I Love My Brudder

Okay, so everyone knows by now that I don't ever call my brother the actual word "brother." It seems too proper for such a silly dude like Chuck! hehehe He is brudder.

Did you hear that brudder visited us in South Korea recently? In fact, he just left on Monday and we're still recovering from our Super Tour of the area! If you are interested in what we did, check out his blog! Click here, here, here, here, or here!

 

Here's a quick recap of what we did:
Saturday: Brudder arrives and Isaac gets reacquainted. We stayed in Seoul over night so we checked into our hotel and then headed to Gwanghwamun Square to Gyungbok Palace where we enjoyed a free tour from student volunteers. We then explored the free underground museum of King Sejeong and Admiral Yi.

Sunday: We woke up and leisurely headed back to Gwanghwamun to do some Haechi shopping. We explored the local dinning options and had a yummy korean lunch and walked around the Cheonggyecheon River. Then we headed up to N'Seoul Tower. We didn't expect the huge "dusk rush" to the top of the tower and it took much longer to get up than expected. This resulted in a mad dash back to the bus station to get home.

Monday: We relaxed in Songtan and walked around town. We had chicken bbq with pizza toppings for dinner-a favorite.

Tuesday: a super early start with ICS chapel and then headed straight out to Suwon to see the Fortress wall. It was my 4th visit and we finally took the trolley--a new perspective, but cramped! After that we found a hidden jewel (literally) called Dragon's Jewel Temple in Hwasong-si near Byeongjeom.

Wednesday: A full day at Korean Folk Village in Suwon with Sarah and Caleb. Exhausted by the time we got home!

Thursday: Chuck planned an adventure all alone in Seoul. I wrote out precise directions for subway and busses and he was off. It was a good thing I hadn't planned to attend since I woke up sick and barely able to function. Jason came home from school to take care of Isaac (and me too!) Chuck visit Namhan Sanseong Provincial Park and Fortress. He finished the day at Bongeunsa Temple next to Coex Mall and then came back home.

"I miss mommy!"

Friday: Another relaxing day at home in Songtan but this time it was market day! We braved the market full of busy old ladies and their shopping carts, trying new street food items on the way. We headed out to ICS in the afternoon to help with the school's Fall Festival and ended the evening with a nice visit with John and Ferial and Jonny.

Saturday: We headed out early to Seoul via Nooriro Train and saw the changing of guard at Gyungbuk Palace on our way to Jogysea Temple and Insadong shopping. We made Kimchi in the afternoon and visited the Seoul Lantern Festival on Cheonggyecheon. Then we grabbed a subway to meet friends for John's surprise birthday dinner at On The Border. Surprise, surprise it was! We actually ended up on John and Ferial's train! haha! What a night!

Sunday: We went to church at SCBC, lunch with John and Ferial one last time, Jason and Steve did a lot of moving and we got a new bed and then rearranged our bedroom, Chuck relaxed and packed and we just had a calm evening. We also looked up lots of the korean names for foods I had always wanted to know and I ended up learning a few things! Woot!

But besides all of the adventures I really just loved being with my brudder. I wouldn't say that we were ever close growing up, and even as adults we've never lived near each other and usually in separate parts of the country. However, I love him a lot and always miss him. I think my brudder is one-of-a-kind and he has good, clean, unique passions in life (like traveling to Asia!). Most of all, I really enjoyed my time getting to know my brother as an adult.

I find that a lot of times, with family especially, it is easy to remember someone for how they were. For example, I kept asking my brudder, "Do you like tomatoes? Tomato soup? Ketchup? Onions? ..." Because I remember him not liking some things growing up. But now he's grown up a lot, decided to try those foods again and has discovered that he likes a lot of foods. I am the same way, even in the last 3 years my tastes have changed dramatically and I've tried more new, ethnic foods than I have my whole life. The point isn't food likes though, it's how we've changed. If our opinion about food can change than so can most of the rest of us.

Without going on forever, I just really enjoyed getting to know my brudder for who he is now. I felt like we had a lot of good conversations and I love him even more now, knowing him in his current life.
(I'm also glad that he really does love a lot of different foods and we were able to eat so many of my favorites here!)

Well, brudder, we all miss you around here! Please come back soon! I love you!