span. So here’s the scene. We have been learning basketball in P.E. class, so we were warming up with a game of knockout, and I decided to play. I will not bore you with the details of the game if you are unfamiliar, but I will suffice it to say that the sweet, sweet, angel of a student in front of me got distracted while waiting to receive the ball, saw the ball coming at the last second…and…ducked. There I am with about .5 seconds to respond and I tried to get my hands out to catch the ball but Just. Didn’t. Make it. Poor, poor little {wedding} ring finger never saw it coming. I promptly removed my ring so as to not have to cut it off later, and continued to play until I won, because duh.

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Seen here heroically finishing a blog post.

Four days after the tragic finger incident, there was the nose incident. It was Monday afternoon and we had just gotten home from school and were frantically getting ready for dinner plans with some friends. I needed to shower so I laid out clothes for Judah and Isaac started getting him dressed. Just as I got out of the shower, Isaac came in to the bedroom holding Judah by the hand and says, probably more sternly than I have ever heard him speak, “You need to discipline Judah.”, to which I responded “Um…in general orrrr did something happen?”. Somebodyyy may accuse me of occasionally being a softy, so I didn’t know if I was just getting a general verbal spanking. Apparently while he had been holding Judah in his lap to put his shirt on, Judah had not-so-thoughtfully thrown his head backwards, directly into daddy’s nose. My initial response? Let’s not talk about that. I took Judah by the hand, and disciplined as sternly as I could through tears from laughing at the absurdity of our lives.

In lieu of going directly to the doctor we:

  1. Googled.
  2. Called nurse friends.
  3. Looked at old pictures to see “if his nose had always been that crooked”.
  4. Called our super speedy local family doctor and asked “ya, I know you don’t have an X-ray machine, but dontcha think if we stopped by you could tell if it was broken just by looking?” (After all, the doctors office was on our way to our dinner plans.)

We called our friends to let them know that we would still be there, just maybe a little late pending the decision to go to the hospital…Isaac made the official call, after reading that rarely is there permanent damage done by not seeking immediate medical attention, so we skipped the doctor and proceed directly to our fried chicken dinner with friends. #priorities (FYI, fried chicken is hugely popular in Korea).

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Isaac eating chicken (if you look closely, his nose is crooked)

UPDATE: We still don’t know if either were officially broken, because you have to go to the doctor to know that. Isaac’s nose is fine, it was bruised for a few days and it is just recently not tender to the touch. I can’t bend my finger fully and it still hurts, and most regrettably I can’t wear my lovely wedding ring. But hey, things could be worse, we could be stranded in an airport with two kids and 40,000 Koreans…

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Until next time…

 

{Part THREE} The final chapter of our (NOT) quick trip to Jeju.

/ Ali Craft / Leave a comment

The never-ending blog post of the never-ending “quick” trip is coming to a close. And all God’s people said, amen!

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(If you missed part 1 or part 2, here ya go)

The next morning, after a restless night of sleep, we headed down for breakfast and to see if any headway had been made in flights. We were told that we had new flights scheduled for 7pm, and that we would check out the hotel by 12 and kill time until heading to the airport. We thought we would try and get the boys to take an early nap since we would be on the go for the rest of the day, which resulted in 2 hours of telling Judah to lay down while we sat in a pitch black hotel room. We stored our bags at the hotel and headed off to lunch.

Then it was off to find some formula for Asher just in case of emergency, of all the things we can make do without, soy formula is NOT one of them. We flagged a taxi outside of the restaurant, carefully jumped in with Judah still in the hiking pack, and just as we started to move I remembered: THE PACI! I vividly remembered it falling under the table at the restaurant and thinking, oh I’ll get it later. In that chaotic moment, my minimal Korean came to mind and I hollered, “Ki-dah-ryo-ju-se-yo!” (WAIT, PLEASE!). I threw open the taxi door, ran back inside, ducked under the table, grabbed the paci, and was back in the taxi in seconds. Considering that was the only paci we brought, and they don’t sell the kind Asher likes in Korea, that could have been very very bad.


We got to the grocery store with no problem, and found the formula we needed. Victory! We were a little bummed out that we had forgone site-seeing to get formula, so we figured we would wander around for a little bit before catching a taxi back to the hotel and then heading to the airport. We were pleasantly surprised to find the ocean directly behind the store. Which brings me to another favorite memory from the trip. In the last month Judah has taken to calling any liquid, milk. Cup of juice? Milk. Water fountain? Milk. Judah had been asleep in the hiking pack after finally giving up the fight while shopping. We were walking along the ocean front when he wakes up and seeing the ocean, yells “MILK!!!”. Not quite, buddy.

