a new year has been born

welcome 2009! 

peter & i have been talking about all of the new things we anticipate happening this year and, even farther ahead, what we think life will be like once we leave Korea.  we'll be a few years older, be married a few more years (the obvious), possibly be fluent in Korean, have some good work experience under both of our belts, and maybe have a mini peter crawling around?  i guess we'll see.

on new year's eve and new year's day we walked around Seomun Market, a traditional indoor/outdoor market just 5 minutes from our apartment.  unfortunately, we arrived at the market around the same time people were packing up to close for the evening, but we still saw a lot of cool stuff.   vendors line the street proudly displaying all of their goodies...ranging from dried fish to persimmons, calling out to pedestrians, "Come, taste!  Come, buy something!" (all in Korean, of course!)  which reminds me to note that korean grandmas are tough!  the majority of these vendors were korean women over the age of 60.  they sat patiently next to their stand waiting for customers to come buy 1 or 2 dollars worth of vegetables/food in the freezing weather!  

the market is enormous and one could easily spend an entire day there and not see everything.  we only did eye shopping and we only skimmed the surface.  but we did buy some streetside goodies that were excellent!  it's just crazy how "eating out" can be cheaper than cooking at home.  peter and i are loving the food here.

later we spent our new year's eve at home in our quiet, cozy apartment.  we watched the countdown on local korean television.  they don't do the huge fireworks display like the states, but instead hit a huge bell with a giant log.  it wasn't quite as flashy, but seemed to please the audience nonetheless.  

today we went to peter's commander's home for a traditional new year party.  he had to wear his formal army dress blues.  i was secretly dreading the event because they're usually stiff and awkward, but it was surprisingly laid back.  the commander had set up a wii and a play station for people to play (peter was able to break out his mad wii tennis skills and beat a superior officer 3 times!).  everyone we have met has been very welcoming and kind, which makes this whole change much easier for us.  i met a few other army officer's wives and hope to get to know them better while we're here.

overall, i would say we're adjusting well and settling in pretty quickly.  i'm realizing that i'm actually a big chicken, but fortunately i have a brave husband who encourages me to swim out into the unknown even though i'd rather just stay home where it feels safe!  as a result, we have had some really awesome adventures together and i'm sure we'll have many, many more this new year.