Mysteries in Krakow

The first day of 2008 started off interesting.

Joe and I decided that we need to be more intentional about teaching our children Korean and Chinese. So we started the day with a good intention of expanding our kids' language skills. Whenever I spoke to them, I tried to speak in Korean and English. and then Joe would talk to them in Chinese. After about an hour of this madness, Makayla broke down and all of a sudden started to sing really loudly in Polish. This was our cue to stop overloading their brains. She then proceeded to tell us that she is Polish American, mommy Korean American, daddy Chinese American and ethan just American. talk about identity crisis. this should deter us from moving to another random country but we shall see.

There are many mysteries when you live in a foreign country. Partly b/c of language barrier, partly b/c of our ignorance but some things are just plain mysterious.

Oh, before i talk about that, i wanted to ask - is it totally rude not to accept those little things people give and throw at you on facebook? i just don't want to have gazillion applications on my page so i end up not opening it or whatever you have to do. for those who send me thing, it's appreciate it but never gets on my profile page :P but do give me things, i just know that you thought of me. . . . oh, and does it totally drive you nuts that i weave in and out of using capital letters?

Mystery #1 Balloons shrink at ridiculously slow pace here. When we use to get trader joe's balloon in the states, it shriveled by 2nd or 3rd day, if not popped on the way home by Ethan. However, the balloons we got here from McDonald's lasted, no joke, 2 months. It was kept in the kids' playroom indefinitely so we had to actually pop it. hmmmmmmm.

Mystery #2 Eggs are sold unrefrigerated here. This freaked out one of my American friend here to no end. She would talk about it every time we got together - she would joyously share that she discovered a supermarket who would sell them refrigerated. It didn't freak me out so much but it did make me concerned to see stacks of eggs 5 feet high - "how long has this been here?"

Mystery #3 We received this mysterious letter one day. Full of dates and different street addresses. We obviously couldn't figure it out so we thought it was some kind of road construction schedule. That was our guess. When we finally asked Joe's co-worker, this was the answer we got. "The mail tells when the neighborhood priest will visit to bless your home. Jesionowa is Monday, January 7th, starting from 15.00. "Gather your whole family if possible ... prepare a cross, candles, [kropidlo], and holy water. If you don't have holy water, tell the minister who precedes the priest. Shut off your tv and radio. Children should prepare their catechism worksheets." Joe's co-worker is quite a jokester so we were both like "he's kidding, right?" but it was confirmed by our babysitter asking us "so when's the priest coming to your house?" what is a catechism worksheets?????

To end, i would like to share why Mak will never enter the American Idol. WARNING - lower your volume, especially if you're at work!




Translation: "hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon..."

year end countdown

it's been a crazy year. and everywhere, they are doing the best of or somekind of a countdown. so to commemorate this year, i will have to do a countdown of my own. in no particular order:

10. 5th anniversary trip to Kauai - so fun!

9. first meltdown in krakow - realization that i wasn't home. . . .

boo-hoo. remebering the dirty floors.

8. learning to make tofu and kimchi

7. being unable to recognize myself from cooking too much from scratch (bye bye trader joe's, hello fresh ingredients)me making spring rolls for some guests - are you kidding me????

6. receiving 2 LV bags - one from joe for 5th anniversary, one from mom for my b-day (apparently, i'm not allowed to ask for another bag for the next 10 years. . . .)

5. my surprise b-day party - i was leaving to krakow on my b-day and few of my girlfriends and my mom threw a impromptu party right before i left. . . . tears just thinking about it. . . . where's my pictures at, james?

4. preparing to leave to krakow - major blowouts with joe, many group therapy sessions with my girlfriends, making sure my mom was well taken care of.

3. makayla and my unexpected culture shock -this is what i got when i ordered shrimp tempura and yakisoba? huh? it didn't taste bad but it wasn't what i expected at all!!!

2. entering public blogsphere. thank the Lord for technology!
1. becoming a U.S. citizen!! - where's my pictures at, james?

PICTURE OF THE YEAR:

makes me laugh no matter what mood i'm in.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Welcome to my Crib

NOTE: Some of you had trouble loading these panoramas. We optimized the page. So now, you have to click on each picture to view the corresponding panorama.

When some of you asked for a tour of our house, i wanted to do MTV crib style tour - you know, stock up my fridge with fancy water and stuff. BUT that's too much work. Joe's been wanting to try this 3-D panorama technique he learned online so this was his chance - and it turned out pretty cool. You can use your mouse to navigate and 'look-around' the house - kind of like what you find on real estate websites. check it out.

Use the Ctrl to Zoom-Out
Use the Shift to Zoom-In

P.S. If the panorama doesn't show, you'll probably need quicktime from Apple.

