Following is a very short recap of what went on during the rest of our stay in Korea.

I received very good feedback for my internship at the university and a very fancy work certificate, resembling the nobel peace price diploma.

About a week before checking out of our apartment, we started donating stuff to the Finnish family that had moved in next to us a month before. As we had booked a holiday in Kyoto after my work finished, we decided to store most of our luggage at the Incheon airport for the duration of the trip, so we would not have to hold on to the apartment for storage purposes only. At the airport, storing a few pieces of luggage for about 5 days cost around 100 USD (very roughly) and it was all very handy.

We went to Kyoto for four days after my internship ended in Korea and stayed in the fanciest hotel I’ve been to so far – I would definitely recommend the Hyatt in Kyoto to anyone. Both location and quality are top-level. The trip was a success and confirmed my earlier experience about Japan being A REAL COOL PLACE! I wonder, had I stayed in Japan instead of Korea and only visited Korea on a few occasion, would Korea have had a similar impact. On our trip, we were planning to spend one day also in Osaka, but after getting to Kyoto, we did not want to waste time away from this marvelous town. I’m sure there would be enough to see many consecutive trips, which I hope will take place in the near rather than distant future. One of the nicest field trips we made was to this mountain, we were actually had to climb considerably more than any of us were expecting. On the top of the hill, was a place were monkeys roamed free and you could feed them. The boys were into it big time! Also, we visited some very nice palaces which, unlike in Korea, did not feel like a waste of energy.

When it was time to leave Kyoto (August 24th 2009, maybe…) me and my wife were both feeling a bit ill in the morning. I would remind you, that this was the time of the swine flu swindle, and we were actually VERY worried about being allowed in the plane. I was running a fever, which luckily came down with the help of lost of aspirin. After we returned to Korea and checked into the airport hotel, my fever returned and I don’t  think I have ever felt so sick in my life. I remember that I had to go pick up one extra carry-on bag from a local E-mart late at night. This 500 meter walk was the first time I’ve ever experienced hallucination caused by fever. But, we made it to the Helsinki flight, again with the help of aspirin. Apparently, the temperature cameras they use in the airport are just for show. As one can expect, we had way too much luggage and I had to spend considerable time (and sweat) in the airport post office, mailing boxes back home. If I recall, Finnair charges 30 € per each extra kilogram of luggage. So mailing some 20 kg of stuff to Finland was much cheaper.

We made it back home to Finland on August 25th (or 26th..?) and were very happy to be reunited with our family and friends. However, now after more than a year later, I am again missing Korea and the challenges of living in another culture. Although the course of my life seems to be leading to a bit different direction at the moment, I am confident that in one way or another I will again involved with Korea in the future.

What now?

I won’t go into any details, but just in case I would loose my memory, a yet shorter recap of what has happened during the last year:

During autumn 2009 I searched for a job matching my education. After 40 applications and 10 interviews (a fairly good score in that economic situation) I became employed in mid-December as transport manager in a mid-sized logistics company in Tampere. However, my employer soon turned out to be a true <insert bad word here> with a goal of turning me into one as well. Therefore, I resigned at the end of January 2010 and sat back behind the wheel of the taxi. I again started looking for a job. However, as it was spring I also looked into some master’s degree programs. One thing led to another, and I am now studying in a two–year double master’s degree program on Innovation and Technology Management (MITIM) at Lappeenranta University of Technology. This first year that just started I study in Lappeenranta (a town in Southern Karelia with a population of about 60,000).The second year of studies will take place  in St. Petersburg State University Graduate School of Management, Russia. Therefore, east is the direction, again.

I should mention, that I also did what I told my good friend D. back in Korea in fall 2008 – I returned to my Russian language studies a year ago and am now working on learning the language well enough to perhaps one day be able to use it professionally.

I will not continue writing this blog during my first year of studies here in Finland. However, there is a good chance that I will re-establish my online presence when I move to St. Petersburg in August 2011.

Until then – Grace, Peace and All the Best!

