The Amish and some Goats

Philly also turned out to be much better the second time around (the first time we were pressured by trying to find the ideal places to take her family), and yet the fact that the favorite summertime game in Philly is to sit on the backporch in the evening and play "Gun shot or firework?" should allow the reader to understand why it was also nice to get out into the Pennsylvania countryside for some fresh air. Arriving at my Aunt Deb's house, JooYeon got in some translation time out on the deck (her work environment has improved considerably since the 14 hour days in a cramped cubicle with the eyes of her demanding boss burning a hole in her head). We watched the Amish pass in their buggies as we savored the cool summer breeze.

Taking a walk in the backyard, we were soon surrounded by half-midget goats. Uncle Herb had rescued one by the side of the road as he was driving his semi, another had wandered into the yard after being kicked out of a nearby farm. Those two became an Adam and Eve, producing an entire swarm of goats for the farm (herd? clan?). I don't remember all the names but the baby white one is Svetlana and the "Adam" figure who is a bit polygamous is Elvis.

From Deb and Herb's, we hit up a thrift store, and then progressed to Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Merv's house, where we also got to see my cousin Geoff and his wife Jen. Merv is famous for his stories and was by no means disappointing this time... people say that it's hard to tell when I'm kidding, but Merv is ten times harder. Do you want to take the Uncle Merv quiz? Here are a handful of stories he told this time around... which ones do you think are true?

1) Porpoises sleep with half of their brain so that the other half can be awake... if they were to sleep with their entire brain at one time, they would drown.

2) Harrison Ford is in his 70's.

3) There is a country where the new bride, after marriage, must live with the husband's family for a year. If the mother-in-law does not approve of her, it is the mother-in-law's job to make sure that the bride does not survive the first year, and kills her off through poisoning or other subtle methods. If the bride survives the first year, she is welcomed happily into the family.

Unfortunately, despite all the wonderful stories, I only captured one picture of the back of Merv and Marilyn. This doesn't mean they're any less valuable than the goats I snapped six pictures of, simply a coincidence. The building is an old Mennonite meetinghouse from 150 years ago.

Basic Unstinks

Knowing that our funds would be tight for this year, JooYeon has done a wonderful job of creative budgeting and her new kick has been baking soda. According to her, there are at least 27 everyday uses for baking soda and she now uses it regularly for toothpaste, shampoo, facial masks, on bug bites, rashes, cleaning, and even as a deodorant (which surprised me by how effective it was even if I had ALREADY started to stink - that was what won me over - baking soda is definitely the first thing I'm packing for South America!)

We arrived in Philly while my friend Alex and his girlfriend Natalie were at work, but they (probably she) had written a nice long welcome letter introducing us to the four cats. We had a lot of fun in the next couple days including a huge dinner, cheesesteaks in the park, and some chill time with a delicious fusion of rooibos-yerba mate tea on the back porch.

We stopped by the Rodin museum and posed by the tortured and contorted images in his Gates of Hell which was ironically the only free piece of art we could get to without paying the admission fee.

JooYeon had asked me who the Mrs. Showalter was that kept appearing on our wedding cards (since she never took my name due to impossible amounts of bureacracy), and so I introduced her in a Woolworths at the wig section...

We also stopped by a coffeehouse across from a haunted old prison which turned out to be our favorite one of the trip so far (we're observing them closely just in case our dreams to open up a cultural cafe ever materialize).

Row, row, row your Boat

With two (practically) teenage girls in the family, we found ourselves having a lot more quality time with Shawn and Victoria than I had in living in New Jersey. One Sunday morning, we drove to Princeton to do some canoeing (another first for JooYeon).

Along the way, we saw geese, heron, turtles, a snake, and some crazy guy who jumped out to swim in the polluted waters (no comment on who that was).




We hurried back in time for JooYeon to help Papa Wonder a bit with his grand meal that Shawn cooked...


When it was time to leave New Jersey, Selene was in shock, but Lily came down to say goodbye :)

Five nutcases in the Big Apple

Recovering from the race, we had a quick meal with Ramers and then headed north to a graudation campout with the Studio. The Studio was an alternative school that I worked at for a year before going to Korea... there are about 15 students, 4 teachers, no grades given, and a strong sense of community. The most beautiful part of the campout was the final circle where the kids and adults of all ages gave secret gifts to each other including journals made from bark, poems, and heartfelt poetry.

We headed back to Ramers where JooYeon cooked a traditional Korean meal complete with kimbap, kim-chi, and a special tofu scramble.

Our next stop was New York City... with hopes of a more successful trip than our first one (check in the archives). JooYeon had a couple co-workers visiting on a business trip from her job in China (Just to clarify for anyone who is confused... JooYeon IS Korean, but she also spent a year in China, Vietnam, and Australia). The friends, Sam and Annie, spent a lot of time complaining about their job which was good for reminding JooYeon how glad she was to be free of the garment industry. They went to see an interactive broadway named Fuerzabruta while I took a long city walk with my old friend Lyle.

