post-nicaragua postings

2011-07-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

moving...time for post-post-nicaragua...

The blog is moving.
To here: http://allophile.blogspot.com

Thank you, readers...

2011-07-02T11:02:00.002-07:00

...still jet-lagged; a Lego-inspired geography lesson iPhone photo-essay. Yes, you read that right.

It is 102 degrees at ten in the morning; forecast high of 111 today. I'm still jet-lagged, back in Tucson...After 30 hours in transit, I got home in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, and then Wednesday night, after 81 days without measurable precipitation, it finally rained. I got to 'welcome the monsoon' twice this year--first in Korea, and then back in southern Arizona...

Today's seemingly random posting is not random. (Although my time-zone-frazzled trains of thought are indeed susceptible to sudden track-changes...)

I grew up with Legos.
(After I moved out of my parents' house,
my mother, well-intentioned, gave away my Legos
to a neighbor-kid...
Yes...I've forgiven her.)

In Korea last month, I noticed t-shirts with graphic designs such as this:

A Lego-man rushing by a saguaro! Too cool...

And, just before I left Tucson at the end of May,

my wife, (only half-jokingly), got me this keychain-flashlight as a 'travel-companion:'

One cloudy afternoon, two weekends ago at my Uncle's in Sokcho, my wife was napping, my uncle, aunt, and mother were resting, and I was restless...So...Mr. Legoman and I decided to prepare a geography lesson. (Really, I'm not that weird. Really.)

I had just read a column in The Korea Times by an economist who'd gone to spend a couple of years, teaching/researching, in England...and who was suprised to be asked, by educated Britons, questions such as--"So, Korea--where exactly is Korea?"..."Don't you just speak Chinese there?"..."Do you have your own money?" (Incidentally, South Korea's population--48million--is not too far behind England's--51million...According to the World Bank, South Korea is the 14th largest economy in the world...the UK is 6th.)

I've written before about questions I heard when I was in school--"So, Korea, is that, like, a country?"..."Are there trees in Korea?"..."Do you have seasons there?"

So, a geography lesson...with a chopstick as a teaching-tool...
It also recaps where we've been over the last few weeks.

The Korean peninsula, in relation to its NE Asian neighbors, surrounded by China, Siberian Russia, and Japan:

Latitudinally, for Americans--think of going from Massachusetts to the Carolinas,

or, in a European context, from mid-France down to Morocco.

Flying into Korea from abroad, you land at Incheon international airport, built on re-claimed tidal land on an island about an hour's drive west of Seoul:

In relation to Seoul, here is Sokcho, where my Uncle lives, on the coast of the Sea of Japan/East Sea:

You'll note that on the above map, the border betwen North (where Legoman is standing) and South is not overtly marked...But the DMZ is definitely there...

(above map from Wikipedia)

Strangely enough, the world's last, and heavily-fortified, relic of the Cold War is used as a brand-name for bottled mineral water:

It might seem bizarre, at first, using a military acronym as a selling point for mineral water, but it has its own logic--parts of the DMZ run through isolated mountains, full of natural springs, and just 2km inside the South Korean border, this stuff is bottled...the DMZ has even become a wildlife refuge of sorts, after almost six decades of being uninhabited...

...So, there in Sokcho you can relax on the beach or in the nearby mountains:

Toward the center of the country is the mid-size city of Wonju...

...from where we flew to Jeju-do island:

The above map is an inset;

the map below shows the island in relation

to other places in NE Asia:

(above map from here)

Oh...and I almost forgot the small city of Yangju, a northern suburb of Seoul:

This is where S. and I spent the better part of a day at the "Dae Jang Geum Theme Park."

(By the way, one of the corniest things we've ever done--

corny-but-wholesome fun!)

Wave good-bye...

Ahn-nyoung!

...and back to the T-shirts that inspired all of this:

Back in Cactus-land.

2011-06-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

...a grey afternoon and evening in San Francisco Airport: arriving before I left Seoul, clockwise...

Jet-travel and the international date-line--always surreal to have the clock not be in agreement with one's inner circadian rythyms--I left Seoul this (yesterday?) afternoon at 12:40, had a couple-hour layover in Tokyo's Narita airport, then arrived in rainy San Francisco after a 9 1/2 hr. flight (where I've spent ALL afternoon and early evening) two hours before I left...My flight to Tucson is about an hour from now, weather willing...

Among the last sights/sounds from my four-week stay in Korea, this:

There is a small 'cultural activities center' at the Seoul-Incheon airport, and twice daily there are traditional music performances; I caught this kayageum-performance as I made my way to my departure concourse.

She's playing sort of a 'theme and variations' on 'Arirang,' perhaps Korea's most well-known and beloved folk-song.

The kayageum is a zither that dates back to the 6th century--traditionally made with paulownia, chestnut, and walnut wood, with silk strings--and I've been fascinated by it from the first time I saw and heard one when I was seven years old. When I was in grad school, I actually had the chance to study it briefly--as part of the University's ethnomusicology program, there was a visiting professor--designated an 'Intangible National Treasure' by the Korean government for his work in preserving traditional culture--and I was able to take a summer quarter's worth of lessons from him! It was truly one of the most interesting things I was able to experience in graduate school--totally unrelated to my concentration of studies, but completely stimulating as it was unexpected...

I was able to 'avoid' jet-lag going to Korea...coming back, though, combined with today's purgatorial lay-over in San Francisco, is a different story. (I just found out that my flight has been delayed by another hour and a half! Egad...Flying United through San Francisco--not my favorite thing)...So, brain too fried--no insightful trip-wrapping-up comments tonight...Those things need time to marinate, anyway...

I can say what I ate, though--here in the airport, I at least had 'local' things--dim sum, soup in a sourdough bread-bowl, and a couple squares of Ghirardelli chocolate to go with Peet's coffee! Minutiae...At the airport in Incheon, my final meal in Korea was...a burger! Not just any burger, but a 'shrimp-bulgogi' burger from Lotteria, a South Korean fast-food chain:

(pronunciation note--pronounce "Lotteria" more like 'roh-teh-ree-yah,' ok?)

I wasn't really 'craving' a burger, but it fit my final hours' budget, and I hadn't yet eaten in a modern Korean interpretation of a burger-joint, so I figured it would be fun. I'd heard of bulgogi-burgers, bud had never had one. (Bulgogi, for the unitiated, is marinated beef stir-fry--it's usually what Koreans serve to people who've never had Korean food before, and it's almost always a hit.) So, on a long bun, were two meat-patties--one, a bulgogi-marinade-flavored beef patty, and the other--a breaded shrimp 'square'! I have to say, it was quite tasty. And the fries came with 'Mexican chili' seasoning. Fusion fast food...

Before any more banalities, I should sign off--find something to read...

Back in the U.S.

2011-06-28T02:30:00.000-07:00

Last day--in the rain: a locked palace...colors of food...a German/Korean moment...bright caffeinated lights...thoughts at the end of four weeks...

My final full-day in Korea--this was 'Morning in Bukchon:'

A coffee-to-go from around the corner...(a walking dream for an ex-Seattlite in Seoul!)

...and then a stroll under sycamores and ginkgoes along old palace walls:

The leafy canopy offered slight protection from the rain, which alternated between drizzle and blustery downpours all morning...

My goal was Chang-gyong-gung Palace, a place I visited when I was 7 years old; I still have vivid memories of that late winter day. Chang-gyong-gung was called Chang-gyong-WON back then--'won' meaning 'garden' instead of 'gung' meaning 'palace...' During the Japanese occupation, this royal palace was 'demoted' by having some of its building razed, and then a zoo (!) and botanical gardens were installed on its grounds--even kiddie-rides! In the mid-80's, the grounds and buildings were finally restored...

Across the street from the Palace is the new Cancer Care section of Seoul National University Hospital...out front was this 'negative' sculpture, which I thought was pretty cool:

...I would end up spending time inside this hospital, because the Palace was CLOSED! My guidebook and several websites said that Changgyongung is closed on Tuesdays...but the gate sign said 'Mondays.' So much for my nostalgia-re-visit...But I noticed through the glass façade of the hospital that there were public areas on the upper floors--a café, even! So, in I went...and the drizzle became a downpour, so it was good timing...

So, from the 5th-floor café terrace, I pieced together this panorama with my iPhone:

Outer gate, inner gate, Throne Hall--typical Joseon dynasty architecture...the outer gate dates from its re-construction in the 1600's--one of the oldest remaining wooden structures in Seoul...

After I took the photos, I saw that there were stairs to a roof terrace on the 6th floor,

a slightly better view, so up I went, with the umbrella:

...and then back down to street level...

...peeking through the gates; 'the locked gates of childhood memory,' perhaps? You can peep through, but you can't return...

...afterwards, while walking in a reflective mood,

couldn't help but take a picture of this reflection of yet

another palace gate:

With five royal palaces in its historic center,

Seoul is a city of grand gates and picturesque walls..

This is the secondary east gate to Kyong-bok-gung palace, across the street from my next destination--

a place to read and dry out--this little underground bookstore/café--one of the best spots in Seoul for English (and even a few French and German) titles about Korea:

And then--lunchtime! (my last lunch in Seoul!) One of the bookstore employees recommended a place back up in the Samcheongdong section of Bukchon, that serves traditional Korean meals in courses...

Now, I know that there have been many food photos in this blog the past few weeks--you would be forgiven for thinking that my wife and I are 'foodies'--but we're NOT! At least, not in the gluttonous sense--we eat to live, instead of the other way around. (Proof being that I've LOST weight on this trip! Lots of walking, and lots of vegetables cooked in low-fat traditionally Korean ways.) But...But, Korean food is just so COLORFUL and at times 'scary'...so now that I've explained myself a bit--food photos.

First course--a little bowl of hot pumpkin porridge:

...and then this beautiful appetizer assortment...the pinkish disks in the center of the 9-compartment dish are thin slices of pickled radish, which you use as 'wraps'--kind of like mini crunchy vegetal crêpes--for the delicately textured fillings, which included julienned omelette, tofu, carrot, seaweed, seasoned beef, and some other vegetables. This is 'royal-style' cuisine--similar to what was served in the palaces nearby...

...and THEN--the 'main course' of rice, wild mushroom-clam-and-tofu-stew, and a pan-seared little fishie, along with kimchi and various banchan--side dishes:

Such a variety of textures, colors, and flavors--it's satisfying without being overly filling...But a post-lunch walk is always good, so off to explore parts of Bukchon I'd not been to yet...

A random rabbit:

...and a gallery window:

...Samcheongdong's leafy curving main street, lined with hanok, boutiques, cafés...gentrification with all its pros and cons...check out the Buddhist monk in traditional clothing waiting to cross the street...

...and this guy with the long hair à la chinoise--an actor on a period drama set?--on his cell-phone...

...fun use of stacked roof-tiles in this wall:

...a dash of French color on this bakery wall; Seoul is really into macarons...

...up and down in this hilly neighborhood...

..a view over Samcheongdong, with the leafy hill surrounding the Prime Minister's official residence; this area has been a government-neighborhood for over six centures..

...and then, after a long afternoon, back to 'my' hanok...

...one last afternoon to enjoy its quiet garden:

...with a snack: a cup of ubiquitous instant café-con-leche and a ring of tteok (rice-cake)...

"Mit-jee," the resident rabbit, decided to join me:

...then, evening--dinner-time...just down the road, this steaming hole-in-the-wall caught my eye...and nose:

...specializing in freshly hand-made mandu (dumplings--think 'gyoza' or 'wontons') and North-Korean-style naeng-myeon--chewy buckwheat noodles served with a spicy sauce and sliced vegetables in an ice-cold radish broth...

And here is where I had my German/Korean moment...At a neighboring table, a woman noticed that I was looking at the menu on the wall, reading it along with my iPhone dictionary app...Assuming that I was a foreigner (correctly assuming), she asked me if I was an English teacher--I said that no, but that I do teach Spanish and French...she spoke some English, but then it came up that she had lived in Berlin, so I asked her, in German, if she spoke German...She seemed surprised, then delighted to be able to speak auf Deutsch--I was surprised and delighted too! Fun to communicate beyond the rudimentary! My German, such as it is, is better than my Korean...kind of sad, really, but true...At any rate, it was fun to dig up a language that I've not used in ages...Her German was better than her English, and my German is better than my Korean...

Ahh, German...on my linguistic backburner, along with Korean...

After dinner, another walk--my last night in Seoul, so I wanted to be out and about in the city lights a bit...caught this glimpse of a Buddhist priest getting his dinner in a temple basement:

...before going futther, I gotta say that for taking point-and-shoot night-time photos, the iPhone is pretty amazing...

Some scenes along Cheong-gye-cheon stream:

...fun light-art...

....and some caffeination--I'd been wanting to take some photos to show the various names of local multi-story coffee-chains, which are EVERYwhere...

Here's 'Holly's:'

...and then on this night-market street, several more:

"Coffine Gurunaru." (Huh?)

A couple of weeks ago, I posted 'God in a cup," so why not 'Angel in us?"

Aww, isn't it romantic--'a twosome place'...

...an Italian touch here in the Far East:

...this one's hard to make out, but it specializes in serving 'Singapore toast,' whatever that is...

...and another Italian name:

...and the prosaically-named American chain "Coffee Bean" is a fixture here in Korea's capital as well:

One can see why this city's citizens are wired for night-life:

...this place is not a coffeeshop, but I liked the back-to-back verbs:

...appropriate for the end of a trip.

Lots of thoughts/memories/feelings swirling around this month, and especially today--almost a physical sensation in my throat and chest at times this morning--not a bad thing, but definitely present...pretentious sounding, perhaps, but 'Proustian' comes to mind...sights sounds tastes smells--all reminding me of the past and of loved ones, either elderly now or gone...and of my own 'youth'--now that I'm past the halfway point of 'threescore years and ten,' I'm no longer really 'young'...(?)

