Thursday, December 31, 2009

Adventures with Melissa, Day two!

We are having so much fun today! Poor Melissa must have been completely exhausted because she slept until noon before I finally went in there and woke her up! All morning I kept debating whether or not I should wake her up but finally at noon I decided that if she didn't get up her sleep schedule would be all messed up.

So we got her up, had lunch and then I took the kids and did a little shopping. I asked her yesterday what her favorite Korean food is and she said Kimchee, so I thought I'd take her to the Korean market today and buy some bottled Kimchee in case she gets homesick and wants a taste of home while she's here or in case she gets tired of unfamiliar American food. She was so cute though, when we got there she said she didn't want it because she said she only wants to eat American food here. I was proud of her, she's really embracing her American experience. When we went to Korea I only lasted two days before we found a Burger King and wolfed down french fries like it was the last food left on Earth, lol. The food is so different in Korea that my biggest worry about this experience was that she wouldn't like American food and I wouldn't know what to feed her, but she's eating just fine.

After the Korean market we went to Shopko and bought the game Battleship and the movie Monsters Vs. Aliens. Josh plays Battleship at school and loves it, so I thought it would be a fun and easy game for him to teach Melissa to play. We came home and they had a great time playing that for a while and then we made popcorn and watched Mosters Vs. Aliens. It's all cold and snowy outside, so today was the perfect day to play games and watch a movie.

The more Melissa warms up to us the more we enjoy her. Her English is fairly good, but I can tell that she sometimes has to think for a minute before speaking to find the right words. I think she's doing great though and I think after a month of speaking English exclusively she's going to be even better. I seriously envy people who are bilingual. One of these days I'm going to find Korean classes in Boise and give Korean another try. I know a ton of random Korean words, but I can't put a sentence together. I'm fascinated by people who can switch between two languages.

One of the best things about this experience so far is that in the past 24 hours I've met several Koreans who live in Boise and that's something I've been searching for. There really aren't that many Korean people in the area and I've been dying to make some Korean friends. There are a few who work with the exchange program and I enjoyed getting to know them at the airport yesterday. I'll be seeing more of them throughout the month as they check up on Melissa. Then today at the Korean market a Korean woman stopped to talk to Melissa and we found out that she's opening a taekwondo studio practically right around the corner from our house, which I'm thrilled about because I've been looking for one nearby. I think Josh and Matthew might enjoy that. I also talked to the market owner (who gave us free crackers because he liked Clarissa and Melissa, lol) and I asked him about Korean restaurants in the area (there are none unfortunately) or if he knows of anyone who caters Korean food because I'm looking for some Korean dishes for the birthday party we're having for Clarissa in February. He took my info down and he's going to call me.

We're still trying to decide what we're going to do for the New Years celebration tonight. I think we'll order pizza for the kids and let them have a little party with movies and games in the basement and Shawn and I will find something yummy to eat and watch some movies when the kids go to bed. Every year I think I want to plan something really fun for New Years Eve and every year it usually ends up with us asleep on the couch at 11. We're not exactly party animals, lol.

Tomorrow Shawn doesn't have to work so we're going to find some fun activity to do with the kids. We might go sledding or go see a movie or maybe we'll take the kids swimming at the YMCA. We'll cram as much fun in as we can before school starts back up on Monday!

Happy New Year!

3 comments:

Amanda said...

this is such a cool experience:) Thanks for sharing it with us!

Unknown said...

Poor little thing must have been exhausted! Sounds like a fun day though! How is Clarissa reacting to Melissa?

wendy (bookends)

Wendy said...

Clarissa seems to be enjoying Melissa and Melissa LOVES Clarissa! She's been really cute with her. When Clarissa wakes up from her nap Melissa runs right up to her room to see her. It makes me wish Clarissa had a sister.

Hmmmm... :)