of question marks and boxer briefs
Oh, Korea. I have been homesick again the last week, was rotten sick this weekend, and have been feeling generally run down. I think I might drop out of Korean class. :(
Today, though, I felt better and decided to go to a foreign food market in Itaewon where I heard I could score some Thai curry paste. (and score I did - picked up red curry paste, tamarind, fish sauce, black bean sauce, sriracha, sweet chili sauce, lentils, dried basil, dried thyme, fresh cilantro ~ JOY!!! ~ and fresh long beans) The Foreign Food Market (the place is actually called Foreign Food Market ~lol~) can't hold a candle to Shuang Hur, but it's awfully nice. Dude, my pantry is close to being like it is at home. Happy. This week I'm making curry and pad thai.
Anyhoo, blab blab blab, was reminded again today how much I love being in Korea. On the way home from Itaewon, I got on an escalator about 5 steps behind two women. One was wearing a white three-quarter-length-sleeve t-shirt with yellow yarn embroidery around the collar..... and around a 4-inch question mark made of black felt hovering off-center above her butt. I couldn't stop staring. What?!?!?! The felt killed me, it was so thick. Thick, black, 4-inch, butt-hovering question mark. I stared so hard, she must have sensed something because she turned around and stared at me for a bit. whoops. Oh, Korean fashion. Some of it I love, some of it makes me feel like a huge slob, and some of it makes me wonder if I had LSD for breakfast.
This evening, I went out for a short walk. As I was leaving, I passed by an open door on my floor. People often prop their apartment doors open when they're home here, probably to get a little air moving in their apartments. I usually glance in when I walk by. Am curious to see how people decorate & how they use their space. Usually the places I've seen have lots of decorations, furniture, pictures, all sorts of your typical home furnishings. I've seen people cleaning, giving piano lessons, reading, working in a home office, eating dinner. Today I glanced in and saw a relatively bare apartment, no photos, no pictures, white furniture lined up along a wall. The tv was blaring, and a guy was laying in bed. In his underwear. ~*^O^*~ Pretty boring underwear though, grey boxer briefs. ~lol~ The guy had his door propped open as wide as it goes, it wasn't just cracked open a bit. Oh, I held my breath 'til I got to the elevator, and then I giggled all the way down to 1. So funny.
More photos from Gyeongju.
Seokguram Grotto. You can't take photos of the actual Buddhas carved inside the grotto, but some photos are at this website.
entrance:
view of the vally:
walking up to the grotto:
there was a fairly steep drop off along the side of the path, so the way had several of these cheerful banners:
comfy:
the grotto is inside this building. you can walk in and observe the carvings through a glass wall. when we were there, mass was being held by a monk with about 15-20 people praying. they were bowing - kneeling and standing without using their hands to stand - over and over and over and over while the monk chanted and tapped some kind of small drum or wood block.
prayers from all over the world:
all over, and these are just a few of the hundreds and hundreds of prayers piled around the courtyard:
velcroing shoes in the parking lot, waiting to go home:
Today, though, I felt better and decided to go to a foreign food market in Itaewon where I heard I could score some Thai curry paste. (and score I did - picked up red curry paste, tamarind, fish sauce, black bean sauce, sriracha, sweet chili sauce, lentils, dried basil, dried thyme, fresh cilantro ~ JOY!!! ~ and fresh long beans) The Foreign Food Market (the place is actually called Foreign Food Market ~lol~) can't hold a candle to Shuang Hur, but it's awfully nice. Dude, my pantry is close to being like it is at home. Happy. This week I'm making curry and pad thai.
Anyhoo, blab blab blab, was reminded again today how much I love being in Korea. On the way home from Itaewon, I got on an escalator about 5 steps behind two women. One was wearing a white three-quarter-length-sleeve t-shirt with yellow yarn embroidery around the collar..... and around a 4-inch question mark made of black felt hovering off-center above her butt. I couldn't stop staring. What?!?!?! The felt killed me, it was so thick. Thick, black, 4-inch, butt-hovering question mark. I stared so hard, she must have sensed something because she turned around and stared at me for a bit. whoops. Oh, Korean fashion. Some of it I love, some of it makes me feel like a huge slob, and some of it makes me wonder if I had LSD for breakfast.
