Krees goes Dutch Kiwi!

South Africa photo album is up!

I finally posted some pics from our trip to South Africa! I just realized that I'm missing a bunch of things - our visit with Stephanie, touring Johannesburg, Sterkfontein Caves and Robben Island, to name a few.  But cut me some slack. We took 4000 photos and haven't quite gotten them all moved over to iPhoto yet. :)

Anyway, I'm sure you won't enjoy the 640x480 pics as much as we enjoyed the trip, but I hope you'll give it a go anyway.

Family and friends, if you want larger versions of any of the photos, just let me know and I'll send them. Mwah!

Torsten the night owl

A week or two ago we let Torsten take a nap relatively late in the day. Not surprisingly, he was WIDE awake well past his bedtime, but he was in quite the good mood!

Aldus's funny faces

I asked Aldus the other day if he could raise his eyebrows. He gave one of the funniest faces I've ever seen him make, so yesterday I decided to try and capture it. Not only can he raise his eyebrows, he also makes a FANTASTIC pirate face. (You can also hear Torsten giggling in the background.) Enjoy!

They grow up so fast

Charles usually takes Aldus and Maui for a long bike ride after work. It gives the dog some exercise, gives me a little time to feed Torsten in peace or start on dinner, and gives the boys a chance to see what's new with the local cows, tractors, etc.

The other day after their ride,  Charles said to me, "I had the condom talk with Aldus."

"Oh, good. I'll have to have the drug talk with him tomorrow. What did you tell him?"

"Use lots of them."

Fan club or flash mob?

Aldus has a little bit of a cult following among the kids in our neighborhood, most of whom are girls. I don't know if it's because he's the youngest of the kids who's old enough to play, or because it's a novelty that we speak English, or if it's just because he's so darn cute. (It started with them all wanting to play with Maui because he obeyed commands in English and with hand signals.)

Regardless, not only do they ring the doorbell nearly every day to ask of Aldus can come out and play, they've also taken to playing in the circular driveway in front of our house just to let us know they're out there ready and waiting. I finally understand the exasperated parents of teenage boys who complain about all the phone calls from admiring girls.

I really shouldn't complain about it, as they keep him occupied, help him (us?) to burn off his energy, and a couple of the girls are old enough to watch him for an hour or two without our supervision.

But it also means that leaving the playground always takes longer than it ought to as they all line up to give Aldus goodbye kisses, hugs, waves, elbow bonks and fist bumps.

Family portrait

When Aldus was born, we forgot to ask someone to take a photo of the three of us together. Until Charles's parents visited, we only had photos of Aldus by himself or with each of us individually.

We were fortunate that the midwives attending Torsten's birth immediately volunteered to take a photo of the three of us, and my parents took a photo of all four of us during their recent visit.

First Days

Has it been almost a week already? Time flies!

We're doing well, especially with Charles still home and the kraamzorg help during the day. Tuesday may be an adventure when she's gone and Charles (I assume) will be back at work.

Regardless, we've had a great week with Torsten at home with us. I think he sleeps more and cries less than Aldus did. Score! Most importantly, he eats well and is healthy and strong. And beautiful. And sweet. Yeah, I like him.

Aldus likes Torsten, too. He very much wants to touch him and give hugs and kisses. But he's also having a rough time because of all these new rules like not touching the baby when I'm nursing, not pulling on the carrycot of the stroller when Torsten is in it, etc. It's not easy to be two with a new baby in the house.

Yesterday I was feeing great, both pysically and emotionally. The engorgement started to subside, I had energy, etc. This morning I'm a physical wreck. Fortunately, my emotions are still good. Coffee helps. But I'm going to spend the day trying to do almost nothing physical so that I can rest up. I know how susceptible I am emotionally to my physical well-being.

Here are a few pics from our first few days:

Me in labor. Thank goodness Charles took this photo right away because I was like this for less than 10 minutes before I needed to start pushing!

Some people thought Charles didn't look so good in the photo we emailed to everyone. Ha ha! Stress will do that to you. But have you every seen a more proud father?

Aldus likes to see Torsten first thing when he (Aldus) first gets up in the morning and whenever he comes home from the babysitter's or peuterclub.

Torsten's first outing to the playground behind our house. (And a coffee for me!)

Ahhhh....lekker slapen!

Introducing Torsten Jinsup Yun

Just to spite me for saying that I didn't think he would come on his due date, Baby #2 made a valiant last ditch effort Sunday. Sporadic, mild contractions in the afternoon and evening were followed by my water breaking around 10:40pm. Nothing for a half-hour, then quicker, stronger contractions over the next hour, and we rushed off to the babysitter's and the hospital.

