Good byes

Our “good bye” meals and events have been going on for a couple of weeks.  It’s such a blessing to have developed some very special relationships over the last year.  The Bakers’ dinner was the first one, and since then Michael and I had dinner with Professor Kim and his wife and Professor Nam .  They picked our  favorite food  – the spicy soup with pig back bones.  Professor Nam then hosted us at his family’s coffee shop.  The business was originally run by their daughter, but she got married and had a baby and now Prof. Nam’s wife is busy there while they are trying to sell it.  The wife kept sending out desserts!  Michael was really enjoying it (and he had already ordered a smoothie for his drink).  We had sweet toasted bread (hard to describe), waffles with whipped cream, chocolate brownie, and a couple of kinds of soft serve ice cream with various toppings.  Prof. Nam has a great sense of humor and was keeping Michael laughing.  Prof. Kim’s wife headed to Seattle June 15, and he went there in early July after spending some time in China.  I also had a chance to take the two professors out for a final lunch.  We had duck bulgogi. 

We also were hosted for dinner at a nice buffet by Professor Kim Yoon-Tae and his wife.  I wasn’t sure how well the communication would be, but their English was good enough to get us through the night and for some good laughs.  They had us up to their apartment after dinner (restaurant is in same building).  I recently met an Ulsan undergraduate student who is a graduate student at AU.  We met him and his girlfriend and had a good dinner of grilled meat wrapped in lettuce.  Michael and I hope to see the student in Auburn.  We also met with a Vietnamese Korean language classmate of mine and her cousin, a math professor who lives in the same building.

After the service on our last day at church, we were asked to come to the front for prayer.   I said a few words of thanks, and then several people gathered around us with many speaking a prayer.  Michael and I both had tears in our eyes.  A lovely surprised was that many people had written a message in a book for us.  Young Mi organized it and included pictures of the boys from the sleepover.  I am so glad we had a church family in Ulsan this year, and it was a good experience to see a different style of worship – we are one body in Jesus Christ no matter the music, etc.!!

A very special evening was our final dinner with my English practice students.   We had dinner at one of our favorite Western restaurants (Michael picked).  They brought a cake and also gave me a nice bag (from a hiking outfitter; they know I hike regularly).  They had also written me individual “good bye” notes.  They have made me feel so special, and they are fond of Michael.  One gal, Hyo Jin, had not met him yet, and she was so sweet.  She sat by him at dinner and basically said she is very shy but wants to talk to him.  They came up with the idea of bowling afterwards, which was a lot of fun and also a lot of laughs.  I hugged each one of them when the night ended.

Michael’s last hurrah at school was a water park for the day and then a hot dog cookout at the school grounds.  Parents were invited to the cook out, so it was our final chance to say thanks and good-bye to teachers and friends.   Most of Michael’s friends have Facebook accounts, so I have told him he can keep up with them using it – but not wasting too much time on it!

Our final dinner is with Professor Jang and his wife on Monday night, July 9.  He will give us a ride to the KTX station Tuesday so we can stay overnight in Busan.  Our flight from there is at 7:15 Wed. morning – an hour to Seoul and then 15 hours or so to Atlanta.   So, good bye from Korea!!  See you in the States soon.

Japan

We left for Japan the day after Michael got out of school.  It’s a two hour flight to Tokyo, but it is still time consuming to get there as we start with a short walk, then taxi, then bus to airport, then wait for flight, then high speed train into the city, then connect to loop train that goes around city … and finally a taxi from the station since I knew Michael was worn out and getting tired of pulling the suitcase.   Once checked in, we took the subway to the Tokyo Tower.  The city goes on and on and on!!

We got a good night sleep and then started Saturday at fish market.  It’s a wholesaler market, so there’s not really much to see, but we followed the tour book recommendation and had sushi at a small on-site restaurant.  There were several choices.  We stood in line for about 20 minutes and then were ushered into a place with about 10 stools.  The sushi was delicious.  Michael likes tuna the best.  Next we walked to a lovely garden/park.  From there we could take a 40 minute boat ride up a river that has many bridges.  The ride ends at Asakusa, a neighborhood with a well-known temple and also a lot of little stalls with souvenirs and local sweets.  We had some street food too.  Next was a subway to Akihabara, the electronics area.  Michael found a several-floor game place that had a car driving simulation.  He drove several times.  Next up was Ginza,the fancy shopping district.  We ate some good food from department store basement – so many choices!  Then we went to Harajuku, the teenager area with some interestingly-dressed girls.  Each neighborhood has its own vibe/feel, which I wanted Michael to experience.   We finished the evening looking at the night lights of Tokyo in a municipal building that has an observation are on the 45^th floor.  Our hotel was in Shinjuku, a very busy area at night.

