the lost file: a secret (korean) garden

this is a story i started writing about in December, and I apparently never finished. so, it's a little out of date, but it's a wonderful tale about a lovely garden restaurant that jim and i were treated to over the holidays. so, here you go:

**************************************************

about two weeks ago, jim's student, Swan, and her mom invited us out for lunch. at first, i thought she might be inviting us out to their farm as jim had told me all about the stories Swan has shared in their class. Now, Swan is about 6 years old. She doesn't have the most awesome reading and writing skills, but her speaking skills are more polished than most of our older students. She can tell a story with a serious dramatic edge (apparently the Halloween ghost story she told scared the pants off the kids) and is rather precocious for her age to say the least. She's got style, too. She knows what she likes and what she doesn't, and she's not afraid to tell you. She the kind of kid who talks to adults like she's one of you. And sometimes, I wonder if she secretly is.

But alas, no trip to the farm. Just a date to be picked up and taken off to lunch somewhere in the city. So, we made a plan for last Wednesday, election day. Swan and her little friend, a boy who is 5 and seems to have grown up with her, came to our door to pick us up. They were pretty hysterical. The boy whose name I can't remember was carrying a small blue lunch box which I would later find out didn't have any lunch in it at all, but rather was filled with treasures from his adventures of being 5. plastic toys, rocks, feathers, crayons, etc.

We were taken to a restaurant pretty far out of Gwangju. It's a galbi (bbq) place that doubles as a botanical garden. We arrived and headed into the garden to wait for our table. We immediately entered into this incredibly warm, incredibly lush, incredibly gorgeous greenhouse garden. In the maze of paths we discovered small traditional wooden huts with benches where people were sitting having a picnic and kids were climbing every which way. There were beds of tulips in bloom, giant tropical birds of paradise, star gazer lilies, and fabulous wooden folk sculptures nestled in between the vegetation. The kids jumped and zig-zagged over and around rocks and bushes. In one corner, we found a small pond with a water pipe fountain. The pipe seemed to be floating in mid-air, water spilling perpetually from its spout. It was nearly impossible to see, but a mirror covered the wall behind this fountain, creating the illusion before us. We found a desert garden full of agave and prickly pear. And we even found sage, rosemary and mint! Incredible. We've never been able to lay our hands on mint in Gwangju. I had hoped to grow some in our garden, but it never really worked out with the winter and all.

After taking in the garden, we headed into the restaurant and enjoyed a really lovely meal with the kids and the moms. It was an awesome day. I hope to get back there again before I leave.

cheese

a trip to the local Lotteria, the Korean fast food chain. who doesn't want clowns and turkeys looming above them in a pseudo-50's diner setting while enjoying a squid burger? please, tell me, who??!!

a holiday soiree

so, last saturday, we had quite the holiday bash at our place. it was apparently "the best party our apartment has ever seen" according to some long-timers. i didn't realize it until everyone was in one place, but we have a rather lovely collection friends over here in korea. foreigners and koreans. americans, canadians, aussies, kiwis, brits (scots and englishmen), poles, egyptians, folks from north carolina, la, chicago, pennsylvania, maryland, and oakland. we were told more than once that people met the most interesting people at our party, that people were sad they had to leave to go to some stupid party they had agreed to go to, that nowhere had they met such a fascinating mix of people at a foreigner's party. you know, we're pretty awesome people. is it any surprise that we've amassed a group of totally awesome friends? we did it in the states...why not here? it was a pretty damn good party, if i do say so myself:)

highlights of the event included having our own professional photographer to document the evening--our friend Seol Je (photos coming soon, so keep an eye out); a bottle of rumplemintz complete with an actual candy cane shot glass (not exactly a "highlight" but a bizarre addition to the party mix); and a rousing game of spud humper. now, i'm not sure how many of you may remember our fabulous new year's eve last year when we spent the evening with some old friends of mine from my mexico days eating cioppiono and playing this crazy game on a farm in petaluma, but let me explain.

the game involves tying a potato around your waist by a long string such that the tater hangs between your legs, just about 2 inches from the ground. a light object, like an empty cigarette box is placed on the ground. you and a competitor must swing the potato through your legs, hitting the box all the way across a room to the finish line using only the thrust of your hips. no hands, boys and girls. so, you can imagine the hilarity. and though the photos don't do it justice, you can check them out along with this video of one of the most talented players yet winning with an excellent "one shot, one kill" all the way across the room.

it was a great party. and it made me really happy to see how many amazing friends we've made here. i spent the next couple of days actually wishing that we could just go back to the party. it really was so fun. and feeling something that i never imagined would be possible here--that when I leave, i will be so sad to say goodbye to all these wonderful people. BUT i'm not gone yet!

just another thing to make living in the moment such a very valuable thing.

we're off to China on saturday. expect a bit of blogging between our misadventures, a spa treatment at an amazing place called zenspa outside of beijing, a trek to the great wall, an art gallery crawl to a huge Bauhaus factory turned art exhibition space, and many, many, many good meals.

happy early 2008!

