Good-bye Korea

Somehow, amazingly, all our bags are packed and we're just minutes away from checking out of our hotel to head to the airport for our flight back to America. I really wanted to take a minute before we leave Korea to reflect on our two years here. I really am quite sad to leave. I've really come to love living here, but we are very excited for this next stage in our lives which will see us moving to Utah so David can get his MBA at BYU.

David and I both felt that we needed to come to Korea. Soon after we arrived here, I got the impression that my purpose in being here was to learn to love the people of Korea, and Asia in general. And I really have. I have come to love the people of Asia, I have loved the countries I have visited here--Korea, Taiwan, and China--and leave with a great respect for Korean culture, language, and history.

Before moving here, I didn't really care much for Asian history, art, or languages. I much prefered American and European cultures. I won't say that I don't still prefer Europe (because I probably always will) but I've been amazed at how much I do love Asia. Which is a very good thing, because David wants to come back to Asia to work and live someday. Now, I know that I can gladly and happily live in Asia. I'll probably stalk Asians now, right along with David.

I'm grateful for the chance I had to tutor some adorable Korean children and teach them English. They made me love Koreans. I am grateful for the friends we made here--Korean and American--who I will miss tremendously. I am grateful that Zara was born here (I think it's so cool that she gets to say she was born in Korea) and I am grateful that I learned how to be a mother here. I have learned a great deal here. I think you can always be learning and growing, but I feel that I've grown in leaps and bounds here. It's truly amazing.

And now, because we have to go check-out of our hotel, I'll leave you with this beautiful video of the city I have come to love:

Seoul Time Lapse 2011 from Oh Choong Young on Vimeo.

Good-bye Seoul. I know I'll be seeing you again someday.

Cameras and Things

I can neither confirm nor deny that we have recently come into a little bit of extra money.

I can also neither confirm nor deny that this supposed extra money is burning a hole in our pockets, begging to be spent.

But I can confirm that we went to the Yongsan Electronics Market this morning and walked away with this little beauty:
It's a Nikon D5100 DSLR camera. I've wanted to upgrade from our point and shoot camera for quite some time and now seemed liked the perfect time to do it. I want to capture better photos of my adorable baby before she's no longer a baby which--at the rate she's going--will be sometime next week. Plus, we're about to embark on the Malone's Rediscover America Super Awesome Roadtrip! (TM) and it seemed only right that we should have a better way to document the beauty of America.

It came down to the Nikon D5100 and the Canon Rebel T3i. They both are great cameras and very comparable in features, price, and photo quality. I went with the Nikon because I just like Nikons (having used them before) and because the Rebel series doesn't exist in Korea. I saw some that looked like the Rebel but they were called Kios. Korea is all weird like that but I'm still going to miss it a whole huge big bunch.

The salesman snapped this photo as we were buying our camera today. He was very nice and even threw in a camera bag for free.

But as David reminded me, we probably just paid his rent for the month.

I can't wait to play around with my new toy. But I should probably read the manual first. There's a lot of buttons on this thing. Also, I hope the manual is in English.

But also, if you were me right now? You'd look down and see this.....


And you'd kind love your life, just a little. That I won't even try to deny.

137 Boxes

The house is empty now. All our things are gone. Packed away in 137 boxes. Four Korean men arrived at our house yesterday morning at 8:30a.m. and in a matter of hours, reduced our home to this:
It's exhausting work, moving a house. Even though I mostly just supervised, I still feel like I did most of the work. There was a lot of prep work and pre-packing involved.

I really hope I see all 137 boxes on the other end.
It was important that they didn't pack everything though. We just wanted to be sure that they didn't put Zara in a box and ship her away.
Apparently, she really likes stickers. She kept trying to steal David's "DON'T PACK" sticker.

So after they packed all our belongings, they brought in a ladder car to transport our stuff from the second floor down to the waiting truck.
That's how they do it in Korea. (And, I imagine, many big cities.) They could only bring small trucks up our tiny streets so they had to move the boxes from the small trucks to a big truck waiting on base, where they packed our stuff into crates. When we moved here, we only had three crates of stuff; we're leaving with 5 crates now.

By 5pm, the movers were gone.

Afterwards, we went to Jeong Gam Eorin, our favorite beef and leaf place to eat a final meal with our friends who leave in the next villa over from us. It was a delicious meal. I need to eat as much Korean food as I can in the next 6 days.