After the long day Saturday, we basically went to one area Sunday, Uedo, which has a large park including a zoo.  We spent a couple hours at the zoo and also walking around the park and nearby neighborhood.  We found a place for more car simulation, so Michael spent some time doing that. 

Monday we headed south to the Hakone area, gateway to Mt. Fuji.  We used our rail passes for the first time to go by high speed train.  The weather was too cloudy to see Mt. Fuji, but we enjoyed a cable car ride up part of a mountain and then a rope way ride.  After a 30 minute boat ride, we were able to take a nice walk through some very old and tall cedar trees.  This whole mountain area was bigger than I expected and not crowded at all.  There were pockets here and there with some hotels, lodges, etc.  Lots of places were closed (probably because of Monday), but I was still a little surprised it was so quiet on a summer day.  After our walk, we grabbed some food at Seven Eleven.  Convenience stores in Japan have a lot of deli-like items.  Michael had spaghetti; they pop it in the microwave oven.  We then headed by bus to our hotel.  The Fujiya Hotel was a gem on the trip.  I found it online and got a foreigner special - $133 for the night, the age of the hotel.   The room was large and ceilings maybe 20 feet.  There are hot springs in the area, and the hotel had onsite spa.  It felt good after walking so much during the day.  There was a hotel museum with interesting facts about it being used by the Allied forces after WWII.  Helen Keller and John Lennon had both stayed there.  There was a nice garden area.  Michael used the indoor swimming pool and was given a free rental suit to wear.  It must be very hard to keep up the place.  We had a nice and relaxing morning and lingered over the buffet breakfast before heading by high speed train to Kyoto.

Kyoto is a favorite tourist spot in Japan, and it was easy to see why.  There are lots of shrines (Shinto) and temples (Buddhist), which now are like big green spaces.  It is very easy to get around because the city is on a N-S and E-W grid and lots of English.  There are shopping areas and the Gion area is the main area in the country that has geishas and geisha trainees, maikos.  I took a walking tour that told a lot and showed places like the “tea houses” where the private parties occur and the “dorms” where the maiko live.  We walked through a good food market and ate raw fish on a stick and some other items.  The city is fairly flat, so it was ideal for biking.  Lots of locals ride bikes for transporation, and there are bike parking areas all over.  Michael and I rented bikes for two days.  We got around to some of the sites and rode by the river.  Our favorite was to get on some side streets – they all go one way because they are fairly narrow.  People’s homes are on these streets, and there are small businesses too.  Japan is very clean, and these streets were spotless.  We joked that we were “looking for some atmosphere.”  There were many bakeries, several using the French word, boulangerie.   We went to the Kyoto Tower too.

We took a day trip to Hiroshima.  Typical one day tours to the city go to two places including the Peace Museum and Peace Park area.  The building that remains standing, A Bomb Dome, is a stark reminder of the 1945 bombing.  The whole area is a real tribute to peace, and there are several features that are very moving.  The mayor writes a letter anytime a nuclear test is conducted, and copies of all these letters are displayed.  Some of the pictures in the museum are gruesome, especially burns people suffered.   The second place is Miyajima, a lovely nearby island accessed by a ferry.  There are a shrine and temple here, both with some interesting features.  We had arranged a guide for the day, and she added a lot of information and details.  Plus, we didn’t have to figure out transportation once!  We ate the local food, okonomiyaki, which had a thin pancake, lots of cooked cabbage and other veggies, very flat fried egg, and a dark sauce.  I had local oysters added to mine.  The guide said it doesn’t look good but tastes good, and she was right.  There were also lots of Japanese maple-leaf shaped baked goods with a  variety of fillings.  I like the sweet red beans, but Michael preferred cream or chocolate.

The weather was cloudy and fairly cool during the whole trip.  Chance of rain was about 80% everyday, but we were very fortunate that there wasn’t actually a lot of rain.  A few times it poured for 15 minutes or so, but we were inside or could take cover.  It was a lot easier to bike and walk around without the sun being out.  We arrived back to a sunny day in Korea.  

My favorite summer time thing to eat lately is patbingsu – shaved ice with sweet red beans.  There are lots of variations, but I like some fruit added.   Most have some sweetened condensed milk, which mixes with the ice.  It turns out the dessert is very popular in Japan as well, and there are just as many variations.