Uncle Josh comes to Pittsburgh!

My brother Josh came to Pittsburgh to see us on the final stop of his two week home leave from South Korea. We hadn't seen him since he moved last August and it was so great to finally see him and catch up.

He flew in Sunday night for a 4 night stay. He was tired after a long weekend with friends in NYC but in true Josh fashion, he rallied. Dayven picked him up at the airport, they stopped by here to say hi and drop his bags and hit the "T-stop" (the local commuter train) into the city for the preseason Steelers game. Dayven's office has box seats and a few customers were unable to come at the last minute so they had extra seats. Dayven's childhood friend is living out here now as well and met them at the game, along with his girlfriend. It was a fun Pittsburgh experience to show Josh while he was in town. Pittsburghers love their Steelers!

Monday Dayven took the day off from work so we could hang out as a family. We decided to head downtown to check out the Dusquense Incline for a bird's eye view of the city. The Incline is a rickety old restored trolley car that goes up a steep track up the side of the hill to a lookout point at the top. I tried not to be a big weenie, but what can I say, I am my mother's daughter (thanks mom - you will never be riding the Dusquense Incline by the way). I made the mistake of voicing my fears about the integrity of the track out loud and freaked Wyatt out too. But we got through it and I'm glad we did because the views at the top were spectacular. Since it's so hilly here you can't see very far unless you're really high up and this is apparently the highest point in the city. You could see for miles in each direction. It was great. After that, we headed down to "the strip", the fun foodie area. We strolled around, stopped in a few shops and had lunch at the famous "Primanti Brothers" (gut buster!). Then we finished our day off with Pittsburgh Popcorn.

We took him to our favorite playground where he pushed the kids endlessly on the swings, stopped by our fav grocery store and dropped the kids in the daycare so we could stroll the aisles. My family always likes to go the grocery when visiting a new place (is that weird? we really like to eat). Josh had fun looking at all the choices. We ate lunch, then he ran in another store close by to look for some clothes. We had quite a morning and Josh said he couldn't believe it was possible to accomplish so much before 1pm! We managed to squeeze in a couple of trips to the pool as well while he was here. When I think he'd had his fill of kid world, he took my car one day and headed out on his own to shop. Being 6'5", it's nearly impossible to find clothes in Korea so he had a bit of a wish list. He was gone most of the afternoon and had quite a productive trip. He later told me he hadn't actually driven a car in a whole year and it felt slightly like a video game. Good to know that after I loaned him my car.

One night we met up with Josh's friend from the Peace Corp, Erica, who lives here and her boyfriend for dinner. They live in an area downtown known as the "Mexican War Streets".  It's a charming spot with tree lined streets and little mini brownstone looking houses. The area was designed by a general in the Mexican war and each street is named after the war's battles and military leaders. Erica is from NYC and loves Pittsburgh. She had so many great things to say about the city which was nice to hear. They took us on a little walking tour of the area after dinner, which was fun.


Uncle Josh brought us a slew of goodies from Korea - toys and candies for the kids and liquor for the big kids. He brought Hadley a Hanbok, a dress that the young girls wear for special occasions and celebrations and a purse they use to collect money that people give them. He selected the size for a 5 year old Korean, figuring it would fit a 3 year old American since the Koreans are so tiny, but it was a little big. She thought it was so fun to wear and was dancing around in it, sweating and all! He brought Wyatt a hat of Papora - a famous character in Korea who kind of looks like Chicken Little and some other goodies. Tate got some baby toys, including this piece of crinkly fabric that looks like a Korean newspaper. He's fascinated by it. Dayven and I got some snack foods (dried shrimp or seaweed chocolate anyone?) and some "Soji", the traditional liquor of choice in Korea. You can drink it cold, room temp or with chocolate milk! He included a hangover drink in the mix, for obvious reasons. We have yet to try it out. I'll let you know...  He also brought the kids cute little kid themed chopsticks, which were so fun. Hadley's are Minnie Mouse and she loves them. She insists on eating every meal with them now!

 

It was fun to hear all the stories of the culture and his travels and the kids he's teaching. He said he really enjoyed being back in the US and misses all the diversity you can get here. Korea is a very homogenous culture and they have stringent rules so everyone fits in. The young girls at his school are all required to wear their hair the same way and must not dye it. If they come to school with "light" hair, the teachers will dye it black again. It's also very popular to have a more westernized look so the girls glue their eyelids so they form a crease. Another thing he noticed is how casual the Americans dress. You would never see a Korean wearing shorts or flip flops out in public. They are very fashion conscious and always dress up. The fathers wear a three piece suit when they come to the parent/teacher conferences. So interesting to hear these things! He said he does miss many things about the US (like the food - he swears his fav restaurant in St Pete Beach has better Thai food than Thailand!??) and had slightly mixed feelings about going back. He misses his friends and enjoys his job, but he knows he won't stay there permanently as some people he knows have done. He signed on for another year and is moving to an elementary school so he'll be teaching younger kids this year.

I think we wore him out with our crazy kids, as he remarked to me he's just not used to "people screaming for no reason". Ha! Of course, sleeping on an air mattress in the kids' loft next to the jumpy house probably contributed to his exhaustion. Our crew is up bright and early so it's hard to sleep in.

We dropped him at the airport on Thursday morning, said our goodbyes and headed on our way, only to get a call a few hours later that he was still here due to mechanical problems and cancelled flights. We picked him up again and he stayed another night with us to try again the next day. We got an email that he arrived home after the "worst day of travel EVER" but I haven't gotten the details yet.

Thanks for visiting us Uncle Josh. We had a great time hanging with you and hope you live closer someday!