Yours truly,

P

What else? We visited Sokcho this weekend. On Monday last week I booked us a room from the Good Morning Hotel at Sokcho beach. This was the same hotel where I stayed last year when hiking at Seoroksan National Park. Only this time the rate was more than double since it is peak holiday season here in Korea. Also, the +3 hour bus trip from Seoul to Sokcho lasted close to six hours both ways. Both me and Susanna were amazed how well our two boys behaved the whole way. There was absolutely no complaints even though the trip was long. Thank God for iPhone and various cartoon series…

Once we got to Sokcho we were surprised as to how cool it was. It was by no means cold but not hot and humid either. Once we got to the beach we also realized that the seawater was VERY cold. So cold that Leo did not want to swim but rather preferred to play on the sand and just dip in one in a while. We went to the beach on both days. I’m real happy we went, since otherwise our experience of a Korean beach would have been only the previous weekend’s Eulwangi Beach at Incheon which was less than awesome.

We got back home late Sunday night. Luckily, I had the Monday off. Originally we planned on visiting Everland but instead decided on going to Lotte World because of a cloudy and thunderish weather. However, after getting in the +300 meter ticket line at noon on Monday we soon decided instead to visit Toys R Us and go play at the Olympic Park where you could actually enjoy yourself. As said before, it’s peak holiday season here and every place is packed. It seems that for Koreans the preferred choice of vacation is to pack together as closely as possible and make a lot of noise. The television showed some video from Haeundae Beach (the most popular beach in Korea) at Busan and I can honestly say that there is just no way in Hell I would voluntarily go there right now. Luckily, Sokcho beach (which is also very nice) was not overly packed and we were actually able to see the sand.

Only two more weeks of work left. Not much to do anymore except write job applications and read. On the other hand I’m glad to have this time on my hands. Just today I signed up for my last courses at TAMK prior to graduation. If everything goes according to plan I should be entitled to graduate at the end of November. Whether I decide to do so, or rather stay on until end of the year depends on the work situation.

My boss left the office last week to go to study for his Master’s in Norway, Finland and Portugal. Another interesting aspect of this work place seems to be a constant change in personnel. Since I’ve been here, there have been three transitions in the office that regularly has six persons working. I’ve more or less given up on even wondering when there’s someone new sitting there.

Tomorrow I’m going to the last excursion with the ISP students. We’re going to go make some clay pots at Icheon (yes, not Incheon)… I’m so excited I’m gonna explode!

Last Wednesday I went on another field trip with the ISP students. This time the destination was Hwatcheon at Gangwon-do, some 160 km from Seoul. This was another trip organized by Hyundai Asan. This time our neurotic first-time tour guide from the previous week was not along. Luckily.

The first thing on the itinerary was trying some fishing with our bare hands. The setting was a beautiful (and very touristy) mountain valley with several pools in which some fish were released. The water was very cold but that did not make the fish any slower. I managed to touch a fish a couple times but never got one out the water. I suppose being very hungry would have at least increased motivation somewhat. Dipping in the icy water was still very nice though… Fishing was followed by some roasted fish and bibimbap under a shade by a river running down the mountain. Very nice!

Afterwards we headed to Hwatcheon to do some canoeing on the river. On our way back to Seoul we also visited a lotus garden which was not much to talk off. All in all, a very nice excursion. Not sure if I would have wanted to pay for it, but luckily it’s one of the few frills (on top of the apartment) I get for working here.

Next week there’ll be a DMZ tour, also organized by Hyundai Asan. It’s too bad this tour will probably not include going right to the border with the UN huts, since Korean civilians are not allowed there. I told some of the ISP students they should take the USO tour, but I doubt many will. Anyways, it will be again nice to get out of the office this Wednesday to play tourist.

