The roof... the roof... THE ROOF IS ON FIRE

K: And when I refer to "the roof," I mean OUR MOUTHS. I knew Koreans like spicy food, but good Lord, is my tongue going to survive next year?

We went back to the Korean restaurant we discussed here and here. This time we decided we were ready to order some soup, which we've heard is a staple meal in Korea. We ordered a Kimchee soup and a spicy Korean BBQ with chicken. We should've been wary when the waitress asked if we wanted our meals "normal" or "Korean" spicy. We decided to be conservative and selected normal. This can be chalked up as one of the smartest decisions we have ever made.

The Kimchee soup arrived piping hot (actually still boiling). We both took a spoonful and the extreme warmth of boiling hot soup was immediately blown out of the water by the intense sensation I felt as my tastebuds went from "on fire" to numb. My nose imediately began pouring sweat.

But the surprising thing is that the spicyness is strangely addicting. I literally couldn't stop eating it even though I was sweating and chugging water. And I really think I wouldn't hesitate to order this dish again.

One helpful tip Mark and I discovered was that after an especially spicy bite to shovel rice in our mouths. The rice kind of serves as the spice buffer. Good to know. I have a feeling I'll be eating pounds and pounds of rice in Korea. :)

Here's a picture of the mouth-burning lava soup.


And here's the spicy BBQ chicken, which didn't offer much relief to our tongues.

Moving and Selling

K: Last week Mark took a day off work and moved all the major furniture out of our house. (The rest of our stuff went in a Pod to be stored for the year.)

Unfortunately... well, fortunately for me, I couldn't get off work so Mark was on his own. He was able to score these sweet wheels from our realtor... It's actually a pretty nice service our realtor provides, a free moving truck complete with moving equipment and supplies. The only downside is tooling around the city in a huge red van with her face plastered on the side. :)

Mark takes his truck driving VERY seriously.

But in the end of the day, it was all worth it. We breathed a big sigh of relief on September 3oth when the buyer closed on the house and we realized we would be heading to Korea mortgage-free.

We will miss you Sunshine!!! But now we're onto the next chapter of our lives... YIKES!

"MOM.... MEATLOAF!!!!!!!!!!"

K: It's official... Mark and I have boomeranged back into my childhood bedroom. A bright pink bedroom at that (Mark is absolutely thrilled about that key point). Now that our house is completely empty and awaiting closing, we are officially the new roommates of my parents.

But it's not as bad as it sounds... actually it's been really nice. Riley is loving the manicured yard and spending the entire day getting treats and pets from my retired mother. My Dad, on the other hand, is still trying to deny that "that dog" exists (and is living in his house). :)

Mark and I are enjoying the opportunity to spend extra time with my parents, while still getting to maintain our freedom. The neighborhood is also 10x better than our prior East St. Louis Hills residence. Gone are the random punks hanging out in the alleys and the grown man wading around his 2-foot plastic swimming pool with a Busch Light in hand. Helloooo Mr. Roger's neighborhood with friendly neighbors and a fantastic park within walking distance. In fact, we were told by a neighbor that if we want to live in this neighborhood we are required to attend the regular neighborhood "fiesta's." Sounds good to me!

AND this morning I was greeted with a note from my Mom saying she's going to the grocery store and asking if we need anything. Geez, we may never leave.....

Slight delay

K: Our closing has been delayed a week. Our new closing date will be October 3rd.

Our realtor said it's not any sort of issue with the buyer trying to back out and we shouldn't worry. The issue is that the lender wants proof from the appraiser about the value (or lack thereof) of living next to a cemetary. I guess with Halloween coming up, and all the ghouls and goblins coming out to play, they need to minimize their risk.

I guess St. Joseph got tired of standing on his head...

... Because we SOLD OUR HOUSE!




Last Sunday we got a call about an offer on our house, we met with our agent and counter-offered. And Labor Day we found our our counter-0ffer was accepted! BOOYA!

Cross your fingers that the inspections and appraisal go well. Our closing date is set for September 25th. :-)

(It's actually a very bittersweet feeling, because while I'm happy that we won't have a mortgage while we're overseas, I'm going to really miss this cute little house where we created many of our first memories as a Mr. and Mrs. And, as my fabulous sister-in-law pointed out, this development makes it seem so much more official that we're actually leaving...)

Just a cool pic

K: Emily sent us this picture of her favorite store (I believe it's located in Korea). Doesn't it look adorable?

Delayed post...

K: This post is about a month late in coming, but I've finally uploaded the pictures. Hannah and Michael went with us to the Korean Restaurant we blogged about earlier. Here's the evidence!

This picture can be very deceiving because it looks like the restaurant is very fancy and nice... definitely not the case. I think we posed in the one area of the restaurant with greenery and wood paneling. And that's not a white tablecloth, it's a big sheet of white shop paper. But the food is very, very tasty.


It's kind of funny the number of sides that come out when there are four of you! It's like these little white bowls went on as far as the eye could see!

Anyone else interested in trying out some Korean food? Just let us know! :)