This evening, I went out for a short walk. As I was leaving, I passed by an open door on my floor. People often prop their apartment doors open when they're home here, probably to get a little air moving in their apartments. I usually glance in when I walk by. Am curious to see how people decorate & how they use their space. Usually the places I've seen have lots of decorations, furniture, pictures, all sorts of your typical home furnishings. I've seen people cleaning, giving piano lessons, reading, working in a home office, eating dinner. Today I glanced in and saw a relatively bare apartment, no photos, no pictures, white furniture lined up along a wall. The tv was blaring, and a guy was laying in bed. In his underwear. ~*^O^*~ Pretty boring underwear though, grey boxer briefs. ~lol~ The guy had his door propped open as wide as it goes, it wasn't just cracked open a bit. Oh, I held my breath 'til I got to the elevator, and then I giggled all the way down to 1. So funny.
More photos from Gyeongju.
Seokguram Grotto. You can't take photos of the actual Buddhas carved inside the grotto, but some photos are at this website.
entrance:
view of the vally:
walking up to the grotto:
there was a fairly steep drop off along the side of the path, so the way had several of these cheerful banners:
comfy:
the grotto is inside this building. you can walk in and observe the carvings through a glass wall. when we were there, mass was being held by a monk with about 15-20 people praying. they were bowing - kneeling and standing without using their hands to stand - over and over and over and over while the monk chanted and tapped some kind of small drum or wood block.
prayers from all over the world:
all over, and these are just a few of the hundreds and hundreds of prayers piled around the courtyard:
velcroing shoes in the parking lot, waiting to go home:
posted by smochs at 1:08 AM
7 Comments:
Oh, man, now I hope my care package is clothes! [lol]
Hope you're feeling much better. Going into tech week, here, which is going to be awesome because the schedule won't change ALL WEEK. Happy happy joy joy!
Hugs!!
Hey hon! Oh how I love your reports on daily life in Korea - SO much better than the news! Far more interesting and scads less tragic. Now the felt question mark has us all wondering. Maybe that's the intent....? :) I hope the wave of homesickness passes soon and the comedy of other people's lives behind their open doors cheers you up! Don't feel bad about dropping out of Korean class - you can always take it up again later if you want, right? You have to take care of yourself! :)
Here at home I've been bombarded by babies. Okay, not literally, but the thought of them. Found out a week and a half ago that Sam and I are going to be an aunt and uncle for the first time - whoo hoo! So excited! His sister and brother-in-law are due in December. Then, found out another friend is pregnant with her second (unexpectedly), also due in December. It's getting ridiculous - I think I've counted about 35 babies (of friends, family, acquaintances, neighbors, random people we know...) in 2.5-3 years! Now this is what true peer pressure is! But, I have at least 3 years of grad school courses to get through first...
Anyway, enough rambling! Love and hugs to you!
Hey hon! Oh how I love your reports on daily life in Korea - SO much better than the news! Far more interesting and scads less tragic. Now the felt question mark has us all wondering. Maybe that's the intent....? :) I hope the wave of homesickness passes soon and the comedy of other people's lives behind their open doors cheers you up! Don't feel bad about dropping out of Korean class - you can always take it up again later if you want, right? You have to take care of yourself! :)
Here at home I've been bombarded by babies. Okay, not literally, but the thought of them. Found out a week and a half ago that Sam and I are going to be an aunt and uncle for the first time - whoo hoo! So excited! His sister and brother-in-law are due in December. Then, found out another friend is pregnant with her second (unexpectedly), also due in December. It's getting ridiculous - I think I've counted about 35 babies (of friends, family, acquaintances, neighbors, random people we know...) in 2.5-3 years! Now this is what true peer pressure is! But, I have at least 3 years of grad school courses to get through first...
Anyway, enough rambling! Love and hugs to you!
Hey Sara --
You need a good laugh -- things look better then. A place I get that is from the e-mails that John sends -- I will forward a few. I don't know where he finds all of these?
Have a great week.
Jan
Hey Sara,
Just wanted to say hey and let you know I still think of you as a walk the skyways. I also hope you start feeling less homesick quickly.
-amy
Hey!
Perhaps I should get a giant can of beer and sew that onto my butt- for then there would be no question??
Do you check email? Hope you're feeling better soon. I also feel quite crummy. I found out last week that I've been suffering from a swell case of mono, so that kind of put a damper on the last two of three weekends of shows that I just completed. And now that my fevers are finally subsiding, the show is all done. Nuts.
Tara
Sara! Love your blog. I miss Korea sooooooo much and can't wait to visit next summer in August for the IKAA conference.
Hope you feel better and now that I've found your blog (thanks to Angie) I'm coming back all the time!
Be well,
holly
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