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.

In Korea

I am in Korea this week. It is my first time in Korea ever.

In case you have never experienced it, it can be very scary to be all by yourself in a country you've never been to. Where you don't speak the language. Where you can't even read the street signs. Where the basic unit of money is not a dollar or a pound or even 100 cents, but is measured in multiples of 1000. My taxi cost 80,000 won. I think that was about 80 dollars. I withdrew 300,000 units from the ATM. I have never ever withdrawn 300,000 anythings from an ATM, and I tell you it is terrifying to see that number on the screen and click "yes, I really mean it -- really take out 300,000 of them." And then clutch your heart and hope that your account isn't overdrawn.

It is very scary to be in a place where nothing you read makes any sense at all. For example, the following sign is posted on the wall of my hotel bathroom.

I cannot make any sense of that. The first two lines are completely unreadable. The second two lines seem to say, "Please put toilet paper into the trash bin." But that doesn't make any sense. Because toilet paper? That bin is unlined, guys. They can't really mean all toilet paper, can they? I mean, the used paper? Wouldn't that, um, stink a little? But do you think maybe there is a plumbing problem, and if I don't follow the instructions on that sign, then there will be worse things coming out of the bathroom than stink?

This is what I mean. It is really, really scary to be all by yourself in a place where you can't make any sense of the instructions printed on the bathroom wall.

You know, if the pipes are big enough to accommodate the solid waste that I am putting into the toilet, I am going to guess that the pipes can accommodate a little toilet paper too. So that sign cannot make any sense.

Speaking of toilets, the hotel toilet is amazing. The first thing you notice when you use it -- every single time  -- is that the seat is heated. You wouldn't think that would make such a difference in life, especially when the bathroom isn't cold to start with. But it makes a difference. Wow. I could sit there all night.

And then you notice the buttons on the side of the toilet.

Zoom in a little:

I cannot read the instructions on my toilet. There is a square, a bum made out of raindrops, a bum made out of raindrops with an traffic cone on it, three waves, a baby with AUTO printed over its head, some greater-than and less-than signs, and then random symbols and a fan. 

Since I could not make any sense of the other buttons, I tried the button AUTO first. And wow, guys. AUTO is amazing. AUTO means a warm-water massage while you receive the world on your heated throne. Followed by a little blow dry. AUTO was totally totally awesome! I cannot recommend AUTO highly enough.

And I think AUTO may also help us to reach a compromise with the toilet paper situation. After AUTO has done his work, less toilet paper is required. But lest you get the wrong idea, some toilet paper is definitely still required. And that toilet paper is definitely not going into the bin after being needed in that way. I don't care what that sign says in the bathroom.

Colder

The weather has taken a turn towards cold. Colder, at least. It was rainy this weekend, with the high never popping over 20 degrees centigrade. Doing a little mathematics (divide by 5, times 9, plus 32) that's... almost 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It didn't feel like almost 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It felt cold. I pulled out our winter down comforter and wore cozy sweaters and socks around the house.

Up the street, there was construction.

It's one of the same projects I described last week.

A couple more days, and the trams will be running again. But the new train line will be under construction for years. Even so, we don't really get much noise from where we live. As long as the trams go back to normal, things should be good.

Public transport

We survived the first week of School Holidays. And we are mostly in good shape.

These are the holidays of the Great Public Transit expansion. The city is working on all the train and tram lines at once, it seems.

For the next week and a half, there will be no trams on the stretch of road in front of our house, while digging begins on a new train station that will be located just up the street.

And there are no trains running on my usual train line, while they move the rail lines high above the road to free up traffic congestion.

All these improvements will be lovely when they are eventually finished (a sign said 2026 for the new train station). But it is somewhat annoying to have all our usual transit routes unavailable all at the same time.

So what have we been doing about it? More walking.

Walking to shopping, walking to outings, walking. Lucky for us we are in good health. And the weather has been perfect -- not too hot, not too cold. Although with the recent time change the evenings are very dark again.

We will endure. Soon after Jonathan goes back to school for term 2, the trams will be running again.

***

On Monday, we went to see the movie Ready Player One, and watched all the credits. This time, we found two people we know in them -- Collette and cousin Heidi! Way to go, people we know. We feel extra cool to know you and to find your names in the movie credits while we're on the other side of the ocean from you.

And more excitement: right as we left the movie, the casino was running its fire show.

Happy flames to you.

Out and about

Happy Easter weekend.

Last Friday, Good Friday, was the second most major holiday in Australia. There are only two days per year that certain museums, shops, etc close. One is Christmas. The other is Good Friday. (Not Easter.) We all had the day off. And we get Monday off as well. Jonathan's school holidays have now started, and he gets two weeks away from school. I have one week of semester break, then one final week of teaching, and then I hand off the lecturing to someone else for the second half of the semester. That's another crazy thing that happens here: half semester teaching gigs. It's convenient though, because I'll be attending a big pile of conferences in the second half of the semester, and I don't have to find substitutes for teaching.

So what have we done with our few days of freedom?

We talked about booking a car and driving somewhere, but the roads out of town were expected to be busy. And it sounded more fun and relaxing to hang out at our house with a big pile of novels and just read through the weekend, taking occasional breaks for fresh air and walking. So that's what we've done. So far, I'm 3/4 of the way through a trilogy. And I've walked a few times around the park out the back. Yesterday we took a tram to a different park a little closer to the central business district, and walked around it for a change of scenery. Here is a picture of Jonathan against different scenery.

It was sunny -- a warm and lovely autumn day.

Yes, Jonathan really is that tall.

And a fuzzy picture of me near one of the park's water features.

Today, Tim and I walked to the Botanic gardens. This gorgeous tree was covered in large pink flowers -- in autumn. I couldn't find its name. Anyone know what it is?

And this one was called a dragon tree.

I love the botanic gardens. Probably one of my favourite places in this entire city. I'm happy to be able to walk there on a quiet Easter weekend.