28th July 2016
So finally pen to paper in a manner of speaking!! I have
been here in Seoul with Luke and family for more than two weeks now – it’s been
quite a roller coaster ride with not much time to sit down let alone write a
blog!! Where to start…… I guess with I am happy and once again feeling
productive and grateful for this unexpected time with my precious little ones.
But more of that later.
So I got the call from Mel on Thursday 7th July asking
if I would like another summer in Seoul – a couple of days after I had
commented on face book that I was facing the first winter in Cape Town for four
years as I had been this lucky shoe string swallow for the last while – 2013 in
USA, 2014 on Nepal and India and 2015 in Korea – who would have thought – so be
careful of what you wish for or the intentions you put out, however reflective,
there is no doubt power in them!!!
Memory, Luke and Mel’s Zimbabwean nanny, wanted to return
home at very short notice as she needed to track down her 19 year old son who
took himself off to SA against her wishes and then was out of contact for a
good two weeks. Anyway the long and short of it is that Memory left Korea on
Wednesday 13th July having told Luke and Mel on the Sunday preceding
this, that she would like to leave Korea for good and find work again in South
Africa. I left SA on the Monday, and flew via Jhb and Hong Kong to arrive in
Seoul on the Tuesday evening.
Being summer, Morgan was on holiday already and
Seren started her shorter summer break on Monday 25th this week. Seren
returns to school on the 8th August and Morgan on the 16th
August. Once they are at school life is
much less demanding (for the adults that is!!) as they have long days – start
at between 8.30 and 9.00 and end at 3.00 for Seren and 4.00 for Morgan!! They
both catch buses to school which pick them up – Morgan outside the gate about
200ms at the top of a steep hill and Seren in the apartment grounds.
So that’s
the context of my being here again. Luke and Mel did consider summer school for
Morgan but then thought – well maybe mum would prefer to be the one to spend
out of school time with Morgan and while I was still thinking about it, John
said – it’s a no brainer – they need you, you love to be with the children –
what’s there to think about…. So thank you John.
I guess my reservation was my
energy levels but here we are two weeks later and pretty much still intact!!! I
did come down with a thick throat in the first few days – but put it down to
the air conditioning which I am not used to and also not that keen on. However
the frog in the throat persisted so I finally took myself off to the
international doctor on Tuesday who has put me on antibiotics for a strep
throat and a bladder infection. I had been taking all my usual Chinese medicine
thingies but decided to go ahead with the antibiotics plus a course of
anti-imflammitories as my joints and in particular my knees were bothering me……
ah the toll of years added to the incredibly steep hills around their apartment
which are bad enough to walk up or down but pushing a pram at the same time is
a killer, especially in the beginning –
my legs are now getting used to it and I have found better, as in less steep,
all be it longer, routes home from the swing park where we take the children.
However
having said all that – here’s the thing! I have just looked up in the list of
ailments drawn up by Louise Hayes that we include in the Healing section of the
curriculum for the Montessori teacher training and surprise surprise - she
reckons these symptoms are to do with feelings of anxiety even feeling pissed
off, fear of change and moving forward and not expressing oneself!!!! So once
again – listen to our bodies all of us and use the wonderful affirmations she
suggests to help oneself move forward and be in charge!!!
So what have I been up to with these two wonderful adorable
children? Of course I am still utterly besotted with them and for good reason –
this is, of course, a totally unbiased opinion!!!
For the first week and a half it was just me and Morgan
together each day until Seren needed to be met off her bus at about 2.50 - 3 pm.
So we took ourselves off on various adventures
– we visited the aquarium, the Children’s museum and the animal museum at the
Korean war memorial. We even scambled all over old airplanes and boats from the
war. We also had a great time swimming at the pools which are very strictly
controlled, and went to Lilliput’s Café – a wonderful place where adults sit
and enjoy refreshments while the children are let loose in a wonderland of
child size vegetable shopping area with life like fruits and vegetables, which
they select and place in small shopping trolleys which they then take to the
till to scan and ‘pay’ for them! It also
has wonderful stuffed animals and dolls, with prams and cots and kitchens,
climbing nets, bouncing and jumping areas and duplo and train sets and even a
place where Morgan had her nails done!!
So to get to all these places, we would
either walk down the hill and board a bus or catch a taxi or once went with a
friend from upstairs with her baby. Most
times I would take Morgan’s pram as she can get quite tired by the end of the
morning, especially in this heat. I am constantly amazed at how well thought
out everything is and how child aware and child friendly everything is.
This week has been different for a couple of reasons – Seren
has been on holiday so it has been the three of us. However Mel did organise
for a nanny to be here for the two weeks of Seren’s holidays as there was no
way I could manage both of them for the whole day. Most days while Seren was
still at school, Luke or Mel managed to get home by about 5.00 or latest 5.30 or
else worked from home, so I didn’t have both of them for more than two hours or
so!! Some of the time Morgan was asleep when Seren arrived home which also made
it easier except I felt uneasy leaving her to sleep while I met Seren.
So the idea was that we would trial a few nannies during
these two weeks. This would not only enable me to have help but would also
enable me to get a good sense of what the nanny was like. The idea was that the
nanny should focus completely on the children and not do any house work while
the children were awake. Monday and Tuesday this week were disastrous!!! Leah,
a lady from the Phillipines came and was really not suitable at all. All quite
stressful and I couldn’t wait for Luke or Mel to get home!! She actually left
Morgan in the bath so that was the end of her!! Especially as Mel had come
across another nanny, Burlita, also from the Philipines whom we trialed on
Wednesday. What a difference!! Anyway
Mel cancelled Leah and asked Burlita to come today, Thursday. What a pleasure
–an absolute natural child minder – she is 41 years old, has a 13 year old
daughter and 10 year old son and has worked in Hong Kong and Korea for an Irish
and then a New Zealand family. I love that she knows all the characters in the
children’s programmes, Thomas the train, Ben the builder, Fireman Sam, Harold
the helicopter, Princess Elsa and Captain Hook and the pirates, and the rest!!!