Last weekend was one of those exhausting ones on which you don’t relax but instead try to cover as much ground as possible. On Saturday, encouraged by the nice whether we’ve been having for the last several days, we headed to Incheon’s Eulwangi Beach. The trip to the beach took us about three hours one way (plus an extra hour on hour way there for lunch at the airport) so it is on the limit of being worth it. The beach was nice, not amazing, but nice anyways. The problem is just that the low tide on the West Sea is really LOW. When we got to the beach at around 2 PM it was another 150m to the water from the dry sand. Leo loved playing in the wet sand and mud with his newly bought Thomas the Steam Engine sand toy set…

On our way back we did conclude that although going to the beach from Seoul was nice to do, we would likely not do it again. Going to the pools by the Hand River is just so much easier (and less sandy). The newly renovated pool area at Ttukseom Resort is now open. Therefore, it’s walking distance to the pool for us now!

On Sunday we headed for Seoul Grand Park, which is about 35 minutes by subway from where we live. This place has a nice big zoo, an amusement park and also a cool-looking science museum. The location of this place is really nice, in a valley surrounded by green mountains. It’s so close to Seoul and still feels like you’re far away. Definitely worth to go with kids while in Seoul! We might still go another time if we run out of things to do on our remaining three weekends here…

Last week I finally booked us a hotel for our trip to Japan. We’re staying at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto! Got a surprisingly good deal from the best hotel in town. It is surprisingly difficult to book hotel rooms online when you’ve got kids. Therefore I ended up doing this reservation by email and saved some $$ (can’t do the Yen sign with this computer..).

Another tip: Last Friday we went to Itaewon (the Western ghetto here in Seoul) for an evening stroll and with a firm intent to eat something real Western. There is a real nice place called ALL-AMERICAN DINER 5 minutes off the Itaewon subway station. Yummy! Of course there’s a lot of western options in Korea, but this place was a real good attempt at something truly American.

Our time here in Korea is drawing towards the end. Only three more weeks to go before I finish my internship. Even though it is nice, I am starting to feel that it is time to go. Have started to update my CV and semi-seriously look at job advertisements. It’s going to be so interesting to see what I end up doing after finishing my studies. Not worried, but very anxious… Luckily I still can claim to be a student for another six months.

Last week I also made the decision to restart my Russian studies. I singed up for Aikuislukio (adult high school) and will study the Russian high school courses and hopefully do the matriculation exam for Russian in spring of 2011. That’s what you get for not finishing stuff! Quitting studying Russian in order to study French in high school is one of my greatest regrets. Now I’m going to fix that. Period.

 Kai started to crawl this past week and also learnt to laugh (not just smile with a sound) yesterday!

Initially I was very unsure whether I would go at all or not because I did not want to leave my wife alone with our two boys for three days and two nights. Finally, I decided to go in order to get to know the students a little and also have a little break from the at times dull office surrounding. 

We left early Tuesday morning on three busses toward Gyeongju in southeastern part of Korea. There we went to see one of the temples assigned as Unesco World Heritage sites. It was very nice, but in all honestly, once you’ve seen one Korean temple, you have seen them all… 

The hotels in which we stayed for two nights were a positive surprise. The trip was organized by Hyundai Asan travel agency and the overall quality of it all was quite high. I was afraid the trip would be arranged by the university in which case it would have most likely been a big mess. After all, there were close to a hundred people there. 

On the first night our hotel was located in the middle of nowhere. The initial plan to go out for some beers turned into a party at one of the hotel rooms and later the noraebang (karaoke room) in the hotel basement. I think I sang ‘In the Navy’. Fun fun fun, but too many people, too much alcohol…

The next day we did some more sightseeing in Gyeongju, including the national museum and a very impressive graveyard park with lots of the grass dome tombs used for Korean royalty in the past. Later on Wednesday night we continued to Busan where we went to see the APEC House and the park surrounding Busan Tower. As a town Busan still did not impress me, but with a big group of people it was still a lot of fun. Later in the evening we sought out to find a pub or a club. Since there were none in the proximity of our hotel (Hotel Centum in fron of the BEXCO arena) we hopped in a taxi and went to a fancy (and expensive) club near Heaundae Beach. Got back to the hotel around 3 AM.

