Gyeongpo Lake (part 3)

As we kept on walking, we encountered a pretty peculiar sight of three children playing hide-and-seek in the woods. Yet, they were not real children, instead, they were statues. 

Intrigued by their uniqueness, we sneaked into them and blended ourselves in.^^ 

Eyra and Freya were having fun....pretending to play along with them.^^ 

Yes, it's a nice concept to begin with.  

But, after a few minutes, Freya started to wonder and asked,"I wonder if the boy ever woke up and started looking for us." ^^ㅋㅋㅋ 

Then, nearby, we found another statue of a girl squatting in front of a stone-bowl as if she's murmuring something or saying something wishy-washy ...uttering some spells... 

oh, well..whatever it was meant to be, the kids tried to approach the statue(d)-girl^-^

and pretended to be ....communicating with them.

역시...kids.

Eyra and Freya's Banana Song

I found it so funny to see Eyra and Freya trying sooooo hard to imitate and sing-along the Minions in singing and mumbling one of their hits:) 'Banana Song'

I couldn't stay still. Grabbed my camera and started recording what they were doing.

I guess Minions got them hooked.:-)

Pororo (AgaaaIIIINNNNNNNNN?????????)

 

Yes, it's Pororo and Pororo again and again.
They watched the movie months ago...but still, when they encountered some Pororo posters or any Pororo toys they haven't got...they'd be restless.

So, the other day...Freya was so excited to have received her toys. 

It's only 4 days. They play with it only in a few days or so.

Well, Freya..: I hope you could mingle with them quite well enough.

Another Visit from Students

Lina, Amel, and Rika. The first one's still in Korea for an exchange student. The remaining two just got back to Indonesia again..after taking a summer course in AKS in Korea. 

Well, girls..thanks for visiting me. 

As for Lina: she'll be extending her stay for another year or two. 

Eyra and Freya are getting more and more used to meeting the students.

After all, our apartment has become one of the must-visit venues, especially among students from my almamater--who happens to be in Seoul.

A Cameraman in The Making

Freya and Eyra were up to something. They brought two medium-sized boxes along with them as I watched them coming home. Then...without taking a rest or anything, they started unfolding gift-wrappings available at home and began cutting them into square shapes. 

They looked so busy. It's not the first time that they do this kind of stuff. 

Then..I noticed that they glued the fancy paper on the box so as to cover it all over. Okay..I still had no idea of what they were about to 'create'. 

Freya, too, was preoccupied with her own!

It looks like they were making the same 'thing' 

oh....what's the paper cup doing on the one end of the box? They kinda attached it onto it and wait...I guess..I knew what they were up to. 

They made a camcorder.!! They learned it at school and even Mr. Maker at Cbeebies made one, too. 

Even, there is a handle which makes it easier to hold. Hand-held camera.

Out of ordinary stuffs found at home, they made a camcorder...a big one....

Wait, they made two: one for each.

Looks like 'summer holiday' gave them an urge to keep themselves busy.

Yes, go gals.

Then.. it's Eyra's turn...

After Freya got a fever, a few days later...her sister was the one who got one. 

Now...her sister did take care of her.

Eyra was shivering and her temperature shot up to 39 degrees Celsius. 

But amazingly she kept on smiling and she was just acting normally.

I did not know why. I suspected that she was a bit traumatized of being hospitalized for 2 weeks last year. 

See? I was so glad and relieved that even though she got fever, she's still happy as she could be. Yes...we taught them to always have 'happy thought' 'happy thought' 'happy thought' and 'keep smiling' kind-of-attitude.

and..it seems to just work fine. 

*of course, alhamdulillah she's fine, now.

'Have a blissful summer break, kiddos!!"

Ulang Tahunnya Eyra

Just the two of us? well, not anymore. Daddy took the picture, Mom prepared the cake and Freya accompanied her sister-the birthday day girl to take a pose in front of the last night's cake.^^

Selamat Ulang Tahun, Kakak Eyra. Semoga semakin pintar, baik hati, sayang papa mama, adik..rajin sekolah dan....jadi anak dan orang yang selalu baik dalam segala hal, luar dalam. Amiiiiiiiiiiiiiin. 

