Pretty much any recognition or fame that you girls have is limited to Korea. And it also is often limited to people that follow the child modeling industry. I guess you do get some people that recognize you for the commercials you have been in but usually the general public has no idea who you are. Well, now you are getting some attention from around the world due to the YouTube videos I put up and the Flickr pictures and this blog. There is a small group of people across all the sites that follow you girls and are watching and commenting about you growing up. They are more interested in the way you are growing up and not so much in your modeling work. Well, I guess I can’t really make a broad sweeping generalization because it seems like they are all so different and all have unique things they find interesting.

Here is a photo slideshow that one Vietnamese girl did.

And here is a writeup that an Indonesian woman did on Facebook.

indonE.L.F —: Choi Yeaha a.k.a Avya Barton

indonE.L.F —’s Notes

Choi Yeaha a.k.a Avya Barton

Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 3:58am

so poor eunhyuk….. wkakakakkk!~~
*ngetawain eunhyuk, kabuuur akh sebelum digorok istri2 eunhyuk…lols

source : starjunior~~
indonE.L.F—
╚►kry◄╝

You are pretty lucky Sudona. Your mother and your grandmother talk via phone almost every day. If your mother doesn’t call your grandmother then your grandmother calls your mom. I am not sure what they talk about every day and I don’t think they even have anything to say half the time but it is that contact that is part of their relationship. Now that your mother has started to work outside the home and you have your own phone the two of you talk on the phone almost every day. Again, I don’t think there is any plan or requirement it is just something the two of you do. Sometimes it can be frustrating for you because you want to spend time with her but at least you are getting that regular contact. I sure am jealous of you.

Are we still friends with these people by the time you are reading this girls?

They are family friends we made about a year ago now. Your mother made friends with Me-hwa through the dance class and then I met her husband and it was comfortable so we continued to meet on an irregular basis. It is tough these days because our schedules are too different but we get together when we can. It’s comfortable for me because he doesn’t try to learn English from me or use crappy broken English to communicate, he just speaks to me in Korean. And when we meet up with other friends of his that try to do the stupid English thing he tells them to stop it and just to speak to me in Korean. I like that because usually I just deal with it for that time and then never meet up with those people again. But with him saying that they stop it and then I am more comfortable and willing to meet them again. We were jogging partners for a while until schedules became an issue so now we are pretty much just a drink and talk friends. We did go on a vacation together last year and that didn’t destroy our friendship so maybe we will all be longterm friends.

Anyway, the following day was some holiday (oh, that’s right it was voting day) so they didn’t have to work. So they met up at our restaurant and we all ate and drank a little. Then I convinced your mother to let the staff shut down the restaurant and you kids went and played at our house and the adults went out for drinks. It was an interesting time like it always is. Seems like there is nothing to talk about but then you end up talking for hours.

In Korean you always have to order some food when you order drinks. I am not sure what they ordered but they had these little bags in it. I thought it was so cool so I took this picture. You actually eat the whole bag as the outside is also edible.

Mio Magic Again., originally uploaded by Lance Barton.

We’re doing another photo shoot for Mio Boutique. I guess the wanted some different backgrounds so they rented a studio this time instead of doing it in their own studio. It’s nice for us because it’s a lot closer.

I decided to get out of the house and enjoy some of the weather with you Avya. I didn’t really have a plan, I just knew I wanted to get you out of the house and go somewhere. We ended up getting on a bus and heading to the new mall in front of Kyung-Bok-Goog. We passed the statues all the time so I thought we would head there and take some pictures of you in front of it. I guess the best way to recant the day is to go through the pictures.

When we got to the statue of King Sae-Jong I was surprised to see and enternece. We followed that rabbit how and found ourselves in a gigantic complex under statue, mall and streets. I had no idea it was there and I am sure it wasn’t there years ago (before you girls were even born).

There were sections covering all kinds of different things about Korea and its history. In one section they had the dioramas showing different situations in Korean history.

This shows just a part of the large space. Straight ahead they had an extensive section dedicated to the Korean alphabet – hangul. It is the youngest alphabet in the world and is something Koreans have to be proud of.

