Wednesday, April 27, 2016

South Korea Vacation Part 25 - Kim Nan-Young

          The view out of Kim Nan-Young's Chilbo Shop. Enamel poo hanging from the window.

                   Rocketman took a couple photos of the walls outside of Nan-Young's shop.

                                        She had this chilbo display outside her shop.
On my last day of chilbo class, we all went out for galbi. It was myself, Rocketman, Nan-Young, Young-Su and Metal Guy. I was so tired by this second week of running all over the country I failed to take photos. 
 I also bought a few rings.
              Nan-Young gave me these postcards of her crane drawings. She sells these in her shop.
                                                    Here is a close up of each card.









She also gave me a packet of postcards made by a friend of hers. 
Nan-Young also has a very talented daughter and she made these cards. These are her drawings and she bought the fabric hanbok top.
Her daughter is talented like her mama. She also gave me set of these cards to take home. Nan-Young has always been so very generous with me. She even sent me home with a gift for my new daughter-in-law.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

South Korea Vacation Part 24 - Class with my Chilbo Teacher Part 2 - Kim Nan-Young

I had three days of chilbo (Korean enameling) lessons with Kim Nan-Young. The second and third day we made tiles to fit into wood boxes handmade by her fiancé, and yes, I said fiancé. More on that later.
I love watching her work.
           After the background color is fired, the pattern is painted on. The design is by Nan-Young.

I have a video of Nan-Young doing her magic. I love her dialogue as she creates. You can just see and hear how much she loves what she does:


 
                         After the design is painted on, then you add all the beautiful enamel colors.
 

 
Here are the three finished boxes. They were handmade by Nan-Young's fiancé. She told me once she would never marry again. Her ex-husband drank a lot and was physically abusive. She left him years ago but I found out this trip that he had died a few years ago, a direct result of his drinking.

She met a fellow artist and the rest is history. He did drink occasionally and also smoked. She told him she would not marry him unless he gave up both and he did. The only problem is that he lives in the country about an hour north of Gwangju. Nan-Young being firmly planted in Suwon.

So they were to marry in December and I haven't confirmed if the did at this time. Nan-Young was going to commute between the two cities. She would spend Monday through Thursday in the country and then Friday through Sunday in Suwon. It sounded grueling to me but she was so very happy. Her fiancé had a beautiful home and lots of land. Next time we go to Korea, we want to visit them.
                                                          His wood skills are fantastic.
I was thrilled with all the I made at Nan-Young's and everything made it home just fine. It was so good to spend time with her.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

South Korea Vacation Part 23 - Class with my Chilbo Teacher - Kim Nan-Young

I was able to take a couple of chilbo (Korean enameling) classes from my friend and teacher, Kim Nan-Young. It was so good to spend time with her and I love our one-on-one classes.
Nan LOVES to take my camera to take pictures of me. I always make sure that my readers are off too.
                                                        Concentrating and working hard.
 


                                    As you can see, I also love to take photos of her too.
 

While we waited for the enamel pieces to fire, Nan brought out some enamel poo. If you have ever spent any time in Korea, you know poo is a big thing. 
                                     She wanted me to write something on it and so I did.
                                                                 Our finished chilbo pieces.

I also noticed this photo of me in Nan's shop. It's from when we lived in Korea in 2008 and Nan had taken the photo with her camera. I was surprised to see it and also super touched. I adore her so much. She also told me in Korean that she no longer teaches with the exception of myself.  She is very busy with exhibitions and also she is very active in her community.
                                     We grabbed dinner near our AirBnB after class.
 I had mandu guk and it was delicious.




Wednesday, April 6, 2016

South Korea Vacation Part 22 - Jaejongdae Resort Park - Busan, South Korea

Our final stop in Busan was the Taedongdae Resort Park. The park is HUGE and we opted to take the tram around the park. There was a one hour wait but it was well worth it. You could get off and on a tram and sightsee at your own leisure. We went on a Sunday and it was pretty busy. Even with the tram be prepared to walk a lot with lots of steep inclines. But the sites we saw were worth every minute.
Before we started, Hannah and Rocketman were hungry so we stopped for hot dogs on a stick. They were cold but pretty good. Then we began our first walk up a steep hill to get to the tram. There was a convenience store at the tram station and Hellena bought a bunch of snacks like dumplings which she heated in a microwave in the store.
                                                                   Finally, our tram came!
 Hellena's husband took some photos as the tram filled with people. The tram was completely filled.
                                                              The sites were amazing.
                                               You could also take a ferry to sightsee.

                          There are people on that rock. I have no idea how they got there!
I zoomed in to show you the picnickers. The water was so choppy and I wondered how a boat got close enough to drop off.
                                                                   An even closer look.
                                                          We ran into this cutie patootie.
                                                                   Another view of the kitty.
                                                         Rocketman and Hellena's feet.
                                                              Another kitty sighting.

 I remember how stressed out I would get when my mama wanted to take pictures. I usually cried too.
 I saw this and thought of the television show "Deadliest Catch." I still love that show but miss Captain Phil.
  That is not ants on that rock but people.
                          Here is a close up with a family using a selfie stick for a photo op.
 Here is another photo and you can see the family I took the previous photo of in the upper left. See the railing on the left, that is how you get out there.
 No way were we going to try that. We had also walked up and down so much we were getting pretty tired.
                           Hannah and Hellena were asked to take a photo for a group of girls.
 
Hellena (center) with her husband and Hannah. We had a long uphill walk back to the tram after this photo. Everyone was exhausted. As I walked, I came alongside a Korean grandmother who also was having difficulty like myself. She talked to me in Korean and I talked to her in limited Korean and English. She found a bench and beckoned me to sit beside her. I was ahead of everyone else and we sat there talking.

She refused to believe I was a grandmother so I called myself mi-gook halmoni (American grandmother). She loved it! We were deep in conversation when Hannah and the rest came upon us. Hannah wanted to know what we were talking about so I told her and she talked to the grandmother also. The halmoni told Hannah she was waiting for family so we left her on the bench but I will never forget the wonderful time I had with her.
                                                           Our final meal in Busan was galbi.
It was a small place and the meat was pretty tough but the company made up for it. After dinner, Hellena and her husband dropped us off at the train station. There were lots of tears as we made our way into the station and back to Seoul. I miss Hellena so much but thanks to Kakao Talk we can stay in touch. We had a great time in Busan and this was just our first week in Korea. Our second week was just as jam packed.
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