Haeundae Beach

I love the beach. That's part of the reason why I joined the Navy. As much as I love Korea, I think it would've been a totally different experience had I been stationed in Seoul vice Busan. There's no beach in Seoul. Haeundae Beach is just a few minutes away from our apartment. I can actually see the water from our window.

Here are two pics of the Haeundae Beach boardwalk. It's very clean and well kept. This picture is a little deceiving though. During the heart of summer, you can't even see the boardwalk because of the massive amount of people.

CJ found a starfish on the beach the other day.

This one was scaly and fishy smelling, not goofy and loveable like Patrick from Spongebob.

We almost moved into one of the apartment buildings on the left. It was a really nice apartment with a great view and lots of storage space. Unfortunately, that storage space came in the form of a balcony area that was not cordoned off very well. I could just see Jake taking a bad spill off that balcony. Couldn't pull the trigger.

Surfing at Haeundae Beach. I'd say it's a little better than the pseudo-surf we get in Virginia Beach.

Jake and Olivia playing peacefully on the beach. They got along so well.

Carol enjoying a nice beach day with good friends. That's baby Maddy in the foreground.

CJ needs a haircut.

Jake and Hannah - best buddies!

These pics are from a recent sand festival.

That's gotta hurt.

There's always some kind of festival happening in Busan.

Koreans stay pretty modest on the beach as far as attire. I've seen many on the beach dressed in long pants. Koreans are very careful about sun exposure too. You will see many carrying umbrellas around on a sunny day. I'm sure that's one of the reasons why they look so young. They take such great care of their skin, unlike us sun-glorifying Americans. So no, you won't see too many Koreans thonging it up on the beach with their savage tans.

This picture gives you an idea of how crazy it gets at Haeundae Beach over the summer. Last year, this beach broke the world record for number of umbrellas on a beach at one time. During the summer, there are shows going on, people on jet skis, banana boats, music, etc. It's quite the spectacle if you're into people watching. So there's your virtual tour of the beach. Hope you enjoyed. Until next time -- C2

Buttricide

Fair warning:  This post may only interest the Cruz siblings.  Carol wanted it on the record that she did not approve of this posting.  This is a follow up to a previous blog post on "buttressing."  Here's the refresher from the old post:

The dictionary defines "buttress" as "a projecting support of stone or brick built against a wall."  The Cruz family has its own unique definition to this word.  A good buttressing is when you entice the victim to place their head in the vicinity of your buttocks, preferably at point-blank range, so that you can release a loud bombardment of flatulence right in said victim's face.  The enticing usually consists of something along the lines of, "Hey, can you pick that up for me?"

During the Cruz beach house vacation this past summer, Beanie received an incredible buttressing from me when I got him to bend over to pick up a big bowl of water balloons.  It was such a heinous act of buttressing that we all collectively agreed that the act of buttressing should be in the Geneva Convention, right next to waterboarding.

Fast forward to present day.  The "pull my finger" trick, although extremely childish, is very popular in our household.  Well, at least with the male members.  So CJ was sitting on the floor in his room.  As a test, I strategically placed my buttocks at the same level and in close proximity to his face.  My right cheek was literally three inches from his nose.  It should've been very obvious to CJ that he was in danger of blowing out his olfactory senses.  I offered him my index finger and said, "pull my finger."  Surely he wouldn't pull it.  That would be akin to jumping on a grenade.  Maybe he was disoriented or not fully awake.  Maybe he was in a mind-numbing hypnotic trance from watching too much TV.  Whatever the reason, he pulled my finger.  I couldn't believe what just happened.  He had buttressed himself!  BUTTRICIDE!  Totally unprecedented!  The outcome was atrocious.  The stench was amplified tenfold since it was at point blank range.  He could not escape the mushroom cloud of foul aroma that was now dispersing throughout the entire room.  Utter devastation.

Here's a reenactment of the buttricide.  This is right before the pulling of the finger.

The after effect

After we recovered from the massive amount of side-splitting laughter, I asked CJ why he did it.  Why did he pull my finger with my canned ham right in front of his face?  He had no good answer.  Just oblivious I guess.  I suspect that one day, maybe in the middle of the night when I'm half asleep and I least suspect it, my eldest son will exact his revenge on me.  I don't blame him if he's currently plotting.  It was a pretty inhumane act.  Until next time -- C2   

Picture Taking

Before I came to Korea, one of my friends told me that Korea is a very homogeneous society.  I don't know what a type of milk or sexuality has to do with anything, but I'll tell you that it's practically 99.5% Koreans here.  The foreigner community is very small.  I guess that's why the Koreans like taking pictures of the boys.  CJ and Jake don't get it nearly as bad as our other friends that have the blonde hair and blue eyed kids.  Check out these pictures of total strangers taking pictures of the foreign kids:

I guess it's not any stranger than a person taking pictures of people taking pictures.  Until next time -- C2

Scissors in Korea

Because of all the work related social events I have to attend, a significant portion of the paycheck goes to the babysitter these days.  I'm thinking that when the babysitter graduates from college, I should at least get to sign the bottom of the diploma because of my part in funding her college tuition.