Now, don't forget to blow the candles, there are 8 of them, but wait..the number-shape candle shows that it is 9?

Well, Eyra is 8 in Indonesia, and 9 in Korea. (strangely enough, it is true in both terms).

"Met Ultah ya, Kak" Freya said.

Kimono & Hanbok

Kimono try-out. The Fuji Mountain picture on the back. Freya's first time ever to try putting it on. hmm..we wanna go to Japan. But first..let's try putting on Kimono.

Then Eyra's time to try it on, too. She chose the red color that she has always liked.

What? Too tied? 

Just be patient....and say cheese....

And this is when they put on their Hanbok Attire...

Oh btw....

Happy Birthday, Eyra. 

Got A Minute?

For what? for looking and trying new stuffs. Eyra misses her piano back home in Jogjakarta. Well, every time we go to a mall with a section for musical instrument...she just could not resist herself from touching the piano....... 

For what? for looking and seeing new stuffs. Freya just could not stay put. I was trying to decipher what the pictures hanged on the wall were all about. But she just kept on playing around. 

Oh, well...after all, the pictures were NOT in a gallery, instead they were on-the-spot exhibition for customers entering the Lotte Dept. Store. 

@ Mr. Pizza: A Dinner

Did you have fun, gals? Sure they did. 

They were so excited when we told them that we would dine out. Especially..as they found out that we would have pizza over dinner. Hmm...having pizza is actually a bit hard right here in Korea where most of the ingredients are meat that we cannot eat. So, the only safe choice we could have is (chuckles) always to make sure that we have either vegetarian pizzas or seafood pizzas. 

So, the other day (Monday night), we met our two students who happened to be also studying in Seoul. Diana (white jilbab): arrived a year ago to start her MA at Hanyang University. And Hesti (black jilbab): just graduated a week ago from Ehwa Womans University.

So, the occasion: was to welcome Diana and at the same time to congratulate Hesti on her graduation.

Once again: Eyra and Freya could not keep themselves quiet for a while. They kept on moving about the place: Oh, they loved seeing the cook make pizza live. Yes: one of the characteristics of Mr. Pizza is that customers have a chance to see the pizzas being made right in front of their eyes.  

Now it's a picture where my wife's in it^^. See all the girls are clad in jilbab. And I was the only man in the group. One man with three women in jilbab and two kids:)^^ I wonder if there were other customers who might have misunderstood the situation like: 

"Wow, that man has three women!!!!^^^ hahahahahahahahahaha

Of course...I was just making fun of myself.

But, with more and more Moslems students coming to Korea or Seoul in particular, I am hoping that more and more people are more accustomed and welcome to seeing women in jilbab. 

After all, Korea is transforming itself into a multicultural society. 

And we are a part of Korean society at the moment. 

Oh..ah..about the pizza: We loved it. We love Mr. Pizza.!!!!

Freya's been busy

It's late but she was busy ..making stuffs. She was drawing the pictures: fruits, a bus, a house, a teddy bear, a star, and  self-picture of herself^^ Then..she put the pictures on a piece of paper...which was a great thing to do...coz I was amazed at the idea. 

Then...she helped me fold the laundry. Well, I was so happy that she was so attentively understanding. She folded her own t-shirts^^ 

Most of them....nope of course..but most of her t shirts: she did it by herself.

Thank you, Freya...for being such a nice princess.

Pororo: The Racing Adventure (The Movie)

As I promised the kids, well...actually...they and all Korean kids across the nation asked for it, I took the kids to CGV Cinema at Wangshimni to see one of their beloved characters: Pororo 뽀로로. This made-in Korea character has transfixed and bedazzled lots of kids ...glued them every day on TV or on internet or on any other platform to enjoy the excitement that Pororo and his friends bring about to their world.

This time....this is on BIG SCREEN. The Pororo Racing Adventure hit theaters since January 24 and I booked the tickets in advance so that we could see it on Sunday (January 27, 2013).

