Travel Log Korea from the begining and onward
Currently in South Korea.... Join the list by mailing korea@saradevil.com .
| It has been a bit quieter in Daegu this week. I would guess it is due in large part to the coldness of the city. We have been having either extremely cold weather or very very warm weather for Daegu. We had a gorgeous weekend with weather in the 50's and I spent a good time of that walking around outside going from art supply stores to the fabric market in the big market downtown, and had quite a bit of fun. I've learned a new Korean phrase which came in handy "Chogi-ee-sigh-yo" Which means something like "Aqui esta" for those of you not speaking Spanish or Korean, it roughly translates to "There it is.?This came in quite handy pointing to different materials that I wanted to feel to see if they would be appropriate for clothing. Although I found some nice stuff, the sweater shirt I made is great, but may not be warm enough, and the pants turned into a disaster. I could not find my scissors anywhere in my apartment, which I thoroughly cleaned this morning, and so they were off to a bad start to begin with. I made due with a pair Sam had brought but they were not sharp enough, and I've decided at this point that I will turn the pants into a pillow so at least the fabric won't go to waste. The pillow will be stuffed with the other scraps I've acquired so at least I won't have to throw anything away. I suppose this will be a nice bonus for the next person living in my apartment, but that will be a ways away, if present plans continue. So, anyway, I realized this weekend that I am no longer feeling like a lost foreigner. I feel more like and more comfortable with Korea, and less and less surprised by it. And yet, as I was walking towards the office on Saturday I was suddenly reminded that this was not really home. On my walk to work there are dozens of interesting things one would not find in the states. First of all you walk by numerous cars parked on both sides of the road and very close together. Koreans are expert parallel parkers, and truly, I think they learned to do that before they learned to walk. Each car has a some sort of sign carrying the number of the driver so that a person can quickly be called to move their vehicle. The roads have no sidewalks. Each morning I pass a dozen or so older Korean hikers headed up the mountain for their morning walk. I walk past Korean barbeque, and kim-bop ladies, people selling pillows, vegetables, and food on the street, even when it is really cold. When I get to the corner to cross the street, I can look to the opposing street and will usually be surprised by a loud bang followed with lots of smoke. I'm not exactly sure what the Korean in the old van is doing, and why each morning his van explodes and showers him with smoke, but, like clockwork this occurs when I walk to school. I pass a dog with an orange tail in the beauty salon, I pass dok-boki, oo-dang, and red bean filled fish cakes. I pass numerous Koreans and even an odd foreigner off to work at noon. At some point over the last few months this became so commonplace I stopped noticing it. I'm happy to report that I am once again paying attention, and enjoy being surprised by Korea. More later, when I have time, hopefully, about current politics. One of my strangest experiences last week was listening to an news report on All Things Considered Online, that was being broadcast from Seoul. Weird. |