~catie

a sobering opinion

i haven't posted much of anything political on this blog as of yet. but this morning, when i sat down to check email, i saw that benazir bhutto had been assassinated while we were asleep. the situation in pakistan is one that we've been following pretty closely (or at least i have via jim who reads several international papers every day). a week or so ago, i finally got to a July issue of the New Yorker with this excellent article about Asma Jahangir, a human rights lawyer in Pakistan:

Letter from Pakistan: Days of Rage

Today, while scrolling through Gawker of all places, I found a link to the Wonkette site (the Gawker D.C. syndicate) and this very powerful op-ed concerning the editorial decisions about photographs of the carnage from the suicide bombing attack. **The photos in this piece are very graphic, so be warned. But they're all the way at the end, so you can read this without actually seeing the photos if you choose to.

Before and After the Assassination, in Photos

the story of stuff

what an opportune time of year to come across this fabulous 20 min video about all our STUFF. it's a great perspective on some things we need some perspective on. check it out when you get the chance. and share it with everyone you know!

The Story of Stuff

merry merry from korea!

just a little shout out to all you good folks around the world for the holidays. sending you all lots of love.

we worked today at school. yeah. christmas eve. kids in korea only get christmas day off. that's it. so it was santa con time at the school. jim and i, along with a handful of other teachers, got to play santa for the kids in the school. a seriously whirlwind, running up and down three floors of the school, delivering presents to every boy and girl in our school. surreal. and here are some choice shots of us. can you tell who's who??


here's a shot of the tree i created in our living room out of a discarded trellis that we found on the sidewalk. i love it. it's really ghetto and crafty.

and last, but certainly not least, a shot of us at our holiday party at our place this past saturday. it was a serious hit. people claim it's the best party our apartment has ever seen. it was awesome to have all our friends in one place. we've collected a pretty fabulous set of friends here--koreans and foreigners alike. this is a shot of me and jim with our friends seol je and young jeong along with their friend.

missing you all very much. happy holidays!

xoxo

catie

election day

so, today is a day off for us. today is the presidential election. it is expected that candidate Lee Myung-bak will be elected. he's pretty conservative force, part of the GNP (that's Grand National Party), much more conservative than the current administration. The kicker is that he, like many a political candidate, has been under scrutiny for shady business dealings. The investigation was conducted by members of his own party who, amazingly, found that nothing was amiss. But the opposition has demanded an independent re-investigation. Last Friday, there was an actual brawl among lawmakers.

Check out the video!

"The fight started after GNP members barricaded themselves inside the National Assembly's main chamber with tables and chairs.

Prosecutors said last week they found no evidence that Lee, the front-runner in South Korea's presidential race, was an accomplice in a stock price manipulation case - an outcome expected to cement his lead in this month's vote."

an evening with friends

jim and i have been lucky enough to meet two very talented and very fabulous artists in gwangju who have become new friends. we met them at the festival downtown when jim's mom was here, and we've managed to meet up a few times since then. Young Jeong is a fabric designer and site installation artist. Seol Je is a photographer. both have great talent. jim and Seol Je have been talking about making a book together: jim's poetry and Seol Je's images. should be very cool. Young Jeong will have an exhibition in Daegu beginning on December 27th. I took some shots of the work she will display. I'm in love with these pieces. Delicate, ethereal, beautiful.




we spent the evening eating samgipsol, drinking soju, chatting about art in seattle, new delhi (where they were in January), jakarta (where they will go in February), new york. their little dogs, mochi (big ears) and luki (fluffy white ball) bounced from their home in the suitcase to our feet walking deftly on their hind legs in search of some treats. young jeong used our korean koddodi cards to read our fortune. it was all wonderful. and all in their art studio. i fell in love with that, too. bookshelf bulging with magazines and art books and remnants of this and that. thread, oil paints, dress models, canvases, plants everywhere. photos, patio umbrella in the middle of the room painted with little scenes of korea.

our holiday party!

our party! if you're in ko-rea, come on over.