She also sings the same songs and painted and managed Morgan and Seren on the
mat in the playroom at the same time as they did different activities!! She
also spoke to the cab driver in Korean!!! So definitely a keeper!!!! Mel had
found and interviewed a Kenyan nanny whom we all liked who was going to trial
next week.
So we’ll see – but certainly things are looking far rosier than they
were on Monday night when it seemed we had only one choice, namely Emma the
Kenyan. It’s quite a business getting their work visas sorted out – they need
to be out of the country when you apply for them – and in fact there were many
nannies looking for work but who were already out of the country which would
mean taking them on sight unseen!! At least now the nanny can go home or out of
Korea and Mel can then apply for her visa and then pay for her to come back
into Korea. This would coincide with Luke and Mel’s return at the beginning of
October, after their three week holiday in South Africa.
So this has all been very factual and rather dry with few
anecdotes and feelings and what we have
been experiencing. Call it
setting the scene!!! I will reveal all in my next blog – the other thing that
has been happening since I arrived is a major overhaul of their apartment!
It
started with the thought that Seren was about ready to move out of her cot and
into a big girl bed. This then developed into a bunk bed rather than two single
beds. So no sooner said than done – we
all went off on the first weekend I was here to look at bunk beds – we saw a
few wonderful ones at wonderful prices in a very upmarket street – the
equivalent of Rhodeo drive in LA – in fact it’s referred to as Rodeo Drive - Things
are unbelievably expensive here!! Anyway Mel went online and found some at a much
more reasonable price, still expensive by SA standards though which she ordered
on the Sunday night, together with two wooden tables, four wooden chairs and a
black board and painting easel. The beds arrived on the Wednesday and the guy
who delivered them assembled them – they are stunning and the children are
ecstatic – Seren has taken to sleeping in her bottom bunk without a moment’s
murmour! Of course the first thing she did was climb the steps which, of course
at this stage, is not a good idea – she’s just 18 months old. Mel cleverly
jammed the space between the bottom and next step with Tupperware containers so
she cannot get a toehold in - frustrating for her of course, especially as she
watches her older sister having such fun going up and down and of course
jumping form the top!! But today, clever little minx that she is, she managed
to push the containers forward a bit and the next thing was up the
stairs!!!! We are going to have to wedge
them in really firmly. Fortunately Seren can still stand up on her bed without
banging her head on Morgan’s bed – but not for too much longer!! The good thing
is that she can get on and off the bed by herself and has not yet worked out
that she can do this when she wakes up!! Morgan loves the top bunk and plays
happily up there on her own. It was so sweet the first time Mel lay next to
Seren in her bed when Seren went to sleep – she had never had this before of
course being in a cot, and she kept on touching Mel’s face and stroking her arm
and saying mummeee.
So the next big change was that Luke and Mel moved out of
the master bedroom into the children’s bedroom, so we put the bunk bed in the
bay window which left the rest of their bedroom free for their play area. This
then freed up the dining room to be just that rather than primarily a play area
housing all the shelves holding all the children’s toys. The children’s table, that was previously a
play and eating table, is now in the dining table for their meals although
Seren still has most of her meals in her high chair. So now there are the two
new tables and chairs, which Mel assembled, the easel, and the six sets of
shelves in the children’s room. In addition Luke removed the cupboard doors off
the cupboard in the bay area so that it can also be used for their toys. I had
a lot of fun organising the shelves into language and books, art, play dough
and crafts, maths and sensorial type building and construction activities,
puzzles and games, musical toys, trains and cars.
The reorganising didn’t stop there – Memory’s room is now Luke’s cycling
room and a study where they can work if needs be out of sight of the children.
Morgan was given a big girl bike earlier this month for her fourth birthday –
it has fairy wheels for which Luke has made a stand so that she can also cycle
indoors alongside him!!
So that means I
am in the ex-cycling room – which will also be the nanny’s room when she starts
full time. It is a much smaller room but
really cosy – big enough to have a double bed in it. It has three double built
in cupboards, a TV mounted on the wall and a few bedside pedestals. It does not
have air conditioning which suits me. So there is a large fan which keeps it
cool and the mossies at bay as well!!! So much reshuffling which took quite a
lot of effort and heavy lifting on Luke’s part! But true to form – these two do
not let the grass grow benaeth their feet. The children have taken to the new
arrangements really well.
Well I have rambled along and don’t blame you if you stopped
reading a while ago – no problem – it will be here tomorrow and there after!!!
I will hopefully now have more time to keep a daily blog. There just wasn’t
time before this – and when there might have been time, I was generally feeling
too knackered. Sadly I did write something about ten days ago which I foolishly
deleted instead of posting and I never got the energy up to rewrite it!!! Anyway on Luke’s advice I have written this
in Word which I will then copy and paste!! I will also try to include some pics
to relieve the writing!!!!
In a word it is good to be here. In fact it is more than
good it is amazingly wonderful – especially to have the incredible privilege of
daily interaction with Morgan and Seren. I will tell you all about them later.
xxxx
