All woke up tired this morning after doing battle with a few mosquitos that got into our rooms through the windows we opened to counteract the heat the hotel turned on yesterday. It's warm here and we don't need heat, but we all need sleep! Today we decided to visit three markets that we had not yet seen. We took a cab from one to the next: the
Janganpyeong Antiques Market, the
Gyeongdong Market of medicinal herbs and finally the
Seoul Folk Flea Market. The first, antiques market, was chock full of gorgeous furniture, and collectibles of every imaginable sort, and the outdoor areas were full of stone sculptures. I lusted particularly after a white jade horse with a girl rider ($40), about 10" long, but it was so heavy I couldn't bring myself to take it, even at that price.
The Medicinal Herbs market was fantastic, aromatic, and full of strange and unexplainable (to us) baskets of all things useful for medicine - dried frogs, mountains of ginseng, herbs and twigs. It turned out that it was attached to an enormous food market, selling every variety of fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, and just about everything else - except there was no place to sit down and eat it and by then we were hungry. So we walked and walked, and finally found a great Korean lunch - wild mountain greens and rice for me, with egg and kimchi and so many great little side dishes. No Korean meal is ever served without a handful of small side dishes, pickles, soups, dips, radishes, kimchee, and so much more! I included a menu we considered and decided against - hope you can read it!
The Flea Market was disappointing, especially for two girls who thrive on yard sales, flea markets, and Goodwills. It was several stories high, crammed full of junk (both old and new) but nothing called to us.
As usual, just walking on the streets offers endless entertainment. Yesterday we went past a lot of hardware stores. Here are a couple of random photos from the many we took.
Check out the tiny tub. We saw them everywhere!
Another fun part of the day was trying to get to the flea market, since the cab let us out in a random place, and of course we have no idea how to ask for where we want to go in Korean. We had a page torn out of a guidebook, and one line of Korean words that Betsy had written. So we began asking people to help us. It's tricky, because they help us in Korean, elaborate descriptions of how many blocks to go in which direction, and where to turn, what to look for, etc. But we had really only hand gestures to go on. We went into a police station, and got a similar response. The policeman took us outside to the sidewalk to demonstrate, and a young boy about 10 in school uniform walked by and said, in perfect English, where are you trying to go? He then explained clearly what we needed to do, said he had learned English in Detroit, and off he went. By then we had attracted quite a crowd of onlookers, and a very kind gentleman made us understand that he would take us there. We set off walking at a rapid clip behind him, down a bunch of alleys and small streets, winding here and there, until suddenly there was the building we were looking for. Such kindness!
Such kindness everywhere! We were talking today about something so striking in this culture, that seems to permeate everything very deeply. Everyone follows the rules. People don't jaywalk, or insult each other, or steal, or cheat tourists, or display road-rage, no matter how crazy it gets. We always feel completely safe and trusting, wherever we go, day or night, because there is an unspoken understanding that everyone will be respectful, civil, and polite. Even the few drunks we have encountered are polite and friendly, and ask for nothing from us. People seem happy, cheerful and super-industrious. Children go to school even on Saturdays, and usually attend after-school enrichment programs. Where the population goes wild and crazy is in artistic expression. It is so refreshing, and really shows us the dysfunction of much of our own country in a revealing light.
Anyway, I digress, as usual. Now 6:30 am. I fell asleep after writing this at 7:30 pm and slept through. I was so worn out! Today I feel like a new woman!
I'm grateful for all the blessings of this past year. Retirement suits me, deeply and richly! Best of all this year has been my role as Grandma (Keema) to little Desmond, who is already 17 months old and utterly delightful. He has a sunny personality, and is smart and fun to be with. Like all grandparents, we think he is the best-ever child on the planet, but in this case it may just be true!
Here is Phil, with Des, at an appropriate location in the Monterey Bay Aquarium recently.
Daniella has had a phenomenal year in her art career, with lots of travel, teaching, a new DVD just published about her teaching, and a book on the way! She has had many shows of her work, and just opened a large installation at our local museum. Her success is quite astounding, and I am flying on the coattails of her busy life. You can read all about her on her web site.
We went to Florida in May for a little family reunion, and the wedding of my nephew, Nate. It was a chance to visit with my brothers - in fact all three of my brothers were there,together for the first time in nearly 15 years, and many other family members as well. Here is Nate with my brother Dick and his Marnie. And below, my son Tommy, daughter-in-law Megan, Daniella, and me enjoying the festivities.
In October, Daniella and I and two friends traveled to Korea for 2 weeks and loved every minute of that adventure. I wrote extensively about that trip, and put up a lot of photos on my blog (scroll further down if you are interested). It was the occasion of much laughter and delight, sometimes barely contained!
Sadly we didn't get enough time at Whidbey Island this year, with everything else going on. But it remains our favorite get-away spot, and hopefully we will make up for that lost time in the near future. But with moments like the one below, who wants to be anywhere else? In fact, this photo neatly sums up my life right now - wheeeeee!!!!! Kimisohapi !!