This is the inside of a replica of a turtle ship. Korea and Japan seem to be at war many times over their long histories. At one time the Japanese would attack at sea on a regular basis. A brilliant leader – Yi Su-sin – developed the turtle ship. I have heard many times that it is the first submarine in the world but I don’t know that for sure. All I know is that through the use of his turtle ships Korea was able to soundly defeat Japan at sea and thus the attacks finally stopped. If I had to guess I would say that this replica is about one third in size to the original.

The ceilings in this section were mirrored so I thought I would take this picture. I liked it so much that I used it for my profile picture on many of my social services.

Outside and in front of the statue of King Sae-jong after we had looked through the whole complex. The sun was really bothering you so you closed your eyes when I took your picture.

A picture with the statue of Yi Su-sin in the background.

I tried to get you to open your eyes for a picture but the sun was just too strong.

See the pagoda across the street. You kind find these at places all over the city mixed in the the skyscrapers. These were the original locations of these structures way back when Seoul was a walled city.

We decided that we would swing by and pick you up from Sudona so we started walking that direction. On the way we crossed the Cheong-gye-cheon. They built this a few years ago to beautify the city. There used to be an elevated freeway running along here and it was a pretty ugly part of the city. Now it is a place that locals and tourist come to. It really deserves a post to itself and I will take you girls there in the future. Matter of fact, Sudona, you asked if we could go there on day. We have been as a family before but it was late in the evening.

You didn’t want to turn around for the photo and when I finally got you to turn around the sun bothered your eyes.

Just some statue we saw along our walk.

A saw this Audi R8 and it made me drool a little. I just had to get a picture of it.

This is a replica of an ancient observatory found in Gyeonju. Again, it is supposed to be one of (or the oldest) observatory found in the world.

We picked you up Sudona and your school is in the popular Myeong-dong area so we walked through that area and got you girls some ice-cream.

Got your pictures with Garfield Avya. I don’t remember why you didn’t want to get in the picture Sudona. In general Koreans don’t like cats. The sign Garfield is holding is asking Koreans if they like cats. I guess they are just taking some survery. I don’t know why, I didn’t ask.

I saw this shirt and thought of my friend Paul. He used to say this phrase all the time when we were in college.

If I remember correctly this guy is credited for being the first (or one of the first) to stand up to Japanese occupation and he ended up being killed for it. It was the beginning of the mass revolts.

We saw these advertising trucks and thought they were very cool. They were covered in artificial turf and had gigantic fruit on them. We went over touched them and they guys saw you girls and thought you were so cute so they gave us a few bottles of the fruit juice they were going to promote. It actually tasted really good but we have since seen it in stores and it is crazy expensive.

We continued walking and came across this courtyard with flowing water and fountains so we sat down and you girls played a little in the water. You can see that you got pretty annoyed Sudona because Avya kept kicking water onto you.

We found this place where you get your picture taken then they melt your photo onto the face of a little caracter. Then you hang this thing on your phone. Hanging dangling things on your phone is huge in Korea. But I had never seen anything like this. I decided to splurge (they were relatively expensive) and buy you one. You loved it and showed everyone. Then about two weeks later it fell off your phone somewhere and was lost forever.

Finally, we decided it was time to head home and we went to catch the subway. In one of the walkways was this. It is Dokdo (Dok island) Korean claims it as their territory and Japan says it is part of their territory. It is a huge issue between the two countries and there are lots of pictures of it around and lots of protests about it. Here is an article explaining the situation.

It was a long day filled with lots of walking. I was really amazed how much walking you did Avya without ever complaining about it. We had a lot of fun girls and saw a lot of stuff.

Close call., originally uploaded by Lance Barton.

We got a call at around 4am from our security company saying that there was a fire. He said that the alarm went off at our place but he knew that the fire was at the place next to ours. But he said that he couldn’t get close enough to see if our place was also on fire. That was the only reason he could come up with as to why our alarm went off. So, your mother was really stressed and wanted to get in the car and head down there. I said that we are paying the security company to take care of it so just go back to bed. It all turned out okay. Our restaurant escaped unscathed but the place above ours had some cracked windows from the heat. None of the shop owners nor the building owner had fire insurance so they are in big trouble. Actually, the rumor is that the owner of Big Mama’s may have to go to jail because she doesn’t have the money to pay for all the damage. I think it’s time for us to get some fire insurance.

Close call., originally uploaded by Lance Barton.

