Maedeup Exhibition in Insadong

 Nan-Young and Young-Soo rearranged my schedule so they could take me to a maedeup exhibition in Seoul.  Young-Soo drove and she was pretty careful.  We left around 9:45 am and the traffic was still pretty bad.  We got to Insadong and parked and that is when I realized we had no idea where to go.

 So while the three of them figured it out.  I took a picture of how I want my windows at home to look like when we return.  Do you think Rocketman will go for it?

                                            It can't be far, we're already in Insadong.

 Then we started walking and I kept my camera ready to take pictures and it's a good thing I did or

I would have missed this

and this grandmother and yes, her hair was really lavender.

                               But we finally found the exhibition.  Just follow the flower stands.

                                 We found a lot of maedeup so I started taking pictures...

 ... until they told Nan that I couldn't take pictures.  But I was already done.  They had an exhibition book for 15,000WON ($13.00 USD) and I was going to buy one when they gave me three free.  It sure is great being the foreigner.

               Then we did some shopping in Insadong.  These are suppose to cure whatever ails you.

                                                  I love looking at bojagi and chasu.

 Soon it was time to go.  It was lunchtime and I was hungry but they said we would eat at Young-Soo's.

 Young-Soo needed to stop at a rest area so we stopped for coffee.  I found this adorable puppy on a table with a young couple. 

I had noticed on the ride into Seoul that Young-Soo's gas tank was near empty and I was really worried when we started to leave the rest area without stopping for gas.

I told her to get gas and she pulled up to a pump.  The service guy came over and I rolled down my window and said, "ca-duke-e-o."  Young-Soo just about fainted until I grabbed a bunch of money to show her I would pay.  I had thought about all the kindness that had been shown to me, especially this week, and it was time for me to give back.

They were SHOCKED that I knew what that meant until I explained how I was in the car every week and Rocketman would say the same thing to the gas station attendant.  I don't remember in recent history seeing Young-Soo so happy.  I don't think she usually puts much gas in her car and it made me feel so good to put that huge smile on her face.

 Sometime during the rest of the drive back to Suwon, it was decided that we would go out to lunch.  We ended up at this little hole in the wall place near E-Mart, which was way out of the way.

                                            Nan-Young was tired and so was I.

                                     It was about 2 pm and the place was pretty deserted.

                                                        Can you find the napkins?

                           Again, can you find the napkins in this photo?  It's on top of the rice cooker.

 We went mainly vegetarian.  The halmoni (grandmother) also brought us a delicious stew.

  / I couldn't believe Young-Soo got that huge piece of veggies into her mouth.  The halmoni was so thrilled that I was there.  I was her first foreigner.  She kept coming over to our table with a huge smile and would wait for me to take another bite of something.  I was full and couldn't put another bite in my mouth when  she grabbed some chopsticks, filled it with some veggies and placed it right in front of my mouth so I had no choice but to eat it.  It was delicious, of course.  But that was a first. 

 Nan-Young and Young-Soo loved the marinated leaves and so they bought a bag of them.  I paid for lunch. 

 This is where the halmoni did all the cooking.  She was a one person restaurant too.

 Nan-Young gave her one of her pins that she had been wearing.  I just love seeing things like that.  The halmoni was really touched.

                                                         Here is the front of her restaurant.

 Afterwards, we went to a huge grocery store.  This is a picture of the elevator.  It was the largest I had ever seen.

 I came home with these for me and Rocketman.  They were only 5000 WON (4.50 USD).

 And this golden frog from the same vendor.  Nan-Young and Young-Soo really were giving him the business to get him to give me a frog.  I know they mentioned I was an American to which he looked up and pointed to tons of foreigners that are in Insadong every day, so they brought up that I had been on American television and he finally gave them one.  I felt bad about it but they were thrilled that he had gave in to them.  He is a cute little guy.

It was a fantastic day and I got home around 5pm exhausted and happy.

Bojagi Class

 I haven't finished my last bojagi but it was time to learn a new one.  This is called yeojujoo bojagi.  It looks really complicated and difficult but I was happy to find that so far it's just ton of steps.  Lots of marking and pressing.  These are some samples KJ brought.

                                                               This is one she is working on.

    Here is my first one.  I just have 48 more to go by next Tuesday.  I also need to cut the colored squares that will go in the center of each square.  I have no idea how that happens but that is the next step.

KJ, my teacher, told me that her name means "silk beads" and that is why she thinks she chose a career working in silk as you do with bojagi and chasu.  Her mother, who is no longer alive, was the first to teach her and she continues with a bojagi and chasu teacher.

