Shake It

As you might guess, there are hundreds of electronic stores here. Each one is usually 3 stories, and carries everything from 3D televisions down to rice cookers. They are shiny and sterile inside, and the prices are average, or a little expensive.

So what would get you into these places, since there are hundreds of them? Most weekends, this job is put on the shoulders of two teenage (?) girls.

Any electronics store that is worth it's salt has a pair of dancing queens in front of it on most weekends. They get going around noon and don't stop until after sunset. Speakers are blaring as their synchronized moves lure customers in. I think.

I post this now because Spring has finally appeared here, and these girls go into hibernation during the winter months. Their replacement is a couple of sad tubes full of hot air and a really wimpy boombox. I'm glad its spring again!

Babies in Korea

We have been fortunate to have built strong relationships with our director, Kim Yong Jin, and his wife Kim Myeong Seok. They are wonderful people and they treat us like family. We were especially touched when we were invited to visit the hospital not long after their first child was born. Just like everything here, it was a fascinating experience. I expected to visit their room and hold their beautiful baby girl, but none of that happened. Instead we were in a waiting room that surrounds the nursery of the hospital, where all of the newborn babies stay. The nursery walls were glass so that everyone could crowd around and see the babies.

After a baby is born, the baby stays in the nursery until the mom is released from the hospital. Mom and Dad don't actually get to hold or feed or take care of thier baby until mom is discharged. Twice a day the hospital has 30 minute viewings of the babies. This is what we attended. There were about 25 babies all in the little hospital beds behind the panes of glass. It honestly reminded me of an aquarium.

The family is given one ticket per viewing. At the viewing, they can flash that ticket when their family is ready, and one of the nurses will hold up the baby so everyone can see her. This lasts for 2-3 minutes at the most. Then the baby goes back into the crib. Finished. The family doesn't get another baby encounter till the next viewing that day when they'll be given another card that gets them another couple of minutes of time. When we were there yesterday, Mrs. Kim saw her daughter for the first time (almost 48 hours after the delivery). She didn't have the strength to come downstairs before that point (she had a c-section as most of the women here have). We witnessed her laying eyes on her daughter for the first time and it was a beautiful moment, but there was glass between them. It was so strange.

Not long after that, the visiting time was over. The curtains were pulled and the babies disappeared again. It was clear that the babies in the nursery are well taken care of and loved. There were several nurses constantly walking around checking each of the cribs and sometimes picking up a baby to feed or just to hold.

I know this isn't the only way to have a baby in Korea. Our friends Lindsay and Whit had a wonderful hospital experience and their beautiful baby boy Finn stayed in their room with them. But our director was surprised when I was asking so many questions. He said that this procedure was typical for all of the hospitals he knew of, big hospitals like the one they used and small ones alike. Now Mr. and Mrs. Kim are home with their sweet baby girl. They are enjoying holding and loving her. But they say their still trying to decide on a name. What do you think?

Weekly Fish

There is a small market that comes once a week to a small street near us. We buy fresh vegetables and fruit every week for our meals at home. For a long time we would walk by and see lots of fish, wondering how everyone knew how to cut and gut them. Our director finally told us that you need not know this, you just point to the fish you want and they do that work for you. We buy fresh mackerel every week for about $4. It is delicious.

Kostko

We have a small luxury living in Daegu: there is a Costco here. This means we can buy things like cheese, bread, and tortillas, items that rarely exist in Korea. Both Beth and I love Korean food and eat this for most meals, but every now and then it's nice to have a bagel with cream cheese.

The food court here in Costco is ridiculous. People are going crazy for the pizza, usually it is impossible to find a seat. The food court looks exactly like one in the states, with one small difference. They have what I've dubbed an "onion mill," this machine that looks like a meat grinder. It isn't grinding the onions though, they just pour pre-cut onions into the top of this thing while people crank 'em out onto their plate.

And boy do they crank 'em. I've seen 6" tall piles of onions on plates, smothered with ketchup and mustard. The only sense that I can make of this is that Koreans are so accustomed to side dishes that they see this as just that, not as a topping. It's really gross to see, the onions actually look like nuggets of corn they get so saturated with condiments.

This isn't the best video, but you can see the onions coming out of the mill. This is a VERY conservative serving.

Green Tea Fields Forever

We took a weekend trip to see some friends in Gwangju, a large city on the westsiiiiide of Korea. They took us on a rainy day trip to see the beautiful Boseong Green Tea Fields. This is one of the most beautiful places I've seen in Korea, a place that felt very unique. I learned two things: tea leaves grow on small shrubs, and according to the gift shop you can make just about anything from green tea leaves (chocolates, cookies, crackers, keychains, etc).

Some pictures from the adventure:

We also saw this sign on the side of the highway. Any guesses as to what this is or isn't allowing?