The next day it rained. A lot. The program of the trip had to be changed because of the amount of rain in Busan. Instead of taking a coastal sightseeing route back, we headed back towards Seoul in the morning. It took us over two hours just to get out of the city. We finally came to Cheonan around 5 PM and quickly checked out a Korean Independence Memorial before coming back to Seoul. 

One of the negative things about the trip was the food. As I’ve continuously tried to tell people, Korea has a very versatile and awesome cuisine which however is not easy to appreciate right away. Most traditional dishes are spicy and many Koreans seem to think that Western folks can’t handle it. In some cases that can be true, but it is still a gross generalization. Bulgogi, a sweet beef dish, is generally considered to be the most foreigner-friendly Korean dish. Therefore, for two days out of three our group was offered Bulgogi in one form or another for lunch AND dinner. Even though it really is quite good, Hyundai Asan made sure that all the participant of the program, most of them who are in Korea for the first time, now have an extremely negative and one-sided image of Korean food. I can imagine that the Papa John’s next to the campus had a very good evening once our three busses got back from the trip on Thursday night.

All in all, this small outing was very nice. A couple of days away from the family did me good even though it was not particularly easy. It was also nice to socialize with other foreigners and spend some time with the five Finns who also participated. I wasn’t really expecting to do any real partying or karaoke, but the trip also gave a chance for this. It also seemed that I was able to be of some real help for some of the new students with some tips and hints concerning life in Seoul.

On the weekend we laid rather low because Susanna was having a little cold. On Saturday it rained for most part of the day. Sunday however was very good and we again went to the Jamsil pool. We bought ourselves a small sunshade tent for the pool and beach a couple weeks back. So, now we are fully equipped. Spent over four hours in the pool with Leo yesterday. Susanna also got him to ride the small water slides. Lots of fun.

Four weeks of my internship left and counting….

Our original plan was also to rent a car and thus get some flexibility for our travel. However, it turned out that IT IS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A BABY SEAT FOR A RENTAL CAR IN SEOUL! The closes we got was Herz which however only provides the seats at Jeju Island. It should also be mentioned that the large car rental companies with their fancy English websites do not necessarily have anyone capable of speaking English on their so-called hotlines.

Therefore, instead of renting a car I bought us train tickets in advance. The trains to Chuncheon and Gapyeong (the closes station to Namiseom) leave from the Cheongnyagni station in North-Eastern Seoul (about hourly). As the direction is apparently very popular on the weekends, the most decent train we could get on departed already at 7.02. I don’t think we’ve ever had such an early start here as of yet 

We headed out after six on Saturday morning and reached Nami-island at 9 o’clock sharp. The weather was semi-cloudy and all-in-all perfect for the occasion. The island, which is roughly the size of Viikinsaari in Tampere was well worth the visit. There are picturesque boulevards of trees and lots of interesting sights for families such as a nice (but extremely cold) pool area, free-roaming ostriches and electric cars and other gadgets. After Leo went for his nap in the stroller me and Susanna got a chance to enjoy some Korean BBQ for the first time in a while.

Namiseom (linked HERE, Korean only. For English, KVG!) is definitely worth going from Seoul. I hear there is also a direct bus to the Gapyeong dwarf from Insa-dong in Seoul. For families with small kids it is a great opportunity to get in the nature and away from the bustle of Seoul which kind of numbs you without you ever really realizing it before getting away. The island is also a setting for a cheesy Korean 2003 drama series called Winter Sonata….

After five in the afternoon we headed back to the Gapyeong Station and took a train down to Namchuncheon. Getting off the taxi at the station I accidentally left my backpack in the backseat of the taxi. I noticed this three minutes before the train was set to depart. Running back to the taxi stand and not seeing our taxi there anymore, I was sure that my camera and all our spare clothes were gone for good. There was however a police officer standing at the stand who quickly noticed the puzzlement on my face. After telling him what had happened, he took his cellphone and made a call. About a minute and 30 seconds later another police officer ran to us with my backpack. All this happened in under three minutes. After analyzing the situation with Susanna we came to the conclusion that the cop must have been able to connect to the ULA radios of the local taxis. There just is no other explanation. Anyways, a perfect example how things can (and mostly do) work out well here in Korea!