'Teach me how to count my days...' wrote the Psalmist...

One of the thoughts that weighs most on my mind/heart is that I've arrived at this age, after 'mastering' (more or less, for practical teaching, if not 'professional interpreter's purposes') French and Spanish, but I STILL cannot communicate effectively in Korean...

'Had we but world enough and time...' Alas...

Being 'cut off' from family and background--at least from half of myself, if that makes any sense--it's weird how that fact can be 'compartmentalized' for so long, but resurface from time to time, especially during this stay...

'The limits of my language mean the limits of my world,' wrote Wittgenstein, an Austrian philosopher...I hate that it includes the limits of one's family as well...

Anyway, that's what's swimming around in my mind as I sit on the papered floor in this Bukchon hanok...wondering when/if/ (and to whom) I might return to Korea...Eighteen years since my last visit: too long...

It is WAY after midnight, and I need to catch the airport bus in the morning...

...signing off, then,

from Bukchon, Seoul, Korea...

2011-06-26T09:16:00.001-07:00

An afternoon respite from the rain: a walk in Gangnam, Seoul's hub of modern architecture...and site of an 8th-century temple...

Rain pattering on the roof, I woke up to this sight this morning,

the sliding papered doors of my room:

Even though these are very simple accomodations, I love the feel of staying in this hanok...But having to trek across a flagstone courtyard and down some granite steps to a shared bathroom during the monsoon season--not my favorite aspect of staying here as the remnants of typhoon Maeri (which formed a few days ago down by the Philippines) rain down over Korea...

(handy and timely graphic...found this here)

It poured pretty heavily all morning, so I slept in...did some reading...But finally, hunger and the need for real coffee pushed me down the hill and out into the rain--kimchi and "juk" (rice porridge, congee if you're familiar with Chinese menus) for lunch, and then un café Americano at the underground "Paris Croissant" in the local metro station...And by then, the rain and wind had begun to die down.

Not knowing when it would start raining again, I thought it would be a good idea to find something indoors to do on my penultimate day in Seoul--maybe, like, hanging out in a giant shopping mall--the largest underground shopping center in Asia. So, I took the subway down to Gangnam, the new part of Seoul, south of the Han River. ('Gahng' meaning 'river,' and 'nahm' meaning 'south.')

A generation ago, that part of the city looked like this:

(above photo from The Korea Herald)

It wasn't even 'the city' yet--much of it was still farmland as recently as the 1980's!

Today, the population of the district has grown to around a million, and it has buildings that look like this:

...fancy digs for dentists and aestheticians, eh?

When I surfaced south of the Han River, it wasn't raining at all, so I walked around a bit, to get an idea what the hub of modern Seoul is like...

...JFK, Marilyn Monroe and Che Gueverra on a pop-art façade...not sure what the building is, but definitely stands out...

...the pottery-inspired Horim Art Center, designed by Seoul's own Tehje Architecture Office

...corny fun--but you gotta love a King-Kong-size King-Kong on a public building, eh? AND he's wearing a backpack...above an Outback...

The Hyundai I-Park Tower, also known as 'The Tangent,' designed by American architect Daniel Libeskind; I love the way the façade is reminiscent of a Kandinsky painting...

...a melting (?) sculpture beneath Seoul's 748-ft tall World Trade Center Tower, one of the city's tallest buildings...

...the glass-tower-lined canyon of Seoul's modern financial district...

...and some less flashy, typical middle-class residential architecture--high-rise apartment blocks:

Now, for the ancient Buddhist temple in the middle of all this...(Although it dates to the end of the 8th-century, the temple has been rebuilt several times after fires and wars...) Until a generation ago, Bong-eun-sa temple was on a hillside overlooking farmland; today the complex, with its 7-story-tall Buddha,stands in the midst of commercial high-rises:

(Religiously, about 23% of Koreans profess Buddhism and 29% profess Christianity...syncretism is common, with nominal Christians engaging in Confucian ancestral rites, Buddhists buying gifts at Christmas, and non-denominational semi-secular people getting their palms read or attending a shaman ritual...)

...such a contrast, as the Buddha faces the skyscrapers--the traditionally ascetic worldview of Buddhism vs. the ultra-capitalistic global materialism represented in the World Trade Center COEX complex across the street...

...looking back at Bong-eun-sa from the COEX convention hall...

...underneath which is the underground mall (what else?)--the largest in Asia...

Clever font for this movie ad--the Korean hangeul characters are 'morphed' just enough to resemble the Roman alphabet to spell out "Rio"

aww...a trip-contest for our old home-town...

...and, of course, within this underground CoEx Mall--

a KIMCHI MUSEUM!

Admission was cheap; I had to go in...

All a bunch of propaganda, no?

It's pro-biotic! It's anti-aging!! It fights cancer!!! Viva garlic-and-chili-pepper-preserved-cabbage!

If you're not already a fan of fermented Asian food, isn't it time you became one?

2011-06-25T10:09:00.005-07:00

...from Jeju-do back to 'the Mainland'...Mom's send-off...luxury in the center of Seoul...Toksu Palace...S.'s send-off...back to Bukchon in the rain...lanterns...delightfully enigmatic stationery

Saturday night in Seoul...S. is in the air, flying back to the States, and I'm back in Bukchon, the neighborhood where I began this visit to Korea almost four weeks ago, the rain pouring on the tile roof of the hanok (traditional Korean courtyard house) where I'm staying...I have two-and-a-half-days left here before I get on a plane, Tucson-bound...The remnants of Typhoon Meari are supposed to bring even more wind and rain here tomorrow afternoon...

So much traveling the past few days--staying in a different place each night since the last posting four days ago: Jeju Island...Incheon...back to Seoul in a different hanok, and then The Plaza Hotel last night before seeing my wife off earlier this afternoon, and now back to my original hanok...This room has papered floors and sliding doors, just like I remember during the summer when I was fourteen years old, spending a rainy month at my Grandmother's in a village just south of Seoul.

Some scenery, then, from this past Tuesday through today:

Wednesday, we had most of the day to tour around Jeju-do Island, as our flight back to the mainland wasn't until 8 p.m....The weather on the SW coast of the island was rainy/foggy all day--but still lovely, in a truly 'atmospheric' way--I have not experienced such humidity since living in Nicaragua! Fortunately, it wasn't hot--the temperatures were only in the 70's, but we were drenched nonetheless...reminded us of visiting the highlands of Costa Rica...

A tea plantation on the SW flank of Halla-san volcano:

Cheon-ji-yeon Falls--cascading into a gorge that leads directly into the sea less than a kilometer away:

"Ju-sang-jeol-li-dae" is a mouthful--the name of this section of the Jung-mun coast where columnar basalt formations make up the cliffs, reminiscent of the "Giant's Causeway" in Ireland:

Further west along the Southern Coast--a section of beach where a bunch of soldiers-on-leave were burying each other in mud and throwing each other into the rough surf...

...and a bit further west, still, another watefall-filled-gorge lined with subtropical forest that leads directly into the sea; sudden fog obscured the highest falls, but we were able to hike down to this spot:

See why S. and I were reminded of Costa Rica?

==============================================

...a flight back to the mainland Wednesday night...

and then,an excursion, on my mother's last day here in the country...

from our hotel near the airport we trekked through

the rain to Incheon's Chinatown for lunch:

Incheon was one of the first ports opened to foreign trade in the 19th century, as Korea finally exited its 'Hermit Kingdom' historical phase...This area, while much smaller than San Francisco's Chinatown, is still an ethnic enclave of 'foreign' residents in otherwise ethnically homogenous Korea...and the birthplace of "Ja-jahng-myeon"--a Korean-Chinese interpretation of hand-pulled wheat noodles with black-bean sauce. That was my mother's last meal with us before heading to the air-port...

After seeing my mother off, my wife and I headed back into Seoul...stayed in a differerent hanok; I wanted her to experience the Bukchon neighborhood before she left...This hanok happened to have a resident rabbit in its courtyard, just like in the first place I stayed:

Yesterday morning, after sleeping on mats on the hanok-floor, we went to Changdeokgung Palace; I wanted to show my wife the forested gardens behind the palace--Hu-weon, also known as "Bi-weon," the 'Secret Garden'...lush under the summer raindrops...

After an afternoon of gallery-browsing and souvenir-shopping in Insa-dong, we were able to relax in our hotel--our one-and-only splurge on this trip--The Plaza Hotel--in the heart of the city, overlooking Seoul Plaza, Kwanghwamun Plaza, some of the city's main boulevards, and the walled garden-enclave of Toksu Palace, plus five different giant TV-screens on various building-tops...Here's the view from our 17th-story room:

We have always wanted to stay in a hotel like this--smack-dab in the middle of a bustling historical metropolis, but perched above it, with views of old-and-new architecture...A great online deal made it possible, and we enjoyed every minute of it...Even with the construction cranes (the City Hall is being remodeled with a giant curving glass addition), the view was still grand...
...zooming in on Kwanghwamun Plaza with its statues of Admiral Yi Sun-shin and King Sejong the Great, figures from the Joseon Dynasty's golden medieval period...Kwanghwamun Gate leading into the Kyongbokkung Palace Compound, and to the left, up on the hillside, the big blue-tile-roofed structure is "Cheongwadae," the official residence of South Korea's President:

...and the same area at night:

...ahh, feet up...

...the Hotel was refurbished under the direction of an Italian designer a few years ago...very posh, great attention to detail, sleek public areas:

...and the bedside 'phone' is a touch-screen computer that controls EVERYTHING in the room...

...a large-screen flat and thin TV, of course...(showing the weather forecast--bands of monsoon rain...)

...and I couldn't resist--just had to take a picture of this control panel in the bathroom...The Koreans and the Japanese have taken the humble bidet to technological heights:

(Hermès toiletries, incidentally...)

Downstairs, below the lobby, an artisan 'maître boulanger' French boulangerie/pâtisserie...with a local addition:

...Directly across the street, the Toksu-gung Palace complex; we went for a quick stroll this morning...Here is the throne hall:

...looking from the grounds of the Palace gardens back toward the skyscrapers around Seoul Plaza--the building directly to the right of the two-storied building in the middle of the photo--that's The Plaza Hotel:

...a comparison of now:

...and then--the last time I was here, eighteen years ago:

======================================

After returning to the airport, seeing my wife off...I made my way back into the city, back to Bukchon, once again...here is the view from the hanok where I'm staying:

...quite the 'step down' from last night's computer-controled room, but still an oasis in the midst of Seoul; I have to put on my shoes to walk down some granite steps to get to the shared bathroom across the garden--no bidet here, by the way...

...an evening walk downtown, passing a Buddhist area

with these incredible paper-lantern-sculptures:

...on my way to a bookstore in the under-the-street-shopping-center of one of the downtown towers--spent a couple of hours wandering aisles--understanding SOME, enjoying the half-ignorance...wishing I could read/speak Korean fluently already...Did 'stock up' on some language-learning materials as well as historical/cultural things...and I like the bookstore's bag:

The calligraphy reads: (and I have to brag about my small linguistic victory here--I didn't even need to use a dictionary to 'get' this packaging!) "People make books, and books make people.'

Speaking of words and packaging--I spent more time than I care to admit enjoying all of the ENGRISH in the stationery section--check out some of these notebook covers:

Wow--that's a chipper way to approach one's schoolwork...

from failure to failure...LEARN!

And 'Engrish' is not limited to English;

check out this nonsensical French cover:

Cutesy dogs, but random French, which reads:

"Gaspard in Venice. Lisa's House

Lisa takes the plane.

Christmas present. Desserts.

Lisa has fleas.

The jealousy of Gaspard."

Breathtaking, no?

And this is just so weird:

Why is Hansel in a cage? Why is Gretel giving him an apple?

Where's the candy house? the witch?

Why would you want this on your CALENDAR?!

Pure fun:

Surely the way to enjoy life, and especially traveling:

Be like Domo, "who is curious about everything,

gets excited and thrilled every day."

Finally, push yourself:

"Cool summer rain will quench your thirst."

And on that note, with rain pattering on the tiles over my head, signing off...

2011-06-21T08:24:00.003-07:00

Sokcho - Wonju - Cheju: from the smallest airport to the freshest island seafood

The "Jahng-mah" (summer monsoon) has begun here on Jeju-do island, off the SW coast of Korea; it's a rainy night...Over the next week or so, the weather pattern will creep up the Korean peninsula--almost half of the country's rainfall falls just in July and August--Seoul gets an average of 50-plus inches of rain a year! Compare that with 'rainy' Seattle's thirty-something-inches...

Fortunately, our arrival yesterday afternoon and touring around today have been mostly dry...

So, yesterday morning we left Sokcho--bound on a bus for the north-central city of Wonju, where we caught a plane to get to Jeju-do...

...my visit with my uncle flew by, but my mother seemed to truly enjoy spending time with her brother...and his health improved noticeably during our stay...so, leaving Sokcho was not as difficult as we'd thought it might be; we all spoke of 'next time' instead of having to think 'we may never see one another again'...

A couple of green scenes from the countryside between Sokcho and Wonju:

...I wish I knew what was growing down in the valley--such a vivid light green...

...at the bus terminal in Wonju--there was a "Krispy Kreme!" Again--as with the Dunkin' in Seoul, fun seeing how local tastes have changed the U.S. chain:

"Kruffins"...huh?! Oh yeah--'kruffins,' as in KRispy KReme MUFFINS...get it? More fun to say than to eat, my wife says, though...

Across the street from the doughnut shop--more fun with 'Engrish'--can you make out the lettering? This is the "KING DUM MOTEL." Breathtaking. The name alone makes me want to stay there...

("...a horse, a horse...my KING DUM for a horse!")

