yeseterday, we spent the whole day with my dad's family. we drove an hour and half south of seoul to see kuhn-como (my eldest aunt) who has been dealing with parkinson's. i was told that she was doing a lot better than before, but it still left me quite emotional. i was thinking of you, ahp-ba...how much i miss you and how easily we both can cry. 

the rest of the night was spent at my cousin's place where we had an amazing feast. zachary and i each ate 3 bowls of yeoungdeungpo's kahm-cha-tang (potato & pork stew), 4 different kinds of homemade kimchis and so much more. we were left stuffed. the only thought left was "i wish i wore stretch pants".

it was nice to get to know imcheon como's family and meet 3 of her daughters and all of her grandsons. we were reminded all day of why we're in korea, and how incredibly blessed we are to have family here. but i won't lie. it made me miss our families and the dinners back home.

kimchi season. imcheon como made a surplus of kimchi for the entire family. she had a gigantic container specifically labelled "mihwa" for us to take home. unfortunately, we had to transfer it to little containers to fit in our little fridge. but the rest of our kimchi will be waiting for us at my cousin's house when we're ready for a refill. it may happen soon. her kimchi is perfect. just by taste alone, it's obvious it was made with a lot of love. and we got a batch and a container specially for us. thank you, como.

my cousin, meehee, got married last march. i met her today and was happy to share some pics from the wedding. imcheon como has 5 girls; and now has 4 grandsons. a generation of girls. and a new generation of boys. pretty incredible.

hongdae never fails. hands down, our favorite place to be. last night, we ate nepali food and caught a little tap dance action. knockin' on heaven's door wearing a hot pink sequenced blazer....that's the way it's done here.

i'm not sure what it is about korea's subways that draws me to nonstop picture taking. maybe its that it drastically contrasts chicago's "L" with its cleanliness, reliability and use of colors and tile art. all i know is that i really appreciate the subway system here. avoiding cars and traffic jams has been stress relieving. although, i do miss you, 1991 toyota corolla.

on our way to getting physicals (for our foreign cards), we came across some beautifully tiled poop. weird, but not surprised. 

a rainy evening spent in a cafe obsessed with london.

(i love the girl cracking up in the background)

more shots of korea's subways.

the 2nd floor of a greek eatery. in korea, you got to work with the space you got.

one of our cousins got married last weekend. we were grateful to have been invited, especially since we had never met her before. we spent the morning at my aunt's house who still lives in my mom's hometown. we didn't have a chance to walk around the town. instead, there were about ten of us in one room taking naps, eating peaches and watching E.T. before the wedding. i was thinking about my mom a lot, especially hearing my aunt tell stories of when she was a child. i love my aunt. she may be the littlest of the bunch, but she sure is tough. 

sinchon is a 5 minute walk from our place. streets are lit by thousands of neon signs during the day and night.

we hiked up a small mountain not too far from home. it was a beautiful day. we could see much of seoul and its endless sea of buildings and city structures amidst the other mountains. from above, all the apartment buildings looked like cartons of milk. we also met an old man who pressed his thumb against zachary's and proceeded to tell zachary he was weak-minded.

small hike (part 2)

wow. obama! we would have loved to have been transported back to chicago to be one of the many speckles in the massive crowd. but we were there in spirit. instead, korea helped us find our way to what felt like morocco...where we put our feet up on pillows along a shallow pool, took deep sighs of relief and just sat in amazement that the day has finally come. and though it all may feel like a dream, it's real.