We made it back to hotel to meet the group, grabbed our bags, and hopped in a taxis to the airport; we were so close to being home. {cries quietly}

Ok. I can’t even keep this up anymore. We get to the airport and get all checked in. This was the scene. People as far as the eye could see. Us and 40,000 of our closest friends trying to get off of this island. (At one time, the flight from Jeju to Seoul was the most heavily trafficked air route in the world.)

We made our way through security to realize that we hadn’t even seen the half of it.

The next six hours looked a bit like this:

  • Lines so long at the bathroom you just resolve yourself to be dehydrated. No line for the men’s bathroom because, duh.
  • Getting stepped on/over and almost going all mama bear crazy because people are about to step on your sleeping baby.

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  • A toddler that refused to nap/sleep because there was obviously a party to partake in.

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  • Koreans finding cardboard boxes to break down to sit on to avoid sitting directly on the ground. You should know that as shoes are taken off when entering the home, they are apparently also taken off before stepping on your cardboard box… that you got from the trash.

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  • No real nutrition, as airport restaurants ran out of food, leaving us to share snacks from duty free. Macadamia nuts, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and dried mango do not a dinner make.
  • Leaning back to back with Isaac to find some reprieve.

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  • Ajummas (Korean grandmas) that kept giving Judah food. While the rest of us may have gone without dinner, Judah certainly did not. There was fried chicken, kimbap (let’s just say it’s like sushi), cookies, rice cakes, candy, more cookies. Because if there is one thing that a sleep deprived child needs it is sugar. Isaac would try and take a bite and then give Judah only half, but the adjummas weren’t having it, so they would give him two the next time. Also fun, is when they offer him something he doesn’t like, so I try to keep him from spitting it or at least don’t let them see it, so what happens? They offered him more, while I sat there discreetly holding the last half chewed bite they gave him…

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…so we showed up to the airport at 4:30pm for our 7pm flight. That became a 9pm flight. That became a “please come check later for info on your flight” flight. At 10:45pm, among shouts of joy and possibly actual tears, we boarded our plane home. Now, THIS was the happiest we have ever been to see a plane.

We made it home just after 2 am. We are alive, and have since recovered from the illnesses we somehow ended up with after our relaxing getaway. It was one of those events that is so traumatizing, that the group was bonded together for life, so to my Jeju trip family and the ones of you that have stuck through this whole story and are now equally scarred:

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{Part TWO} Did we survive? The conclusion of our trip to Jeju island.

/ Ali Craft / 1 Comment

Day 2 of our trip: ~2am in a dark hotel room in Jeju island, Korea:

Isaac- “Are you shaking the bed?”

Ali- “What?? Huh?? No…”

(we were both confused but fell right back to sleep)

It was only when we woke up to a text from my dad asking if we had heard about the earthquake in Japan that it all came together. Luckily we were far enough away to only feel the small tremors, but it was certainly erie to realize that we are all at the mercy of “mother nature”. Anyways, let’s just say that the tone had been set for a day full of unexpected moments…

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Site of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake- Japan’s Kyushu Island

We were up early and headed back to the hotel restaurant for a buffet breakfast, thankfully with plenty of “western options”. You guys, if I have not mentioned before, let me just tell you, of all the things we love about Korea, Korean breakfast is not one of them. Basically, Korean breakfast looks the same as Korean lunch and Korean dinner, and 8am is just a little too early for these people to be eating kimchi.

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After breakfast, we loaded up the vans and were off to a day of adventuring and hiking. Rain had been forecasted so our faithful tour guide suggested that we follow the planned schedule as long as we could, and reevaluate if it started raining. Cue rain.

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Our new plans were announced within minutes and we were off to Aqua Planet: Jeju. Going to the largest aquarium in all of Asia as your back-up plan isn’t too shabby. It was Judah first visit to the aquarium out of utero (and let’s be honest, that view wasn’t the best), so we were excited to take him. We also made it the whole way to the end with Judah and Asher in there respective carriers, which was a major victory; we got to actually look at fish as opposed to herding kiddos.

Luckily, we beat most of the crowds by going first thing in the morning; as we left I am confident that no less than 75% of the population of Korea had shown up.