We're just waiting for the Army to come pick up the furniture they lent us (washer, dryer, an extra bed, couch, dresser, etc.) and then we can move into the hotel on base. We hired a cleaning lady who spent all day yesterday cleaning our house so there's only a few odds and ends left to take care of. I"m looking forward to staying in the hotel. It will feel like a little min-vacation before we have to brave the 12 hour plane ride home.

Moving Madness

We're knee-deep in moving madness here, thanks for asking. Moving across the world is super fun, ya'll.

Honestly, I love getting to live in all sorts of different places and having all these fantastic experiences. I wouldn't have it any other way. But in the last five years I've moved from California to Virginia from Virginia to Hawaii from Hawaii to Korea and you see, I'm a little worn out now.

Plus, now I have to move with a baby. Who requires SO MUCH STUFF. Seriously, it's exhausting just thinking about all the little things I need to remember to pack for Zara, especially since I don't know how she'll react to the drastic changes that are coming her way in a week. I want her to be surrounded by familiarity even as all our worldly possessions are packed up and away and sent off. I'm pretty confident she'll do just fine with it all, but you never know.

So here's the super awesome run-down of my life for the next three months:

The rest of May - We have exactly one week until the movers come to pack up our stuff. Then we move in the hotel on base for a week while we do our final check-out.

June 1st - Fly from Seoul to San Francisco and then on to San Diego. I don't even want to think about what a joyous experience it's going to be to take a 12 hour plane ride with a 9 month old and a cat. But, like labor, I figure you can survive anything for a day. And then promptly forget all about it.

June 1-10? - We'll spend roughly the first two weeks of June in San Diego while David does his final out-processing with the Navy. He can't do it here because we're at an Army garrison, so they send you to San Diego which works out perfectly for us.

June/July - We hit the road on our Rediscover America! super awesome roadtrip. (And why are we torturing Zara so much? I hope she learns to loooove her car seat.) Our tentative plans are to take the 10 through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas through to Houston, then drive up to the Dallas area (hi Kara!) to then take the 20 on to Atlanta. We plan on spending 10-14 days with David's family in Georgia before heading back on a northern route (possibly hitting up Nauvoo and other church history sites along the way) before rolling back into San Diego the weekend of July 16th for my mom's big 60th birthday bash. (All the family is flying in for the occasion.) We want to take our time on our roadtrip and visit as many friends along the way. (And if you want to host us for a night, that'd be super awesome too. ;))

July 16ish - Spend a little bit more time with my family.

End of July - We might continue our road trip a bit by driving up California (to visit my sister in Lemore, near Fresno) and possibly up to Oregon, which neither of us have been to before, and maybe Washington. (I've always wanted to see Seattle.) Or we may just sit on the beaches of San Diego in exhausted trances.

Early August - Move to Utah. We plan to get to Utah at the beginning of August (at the very latest) to look for housing, jobs, and to be reunited with our long lost belongings. I've been looking at the housing market in Utah but I haven't really seen anything I really like yet, but I'm hoping we'll still be able to find something quickly and easily. I'd really like to see the apartments before we move in rather than try to get something lined up before we move there. But we'll see how it goes. David has orientation the third week of August and then has his first official day of school on August 29th. We get to be poor grad students ALL over again. Yay!?!

So yes, it's going to be a whirlwind three months but I'm looking forward to it. And if I can survive it all without breaking out into hives this time, I'll be truly impressed with myself.

Korean War Museum

So these pictures have been sitting in my draft box since November and I thought I had better post it right quick before we actually leave Korea and everyone starts thinking I'll stop talking about Korea. (Ha, I say! Ha!)

These are pictures from the Korean War Museum, which is right next to the base here in Seoul. It's an impressively large museum that covers the history of warfare in Korea but, of course, the most interesting sections are those that deal with the Korean war, which celebrated its 60 anniversary in 2010.


The outside has a large open courtyard/pavillion where ROK soldiers and color guard sometimes do drills.


There are many statues....



(Which remind me a lot of the statues at Mao's mausoleum in Tienanmen Square.)


This one is called "Brothers." It shows a rift in the earth, representing the split between North and South and two brothers (the North and South) being reunited. The Korean war, and the continued separation of North and South Korea, is incredibly sad. I have a hard time remembering, sometimes, that Seoul was a pile of rubble only 60 years ago and that they've completely re-built their country and economy in such a short period of time. It's even more disheartening to read stories of life in North Korea or watch documentaries of the Kim's oppressive regime and not wish there was so much more we could do. But I do believe that I will live to see the fall of North Korea.

Outside the museum are several airplanes, tanks, and ships which have been used by Korea, mostly during the Korean war.