Anyways, we went to Chuncheon which is a town about the size of Tampere 30 from Gapyeng to the east. There we stayed at the Ritz Motel (English booking more or less possible) which again, like most Korean love motels, offered an incredibly large and convenient room for us for  70,000 Won. I didn’t realize how good it was that I paid extra for a room with internet as we got Leo to relax for a few minutes watching Thomas the Tank Engine on Youtube. 

During Saturday we joked around how strangely everything had gone well. There didn’t seem to be a single set-back. It definitely was one of the best (if not the best) day I’ve had in Korea.

On Sunday it rained. A lot. We toured around Chuncheon on the pouring rain. Thankfully the town had an underground shopping mall where we could let Leo run around for a bit. We walked (or rather swam) around the local Sculpture park and afterwards had dakgalbi, barbecued chicken ribs which apparently originate in Chuncheon.

Afterwards we did some more walking in the rain until finally giving in and ending up at a local E-mart play area. We got back to Seoul at ten in the evening. All in all, a very succesfull family weekend outing.

Tomorrow I’m heading for a three day field-trip down to Gyeongju and Pusan with the participants of the International Summer Program. I wasn’t expecting to spend any nights away from my family while here, bit after receiving sufficient encouragement from my wife I decided not to resist a free trip across the country. We’ll be leaving on Tuesday morning and will return to Seoul on Thursday afternoon. I expect there’ll be more than enough temples and tradition for the rest of the summer. It does feel surprisingly difficult to stay away from the minimen even if it’s just for two nights…

Yes, the summer school finally started this week and the office has transformed into an expecting lounge. Today had lunch at the Dean’s table at the faculty cafeteria. He told me we should have lunch sometime and also commented that my desk seems too small for me. After telling him I’m trying to make up for the small desk I got complimented for a great attitude. Hienoa jotta tiimi toimii ja saadaan palautetta! Heheh…

Over and out.

This time there was no possibility for a romantic outing for just the two of us. Instead, we spent Wednesday evening at Children’s Grand Park and bough at HUGE ice cream cake from Baskin & Robbins on our way back. This also gave a Leo his first real chance to sample chocolate. So far we’ve been able to keep him away from chocolate and candy. And the little fellow has absolutely no idea what he is missing. Buahahaha (evil doctor laugher!) Of course he has lot of other treats, especially here in Korea…

Leo getting ready to blow the candles of our anniversary (ice-cream) cake.

What's up with the water?

This boy has never had chocolate. Really!

During the week it also became apparent that the weather has taken a turn towards the summer (and the rainy season) here. The humidity has risen considerably and there have been some rather violent thunderstorms. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard such loud thunder as the other day when a lightning apparently hit the lake next to the building where I work. Was at work with all the windows open when suddenly it sounded as if someone fired cannon! The good thing about the rain here is that it seldom lasts for an entire day. Usually the weather clears up in a few hours.

The weekend we spent for most part at Jamsil pool area located on the southern side of the Han River. Since the distance to the beaches at Incheon is well over 50 km, we decided instead to go check this place out on Saturday. The original plan was then to head for the real beach on Sunday, but this pool area being such a positive surprise, we decided to skip the 2-3 hour trip to Incheon this time…

Leo in the pool with mommy.

Daddy in the pool with Leo and the swimming cap. (Spot the albino!)

There are six pool areas along the Han river, Jamsil being the one closest to us that is open (the closest subway station is Sinchon, BTW). The one within walking distance at Ttukseom Resort on our side of the river should open by mid-July. A couple weeks back it was still a large construction yard.

Kyllä suomalaisen miehen ruumis on kaunis!

These places have incredibly large pools, none of which are very deep, since Koreans generally don’t swim. When the weather is good the pools can be incredibly crowded, much like the rest of Korea. I probably wouldn’t be so psyched about these pools if it was just me, but with Leo it is extremely fun. We bought him an inflatable car where he could sit with half of his body under water. The only downside about the pools is that you are required to wear a stupid SWIMMING CAP. They also force everyone out of the pool every 30 minutes or so to determine that no one is floating dead in the water. This all seems very Korean, totally undermining every parent’s capability of taking care of their kids by themselves.. hah!

