Pororo Park--Dongtan

Today we ventured to Dongtan, which is just outside of Osan City--a short drive from our house. It was a fantastic day. The city itself is pretty well planned, picturesque and new, which is different than most of our day to day life here. Generally, Korea is a mix of old and new. Not Dongtan. Our focus was to take the girls to Pororo Park. Pororo is much like the U.S.'s Mickey Mouse. He is a cute little character who lives in the Arctic with his friends. We actually watched the show religiously our first year here, but then the cable changed and we no longer get it in English. Sad. Regardless, our kids like him and get excited when they see him or signs of him hanging around town. :) Pororo Park was a great little find-clean, indoors, air conditioned, complete with ball pit, show, inflatables, train ride, climbing tubes and little house play areas. It was great. Our girls loved every minute of it. 

Pororo's house was complete with a bathtub, sink and toilet. At about this point, Mya was saying she had to go potty. Oh, oh. Time to run! Ha!}

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Kid size toilet. A huge hit with Claire and Mya. They get super excited each time we encounter one. 

One thing I love about Korea is the way they cater to children. Kid size sinks and toilets are common and so cute.

An inflatable area for jumping and sliding.

Traditional Korean tables (you sit on the floor) in the food court inside the park.

Couples are frequently seen wearing a matching ensemble. It is rather comical to us, but so very common here. Check it out, they are even coordinated right down to the socks. ;)

After the park, we wandered around the mall, which is much like a huge American mall. It was a great taste of home. In the middle of the mall, there is an ice skating rink that is open all year round. We are going to go back and do that since we didn't make it to the outdoor rink this winter. We can rent skates, helmets and pads for 8,000 won, which is just under $8 per person. Not too bad for fun minus the cold ;) Outside the mall was a animal exhibit and a jumpy jump as our children refer to the inflatables--all for free. Can't beat that. We also wandered around the Central Park area, which was lovely.

I had to laugh as there was a dog and even a cat at this little petting zoo  thing. It actually wasn't a petting zoo, but just a place to look at the animals? Odd to us, but exciting for the locals.

A skunk? Mmmmhmmm.

Outside the shopping area, there was a Central Park where you could ride bike, rent a motorized children's car, or walk around to other stores in a strip mall. It was lovely. Very big city like, but a nice escape to wide open spaces.