Nice week

Monday I went on the FLIK ladies' tour of the month. There were only 4 of us, 2 women from France and a friend of mine from Korean language class, Jennie. We all know the FLIK employee, Minnie, who accompanied us. She is very friendly and helpful and also teaches Korean at the school (but not Michael's class). One of the women has a Chinese father who moved to Laos and married. They left everything behind and fled the country when she was 7 years old. Her children spend some time in what is basically a French home school with 4 or 5 children. The daughter also goes to Michael's school, but her son has basically refused to learn English and is only at the French school. (I imagine that's an interesting parenting challenge.) The other woman is Vietnamese and went to France for college when she was 18 and ended up staying.

We went to an artist's home/studio. His main art is "I Paint Me." His earlier work is all realistic and I thought very beautiful. He has since changed to more whimsical (which I thought did show his talent nearly as much). He also had a painting that shows mostly the face of a young woman with cherry blossoms in the background. The lower part of her face is covered by her hands holding a scarf. Tears are in her eyes. He was inspired to paint this picture by seeing a photo of a young Japanese woman who was looking at a list of dead or missing people after the recent tsunami. He said the Japanese culture holds these feelings in, which is captured by the scarf and also the tears in her eyes but not coming out and by covering her mouth. Minnie said it's very different from Koreans in the same sort of situation. The painting was beautiful.

He sat with us and fixed us coffee in part of the house that could be a coffee shop. He has a great view of the sea. After that we walked around an educational farm. School children visit on field trips. The weather was cool and sunny - a great day for strolling around. Then we had lunch at a restaurant that overlooks "Sunrise Beach." It is considered the first place the sunrise hits Korea, and for the new year it is good luck to see the sunrise there. Minnie said there are big traffic jams.

I learned a lesson at lunch. When dining with the French, just order the same thing! I ordered a cajun chicken salad that was ice berg lettuce and some small pieces of something breaded and fried and no sign of cajun. When I told Michael he basically said "You told yourself so," as I have said before "do not order a salad in Korea." Lucky for me, Jennie shared one of her three scoops of kimchi seafood rice. One of the French ladies ordered lobster thermador served in the shell and the other a piece of fish with a sauce - both looked pretty on the plate. I was especially jealous of the vegs. on the side that included pumpkin. They both opted for ice cream for dessert while the rest of us had green tea. At that point I did think they must have be remarkably full.

Thursday we went on the FLIK Hyundai Motor Manufacturing tour. (Michael is enjoying three days off right now.) Michael was glad to run into a classmate, so they sat together on the bus. Mr. Baker (teacher and church friend) sat with me. Mrs. Baker was meeting with the privately-tutored students (she is the ESL teacher). The tour had a movie and then what Michael said was not really enough time to look at the cars displayed and sit in them. We went through an assembly plant basically on a cat walk. Then the bus took us for a quick look at the cars being driven onto a ship. There was a lot of driving involved. I am glad we went, and Michael liked it, but we agreed the Montgomery tour is better.

Then we went to the Bakers and waited for Mrs. Baker to finish. She had made cucumber sandwiches for a snack (and told Michael the queen eats them). The cukes here are very tasty - longer but not as thick as American and also much thinner skin. She also made a very good lemon cake. It was interesting for me to see the housing that's provided on the compound (free to the teachers). The apartment was quite large with Western kitchen features like dishwasher and microwave/convection oven combo - though like even the posh apartments we have seen, the ovens are small and no doubles. HHI has recently remodeled all surrounding apartments, so everything was sort of fresh and clean. We went to one of the neighborhood restaurants they like. Michael ate all his dinner no matter the piece of cake and 3 sandwich triangles. On our way to the bus stop, we came across a street vendor that was selling only cooked, whole crabs. Fresh crabs are available in Korea (but not lobster). If I knew better how to eat one, I might have bought a couple to bring home. Maybe next time!

Friday I taught in the morning and then Prof. Lee picked up Prof. Kim and me and took us to the Ulsan College area - which is near HHI and the foreigner compound. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant at Hyundai Hotel (guess where HHI visitors stay when they are in Korea?!). We then had a tour of his campus and next went to the fish market. The women working there outside seem so rugged. They squat for so much time, and it seems so cold and wet. Prof. Lee drove us by the local beach. Michael and I never managed to get there in Aug. or Sept. It's a city beach with a row of restaurants and shops across from the sandy area and high rises all visible.

Tonight we used the latest addition to our kitchen - a gas burner over which we put a roasting type flat pan. Buying some salmon at Costco was what made me decide to get one, but it will be handy also to cook some Korean food. The grocery stores all have marinated meat (sometimes with peppers and onions) that we could bring home. The Korean style would be to cook it on this grill and then use chopsticks to eat from the grill. I like it best when using a lettuce leaf as a wrap for the meat and then dipping into a thick soybean-based paste - we have to figure out the name so we can buy some. The salmon was good. I also cooked some shrooms, green onions, and whole garlic.

Michael didn't tell me, but he was star of the week last week for music. (I read it in the school newsletter.) He cleaned out his backpack and found the certificate. They have several keyboards and apparently have been working on some of their own work and also playing other things. The teacher wrote: I choose you this week. Your friends also think that you deserve star of the week. You are always trying hard and have participated very well. As a result, you showed great ability in playing the song. When I listened, I was impressed and felt so warm. Keep it up, and enjoy using your talents more. Miss Grace (She is Korean; so is the art teacher.) I am glad he hasn't totally put his piano playing skills aside. He said he and a few other boys are planning a band for the Christmas play. I am not sure what will materialize, but I am glad it sounds like he is willing to play in public.

Well, I know this is kind of long, and so if you have read this far it must be because you are my mother. But if you skimmed to the bottom, I would like to give an update on her. She is at home and working on regaining strength. She has made some progress but not as much as she would like. She had an appointment this week with GI specialist and will go in 2 weeks to a GI surgeon. She is investigating her options (e.g., a particular medicine or having her colon removed.) It takes awhile to be able to see specialists, so the next 2 weeks are more time of hoping for good recovery.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! AU and Trinity School are off all next week, so I know it will be a nice time for many friends. Michael's birthday is Monday. Send him an e-mail if you can: mtkey1121@hotmail.com. He got a letter this week from Cam Tallakson and was so pleased that he immediately sat down and wrote one back.