Week 5 in Korea (August 28-Sept 3)

 

Week 5! I have been in Korea for exactly one month now as I arrived on August 4th. Time has just flown by. 

I realized something that a lot of people have probably wanted to tell me. The hibiscus flower that is the national flower of Korea is also called the Rose of Sharon. I should have known this. I have seen bushes of Rose of Sharon flowers at the Arboretum in Arcadia many times. And my stepmom is Sharon, so I have even had conversations about this flower since it is beautiful and shares her name. 

It all hit me this week when I noticed these tiles on the fence leading up to the school. I walk past them every day. I just had one of those Aha! moments one morning when the symbolism and the meaning from my past experiences all connected. 

My 56th birthday was on a Wednesday. I got to school and had an immediate impromptu science department meeting. When I got back to my desk it was decorated with beautiful gifts from Nimmi and Hailie. Nimmi brought me a lovely scented candle from India (she bought it there planning to give it to me for my birthday). She also brought me grapefruit tea and banana cake in the morning. 

Hailie gave me a gift that I think of as kind of a traditional thing to do in order to take care of someone who is an elder. Not elderly, just older than you are. She gave me the nicest pair of indoor shoes I have ever seen. They are like crocs, but not crocs. And they are like walking on clouds. I can wear them in my classroom. It was such a thoughtful gift. I felt very spoiled by these two friends, but they were just getting started!

I had been seeing several restaurants in K-dramas for years. Different restaurants in Korea will sponsor these shows and get incorporated into the story as a result. Pizza Alvolo was one of the places I had seen in several dramas and wanted to try out. And A Twosome Place is another one (for coffee and cake). So we went to both!

It was raining a lot after school. Hailie picked up Nimmi and me in her car and drive us to Wyrie where we parked at a large outdoor mall and walked around between these two restaurants.

The bad news was that Pizza Alvolo (at least in this section of town) does not have an indoor dining space. We had to get the pizza to go. So Nimmi very 
kindly offered to let us eat at her apartment. We got everything to go and then Hailie drove us to the Quad.

Nimmi has a special apartment because of her position (she is in admin) and that means she has a nice table and comfy chairs. So we ate bulgogi pizza and potato pizza. We sipped grapefruit ade (and Nimmi had a lemonade with herbs in it). And we feasted on fabulous chocolate cakes. 

And we laughed and gossiped and had a lovely time together. It felt like I was spending time with old friends; old friends that I have just met. It was a really nice way to begin another trip around the Sun. 

Fun facts about Pizza Alvolo: the pizza is good. The pickles are sweet AND sour. Why do they serve pickles with the pizza? I do not know. But fermented foods are a feature of every meal here so I suppose it is part of the normal dining experience. 

Thursday and Friday sort of flew by. I worked pretty late on Friday, trying to get some science supplies sorted out in the storage area of the science department. So I woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat and was worried that I might be coming down with something. Several colleagues had been ill recently and one had tested positive for Covid, which has been surging everywhere, including here. 

So I stayed home all day Saturday to try to rest, recover, and avoid falling ill. I drank so much herbal tea with honey (courtesy of Adana and Dave and the amazing Amazon care package)! And I ate some chicken and rice porridge. I also finished putting together my IKEA dresser (that thing took more than 3 hours to build)!

The upshot of all of that self-care was that I was feeling right as rain on Sunday when the school trip to the baseball game was meant to happen. Hailie and Nimmi and about 26 other colleagues from school boarded the school bus at 1pm and we were taken to Jamsil Stadium for a Twins vs Eagles game. Baseball came to Korea in the early 1980s. The baseball teams in Korea all have American sounding team names. But Korean baseball is a bit different. The teams are all sponsored by corporations, which means that Seoul has about 10 teams and they all play each other 16 times a season. There are like 10 games a day for 6 days a week. 

I am posting a video (below) of my time at the stadium with the faculty. But here are a few things to watch for: Cheerleaders! Baseball here has cheerleaders. There are 4 women and 1 man who make up the squad. They dance, they cheer, and they 

sing! The singing is ongoing. The exuberance is kind of exhausting for someone like me. But very entertaining as well. 

Nimmi and I felt crowded and hot so we left after the 6th inning and took the subway home. That was my first time on the Korea Metro! It was very easy to navigate, of course. And clean. The subway cars smell like laundry soap. Very pleasant. I could not take any video inside the metro (this is frowned upon as disrespecting the privacy of other passengers). But it only took us about 25 minutes to get back to our neighborhood. A very easy trip (including one line transfer). 

Completed IKEA dresser!

Lotte Tower near Jamsil stadium

Game ticket! Ready for sun...

Eagles Cheer Squad

Here comes the Metro Train!

I also got two pieces of actual mail this week! Chantal sent me a postcard from Salt Lake City. It arrived the day after my birthday (28 days in transit). So nice to know the postal system works here! The post card came right to my mailbox in my building. And Dad and Sharon sent a birthday card that arrived today. Inside it was a 1000 Korean won bill from 1950! My dad's older bother served in the Korean War and sent the bill home to my dad (who was 13 at the time). After a little research I learned that this bill was minted in 1950 as the first batch of money printed by the Bank of Korea. All bills before that had been printed by the Bank of Joseon. So it is a pretty cool piece of history that Dad has had hidden in his treasure trove for the last 71 years (since he received it in 1952). 

Dad received it in 1952 but it was printed before then.

That made me think I should do a whole entry on money someday. There are many pretty bills with interesting stories. 

Next weekend we are doing a faculty trip to downtown Seoul. I am looking forward to that. We have Open House this week and I am giving my first exams. Busy times!

Here is the link to the baseball video. I learned how to do voice overs! Thanks, Emma, for your help with that. 💙

See you next week!