We got a call at around 4am from our security company saying that there was a fire. He said that the alarm went off at our place but he knew that the fire was at the place next to ours. But he said that he couldn’t get close enough to see if our place was also on fire. That was the only reason he could come up with as to why our alarm went off. So, your mother was really stressed and wanted to get in the car and head down there. I said that we are paying the security company to take care of it so just go back to bed. It all turned out okay. Our restaurant escaped unscathed but the place above ours had some cracked windows from the heat. None of the shop owners nor the building owner had fire insurance so they are in big trouble. Actually, the rumor is that the owner of Big Mama’s may have to go to jail because she doesn’t have the money to pay for all the damage. I think it’s time for us to get some fire insurance.

I think this is so cool and I hope that it leads to a closer relationship between you and your grandmother Sudona. Maybe one day you can do it also Avya. I set up Skype on your computer Sudona and now you call your grandmother and read to her and in the future she will read to you. So far it only has happened once so we will have to see how it goes. It really should be you initiating the thing Sudona but you are still a young girl and a bit nervous about it so I hope that your grandma will force it a little. Only time will tell how this works out but the idea is so great.

Here are the books you have read recently. Now that you are reading 30 minutes a day to me (or your grandma) you are flying through books. I have noticed that your reading ability has already gotten better.

Click on image to shop for the book.

Click on image to shop for the book.

This is the book you started reading to your grandma. You finished reading it to me in the following days.

Click on image to shop for the book.

I know you girls learn more from me than the things I directly teach you. I know you pick up on my actions, reactions and even my lack of actions. Knowing this means that I am trying to lead a more active life even if it is not something I really want. I tend to spend a lot of time at home, even when I do find some time to relax and “no nothing.” This is not the way I was as a kid and it is not the way I want you girls to be as kids. How you choose to be as adults is up to you but I want you girls to be out experiencing and seeing as much as you can. With that in mind I am trying to take you girls out more to do things. I have to realize that it doesn’t always have to be some big plan, it can be just going out to see what we can find. I will try to keep working on that for you girls.

So, this is one of those ventures out of the house. We headed out the door to see what we could find and ended up hiking up the hill that is right around our house.

This is a very important place for the Korean war so there is a monument built here to recognize all the men killed here during the war.

I wanted to get a picture of you girls in front of this monument but you girls wanted to turn it into a photo shoot. So you kept asking me to take more pictures as you did different poses. You girls are so funny.

Sudona, you noticed a bunch of little red ants on the seat around the monument so we tried to take a picture of them. If you look really hard you can see some of the little red ants.

This is the plaque that explains the role of this hill in the war.

I always find this interesting. When you hike up hills in Korea you will find exercise areas and equipment along the way. I guess the hiking isn’t enough exercise by itself.

I also took this picture to show this old rickety shed that was made to house the supplies for the badminton court. Yep, there is a badminton court around the top of the hill.

I have no idea what this is but if I had to guess I would say it has something to do with the war.

This is the neighborhood on the other side of the hill. Maybe in English we would say the other side of the tracks. This is part of Korea that is disappearing. All these old style places are being torn down and apartment complexes are being put up in their place. That is on the slate for this area too. I don’t know when they will get started but the contracts have already been signed so soon these blocks and blocks of places like this in this area will all be gone. I am trying to get some pictures of these kinds of places before they all disappear.

I also find this interesting. Koreans tend to be into gardening (especially the elderly) but they don’t have the land around their places to grow anything. So you will see these ad-hoc gardens all over the place.

One last thing we found toward the end of our trek. This is not just a normal exercise bike. You actually attach your cell phone to it and then recharge it by peddling the exercise bike. Now I think that is a good way to get kids (and adults) to exercise a little more.

My birthday came and went without much fanfare. We were just too busy with life and I was not going to throw my own party. It actually bothered you Sudona. You felt really sorry about it and wanted to celebrate my birthday but it came down to when your mother had time. You did your best to keep reminding your mother and it finally paid off. We celebrated my birthday. Spending time with you girls and seeing the joy in your faces were the things that made my birthday so special. I love you all so much and wonder what I did to get so lucky.

Dinner at Outback.

Think all my wishes have already come true. What do I have to wish for?

I let you girls take a small sip of the wine. You can tell when it is cheap wine if your young kids like the taste of it. :0

Your facial expression showing that you liked it Avya. It is so funny to see your girls take a sip because you know that it is something you shouldn’t be drinking. So, you have that sly smile like you are getting away with something.