...cute cow, eh?...the countryside around Wonju is known for its prized beef:

The Wonju airport--this is the smallest airport we've ever been to:

Daily--one flight in, from Jeju...and one flight out, to Jeju...

After going through security, you get on a bus, which crosses the highway to the adjacent Air Force base; Korean Air Lines is allowed to take off from the military runway for its flight to the island...

In the terminal, I tried to be discreet, but I just had to get a picture of this:

Shaven head and grey 'hanbok' clothing--a Buddhist monk...

a Buddhist monk checking his text messages on his smart phone.

This is today's South Korea.

==================================

After our arrival on the island last night, this morning's tour of Jeju-du began with an underground experience:

...after a kilometer of walking in the dark, dripping lava tube--here's the 'largest lava column in the world:'

...re-emerging to the surface; welcome warmth after a couple of kilometers of damp 55-degrees; the temperature in the lava-tube is constant...

These are some of the omnipresent 'tol-hah-roo-bahng,' or traditional 'stone grandfather'-statues. ('Hah-roo-bang' is the Jeju-dialect word for 'grandfather;' 'haraboji' is the term on the mainland.) They're almost 'Polynesian'-looking, eh? Sculpted from volcanic stone, these guys are the island's totemic trademark, along with tangerines...

After the lava-tube-cave, we arrived at this almost-Irish-looking scene--Ilchulbong peak, which means 'sunrise rock,' a crater at the eastern tip of the island:

...one can hike up to the rim of the several-hundred-feet-high seaside crater...

...alas, the sign above is a better shot of the crater than anything I could get with my camera, as sea-fog rolled in right as we got to the top

...but check out the cove below:

...and down at sea-level...

...divers emerge from the clear waters--and they're all hardy middle-aged women:

...the famous 'Haen-nyo' of Jeju-do--the 'diving maidens' who dive for shellfish, seaweed--anything edible...such as sea urchins!

...caught fresh...

...processed fresh...

...and ready to eat!

...we happened to hit the right time of year--sea-urchins are not always in season...they're considered a delicacy, especially by visiting Japanese tourists...

And, yes. I tried it.

Tastes of the sea, what else?

The Haen-nyo might well be a dying tradition...With more education, modern young women are not learning and continuing this centuries-old-lifestyle--it's hard hard work...there are only about 5000 Haen-nyo left on the island--many in their 50's and 60's! These are hardy grannies, eh?

So...Come now to see them. A few more years, and the haen-nyo might be no more...

========================

A lasting legacy of the period of Mongol occupation of the island eight centuries ago are horses:

...some of the traditional lava-rock and thatch-roofed houses:

...and volcanic-pigsties:

...just as in mainland Korea, Jeju-do has the custom of outdoor food-storage and food-fermenting 'jars:'

...looking toward the center of the island: the slopes of Halla-san, the central volcanic peak, and the highest point in South Korea, hidden by clouds and showers...

...hydrangea are everywhere right now:

...and the day's last walk before heading back to our hotel in Jeju City, a stroll around San-gum-bu-ri crater, a lush micro-climate in an extinct volcanic 'bowl:'

...where I am NOW, as I type this:

...the view from the rooftop of our hotel in Jeju-city--a neighborhood of affordable tourist hotels and eateries, chaotic narrow streets, with the occasional palm tree amid the mid-rises...

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll tour around the western half of the island (a tea-plantation, and one of the few waterfalls that drop directly into the ocean are on the itinerary)...then the evening flight up to Seoul.

2011-06-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

Dunkin' à la Korea--What Korea runs on, Americans might run from: local adaptations...and scenes from yesterday's hike in the mountains...

Normally, when S. and I travel abroad, we avoid U.S.-chains--I mean, a great part of the fun in foreign travel is in experiencing what's local, right? But, part of the fun can also be in seeing how American chains adapt to foreign tastes in order to become successful. So, as an example, a few scenes from Dunkin' Donuts in Seoul.

The other night, after a brilliant neo-traditional stage-musical-performance at a theater behind Toksu Palace, we ducked into a Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of coffee and to get out of a surprise rainshower...Shamelessly, I took out my iPhone to get these photos:

..."handcrafted," I would get...but what in the world is 'Hand-drip!?' This wording is found all over Seoul-coffee-world...and now, for local doughnut flavor varieties:

...are you addicted to nuts and legumes, too? (a local yogurt is labeled 'berryholic', incidentally...)

(tomato and almond--wow...)

...can you make out the lettering: TOFU!

...it's chewy...it's twisty...it's CHEWISTY! I like this neologism...I just might use it back in AZ...

--sounds healthy, eh?

...the following pic is not from Dunkin', but from the colorfully-named local chain, "Yoger-presso."

Really. Yoger-presso.

I just had to try this one.

And it was pretty good.

Seriously.

Fiber with your caffeine, anyone?

=========================================

Now, from local flavors to local landscapes...

Yesterday, my wife and I hiked in Seoraksan National Park--

we took a trail up the Cheonbuldong valley

to an area called "Biseondae,"

rocky peaks surrounding jade-colored waters:

...or, when not jade-colored, crystal-clear beneath the

pine-studded crags:

(FYI, if you're ever in Sokcho,

the tapwater is perfectly safe--

piped in directly from these mountains...)

Korea is a nation of avid middle-aged hikers...and the 'ajumoni' (respectful term for ladies 'of a certain age') love to wear colorful sun-protection:

As in Japan, fair-skinned complexion is prized, so women (and even metrosexual boy-band-singers) go to great lengths to cover up...So, S. had to 'do like the locals'--just for this one photo-op:

My aunt insisted that S. take the 'arm-socks' along...my mother seconding the motion by saying that 'it really works to help keep you cool!'...AND she had purchased the gigantic sunvisor for my wife; S. did her daughter-in-lawly duty by taking said garments, and so this photo is 'proof' that she complied with Korean skin-care-hiking mores...at least for this photo.

2011-06-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

Back in Sokcho

We are back on the East coast of Korea--got here yesterday evening.

Since S.'s arrival last Sunday, it's been a whirlwind week--introducing her to Seoul, its scenery and its street foods...then yesterday, after riding a bus across the country, introducing her to my Uncle and Aunt...and today we went hiking in Seoraksan National Park.

(No pictures for this posting; but literally hundreds have been taken in the past few days--digital cameras and smart phones have forever changed vacation-photography, eh?)

I turn this over to my wife now, paraphrasing her words as she 'dictates' to me here in my Uncle's dining room...

I've particularly enjoyed seeing the 'everyday life' scenes in Seoul's backalley markets; the department stores are super-chic, but going in the markets 'keeps it real;' people still need to run everyday errands, and all the snacks are wonderful. "This is a great country for snacking!" Oh, and of course the Engrish! A recent Engrish highlight--on the subway, seeing a teenager with a t-shirt that read (really) "Knowledge is Poo-Poo!" (Could we make that one up?) Guess he doesn't like school...However, the kid wearing that was among a group of Chinese tourists, so it wasn't 'authentic Korean Engrish,' it was 'Chinglish...'

"Korea. Sparkling." <==That phrase was used a while back by the Korean National Tourism Organization as part of their marketing campaign. Somehow, it's just slightly off-sounding in English, no? At any rate, as corny as it sounds, it's actually true--so much color, vibrant wired people..even some of the varieties of kimchi 'sparkle' in your mouth with their spicy fermentation!

And, "Hi, Seoul!" Really? That's another of the 'official' slogans...We like to say that to each other just to goof off--as in, when opening our hotel window, looking out at the new skyscrapers in Myongdong, one simply has to say: "Hi Seoul!"

Now--Sokcho. "It ain't quaint;" it's not Disney-fied, although the natural setting is lovely...fewer distractions, though--nice to just have time to get to know family...(Walking down the sidewalk, I was impressed that my wife was not taken aback by seeing a tank full of sea-cucumbers, swimming and clinging to the slimy glass in their aquarium; she'd grown up seeing them at low-tide in Puget Sound!)

Also, here is a good place to observe how people have their plots of land tucked in among new buildings (zoning?!)--varying degrees of architectural success surrounding plots of lettuce, potatoes, even rice paddies between newly-paved streets and the beach! Very resourceful, this little country...

Okay...signing off on this post, as my mother and aunt, a few feet behind us, are 'manhandling' fresh vegetables and chili-peppers (organic and grown in the backyard) in a giant plastic tub--making kimchi on the dining table. Inhale deeply. If only one could 'post smells'...

2011-06-13T17:22:00.002-07:00

...just to say that S. arrived safely; a perfect day in Seoul--from a 15th-c. changing of the guard to a concert of operatic arias on the plaza

Instead of being delayed by 48 hours, my wife ended up being able to catch a flight through Japan and so arrived only 30 hours later than planned...So, S. is here safe and sound, flying in on Sunday night.

She, too, was able to stay awake until local bedtime, and so immediately has 're-set' to local time...

From yesterday, then, a quick posting with a few snapshots of a perfect early summer day in Seoul...After morning browsing and lunch in the medieval-alley-atmosphere of Namdaemun Market,

...we walked from the Myongdong area up to Kyeongbokkung Palace--dating back to the 1390's, when the new dynasty established Seoul as the capital. We timed it just right, as the 'changing of the guard' was being re-enacted, with period costumes and instruments:

(this is the ceiling painting inside the arched gateway)

a sentinel blowing a giant shell-horn from Kwanghwamun (gate)'s guardhouse:

phesant-feathers for ceremonial soldier-hats!

(and you gotta love the boat-boots, eh?)

...now, that's a drum...

At the rear of the palace-grounds, this picturesque scene--one of the most photographed spots in Seoul:

(As the first established palace compound of the dynasty, Kyeongbok Palace is so important historically--it has been recently restored, and on Sunday, while I waited for Sara's evening arrival, I spent most of the day wandering the grounds, watching a performance of medieval court music/dance, napping in the shade of a giant gingko tree, eating a few wild cherries...and then I brought Sara back yesterday...

I'll have to upload an entire posting just on this palace later...)

As evening fell, we caught a free concert on the steps of the Sejong Cultural Center--the same place where I attended a traditional dance performance on my first night in Seoul almost two weeks ago...Every evening in May and June, the city is organizing performances here, and last night the Seoul Metropolitan Opera put on the concert....it's amazing to think of how quickly Western Classical Music implanted itself here and became so highly valued--in less than century, NE Asia has become one of the dominant 'producers' of classical musicians...and last night's concert was a free(!) example of world-class musicianship:

...arias and duets from La Bohème under the stars!

...and finally, a nighttime view of Kwanghwamun plaza, with its monuments and giant TV screens, taken from the roof-deck of a four-story Starbucks (!)

I've written it before, but this is one caffeinated city...

Along with ginseng and garlic, coffee keeps this city going at all hours...

2011-06-11T09:03:00.004-07:00

Back to Seoul; along the Han river...and night lights in Myong-dong

...approaching Seoul from its eastern suburbs along the Han River--weird to see the middle of a bridge completed before the connections to either shore are built:

...closer in to the center of the city, the Olympic Bridge; built for the '88 Olympics, it wasn't actually completed until 1990:

...stuck in weekend traffic, I had time to take three photos from the same spot and stitch them together:

Namsan and Seoul ('N')-Tower are on the horizon...

The banks of the Han River have been turned into parks--even with outdoor gyms! Check out the equipment available:

...the bikers on the path were probably going faster, on average, than the traffic on the riverside roads...

We got into the Express Bus Terminal over an hour later than 'scheduled.' Upon entering the building from the bus-drop-off zone, this tote-bag for sale grabbed my attention; I had to stop in my tracks and take a picture of this spectacular specimen of Engrish:

I know it's hard to make out in the photo (although you can double-click it), so I will re-type it here in all its fractured glory:

"Yaho, we got this town Bang Bang. We got this town Bang Bang. All are escaped from us Bang Bang. All are escaped from us Bang Bang. The brave show up to us. The big mouth show up to us.Bang Bang Hey, Big Boss, No hungry? we so very hungry. We so hungry Bang Bang. So hungry comes like tsunami. so, hungry comes like. Big boss, get food for us, get food for us Bang Bang."

Spectacular, yes? And here's the bottom of the tote bag, under the "Especially for Driving:"

"We all have to go through it and we take it only once. One never needs to be afraid of catching it a second time. No, we never sicken with love twice. Cupid spends no second arrow on the same heart."

Huh?!?!?!?!?!?!?

So, is Bang Bang one of the dogs?

And why the mention of Cupid?

And how is this 'Guytrio' bag 'especially for driving?

Oh, Mystery

wrapped in a riddle

inside an enigma,

stuffed inside...

...a tote bag.

After a crowded subway ride from the Express Bus Terminal, I check into the hotel on the slopes of Namsan on a narrow street above Namdaemun Market, then check my e-mail (still no up-date about S's flight situation), and then head out--a short walk down the hill to Myongdong. (Also spelled Myung-dong, Myeong-dong, with- and without dashes--this area is often compared to its better-known Japanese counterparts, the Shinjuku and Ginza areas of Tokyo.) It's one of the shopping and financial headquarters of the country...

Lights, action...coffee!!

A multi-story Starbucks! Myongdong used to be home to the world's largest Starbucks, but since the district has some of the highest commercial rental rates in the world, that location is gone...but still--pretty impressive...I saw at least three other Starbucks on my stroll, plus a half-dozen other local chains and a few 'unique' ones as well--this is one caffeinated city...although, (random trivia here, gleaned from a newspaper article), over 85% of the coffee consumed in this country is still (alas) instant. (Blech)

Super-chic boutiques, youth-culture chain stores, restaurants, fake-Rolex hawkers in the streets...and, of course, street food:

Serene purveyor of roasted chestnuts, still in the midst of the commercial chaos...