One of the nice things about living in Korea is eating out (almost) every day. Before coming here we had taken Leo to a restaurant maybe two or three times. Him being very active and unwilling to sit still for very long, I was a bit worried about how it would all turn out. However, after a few weeks of regularly dining at various types of restaurants almost daily, I’m happy to conclude that he has improved a lot! More and more we all have time to talk and actually enjoy the food (instead of just stuffing our faces as fast as possible). Especially nice for the kids are traditional Korean restaurant where you sit on the floor on cushions. It’s also nice since we can have Kai rolling on the floor while we eat.

Generally we all eat the same food. Leo doesn’t even object some mildly spicy stuff. Very encouraging. Only sometimes, especially when planning to have Korean barbecue, we might feed him before going for dinner ourselves and then have him watch Moomin or Bob the Builder on my iPhone while we eat.

I saved the best for the end:

Kai, who just turned four (4) months a week ago, LEARNT TO TURN ON HIS BELLY on July 3^rd. Then, two day later, he also turned from his belly on his back for the first time. For anyone wondering, we did pick him up a few times in between…

What are YOU staring at?!

Now that he’s figured this out, there seems to be no way he will lie on his back for more than a few seconds. It must be a wonderful feeling for the first time to be able to decide something for yourself!

Leo has recently taken a more active interest towards Kai. It’s probably because the young one already grabs onto things and very much likes to follow what his older brother is doing. As a daddy, I would like to see this as the beginning of an initial bonding process between the two. Therefore, lot’s of changes going on!

Now reading  The Trial by Franz Kafka after finally finding it at a bookshop at the Inhceon airport last week. It’s really good!

It again seems to have been a rather upbeat post with little or no literary structure! To finish off with a less enthusiastic tone: I think I have managed to kill my Bonsai Pine.  The yellow letters represent the current color of its needles… Rest in Peace!

On Friday I left work early and flew to Beijing. As a pleasant surprise, I was upgraded to business class for the two-hour flight. This was very nice, since we had to sit in the plane for a good hour and a half before it took off. Bad weather in Beijing, they said. Since my Friday departure cost quite a bit, those few glasses of red wine and the excellent Korean Air service made up for it nicely. This was the second time this happened to me during a year. Last year I was bumped up on our way back from Tokyo. However, I would rather have something like this happen on a longer flight…

Me and Leo riding an a bike-taxi towards Tiananment Sq.

Susanna and Kai (asleep) on bike-back.

As expected, Beijing was hot. The temperature was around +40C but luckily it was partially cloudy for most of the time. (Starting to sound like a weather report here.) I don’t mind the heat, but it did take its toll on Leo and Kai. The good thing was that we did not have to put much effort into using up his excessive level of energy. Each night he dozed off in less than five minutes.

Messing with the pram in the Forbidden City (+40C)...

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot which was close to the Chong Wen Men subway station, about 15 minutes away from Tiananment Square. The subway wasn’t that useful, since the taxis are ridiculously cheap and the subway stations don’t have lifts nor escalators for most part.

At the Forbidden CIty

On Saturday we went to the Forbidden City and the Olympic Park. I skipped lining up to go see Mao at his mausoleum because I didn’t want to force my family to go thru something that they were absolutely not interested in. Forbidden City was very impressive. We had our stroller with us so going there involved quite a bit of carrying it around. I’m however got so used to it that it is really no problem. I can’t put into words how glad I am we bought the Phil & Teds 2-seater before coming here. Compact, lightweight and extremely convenient.

