Little things

Today at the laundry place where I take my clothes to be ironed (because they are definitely wrinkled just hanging them to dry), the woman offered me a cup of coffee and pulled out a little stool for me to sit on. Then she gave me a treat from home - not so tasty or nice to look at, but of course I ate one. It was kind of glutinous - very thick and gooey with little taste and with sort of fine bread crumbs on the outside. She always has a big smile and is so friendly. Tonight I ate at the little restaurant that is connected with our main neighborhood grocery store. I could order bibimbap because I know what it is and how to say it. It's rice on the bottom and then a few kinds of shredded vegs. and some seaweed. Here she cooked two fried eggs and put them on top. You sort of mix it all up with chop sticks. It is tasty and accompanied by a couple of side dishes, including kimchi of course. I could tell on the menu board which item was bibimbap because I am starting to learn the alphabet. It's very satisfying because the written language makes a lot of sense to sound out and for how the syllables are structured. At a couple of places I have shown Michael the two syllables of "Ul-san." He does not seem very interested, but I hope he has to learn at school. I am getting tired of not being able to communicate and hope to make some more progress.

It was rainy today so we rode our bikes to the nearby Ulsan Museum (I wore a rain poncho). They have two good regular exhibits on the history of Ulsan - old and more recent. The more recent is much about the industrialization of the city. The special exhibit was from a British museum and highlights of fantasy figures like dragons, unicorns, etc. It was interesting and a good way to spend a few hours. Places like these tend to be spotlessly clean. Even the grocery stores seem to have perpetual floor cleaning. We figured out today that there are little plastic bags designed for wet umbrellas to be taken inside. I walked around the neighborhood more and found a couple of hair cut places for Michael.