After 15 minutes of evaluation by the midwives and 5 minutes of pushing, we were blessed with another boy!

Torsten Jinsup Yun
Born 1:33am on Monday 22 June
3.81 kg / 8 lbs 6 oz
Lots of black hair and a Yun nose!

Torsten was my grandfather Palmquist's name (changed to Thomas when he immigrated from Sweden). Jinsup is made up of "Jin" (진/眞) meaning truth, faithfulness or real, and "Sup" (섭/燮), the generational family name he shares with his brother and cousins, meaning harmony or flame.

We're all doing great, Aldus and Maui included. More photos and updates to come.

Editor's note: Bad Umma! I got my Chinese characters mixed up in the original post. They've been updated to reflect the correct syllables. I will blame sleep deprivation.

Time well spent with a good friend

Merrill came to visit over a long weekend. Woo hoo!

I met her at the airport Thursday night and spent Friday and Saturday showing her around Amsterdam. We went to the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrandthuis and Anne Frank House, and also just spent a lot of time hanging out, catching up, playing with Aldus and pondering why he occasionally makes himself gag. Aldus and Merrill even had a lovely duet on the Museumplein chimes:

As a bonus, Charles joined us on Saturday, hung out with us for a little while, and then took Aldus back home with him so that Merrill and I could enjoy a nice dinner out. (One more reason I love this man!) The food at Restaurant de Luwte was even better than when Charles and I were there last year. We didn't even mind the light rain as we sat outside, but maybe that was the biertjes and proseccos.

On Sunday we showed Merrill around Dwingeloo a little. It's too bad the wind and rain kept us from taking a good long bike ride. I really wanted to bike out to my new favorite spot for koffie en appeltaart: the theehuis in Dwingelderveld. Oh well.

Monday we went to the museum, WWII transit camp site and memorial and telescope at Westerbork, then up to Groningen for more pancakes and some shoe and dress shopping. Can I tell you how jealous I am of the three new pairs of shoes she bought? I'm daydreaming of a wardrobe revamp of my own.

I won't speak for Merrill, but I had a really great time and am sorry that it has taken so long for us to be able to spend so much time catching up with each other.

Merrill, good luck with the upcoming mini-tour (warning: music will start automatically), and best wishes to you and Brian on your move to the new house!

State of the Krees Address

I haven't written much lately. I am not apologizing.

I haven't written much:

• not because there's nothing to write about;
• not because I haven't had the time;
• I have been traveling a lot, it's true;
• I haven't felt the need to amuse myself by reminiscing about recent events; and
• I don't feel the need to explain my environment to you, dear friends and family, because I'm pretty sure you're already all too familiar with where I am - physically speaking, at least.

I do feel the need to further dissect my reactions to being back in the U.S., but not until I get back home. (Funny, isn't it, how in the Netherlands "home" is Ann Arbor, and in Ann Arbor "home" is in the Netherlands. It was bound to happen. I've become one of those people who doesn't fit anywhere. But there I go anyway, digressing down the road of dissection...)

---

I'm currently reading (and recommend) "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. In the book about her four months in Italy, she says:

Still, when I look at myself in the mirror of the best pizzeria in Naples, I see a bright-eyed, clear-skinned, happy and healthy face. I haven't seen a face like that on me for a long time.

This reminds me of something I noticed as I went through all our photos from Korea: The Scowl was gone.

I can't say for certain - perhaps Charles has noticed - but I think The Scowl has been missing from this trip, as well. I can't say it's purely because of travel. I do love me some travel, but I know The Scowl still accompanied us on our whirlwind tour of Europe in 1996, and I have photographic evidence that it tagged along with us to Sicily, arguable the most enjoyable trip we've ever taken (witness Exhibit A, photo #5).

Truth be told, I think The Scowl usually appears as I pore through the guide book for wherever we are, trying to determine the most exciting or interesting thing to see or do and the best way to get there. But it didn't bother joining us in Korea, Michigan or North Carolina, I guess because we don't need no stinking guide books for those places.

Regardless, I'm pleased to say that the past two weeks have been extremely pleasant and Scowl-free. We have a couple more days yet of relaxation, hanging out and enjoying some of our favorite places, faces and foods in the U.S. And I'm looking forward to posting and sharing Scowl-free and Aldus-full photos in a few days, perhaps along with some emotional dissection of what it's been like to be back in Tree Town.

International House of Yuns

Congratulations to my father-in-law who just accepted a job that will take him back to Korea for up to two years. That's right! There's no stopping this man. This must be at least the third time he's come out of retirement (un-retired? de-retired?), and it's the fourth time that my in-laws have moved back or forth between Korea and the U.S.

