Italian in Korea?!!!

Turns out it's the locals' favorite non-Korean food. I asked why and was mostly surprised by the answers: Korean and Italian people share the same temperaments (?!), both countries are peninsulas (!!!), and everyone loves garlic (well, duh). On my first full day in the country, I had the wicked good luck of having Italian for both lunch and dinner--much to the embarrassment of my poor host (who simply couldn't believe that I really love the stuff). A shared lunch for three included caesar salad, garlic bread, pizza, risotto, and three pastas. The salad and pastas were excellent and mostly traditional. The pizza options, though, gave me a flashback to England where they top their baked potatoes with the likes of tuna and corn. The host chose sweet potato--thinly sliced, fortunately--and avoided more, uh, "interesting" combos like gorgonzola with honey dipping sauce. For dinner it was caprese salad and more risotto. Funny thing is that the lunch planned for Friday's conference was also to be Italian, but my host was so horrified at the prospect of three Italian meals for me that she switched it to the best Indian restaurant in Seoul. Yum all around!

First Night

TUESDAY, 8 JANUARY 2013 - Korea is COLD, as promised, and I've already lost my gloves! (Why did I bring two caps, two scarves, and only one pair of gloves?!) My first Korean student picked me up at the airport and brought me to my campus accommodations. It's a three-bedroom apartment with beds that are hard, hard, and hard. There is a small entrance area where you kick off your shoes before stepping up on to the heated floor. Aaaah! As you see in the photo, there are plastic shoes provided for use in the bathroom or outside hallway, but otherwise the apartment is a no-shoe zone. Hai-Kyung took me to a nearby traditional restaurant for dinner. As you walk in, it looks like a meat market, with cases of beef and pork to choose from. You pick your raw material and go sit at a table with a fire pit in the middle. A guy with big mitts promptly delivers a pot of glowing coals. Then you start grilling your own meat as the first-course sides arrive: garlic, chili paste, kimchi, onions and vinegar, etc. Hai-Kyung did the grilling honors as I cuddled up to the embers. When the meat is ready, you grab it with a leaf of lettuce and wrap a little package with the sides of your choice. To finish off the meal, we had my fave, COLD noodle soup. It actually comes out with crushed ice in the bowl. Koreans believe that it is the perfect complement to the meat and think that it helps warm you in winter by moving the warmth to the outside of your body. I was back at the apartment by 8pm, settling in and trying to use the computer. (Everything comes up in Korean.) I hopped in to a hot shower before realizing the towel supply consisted of eight tea towels. After swabbing off in installments, I took a melatonin to help with jetlag and crawled into my hard, hard bed. Maybe I'll sleep on the heated floor tomorrow night.

Long-Haul Air Travel is not for the Impatient

If you'd like to get a taste of it at home, take an armchair and place it close to a wall so you won't have too much leg room. Then sit there for 14 hours. In the event you fall asleep, arrange to have someone turn on all the lights and bring you some bad food. Then realize that you still have 5.5 hours to go. Ugh! Although my never-ending flight reminded me at times of the movie Groundhog Day, I enjoyed some spectacular sights from my window seat. Our direct course to Incheon took us on a far northerly route, and I spotted my summer place just before we entered Canadian airspace. "Hellooo, Door Peninsula and Washington Island!" Hours later I caught a red dawn glow over the Arctic ice cap--there's no full sunrise up there at this time of the year. A proper sunrise came at 11:11am over Siberia. What a sight! Nothing but mounds and drifts and piles and mountains of snow under a vivid blue sky. I took countless pictures, but I doubt they will do justice to the austere landscape. (I'm now pretending that I've viewed Antarctica, which has been on my life list for a long time.)

Countdown to Korea

I'm packing lots of warm clothes as all reports indicate Korea is having a colder-than-usual winter. Good news is that I won't be doing deep-knee bends there. That said, I'll almost certainly be dining on the floor so I'm practicing another kind of ups and downs. I can sit cross-legged under a low table (thank you, yoga), but getting there and back up again isn't too pretty. I may also decide to sleep on the heated floor, which I did during my first trip. Very warm and cozy.

"But What do you Usually Eat for Breakfast?"

It was a question asked often, and the most common response was granola. That was indeed available, but the array on the breakfast buffets at our hotels was mind-boggling. Think Eastern, Western, and just plain quirky (IMHO). Any morning we could choose from dozens and dozens of items including, for example, miso soup, sushi, sweet potato porridge, fruit, scrambled eggs, hot dogs, french fries, and eclairs. My breakfast preferences and food rules rapidly went out the window, and I frequently found myself staring at my plate in wonder or dismay. Then came the question again.

Heading Home

My driver failed to arrive at 6:30am, as arranged, so I was relieved when the hotel staff put me in a taxi for a fast ride to the airport. Making up a bit for the shopping deficit, I spent too much for a jade macrame bracelet at a shop in the departure terminal. Before I left, a friend caught up with me for a hug and photo. And then it was time for the long trip home: 27 hours across 14 time zones. I started exhausted, which did not bode well for jet lag. It was a wonderful experience, but I was already dreading my performance upon returning to work (the following day).

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Stay tuned for my upcoming visit to Korea. A few random observations about Taiwan: Taxi drivers played classical music. Crosswalk signs provided both a countdown and an image of a walking figure. The lower the number became--in other words, they less time you had to cross--the faster the little figure walked and then ran. Hightech abounded!(See the photo of the control panel for the lights in my hotel room.)

Long Last Day

MONDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2102 We started the day at the fabulous Palace Museum and managed to see its most famous holding, a small chunk of jade carved to look like a cabbage, an auspicious vegetable in Taiwan. (We also saw another jade piece resembling a hunk of meat. With these came a lesson about the Chinese affinity with nature.) After another sumptuous lunch and tea sampling, we headed to a small town to see a museum dedicated to an artist and the local temple he supported. We arrived back in the city in time for an extended dinner hosted by a gallery owner. I was exhausted by the time I got back to the hotel--shortly before midnight--and I still had to finish my packing. I already had an impossible load of stuff, and then I noticed the new gift bags delivered to my room. Yikes! Fortunately, I had a scale in my bathroom and managed to come in at the 50# limit. I dropped in to bed, satiated but dreading the alarm for my early flight.