The building is on fire!

So, after hearing my glowing description of The Little Prince kids cafe, my husband decided that that's where he wanted to go for dinner yesterday. Needless to say, boys #1 and #2 were delighted when the elevator doors opened, revealing heaven for the second time in two days.

The boys got right to work on wearing out the playground attendants and my husband picked out a table. We ate a leisurely dinner and decided we had enough time for coffee before we headed back to the train. We pushed the call button*, placed our order, and started chatting again.

We were so involved in our conversation that we didn't really pay attention when we started to smell smoke in the air. We didn't really pay attention when a few people started peering out the windows. In fact, we were totally oblivious to the animated conversation between all the other adults in the restaurant as they started to grab their children. One kind, English speaking Korean man took pity on the Stupid Americans and made his way over to us. "Sir! The building is on fire! Please leave!". Well that got our attention. I packed the baby into the car seat with his blankets while my husband went to retrieve the older boys from the playground.

And then I became the Crazy American Lady. I started laughing. Yes, I realize that it's totally inappropriate to laugh at a room full of parents trying to evacuate their children from the 5th floor of a building burning in 20 degree weather. Especially when I am one of those parents. But you see, I couldn't help laughing. One of my big fears of living here was being trapped on a high level in a burning building and having to drag three children down multiple flights of narrow stairs packed with other scared people. And so here we were! Great, let's get this out of the way first thing. Bring it on.

I joined the other parents in stuffing my crying children into coats, boots, and hats (in retrospect, yes, it would have been safer to deal with the burning building problem first and the cold problem later). Just as we started to head out another employee came running in and said something. Everyone instantly relaxed. The nice man translated for us again. The building NEXT to us was on fire, not the one we were in. So everyone unbundled again and sat down. My husband and I were hesitant because, come on, these buildings are all essentially touching. They might as well be one building. And the people across the street were still standing there staring at our building. But hey, when in Korea...so we sat down.

We all watched out the window as the firemen finished putting out the fire and rolled up their hoses. The waitress explained in broken English that someone had thrown a cigarette into the space between the buildings and some debris had caught fire. She also asked that we "please remain calm" (perhaps because of my laughter earlier?). We looked later and discovered that the space between the buildings is maybe 2 feet wide.

So we relaxed, drank our coffee, and took the train back to the hotel. I dreamed of burning buildings all night. Even so, I was up and ready for more adventures today.

*The call button is another fabulous thing they have here. It's a small button they install on every table. When you push it the waitress instantly appears. If you don't push it, you're left in peace! America, let's do this.