There are a few inside too. (Huge museum, right?)



We visited one of their special exhibitions on the DMZ. This was a collage of photographs taken of North Korea.



Here are some North Korean soldiers standing guard at the DMZ. I wonder how much they understand about the outside world and if they want to flee their country?



Or if they are just so indoctrinated that they truly believe they are better off in the North.

This is a sculpture made entirely of the dog tags worn by men who fought in the Korean War. A tear drop for all the men who died.

Maybe, if I get really ambitious, I'll do a post about some of the books and documentaries I'd recommend about North Korea. But really, you should just go read 1984 and you'll get the idea.

So here's the thing....

So here's the thing.

I love me some America. I truly, truly do.

I kinda have a Master's in the subject. And that's no joke. (Just ask The George Washington University and the nice people at Citibank who will be receiving my student loan payments for the next bazillion years of my life. And, why is it THE George Washington University? Are there others that I'm unaware of?)

Deep thoughts. But these are not THE deep thoughts which prompted me here in the first place.

So here's the thing.

I love me some America. But I'm kinda scared to return. It's been two years, after all.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm super duper excited to see friends and family, meet my new niece and nephews, show off my most adorable baby, eat In & Out with reckless abandon, and buy shoes that are bigger than a size 8. But I'm also 100% sure I'm going to have a serious case of reverse culture shock.

David and I went to Insadong last Saturday to admire all the paper lanterns out for Buddha's birthday and to buy some Korean-y things. We peeked into the Indian Cafe or Cafe India or something equally clever for dinner. We'd eaten Korean the night before and I was feeling the need for curry and so in we went.

I should have known something was amiss when we realized that we were surrounded by only other Americans except for a pair of Koreans who probably felt they'd just wandered in Oz. It was weird to realize that I could eavesdrop on any conversation going on around me because I could totally understand what people were saying. And I haven't been able to do that in a long time.

But here's the thing, when you can speak the same language as the group of loud-mouthed Americans sitting across from you, you can totally hear everything they are saying.

And I was totally ashamed by these rude, obnoxious, arrogant group of young Americans who laughed too loud, boasted with pride, and acted like all the bad things people say about Americans.

David and I weren't having it (also, it was also a hookah bar and who brings an 8-month old to a hookah bar? and I swear we're good parents we just didn't know it was a hookah bar when we sat down) so we requested our food to go and high-tailed it out of there. Instead we found a coffee shop (Star Moon....WAY original there guys) and settled down with our Indian food and about 30 Koreans.

And I felt so much more comfortable in that room full of Koreans than I felt in that cafe with my fellow Americans.

So that's the thing. I love me some America, but also...? I love me some Korea too.

I totally didn't see it coming.

Zara at Eight Months!

I'm sorry this update is so late in coming. We've been busy with getting things taken care of for our impeding move so this will most likely be my last baby update from Seoul. How quickly our time here has come to an end!

General Observations, Physical Changes, Etc.

Zara's weight has appeared to plateau and she still weighs only a little more than 19 pounds. This is fine by me because I was not looking forward to having to cart around a 30 pound baby. Now that she's mobile, she's thinned out quite a bit. From my own measurements, I think she's about 29 inches long but she's a squirmy little sucker so I could be wildly off.

It seemed to take forever, but Zara's top right tooth has finally broken through the gum!

She's outgrown her infant car seat carrier and we've finally upgraded to a convertible car seat. We finally opted to go with the Britax Roundabout 55.

Zara has also been taking her baths in our bath tub for the last two months. At first, she just clung to the side of the tub the entire time, but now she crawls around in the water and splashes and plays with her toys. It's made bathtime a lot more fun.

I think the poor girl has some seasonal allergies. She's had a running/snotty nose for almost three weeks now but no other visible symptoms. She also occasionally wheezes (but she's been doing that for awhile). I'm taking her in to the doctor next week just to be sure.

Eating and Sleeping Habits

Zara seems to require less and less breastmilk during the day (she nurses for about 2 minutes before she gets distracted and wants to do something else) but still has a long nursing before bed and wakes up about once or twice a night for more. Even when I attempt to feed her a lot during the day (to fill her up, the books say), she still wakes up at least once during the night.

