OK, so we took the kids to Lotte World for Christmas Eve. One reason is because we'd be sitting around the house tell the kids to be quiet, stop running, calm down, shhhhh, and then the neighbor lady would come up and tell us she can't sleep and we're bothering her. We smell her smoke in the summer and don't say anything but then again, whining to an Asian about cigarette smoke is going to get you nowhere. At least they don't smoke in the subway stations like they used to. I can only imagine this place 10 years ago.
Anyway, it was 122,000 won and worth every penny because we kept them occupied and at the end of the night, they got into bed with absolutely NO argument. I think this summer I want to go backpacking in the Sawtooths. They'll walk 3 miles and sleep really well at night.
Lotte World is an indoor and outdoor amusement park with an ice rink in the bottom, and a mall built on one side and the outdoor part is on an island. Owned by Lotte Dept Store, it's a status thing. See, every company has a baseball team, orchestra and an amusement park or something heavy-hitting. It's really interesting. When we got there, we had NO idea how to get to the rides, because it looks like everything is hidden. There's all these people riding the rides, but how did they get there? Finally, we look and see there's a series of tunnels and staircases to get to the rides. The first ride was a 'hot air balloon' on a track that raises you off the platform and goes around the ceiling of the huge building you're in. It was a good way to try to figure out how these Koreans get to their rides. And at the same time, there's all these shows at the stage at one end. They're singing all these Christmas songs and dancing and it looked really festive. So we went around and then got a speedpass to Pharoah's Curse, another ride with a 5 kilometer long line (it's metric here). Then we rode another ride and went to find food. Their hot dogs were 2500 won each, not bad and they had an English menu at the burger stand. So about 12,000 won later, we're all full. Not huge portions, but not bad prices, either. Thank goodness they didn't send me to Japan! Koreans hate them anyway. So we hit the rides again and the kids had a good time. They really ate up all the attention the people in the lines gave them. Violet has grown used to the ajumas waving at her, she just stares back now and I have to grab her hand and wave, because I don't want my clown-haired kid to offend them and 5,000 years of culture. I can't say no when ajuma and ajashi offer their seats to my kids, either. They're 80 years old and standing on the subway for my overnourished kids to climb all over the poor saps next to them? When those folks were my kids' ages, they were lucky to have food every day or miss getting beaten by a Japanese soldier, trust me- Spencer won't shoot up a high school because he had to stand on the subway when half of Korea decided to go to Jamshil station at the same time! But you can't turn down any gift. Julie gave the kid in the picture here a fruit snack and the kid's parents gave us a stuffed heart and I think the kid cried. So Julie's feeling guilty, they felt obligated to give a gift because they accepted one, and she complained we should not take their stuff. But you can't offend them by saying no. See why there's so many wars over here? On my mission if you completmented something that someone had, they had to give it to you. So I had underhanded companions that went around extorting things from people, belts, shoes, clothes, etc. I guess that leather sport coat and quena I got are booty from my exploits, but I didn't try to take everything I saw!
They sold Hite beer at the place. Apparently, it's cool to knock a few back with the family at the park. But the signs at the rides said if you're drunk, don't ride the ride. And in this country, it's a limited-liability state. You drive drunk into a wall, you can't sue Daewoo because your car let you drive drunk and you can't sue Hyundai Contruction because they built a wall you crashed into. On the plus side, medical care is cheap, plentiful and just as good as the USA. I might get my face shored up a bit before I leave. Take about 10 years off in case I need to be prepared!
My favorite part of the night was the ride/game called Desperadoes. You're on these 'horses' that rock up and down like a real one (but do horses let you shoot guns when they're dragging you around? I hate horses anyway. But you have a gun and out comes the guide jabbering away in Korean (NOTHING in this park is in English, really) and all of a sudden, everyone starts blowing him away so I did, too. You're in this bar scene and you're supposed to shoot the bad guys, so I start firing away like John Wayne in any number of spaghetti westerns. I got the high score in round one and they take your picture. I wanted all the Hangooks to see the Kojangey from Idaho with a new 357 at home in a box (in Idaho) could shoot and defend their soil. They're just like the Japanese, they want to shoot guns and look tough. In Guam, they all go to shooting galleries and pay way too much to shoot a 9mm, AK-47, M-16 or 44 mag. Anyway, the next round I was in 3rd because the stupid horses started galloping and I couldn't get a good site on the wagon we were chasing or something. I don't know- it was all in Korean. I guess the horse was galloping in the saloon we were shooting up in round 1. What the heck is wrong with these people? I need to take my Korean counterpart at work to the US. He is an F-4 pilot (the USAF stopped flying those in 1996!) and pretty serious, but he's starting to figure out I'm a total goofball. But that guy needs to come to the US and shoot guns and waterski and go 4 wheeling, like I'm going to this summer when I go home. I only wish I could take my Harley with me.
11PM comes and the kids are dragging their butts around. It's funny. They're so tired and we have a long subway ride ahead of us. A LONG subway ride ahead. It's crowded and they're moping around, after the Korean version of Wall Street goes by, it's emptier and they get to sit down. Then we transfer and finally get to Ichon Yeok and we have to walk the 500 meters home. Those poor kids! They got in bed and instantly died right there. It was a lot of fun to watch them be so tired and go right to sleep. They woke up around 9AM. Christmas Day, when every other kid in the world couldn't sleep past 6AM, they're still sawing logs. Dang, I look fat in that picture.
Best 122,000 won I ever spent!
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