Still here and doing okay, for the most part.

For awhile, we were really debating whether or not to go home. John had run into some issues with his director and he was really feeling discouraged by the whole thing and just sort of tired of doing it. He had already been here for four months by the time Natalie and I got here and already on his second job. Now, with another almost three months gone by and the situation with this job not the greatest, I think he really was starting to feel that it might be better to go home and to be honest, it was on my mind too. It didn't help that Natalie started to feel homesick and was asking to go home every day. Things are not perfect here and they're never going to be. That's a good thing. It means at some point we will go home. However, right now, we have opportunities here we will NOT have when we get back home. We have money which is something we definitely will NOT have. We don't have to be on county assistance here. I find that VERY nice. As nice as it would be to go home and have an oven, a microwave, and a bathtub again (not to mention, have access to a lot of the things we don't have access to food wise), the money we have set aside so far would not get us very far. It definitely would not get us a decent car which is something (unfortunately), that is VERY necessary in order for us to live in the US. I would LOVE to have the ability to live without a car like we can here, I would just LOVE IT! But, unfortunately, unless we're in a large city, that's just not possible and living in a large city in the US compared to living in a large city here is VERY different, especially as far as crime goes. Not to mention, cost of living. Not that living here is all that cheap because it isn't but the plan is NOT to live in a studio apartment when we finally do go home, the plan is to live in a place with at least one, if not two or three bedrooms. So for now, we stay.

Not that things can't change at any time. Things are sort of rocky here and there are some tensions once again with North Korea that has me wondering at times just what is going to happen but for the most part, and this is sort of sad, I'm actually MORE concerned about our situation were we to go home now than I am staying here. Here, John can get work. At home, with the economy the way it is, that's not so certain. I hate that it is this way but that's how it is right now. Maybe in about a year things will be different and we CAN go home and find a place to live and a job and all that good stuff and we won't have to worry but to be honest, I'm not ready to go back into that uncertainty just yet. And right now, in the US, things ARE uncertain, that's for sure.

So, at the moment, job issues considering, we're doing okay. I do better once I know what it is we're going to do than I do when we're not sure and for awhile we weren't. Now maybe I can get some of Natalie's summer clothes sent here so that she doesn't have just pants or skirts to wear when she wants to go out to the park. It's not going to be easy because I have to rely on other people to do things for me and that doesn't always go the way I'd like it to but *sigh* what else can we do? I simply am not going to replace Natalie's summer wardrobe, she has a lot of things that I got her, some that she'll grow out of this year and I would like her to get a chance to wear them. I also really do not want to have to deal with having to figure out clothing sizes, that's just too much of a pain in the tail end. So far, I have managed to avoid much of that and I'd like to keep doing so if I can.

Not much going on otherwise, really. During the week, John works and Natalie and I hang out here. Sometimes, if John gets home early enough and Natalie isn't asleep, the two of them will hit the park and play until sunset. Other times, eh, just depends on what is going on. Sometimes we go out for dinner. We're definitely enjoying the opportunity to hit the American restaurants that are here. The Korean restaurants are pretty much out. With our dietary restrictions, we can't afford to take any chances that we'll get something that's not so clean. And some of the dishes here are anything but appetizing. Sorry, but I don't see me EVER eating octopus, even if I DID eat seafood, which I don't! Still, there are a lot of places to go to and check out and ice cream is always a favorite (and VERY easy to find with Baskin Robbins virtually on every block around here). Coffee is another favorite of mine, especially iced coffee drinks and I have been trying out many of the coffee places around here including Star Bucks but I have to say my favorite is A Twosome Place which has the BEST frappes I've tasted so far, tastes more like a chocolate shake than a coffee drink so VERY yummy.

John is doing all he can to get me out and walking around and exploring with him. Yesterday, we walked ALL over the local park and all over the mall areas prior to that. It helped that I found a shopping area I haven't seen before and wanted to explore a little. It wasn't completed but it did have an indoor ice skating rink that was nice and cool to be in with the warm day yesterday. The park wasn't too bad either, as long as I stayed in the shade. It was definitely cooler OUTSIDE than it was in the apartment. We finally ended up where all the fountains were located and Natalie and I both got a little wet. Well, I got a little wet, Natalie got soaked. But she had fun and that was all that mattered. John wasn't too impressed though.

Well, that's it for the moment as they just got back from the musical fountain. I'll have to include pictures of that sometime as it is really neat. I didn't go with tonight because today, we were again walking all over the place, though this time, we took a train down to Seoul Station, took a subway to Itewan (and I KNOW I misspelled that word), walked around the outdoor markets there, walked back to the subway, took it to one station to transfer and then rode that the rest of the way back. I LOVE how cheap the subway is, especially with the subway cards we use. But still, lots of walking to be had and my legs are TIRED!