Knot Tied

Korean Weddings are another fascinating thing to see here. We've been to two now, and both have been unique experiences. They are such a melding of East meets West, but because both are so removed from their origin when coupled with the opposite the wedding takes on a strange identity of its own.

The first wedding we attended was for a co-teacher. We were advised to show up with money, not with a gift. When you arrive, you give this money to an organizer, who then gives you a meal ticket (literally a ticket that allows you to eat at the wedding). Weddings are typically held in wedding halls, multiple floor buildings that house dozens of weddings a day. The families from the wedding that just happened as well as the wedding that was happening after this one were in the same area.

It turned out that we ate before the wedding even happened. There was a huge buffet with Korean and Western food. There was also closed circuit TVs in the banquet room so you could see when the wedding was going to start. When it started, Beth and I went to get up but no one else at the table did. We followed their lead and remained at the table, and ended up watching the whole thing on TV. This wasn't rude, or even mentioned at the table. From what we could see on the TV, the lighting for the ceremony resembled something you'd see on Star Search or something, disco balls and spotlights following the couple walking. Strange stuff. After the meal we went to see the aftermath, where we were invited to be in the group picture. The whole thing, meal and all, was over in an hour.

This weekend we went to another one. I managed to get a few pictures at this one. The wedding wasn't such a runway production this time, but the thing that struck us was how irreverent everyone was. Everyone in the room was talking, a medium noised chatter filled the room during the entire ceremony. There were huge projection screens on each wall showing the wedding. It felt like everyone was thinking "NEXT." There were other weddings happening that day, move it along.

Beth noticed that the individuality or the uniqueness that Americans try for at their weddings is not part of it here. The room was very beautiful, but it would be the exact same beauty for everyone getting married that day. The flowers in this ceremony were the same as the next were the same as the next. The room didn't change. The only difference might be the songs performed, but even that was probably chosen from a list of 12 songs. Individuality just isn't as important here.

Dinner was ridiculous. Again, we were given a meal ticket in exchange for our monetary gift to the couple. We went up to the 4th floor to see something very similar to a Ryan's Steakhouse. Buffet lines of mediocre food. This place was bigger than any Ryan's though. Visitors from earlier weddings were there, and by the time we left there were new people arriving from another wedding. We barely got to say hello to the bride and groom. After the wedding, they did a costume change into very traditional Korean clothes to thank people and greet them.

The restaurant, much like the wedding, had a Western side and a Korean side. They had self serve beer on tap. Tons of sushi, spaghetti, salad, and Korean noodles. Waffles with whipped cream for dessert.

Land of the Rising Sun

Japan was clean. Not just in a no-gum-on-the-sidewalks way, but in a design sense as well. Things in Korea can be a bit ramshackled at times, and there were little to no signs of this in the parts of Japan that we saw. The roads weren't cracked, their weren't cigarette butts on the sidewalks, and all the hedges were trimmed. It was a beautiful place.

Travelling in the winter is in a lot of ways a big advantage. Small crowds, easy accommodation, and great photo ops without all the people. We travelled to Kyoto and Tokyo and saw beautiful shrines, temples, geishas, mountains, and plenty of culture.

Fushimi-Inari Shrine

This place was endless. We walked for hours and still didn't see the whole things. Long, winding paths through the Kyoto mountains, covered with these orange gates.

Geishas

Our book talked about geishas like they were as scarce as a leprechaun, but we found Kyoto to be full of them. We saw them in traditional districts at first and were captivated, but by the time we left Kyoto we'd ridden buses with them, stood in line at stores with them, and watched them shop. They were everywhere, it was so interesting to see them as part of the culture, not something that only exists in one place.

Kinkaku-ji Temple

It's golden. The thing is pretty ridiculous, but still captivating. There is an awesome gold bird on top of it, kind of like a weather vane. Apparently, the guy who lived here was completely obsessed with this temple, to the point of insanity.

Sushi

We ate a lot of sushi. This was at a conveyor belt restaurant, where you grabbed anything that looked interesting. They counted your plates and charged you for what you had. You could also use the touch screen to order something not on the belt, and it would come out on a toy train straight to your table.

Vending Machines

They are EVERYWHERE in Japan. They sell anything from beer and cigarettes to cola and coffee (hot or cold).

Tokyo

The city is so big there is no end in sight.

I mentioned things being clean...this is a public toilet. You could always be sure that the bathrooms were clean, both in architecture and inside.

Maybe you saw Lost In Translation. This intersection is in the movie. I'll have to say, the picture doesn't capture how busy this place was. It is much like Times Square in New York.

Sumo

We were able to see Sumo practice one morning. This was a highlight of our trip, it was so awesome to see these guys go at it. We watched outside a small stable for almost an hour. It was captivating.

Arcade

We found a 5 story arcade, with two bowling alleys in it. There is an entire floor dedicated to crane machines. This one offered the chance to will a jumbo bucket of ramen.