Then is was lunch time, our favorite. We had our pick of two of Jeju’s most popular foods, black pork (from a kind of pig native to Jeju) or fish. I will say that while in the States, Isaac and I are huge fans of seafood, we generally steer clear of it here as it often refers to squid (don’t think yummy calamari) or “fishy” fish that we have never heard of served with bones. While in America we almost always eat our fish filleted, it is said that Koreans like to eat it on the bone as it seems more fresh. Well, you do you, Korea. So we, and all the rest of our group chose pork which came with a variety of other proteins. It was served in the traditional Korean barbecue style, around a small grill with a retractable vent hood, where we cook the food ourselves.

Sweet baby Asher had fallen fast asleep right as we pulled up to lunch, in true baby form. I just planned to do the mom thing and eat with one arm, but our tour guide asked the waiters if we could make a pallet for him out of the floor cushions in the floor dining section. They happily obliged. When we sat down to eat, all the tables around him were empty, but they quickly filled, and as the ajummas (the name for older ladies in Korean) got seated at the tables near him they couldn’t help but crowd around to take a look and readjust his blanket. It was all in good nature, but thankfully our tour guide made sure that they didn’t disturb him (other wise I would have had to go all mama bear “DO YOU KNOW WHEN THE LAST TIME HE TOOK A GOOD NAP WAS” on them). Crisis averted.

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Next up was the Haenyeo Museum. The term haenyeo refers to female divers that dive for shellfish, seaweed, etc., without the use of diving equipment (their only tools are googles, a basket for their catch, and something to help them balance). This is a tradition that has been practiced for hundreds of years.

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To this day, although the tradition is dying out, there are still many women that continue the trade. The funny thing is that since this kind of work is becoming less popular, the ladies that still participate are even as old as 80+ years. Our tour guide’s aunt is a haenyeo that still practices at the age of almost 70. These women are basically rockstars.

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Sorry, I couldn’t help but put that gif there. Moving right along. By the time we left the museum, it was a full on downpour outside. We bundled up the kids in their carriers, and made a mad dash for the bus, the kids laughing hysterically as they bounced around. We were wet and tired and all ready to be on a plane headed back home. HA. Ha. ha.

We loaded up the bus and were headed to the airport, until the bus pulled over unexpectedly. Everyone began to murmur, wondering why we had stopped. Then there was a quiet announcement at the front of the bus, our flight had been cancelled due to weather. Cue one of the funniest parts of the trip. I turned around to make sure that the people behind me had heard the news; we would not be sleeping in our own beds that night.

Me: “did you guys hear the news?”

Ladies: with two thumbs up and big smiles “ya, we are stopping to get coffee!”

Me: “uhh, ya, but did you hear about our flights?”

Ladies: “wait, what???”

Needless to say I had to be their bearer of bad news, but on the other hand, we now had plenty of time to kill at a coffee shop while people tried to make us new arrangements. Our colleagues and their caffeine habits have certainly helped fuel our “coffee is life” fire.

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Our hosts made us new arrangements near the airport, so off we went to grab a few snacks and dinner before dropping off us at the hotel.

We got to our hotel feeling especially exhausted and whiney, only to find our previous night’s spacious accommodations were a thing of the past; we would be sleeping Lucy and Ricky style in separate twin beds. We made a bed for Judah halfway in the closet, and called for a crib to be sent up, only for them to send the world’s largest porta-crib to our world’s smallest room. The air in the room had also not been switched over from heat to cool yet, so it was a balmy 83 degrees. Opening the window was also not an option because the bad weather brought wind gusts over 50 mph, and the window would just slam shut. We thought we could out smart the wind by propping open the window, only to create a room sized whistle as we channeled that 50 mph wind through our room and under the crack of our front door.

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I only considered breaking the window and using this 5 times.

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You are likely looking for the escape hatch from this post, I too feel your pain. I will stop for now, and if you are looking to put off doing something you hate more than reading this story that will never end, stop on by next time for the real conclusion of our trip to Jeju.

