The need to socialize

I've been in Korea for about 2 1/2 years now, and I would say I've made a fair amount of friends here. Now that we've moved into a new place and we have the babies now, I have not gotten out with any friends, nor socialized much with anyone at all. When we go to the store, sure, I say hello to familar faces and old friends, but nothing to the extent of having a social life. My family life is my life right now. And I've been realizing I need to make some friends and just.. broaden my daily routine. Tonight we stopped by our friends place upstairs from us to just say hello. They had a whole bunch of people over just hanging out for dinner with all their kids. It made me realize that we need to start getting out more and being around people. We need to stop being so.... isolated. Even if we do take the kids with us.

..which reminds me, last night we went downtown where all the stores and restaurants were--along with crazy madness and huge crowds of people. We took the babies in our double stroller. Jason and I made a bet: How many people would stare/talk/gawk at the babies within one hour. He guessed 15 and I guessed 30. Well, after 20 minutes, we were already passed 25 so we stopped counting. Have Koreans never seen twins or something? Or is it just a sight to see two babies in a double stroller. It's like Jonah and Leila are a magnet for old grandmother types. :D And could you PLEASE not touch my babies! I don't know where your hands have been! Every person just thinks it's okay to put their grimey paws on their hands, face, feet. I think it's rude, personally. A complete stranger. I mean, okay I know they are cute little babies, but it's all about personal space to me. You are in our personal space. Maybe it's just because I'm a germaphobe, too.


I've found that I need to have our place ready for guests at all times. Random people seem to knock on our door unannounced-which is fine because I enjoy guests. It's just our place is not always in tip top shape. I do try to keep a fairly tidy household though. I enjoy that. We've had everyone from Korean church ladies come to our door, to Jason's friends, little kids asking for their friends(obviously they have the wrong door).

Last thought of the night: We have the babies on a pretty good routine now. They wake up around 6:30/7am, we go through our usually day feedings and naps, then around 9:45 we start getting them down for bed. After that, they are out for the night and it's "us" time. We clean up the living room by picking up the toys, folding blankets, putting away laundry, finishing up with the dishes, etc. Then Jason checks his e-mails, I read a magazine or watch tv, then he comes out and we chat about our day or just things on our mine, while mindlessly flipping through the channels. It's relaxing. It's peaceful. I know that my time is not limited because we have all night if we wanted until the babies wake the next morning. But eventually we head off to bed. Sometimes I continue reading this book that I'm into. It's about how to make the most out of your relationship/marriage. It's called "The 10 Best Decisions a Couple Can Make" by Bill and Pam Farell. He's a pastor. I enjoy books that help us to learn about a successful marriage, and one focused around God. Anyway, the bottom line is, this is my favorite time of night. "Us time". I look forward to it every day!