eunpa lake park, february
the wind persists to rattle the windows and
the waters alternate between frozen and fluid
continuously avoiding a definitive state
shifting over night just as assumptions begin to form.
lunar new year
This lunar new year vacation was an absolute treat that took place over the course of four days and in three very different cities: Gunsan, Cheonan, and Seoul.
On Sunday morning we boarded a bus bound for Cheonan at the reoccurring scene for adventure, Gunsan intercity bus terminal. Cheonan is a home to approx. 700,000 people and a surprising number of Damien Hirst sculptures. There is a chance I would have never visited Cheonan were it not for a unexpected opportunity to attend a traditional new year celebration.
About a month ago, my dear friend YeongJeong Yun invited me to celebrate the Lunar New year with her family in Cheonan. The invitation alone was an honor because the Korean celebration is very family oriented. Part two of the excitement heh heem nervousness was that these days, my friend lives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA with her infant daughter, husband and dissertation in progress....thus would not be joining us for the festivities. The invitation entailed traveling to new city to stay overnight in an apartment with three generations of people I had never met and whose language I barely speak. Quite the social experiment. Luckily, the kids smoothed over any awkwardness with constant questioning and an insatiable appetite for tic-tac-toe.
On New Year's day, most Koreans perform an ancestral ritual that involves preparing, arranging, and bowing in front of a table full of food and pictures of their ancestors. The meal in itself is primarily typical Korean fare but two noteworthy differences in the day are attire and arrangement. The food is arranged according to both its color and cardinal directions and hanbok, the traditional dress is worn. The Yun family was more than hospitable. They took care to explain and identify several new fruits and vegetables and also allowed us to take part in the food preparation for the ceremonial table.
After the table was set, a brief but beautiful ceremony took place. Drinks were poured in glasses set before the deceased, incense was lit, and the living performed several kneeling bows between verses of prayer. Afterwards, the ancestors retired to their respective shelves and we enjoyed the thoughtfully prepared cuisine. The food was amazing and quite inventive. It never occurred to me to gut a chicken and fill it with octopus but I can now verify that the resulting shall we say, choctopus, is delicious.
A partially set ceremonial table. Note the center piece.
Midday Monday we ventured northward to Seoul. By ventured I mean rode a subway for two hours. Yes, Seoul is that big and we were only there long enough to explore a sliver of the city. However, we ate Mexican food (twice)!!, wandered through a palace, saw contemporary Korean artwork! (Seungmo Park's portraits made from screen squares are outstanding), and visited the Beautiful Tea Museum.
Not bad for 32 hours. Big props to the Seoul subway system, not a single taxi was utilized in the making of this vacation.
If there is only one tradition that follows me home from Korea, I do believe it will be celebrating the Lunar New Year. My fondness for the moon is ever growing thus a holiday in its recognition is highly appropriate. And I am always down for gathering with friends and family to eat, drink and be merry. Particularly, if choctopus is on the menu.
solar new year
The last day of 2011 was spent wandering through Jeonju, the capital city of the Jeollabuk-do province.
Jeonju boasts an impressive traditional Hanok village as well as fresh bibimbap, supposedly the best in Korea. I've yet to travel extensively enough to know whether or not their 'claim to fame' is legit but I will say it was rather delicious.
A portion of the Hanok village showcased the local craft of paper making, hanji. There was literally an army of tiny figures made entirely from handmade paper and wire in a well executed diorama illustrating the Korean dynasties. Tedium, skill, and craftsmanship - the holy trinity.
That weekend was one of two New Year celebrations ie vacations! observed in South Korea.
One for the solar calendar
the other, the lunar calendar.
You can't help but respect a country willing to ring in the New Year biannually.
market
all things slippery and sea born
a wealth of berries: goji and cranberries. did you know the goji berry is commonly known in Asia as a wolfberry?! as if I needed another reason to love them.
mmm, texture...
the top felt like worn leather
the bottom, puppy ears.
Don't let all the pink rubber fool you.
She is not a squeamish lass.
There has been a serious lack of prepared food documentation.