I don't think my parents think we're crazy for moving overseas, but maybe they think we're a little crazy for considering not returning. Maybe now they'll think we're merely following in the footsteps of crazy.

On my mind

We're now more than half-way through our contract and it's time to start thinking about what we're going to do  once our project is finished. Do we try to stay on here in the Netherlands with another project? Or do we return to the States?

If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said in a heartbeat that I wanted to go back. Now I'm not so sure, and I'm thinking about it all the time. There are so many different factors to consider and so much at stake; this is definitely one of the most difficult decisions we've ever had to make.

In no particular order, here are a smattering of the thoughts running through my head.

1. I really like being able to work part-time and stay home with Aldus part-time. When I think about what it would have been like to continue trying to work full-time (and especially to commute between Ann Arbor and Detroit) and have Aldus in daycare 45 hours a week, I think I would have been miserable.
2. We took a big pay cut moving here, but we've been able to "get by." Health care has been affordable. Day care has been affordable. I don't know whether or not we could get by if I worked part time or didn't work at all in the States. Maybe. Maybe not.
3. However, part of the reason we've been "getting by" is that our spending is completely different here, and it's not an apples-to-apples comparison:
   • We're not saving for retirement here.
   • We're not investing in the kinds of things that helped to make Ann Arbor "home" - house, yard & garden, organizations, church, community. There's little spending, but also little emotional investment.
   • There's nowhere to spend our money here for "quality of life" things. (We rarely go out to eat, there are no gourmet food or wine stores, there's no coffee and pastries on the way to the dog park on the weekends. There's no dog park membership, Michigan Theater membership, taekwondo classes, etc.)
   • The health care and day care here is much more affordable. They're practically paying us to have Aldus go to day care 25 hours a week.
   • We own a "disposable" car. If it dies before we have to leave, replacing it is going to put a big hit on our finances.
4. The Netherlands is a good place to raise a child. And we would like for Aldus to grow up with an international perspective with exposure to different cultures, languages, etc.
5. If Aldus grows up in the Netherlands, it'll be in a very ethnically and socio-economically homogeneous environment.
6. Raising Aldus in the Netherlands means that he'll have very little exposure to his Korean heritage. If we go back to Ann Arbor, we would probably do taekwondo as a family, potentially join a Korean church, and definitely get Aldus enrolled in some Korean classes and/or summer camps. If we move elsewhere in the U.S., I'm not sure what the situation will be.
7. The U.S. seems to be headed into a recession. While it would be a good time to buy a house, it's a very scary time to look for jobs and be in Michigan.
8. It can get very lonely here, at least for me. We have a good group of acquaintances from the office, people we can play football with and have dinner with. But I have no girlfriends here. No one to confide in except for Charles. And I don't see that situation changing.
9. 650 miles from grandparents is a lot closer than 4500 miles from grandparents. Not to mention aunts and uncles and cousins and Cho's and Hofers and Coffee Housers and knitters...

This isn't an exhaustive list. And it's a little random and rambling. But it's sort of representative of the current state of my brain at the moment. But it helps a little to get it in writing and attempt to put it in some semblance of order.

Additional thoughts, comments and perspectives on living in the American rat race and raising children there are welcome and appreciated.

Apparently it's Valentine's Day?

One of the nice things about living here is the ability to escape a lot of the marketing craziness we were subjected to in the States. (I'm talking to you, Hallmark!) So with the exception of a card from my mom to Aldus, the approach of Valentine's Day pretty much went unnoticed by both Charles and I. I can't be offended that Charles forgot it if I forgot it myself, right?

Regardless, an email from Charles pretty much just made my day, much less my Valentine's Day.

For a little context, yesterday I sent a very carefully worded email to a project partner about their (unintentional?) misrepresentation of our project to highlight their own contribution in an article they wrote. I forwarded their reply (including my email) to Charles for his information. His response:

>>> "T. Charles Yun"  2/14/2008 1:14 PM >>>
ok, that was a rock-star email you sent to her.

This makes going into my performance review this afternoon so much easier!

live blogging: 5:23am Sunday

Wisdom from halmoni to her grandson:

Oo soo suh ool myun tohng goo myung suh tul na.

Translation: If you laugh and then cry, your poophole will grow hair.

On this date in history...

Is it September 11 again already? Yes, I'll always remember this day.

1. Yes, of course because of that. But so much the better...
2. Happy Anniversary, Bryan and Tracey!
3. And last but very not least, it was one year ago today that I woke up, took my temperature, noticed that it hadn't dropped like it was supposed to and decided to take a pregnancy test. It had expired six months earlier, but what the hell. And it was positive. I'd never seen that before! And here we are one year later with a beautiful, healthy, happy little boy.