It was a good decision to do so since lots of parents do the same thing for their kids.

Waiting in line before entering the cineplex. 

I was prepared to encounter lots of kids with their parents or parents with their kids thronged into the theaters across Korea and I am sure any other countries, too.

A glimpse picture I took when the movie's over. 

Overall, the kids loved the movie that they begged me to let them re-watch it again.

What? No.!

It's expensive, dear..to watch a movie on cinema.

That's why I decided to take the kids to see the digital movie only, not necessarily the 4XD cinema where the seat could move along with the story of the movie.

hmmm...it woud've been fun but...surely it would've cost more, as well.

The good thing was that...Eyra and Freya loved the movie although it was not the 4XD cinema.

Public Design Chair Bench

On our way to go to CGV Wangshimni Station to take the kids to watch "Pororo: The Racing Adventure".

Well, on our way up to the exit, we encountered again this cute bench.

I also wrote about this on my other entry. But, this time..since I took the kids along, I asked them to be there and let me freeze them in camera.^^

This is the green Brontosaurus bench.

A Tranquil Chuncheon...

Yes...it was so tranquil when we were thre. Well, of course not all part of Chuncheon city IS tranquil. We just need to go there at the right time, moment, and place.

As for us, we went to Soyang Dam at the eastern part of the city. a 30-minute bus drive from the Chuncheon  Station by bus number 11 or 12 would take us there. 

We were actually about to leave the Dam when I thought that...it would be a good place to take a picture since not many people were around.

Indeed, it was a rare tranquility we may find it hard to find in Seoul (except in certain places or gardens, of course). 

We'll always remember this serene and quiet lane...beside the Soyanggang Dam.

Drizzling...breezing...chilling...windy...cloudy...foggy....snowy.... 

Eyra and Freya on January 23, 2013....marked their steps in Chuncheon. 

This is the bust stop right in front of the station where we took the bus that transported us up to the Soyang Dam.  

At about 14.49 or about one hour before departing, we arrived at the station again...

so..what to do while we had the remaining one hour left at the station? Would there be something that we could do? (check out our other entry).

Soyang Dam @ Chuncheon (part 2)

This is the Soyang Dam. What? Where? What? this is the dam? 

Gosh...^^. Yes, we barely could see a thing since it was so heavily fogged:) I mean, the thick fog was hanging over the whole  vast area of the lake where the dam was. So, practically we did not see any clear view that the brochure offered us. 

This is the lake. ^^ But I thought that it was so cool. I liked it, though.

The eerie and grey....subdued....misty...gloomy-like dream....all wrapped up within my mind as I was looking at the lake at Soyang Dam. 

Even the ferry at the barge was stranded alone. I learned from the brochure that on a clear day, we could take the ferry for one hour ride circling the lake. That would've been cool. 

So, Freya could only imagine herself...taking a ride on the boat. Guess, we'll be back this Summer, dear.^^ 

Oh, swell.er..I mean..well..this is another pictorial view that I could grasp with my camera. 

Pretty impressively calm....so to speak. Pure Tranquility... 

On our way back to the parking lot where the bus would be waiting for us, we encountered a statute that we noticed on our way up the hill. This must be a very famous person or a famous figure in Chuncheon or in this Soyang Dam..that it was deliberately erected on this very spot. 

Freya: "Do you feel cold, Sis?"

Yep, she is the Chuncheon maid..wait...Chuncheon maiden...wait...Chuncheon girl..or Soyanggang girl...or Soyang river girl....I can't be so sure of how to call her., But from what I learned, she is a manifestation out of  a very popular song about the same girl . Guess...the city of Chuncheon dedicated this statute in honor of the song itself. 

With one last..look and pose with the Soyanggang Sonyeon.....We ended our journey to Soyang Dam at Chuncheon. 

It was drizzling....Eyra and Freya were ready to get back home. 

The lane at the side of the lake was eerily quiet....

But...it only made us love the place since it was a rare tranquility we could not find in Seoul.^^