The next day was a slight flashback of the first NYC trip as we walked over 100 blocks to a festival which turned out to be non-existant and got a parking ticket for not moving our car to alternate sides of the roads every day. However, there's no medicine like friendships and this time we were able to take it all in stride as we cruised through thrift shops, walked onto a filmshoot with Sandra Bullock, wined and dined in an outdoor cafe, and had deep conversations about our range of thoughts being like a forest of trees (and how we tend to travel the same trails over and over)...

From zero to five in 3 months!

If you've been reading the blog, or if you check the archives, you'll know that JooYeon had never jogged before coming to America and that in Arizona we started with a 7 minute jog and had added a minute a day until we were at a half hour. So when Larney mentioned that his brother Ronald and his wife were running a 5-mile race in Lancaster, we decided it would be fun to attempt it also.

JooYeon had just lost a leg so she had some pre-race jitters, but she found it near the one mile mark and was able to pick up the pace. :)

As it was a last minute decision (and more importantly, we're on a tight budget), we slipped anonymously into the crowd of runners without actually registering. Prior to the run, JooYeon had never jogged more than 10 minutes continuously without a stop, but in the actual race she managed to hold a nice pace for the first 15 minutes before walking briefly.

It was beautiful weather for a run, and nice scenery as well, ranging from 200 year old historic brick buildings to a reflective stretch through a park, and even a crazy man who scared JooYeon by telling us we had much further left to go than was actually true. :)

All in all, we jogged a good 90% of the race and finished in 68 minutes (well, actually about 67 minutes and 40 seconds, but since we had to veer off into the spectators right before the finish chute due to our non-registration, we assumed it would've been about another 20). I then gave JooYeon the piggyback I had promised during the last mile and she was soon wrapped safe and sound in the van like a mummy- her first race ever a big success!

The Hills are Alive...

During our stay in New Jersey, we took a weekend jaunt out to a country home in Lancaster with Larney, Julie, and their daughter Allaire. The events of the ride down were inevitable... of course we taught Allaire Go Stop! It seems to be an amazing cure for carsickness :)






Once at the house, we meditated on deep philosophies...



And then worked hard on constructing a covered vehicle (which fell apart after the first ride - maybe I should have at least let the kids have a try first...)

In the evening, someone was inspired to start up a free-flowing dance which began with expressive movements to music and ended up with the audience yelling out animal names which we dancers quickly transformed into throughout our dance (unfortunately it didn't seem right to capture such sacred moments on camera so you'll just have to imagine three human walruses hopping to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite!) In the morning, JooYeon and the family had a delicious breakfast cooked by Larney and Julie while I tried some more gourmet country cousine...

Suburbia on the East Coast

Leaving Ohio, we headed east to my second home with my cousin Shawn in New Jersey where I had lived for a year. We fast-forwarded in time from Justin and Angie's kids who were toddlers to Shawn and Victoria, who have teenage girls. (We're hoping that all these stays with families with children will give us some great and wonderful wisdom on parenting, and also help us know when we're ready to get some children of our own.)

The family had grown slightly since I had lived there three years previously with the addition of their bengal cat Lily. The once spastic himalayan Merlin had now matured considerably to make room for Lily's spry youthful spirit.

One of our first activities was to head up to a retreat in the woodlands of New York. There, JooYeon got a chance to try painting for the first time and perhaps if Shawn is reading this and he so desires, he could send us one of those shots to put on the blog although there is certainly no pressure to do so. :) (As it turned out, Shawn was indeed so desiring, and consented to send us the following image which is a historical record of JooYeon's first painting experience)

After that we returned to the quaint suburbs where we continued our morning runs, did some cooking, and taught the girls go-stop. One evening, there was a live concert in town so we took some wine, cheese, and snacks and made a picnic of the occasion. We were joined by Victoria's brother Larney and his wife Julie who were kind, thoughtful, and conversationally intrigueing.

JooYeon and I took several walks around the neighborhood looking at all the beautiful houses and thinking of potentially adding New Jersey to our list of possible places to settle down. Shawn told me about the property taxes in New Jersey. It is no longer on our list. (However, it should be noted that after reading this original blog, Shawn sent me the link to a sight which puts things into perspective by comparing the tax rate with the income rate, painting New Jersey in a slightly more favorable light = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_tax_levels_in_the_United_States

On one walk, JooYeon decided to experience blindness just temporarily since we had recently stayed with a good friend Craig who is visually impaired. Our respect for Craig grew immensely as we agonizingly navigated through a very simple walking path...