A Day with my Adoptive Fam

Friday nights the past two weeks have been spent going to Sam's (aforementioned buddy from previous blog posts) pool and darts hangout up near where he lives. This Friday we went out and around afterwards for a few more beers and then he invited me to come stay in his guest room so I could meet his wife and his 8-month old the next morning (or later that morning as the invitation came at 6 in the am). Had a great time browsing their Costco for some things for my fridge. Found Butter Lettuce and so I'm going to have some delicious salads and sandwiches this week. Got a big six-pack of canned chicken breast which made me laugh, because it's the same 6-pack that I remember Grandma Davis buying. Then we proceeded back to his place where we picked up his wife and son for a walk around their local park and then went back to the pool/dart bar to show off the baby and his wife to the owners that he's really good friends with. Had some spicy wheat noodles before we headed up to the bar and his son was asleep when we went in and we went at a perfect time because as soon as we grabbed a table, there all of a sudden was a 7 person deep line. The baby woke up during lunch because the restaurant was bustling with noise and he just got this huge excited look on his face whenever he looked around and saw all the food. It was quite funny as the table then had to be rearranged so that wandering hands didn't have anything to grab. The baby is still a little tempermental and cries whenever Sam tries to hold him without the mom being close. The baby and I were having some fun smiling and laughing for a bit and Sam was getting a little frustrated with me, and I explained to him that between kids, dogs and old people I can have a million friends in the world. It's the just that middle group of people that I don't exactly get along with. A quick train ride home and I was sleeping in my own bed Saturday night. Other highlights of being out with them: His wife looks at me and tells him in Korean that I'm evidently skinnier than she had pictured me. He asked her to explain and she said that with the amount of cooking that I do that I would be chubbier or at the very least have a bit of pudge. He explained that as much as I run I also thoroughly enjoy running as well. While we were walking I was talking (so yes 2 things at once) and I walked dead into the roof of an electrical breaker that was overhanging part of the trail. So there we were on a nice afternoon walk and my head starts bleeding. All good and no need for stitches though, it was just a minor cut. On the car ride they were discussing English names for there son as Sam wants to raise him as bilingual as possible. There were throwing around the ideas and I don't remember them all but James was tossed out by him as a suggestion. I said that got my approval. The two I threw out were Benjamin as it gives you lots of options for nicknames and abbreviations. The last one I threw out was Alexander. Originally for the same reason as Benjamin, but then I started to think about the historical significance of Alexander and how his last name has king ties as well. So having the name of an emperor and the last name of a king as well as the stress of Korean parental expectations on you as the first male son. Freddie Mercury and David Bowie said it best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rye8aOP4oUc. The last thing is all the childrens songs they were playing were the English ones I remember growing up. However, there is one considerable difference. There are new extended verses for most of the songs. The one that made me smile was "Do you know the muffin man?" which I remember being the one Mom sang the most for me. I didn't know there was more than just the original verse. There's a "Yes I know the muffin man" verse followed by "now two of us know the muffin man" and this keeps going until all four kids sing "Now all of us know the muffin man". I'm thinking that with the advent of CD's came a need for these extended verses as kids have their favorite songs so hitting repeat on a CD player is quite easy, but if this was the child's favorite song and there was only one verse, a 30 minute drive in a car and I'd already be considering careening off the side of a mountain. I can only imagine what life must've been like for parents with tape players and having to hit rewind if you wanted the same desired effect. Mom's story of me being little and Scott and Jeff having to be in the car with the mind-numbing songs all the way to Chicago to visit Betsy and Mal.