American in Waegwan

We made it to Camp Carroll, in southern South Korea. Not a big place, tiny actually. As I mentioned before, they had lost our luggage, meaning I had to go shopping (boo-hoo ;) and that we did not have the playpen for our youngest. The hotel on the camp did not have cribs as they don't usually get families here, so we had to borrow a suitcase for her to sleep in as she would not go to sleep in our bed. After 3 days we did get our luggage and all's well.

My husband had to start to work right away and I was left in the hotel. Not the most exciting place to spend time with a toddler and preschooler. Like I said, this is not a family camp so no playground here. So into the stroller for wee one and suck it up and walk for the older. (Did I mention we don't have a car?) And off we went, into Waegwan. The area just outside the camp gate caters to and is very used to Americans, so most of the shopkeepers speak fairly good English. So my first venture out wasn't too intimidating. I even managed to find us an apartment on my own, something I was rather proud of. (We're currently still waiting on approval from the Army's housing department.)

I'll pause here to describe how the Korean women are with my children. When we're walking down the street they all smile and wave and point and talk and of course I have no idea what they're saying but I get the impression it's along the lines of how cute etc. Then when we stop in a shop they just kind of take the place of nanny/grama and they are genuinely helpful and caring. It's awesome! I don't have to do a thing but look around the shop and the kids are entertained, often fed with snacks. When I was apartment hunting the owners of the apartments would come pick us up in their car (car seat usage is not stressed here...) and the woman would hold my oldest's hand and help her up steps and play with both kids while I'm looking around. I could go on and on about how great this is for me. And of course I still keep an eye on the girls but I feel genuinely safe with this. It's such a relief to not have to say every 45 seconds "come back over here" or "quit touching that"!

So first time out by myself, not bad. Honestly we didn't go very far but it was still exciting to be out in Korea alone.

Coming up, I'll address the topic of driving in Korea!