South Korea Vacation 2015 - Part 1

This year we decided to visit Korea in the Fall. It's one of my favorite seasons in Korea. The weather cools, the trees change their leaves and the rainy season is over. We usually stay in a hotel, which in Seoul is pretty expensive, but opted this year to try AirBnB. There are a lot of places in Seoul available and we chose one very near to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was studio apartment with a small kitchen. Most importantly to us, it had a washer so we could wash and hang dry our clothes. This was the view out our window.

We woke up to this view every morning. We also found out that our street was where all the Chinese tour buses parked and there were tons of them.

 

 This is Gyeongbokgung Palace. We had visited this palace a lot so we passed this time.

See the cement protruding from the subway exit? The exit close to our apartment was also a wheelchair access exit. While waiting to meet up with Hannah, Rocketman tripped over this while looking at his phone. At the time, I was sitting on the other side of the exit. To my horror, I witnessed the entire fall. He landed on his bad knee and his wrist, saving his IPhone from harm. Exiting Koreans saw it also and were quite concerned.

 

He got up and we went to sit down. Clearly he was in a lot of pain but was putting up a good front for me. It wasn't until later that evening when we returned to the apartment I saw his bloody, torn up knee which was also swollen badly. This turned out to not be his first fall.

 

Later that night we met up with Hannah and we were looking for particular restaurant. All of a sudden Hannah and I heard a noise. We were at the bottom of some cement steps and we looked up to find Rocketman had fallen on the steps. Luckily he fell on his behind or he would have been seriously injured. Again, he was looking at his phone at the time. He hurt his hip and sported a huge purple bruise for the duration of our vacation. This all happened the first 24 hours in Korea.

 

This trip was also the first time in a long time where I suffered from jetlag. It lasted a couple of days where my digestive tract was off and I didn't feel well. We took it easy because of it and didn't venture too far from the apartment. It was annoying to me because we had so much to do but you do what you have to, especially when you don't feel up to much. It got better and so did the trip.

 

Maedeup Monday!

We decided to visit South Korea during the fall this year and we left October 1st and returned October 17th. I always try to bring lots to do on the flight because it's a long one, around 30 hours in the air (round trip). I have a special purse for this occasion where I fill it with maedeup projects, a book to read, a journal and all sorts of things to keep my mind busy. These were the bracelets I worked on and completed during our trip. I'd love to say I can sleep on a plane but alas I'm not one of those who can.

 I'm a weird girl with lots of phobias, especially where planes are involved. One of my biggest fears is that the bathrooms are occupied and I have to go really, really bad. Guess what? The flight to Korea was pretty good with little to no turbulence and the bathrooms available when I needed them. But the flight back was a total nightmare. This light was on almost the entire flight with people lined up waiting at most times. Wouldn't you know that when this situation happens, my body overreacts and I feel like I have to go all the time. The sign alone freaked me out most of the trip. I have never seen the bathrooms so occupied so constantly, and I've flown quite a bit.

I also have this weird thing that after 10 or 12 hours in the air, the last two hours are the hardest and seem to take the longest. I get really anxious and restless. I don't know what it is but it happens to me every time. I try not to look at the flight data information but I just can't help myself.

And since I'm sharing my weirdness, another thing I freak out about is getting our carry-on luggage into the overheads. We usually get seats in the exit row that also has the flight attendants jump seats. These seats have huge leg room but nowhere to place anything under the seats in front of you, and there are no overheads nearby because the galley and bulkhead are there. So I'm always anxious to preboard so that my luggage gets into an overhead bin. It is only an issue when we go to Korea because I have presents in my carry-on with breakable items. The return flight, my carry-on contains hanji which I don't want to check. Ya, it's fun to fly with me.

Rocketman had some fun during preboarding on our flight from Detroit to Incheon. The Korean flight attendant wasn't very tall and was having a hard time closing the bins, so Rocketman helped her out. She loved it and he helped out quite a bit. Being tall can come in handy.

Upon our return I last week I was spent. I think we did so much walking and stairclimbing and traveling around Korea that when we returned I just crashed. I was exhausted the entire week. I'm finally feeling back to my old self but it was brutal there for awhile.

I will be sharing our trip and all the good, bad and amazing things that happened.

Photos of Rocketman's Trip to Shanghai

    While Rocketman was in Shanghai, he visited a museum and these are some of the photos he took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                        He took some photos of Chinese brush painting knowing my love of the art.

 

 

 I thought this photo was just beautiful. It looks like he will need to return in November but it's not a certainty. It seems to always come down to a last minute decision made by his company.

The weather here in Minnesota has turned crisp and cool. Fall is probably one of my favorite seasons. I love the Fall colors and how beautiful the trees turn around here.

Shanghai Marriage Market

Rocketman spent the last two weeks in Shanghai for work. He's been going to China for 17 years and has seen many changes in the country. One new thing he saw while sightseeing was this sea of umbrellas in a park called People's Park which also hosts what is known as the Shanghai Marriage Market.

