Tong Bok Market + Seoul Tower

Kasey had a four day weekend this past weekend and it was so nice to have him home. Eisley loved having him home to play with her all weekend. She has now nicknamed him "dee" which we think is short for her usual "daddy" and all I heard all weekend was "DEE? DEE!" On Friday we visited a market in downtown Pyeongtaek named Tong Bok Market before going to our branch BBQ/camp out. It is a huge outdoor market that is open 7 days a week. It reminded me of a flea market back home. Except I don't think I've ever been to a flea market haha. I can only imagine that this was a little different than anything you'd see in the states. One word: DOG!

Chicken feet, yum. Kasey ate these on his mission!

The produce is so pretty.

The carrots here are huge! 

.....dog....be glad I spared you an up close picture.

So.much.kimchi. It smells so good!

What would you even do with a pig HEAD?!

Eisley's dream come true! It nibbled on her finger and she giggled. 

This balloon making mime on stilts loved Eisley and she felt very indifferent towards him. The peace sign is a universal hand gesture when getting your picture taken as a Korean. We had better learn quick.

On Saturday Eisley woke up with some pretty bad allergies so we made a quick trip to the 3 and 8 market and stayed inside the rest of the day. We spent the majority of the afternoon a few hours building Eisley's new play kitchen while she napped. Kasey did all the work [he's the best!] and it is ridiculous how difficult that thing was! She woke up and was so excited to play with it though, so it was definitely worth it. She kept stirring the fake food in her pot and then giving us bites and saying "mmm." It's amazing to watch their imagination grow at this age. The playroom is almost done, we're just waiting on a few more packages to be delivered. Eisley loves it so far. We stayed indoors on Sunday too and had a much needed and very lazy day. 

Monday was Buddha's birthday, Memorial day and Eisley seemed to be feeling better so we took the train up to Seoul to go to Seoul Tower. It was about a ten minute walk once we exited the subway and then a three minute cable car ride up Namsan mountain to get there. 

Eating her hard boiled while waiting for the train to arrive. This girl is seriously the best eater, and that I am thankful for.

The view of Seoul from the cable car station.

Seoul Tower from the cable car station.

The short hike from where the cable car drops you off to the tower was so pretty.

Macaroon ice cream sandwiches....ahem Stephanie and Dave.

The Locks of Love at Seoul Tower. People buy padlocks and lock them on all the gates, write messages and never throw away the key. It's meant to symbolize eternal love.

Our love lock :)

These are big fire pits that were used to warn of enemies approaching during the Joseon dynasty.

The colors in the court yard of the tower were so pretty.

Enjoying some tomatoes before we head to the top of the tower.

So many to choose from.

The view of Seoul from the observation deck.

The Han river. The fourth longest river on the peninsula.

There was a 360 degree view of all of Seoul and on each window they had posted the distance to different major cities in all the world. This window was the closest to home.

Our view from where we ate lunch.

She loved playing in the misters.

So this was kind of weird. A group of women wanted to take Eisley's picture and then this woman picked her up and asked Kasey to take their picture haha. 

The view from the cable car ride back down the mountain.

We got off the subway on our way back to Seoul at Nomdaemun Market to see what it was like. We only spent about ten minutes there though because it was so hot and crowded at that point. We decided we'd come back another day when we have more time and patience ;)

In other news we got our driver licenses! We had to take a 45 question written test. Driving rules here are very similar to the states with the exception of a few different signs and lane rules. We've also found a car that we're hoping to be ours by the end of this week. Oh, and Eisley has found a love of stickers. 

We're really enjoying our time here despite missing our families and friends back home. We can't wait to see everyone when we visit. Love you ALL! 

The temple + Hongdae + the Lantern Festival

So yesterday we took another train into Seoul because we heard the Spring Lantern Festival was going on this weekend and we wanted to see the temple. Once in Seoul we had to take two subways to Sinchon where the temple is. The subways were SO packed because of the festival, it was insane. 

Waiting for the subway.

 

Once we actually got to sit down this man warmed right up to Eisley and starting showing her pictures of his grandkids on his phone. It's kind of crazy how many people want to touch, talk to, take pictures of and hold Eisley. Some ladies will just pull her up from my lap to hold her or take her out of my arms to help me get on the bus or subway. It's taken some getting used to. 

Once we got off the subway we started heading in the direction we thought the temple was in. We were walking for about ten minutes when my phone told us to turn right. It was this tiny and busy alley way up this steep hill with cars driving up and down. It seemed odd but we started the trek up the hill. It was hot and I was tired and as I looked up to complain to Kasey that I thought we were going the wrong way I saw a glint of gold in the sky. It was Moroni! It was so different to see him resting in between a bunch of buildings in the middle of this busy town. 

We took a nice break from walking and played in the lawn of the temple.

Overlooking Seoul from the temple.

Then Kasey wanted to show me Hongdae, a part of town he spent time in while he was here last year that he really liked. It was full of people, shops, restaurants, street performers, street vendors and more people. It was so fun. We watched magicians, musicians and dance groups. (AKA Korean teenagers who wear matching outfits and dance on the street to K-pop but it was pretty entertaining.) 

Sleepy girl and her scowl watching a performance.

One of her favorite games is hiding in clothes.

After we shopped and ate in Hongdae we took another subway (I think we took a total of 6 yesterday!) to Insadong, where the festival was. It's in the heart of the Seoul and this charming little part of town with traditional shops and restaurants. 

This is outside Jogyesa, the Buddhist temple in Insadong that was decorated in lanterns.

Inside Jogyesa. This temple was beautiful, inside and out. I wish pictures could do the architecture and colors justice.

We found a parade!

She loved the floats!

Getting pretty excited...

getting really excited...

BIRDS!

Whoaaaa

Eisley's favorite animal right now is birds. She was so excited to see them in the parade.

We had a late dinner and headed back to Seoul station to catch a train. It was 8 pm when we got to there and found out the next train didn't leave for Pyeongtaek until 10:20! So we Kasey had to keep an exhausted 1 year old busy for over an hour. You go Glen Coco. Eisley stayed up (on like her 12th wind of the day) for the train ride but crashed on the way home. She stayed asleep through a diaper change and everything and slept until I had to wake her up at 8:30 for church this morning.

We REALLY enjoy our ward here. Well it's actually a branch, it's pretty small. Relief society had 8 women in it today. But I loved it. Eisley is a week away from going to nursery and like five years away from enjoying it and wanting to stay :/ we're working on it! She did ok for the first hour today. Anyway, I'm going with a friend to an appointment in Yongsan tomorrow and with a couple of friends to Ikea in Gwangmyeong on Tuesday. Wish me luck! Oh yeah, and Kasey was promoted to Specialist last week! Woohoo! BYE!