Okinawa

New week, new adventure. I wasn't teaching, and so somehow I got all excited and signed up for far too much travel during the second half of this semester. But I am prepared. I bought the double-extra-super-large bottle of migraine pills.

This week I am in Okinawa.

This was my morning walk. 

This was (part of) my dinner.

Sea grapes. Little tiny beads on a string from the sea, on tomato with a side of kumquat. It was surprisingly light and delicious. It did not have a sea weedy taste at all, but tasted like freshness and summer with a hint of light salt.

I have also eaten a great deal of raw fish, in just two days. Sometimes it is more fun not to travel with your family, who would not have tried the sea grapes or the sashimi.

No, family, I take it back. I love you all even when you are picky eaters, and you could have ordered the chocolate cake at the sushi restaurant and not gone hungry. It would have been ok. You should come next time, family.

Every house has a pair of stone lions at the gate. The one on the left has its mouth closed. The one on the right has its mouth open. Why?

And this is a picture of the place where I am working this week. A colleague described it as a research institute that rises out of the jungle.

I really really like it. They flew me here with business class tickets. Business class! I have been thinking that I want to get a job here. Because the institute rises out of the jungle and overlooks the ocean and business class. Business class!

I promised Tim that we wouldn't move again until Jonathan was out of school. But maybe in a few years, if the institute is hiring, we could move to Okinawa and live in the jungle overlooking the sea and fly business class to conferences. And learn Japanese. And live in a subtropical climate and eat a lot of raw fish and try sea grapes. Tim, you will love it! Love it!

The humidity here, by the way, is like a gentle hug.

A breeze blows off of the ocean, and you breathe deeply, and your lungs feel soft and full. And when the breeze blows away, you can still feel the air against your skin, and it hugs you and says, "Don't worry, Sweet One. I will keep you safe from the dry." The boogers in your nose are soft and gentle and smooth. Your cold sore melts away. And your skin is baby soft without that crusty eczema that babies get when they are unfortunate to be born in the desert on top of a mountain, like I was.

Why? Why do people live in cities on mountains in the desert, where the very air hates them and scratches at their skin and lungs every day of their lives? People should move to Okinawa, where the air is gentle and humid.

When we move to Okinawa, and I come home, stepping off of my business class flight, I will breathe deeply and sigh and the very air -- the very humid air -- will welcome me home with a gentle hug:
"Welcome, Sweet One. I love you and will keep you safe. And try the raw tuna. It is delicious."

Birthday

I have been sitting in front of this screen for several minutes, trying to figure out how to narrate three photos. They may not look like much to you, but to me they are a reminder of the single day that changed my life the most. There was before, and there was after. And we've been measuring time ever since from that day.

And this strikingly handsome young man is just shy of six feet tall. And he baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast for Mother's day.

Happy birthday.

Photos from my trip to Korea

I am back from Korea now, and back in regular old regular work, whatever that looks like. Because I was traveling back last week, I didn't write my weekly post. And I've been delaying writing this week because I have too many photos. So rather than write something deep and profound, I'll just put up some photos.

The first is a photo taken in Seoul. The city of Seoul has about 10 million people, which makes it a lot larger than Melbourne. But there are mountains just rising up out of the city. I visited Seoul National University, and my host recommended that I go on a hike behind the university on my free Saturday. So I went, and it was lovely. It looked like this.

There were tons of people out hiking. They didn't speak English, and I didn't speak Korean. I was trying to match the symbols on my trail map to the symbols on the trail signs, to make sure I went the way I wanted to go to get to the top of the mountain. That was hard. After spending a little time at one sign, I realised I was holding my map upside down. Very pathetic. I suggest you learn a little of the language before you visit a foreign country on your own.

Here I am at the top of the mountain. A nice Korean man took the photo for me. He indicated with gestures that he would be happy to take my phone and run down the mountain. No, I mean to take my photo and then return the phone. And he did. I don't know any of those people there, but they all made it up to the flag like me.

I met a colleague on Sunday and we took an express train across the country to participate in a conference. It was springtime, with flowers blooming. Very lovely. And a lot warmer than I had thought it would be. The temperatures were similar to Melbourne, but it was a lot drier. I didn't need as many layers as I thought I would need.

Spring at Seoul National University

Let's see... I went with the group on an excursion in the area of Pohang. We visited a traditional village.

Saw Korean burial mounds from about 1000 years ago.

 

Me and some burial mounds.

A random couple and the burial mounds.

I don't know who the couple was in the picture above, but they looked super cute, so I took their photo.

We also stopped at a lovely Buddhist temple.

And then we drove to the beach to the Sunrise Plaza, where two huge disembodied hands stretched off to the sky. Very cool.

One hand.

Two hands.

I also have a lot of pictures of food from my phone. Some other Australians and I stopped by the 7-11 in Pohang a couple of times and purchased surprise packages: we chose things off the shelf we could not read at all, then opened them at the hotel to see what was inside.

The candy in the pink package was very tasty. The Dark Chocolat technically had far too many readable symbols on it to have been part of our game, except the description in the corner read "chocolate which melts softly like snow in your mouth" and we had to try that.

We also went to a traditional Korean meal, where we took off our shoes and sat on cushions for a couple of hours. My western legs weren't really up for that. I need to practice sitting cross legged for longer, I guess.

One night we ended up at a Korean barbecue. That was pretty fun. Grill your own meat in the middle of the table.

And then another night we drove back out to the beach and took some fabulous photos of a structure there...

... and ate grilled clams, again cooked there at our table. The grilled clams dinner was just amazing. The food was really, really good. And the presentation was awesome. I haven't enjoyed eating so much for a long long time.

I am going back to Pohang in June, and I am going to make sure I make it back to a restaurant for grilled clams at the beach. Highly recommended.

What else? Back to Seoul on Saturday after the conference. I was with a colleague who is also a friend. She found out that you could rent a traditional Korean dress near the palace. If you wore it to the palace, you got free entry. So I rented a traditional Korean dress.

It was like wearing a giant tent. I looked really really stupid.

But hey! I didn't have to stand in any ticketing lines. We just walked right into one of the palaces in the centre of Seoul.

Of course, we didn't get a map of the palace either, or any info on the history or whatever. But we had fun wandering around taking photos and looking really stupid.

I continued my creepy behaviour of taking pictures of other people. These young ladies looked better in their traditional Korean dresses than I did. So I took their photo while their friend also took their photo.

The day before I left, the leaders of North and South Korea held a historic meeting, for the first time since the 1950s, I think. There was a protest at the train station the next day. But I don't know if it was related, because I didn't speak the language at all. I was dressing up like a giant pink tent rather than paying attention to historic happenings. So pathetic, I know.

Anyhow, I will finish this post with two photos I took in the hotel. I don't know what they say in Korean. I believe the following one is instructing you not to fall on your head. Very good advice.

And I felt like such a rebel taking this one. Somehow I just found it hilarious. The one on the far right says "Please do not take the photo!"

Friends, I took the photo.

Anyway, it was a most enjoyable trip, especially for a work conference. But I'm very happy to be home again.