Anyway, the babysitter was watching the boys this past Saturday.  Dinner for the evening was Domino's pizza.  For some reason, the pizza was not sliced.  So what does the babysitter use to slice the pizza?  Scissors.  Yup.  Regular old scissors.  That's the way they roll in Korea.

When you go to restaurants, scissors are part of the kitchenware, just like a knife and fork in the US.  Scissors are used to cut meat into smaller chunks at bulgogi and sam gyup sal (pork barbecue) restaurants.  It's actually very convenient once you get over the mental hurdle.  What is not cool is when you get a dull pair of scissors.  Makes cutting the meat over a hot grill rather tedious.  

Here are some of the MSCO Korea team having lunch at a sam gyup sal restaurant.  You can see how you would need scissors to cut the long strips of pork into smaller pieces.  This is one of my favorite meals in Korea.  You take the pork and put it in a lettuce type leaf with other stuff.  Very tasty.

On another scissors related topic, Korea is huge for using Rochambeau, or the "rock, paper, scissors" game as the decider for major decisions.  You'll see people playing at bars to see who drinks.  I hear that difficult decisions are even settled using this method.  There's actually another Korean version of rock, paper, scissors with different hand gestures but you get the point.  Might explain some of the antics we see out of North Korea.  Hmm... conduct nuclear test, imprison US journalists or invite the Philharmonic Symphony?  Rock, paper, scissors.

Anyway, next time you lose your pizza slicer, or need to make a major decision,  just break out a pair of scissors.  Until next time -- C2

BBBA 7

This blog entry has nothing to do with Korea other than the fact that we use the a2bTV service to get our US channels.  The a2bTV service allows us to use DirecTV and a DVR through a Slingbox.  We basically get American TV through our internet.  Like Napoleon Dynamite's brother sang, "Yes, I love technology."  I mainly got it so I could still watch my Miami Dolphins even in Korea.  

So the other day, Carol sees an ad for the upcoming reality TV show, Big Brother.  Yes, we both admit that we're reality TV junkies.  When Carol typed in the word "BIG" on the DirecTV so that she could record the show, here are the entries that popped up:

What I find disturbing is that in order to have Big Black Booty Attack 7, there must've been Big Black Booty Attack 1 through 6.  Until next time -- C2

Mother's Day in Osan

I asked Carol what she wanted to do for Mother's Day and she said she wanted to go to Osan.  So we went to Osan.  Good call Mama!  We had a ball.  The city is actually called Songtan and is maybe 45 minutes from Seoul.  When we say Osan, we mean Osan Air Force Base and the surrounding shopping district right outside the front gate.  The shopping is incredible in Osan.  You can get custom made clothing at very affordable prices from skilled artisans.  I'm a big fan of the sports jerseys.  We've gotten some artwork for friends and family from Osan.  The haggling is fun too.     

Here's Jake chowing down at a rest stop on the way to Osan.  The highway rest stops are no joke in Korea.  Lots of things to eat, playgrounds, vendors, etc.  In the foreground is a yolky egg with some seaweed on it.  Jake says he only likes the white part of the egg.  Any self respecting Cruz likes ALL parts of the egg.  I stuffed some of this egg - yolk, seaweed and all -  down Jake's pie hole and he loved it.  Told you!  CJ, that's another story.

Here's Carol enjoying some bibimbap minus the egg on top.  Jake took care of the egg.  I've mentioned this before about Carol's hair.  For the uninitiated, every now and then, Carol straightens out her curly locks.  I come home from work and see this straight-haired stranger sitting in my living room.  I feel like I'm cheating.

Like I said, the rest stops here are no joke.  They even have cribs for your baby to take a nap.  I was eyeballing this crib myself.  Carol still hasn't gotten her driver's license so I'm stuck doing all the driving.  This is not a good thing especially considering the fact that I'm a notoriously sleepy driver.  I've been pulled over before because of my sleepy driving.  

This is the standard water arrangement at the rest stops and for many eating establishments throughout Korea.  The steel cups are kept in the ultraviolet cleaning machine thing on the right.  Most places won't even take a drink order for you.  They assume you will drink water.  If you want a soda, you'll usually have to seek out the server and ask.

