from Gwacheon City - Days 7 & 8

On Thursday, Ji Ho and Hyeonji had the opportunity to visit a small, local, private university, Elon University.  It's one of the most beautiful campuses!! They toured with the other Korean students that are part of this exchange program.  When I asked them what they thought - they both replied, "Big!"  

The girls came home from school on Thursday excited because they wanted to attend the school's basketball games that evening.  The school has paired each of them with a "buddy" student and Ji Ho's buddy is on the girl's basketball team. They had seen basketball before on TV but not in person. Both the girls and boys teams won their games so they were great ones to watch!

TBS basketball photos taken by Ji Ho!

Friday was a busy day for the girls! The school they are attending had a teacher workday so their group had the opportunity to visit Raleigh - North Carolina's capitol city.  They visited two museums - one natural science and the other natural history.  We received mixed reviews from them about their museum experiences. :-)

The afternoon and evening was dedicated to some outdoors fun because even though we started the week with single digit temperatures we ended up with almost 70 degrees today!  That's life in the south for you though.

From our visit to Five Below last weekend, we had picked up some Silly String so the kids had a silly string fight. 

Not long after, the skateboards, bikes, and other fun came out of the garage. 

CJ took the girls for a walk and then one of my most fun family events began - a campfire! The girls enjoyed hotdogs roasted over the fire and Ji Ho was brave enough to try a mountain pie which she said was her favorite tonight!  And of course, we had s'mores. It's just not a campfire without the s'mores! And there's just something about a Patterson campfire... it brings out the goofy, the laughter, the reminiscing, the silly games.  I know I enjoyed the time - I hope they did as well! Memories!

More Firsts

American university

high school basketball games

Raleigh visit

Silly String

skateboarding

mountain pies

campfire s'mores

from Gwacheon City - Day 6

Day 2 of American school was "better" in the words of Ji Ho.  When I asked what was better about today, her response was, "More friends!" :-)

For dinner the girls tried Chili.  I continue to be amazed at their willingness to try so many new foods!  If the situation were reversed, I can't say that all of my three kiddos would do the same.  We continue to learn through our conversations at dinner, in the car, in the family room more and more about their daily lives while they are experiencing ours.  I'm grateful for this opportunity.

Tonight the girls were eager to visit a portion of CJ's ballet class. They seem fascinated by all of the extra-curricular activities of American students.  So much of their time is spent in study.  Many Korean students attend school all day and then attend an after school study or academy session until 9 or 10:00 at night.  We learned tonight at dinner that they are involved in school clubs but that seems to be the extend of anything we might characterize as extra-curricular.  To me, it's interesting how we can all live on the same planet at the same time yet live so very different lives.  Yet, even though we live these different lives, we can come together and enjoy each others differences, immensely.

Before attending ballet class, we had to make a stop at the grocery so the girls had their first experience at an American grocery store where we picked up some staples and some new items for them to try - Pop Tarts and Jello! The main difference between our grocery and theirs that they pointed out was that most of our items are so large, such as the gallon of milk.  They said their markets didn't carry such large sizes.  We determined it was probably because they walked to and from their grocery and most other places because they live in the city. I mean who wants to carry giant items through city streets?  Makes sense!

Their visit to the ballet studio was a success.  They first had the opportunity to meet the sweet younger ballerinas.  The little ones were excited about their special visitors and greeted them with complete ballerina respect... a curtsy! 

In the pointe class, they were able to watch barre work and some choreography practice.  When asked afterward what they thought about ballet, their response... "Beautiful."

Today's Firsts

Chili

Ballet Class

American Grocery 

from Gwacheon City - Day 5

This day marked the first day of school for Ji Ho and Hyeonji at an American high school!  They were up early in anticipation and at breakfast I asked if they were nervous. They said, "Yes."  I asked what they were nervous about and they responded, "About making friends."  Teenage concerns are universal aren't they!  I, of course, told them they had nothing to worry about; that I thought they would have no trouble at all! I mean after all, so far they have traveled halfway around the world and are staying with a family that they had never met until five days ago! They are brave!!

In the Patterson home, we have two First Day of School traditions.  (My children will tell anyone that I'm the queen of traditions! It's really a secret ploy of mine to help them cherish their time at home so much that they will want to return often once they are grown.) The first tradition is to take a First Day of School photo in the same spot each year. My kiddos hold up their fingers representing their new grade level for the year.  I showed the girls the photos this morning on display by where the kids hang their bookbags and told them I had to have their First Day of School picture! They sweetly complied.

Ji Ho's first day at American high school.

Hyeonji's first day at American high school.

The second tradition is after school ice cream.  We have always taken this time to talk about how their first day went.  So, of course, we took Ji Ho and Hyeonji for ice cream to one of our favorite local spots - Purple Penguin! After several flavor combinations and multiple toppings piled, we heard all about their day... which they said was hard, but they said it smiling so all is good!

I enjoyed my ice cream but enjoyed hearing about their day more!

The evening was spent around our dinner table talking about America and Korea and enjoying one of our favorite Southern meals - barbecue, macaroni and cheese, baked beans and cole slaw.  We've noticed that our girls are much more modest in their portions than we Americans are, but the mac and cheese did earn a second helping. :-)

Ji Ho summed it up... "This is the best dinner yet!"