...had my solo-dinner at a restaurant famous for its 'Cheonju bibimbap'--check out all the banchan side-dishes that come with the hot brass bowl of rice topped with meat, seasoned vegetables, a sweet/hot paste and an egg that you have to stir in so that it'll cook

An incongruous fixture next to all of the commercial frenzy--the Myongdong Cathedral sits on the highest hill in the neighborhood...Built in the 1890's, designed by French missionaries--this neo-Gothic structure was among the first Western-style buildings built in Seoul...There was some controversy at the time--would it be appropriate for foreigners to build such a large structure on land higher than the Royal Palaces?

Throughout the 20th century, student and political demonstrations have often started in the plaza in front of the Cathedral--it's truly at the heart of modern Seoul history...

(Incidentally, a cousin of mine--one I don't know, way older than me--got married here years ago...)

It's a bit hard to make out--but in the background, behind this snack-stall, can you see it: Yep--'Krispy Kremes!' doughnuts from "the South" in South Korea...The snack-stall in the foreground is selling 'oh-deng' (Japanese fish-'sausage'-batter, for lack of a better word) on a stick--I got the version wrapped in 'geh-nip'--a perilla ('wild sesame') leaf that has an intense herbal flavor...

...and finally--another, non-churchy, French connection in this neighborhood: although Koreans are not big bread-eaters, Seoulites do like their French bakeries, right across from the street each other, in fact:

...insomnia, anyone?

2011-06-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

Wife's flight delayed...everyday scenes around Sokcho...can your remote do all this?

(Scroll down for 'photo-essay' directly, if you want to skip my airline rant in the first few paragraphs.)

Customer "service"--due to weather, my wife missed her connecting flight in San Francisco--so she won't be arriving in Seoul today. The ticket counters were understaffed, and when my wife asked one of the agents if she could help, the agent told her "just call United; I can't help you; be more pro-active." Wow. That's customer-service--the person at the counter--there, alive, in the flesh--says to make a phone-call to the 1-800-number?! Are you kidding? And then has the nerve to say that the passenger needs to be more pro-active!!

And of course--since the missed connection was due, not to mechanical issues, but to meteorological conditions, the airline will not pay for my wife's hotel--she has to spend the night in San Francisco, and wait as a stand-by passenger tomorrow...Otherwise, she will 'definitely' be on the United flight THE DAY AFTER...(so, two nights at the airport hotel?) Hmm...could we not re-route with another airline? There are many flights from San Francisco to Asia...The hotel I'd booked for us in Seoul can't be canceled, so later today, I'm going to head from Sokcho to Seoul anyway--at least I'll be closer to the airport in case some miraculous flight comes through and my wife gets here only one day late instead of two...

So I'm still in Sokcho, instead of on the early bus to the west coast...

A few everyday scenes from around town:

"Hahng-ahh-ree"--the huge barrel-shaped jars that are de rigueur in any Korean yard/patio/garden...In the past, they were used, among other things, to store food outdoors in the winter--nature's refrigerator for various kinds of kimchee, fermented sauces, miso ('dwehn-jahng' in Korean), etc...Nowadays they're still used for food-storage, but also for decoration, rainwater, etc....

The hahng-ah-ree above were actually outside of a restaurant--here's an interior view of that "sheek-dahng:"

(locally famous for it's cold buckwheat noodle dish)

...one of the old homes in the "Ah-bah-ree ma-eul" neighborhood--originally a temporary home for refugees from North Korea...this is the part of Sokcho that feels like stepping back in time:

...at the central seafood market downtown; mackerel--mmm mmm mmm; it's underappreciated in America, I must say...fresh-caught and freshly pan-seared; ain't nothin' better:

"Goh-doong-uh" = mackerel..."Shee-jahng" = market

...still at the seafood market--making 'oh-jing-eo soon-deh,' the 'sausage' that uses the squid itself as a casing, stuffed with rice and vegetables:

...crabs in colorful alleyways...

...even with a super-sleek super-modern supermarket around the corner, many people still buy produce from these little pick-ups that drive around the neighborhoods--with sing-song 'advertisements' broadcast from loudspeakers...on this truck, garlic for sale--"mah-neul:"

You'll never see this in the U.S. or Western Europe, eh?--a cutesy squid-mascot on a storefront:

...the beach:

(song-reference, here, for the next two pics--

a fox-trot from the 1920's)

...in the morning...

...in the evening...

...ain't we got kelp?

...parts of Sokcho are overbuilt with high-rise hotels & vacation-rental-condos,

but there are still pockets of vegetable-farming;

(these views are right behind my Uncle's place)

============================================

Now...from low-tech to hi-tech...

Last week, for my mother's arrival, I booked a hotel near the Incheon airport; we couldn't get anything to work in the room until we figured out this:

Can your remote do all that?

Signing off, still in Sokcho...

I'll be in Seoul from this evening until next Thursday,

meeting my wife hopefully tomorrow if not Monday...

2011-06-10T05:38:00.003-07:00

...in a scroll-painting landscape, with 'natural soda'

...overcast today, but no less lovely to go for a drive in the mountains behind Sokcho...driving and hiking in this landscape is truly like being inside one of those silk-scroll-landscape-paintings...

These paddies produce the rice for some of the most famous 'tteok' (rice-'cakes;' somewhere between pasta al dente and taffy in texture) in Korea; the women from this village used to trek, individually, over the mountains and down to the coast to sell their tteok...but as the reputation of their product (along with competition) grew, they decided to band together into a cooperative so that they could all share the fruits of their labor...

...in the land of ubiquitous WIFI and HDTV, this is timeless:

The rest of today's photos

are from the Osaek Valley,

beneath Han-gye-ryong pass

in Seoraksan Nat'l Park...

...some Buddhist lanterns; the mountains of Korea are dotted with Buddhist temples, and in this part of the country, many date back to the ancient Silla Kingdom period...

This is Yongso Waterfall; one of many...

so, so green for my eyes now accustomed to Tucson...

...mountain springs everywhere--there are always brightly colored plastic scoops nearby; I like how this dragon-fountain is wearing them as hats...

See how the water here is sort of a rusty color before it flows into the turquoise-colored stream?

(Pronounce: Oh-sehk-yahk-soo)

The color is due to its high iron content...also has carbonic acid--this medicinal water is locally famous for aiding anemia and digestive problems--and of course, I had to taste it--it was actually kind of 'bubbly' and pleasantly metallic-tasting...

I bottled some so that my wife (who flies in to Seoul tomorrow!) can taste some next week when she arrives here on the East Coast of the country...

Ten days, I've been in the country now...flying by...

My uncle, aunt and my mother were linguistically encouraging today--they said that they could tell that I've made progress in the last few days--whew...I needed to hear that; I feel as if my brain cells are fried...fried food: tasty; fried brain: depressing.

Signing off, then; got an early bus to catch tomorrow...will welcome S. at the airport.

2011-06-09T07:07:00.003-07:00

From the sea to the mountains and back...(with a semi-gratuitous puppy-shot thrown in)

It rained last night--cleared out the summer haze, so I awoke to this view this morning:

Here's the view towards 'Ul-san-ba-wi' mountain, in Seorak National Park, from my Uncle's rooftop.

A morning run, then, around the waterfront--BIRDS!

...and then lunch--an action shot...what is being stir-fried? Look closely...

...among other things, a side-dish of thin green chilies with--yep--tiny 'caramelized' dried anchovies!
(This is not what is served to most Americans in Korean restaurants State-side, eh?)

I know it's hard to believe, but it's extremely tasty--and nutritious!

Korean cuisine, traditionally, was light on meat with practically no dairy...

However, this combination gives you tons of vitamin C and lots of calcium.

Got peppers-and-fishies?

After lunch, it was almost completely clear, so we drove fifteen minutes (only!) into the park's main valley, and took the cable car up to one of the peaks...

...from the cable-car,

this is the view 'behind' Ulsanbawi,

looking down on the main Buddha

of Shin-heung-sa Temple,

which dates back to the 630's A.D.;

it's the oldest "Seon" (that's 'Zen' in Korean)

temple in the world.

From the top, the view back towards Sokcho

and the East Sea (remember--that's the politically-correct

way, in Korea, to refer to 'The Sea of Japan.')

...and zooming in--you can see the lake/lagoon in central Sokcho; see the little island toward the right?
That's 'Jodo' island, and just beneath it, on the peninsula--that's where I am sitting as I type this:

(I must say, I love the zoom on my camera)

More mountain views:

(I've been playing with the 'mini' feature on the camera;

fun to make huge landscapes look

like 'toy-world' scenes.)

We took a scenic detour back to town--

in one of the valleys parallel to the national park,

we met this dignified (and friendly) watchdog,

guarding Jinjeonsa temple,

(built during the Silla period: 57 BC - 935 AD)

...and who can resist a puppy?

So, papa...and son...

friendly mountain temple dogs.

Driving back down to the coast--villages that have kept the traditional architecture, including this splendidly restored home:

...the freshness of early summer--young rice paddies, or 'baby rice' as my aunt said, using her colorful but limited English vocabulary. (We joke that my Korean is like her English!)

...and evening--after dinner, I 'raced' the sunset

to get to this hilltop in time, about a kilometer or so

from where we're staying:

...and the waterfront, closer in to town; dusk is very forgiving to mediocre architecture, eh?

Summer twilight in Sokcho...

The day after tomorrow I return to the opposite coast;

my wife is flying in from the States; after several days in Seoul,

we'll return here.

2011-06-08T07:30:00.001-07:00

Been here for a week; time for minutiae--like doing laundry and getting a haircut...

No 'famous' tourist things today...

This morning, while having my coffee (alas, instant), I sat on the floor amidst a week's worth of dirty laundry, a dictionary in hand, staring at this control panel:

I can 'read' everything--phonetically, that is...but knowing the vocabulary? I didn't want to bother my mother, uncle, or aunt...so I figured it out eventually. Nothing got torn, nothing shrunk, and I'll be presentable again, in freshly laundered clothing, smelling of the sea, perhaps. (Almost no one has dryers here...clothes racks are on every balcony/patio.)

I finally went for a run today!--along the beach, through some back streets, through a small stretch of pine forest--trees that look like giant bonsai--up a hillside with small farm plots--until I hit a military fence in the woods; being so close to the border with North Korea, large sections of the coastline remain off-limits to the general public--guards constantly patrol the coast, on the lookout for infiltrators from The North...

After a run, you gotta eat...

So we went to a restaurant in a beautiful rice-paddy-filled-vale--we sat on the floor along long tables made of giant slabs of pine, to enjoy one of the local specialties that does not involve seafood: buckwheat noodles and tofu made from black soybeans:

In the small cup on the right is a uniquely Korean condiment-pickle-beverage. Yeah, I know--sounds weird--it is...but it's refreshing and full of probiotics! So, it takes five months to make--it involves a giant radish which is pickled with Asian pear juice...it's kept ice cold, and you eat the radish slice like a pickle, but you drink the cold salty/sweet liquid as a beverage--it's even slightly 'carbonated'!! Amazing, eh?--what's considered normal in different parts of the world...

Later, we went to the grocery store--what a contrast to the seafood market downtown--this place would give any grocery stoe in America a run for its monehy--super clean, friendly service, free samples everywhere--and it's 4-stories tall: Levels 3 and 4 are parking...Level 2 is like going to a fancy Target, and Level 1 is the grocery store...AND it has a food court. (Anyone familiar with the Monoprix chain in France? C'est ça.)

At any rate, with iPhone in hand (I really don't care if the local employees think I'm a crazed foreigner with a photo-addiction)--I just had to get a shot of these juices:

Really? Are you for real? You're not just an optical illusion?
100% natural produce...

Upstairs, in the stationery section--tons of cutesy examples of Engrish, including this little notepad:

Oh, little mister "DoReMi" doggie (trust me, that's his name),

why, oh why do you love watermelon so much?

And why does this belong on a "Check List?"

Allow me to paraphrase:

Decide what you gotta do. Do it. Only you will make you do it.

Globalization in the form of fried chicken:

...although you will find NO biscuits here--

just the cajun-spiced fried chicken

AND--look at the ad under the counter--

a local addition:

'paht bing-soo,'

a dessert made from shaved ice,

cream, red beans (sweet, though),

and some other toppings as well...

I know, sounds weird, but on a summer day, so nice...

Don't knock it til you've tried it.

If you'd rather not, there are plenty of

"Mochaccinos" available...

Later on, after stocking up on sundries, I went out to get a haircut, and saw this:

There is some truly horrific hotel-architecture in Sokcho.

(The green box on the back of the scooter reads "Pelicano"--it's a local chicken-restaurant-chain, and they deliver! Pizza Hut and even McDonald's also have these little delivery scooters here...)

More 'whimsical' motel architecture--this just up the street from my Uncle's...

(I do like the blue tile roof on the more traditional building in the foreground, though...)

But not all the lodging options are so gaudy;

check out these little casitas--a few doors down from my Uncle's,

on the way to the seawall:

...and Sokcho is full of roses right now--the marine climate must be good for them...

The sea is quite clear here:

Ahh, young love--typical graffitti by the seashore--in any language,

"I love you" will always be found.

Language lesson for today--to say "I love you" in Korean:

"Sah-rahng-heh."

The coast is clear enough for locals to forage for edibles; at certain times of the year, my Aunt will gather little anchovies that swarm close to shore...Today, a neighborhood 'halmoni' ('grandmother') was gathering 'mi-yeok,'--edible kelp:

...very enterprising; she sold some to a man who was on a bike ride with his daughter...

I love how he's in a dress shirt and slacks, with his pig-tailed daughter on his bike, riding one-handed:

Why bring home the bacon, when you can bring home the kelp, right?

=====================

No kelp for dinner tonight (I do like it, though--great in soup!)...

