Ready as we'll ever be

Today I'm nine months pregnant.  To celebrate, I went out and bought our last essential: a baby monitor.  It unfortunately does not reach from our villa to the empty lot next door.  We were hoping for a way to take the dog out without the baby, but no dice.  We've washed most of the clothes and bedding and set up the baby's room.  I can't say we're ready, but we're as ready as we'll ever be.

Yesterday, we said goodbye to Uncle Mike, who stopped in for a quick visit.  We went to some good restaurants and took some walks around the neighborhood.

I need a week or two to tie things up at work, but after that, he's welcome to come.  The sooner the better!   We have ambitious travel plans for the holidays that require Xander to make a safe and timely entrance.

The nursery, probably as clean as it will ever be

Me, not in my Sunday best

The autumn leaves caress the trees

Things You Don't See Every Day

Apparently there were three wild boars wandering around my neighborhood this weekend.  One of them sprinted through a gate and made it into Camp Walker, where he ran amok and scared people for awhile.  Eventually the fire department, Korean Animal Control, and the MP's captured the boar and put him down, since he was acting aggressively.

They think the boars came from the mountain next to my house (!!).  The woods I walk through several times a week are relatively wildlife free.  I see a deer once and awhile, and I have seen quail, a squirrel, and a chipmunk.  I can't imagine that there are boars in there.

I'm disappointed that I was on Camp Walker on Saturday and I missed all of the excitement.  Wild boars at the commissary?  Sounds like a show.

Who has culture?

Last Monday, we saw a performance by the Daum Dance Company.  I guess you could say I dragged Bobby to the performance.  It turned out to be a strange modern performance without anything visually stunning or technically complicated to interest me.  The music was traditional, with this screechy horn accompanying some drums.  So Bobby loved it!  He said he especially liked the music, but the dancing was interesting too.  I was pleasantly surprised.

How in the world did our child end up with a pumpkin head?  It's very cute, but we have no idea who it came from.  He's 4lbs 11oz and only 1 week ahead of schedule now.  We thought he was going to be much bigger this time.  I feel like he's huge, and I'm hungry all the time.   Xander likes fat, particularly cheese and ice cream.  I thought I was putting that food into my rapidly growing baby, but I guess it's just for me.

Baby shower

We're coming upon the finish line.  The doctor says Xander is measuring large, which we had suspected for awhile.  He is measuring so large, in fact, that the ultrasound shows him two weeks ahead of schedule.    He's welcome to come a little early.  This is not a comfortable trimester, though I'm doing very well compared to other hugely pregnant ladies I know.

In other news, I signed a renewal agreement this week..  I promised to stay for another 24 months, though that's not really the plan.  We'll see.  We are now running around base trying to renew our housing, visas, drivers licenses, ID cards, ration cards, car registration, and whatever else I discover will expire on November 11.

I had a baby shower on Saturday, which was fun.  The nice women who threw the party had clearly done some baby showers before.  Just check out the decorations in the picture.

The Hilltop club is not conducive to pictures.  This is the best one I got of the guests.

Me cutting the cake.  Yes, I made Bobby come.  His coworkers made up about half of the guests, it was only fair.

Cool cake, huh?

Me with a big bathtub full of presents

Baby clothes hanging from the ceiling

Me from the side after the party is over.  Ridiculous, right?

Hahoe Folk Village

We went to Hahoe Folk village yesterday.  We have meant to visit since we got to Korea, and this weekend was the Andong Maskdance Festival.  We got started late, so we didn't see any actual maskdancing.  We did see a farmer's dance.

The village is 600 years old.  It was established by a wealthy administrator, and his descendants still inhabit it.  There were a bunch of inns and restaurants in traditional houses.  We didn't go to any.  I'm not so good at sitting on the floor any more.  We took our neighbor with us, who takes much better pictures than me.

Rice paddies

Dirty statues!

The Farmer's Dance

A house with a pumpkin vine on the roof

The entrance to an inn.  Love the pumpkins.

A traditional house that someone lives in.

This is where the rich folk brought pleasure boats and read poetry.  Also known as the Nakdong River.

Bobby ties my shoe.  Jin thought this was fantastic.  I'm glad he wasn't laughing.

Zucchini at the entrance to a restaurant.