Parental Visit #1

Last week my (Ian's) parents hopped the pond to get a taste of Korea and see firsthand what our new life in Seoul is like. Other than the sub-zero temperatures, the teaching of extra classes, my mom's and my lingering sickness, and the biggest snowstorm in Korea in 70 years, it was a great trip.

Seriously though, we had a good time. I think my parents enjoyed themselves and handled the hustle and bustle of Seoul surprisingly well. I also came to the conclusion that my dad must have been a Korean in a past life. He loved the food, especially kimchi, knew an almost unsettling amount of Korean history facts, and the fast-paced, no-nonsense attitude of Seoulites, along with their penchant for flashy ties fits him perfectly. Now if I could only get him interested in tight jeans and karaoke he would more or less fit the mold.

My mom handled the ice-covered, neon-lit mega city better than her rural Idaho sensibilities led me to anticipate, and she enjoyed most of the food, which was especially impressive considering her sickness.

Leslie and I showed them our favorite eating and drinking establishments and some of the items on the standard tourist itinerary. My dad also came in to see one of my classes, which was fun for me and the kids. I had told them to prep questions for him as homework, but a lot of them nervously clammed up, and about their best response was that our mouths looked alike. But still we had a good time and Dad got them laughing and relaxed by the end.

About midway through my parents' stay Seoul experienced a monster of a snow-storm, which even shut CDI down for a day and a half. (That shows you how big it was.) Actually, it wasn't really that big, pretty standard compared to whatwe got back in Utah, but Seoul usually does not get much snow and the city was unprepared to handle it. For example, people here don't even have shovels, they used brooms and plywood connected to a two-by-four to shovel the snow. The army had to bring in 5,000 troops to assist with snow removal.

Thus, this made showing my parents around a little more challenging, but we managed it in the end. Dad spent most mornings playing superman/good Samaritan, helping get Korean drivers out of the snowbanks they had inevitably driven themselves into. Koreans have absolutely no idea how to drive in the snow. They are even worse than Portlanders!

My parents also went up to the DMZ, while we were working. Something Leslie and I still have not done. They said it was quite interesting and actually got to go a little bit inside North Korea. I haven't been able to talk to them in detail about it yet, but it sounded like a memorable adventure. Leslie and I are definitely needing to go do that soon!