First Floor

Master Bath

Outside

the winners are. . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Hope you all have a wonderful day with your family. Thank you everyone who commented, it was the boost i needed to enter into the new year of blogland. I'll be sure to update you on all the happening here in krakow and more narrowly, our household :)

We had to make this into a whole production with the kids since we're bored out of our minds here. . . . most everyone went home to their own countries and our Polish friends are busy having 12 course meal with their families.

Mak wrote all the names and cut the papers.

and the first winner is. . .

SOJIN!!

second winner. . . . ESTHER!!

Congrats! Since I don't think there's a chance of sojin getting pregnant anytime soon (unless there's something i don't know. . . ) , i will send the feminine product carrier to sojin and pencil holder to esther. Please send us your address via facebook :)

christmas giveaway and winternational day

i was talking to sooj a while back and mentioned "i think you're the only person who reads my blog consistently." to that she replied, "just say that you're really lonely and people will comment." i said "no, that's too pathetic, i'm going to give something away, like a contest."

i'm not exactly sure if this is less pathetic than fishing for sympathetic comments but i did want to give something to my readers for christmas. so here it is. post a comment and on christmas day, i (mak or ethan) will randomly draw names and send this lovely pencil holder and practical personal holder to 2 lucky winners.

same as what i made for mak but cleaner - not perfect, but better :P
when closed, grey grosgrain ribbon and grey button

i found something like this when i was surfing on the web - thought it was hilarious - and actually practical - don't you agree, ladies? especially when we have to go to the restroom in public.
joe was like "do you have to post that? i don't think it's appropriate." please prove him wrong. oh, and you know what the smaller pockets are for, right?
and it has a flap for discreetness.

i wish i had more variety of fabrics - only source of fabric here that i know of is ikea.... so sad. but i guess it's good b/c if i was in the states, you know i would go crazy buying all kinds of fabric and thus face the wrath of joe. . . . this way, i use all i have and move onto the next pattern :)

enough of that, move on to kids' news. makayla's school had a christmas performance - lion, witch and the wardrobe. being in a small international school, for good or bad, they include every student to be a participant on the show (whether it's relevant to the story or not!) mak's class made girls into fairies and boys into random things.

mak has severe stage fright and she's debating whether she's going to be part of the show or not.

at this point, she decided that she's not going to be a part of it.

then she changed her mind since she was the only one in her class sitting with her mommy so she reluctantly moved backstage.

there's mak, standing in the back, not really paying attention.

that's aslan in the red cape. see how he's standing? that's how he was like the whole performance, he was the most angry, with attitude aslan i've ever seen in my life! it was an interesting interpretation. very cute production.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

christmas time in our household

We put up our Christmas tree! We bought our tree from our neighbor who owns a nursery - the trees here aren't as full as ones in the states. when i was looking through them, he was like, "people want a real tree but want it to look like a fake tree." so i guess there's a charm in the imperfections! it's kind of sad looking but still beautiful ;)

Makayla showcasing the little wood figurines we bought here.

it was an ordeal in itself to not let ethan break any of the ornaments. he was quite good i must say.

the finished product! i need to take a closer shot of the one branch that's sticking out - the star on top is touching the ceiling. i thought that it wasn't proportional at all so wanted to cut it but joe insisted that we need to keep it that way. don't ask me why.

Christmas also came a bit early in our house - we got a surprise package from our friends in the states. Ofcourse, none of us have the discipline to wait until Christmas so we just tore it open and enjoyed all the treats that night! Thank you Billy and Jin!
Makayla was crying literally two seconds before we opened the package - something about ethan hitting her with a bat - but she's all smiles now.
ta-da! her woodkins! isn't the bunching around the neck genius? if i had it my way, she would be on project runway - and me on the apprentice (actually only the first season - it's so gimmicky now - on second thought, bring back the martha apprentice and i'm there!!!) :Pethan and mak fighting over making the little figurines. why am i not pictured? ofcourse, because i'm devouring the magazines jin picked out for me!

christmas time in krakow

joe was away for 3 days again in london this week. it went pretty fast and i didn't even have a babysitter at night! i'm just getting better and better at this mom thing :P anyhow, to give me a break, joe took them out today for an extended daddy time. they went out to the city and had an eating fest.


some school children in traditional costume and singing

kids with their lollipops (snack #1)

ethan at a chocolate cafe (snack #2) - that chocolate drink is not your typical hot cocoa, it's actually melted chocolate. joe couldn't bear to drink it, so he took the kid's ice cream and whip cream and ate the chocolate with a spoon.

pretty gross, i know but they did have a whole roasted pig in middle of the square.

kid's snack #3, snack #4, snack #5 is not pictured, roasted honey cashews, kielbasa and bagel (kids told joe that they wanted to feed the pigeons but they ended up eating it all. . . . .) this is all on top of regular lunch they had. unbelievable. this is what happens when the kids spend lengthy time with daddy. . . . they love it.

video of the market square - all the stalls are there for christmas, selling all kinds of goodies!