Back to Korea

On Friday morning, the Stumbling family (well, everyone but Young Stumbler's 1 and 2) left for Korea. I think the flight from Atlanta to Seoul gets longer each time I take it - just over 14 hours this time. Fortunately, we have the Leapster for YS#4, as you can see here.

Are We There Yet? 

We arrived Saturday evening, we were full of energy and ready for a long night (at least, that was my plan). My friends WJ and his finacee HJ met us, and shortly were joined by CH and his fiancee HS. The four of them, with one car and a minivan, were needed to take us to our apartment.

After dropping off the bags, we proceeded to one of our favorite pork barbeque restaurants. There we were joined by our friends JI, and SY and her boyfriend YT. It was a big party. The Stumblers are gradually being introduced to the Korea style of food and eating. We had a great dinner, and when it was over my family, unlike me, were suggesting that they were tired and sleepy. Since they are new to overseas travelling, I decided we should call it an evening and go home. I am glad I did, because on the drive home, I suddenly changed from wide awake to very sleepy myself.

Sunday began early, as Mrs. Stumbler and I woke up at 3am ready for the new day. The kids appeared unaffected by jetlag, slept until 7am or so. I prepared a combination breakfast - eggs, sausage and toast for eveyone else, sundubu jjigae (순두부찌개) for me - well, actually, SY had prepared that Saturday, and I just boiled it and added the eggs. After that we took it ease for a few hours. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get Mrs. Stumbler interested in the X-Man TV game show. But I think I can have YS#3 hooked on it after one more episode.

We hooked up with SY around lunch time and took the train up to Insadong (인사동) for some easy sight seeing. We walked and shopped about the first 1/2 of the area before turning back for lunch. I insisted we locate a western restaurant, and we found a pasta place that after sitting down, we realized catered mainly to women. The style and decor were very feminine, and I was only one of about 4 men in the whole place. We enjoyed various pizzas and pasta dishes, and were a little full after we were done - the waitress told us that one pizza only served 1 person, but in fact it was a two-person pizza. Then we returned back for more strolling and shopping. By about 4pm we were well worn out, and headed back to the apartment.

Traditional Korean Bride's Wedding Car 

YS#4 and her new friend SY 

Can't Keep Those Shoes Tied 

Mrs. Stumbler and YS#3 Resting Their Feet for a Moment 

Korean Flute Maker and Player 

So, after our first fun-filled day, we all crashed and slept soundly. At some point the rest of the family woke up and had a light dinner, while The Stumbler, being a seasoned international traveller, who never has problems with the time zone changes, slept through the night.