Soon, te prometo.
empty your cup
"We travel to encounter otherness. We travel to be surprised, amazed, perplexed, challenged, even disgusted by people who, like us, have two arms and two legs and love and pray and eat and shit, yet order the world differently. Maybe they're asking the same questions about how best to prevent terrorism, serve food, or conquer duality, but they come up with different answers:..."
an excerpt from "First Empty Your Cup" by Andrew Boyd, a reoccurring writer in the ever vigilant Sun magazine.(cue plug: an advert free literary magazine that is open to reader quipped contributions and is peppered with lovely black and white photography.) The lines above are the last lines from a story documenting Boyd's first venture into Asia, a quest for Zen in Japan.
Roots unbound,
abruptly
inverted atypical mystified
success of transition to epiphytic
remains undetermined
Cultural isolation is a strange and beautiful creature. One that feeds on all of your perspectives, opinions, judgements, and most of all, assumptions. Particularly enjoying the ones you didn't know you held. Day after day the feast takes place. Day after day, in some small or sometimes big way, you're stripped of what you 'knew', and placed wordless at the threshold of understanding.
-The elderly woman holding a napkin in the air is not staring at you with narrowed eyes because she thinks you're an ambassador of all things Western. No, silly, you have snow in your hair and she thought it was bird shit.
-The group of giggling teenage girls that are flocking closer and closer to your table are not gathering to sneer at your misuse of chopsticks but because they genuinely want to know what you think about kimchi, toe socks, and Lady Gaga.
-The taxi driver who laughs boisterously at your American citizenship, later asks shyly if you and President Obama are buddies because according to him, "He's a numba 1!"
In short, hold out on serving the assumption pie, because you never know.
Maybe, you never knew.
An impending New Year is apt to make this gypsy reflective.
A very Happy Happy New Year to each and every one of you all.
I hope that it is full of life, love, and adventure!
snow falling on ginkgo
snow arrived Thursday night, little flurries at first
but by Friday morning
snow fell on the serious.
And after dinner with friends on Saturday night,
I found myself in an epic snow fight that lasted for seven blocks.
Being a Florida lass, born and bred
I reacted to all this snow just a puppy might react to someone frying chicken in the kitchen...
trazy.
Howling, jumping, turning circles with my tongue out, hoping to swallow a snowflake or twelve.
If I had a tail, it would still be wagging.
While this was not my first time experiencing heavy snowfall,
this is my first time living in a place where this could happen regularly
or at all.
yeesh!
15 floors closer to the clouds
Perhaps it is human nature for the events surrounding a big change to seem surreal.
For a cloud of numb apathy to settle around your brain, in hopes of preventing sensory over load.
This continues for awhile and then shiz gets real.
It's inevitable.
This Saturday I moved into a new apartment. On the 15th floor, no less.
The place is spacious and has heated floors, yesssssss. Poor circulation be damned, my feet will not freeze this winter!
Shortly after moving in, I bought my first plant (a darling yellow kalanchoe)
and had my first pizza in the new hood. At a joint aptly named, Pizza school.
side note: there is an unending supply of korean businesses with english names.
usually a conglomeration of somewhat random nouns.
examples:
skin food (cosmetics store)
noodle tree house ( mostly the first one)
mr. pizza love for women ( a pizza joint con salad bar complete with raw crab and no lettuce)
sexy cookie (there is no baking there)
salad bar and party (still not sure)
sand and food (sandwich cafe)
thinking is real (interior design company)
1% premium space (upscale clothing store)
dear baby (possibly infant stationery)
crocodile lady (circus sideshow outfitters)
Back to pizza school : had your standard cheese pizza with sweet potato, corn, onions, and a marinara sauce that quite possibly contained both honey mustard and barbeque sauce. surprisingly delicious.
During the meal, two separate rounds of teenage korean girls sat next to us and struck up conversation.
The second group was extremely complimentary. Apparently Korean tweenagers are BIG fans of blue eyes.
Sunday was spent cooking and wandering.
We happened upon fall colors, an impromptu market, and a group of rowdy boys.
Tomorrow the training wheels come off and I will be left to educate, herd, and prevent general disarray of approximately 50 eager young Korean minds for six hours. Alone. Wish me more than luck.
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