But the simplicity of local fresh ingredients is a delight--

so many fresh vegetables:

Here's the inside scoop on this wrap:

Fresh red-leaf lettuce from the backyard,

a 'gae-nip' (perilla, or ''wild sesame") leaf,

some sticky white rice,

'dwehn-jahng' (a kind of red-pepper-laced miso paste),

and a couple of mellow (really! ) pickled garlic cloves...

The 'slow food' movement' is right at home, here in the provincial parts of South Korea...

2011-06-07T07:40:00.005-07:00

Arrival in Sokcho. Mountains and Squid...and a neighborhood of 'temporary' houses...

We are here by the sea, on the opposite side of the country from Seoul.

Eighteen years ago, the journey took about 5 hours, on curving mountain roads...Today it only took about two-and-a-half--we must've gone through 20 or 30 tunnels; I lost count...As soon as one leaves Seoul, the mountainous reality is unavoidable; the oft-cited figure of the country being 80% mountainous is no exaggeration...Some people call Korea the 'Switzerland of NE Asia' due to its rugged terrain--I would agree...and going through all the tunnels on smooth wide highways, I thought of Switzerland, not just because of the mountains, but also because of the engineering--both societies have responded to their challenging terrain and small political boundaries by means of infrastucture.

A few bus-window views, then, on the way...over the river and through the woods:

The slopes are all thickly wooded; my mother talked about how, when she was a little girl in school right after the war, there was such emphasis placed on reforestation--so many of the country's mountains had become denuded during the Japanese occupation and the Korean War (especially in the north--napalm was first widely used here)...

Until 2005, in fact, Arbor Day was a public holiday here. My mom remembers going out into the countryside with her classmates--planting seedlings, and hiking around with little cans to capture 'greedy' caterpillars and grasshoppers that would otherwise thwart the nation's efforts to reforest its slopes!

But not all the forests are second-growth; some are old-growth, especially in the mountains along the East Coast, whose terrain is so steep that there weren't any major battles fought in the mountains here, near Seoraksan National Park:

...The rice paddies still reflect nicely; the seedlings are too new to cover the water from view...

by late summer these paddies will be a lush, dark green:

Sokcho:

Although there are many seaside vacation-rentals, it is still very much a working fishing port with a certain grittiness. It ain't quaint...but the setting is lovely, between the mountains and the sea...Great efforts are being made to convert it to a seaside-vacation-town--note the cranes...but it's definitely a work-in-progress.

From the top of that bridge, looking down:

Colorful roofs, but claustrophobic quarters, eh? This neighborhood is a relic of the Korean War. It's nicknamed "Ah-bah-ee Village." In the dialect of neighboring Hamgyong-province, now isolated in North Korea, 'ah-bah-ee' is the equivalent of 'ah-bo-jee' ("father") in standard Korean...

When the war broke out, scores of families from what would become North Korea fled to this area--building what they thought would be temporary--so therefore small and close together--housing. But when the DMZ was fixed, they found themselves stranded on this peninsula between a lagoon and the sea...nowhere to go...And so their 'Ah-bah-ee village' remains as a working-class neighborhood. It's now popular with tourists for seafood restaurants...

So, while it may not be the most charming, 'postcard pretty' place, it's a real piece of human history and architecture--picturesque in its poignant way...

My uncle lives on the southern edge of this historical area; so this--the constructed legacy of refugees--will be the scenery for 'my neighborhood run' for mid-June...

The sea-air is a nice change from Seoul...

(although, the traffic and the smog aren't as bad as I remember...)

Coming here from Seoul is like going back in time; it's a far cry from the polished cosmopolitan-ness of central Seoul...the rusticity and the construction-rubble--it's an 'invigorating' contrast from the Capital.

Such a small country, (South Korea is the size of Utah...but with 48 million people!) with such diferent regions.

No land to spare--so no land goes to waste--

truly 'postage stamp' gardens

for growing vegetables to go with dinner...

...and speaking of dinner:

Scary? or appetizing?

It's 'oh-jing-eo soon-dae,'

a local specialty--a 'sausage' made of

a whole squid ('calamari' just sounds prettier...)

stuffed with rice and vegetables--

when sliced, quite pretty...

We didn't eat in this restaurant; we bought it to go...

So. Squid. Lots and lots of the fishing boats here go out into the sea at night;

they use lights--squid swarm in the way that moths are attracted to light bulbs...

You can see them swim at the local market in the middle of town!

A vast indoor (underground) space of tanks full of continuously flowing seawater,

with the day's specimens--it's like SeaWorld, except that it's all for dinner!

Sokcho.

'Home-base' for the next couple of weeks...

==========================

I happened upon this website tonight:

"12 rules for expat life in Korea"

http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/life/12-rules-expat-life-south-korea-067384

Flippant, but fun.

2011-06-06T09:27:00.001-07:00

Mom's last day in Seoul...Insadong...Jongno Tower...learning to use my new camera at night in Kwanghwamun Plaza

Tomorrow we're off to Sokcho, to my uncle's...

Today, then, was my mother's last day here in the Capital. Mom's been a low-pressure traveler, and with her still-recovering knee, she's not wanted to run all over town. So, after a leisurely morning, we walked several blocks (her therapy) to the Insa-dong district; known for its arts and antiques.

During the Joseon (Yi dynasty) period, the area was the headquarters for the royal government agency for arts and paintings. (Scholarly calligraphy was a highly prized skill, even among bureaucrats! Can you imagine if politics included that today?) And since that time period, the paper, scrolls, and brush-supplying neighborhood has mushroomed into a vibrant arts district...along with the kitsch that international tourists demand, but still, one of the most interesting neighborhoods in Seoul...

The district is so different from the last time either my mother or I were here--much more commercial, and much more crowded--but still, tree-lined and mostly pedestrian...I love the windows:

...and some of the side-alleys still have a few traditional buildings--nothing like the concentration in Bukchon, but the 'old soul of Seoul' can still be seen:

(A vendor taking a well-deserved rest in the shade after a long day of carting around popped-rice-snacks...cellphones allow much more discreet people-photography...I've always shied away from taking pictures of strangers...)

This couple demonstrated the traditional way of steaming and pounding glutinous rice to make "tteok," a kind of 'rice-cake'...

...back near our hotel, I happened to look up and noticed the wording on this building that I've passed half a dozen times in the past couple of days:

Somebody takes their coffee WAY too seriously, no?

As in, blasphemously so...

After a full day of walking, browsing, shopping and snacking, my mother had had enough 'therapy,' so I took her back to the hotel for her to get off her feet...and then I headed back out to finally get up close to the Jongno Tower, which I've seen from almost every angle from different parts of the city since I got here last Wednesday:

"Jongno," the name of the building and the avenue on which it is located, means "Bell Street;" during the Yi dynasty, the bronze bell that hangs in the pavilion beneath the Tower (in the photo above) was rung twice daily, to signal the opening and closing of the city gates...it's still rung for special occasions, such as New Year's...

From the top floor, you can look east and see one of those city gates--Dongdaemun, at the head of 'Jongno:'

Alas, there is no public observation deck at the top--just a posh restaurant...but the 'landing' area in front of the elevators is open to the public...as are the restrooms:

Firstly, a cool circular sink...secondly--that's one of the more scenic backdrops for handwashing, eh?

Looking towards Namsan:

...and then, looking down, through the hollow part of the building over which the top floor is 'suspended:'

It's not a particularly tall building--33 floors is, well, rather short compared to some skyscrapers...but I just love the quirkiness of the daring structure.

And nearby is Chongye-gye-cheon,

the 'daylighted stream' I mentioned the other day.

It's truly a treasure in the middle of the city.

And when the workers were 'unearthing' it

after demolishing the elevated freeway,

they also rediscovered a 600-yr-old stone bridge:

Green space in the middle of a city--perfect for strolling...

...and back to Kwanghwamun Plaza, just in time to see kids playing in the lighted fountain around the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin:

(Perhaps Korea's most famous military hero, Yi Sun-shin invented the world's first iron-clad warships in order to defeat the more numerous Japanese in the wars of the 1590's; the Japanese were attempting to overtake Korea in order to invade China...they were defeated, although they took scores of Korean potters back to Japan as captives. In fact, the war is sometimes called the Pottery war! A bit over 300 years later, Japan would finally succeed, as Korea and Manchuria were absorbed into the Japanese empire until the end of WWII...)

As it got dark, I decided that I needed to put away my iPhone and learn the manual settings on my 'real' camera for nighttime photography. Without a tripod, I couldn't get the truly crisp images, but I had fun experimenting, and I'm not unpleased with the 'student-results:'

Time to call it a night.

Tomorrow--across the peninsula, across mountain ranges to seaside Sokcho...

2011-06-05T07:41:00.002-07:00

From medieval market to cosmopolitan comestibles; chic and rustic (scary) rub shoulders in my mother's old stomping grounds, and French connections, in Seoul...

To begin--Getting on the subway this morning, I saw this ad:

Ahh, phonetics...So crose, yet so far away...

Shevoray is just not quite Sheverlay, is it?

(There are sub-compacts being driven on Korean streets that

Chevrolet is not marketing in the U.S., at least not yet...)

My mother and I thought it would be fun to go back to her old stomping grounds in Seoul, from before she met my father: Namdaemun market and the intersection near the old Bank of Korea and the Shinsegae department stores--venerable institutions housed in stone buildings from the Japanese colonial building (1910-1935).

Namdaemun market has been around as long as "Namdaemun," the old south gate of the city, built in the 1390's...Today the market is a multi-block area of multistory buildings and chaotic alleyways where EVERYTHING can be found--socks, hats, cellphones, blankets, stationery, underwear, plastic dishes, ceramics, straw baskets, silk flowers, and of course--street food:

On the griddle are traditional 'hoht-dohk'--brown sugar, sesame, and cinnamon-filled 'pancakes',

and then in the foreground, those scary things on chopsticks are ingenious, if not 'native' to Korea--

they are hot-dogs covered in French-fries!

Why don't we have these in America?!

The chaos is invigorating...

...and there are plenty of colorful characters,

like this vendor who wants to make sure he's seen AND heard:

...out of the alleyways and onto the main avenue--

some of the market activity spills out onto the sidewalks;

below you can see buckwheat-hull-filled pillows...

and in the background, the stately old Bank of Korea building,

built in 1912; my mother worked here for over seven years,

up until a few months before I was born:

She would get off work and wait on the street, right here,

for my father to come pick her up in his Ford--

quite the sight in 1970's Korea...

And here's the view from the second-floor of the building;

...looking toward the slopes of Namsan mountain, topped with its landmark tower; the top is over 1500 ft. above sea level--the highest observation deck in the city. When my parents got married, the cable-car to the top had just been built...The top of the observation tower, as well as the secondary tower, are for broadcasting radio and television signals; my father used to work up on the top of the mountain (U.S. military signal) in the 1970's, and up there is where my mother had her first American-style 'barbecue;' she ate hamburger and baked beans along with the mountain-radio-staff--a far cry from the Korean food down below...

Across the street from the old Bank building is the Shinsegae Department Store, Seoul's oldest Western-style department store, in business since 1930; it's the "Harrod's" or "Printemps" of Seoul...and from the roof-garden there's this view of the new twin-towers of the National Post Office:

Inside the store, behind the electronic rice cookers,

are some of the new ultra-thin HD televisions that Samsung

is coming out with--this one was showing "Avatar;"

the half-inch-thick screen is a '3-d' tv that does NOT require special goggles.

I'm not really into TVs, but....this one would be way cool to have...

So, I mention "French connections;" here's an example, from around the corner from Shinsegae:

"Paris Baguette" is a darn-good chain of bakeries all around Seoul...

A few doors down is "Tous les Jours," another French-bakery chain in Seoul...

...and then, down in the amazing food halls of the basement of Shinsegae:

NEUHAUS!!!!! from Bruxelles, Belgique--

BEST

CHOCOLATE

THE

WORLD.

And available in Seoul!

They used to have a little boutique in Seattle...which, alas, closed...

But Seoul?! Wow.

Okay.

So, now, not-so-French:

The Food Halls of Shinsegae are a delight, because everything is so

tidy and beautifully presented--very posh--and the juxtaposition between

Western foods and 'scary' Korean foods: fun.

Also, the store is generous with samples--

it's a great place for a tourist to get free snacks in air-conditioned comfort in downtown Seoul. (Be decently dressed, though...)

Back to something French, now: macarons...

When I lived in Paris, I was introduced to these--they're addictive.

Now they're common enough in big city bakeries in the States,

but ten years ago, most Americans had never had a French macaron...

Here in Seoul--they're EVERYWHERE--a costly item;

a chic treat--to be given as gifts...

and they've been adapted to local taste--if you can see in the

photo above, there's a ginseng-flavored-macaron.

Nice.

Back to Asian food-esthetic: Be-ribboned fruit--suitable for gifting--but, really?--25 dollars for a 'perfect specimen' of watermelon or canteloupe? Over a hundred bucks for a fruit-basket!? Wow. Shinsegae
is definitely for the deep-of-pocket:

Back to French-things......
DALLOYAU! An outlet of the super-chic Parisian bakery/pâtisserie...here in Korea!

I couldn't believe it...This city has become so cosmopolitan in the past twenty years...When my mother was a little girl, the city was still in rubble, isolated from most things international...and now it's got Dalloyau down in the basement. Man...

From France back to Korea--just a few yards away in the store; check out these furiously red, garlicky banchan ('side-dishes') selections in one of the deli-cases:

==========================================

We went up to the roof deck of the newer 'annex' to Shinsegae--and were pleasantly surprised by a live Jazz concert:

My mother thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere...it was also good to rest her feet and legs...
Just month-and-a-half ago, she had knee surgery...the walking around the city here is part of her therapy.

And, then, as evening approached, we took the cable car up the mountain:

I didn't go up the observation tower, but the view from the tower's base on the mountain's summit is impressive enough...but I don't have those photos tonight; I've yet to download them from the camera.