Zara continues to enjoy eating solids though she much prefers to feed herself, thank you very much. She's added mangos, yogurt, green beans, crackers, juice, and Cheerios to her list of foods. She definitely prefers fruits over vegetables and she enjoys feeding herself. The other day, I had a banana sitting on the table (which I had intended to eat) when Zara grabbed it and started munching on the peel. Since I was getting ready to leave, I let her hang onto the banana as we walked (she strolled) over to base. By the time we got to our destination, she had managed to break open the peel and suck out some of the banana so I opened it up the rest of the way and let her go to town. She ate almost the whole banana herself although there was banana EVERYWHERE.

Napping is still somewhat problematic, but Zara's nighttime sleeping has greatly improved. She's generally asleep and down for the night between 7:30-8:00 (8:30-9:00 on bad nights) though she often wakes up around 10:30-11:00 (as we're getting into bed) for a little top off. She generally wakes up again around 2 a.m. and is up for the day between 6:00-6:30 a.m. (Sometimes much earlier to my consternation.) I wish she'd sleep in longer (at least to 7 a.m. for my sake) but we're figuring things out.

I find that swaddling Zara during her pre-bedtime feeding has been an effective way to get her ready and focused to eat and then to sleep. As soon as she falls asleep, I unswaddle her because she tosses and turns and twitches and moves around A LOT in her sleep. In fact, there has been many a night when I've woken up to find Zara's feet instead of her head on my pillow.

Accomplishments and Firsts

Zara desperately wants to be more mobile than she already is. She's pulling herself up on everything, walking along the furniture and has even begun to work on climbing. Heaven help us all.

Zara celebrated her first Easter. I bought her a cute pink basket which I filled with (empty) eggs and new pajamas.

Favorite Toys, Places to Go, Etc.

Zara's favorite things to play with are of course the things that are not meant to be baby toys. They include: a tape measure, cat's toys, DVD cases, toothpaste tube, Kleenex, cell phones, cups, spoons, keys, books, the broom and Swiffer mop, and lately, her infant car seat.

Zara will be heading to new and exciting places soon. We'll be making our return to America in the first week of June and I'm really hoping that Zara will do well on the plane ride. Otherwise it's going to be one loooong flight. Not to mention that we'll have Suyom with us as well. I feel bad for all the people who will be sitting next to us. I've even thought of bringing them a little gift as a pre-emptive "I'm sorry." But if we sit next to Koreans, they won't care because they love babies and they'll spend the whole time cooing and saying "Ah! She's so cute. She looks just like a doll!" and making faces at her. Pray for Koreans people!

And now some photos:

Mother's Day ...and hinges

For those faithful readers out there, you know that I have not been a very active participant in this blog.... Honestly, I just don't think anyone will want to read what I have to write. I'm sure someone will find this post at least mildly entertaining and will disagree with that last statement, but it doesn't matter because I won't believe it. Seriously, I won't believe it, so save your breathe... or your typing energy, in this case.

You see, I know that I think about things--weird things--that normal people just don't think about. Things like hinges. Yes, hinges. You see, the three hinges on American doors are evenly spaced, but maybe you didn't notice? Well, here in Korea, there are two hinges located near the top of the door and one near the bottom. Which of these two hinge-hanging methods is better? On the one hand, it seems as though the evenly spaced hinges provide more stability, but on the other hand, a door with only a top hinge is more stable than a door with just a bottom hinge, so shouldn't there be more support up higher? I know people don't want to read these things because they are just ludicrous.... Honestly, how many other people do you know that are so concerned with the stress placed on hinges?

But today I'm not here to tell you about my random thoughts, or why I shouldn't blog, or even hinges, despite the fact that I could write a dissertation on each of those subject. No, today I am here to tell you about a couple of the many wonderful women in my life, but most importantly my amazing wife Liz--so please just ignore that first crazy part.

First, my own Momma. My Momma was blessed with five children--four girls and me. (As her only son, I'm her favorite by default.) My Momma has always been a terrific listener. She will sit and listen to me ramble about all the wonderful and horrible things happening in my life, and she has given me encouragement through it all. My Momma always took such good care of me when I was sick. She packed my often meager school lunches with care and tucked me in at night until I was probably far too old for it. She has been the model of patience and virtue; a stalwart Christian woman who wants nothing more than to have a loving family. I love you, Momma; happy Mother's Day to you!

In addition to my own Momma, I've had other mothers just about everywhere I've lived. When I left home to join the military, my first assignment was located in Monterey, California. Charlie and her husband were leaders at the local single's ward (an LDS church congregation) when I arrived there, and they opened their home to the many single adult "children" who attended there. Charlie is a very strong woman who has overcome a lot of adversity in her lifetime; she passed on much of her wisdom to me and all of her other children. She was there during a time of great difficulty for me and we shared many happy and sad moments together. Perhaps the greatest thing she did for me was establish a home where I felt I belonged during a time I thought I couldn't fit in anywhere. Happy Mother's Day, Charlie!

