Inversions

I received an email from Barb Steers yesterday telling me that Rod had died in the early   morning.  Although I knew he had declined recently, I was still struck by the news of his death.  The finality knocked the air out of me for a while.  Rod was such a good man, a genuine gentleman.  He helped Jim so much with tennis, and they had great laughs together.   As you get old, the loss of the people who lit up your life is harder to take than all the physical and mental diminishments that must be endured.   

This morning I got up at 6:30 to drive to the Kelowna airport to pick up Caroline and Albert.  They came back from Hawaii because Caroline is not feeling well.  Because it’s unclear what is wrong with her and given the cost of all things medical in the USA, they prefer to have the rest of the testing done in Canada.  I was happy to see that Caroline looks well.  Although she doesn’t feel perfect yet, she has stopped losing weight.  So the 3 of us are back rattling around the house, sleeping off and on, getting over jet lag, reorganizing and eating at odd hours.  The weather continues grey and cool.  I left early for the airport because there was talk on the radio of low cloud and mist along the lake.  I wanted to drive very carefully because I was using Al and Caroline’s car.   I seem to have been more concerned about damaging their car than injuring myself.   Tomorrow, we will find time to drive up to ‘the Star’ and catch a little sun, I hope.  Albert has to take their car into the Honda dealership to have new winter tires put on it, and they still have to repack for the drive back to Ottawa where they will experience part of the winter they had hoped to escape in Hawaii.  They will probably continue their winter in the islands in January, by which time all should be settled with Caroline.

Yesterday, I got back to swimming at the Rec. Center followed by coffee with Lusia.  As usual the sauna and steam bath were a highlight, but I missed Korea because the cold shower at the Vernon Rec. Center is not as exhilarating as the freezing waterfall and pool at the Blue Ocean jimjillbong.  I remained overheated until we walked outside into the bracing mists of October without our jackets on.  That felt good.  This season, I’m going back to studying Spanish; Korean has beaten me.  Instead of a language exchange, I’m going to help Lusia prepare for her citizenship test in the spring.

A view of the inversion below from the sunny lunch stop on Pincushion

Another inversion seen from the sunny side, this time on Tuesday's hike up Rose Swanson. 

Another shot of the inversion from Rose Swanson

Thanksgiving

It’s 11:10 am, Wed., Oct 16, and I’m sitting in the customer waiting room at Kelowna Mazda, waiting for the car to have its check up and tire change in preparation for winter.  I discovered when I returned to Vernon that cars must have winter tires on by Oct. 1 if they are going to go on the Coquihalla Highway or up to any of the ski areas, so I made the first appointment I could because I never know when I might have to drive to Victoria.  I certainly will be there for Christmas; I’ve already reserved accommodation at the best B&B in the city, actually the B&T in Vic. West.  Also, skiing might begin early in Nov.   Since I moved here, the earliest I’ve been cross-country skiing is Nov. 15, less than a month away.

Since I arrived home, we’ve had cool, cloudy weather, a bit of rain and some nights when the temperature has gone down to -1 or -2c, but the Thanksgiving long weekend was terrific, sunny and warm.  I went for 2 good hikes and ate 3 Thanksgiving dinners.  I could have had 4 but 2 of my friends lacked the foresight to coordinate their invitations and invited me for the same day.  Mo and Miriam’s dinners were both wonderful, especially because of their variety of vegetable mixtures.  My own Thanksgiving dinner for the Pollocks was the least well done of the 3.  I should have had more variety of veg. and the grain fed bird was tough.  Albert was kind enough to say that at least you knew you were chewing it, whereas the meat on most chickens and turkeys these days is too soft.  His comment reminded me of the cooking disaster I had had at Jay’s.  When we got back from Beijing, the girls were still away, so we bought 3 small chickens and everything needed to make rice-stuffed, slow cooker chicken.  I’d never tried such a thing, but with my usual unwarranted self-confidence, I roared right in.  The chickens were small, so I stuffed 2 of them with a dressing of raw rice, onion, garlic and thyme and then placed them in May’s big slow cooker with carrots, celery and water.  I let them cook for too many hours, and the result was a tasty mush.   I don’t know what the meat would have been like with less cooking, but by the time I took it out of the slow cooker, it was so soft you could have happily downed it without a tooth in your head.  The bones had some texture left, but even they were so soft you could easily have chewed them with loose dentures.  May, Min Hee and I liked the flavor and were able to eat it, but even we had had enough by the time Jay and May’s friend returned from his trip around Korea to spend a night with us before heading off again.  He’s a tall young man with an appetite like David Glovers’; they can eat mass quantities of almost any leftovers.  I offered the last of the mush to him, and he ate it all up.  May and I were happy to get rid of it so easily because wasting it would have upset us, but not as much as eating more of it would have.

