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 so, it's a little out of date, but it's a wonderful tale about a lovely garden restaurant that jim and i were treated to over the holidays.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.