There have been many other women who have been a significant blessing in my life, but I'll just name one. Alicia and I met at school when we were in Monterey. We were in the same class and got to see each other every day. We didn't talk at first. I think she thought I was a weirdo (see introduction for supporting evidence). Sometimes we still wonder why we are friends since we really have nothing in common, but I think it boils down to the fact that we find each other so amusing. When we talk we are constantly laughing! Alicia and I have been through a lot together and she has always been a true friend to me. When we were in school, she really pushed me to do more with my life. Thanks to her persistence, I fulfilled all the requirements for and received an associates degree in Korean, making me the first Malone in my family to earn a college degree. Alicia and I are still great friends, and I can never thank her enough for being such a support to me. Thank you, Alicia! 사랑해!

Ah, now to the bestest, most awesome woman of all time, my adoring wife Liz! But first, some back story.

I was having a conversation with a friend at work the other day in which I described myself five years ago. He quite pointedly stated that the person I was describing didn't sound anything like me, and I couldn't have been happier to hear it! You see, five years ago at around this time of year, I finally decided that I would ask Liz on a date. I really had nothing going for me at that time--significant debt, no education to speak of, no plans for life, no confidence worth mentioning.... But Liz is such an awesome gal that I just couldn't let her slip away without trying. I asked her out on a date, we had a wonderful time, and the rest is history. Flash forward five years to the present day and I am now debt free; I will be completing a Bachelors in a few weeks; I'm off to BYU for an MBA starting in August; and I've never had more plans, ideas, and confidence, and I owe it all to Liz. Some might say that I'm giving her too much credit, after all, she didn't earn the degree for me or pay off my debt. To those I simply say, if you knew me five years ago, you'd think otherwise. I am a firm believer that behind every good man is a great woman and that while people can do great things by themselves, they can do truly amazing things with the encouragement of loved ones, particularly from a loving and supportive spouse.

Liz has been taking care of everything around the house allowing me the time to focus on my education. She's been steadfast in preparing meals for me to take to work for those ridiculously long hours away from home. She's been there through every semester and before every test wishing me luck and reassuring me that I can do anything I set my mind to. She's kept me calm and encouraged me every step of the way the last five years. I can never, ever thank her enough for her love.

And now, Liz is also the mother of our daughter. With my retarded schedule, Liz has largely held the burden of taking care of so many things including caring for Zara. Cute and entertaining as she often is, Zara can be quite frustrating to deal with especially when she won't sleep, but clearly needs to.... Liz is a wonderful mother who quite obviously wants the best for her children. The way that Liz interacts with Zara is quite beautiful to me, and I love my girls very much! So, thank you Liz, for being such a wonderful wife, and now a wonderful mother as well!!

And Happy Mother's Day, Honey! I'm so grateful you said yes the second time I asked you to marry me, and I'm so grateful you are the mother of our daughter! I look forward to the addition of any other children we get to have and for the many years ahead that we will get to spend together! I love you very much, Liz!! Now... as for your Mother's Day gift....

I've had trouble with gift-giving recently because anything Liz wants she can--and usually does--just go get whenever she wants it. It's become harder and harder to think of gifts to give her for that very reason. Plus, many of the staple gifts like books and CDs... well, as close as Liz and I are, I won't pretend to know what music and books she would like. I've only read a couple of the same books as her, so I can't even begin to suggest a book for her based on her tastes. And most of the bands she loves are groups I've never heard of before, and I don't know where she finds the music anyway since you never hear it on the radio. She has an Amazon wish list, but half the stuff on there isn't really things she wants, just things she put there to remind herself about.... The point is, finding gifts for her has become much more difficult for me lately; its a dilemma that I'm sure many spouses and significant others out there can appreciate.

So, Honey, my gift to you this Mother's day is intangible, because it's the only way I can give you something that you can't buy for yourself. My gift to you is to write at least one blog post a month for the next year--that's 12 blog posts. For the purposes of this gift, however, any additional blogs written in the same month will not count toward the total of 12, so I may write more than 12 during the whole year, but there will be a least one each month. Oh yeah, and this post doesn't count, but I will start this month. Who knows, I may end up enjoying this whole blogging thing, but I'll still need some more of our followers to start looking at their hinges in a different light before I'll be convinced that my writing is worth reading.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!