Chilbo (Korean Enameling)

 Chilbo class today had me working on two pendants that I had ordered through Nan.  This is how we decided to do the first one.

As soon as the frit is melted, you stir it with a metal poker to get the swirls.  I love this look and how the pendant turned out.

 The second pendant I bought was silver and very small.  It also had two sides.  This is the first side.

 This is the second.  We almost had a disaster.  The first side had been finished and I had placed the other side in the kiln to set when Nan remembered that you can't lay flat an enameled piece in the kiln that has enamel on the backside.  It will stick to the mesh.  She took it out just in time and no damage was done.

 Now, Nan knows I have a blog because I do take lots of pictures during class but she does not know how to read English so I'm pretty sure she did not read my blog entry from yesterday.  As I was working, she was running all over the place gathering the pieces you see above that she had made.  She gave them all to me.  She would not let me give them back.

 So since Rocketman is in Japan and I didn't have to cook dinner, I decided to eat at Young-Soo's next door for some mandu guk.  I told Nan that she should too, so we all three sat down to three different types of kimchi and mandu guk.  Nan had received a phone call from Metal Guy saying that he was in the area and would stop by and take me home. 

I left Young-Soo's with a full belly and this bojagi which was wrapped by Nan for me.

                                            Inside was this kimchi from Young-Soo and ...

                                  this ceramic mug that Nan had made and gave to me and....

these handpainted ceramic mugs.  I don't know what got into the girl and she would not take no for an answer.  She did let me pay for dinner so at least I got to do that.

You know how I talk (sometimes complain) about how I make plans and then things go totally different.  When I arrived at chilbo today, Young-Soo was there and she speaks quite a bit of English.  She asked what I was doing tomorrow so I told her that I was going to yoga in the morning and hanji in the afternoon.  She said, "No, no, maedeup exhibition in Insadong.  No yoga, no hanji."  So I told Nan to call my hanji teacher on her handphone.

But no, she took my arm and off we went, arm in arm, to hanji which is right around the corner from Nan's shop.  She explained to my teacher why I wouldn't be at class tomorrow and then off we went back to Nan's.  So tomorrow I have to be at Nan's by 9:30 am and Young Soo is going to drive her tiny, and I mean tiny, car to Insadong.  She made me feel a whole lot better by telling me she is a terrible driver.  She said it with a big smile and then told me "No worries."  I'm plenty worried but I plan on keeping my eyes closed as much as possible.  I am looking forward to the exhibition and it's really sweet that they are willing to take me.

RAOK in ROK

 If you don't know what RAOK stands for, it's Random Acts of Kindness.  Rocketman came home last week with the monthly mail from our forwarder.  Inside with the usual bills and magazines was a mailer.  I didn't think I had ordered anything but I am forgetful at times. 

I opened the package to find that I had received a  RAOK bead from Kim Parsons.  She is a member of an internet board that I am also a member of.  I was shocked and delighted by the bead she made.  It's the most darling frog on a bead I have ever seen and I can't wait to design a jewelry piece with it.  Thank you Kim for your generosity.

It got me to think about all the RAOK that go on in my everyday life here in Korea.  Like yesterday, I was making my way to the elevator just as the doors closed.  I sighed thinking I would have to wait for another elevator when they magically reopened.  As I entered the elevator, I was greeted by a smiling teenage Korean girl.  I thanked her in Korean to which she replied, "you're welcome" in English.  I thanked her again as I exited the elevator on our floor.

There have also been numerous times when I'm standing on a bus daydreaming only to have an ajumma tap me on the shoulder to let me know that a seat had become available.  Then the most surprising thing happened to Rocketman and me last weekend in Seoul.  We entered the subway and found a place to stand since all the seats were taken when a young Korean woman stood up and offered her place to Rocketman.  He immediately gave the space to me (isn't he wonderful) and a few stops later, the seat next to me opened up for him.

We figured the gal was getting off at the first stop but she stood near us until the eighth stop when we stood to get out and she retook her space.  We couldn't believe it.  It was incredibly considerate of her.  It meant the world to us and made us love this country even more, if that's possible.

I see RAOKs almost every day.  Every time a woman with a baby or young child enters the bus and there are no seats, one or more give up their seats for her.  It happens every time - not just sometimes.  There are also the halmonis (grandmothers) who smile at the babies or try to get them to laugh.  It's wonderful to see total strangers caring about each other.

Oh, I almost forgot.  That business card above is a RAOK that Rocketman finds every once in a while sitting on top of the urinals at the restaurants when he has a company dinner.  It's nice of the restaurant to provide informantion on obtaining those little blue pills if you need them.