 

P.S. I’m not sure where this should logically go in the story, but it is worth mentioning that as we entered our hotel, we were greeted by a family of giant Asian teddy bears. Ali out. *Mic drop*

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{Part ONE} A “Quick” Trip to Jeju Island

/ Ali Craft / 2 Comments

This story is so absurd, it wrote itself; please enjoy our sufferings. After our pretty intense escapade to the Philippines, we thought an overnight trip to Jeju, a small volcanic island off Korea’s southern coast, would be just the thing. All the older/wiser/people with a brain, are welcome to go ahead and start laughing now. Our school is part of a foundation of Korean foreign schools, that so kindly host trips each year to show the staff Korea. Our trip began with a 5:30am departure, no big deal after our 3am departures to and from the Philippines; the kids were champs. Never mind me leaving my phone on the bus in the chaos of unloading, thankfully it was a bus from our school, and Korea is well known for the fact that if you lose something, odds are good that someone will turn it in. Yay, Korea. Now, just look at that happy bunch.

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We got all checked in and were given our boarding passes, which is when we realized that we were already supposed to be boarding, and so the adventure began. You must know how this story goes, we are in a massive hurry so of course, the security line has never been longer or slower.

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I am still wondering if I will ever be able to go through security without breaking out in a sweat from wrangling bags, children, boarding pass, etc. I have no doubt that I looked as though I had just run a marathon, or died trying.

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Isaac waited for all of our bags to come of the conveyer at security while I took off running with Asher in his Ergo baby carrier and holding Judah, as though the large group of Americans wasn’t drawing enough attention. We are so obviously the poster children for traveling with kids.

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We made our flight by some miracle and the awesome Korean speakers in our group that could fully communicate our distress. We thought we would never be so happy to see a plane……….(there just really aren’t enough … in the world for this, so we will just keep moving)

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We made it to Jeju and were met by our wonderful hosts. We loaded up on the busses and headed off down the rocky coast to breakfast as our tour guide told us all about the island.

FYI: This is the beautiful Korie, fellow teacher and child wrangler extraordinaire, whose help is the only reason we didn’t consider jumping off one of the scenic cliffs.

 

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This was the scene at breakfast. Our efforts to get stranded there and spend the day staring at that view and drinking coffee were thwarted by our ever patient bus driver. After we had been nourished and most importantly, caffeinated, it was off to the bonsai tree garden.

It was so nice and relaxing. Although we love Seoul, there is a rather large problem with air quality especially during spring, so walking through the garden had us all like:

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Next up was the traditional tea ceremony at the tea gardens. One of the things that Jeju is know for is for its tea crops, especially green tea. Isaac and I took turns attending the ceremony since apparently children, boiling water, and ceramics don’t mix. While I did my tea thing, Isaac changed diapers and wrangled kids, and while Isaac did the ceremony, Judah and I made soap, sounds fair right?

Next was a delicious lunch of Korea barbecue. There was a beautiful pool on the patio that the boys had some fun splashing in.

Just when we were ready for a nice long nap in the sun, it was time for a nice windy hike up a hill with fussy kids. We got a late start up the hill as we had diapers to change and caffeine to chug (have you noticed that our move to Korea has increased our reliance on Jesus and caffeine??). From the end of this trail you could see the two small islands that are the southernmost part of Korea. Fun fact: Jeju was the last strongholds that Japan had at the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea before they were completely driven out.

We opted out of the next sight seeing venture (a cliff or something) to let the kids nap on the bus. We did get off long enough to poke around the tourist shops selling the popular Jeju treats: oranges, green tea, chocolates, vitamin C tablets from Jeju oranges, sea cucumbers…guys, this is a real thing, and bleh. We “sadly” missed out when the group tried this. If you haven’t heard of this sea creature, you just need to google it.

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Then it was off to the hotel to get settled. We had a lovely room and a balcony with a killer view.

Dinner was a buffet at the hotel restaurant complete with crab legs, yes, please. We ate our fill, and then some, and just when the kids started to make a scene (read: after) we headed out to the let the kid(s) run around.

We finally headed back to our room for the night and happened upon and interestingly labeled door. I try to live without regrets, but I don’t know that I will ever forgive myself for not giving this a go…I mean really, the fact that this stuff is still around in 2016 makes me happy and concerned at the same time. Something tells me that Koreans must not be quite as “lawsuit-happy” as us Americans…

 

We got the kids in bed and may or may not have been asleep before our heads hit the pillows…that was until the earthquake.

Is she serious? Did we survive? Did all of our fun plans get rained out? Did our flight get cancelled? And then delayed? And then the airport ran out of food???? I guess you will just have to tune in next time for the conclusion of our “not so quick” trip to Jeju island.