Were it not for the unparalleled kindness of strangers here, we’d have missed out on our scheduled tour of Panmunjom and the DMZ I’d scheduled weeks ago, which would have been a huge shame. Jack wrote a blog yesterday alluding to that kindness (and has since said something about Koreans being the Canadians of Asia, […]
One day in Seoul and we’re already having food issues
At about 3 am, I woke up in a cold sweat wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into. This was after arriving in Seoul yesterday afternoon, finding our apartment (first time in an airbnb), and mustering enough energy to wander around our neighborhood to find some dinner. The cool thing about airbnb is we were able […]
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Twelve simple steps to the perfect thank you note
We returned from a trip recently to a stack of newspapers on the counter and a pile of mail, on top of which were three hand-addressed note cards for me. It felt like Christmas. Oh, the art and tradition of the hand-written note, sent by parcel post with a bona fide, first class stamp. Proof […]
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Ten Realities of Family Travel
We’re planning a family trip! Okay, I’m planning a family trip and I’m periodically keeping people updated on details, which is sometimes how we do things around here. In a couple of weeks we’re bound for a conference in Korea and taking the boys. Mike and I are currently getting mileage out terms like “Seoul Brothers,” […]
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Stress puppies in springtime
I told you about my chill child last week, and he is pretty chill most of the time. Except when he’s not. Like those days I pick him up from school and he’s got a scowl on his face and the conversation goes something like this: “Hey sweetheart, how was your da – “ “WHY […]
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Learning to parent with a little more chill
There are people whose mouths write checks their bodies can’t cash, whose bravado is bigger than their brawn. Who can be guaranteed to bristle at the slightest confrontation. You know ‘em. People for whom the competition is a bigger deal than the actual feat, whose entire psyche is one, big button waiting to be pushed. […]
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Sending our kid on exchange? What could we possibly be thinking?
Dear anonymous letter writer, Your note made its way to a few of us this week:
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Ten times I overestimated my teenager
Thought he could tell time. We have a big clock in the living room. The kind with a face and Roman numerals. I guess that could be hard to read on the fly. Too bad there are also only two to three additional clocks in pretty much every room in the house. Our youngest child has apparently […]
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Nothing against turtles, really, or hobos
I recently subscribed to one of those services that delivers a box of ingredients and instructions for dinner to your door every week because: True Fact #1: Parenting gurus say if you don’t sit down to a family dinner on a regular basis your children will one day be hobos. True Fact #2: There are people around […]
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I’m with the groupies
It used to be that Spring break was just a healthy opportunity to exercise my ability to ignore what sounded like a passel of wild pigs mowing through my kitchen every five minutes, and people pawing at me with complaints about boredom, while coming to grips with the fact that we’re staring down the barrel of […]