Beijing Olympic Park

 The reason we (or Susanna) went to Beijing was to hook up with an American-Chinese friend of hers who was staying there for part of the summer. Susanna had gone to school with this girl and they had not met since 2003. I’m very happy they happened to be in the same corner of the world. She helped us out a lot and also introduced us to some Chinese cuisine which we would not have known how to eat without her. My only culinary disappointment was that I did not have time to go out and try out something gross such as rat or some insects. I do trust however that this was probably not my last excursion to China. We did eat some cow stomach…

Susanna, Leo and Karen

 On Sunday we went to visit a park that introduced all the ethnic minorities of China. This place is right next to the Olympic Park and was well worth going. We even got to visit a miniature Tibet. No Dalai Lama anywhere, which wasn’t such a surprise I suppose.

The Tuominens in Tibet!

 Flying back to Seoul on Sunday night was the first time I actually flew with my kids. For Leo this was already the fifth time in a plane. The flight went extremely well.

As a summation, Beijing is a very interesting city and just like last time, there was no evidence of the smog cloud that everyone keeps talking about. It is also surprisingly clean and well organized, with the exception of the traffic…. The city has a very different feel to it compared to Seoul and it is difficult to compare the two. I could easily imagine living in Beijing just as fine as in Seoul. With the kids (and Susanna) I would however choose Seoul for now

 Inspired by this refreshing (though not temperature-wise) excursion to Beijing, I booked us tickets to Osaka for August 20-24. We’ll take off the next day after I’m done with the internship and go explore Osaka and Kyoto. We’ll fly back to Korea on the twenty-fourth and fly back to Finland the next day.

Our initial plan was to go to Tokyo, but after reading a bit about the Kansai area in Japan (and after getting an even better deal for airplane tickets), I thought this might give us to chance to see something more than just a big city.. I have very high expectations for this trip ‘cos I got such a kick out of Hiroshima last December. To me it was even better than Tokyo.

 While we were gone Seoul became really humid. Apparently the monsoon season is finally starting. Luckily, it shouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks. I’m starting to understand why everyone here walks slow like a zombie. Even thinking makes you sweat out there!

Yesterday was the hottest day so far. Leo seems to be very much related to me, since he sweats even more than I do. Other than that I couldn’t be happier with the warm weather here. Especially when it is around 10C in Finland. We spent the day at Seoul Forest in Ttukseom. This place is definitely worth going, especially with kids. The only downside is that the only real restaurant in the premises is Lotteria.  Later in the evening we went to the Sauna with the whole family. Even Kai made it to a shower, although he cannot yet enjoy the whirlpools because the poor thing has no control over his bowel movement just yet  It’s now been over a week since my sister-in-law left and we’ve been here all by ourselves. It’s been very nice to see that my family has adapted very well to Korea. The kids get more than enough attention from the Koreans and Susanna also seems to be happy. Personally, I couldn’t be happier, since we’re for the first time really spending a lot of time as a family. It is a rather simple life at the moment. And no complaints. There’ll be plenty of business and confusion in the fall.

As I probably should say something negative as well in order to maintain this blog at a level of modest credibility, Susanna experienced an unwanted surprise last week. On Wednesday while at Children’s Grand Park her nursing bag was snatched from the pram. She had her wallet and credit cards in the bag, so I had to cancel all her cards and spend half the day at the local police station making a report. The police were completely at awe by what had happened and said that none such thing had ever happened in the park before. I can believe that, since Korea does seem to be one of the safest places I’ve ever been to. That is not to say there would not be the rotten individuals as well. There always are.

Picnic at Seoul Forest

On Friday Susanna went back to the park after receiving a call from the main gate. THE BAG HAD BEEN FOUND! All the cards and baby maintenance equipment were there. Therefore, the only financial loss of this incident was a rather small amount of cash that was gone from Susanna’s wallet. Surprisingly, also Leo’s fluoride pills were gone. The robber must have therefore had really bad teeth I guess. Most likely the bag was taken by some kid, so we can still feel pretty safe here.