(All of these are from the iPhone...)

But here's a quick videoclip of the ride down the mountain,

to give you an idea of the terrain of Seoul:

Finally, I convinced mom that we should take a taxi back to our hotel, instead of taking the subway, which would involve a transfer and lots of stairs...(her legs were done for the day)...
and around the corner from the hotel, a hole-in-the-wall eatery, where we had this:

spicy marinated pork, wrapped in lettuce and perilla leaves

with rice and various spicy sauces and vegetable 'pickles.'

That's a wrap.

...on in the background, hotel TV: "Korea's Got Talent."

2011-06-04T09:05:00.006-07:00

Is it really only my third full day here?
My mother has arrived...
& I've taken more photos with my iPhone than with the 'real' camera.

My eyes have seen so much...surely I've been here for more than just three full days?

It is getting late, too late to write a lot, so this will be more of a photo-essay. (Incidentally, I was browsing through a Korean magazine while on the bus from the airport into the city, and I learned how to say 'photo-essay' in Korean--phonetically: poh-toh-eh-seh-ee. Seriously. So many loan-words from English have entered the language here...the equivalent in America might be the use of French here and there--you know, it's chic, it has that certain je ne sais quoi, it just sounds so, well, cool, to use the mélange of languages, no?)

So, Mom flew in last night. I left my hanok lodgings in Bukchon...made my way out to Incheon, and welcomed my mother at one of the International Arrival 'welcoming areas...' So surreal to be welcoming her to her own country...Just as surreal was my own arrival a few days ago--some childhood friends of mine from back in Georgia (who've been married for over a dozen years!) WELCOMED ME AT THE AIRPORT!! They live in South Carolina, but happened to be visiting Korea, and the last day of their long-planned-for trip coincided with the arrival-date of my kind-of-last-minute-planned-for trip...And so they welcomed me, and we sat and ate together and hung out for about an hour-and-a-half before they had to board their own flight back to the States. Fun and weird.

But, back to Bukchon. Before heading to the airport, I spent the morning wandering the neighborhood--up to the hilly streets with views over the city...

Schoolkids on an architectural field trip--just so cute!!

Lovely traditional details on these hanok--gives you the feel of what the entire city was like during the Yi Dynasty (Joseon) period...

...and looking back down the street, a classic view of Seoul--upswept tile roofs framing the skyscrapers of the old center. The 'mountain' is Namsan--the hill that used to define the southern boundary ('nam' means 'south') of the Royal Capital--it's now the center of the megalopolis, and the tower on the peak gives you a 1500'-high revolving observation deck...But check out the 'hollow' building in the middle distance...

It's a pretty audacious building, no?

Here's another view, from closer in--I haven't made it to the building yet, but I've gotten close. It was designed by an Argentinian-educated Uruguayan architect.

...back to the hills of Bukchon...
and the view from them--this is toward the mountains that 'guard' the NW of Seoul--wealthy leafy enclaves that include the rear grounds of another of Seoul's Palaces as well as the present-day Presidential Palace--also called 'the Blue House,' due to its blue-tiled roof--a reference back to the Royal Period, when only the palace could have blue-tiled roofs; commoners would have thatched roofs and the nobility used black tiles...

...from vistas to the charming little details on the hanok houses--check out this turtle-knocker:

...the residential rooftops--upswept eaves and black tiles--no longer common in most of Seoul...

(I had fun with the 'miniature'-effect on my camera...thought it would go well with the intimacy of these courtyard-homes...)

Before heading to the airport to meet my mother, I stopped at a street stall for some traditional street-food:

Yep. All cultures love fried food. That's why God made oil...

...ah, the Seoul of old...but also new Seoul--check out this façade, immediately across from the traditional food-stall where I ate:

Indeed--that's a Starbucks. There are SO many coffee-shops in Seoul--both local and, yes, Starbucks. This city might even make Seattle look non-caffeinated in comparison! Incidentally, I believe South Korea is the only place in the world where the Starbucks signage is not required to be in the Roman Alphabet--it's been Han-geul-ized...

(I haven't been to one yet, though.)

...and on to the airport.

It's an amazing airport. Architecture. Amenities. User-friendliness.

Consistently ranked, since its opening a few years ago, as the 'best airport in the world.'

...it even has a botanical garden with an orchid section, cacti, palms, ferns...all above the transportation hall where the subway/trains/buses, etc. head from the airport into Seoul....and the airport is built on land reclaimed from the sea...

...after I met my mother, we went to a nearby hotel--I wanted her to not be too exhausted on her first night, so I found a place in a 'new town' near the airport...at any rate, in the room, on the 6th floor, I saw this:

I've never stayed in a hotel room with an escape rope.

I get how to use it...but, what in the world is a "CENDING life line?"

I've submitted this photo to Engrish.com, incidentally.

(If you don't know what 'Engrish' is, GO to the website--it's been a source of laughter-therapy for us for years...)

And the view out that rope-escape-route--typical for a provincial Korean 'new-town:'

They do love their neon...

Before going to sleep, we went for a walk to the nearby supermarket...You won't see this in Tucson, I bet:

It looks so cruel, but dried-fish is one of the world's great staples...just not in, say, Omaha...

So. Food.
Today, then...

We slept in, then mid-day made our way into Seoul...Found our quiet alley-way hotel in the middle of everything, then went to "GwangJang Market," which has been around for decades--a maze of arcades and alleys, including little traditional food-stalls where there's just enough room for maybe 6 or 7 customers at a time to crowd around the griddle/pot/pan where the food is being cooked, and to commune with each other and the cook while eating and imbibing...Think of each stall as an Asian miniaturized version of Waffle House, and then multiply that by hundreds and you'd better not be claustrophobic! AND you'd better love garlic. And red pepper. And be an OMNIvore...

I love the juxtaposition of fine traditional tailoring (custom-made silk hanbok-boutique) and hearty, staining, 'peasant-food'...

We picked this one for our lunch:

The owner/chef gladly posed for a photo with my mother--especially since she's mildly famous here--a few months ago, an English-language weekly photographed her for their cover; she epitomizes 'market ajumahs' and their delicious offerings...("ajumah" literally means 'auntie,' but it's a respectful term that is used to refer to all married women 'of a certain age' in public situations...)

It ended up being quite poignant, eating at her stall; something in her voice, as she said to us to 'come sit here and eat' while handing us a sample, just made us stop and sit with her instead of continuing to wander...

...she and Mom 'hit it off,' and the conversation as we ate (we were her only customers while we were there) was short but eye-opening; quick encounters can sometimes open up a surprisingly meaningful glimpse into someone's life...

...Mom complimented 'ajumah' on how beautiful her skin was--and then asked how old she was (not necessarily a rude question in Korea)--she's in her late 60's! But mom also said to me--all these years spending everyday working in the food-market, sheltered from the sun--that's also why she has such good skin...Thirty-five years--that's how long she's had this food-stall! Put her kids through school selling fritters and makkoli (the milky rice-wine that you usually drink with such food; I had a bowl of it, yes, a bowl)...Also, she and mom talked about how hard life was right after the war, when they were both still kids...how little there was to eat, and how tired they got of eating 'jook'--porridge--because there was NOTHING else to eat, and grandmothers had to find ways of turning one serving of rice into something that can feed an entire family...How much the country has changed...Family and raising children--how she raised hers, how my mother lost a baby daughter...raised me in a foreign (for her) country...how willing you have to be to work at ANYthing when you have a family...

...before we left, she wanted to give us extra food to take with us--she took my mother's hand and said something to the effect of 'we're of the same age, we understand each other, it's been so nice to meet you--please let me offer this food to you!' She took my hand as well as I told her that in a week and a half or so, I'll plan on returning with my wife (who arrives here a week next weekend) to eat again at her stall. So...stall # 38 in Gwangjang market, down the street from the ancient East Gate of the city--we have a lunch date in mid-June..with this lady who personifies the hardworking, friendly spirit of so many of Seoul's working-class...

After lunch, we walked a block to Chong-gye-cheon--a relatively new green space in the middle of the city.
The last time I was in Seoul, Chong-gye-cheon was a noisy traffic corridor--an elevated expressway charging through the city over a paved-over streambed...The current president of South Korea, when he used to be Mayor of Seoul, had an audacious idea--get rid of the expressway (what? where will the traffic go?), and 'daylight' the stream to provide the citizens of Seoul with some much needed ecologically-friendly open space...And it's been a spectacular success:

...great to cool off...and people-watch...

...and there are even mulberry trees with ripe fruit right now--
mulberry trees--used to feed silkworms in sericulture...

...and speaking of silkworms, behold:

...on one of the bridges crossing the stream--a snack-cart...do you want ice-cream cones?...or, maybe...some silkworm pupae?! "Beon-te-gi."

I have had it in the past...but not today...nothing but pure clean protein, when you think about it...

Tastes like boiled peanuts. Really!

I mean, the silkworms are clean and hard-working--they only eat mulberry leaves, and what they produce is one of the strongest natural substances on earth....and when you boil them to get the silk threads off, why should the self-sacrificing creatures be thrown away?

Tastes can be arbitrary.

If you have a silk scarf or a tie--remember--the threads came off these little guys...and some Koreans may have eaten them afterwards!

Back down to the stream...

...that is a fashion-runway getting set up in the middle of the waterway...
and here are the models getting their faces on...

(more about the fashion show further down...)

And then, back up to street-level--to the market-area around Dong-dae-mun--the East Gate of the city, dating back to the 1390's:

The city spilled beyond the gates and walls long ago, but this is still major landmark, and marks the boundary of the ancient city...and it's still a shopping area...and even in this WIFI-crazy country, produce-vendors still use time-tested wooden carts, darting between motorcycles and hybrid cars...

Some of the city walls remain...

Mom stopped for a few minutes to cool off and have a drink inside a fast-food joint facing the gate;
after I walked around photographing the gate, I joined her inside--fun to look out at a merchant and his customer, with a medieval rampart as their background!

...from up a nearby hill, you can see the new construction that dwarfs the Gate...and more cranes in the distance...

...the last time I saw this gate was when I was fourteen years old; see the horrible elevated-expressway?

Good riddance to all that elevated pavement--and a lovely early summer evening all these years later to enjoy the historic waterway:

Now--back to the fashion show on that waterway--a brief clip:

Seoul.

=========================================

As I mentioned, I've taken more pictures with my iPhone than

with the 'real' camera...such a convenient, travel-friendly 'toy!!!'

Can you tell which?

=========================================

We'll be here until Tuesday, when we go to my Uncle's in Sokcho, on the opposite coast from here.

Then, next Saturday I'll make my way back to this city to welcome my wife to her first visit to "The Land of the Morning Calm"...we'll have a few days together here, then back to Sokcho...a few family days all together, then my mother, my wife and I will leave cool Sokcho to go down to the volcanic subtropical island of Jeju-do, just off the SW tip of the peninsula...then Mom leaves for the East Coast (of the U.S.)...then my wife flies home a couple of days later...and finally, at month's end, I'll be back in the Sonoran Desert...

2011-06-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

The first views from Seoul:

After eighteen years, my first evening in Seoul--

from my hanok-room...

Ahh, feet up after hours and hours of planes and crossing the date-line over the Pacific...The Bukchon neighborhood is an oasis of calm in this post-modern megalopolis with ancient roots...

Yes, that is a little rooster you see. As I was saying, this neighborhood is peaceful encalve of traditional architecture and ambiance in the middle of this monster-sized city.

He didn't crow this morning until about 5:40 or so, though--and I was already awake. so no annoyance...

And in addition to Mister Rooster, there is a resident rabbit who acts as if he is a puppy:

For my first couple of nights, then, I am staying in one of these hanoks that has been converted into a guesthouse--some are luxurious bed-and-breakfasts, others are more like pensions, with shared bathrooms. Mine is pretty simple--but to have an inexpensive, quiet place to sleep in the middle of a posh historic district around the corner from former royal palaces in a city of well over ten million: nice.

The rabbit's name is Mitchee.

From quaint lanes...

...to neo-traditional designers...

...and gallery rooftop modern art installments--is that a crash-test-dummy take on the Pietà?

...and heading out of the Bukchon village area toward the skyscrapers; no that's not camera distortion, those buildings are curving...

(This used to be a palace guard tower; now it's a traffic island)

I decided to go for a walk last night--wasn't sleepy. I think I may have avoided the worst of jet-lag by foregoing sleep my last night in Tucson. I had to be at the airport so early, so I decided I would just stay up, then try to rest on the plane, then hit the ground running in Seoul, staying awake until local bed-time.

It seems to have worked.

So, anyway--I went for a walk with nothing but my iPhone in my pocket...

This is Kwanghwamun Plaza, a relatively new pedestrian-zone in the heart of the city--lanes and lanes of traffic were reclaimed and converted into a vast plaza with fountains and statues. Kwanghwamun is the fortified gate in the distance--leading to Kyongbok Palace, which was the principal seat of government during the Yi dynasty. (Think Seoul's equivalent of Beijing's Forbidden City.)

Along one side of the Plaza is the Sejong Performing Arts Center--Lincoln Center in New York might be a good equivalent...I happened upon a performance; turns out that during May and June, every weeknight there is a free outdoor concert (dance or music, traditional and modern, Western and Eastern), using the steps as seating.

Young and old, kids on their way home from school, businessmen in suits, office girls, and a few Western tourists--all on the steps enjoying the dusk performance; last night was classical Korean dance--court and folk-tradition--it's corny-sounding, but the only word I can come up for the ambiance and the quality of the performance was 'magical.'

It was nighttime when the performance ended--back in Kwanghwamun plaza...In the distance you can see giant LED screens--they're throughout the city; makes sense, I guess, since South Korea is the world's largest manufacturer of high-definition large-screen televisions and LCD panels...
The street vibe reminds of Las Ramblas in Barcelona, actually--people of all ages out and about--strolling, snacking, still on the way home from work/school at 9 and 10 p.m....

