South Korea Vacation 2015 - Part 7

 My hanji teacher moved! Her landlord did not renew her lease so she found an abandoned coffee shop just across the street. I actually like this location better. There is a table outside so you can do hanji outside if the weather cooperates and she also has her own little bathroom. She has really expanded her woman's clothing and accessories due to the popularity of what she carries. She has impeccable taste and it shows in the things she sells.

Also, just having a hanji only shop has been tough. Hanji was really popular when I moved to Korea in 2007. Her shop was filled with Korean women wanting to make things. It has really dropped off since then and it was a good move to venture out into another direction while still offering hanji lessons.

The shop is really cute and she did a marvelous job of decorating. The tables in the center of the store are for hanji classes or to have a rest. That's my sweet hanji friend, Lim, in the front of this photo.

                                     She had some new hanji pieces that I fell in love with.

               This hanji piece also featured hand painted drawers. This piece just blew me away.

                              This is the piece my hanji teacher had been working on.

Then I noticed this dead fish over the entryway. I had never seen this before and I asked about it. A fish over the door is a good luck charm that symbolizes a lot of money coming to you and the wishes of good fortune. They had a great laugh over my shocked face at seeing a dead fish over the door even after hearing the reason for it. I did wonder what Rocketman would say if I too hung a dead fish over our front door.

 My hanji teacher has always been so very generous with me. These are the gifts I left with.

                                                             This is the inside of the box.

                                    She also gave me this beautiful hand painted table.

                          My dear friend, Lim, also had a couple of pieces for me. This is a light.

We also went to dinner with my friend Mr. Choi. He was my yoga buddy the whole time I lived in Korea and he really kicked my butt in yoga.  We went to the same Chinese restaurant we always go to when we visit. It also happens to be just a block from our old apartment in Suwon.

We had a private room upstairs which is for special people like Mr. Choi. We let him order, which this time was a BIG mistake. For some reason, he ordered a 10 course meal. The next problem was all my fault because I am a picky eater and have been my entire life. I'm much better than I was when I was younger but there are still lots of things I won't eat - like mushrooms. Guess what? Every course had mushrooms. Sometimes all that was in the course was mushrooms in sauce. I was dying! I tried to hide the fact that I wasn't eating much of anything. I was doing a lot of picking and was finding occasion things I could eat. Thank goodness for kimchi, I ate a lot of that.

But we didn't know Mr. Choi had ordered all these courses and he also seemed surprised when they didn't stop. We finally had to call an end to it at course 8 and Rocketman was going to burst. Mr. Choi was also glad we declined a few courses. Next time, we will order off the menu because their food is pretty good and of course, we have been told many times how famous this restaurant is. It is a very old building and just to have been in business for decades does say something. Rocketman and I chuckled about the whole ordeal on our bus ride back to Seoul and we still laugh about it today.

I think for our next dinner with Mr. Choi we will try to point him to another restaurant. But if he insists on this restaurant, we will definitely order our own meals. This was crazy. He wouldn't let me pay although we argued while he was paying. It had to have cost a fortune. We've had this argument before and I again forgot not to do it. It looks very disrespectful to argue with an elder, especially a grandfather. Mr. Choi knows me well and it didn't upset him but I did notice we got looks from the staff and others. Sometimes my American manners come out when they are better left unsaid, especially in these circumstances no matter how much I wanted to pay for the dinner.

He also gave me this beautiful lacquer plate. He knows what I like - that's for sure.