Easter Dinner- Family Style

We had our Easter meal early since we knew Sunday would be so hectic and many of our friends would be out of town. Thursday night we had a spread! I had a turkey in the freezer since Thanksgiving that needed to be used. You can only turkey one time a year around here. We didn't get a chance to cook it for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so it became our Easter meal. We had a delicious evening of turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing, potato casserole, fruit salad, strawberry walnut salad, bread, and strawberry pie. What a fun evening to celebrate Easter with our Korean family.

Liz, Nikole, John and baby Mitchell of course!

Selby Grace, Ellen, Kirstin, Zachary and Anna

Emergency!

This has been a year of sickness and injury. We had our first experience to the ER about a month ago when I tripped and dropped Shelby Grace. This time it was my turn. We did not have to go to school until after 10:00 for parent/teacher conferences so I was trying to debone a turkey for our Easter dinner with friends that night. I have never deboned a turkey before so I was learning as I went a long. I even went down to our corner kahge (convenient store) to buy a sharper knife. Little did I know that was going to cause our morning to get a little more exciting. I sliced through the tip of my finger and I knew right away we had to go to the ER.

You know you are loved when your husband jumps out of the shower when he hears you scream. He pretty much knew what happened before he got out of the bathroom. We found someone to take care of the kids (thank you Ms. Bhatta!) and we were off to the ER at Sun Hospital even without a translator. I was pretty sure I could walk into the ER and show them my bloody finger and they would know what to do.

Medical care in Korea is very different from back home. For one, it's cheaper but also there is no wait factor or lots of paperwork. Of course you forfeit your Hyppa privacy laws, the personableness of getting to know your doctor and the American style of sterilization. I was taken in right away without filling out any paperwork, just handing them my Korean Aliean Registration card. I was taken into a room with two beds in which a lady, who was obviously a little drunk was being bandaged up. A doctor looked at my finger without putting on gloves. A waited for minute then was instructed to sit on the same bed the lady had been on without the sheets being changed. They took a picture of my finger with a digital camera. Not sure if that was because they do that for their record or because I was a foreigner who came into the hospital. They were preparing to give me two shots without even asking if I had any allergies. Luckily I asked what they were giving me. They rushed to change the medicine before giving me a shot.
The doctor irrigated my cut and stitched me up with 6 stitches. Oh he did wear gloves this time. I didn't have many instructions after that and was sent to check out. We did call someone at school to talk to the doctor and get some instructions and translate for us. That whole process only took about 45 minutes.

We then had to go check out upstairs and it cost me about $150 including the medicines they were going to give me. After we paid, we had to head down to the pharmacy for my meds. Once again I asked what they were giving me and they had to change the meds since they had no record of my allergies. This meant I had to go back up to the registration desk, have the refund my money, charge me again and order a new prescription. We went back to the pharmacy only to find that they prescribed another wrong medicine and we had to do the process all over again. The pharmacist told us that Koreans do not have many allergies so they are not used to this. Must be the kimchi! The process that would normally take 10 minutes in Korea took about 45. Overall though, I was well taken care of and my finger wrapped and ready to go. Here you get to go to the doctor every 2-3 days to get the bandages changed and the wound cleaned. In two weeks, I should be back to normal.

Here is a look at my stitches.

My medicines-
Everything comes prepackaged for each dose. Usually, you have no clue what each medicine is unless you ask. You do not get to take a copy of a prescription with you and nothing is labeled. From the hospital though, I got a print out of pictures of the medicine with directions. This is very unusual here but very helpful.

I'm not able to get my wrap or wound wet so I am very thankful for Press N' Seal so I can take a shower. Here Zachary and Shelby Grace wanted to join me in the Press N' Seal fun.

No thanks mom, I want to use my fingers :).

My Favorite Spot

Hawaii is a beautiful place no matter where you go but Ko'olina is my favorite spot on Oahu. We love spending our day there even if it is a good drive away. It is so worth it.

Easter Eggs

It has been three years since we have been in the states close to Easter. Tears came to my eyes when I looked at the Easter sections in Target and Walmart. A teacher just gets too excited over thematic things. Since I wasn't sure if we would be able to find white eggs in Korea this year, I decided we needed to dye eggs and the bonus was we had cousins to do it with. Who knows when would would get the chance to do this together again.

In the end, dyeing eggs was really for my own enjoyment. The kids gave up on me pretty quick, except for Samantha who my creative soul mate! She and I finished decorating everyone else's eggs since they left us.

I think our eggs turned out pretty well!

We bought one of the kits that had multiple decorating techniques- sand, glitter, stickers, beads, sequins, and more. These eggs belong to Zachary and Grandma Laurie. They think alike- use as many types of decorations on one egg as you can. For Zachary, it was so he could be done decorating. Grandma Laurie was just having too much fun. Like Grandma like Grandson!

Cousin Time!

Meet baby Spencer! The newest little Pinho.

Kisses for Spencer

Hanging out with Aunt Susie

Girl Time

Samantha and Shane

Surfin' in the USA

While we were at the beach one day, we met some guys who had a paddle board. They were taking a break and offered to let us try the board.

Daddy on the waves

Grandma Laurie on the waves

Aunt Susie on the waves

Cousing Shane takes a turn

So does cousin Samantha

Watch out, here come Zachary and Shelby Grace

Surfer Dude

Uncle Stu also took a turn, but I missed the picture opportunity. And NO, this momma did not try it. Something about fears of the ocean held me back.

Spring Break

Our last minute trip to Hawaii over spring break. We had a wonderful time with Grandma Laurie, Papa Jim, and Grammy. And of course we loved the sunshine and the beach!