Dominating the plaza in front of the Performing Arts Center is this statue of King Sejong the Great--fourth king of the Yi dynasty, who ruled in the first half of the 1400's...The base shows the original stylized forms of Han-geul, the Korean alphabet--the world's only alphabet that was specifically and scientifically designed to make literacy quickly attainable by all; until this invention, the Korean elite had traditionally used Chinese characters for writing--a cumbersome and time-consuming custom that made literacy all but unattainable for the vast majority of the 'common' population. Sejong and his cabinet ministers came up with Han-geul to remedy that situation. South Korea is perhaps the only nation in the world that has a national holidy for its alphabet. Seriously. It's October 9th.

Back to Kwanghwamun, now lit up...

And...since I'm still awake, I may as well post a few photos from today.

Heading down into the subway:

Before I took the train, this morning, though--I needed coffee. Seoul is FULL of coffeeshops (including, yes, Starbucks) but many of them only open mid-morning (!?)...but they stay open very late. Fortunately, right as I got down into the subway, I saw a "Paris Croissant" café. Yep--in the underground, here in Seoul. French bakeries are very popular here--so along with your kimchi you can get your croissant-fix.

As I sat there, having my pain-au-chocolat, I was having 'place-dysmorphia,' if I may invent that term.
What I mean is, I know I'm in Korea (duh), but sitting having a flaky pain au chocolat, with signage in French, and seeing people pass by on their morning commute into the subway, ladies wearing silk scarves, men with leather attachés, and EVERYONE on their smart phones--it felt like an Altaic-language-speaking version of Paris. Really. It did. Except for the fact that everyone has black hair and I can't speak their language fluently. (Yet. I hope.) I was taken back to when I lived in Paris. I'm not just saying that, either, just so I can say 'when I lived in Paris'...I really was.

Most of the rest of today was commune-with-nature-and-old-architecture-time.

The Huweon garden compound, to the rear of nearby Changdeokgung palace, (one of the other royal palaces in town), was originally built to be a forested retreat for the royal family. For years many people referred to it as Biweon--the 'Secret' or even 'Forbidden' Garden...but the official name is, again, Huweon. ("Who won" the game? Think that. The 'eo' in the official Romanization is phonetically misleading.) Nestled in the middle of hilly old-growth forest are pavilions, streams, and a vacation villa for the Yi Royal Family...

No traffic sounds...fresh arboreal air...tons of birds--to my eyes, now acclimated to Tucson, it seems almost tropical...

(The last time I visited these grounds was when I was fourteen years old...)

...and beyond the Huweon walls, the official, public part of Changdok Palace--Injeongjon Throne Hall:

Okay. Bedtime has hit.

Tomorrow afternoon I go back to the airport to 'welcome' my mother back to her own country...

We'll stay in Seoul for a few more days, and then early next week,

we head over to the east coast of the country, where her brother lives.

Watch out--it's not on "The Sea of Japan;"

it's on "The East Sea" when you talk about it on this peninsula.

2011-05-24T23:44:00.008-07:00

From Charles V to Yoda--languages and my upcoming trip to Korea

To begin with, a quote attributed to Charles V (1500-1558):
"I speak Latin with God, Italian with musicians, Spanish with the troops, German with lackeys, French with ladies, and English with my horse."

A linguistic snapshot, (tongue-in-cheek, even in its day), of the Rennaissance-world...

I've always found the words of this polyglot ruler fascinating; they get me thinking of my interest in languages and what I've ended up using them for.

Hmm...to adapt Charles V's language-list to my life:
English as a matter of course--everyday life in the U.S....Spanish and French as my wage-earning tools...Spanglish with my Hispanic students...Franglais simply to torment my wife...French when irritated while stuck in traffic...French when my wife and I want to speak in public in Tucson without being understood...Spanish when wanting to get good, friendly service in restaurants in Tucson...Spanish and French also closely linked to our volunteer work...German as my 'fossilized' childhood soundtrack...and Korean--on the 'backburner' my entire life--always on a low simmer, but never fully boiling to fluency--not yet at least. Yes, I know, it's an awkward metaphor, but...

I grew up speaking English, the mother tongue of neither of my parents: my mother's first language was Korean, and my father's first language was French. And my first memories are from living in Germany--everyone outside our home spoke German and to this day, although I have not 'mastered' that language, it sounds like home...

When I was seven years old, I ended up spending about five weeks visiting Korea, and by the end of that winter, I was comfortably conversational with my relatives. (Ahh, the ease with which children 'pick up' a language...) When I returned at the ages of fourteen and eighteen, no such 'miracle' occurred. Alas...

Meanwhile, I had begun studying French in school...I'm not sure if I took to it, or if it took to me more easily, but whatever the case, my father's mother's tongue became my ticket to studying abroad and to my college degree, to living abroad...and now, to my bread-and-butter as a language teacher...When I was in college I also continued studying German (I fit in one year in high-school) and then added a bit of Spanish...
...and I never would've guessed that one day I would marry a woman who would willingly leave the civilized Pacific NW to go live in hot, lowland Nicaragua with me, where we both were immersed in the language! And so with that experience, Spanish, too, is now part of my pan y mantequilla as a language-teacher.

In graduate school, I was able to squeeze in a year's worth of Korean classes 'on the side...'
And the past few weeks, my drive to- and from- work has become my own personal Pimsleur-CD-Korean school...

Korean is classified by the U.S. State Department, along with languages such as Chinese and Arabic, as being among the most difficult for native English-speakers to learn. Why? Well--to begin with, there are few cognates...I mean, come on--having to learn the French liberté and the Spanish libertad for the English freedom--it's not exactly rocket science, eh? Science--science--ciencia...no?

So, Han-guk-eo is challenging because there are few cognates....and of course, there is the different writing system (although the Korean alphabet is actually scientifically logical and super easy to learn)...and finally, the SYNTAX.

Here's an example.
In English: "I often travel to Seoul for business."
In Korean, literally: "I-as-for often Seoul-to business travel-do."
Got it?

One more.
English: "Our house is in front of the pharmacy."
Korean: "Our house-as-for, pharmacy-in-front-of located is."

And then there's the question of the verb-endings--the grammar changes depending on social standing--who are you talking to? what's your relationship with that person? That changes the grammar itself, and occasionally, the vocabulary.

One does get used to it, though.
But 'getting used to' is not the same as 'becoming fluent quickly.'

Learning, and re-learning, my mother's tongue, then...
Some people jokingly refer to the syntax of the Korean language as being 'Yoda-like...'
...this reminds me of another quote...yep, this time from Yoda himself--the wisdom of Star Wars:
"Do, or do not; there is no 'try.'"

Succinct advice for language-learners.
Either I'm going to do it, or I'm not.

Yeh, han-guk-o-reul bae-u-go-shi-po-yo...keu-reom, keu-geol ha-get-da.

A while back, I mentioned the African proverb:
When an old man dies, it's as if a library burns down...

Language is the key to that library when you have elderly relatives abroad...
I hope to get in before it's too late...

============================================

So...thinking of where I'll be in a week,
I came across this photo earlier this evening--gives a good idea of the mountainous terrain of Seoul, along with the grounds of Kyong-bok-gung palace in the middle of the city. You can see the upswept roofs of the ceremonial gates leading to the throne hall of the Yi Dynasty palace:

(taken by R. Koehler, the author of the best Seoul guidebook out there,

from: http://www.seoulselection.com/)

======================

So, next week, I leave for Korea;

after eighteen years away, I'll be spending about four weeks there,

in Seoul and also on the opposite coast, in the city of Sokcho,

at the foot of Seoraksan Mountain National Park...

No other country in history has modernized as rapidly as South Korea;

within one lifetime--my mother's--from completely war-shattered third-world ruins, it has become the world's most Internet-connected society, one of the world's largest computer, cellphone, automobile and ship manufacturers; the world's tallest building, the 2000-ft+ Burj tower in Dubai, was built by a South Korean company, Samsung.

Crazy.

Here's one of the last photos (scanned; taken by a cheap point-and-shoot camera)
I took the last time I was in Seoul:

...one of my last days there, in the fall of 1993--

new construction going up just behind
the grounds of Deoksugung palace,
(late XVI c.)

I can't wait to see what else is new...
With the ubiquity of wi-fi in South Korea,
I hope to be posting while there...
'stay tuned'...
==========================================================

A complete change of subject:

...I just had to post this whimsical doodling of one of my students. He's a quirky, but very bright kid,
and completely unbidden, he produced this parody of Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," entitled "Birth of Vinnie," (ha!) and it's even signed with a nom de guerre artistique:

I love the facial expressions!

From Rennaissance Italy to 21st century Tucson...

'Vladimir' gladly gave me his permission to take a picture of his pencil drawing with my iPhone...

Merci!

...and...finally...

...unrelated--incidental--as the schoolyear winds down, (tomorrow is my last day with students!), this 'inspirational'-spoof from despair.com truly speaks to me:

(Does my finding delight in the poster above make me a 'bad teacher?')

Summer.

One more week, and I'll be on the other side of the world.

Han-guk-e ka-yo...

...can't wait to EAT!
Check out this TV spot--I'm not sure where it's airing,
but it's a visually fun (if somewhat corny) ad for bibimbap,
a typical rice and vegetable dish--and it includes some traditional costume dancing:

2011-05-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

this year's nests--hummingbirds in the AZ Sonora Desert Museum aviary

...another out-of-town guest, another visit to the AZ Sonora Desert Museum this past weekend...we hadn't been since my wife's parents came last spring...and just like last year, we ended up timing it right for hummingbird nest-viewing:

...I didn't get any 'baby-feeding-shots' like last year, but still--it always feels like a treat to be able to see these birds and their nests up close...

...some claret-cup cacti in bloom...

...and in the other aviary, this male white-winged desert dove:

...we'd never seen one of these doves act this way; evidently he was trying to impress the ladies...

...and, on an evening walk in Sabino Canyon with our out-of-town old-family-friend the following evening:

===========================================

This out-of-town friend is much more than just a friend; she's known me since I was a little kid in Germany...long story, but she's now lived in Guatemala for several years...

Her home there became our home-away-from-home during our year of living in Nicaragua.

This is the view that she'll return to when she flies back down to Central America:

The Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango volcanoes, to the northwest of Guatemala City, as seen from the approach to the airport....and, below, Pacaya, the country's most active volcano, as seen from our friend's neighborhood:

2011-05-09T22:24:00.006-07:00

To the Arch and back...and PROOF of deteriorating standards in music...

Last week, I traveled to St. Louis for a conference. With storms in the mid-west, there were cancelled flights, so the itinerary turned into an all-day-long affair: Tucson to Dallas, then Dallas to Chicago, and finally Chicago to St. Louis, arriving late at night.

Since this was a work-trip with not much free time, I didn't bring my camera...I immediately regretted that decision the following morning when I looked out my hotel window, waking up to this view:

...from the 630-ft. high stainless steel Gateway Arch on the left to the old 1850's-era courthouse (site of the original Dred Scott court case) on the right...

(no camera, no problem...if your cellphone is charged...

I'm still amazed at what a cellphone camera can do...)

Even though there wasn't a lot of free time, it wasn't all work and no play--I did get a chance to run along the riverfront--glorious spring weather under the amazing Gateway Arch:

If you look carefully, you can just make out the tiny windows at the apex of the Arch--the surprisingly small observation deck...

...So--the view from the top of the Arch,

stitched together from four pictures--

looking westward over downtown,

and then looking directly beneath the Arch,

then finally 'behind' to the Arch's shadow

stretching eastward over the Mississippi River:

To see more photos from St. Louis, go to:

http://exoculis.blogspot.com,

a new photo-blog I've started...

=====================================================

Now...the following is not a categorical rant on modern music--there IS some good stuff out there...but on the whole, inventive melodies and thoughtful lyrics are drowned out by canned rythyms and debased refrains, AND HERE's THE PROOF:

Narcisissm on Rise in Pop Lyrics

(click for NPR audio file and/or transcript)

and

A generation’s favorite tune: ‘I’m So Vain’

(from The Week newsmagazine--reprinted here:

Young people “love themselves more today than ever before,” says University of Kentucky psychologist Nathan DeWall, and the proof is in their music.

He and his colleagues analyzed the lyrics of Billboard Hot 100 songs from the past three decades and found a steady increase in self-centeredness and hostility toward others.

“In the early ’80s lyrics, love was easy and positive, and about two people,” study co-author Jean Twenge tells The New York Times. “The recent songs are about what the individual wants, and how she or he has been disappointed or wronged.”

The study found a marked increase in the prevalence of the words “I” and “me” in song lyrics, and fewer instances of “we” and “us.” It also registered a jump in angry lyrics about hating and killing, and a drop in songs containing positive words like “love” or “sweet.”

The researchers suggest that rampant narcissism may be making it harder for people to connect with one another.

They point to other surveys that show that more people are apt to feel sad and lonely now than in previous decades.

2011-04-29T13:34:00.001-07:00

'Flat world'...and I'm going to the other end of it...

Recently, I finally got around to reading The World is Flat, by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. With all of the buzz around it for the past few years, I was hoping it wasn't overrated. It's not. You should check it out.