He asked a Chinese co-worker and was told that these are parents looking for spouses for their children. All pertinent information about their child is on these umbrellas for singles to check out and I suppose even the parents of other single children. I found more information on it here.

I found it fascinating.

                                                     He also did some people watching.

I'm not sure why they were sleeping in the park unless maybe a parent dragged them there in case someone from the umbrella ad was interested.

Rocketman also visited a museum and I'll post those photos soon.

Baby Shower!

 I'm sorry I've been neglecting this blog. I have been a sewing maniac this summer making lots of quilts for special events in our lives. One of them was a baby shower for our daughter-in-law, Amberleigh. It was held at one of her sister's homes. You can see her two sisters in the photo above. This is a baby quilt I made as soon as I heard she was pregnant. It was a kit and I loved how it turned out.

I also had just gotten her wedding quilt back from my long arm quilter and I was able to get the binding sewn on just in time for the shower. She loved it.

 My son had a Winnie-the-Pooh room when he was a baby and he wanted the same for his little one. They decorated the baby's room in the original looking pooh and I found this pooh bear on line. This was a perfect gift from my mom. She loved it and it was so soft and cuddly.

 My daughter was also able to attend and it was wonderful to meet all of Amberleigh's family and friends.

 I also won a prize for a game where we had to look at jars of baby food and guess what they were. There were 10 and I got 8 right. I reversed the green beans and peas. I'm pretty good at baby food jars.

My parents were in town when I completed Amberleigh's wedding quilt and they helped hold it up so I could take a photo.

Here is a close up of the quilt. I absolutely love how it turned out.

Our trip to Korea is coming up fast and I still have a lot to do before we go but we can't wait to return to the "Land of the Morning Calm." We will be taking a trip down to Busan to see Hellena and her twin girls. We've never seen them in person. I also am working on my shopping list because I don't want to forget anything. My bojagi teacher who is living and teaching in New York right now is setting up an exhibition in New York for next September and she wants me to take part. I have some ideas for bojagi projects and it is perfect timing that we will be in Korea soon and I can buy the fabric I need.

Maedeup Monday! The Day I Met a Korean Maedeup Master

While living in South Korea, Su-Mi my maedeup teacher, showed me a book from maedeup master, Kim Eun-Young. I asked her to order one for me and she did. Hellena, my Korean friend happened to be visiting our apartment when I received my book and I told her how I wish I could meet Kim Eun-Young.  Hellena, always being the optimist said that I could and immediately got on her phone to make calls.

It was after about a half hour of phone calls, Hellena had Kim Eun-Young's phone number and was calling her. She was very interested in meeting me and we set up a time. She and her husband live in Seoul. I was really nervous to meet her but Hellena was with me so that helped tremendously. She lived in a beautiful home and was so gracious.

We talked for awhile and she shared rice cakes and tea with us. Her husband is also famous as a painter and she had paintings of his all over. We talked about maedeup and our great love for the art form. She was very interested in sharing maedeup with the U.S. and the rest of the world. Her English was excellent.

I would love to meet her again but I fear that it may even be more difficult to find her. Here is an article about her. She is an Intangible Asset of Korea and there are not many in Korea. It is very difficult to become one.

This is the book that I brought for her to autograph.

I will treasure it forever.

Karuna Reiki Training

A couple of weekends ago, I took a drive up the North Shore to Two Harbors, Minnesota where I spent the weekend with some amazing people learning Karuna Reiki. We stayed in a cabin right on Lake Superior. I had a wonderful time and I'm so glad I went. I almost didn't go because of the awful cold I had and also because of Rocketman.

 

The Friday I left happened to also be the same day that Rocketman was getting his stent removed from his kidney stone surgery and even though this was his third time, I was still worried about leaving him in case of complications. He came home right after the doctor appointment and was in a lot of pain. He had some oxycodone to take for the pain and he needed to take one. He insisted that I still go and he would be fine. I found out later that he was in extreme pain on and off the entire weekend. But he is fine now.

The boulders of Lake Superior is where we received our attunements for Karuna Reiki. It really was a magical place.

                           This is another view from the rocks. It is so beautiful on the North Shore.

 

We even found this thistle near the cabin we were staying at. I did have my first cold shower and I do not recommend it. Due to a miscommunication, the hot water heater was not turned on until Sunday so there were several of us that had cold showers. I never washed my hair so fast. It was freezing!

I returned home with my new certificate and lots of memories. I made some new friends and reconnected with some old. It was just what the doctor ordered.

      We also visited a rock store where I bought this Larimer bracelet as a souvenir of this weekend.

I also was able to finish this huge kingsize quilt for my niece, Madison who will be getting married sometime next year. I'm the only quilter in the family so I never know when the need for quilt will come up. This year was a big year with our son getting married, then expecting a baby and our niece getting engaged. 

Rocketman found this little guy on our deck the other day. A sure sign that winter is not far off.