Korean Bedding

Korean bedding is a little different from that in America. The sheets are thick and textured, no blanket, and the bedspread is thick and quilt-like. Also, my bed is quite firm. Softer beds may be available, and I KNOW that harder beds are available. I have been sleeping like this all my time here in Korea since Nov 2004. I have been reasonably happy with this, and I think the firm matress helps my back.

Well, I recently made two small changes to my bedding. First, I got a Korean electric blanket. Unlike in America, where the electric blanket goes OVER you, in Korea they are placed UNDER you like a matress pad. My plan with this was to not use the built-in floor heating. However, I've had it almost a week now and it has only been cold enough to use it one night!





But the biggest change I did almost as an afterthought. When we bought this bedding, the bedspread came with a plain white quilt-like insert to be used in the winter. As the bedspread itself is so thick, I don't remember ever using this insert. Well, the other day I decided to try it out. It was quite an ordeal - I had to turn the bedspread inside-out, and the quilt-like insert was tied in place using short strings provided. The big challenge was to then turn it back outside-in. Once I wrestled it back to normal, it was an amazingly heavy thing. When I sleep now, I am reminded of the lead aprons you wear when having an X-ray taken! I can't explain it, but I really enjoy the weight of this heavy bedspread on my as I sleep.



Here's a glimpse of the inner quilt:

Chrismas Turkey

Trevor and Mi-young at Beer O'Clock prepared a Christmas dinner for 25 of their customers last night. I don't know all the details, but apparently most if not all of the meal was procured from Costco. They baked two turkeys at their home, and I think cooked all the other food at the small kitchen in the bar. The result was most satisfying. Note to self - check out the frozen vegetable section at Costco - I think I missed that section during my previous visits.

Here is an example of the place settings:


Santa and Rudolf were in attendance:


Proof that there IS turkey in Korea:

Stumbling Senior?

Something terrible happened to me for the first time ever in my life yesterday. I went to the store, and received a SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNT!!!!! I feel just terrible.

Trip Wrapup

We had an excellent dinner the other night at CH's home. CH and HS prepared a delicious meal for The Stumbling Girls, and took great care to not serve anything spicy. Their effort was much appreciated. We really enjoyed their 11-month old girl ES, who is just about to learn to walk. I think within 1 month she will be running all over the place.







Here is YS#4 eating kimchee!!! She really gave it a try:


Me and Mrs. Stumbler eating duck:


Here are the girls as the prepare to head home:


And YS#4 on the plane:

Twilight Zone

The other night we had some weird things happening here at the officetel. Mrs. Stumbler and I were watching one of the DVD's from my movie collection, and Young Stumbler #4 was sound asleep (this is important to the story). First, I should say this movie was titled "Object or Beauty", which neither of us had heard of before. We looked up a review online. Some people hated it, some people loved it. But one reviewer said "this movie will never be shown on TV, so you can only see it on DVD".



Well, we began to watch the movie. During the movie, one of my two printers suddenly came to life, and printed out a piece of paper all by itself. We checked YS#4, who was sleeping and could not have printed it. We picked up the paper, and all it said was "2007/12/10". Shaken up, we ignored this and resumed watching the movie. A few minutes later, the OTHER printer suddenly printed out a piece of paper, this time a blank one! I think there is a ghost in my computer system somewhere.

Then finally the movie was over, and I switched to the TV and was flipping though the channels. I changed to one of the movie channels, and was surprised to see that the same movie, "Object of Beauty" was just ending on the movie channel! It had been showing on the movie channel AT THE SAME TIME as we were watching it on DVD! That's too weird for me...

As for the movie, it was okay, but not great. Let's just say that I won't be saving this DVD to watch again.

Curry Rice

I made some Curry Rice the other day, and took some photos along the way. This post is meant to encourage my friend John to cook up some of the Curry Rice packages that I mailed to him from Hawaii earlier in the year. If anyone wants the recipe please request in the comments and I'll email to you.

Carrots and Potatoes:


Onions and Peppers (my recipe calls for green peppers, but I didn't have one)


Cubed chicken - you can also use beef, shrimp, or even omit meat entirely.


Cook it


Boil the Curry Sauce


Add the meat and vegetables


Sorry, no final photo of the food. Too busy eating it to take a picture.

Pottery Arrived

The Stumbling Mother reports that her Korean Pottery finally arrived after a long journey across the Pacific Ocean. I must admit it looks really nice:

TSG in Seoul

The Stumbling Girls came to Seoul this week for a short visit. We haven't really done anything especially adventurous. We spent a whirlwind day shopping the day after they arrived, visiting Costco and E-Mart. Now the kitchen is fully stocked. Here are a few random shots of Young Stumbler #4...

Here she is struggling with her tennis shoes after eating dinner Tuesday night. These shoe laces continue to be a problem...


Making breakfast!!!


Waiting for our food at the Pancho's Mexican Restaurant in Itaewon (I hear there's a better place to try next time...)


We stumbled to the Korean National Museum after eating Mexican. Big mistake. Never visit this museum after eating a large lunch and on a weekend.