Here's the other woman, I mean Carol, in our room in Osan.

You can get lots of quality knock-off stuff in Osan.  This is Jake using the bathroom in the back room of a knock-off purse place.  You've got your main store with the legal stuff, then there's the back room full of the fake stuff.  Notice the Coach purses in the background wrapped in plastic to protect them against pee splatters.  I'm certain that if the owners would've caught me taking this picture, they would've taken me to the other back room and given me a couple of knuckle sandwiches.

One of our favorite things to do in Osan is eat at the Chili's on base.  We actually ate there twice during this short trip.  It's like a slice of home.  I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs...

Here's CJ after I demolished him in a game while waiting for our food at Chili's.  It's good for him to learn defeat.  I'm not one of these parents that lets his kids win at everything so they can feel good about themselves.  I think it's good for him to take his big old head and lay it on his big old pillow and cry out some big old tears every now and then.  They've got to learn to deal with adversity, right?

Speaking of adversity, here we are returning to the scene of the crime.  The last time the family went to Osan, Jake had a bad fall across the street from Chili's.  It was not a good day.  We're recreating the scene from a couple of months ago.  Jake actually had two falls that first Osan weekend.  We ended up taking him to the emergency room and everything.  This trip was much better.

Jake was acting up pretty bad at the PX so he had to go stand still against the wall.  I caught him red-handed eating his Fruit Loop necklace during his punishment time.

So what's so special about this picture?  Nothing much except for the fact that CJ is peeing in a bottle.  This was on the ride back home and he really had to go.  The rest stops are great but sometimes they're few and far between.

One of the best things about these road trips is the time spent in the car yapping with each other.  Carol said this was the best Mother's Day ever.  She found a nice case for her new iPod at the exchange, stumbled upon a nice dress that fit perfectly, went into the back room of a place and got a nice "class A" purse and ate at Chili's twice.  And the best part was that Jake didn't even crack his skull this trip.  Until next time -- C2

First Birthday Parties in Korea

The way I understand it, birthday parties are not a highly celebrated event in Korea - except for a child's very first birthday party when they turn one year old.  In the past, due to a number of reasons, the death rate for children in Korea was extremely high.  Many children died before their first birthday.  After one year however, the survival rate climbed steeply, making the one year mark a very happy and important milestone.  So there's some of the background behind why the first birthday in Korea is such a big deal.

Carol and I attended a first birthday party recently.  What a huge party that was!  It was held in an upscale hotel, with a huge buffet to include lots of seafood and sushi.  There was some serious money invested in this party.  Check out this video of some of the entertainment:

Carol and I plan to learn this dance routine for our next get together.  We're gonna be the bomb.

Charlene's Mom dancing up a storm

Here's a sample conversation with some of the moms at school.  "Jake Mom, this is Charlene Mom.  We go to Pororo show on Tuesday.  You call Hannah Mom."  We still don't know what Charlene's Mom's name is.  She is simply known as "Charlene Mom".  Sarah Jolly is one of the teachers at the  Busan Foreign School and a good friend.  To get her attention, some of the Korean moms yell out, "Hey Jolly!"   

Here we are with Jake Mom, Hannah Mom, Madison Mom, Charlene Mom, Hey Jolly and others.  And I thought we were gonna be wearing goofy paper hats and eating sheet cake.  I hope we get invited to more first birthday parties.  Charlene Mom and Dad were such great hosts.  Everyone had a great time.

Jake and his best buddy Hannah.  He's come a long way from that very first day when he pulled her hair in school.  Now they're inseparable.  Side note:  I think some of the Korean parents at school think something is wrong with Jake and Hannah because they only go to school three times a week instead of everyday like their kids.  Carol and I opted for only three days because, well, he's just a three year old (now four) and we didn't think he needed to be in school full time.  I honestly think some of the parents think Jake might be a little slow because of the three days a week thing - or maybe it's because they've met me.  I tell you what, the education piece is no joke here in Korea.  Even at a very young age.

Notice the placement of Carol's purse behind her back on her chair.  It is utter blasphemy to place your purse on the floor in Korea.  This one is her hand painted Anushka purse that she loves.  If it wasn't such a nice purse, I would've asked her to stuff some dang crab legs and sushi in that bad boy to take home.  By the way, Carol finally succumbed to the pressure of getting a designer purse here in Korea.  Well, a "class A" designer purse anyway.  More on that later.  

Well, Jake just got up this morning.  I just heard him yell, "Mom, I peed on the floor in my room!"  Time to start the day.  Until next time -- C2