Monday, January 4, 2010

Busy life!

I've been so busy lately that it's always kind of a miracle when I can even find time to sit down and blog these days! I can't believe that I thought I was busy when there only used to be two kids in our house, lol.

Things are going really well around here though, so I can't really complain. Things are working out really well with Melissa, we're having a great time with her. On Saturday we took the kids to the zoo, which was actually really fun because I've never been to the zoo in the winter before! In fact I didn't even really realize that the zoo was open all year here until I was researching fun things to do with Melissa. Saturday was actually a sunny day that wasn't super cold, so it wasn't bad zoo weather. The fun thing about going to the zoo in the winter is that you pretty much get the whole place to yourself! The place was practically deserted, so it was kind of fun to run around.

Yesterday we took Melissa to church with us and she seemed to enjoy it. She didn't know what church was until yesterday, so I don't think she really knew what to expect. There were lots of kids her age there though and most of them go to our kids school, so it was nice to introduce her to people that she'll be seeing at school.

And speaking of school, we got all the kids off this morning. We had a wonderful Christmas break but I don't think I've ever been so happy to see the end of it, lol. I was kind of ready for everyone to go back to school. I drove the kids there this morning so that I could get Melissa settled in. There are four Korean kids starting school there today, so the front office people were expecting them. The principal greeted her and took her to her classroom to meet her teacher, who seems really nice. Everyone was really nice to her and the friends she met at church yesterday immediately gathered around her and took her out to the playground to play, so I think she's going to be well taken care of at school!

I admire how brave she is. She's handling this whole experience extremely well. She hasn't seemed homesick at all. They told us to have her call home twice a week, so I helped her call her mom yesterday afternoon and she was happy to talk to her for a few minutes and then she hung up and happily went off to play. She's doing great! She's just one of the gang around here now!

Since she's been here she's been very adamant about only wanting American food but yesterday she asked me if I would make her bibimbop. That's the mixed rice dish that I posted about a month or so ago. I didn't have the ingredients for it yesterday but I promised to make it for her today, so I've been preparing that this afternoon. The problem is that the bibimbop I know how to make has been very Americanized and I'm sure it's nothing like what she's craving. So I went to the Korean store and got a lesson on how to make real bibimbop. The guy at the Korean store showed me a package of seasoned bibimbop vegetables that will be a lot easier than buying all the veggies seperately. It looks like sprouts and corn and maybe spinich or possibly seaweed in a spicy sauce. I also bought the bottle of Kimchee that Melissa insisted she didn't want last time because there is Kimchee in real Korean bebimbop.

The great thing about bibimbop is that you put all the ingredients on the table and then everyone puts what they want on their rice and they mix it all themselves. So she can have kimchee and spicy veggies in hers and I can still make Josh and Matthew's a little more Americanized since getting them to try kimchee is going to be difficult! :)

So I'm excited for dinner tonight. It will be fun to have Melissa show us how real bibimbop is done!

I had a good time at the Korean store because every time I go there the people that work there make a big fuss over Clarissa and they're so nice to us. I can't talk about Koreans without mentioning how amazingly NICE they are. I know I've said it a million times, but I'm still surprised every time I interact with Korean people how incredibly nice they are. The guy who works at the Korean store (actually I'm pretty sure he's the owner) gives us free crackers every time we go in. This time I only went in with Clarissa because the big kids are at school and he still put free crackers for them in the bag. So sweet. Plus today he also gave me a Korean calendar with photos of Korean food on it! He asks lots of questions about Clarissa and he tells me about Korea and I always leave with a smile on my face. I will say it again-Koreans are really NICE people!!

So onto Clarissa news-today she is officially 11 months old!!! I can't believe a month from now she's going to be a year old. Time has really flown by (especially since she wasn't here for most of her first year, lol). I'm starting to work on planning her birthday party. Koreans have really neat traditions for first birthdays and I'm excited to throw a real Korean birthday party! It will be a fun time and I'm sure I'll be posting lots more about that in the coming weeks!

7 comments:

Lori said...

I really want to come and stay at your house! It sounds like so much fun!!! Melissa is lucky to have such a great host family.

Unknown said...

Oooh, now I'm curious what some of the Korean traditions are for first birthdays!

wendy (bookends)

KrisJ said...

That is so fun! I am jealous I want a Melissa!!

My5Blessings said...

I can't believe that Clarissa is 11 months already! Where has the time gone!

The Zoo in the Winter sounds like so much fun! Do they have Zoos is Korea? How is Melissa doing in school?

Jenn said...

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Unknown said...

Wow 11 months already!!!!! I can't wait to meet you all in a few weeks!!!! We are staying the night in Boise on the 1st on the way home from the ice festival. have you thought about bringing Melissa to it? It is amazing! I have to say, it was one of the best family vacations that we have ever took! I also wanted to share that we had bibimbop for dinner again! It has become a regular in our house. We eat is weekly at the least! We do make it with Chicken and no eggs. But mmmmmm so good! I will message you on facebook once I get more info on our trip. Talk to you soon!

My5Blessings said...

Hi Wendy,

Long time no update! Hope things are going well!