Mom update: My mom has been in the care facility about two weeks. She has OT and PT everyday. There are small improvements, but it sounds like a big marker of progress will be standing on her own. Please pray for encouraging progress.
Michael and I are mostly in the routine of school and work with a few events or travel for fun. His school just had an open house to display science-related projects for a few of the grades. He and his classmates were quite proud of their space information and rockets. They set up an area with a black tarp for visitors to enter. It was a fun afternoon for the kids. i have a couple more weeks to work on my research before the semester gets started and I have to immerse myself in teaching.
Recently we had dinner with a friend from work, Randy, and his wife, Andrea. When Michael and I were in Busan, we ate grilled/baked eel, so we then knew the Korean words for it. The next time I was walking over to the park, I recognized the Korean letters at a place and told Michael as soon as I got home. Maybe I should have figured it out from the eel swimming in the tanks in the window. The place has an old and worn out look including tin roof. I suggested going there, and Randy and were happy to try it out. They'd noticed it too but had never gotten around to going. Michael was a little more comfortable with them along (since Andrea is Korean and so no language problems for us). Once there we all agreed it's a place for socializing and eating. It seems like several neighborhood older guys are in there enjoying the eel and some beer or soju. The owner and also another patron gave us some training and spoke pretty good English - grill the skin side first! There is spot in the middle of the table where they set the fire, and then a metal grilling rack is set over it. We were teasing Michael about the great quantity of accompanying spicy sauce he ate. We all had our fill. A final nice aspect is that the price was very reasonable compared to Busan. Eel is a bit expensive, and at the Busan place we had been paying for being at a nice restaurant. Here, there was definitely no premium to pay for the setting.
We went to Daegu Friday with the primary purpose to see a show called Bibap, short for Bibimbap. The theme was two chefs competing for King of Bibimbap. It was non-verbal with singing, dancing, funny faces, acrobatics and some very impressive break dancing. Two guys did a lot with sound effects/noises. There was audience participation. They "made" other dishes first, and a funny thing was that they would all of a sudden produce the very nice lookig finished dish (sushi and pizza, for example). The finished dish was the plastic type items that we see a lot in restaurant windows to show what food is served. The local grocery store has a pizza-ordering area with plastic models of the pizzas. So that Korean aspect gave us good laugh. We both liked the show a lot. An interesting thing afterwards that we have seen before is that the cast comes out to the lobby and people have their pictures taken with them. A lot of groups queue and wait their turn, and then we keep hearing hana, duel, set (one, two, three) and the pictures are taken quickly.
We stayed at a nice hotel and enjoyed walking around the lively downtown area. Daegu seems fairly cosmoplitan - it has a big textile industry and seems to have related clothing, etc. The weather was warm for this time of year (and more than 15 degrees warmer than a couple days prior), so Saturday we were outside and went to top of viewing tower, a local market (the best pancakes with sweet filling we have had), and a mountain area where we took a cable car to the top. Koreans know how to enjoy a hike. There was a large enclosed viewing room where two guys were cooking a fairly elaborate hot meal. They had hiked up with their gas single burner. There was also a restaurant serving a fairly broad hot menu - even this time of the year - including pacheon, a large pancake with green onions and other things, which is very common at hiking areas. We had an early dinner and headed back to Ulsan. Transportation was so easy. We took the bus, a 1 1/2 hour ride. It leaves each city every 30 minutes. When we arrived in Daegu and got off the bus, a subway stop was right there. Taxis around town were easy and inexpensive too. Our few experiences traveling on our own are making us better at it and more comfortable about planning to go places.
We hope all is well with your families. Love in Christ, Kim
Even local hiking in our park has people really enjoying it. Recently two ladies came along when I was sitting at a bench on the hike. They gave me a small orange (the delicious ones from Jeju Island that are very easy to peel) and a cup of coffee. They had carried hot water in a thermos and had the individual servings of coffee and paper cups with them. I was impressed at the amount of trouble. They were a little older than I am. I know how to ask how old someone is, and the answer is easier to understand than asking someone's name. The kindness of strangers continues.
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