I’ve taken on reading again. It is funny that during the spring in Finland I did not read even one novel. However just during the past month I’ve already finished George Orwell’s 1984 (which also became my new personal favorite), Shelley’s Frankenstein and am currently finishing A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

My family just joined me and my co-workers for lunch this afternoon. Leo took a liking in my boss and Kai was taken away from us at the restaurant. The waitress actually disappeared with him for quite a while. We got him back though, before they started cooking him. :)  

Susanna blowing soap bubbles for the crowd

Susanna and the boys will be heading off to Beijing on Wednesday to hook up with a friend of hers from the States. I will fly in Friday and we should be back on Sunday night. It will be interesting to have a couple a days just by myself… I wonder what I’ll do with all that time.

Late last week I entertained a friend of a friend who came over to Seoul for a couple of days on her way back to Finland from Japan. Since it is a small world, this girl turned out to know my wife and had actually gone to the same high school as her. On Thursday we had some Korean barbecue and climbed up to the Namsan Tower and on Friday I took her to eat some bosintang (dog meat stew) at the place close to the Myongdong cathedral. I did not expect to eat that stuff again so soon. Not bad though. It was nice to hear some Finnish for a change and have some company for dinner.

On Saturday a week ago I went to pick up my my wife, two boys and my sister-in-law from Incheon airport. I had not been so anxious in a while. Seeing my family again was truly one of the best feeling ever. The flight had gone much better than they had expected and all of them were on quite good spirits. I was very happy to have my wife’s sister fly in with her, since that probably contributed a great deal to the overall success of the flight. My sister-in-law will stay in town until next Monday for some sightseeing and helping my wife out with the kids. To ease the adjustment.

The past week has been very active both for my family as well as me. They’ve been going around town looking at the sights and pointing fingers at motorcycles. I suppose that most of the pointing is actually being done by Leo, who is very much into motorcycles, construction machinery and tractors.

From my perspective, the boys have adjusted here quite well. Of course, Kai, who is a bit over three months now, probably hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Still, he seems very happy and content. Plus, he’s been sleeping night very well. It is amazing how much a baby does change in four weeks! Leo (2 years and a month) also seems quite comfortable. At times he does seem to be at awe because of the amount of traffic and people, but he is also taking it very well.

The most surprising thing so far is the amount of attention the two blonde boys attract. As previously said, the Koreans are quite much like us Finns in the sense that they like to keep their distance and do not usually come across particularly warm. However, Leo and Kai have such an appeal that not five minutes usually pass between someone wanting to wave at them, shake hands or just attract their attention in some way. Some women have also wanted to hold the baby. Usually they ask first, but this one cleaning lady just took him from my wife the other day Personally, the attention received by the boys is quite nice, since it oftentimes helps to break the ice caused by the language barrier.

On another issue: A couple weeks ago we booked flights to Beijing a couple weeks from now. As it turns out, a friend of Susanna’s from the US is visiting there for about a month and since we are so close, we thought we should pay her a visit. Susanna and the boys will fly out on June 24 and I will follow them on June 26, since I can’t really take off during the week. This week I applied for the Chinese visas thru a travel agency located at Mapo-gu. If everything goes OK, I’ll add a link and a recommendation for this seemingly excellent travel agency next week. This trip to China will be a nice break for us all and it will also solve the problem of my 90 days visa-free stay expiring prior to our August 25 departure date.  We have not decided on any further travelling, although a trip to Tokyo has been in talks… As hard as it is to admit, I guess it does depend on the money…

I’m writing this at work. I was quite busy at the beginning of the week, but towards the end it seems that there is less and less of work. It is however comforting to notice that my coworkers also seem to spend quite a lot of time talking on MSN and just trying to make the time pass in various ways.

As I just wrote in my preliminary internship report concerning the local work efficiency, I would imagine that the amount of work done in this office would be done by half the workforce and in half the time if we were in Europe. I’m not being judgmental but am merely pointing out an obvious difference. I don’t think there is any rule that dictates that working should be as fast-paced as back home. However, the long workdays in Korea do not alone depict a realistic image of the amount of actual work done here. .

So far so good. Being reunited with my family lifted a huge burden off of my shoulders and I would imagine it will just keep getting better.

And tonight a cruise along the Han River…