Anyway, as an example of our 'flat world,' I came across the following: a Chinese KFC commercial spoofing a Korean television drama. (More on the drama below...) Ignore the 'label' on the video below--in spite of the Korean clothing, this is a CHINESE KFC commercial:

So, evidently, a few years ago, KFC in China was offering a crispy chicken sandwich, topped with kimchi (!) and a spicy Korean red pepper sauce. This was either during or shortly after "Jewel in the Palace," or " Dae Jang Geum" was aired. (disponible: información en español!--"La Joya en el Palacio")

Friends of ours from Seattle to South Carolina have watched this...It aired in places as diverse as Peru, Iran, Guatemala, Taiwan, Bosnia, Hawaii, Russia and Nigeria! This is part of "Hallyu," or 'the Korean Wave,' evidently. (All this was new to me.) My wife and I began watching it via Netflix...then when the available episodes ran out, we found a website that was rebroadcasting them, although the English subtitles were badly translated from Chinese-dubbed episodes!. (There are dozens and dozens of episodes!)...Alas, copyright issues must have come up, because before finishing the series, we could no longer access the episodes! My wife and I are 'cliff-hanging...'

Yes, we became surprisingly engrossed in the series, as far as we could watch it. It's hard to explain it--(read the links)--but think "Iron Chef" meets "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" in medieval Korea, with the colorful costumes and palaces to go with it, elaborate hair-dos and court ritual, court intrigue...but all wrapped in an almost didactic series of surprisingly clean stories that promulgate Confucian principles, and are somehow still suspenseful! Unlikely sounding, eh? But it was fabulously successful...Oh--AND it's based on historical fact! (Loosely.)

The series even has sprouted (?...or is 'spawned' better? that sounds negative, though....) a theme-park north of Seoul!

And the park is on our itinerary.

Yes. Itinerary.

At the end of May, I will be flying to Korea for the first time in eighteen years. The plan is that my wife will join me a couple of weeks after that, and then we'll fly back to the States together toward the end of June. My mother will be there at the same time, staying for several weeks, visiting her one brother (older with ailing health) who still lives there. All of this came together only about a week ago...and I can definitely say that the days of cheap trans-oceanic plane tickets are gone!

So. Korea. I was born in Seoul, but my family left before my first birthday. I went back to visit when I was seven, fourteen, and eighteen years old. That last trip was bittersweet--I was able to see my grandmother once more before her death; with some other relatives, we sat around her as she took her last breaths, at home, peacefully. I've not been back since.

The uncle we will be visiting lived for a while in Wisconsin, then Chicago...but he couldn't get good, affordable health insurance (!) in this country, so back across the Pacific he went. I've not seen him in fourteen years.

My mother was the youngest of eight children. There were three sisters and four brothers before her. The oldest sister and the first and third brother have already passed away. As I do not have siblings (my younger sister died when I was only 2), I've often wondered, over the past few years as these relatives have died, how my mother must feel--what is it like to lose your siblings, the ones who shared your upbringing?...And then there were five...Her third brother died a few months ago--she'd hoped to see him one last time...And so I strongly encouraged my mother to go NOW to see her other brother, before...

I need to go too.

An African proverb has been running through my head the past few months:

quand un vieil homme meurt, c'est toute une bibliothèque qui brûle.

--roughly translated: when an old man dies, it's like a library burns down.

There are libraries I've missed, and I don't want to miss more.

But these libraries are in a language in which I have never, alas, become fluent! ARGH! I spent years learning French, then Spanish...flirting with German...with Korean always on 'the list,' but not yet mastered. I'd studied the language on and off on my own, and then in grad school I was even able to take a whole year's worth of Korean classes. Like most university classes, they concentrated on the written aspect of the language. My instructor was enthusiastic and patient, though--herself a grad student, from Korea. I learned a lot, but ease of conversation was not the final outcome of those three short quarters. Besides, after that series of classes, I immediately went to live in France for a year...and then a few years after that, my wife and I plunged into Spanish and trips to Latin America, ending up with our year of living in Nicaragua...

Now, after almost two decades, it's back to the East.

I have a month to cram as much new language into my brain as I can, and to resurrect what I already do know--one day, my mother's tongue may well become my own. I know it won't happen within the next couple of months, but it's a start.

A few libraries remain...

2011-04-20T22:10:00.005-07:00

...synesthesia of taste and emotion? A recent novel...

A while back my wife and I came across this title in the bookstore:
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

The title got me.

Then the premise did:
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern. (synopsis from the publisher)

I got the book, a novel by Aimee Bender, published last year for my wife...and then before she could get to it, I ended up starting it yesterday and finishing it today after work...

A few reviews:
--from the Seattle Times
--from NPR
--a review from a New Zealand paper

A fable set in L.A. involving magical Realism? A take on synesthesia?
Surprisingly engrossing.
A clever premise, if you can 'just go with it.'
Go with it.

2011-04-14T21:28:00.005-07:00

...and today's fractal vegetable is:

...ROMANESCO.

(see photos below)

A member of the broccoli-cauliflower family, grown widely in northern Italy.

One of my students tried it when visiting family in Spain.

She'd taken a picture of it on her phone, which she showed to me and the rest of the class today.

I had to google it--wanted to know more about it...

Cool, eh?

(photo courtesy of localharvest.org)

And, the above, from this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesco_broccoli

I'm a fan of unusual foods and love the forms/shapes/colors of produce...but somehow I'd never seen/heard of this before! I'm totally fascinated...I wonder if you can buy it here? Surely, the foodie-fication of America has led to some farmers' markets somewhere to offer this edible sculpture? Any of you seen/eaten it before?

=======================================

...and speaking of unusual foods--when living in Nicaragua, we were able to see a whole year-cycle of fruits/vegetables, including many things we'd never seen before, such as this:

So. Now you know how cashews grow. In trees, each nut being inside the comma-shaped carapace on the bottom of a pendulous bell-pepper-esque fruit. (No wonder they're relatively expensive, eh?)

And...how to say 'cashew' en español?
Take your pick, depending on where you want to say it:

Anacardo (en España)
Castaña de cajú (en Uruguay, Argentina y Chile)
Cajuil (En República Dominicana)

Marañón (en Perú, sureste de México, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Cuba y Centroamérica)

(this is the word I learned when living in Nicaragua)

Merey, en Venezuela

Nuez de la India (en el norte y centro de México)

Pajuil (en Puerto Rico)

Jocote Marañon (En Guatemala)

¡Viva la variedad!

2011-03-31T19:19:00.002-07:00

Swiss Spaghetti Harvest...cosecha de espaguetis en Suiza...récolte des spaghettis en Suisse

(does pasta grow on trees?

espaguetis--vienen de árboles, no?

les spaghettis--ça pousse dans les arbres?)

for more information,

para mas información,

pour plus de renseignements:

click here for the BBC

hagan clic aquí para el BBC

cliquez ici pour le BBC

(...wondering about the fish? click here...)

2011-03-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

13.1...again!

Last Wednesday, I posted that I had just signed up for a half-marathon... (This is a nice event, too, in that it's varied--on the same morning, on the same course, there's a 5k, a quarter-marathon, a wheelchair-race, and the 13.1. So...all you friends who live in colder climes--come on down next March and run in the sunny desert with me!)

So...this morning--I DID IT! My second one! The Phoenix half-marathon in January got me started, and I think I'm 'hooked' now...

Earlier this year, when I caught the 'walking pneumonia' that was going around at the school where I teach, I missed an entire month of long runs...So I really didn't think I should try again so soon, but with the beautiful spring weather, I thought--hey, I'm back to my regular weekly runs, why not just TRY a half-marathon again--even if I end up running it a lot slower than I did in Phoenix, so what? I'm not 'competing'...

It was a chilly start--49 degrees as the sun came up over the Santa Catalina Mountains...The route takes you through rolling high desert--from the foothills of the Catalinas to the foothills of the Tortolita mountains--so scenic, its suburban reality notwithstanding...

Here's an elevation profile of the course--HILLS:

Along with the fact that I hadn't gone on any runs longer than 9 miles recently, the hilly terrain led me to have a more modest goal-time of finishing in, maybe, 2hrs10min...

(I'd finished the pancake-flat Phoenix course in 1hr58)...

By the time I got to mile ten, this morning, though, I realized that I just might be able to finish in less than two hours after all! So I pushed hard the last three miles...and finished in 1hr59!! Just barely, but still--a sub-2-hr. time! With hills! and without recent long training runs! AND...I'm not writhing in pain!

(I can only hope this posting doesn't sound self-congratulatory...but seriously, I am thrilled at my time today...and still bemused that I've taken to running later in life than most peple--I like running?--moi? oui, moi.)

The view from the parking lot at the finish line:

...just a few desert marigolds in bloom in the foreground--after this year's unusually dry winter, the Catalina foothills are a far cry from last year's wildflower show in the same area:

With flowers or without--a beautiful spring morning to go for a run in the desert...

2011-03-25T22:53:00.001-07:00

Friday-afternoon preview of Sunday morning; fun with phone-camera after work

After work today I needed to drive up to the far NW side of Tucson to pick up my packet and t-shirt for Sunday's half-marathon...The running-store where I picked those things up is not far from the actual course for the race, and I hadn't been up in that area in a while, so I thought I'd drive along the running route.

It's not actually in Tucson; it's in Oro Valley--intriguing name for a town only incorporated in the mid-1970's. There is no 'downtown.' It's suburbia: strip-malls of chain-stores and traffic...but it's suburbia-with-scenery. The 'backside' of the Santa Catalina Mountains is gorgeous--canyons and uplifted outcroppings soaring above the saguaros.

Spring evening light flatters cell-phone-camera-photos:

(...gotta love panorama-stitching apps on the iPhone...)

These photos were taken in an area along the route called

'Honeybee Canyon,' a natural preserve surrounded by

the Rancho Vistoso 'master planned community.'

Looking forward to Sunday morning...

2011-03-23T22:02:00.001-07:00

This is "afterNICA," after all...

We're coming up on five years now, since my wife and I returned al norte after our year-in-Nicaragua...

A friend of mine pointed out to me recently that Anthony Bourdain (chef/writer/tv-show-traveler) had a new episode of "No Reservations" featuring Nicaragua on the Travel Channel. We don't have cable tv, so we weren't able to watch it, but maybe some of you saw it? (Ironically, when living in Nicaragua, we did have cable--over a hundred channels! solamente 6$/month!) I can't say I endorse Mr. Bourdain, but he is a gifted writer, and some of his episodes are gems...Anyway...

Here are a few things I gleaned online about it:
THIS is the official Travel Channel info about it--it's supposed to air again at the end of the month.
Click here for a video preview ...
Pupusas--not 'native' Nicaraguan, but mmm, centroamericano streetfare at its best...

From Bourdain's own blog, he writes:

“Nicaragua is a spectacularly beautiful country. The food is great. The rum even better. The people are proud, generous, funny and sophisticated at every level of society. I hope the show makes people want to visit this poor but beautiful nation with so much to offer–to see not only what Nicaragua is, but what it can be.”

Amen...Visit La Tierra de Lagos y Volcanes...
Go to Nicaragua!...and see what it can be; if you only see what it is, it's too sad.
(How true that is for so much of the world...)

(Click here to buy this book--
this was our logistical guide when we decided to move there.
The Lonely Planet guide is good, but this one goes deeper.)

2011-03-23T13:15:00.002-07:00

Before it gets too hot...

...I'd like to run another half-marathon here in southern AZ. So, during my lunch hour today, I signed up for a race for this upcoming Sunday:

This event will take place at the base of the NW side of the Santa Catalina mountains--very scenic, and March is perfect running weather here in Tucson.

I don't think I'll be able to run it any faster than the one in Phoenix back in January--I missed 2 weeks of running due to being sick a while back, and this route has a few hills--but I'm excited that it'll be closer to home and that it'll benefit cancer research...and I'm just excited by the fact that I'm still enjoying running so much!

Truth be told, I've become maybe even a bit 'dependent' (?) on running--to keep sane, to clear my mind after troublesome days in highschoolland. 'Teacher' is not an accurate job-title for what includes being an arbiter, insolence-fighter, pop-psychologist-motivator, vocabulary-police, ethics-instiller, etc. etc.--it's like trying to herd cats some days! I am perfectly willing to handle youthful exuberance, passing immaturity, attention-hopping--but insolence pushes all my wrong buttons. Or maybe they're the right buttons...At any rate, some recent insolence had become long-term and tiresome, and fortunately, the issue has been resolved. (The kid is out of the classroom...woo-hoo!)

We had a bit of rain the night before last--but the YTD rainfall for Tucson is less than 15% of what it should be! Yes, it's a desert...but still! So--no fields of wildflowers this year--no vast carpets of poppies and lupine, alas...But the temperatures are perfect, and I'm looking forward to 13.1 on Sunday morning.

Before things get too hot, run.

(I'm a fan of this ad series...it's true!)

2011-02-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

Snow!

No insights/opinions/pontificating--just SNOW!
Snow down in the Tucson basin is always exciting...

Yesterday, that is...(Today was 70 degrees)...I slept in a little later than I wanted to, so I didn't get to actually see the flakes falling, but the car windshields in our neighborhood were covered in white--our back patio table was covered in slush, and cars driving from further east were blanketed... The sun was coming out, and things were beginning to melt quickly, so I gulped down half a mug of coffee, put on a sweater and drove down to the park down the street:

The back area of Udall Park, behind the soccer fields, is a 'natural' creosote flat area...not particularly scenic, but from there you can get a good view of the whole Santa Catalina Range--and as as you can see above, the snow was practically down to the base of the mountains...All of the mountain ranges around the city--even the low Tucson Mountains and the Tortolita range (site of the current golf championship tournament at the Ritz-Carlton) were completely white...

Crazy late-winter weather--Saturday was 70 degrees...Today was 70 and the day after tomorrow will be up to 80...but Saturday night a front came through and dropped the temps almost instantly...Mid-day on Sunday, as we were out and about, we drove through a couple of 'snow-pellet' squalls in the foothills...

Perhaps winter's last hurrah for Tucson.
Last week I went for a long run out in Saguaro National Park, (yeah--finally!--my first 8-miler since having pneumonia), and the first desert marigolds and fairy dusters have already begun to bloom...