Miriam and Bill posing in their kitchen for a 'Canadian Gothic'  Thanksgiving picture.  He's holding the gardening tool Jim fished out of the Gatineau River, and she's testing the turkey for doneness.  It's appropriate because she's a great cook and he loves gardening.

Me pointing at the fresh snow on the distant mountains just before sitting down for lunch on Bluenose, our Sunday hike.

Monday, October 6, 2013

The twice that I have gone to Korea, I have adjusted almost instantly to arriving there, but the return has not been so easy.  It has taken over a week to finally feel at home and in the right time zone.  But by now I’ve seen some good friends, had a bike ride, gone on a hike, worked in the yard, organized a tutoring schedule for my 3 students and tonight I will go to the film club to see a new version of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”  I’m back in the saddle again.  There’s a strong wind blowing leaves around and the sky is getting dark, so fall is here.

It was great to see Caroline and Albert at the Kelowna airport and drive home with them to a house that was in better shape than I had left it.  Caroline had done a lot of work in the yard, in the process of which she discovered how old and inefficient most of my tools are, so she had bought me many new things and a case to carry them in.  I have now experienced the joy of using these tools.  Albert repaired the back leg of the old leather couch that I had moved here more for sentimental reasons than anything else.  When the mover brought it into the house, I saw that the leg was missing but said nothing, as it was old.  I set it in its place under the living room window and put a fat paperback where the leg should have been.  There it was when Albert saw it; now it has a real leg, my dining room chairs have gliders that actually fit them and I finally have an outdoor clothesline.  Good friends are a blessing.

Inside the Blue Ocean Jjimjilbang in Song do, where I spent many a relaxing hour.

Caroline's niece Sharon, about to down her soju at the restaurant in Seoul where she and I enjoyed a delicious lunch.

Caroline and Albert at the Grey Monk Winery near Vernon

One of many teddy bears attached to trees on the trail we walked last Sunday in Myra Bellevue Park in Kelowna

I don't know which came first, the name of the junction or the teddy bears

This is my favourite.  If you push a button, he plays, "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head."

Back in Canada

I’m back in Canada and feeling almost normal as I drink a Tim Horton’s coffee while the 14c. wind blows across the back of my neck.  I’m hunched over the laptop in the tiny hanger where you wait for flights to small towns in BC at the Vancouver airport.  This is not the Incheon airport.  For the first time since June, I’m cold, but as I’ve been too hot so often this summer, either from exertion or weather, I’m enjoying it.  It’s waking me up.  I needed some kind of jolt because we got in at noon Vancouver time, which was 4:00am Korean time, and I don’t fly to Kelowna until 5: 35pm.  It was bucketing rain a few minutes ago, but now it’s just solid grey outside.  Looking over my last pictures of Korea in order to put this final blog together makes me already miss Jay, May and the girls, but I’m also looking forward to seeing the Pollocks at the airport in Kelowna and get back to my friends and life in Vernon.  I just looked up at the tv and saw that Milos Raonic is in the Thailand Open final.  That’s the first story I’ve seen on Canadian tv in a month.

A group of over 300 bikers all dressed alike prepare for a special ride along the Han River

A view of the mountains of Bukansan from the bike path on the Han River

The bikers on their way to cross a bridge on the Han River

A map of some of the paths along the Han

My last bike, much like the first one

One of 3 indoor driving ranges I saw on my last bike ride

Korean men are big drinkers.  If you click on the picture, you will see that this man has his soju strapped to the carrier behind the seat of his bike.

Windsurfers on the Han

Chuseok in Song do

We arrived home in time to finish our Chuseok shopping at EMart.  I had seen a waveboard on one of the first days I was in Inscheon, and when the girls said that they had done it in the Philippines, I got the idea of buying them one for Chuseok.   This time our shopping mission was an instant success.  We returned to the apartment and set the scene.  Jay had kept the bright little boxes from our Peking Duck dinner; he carefully rolled his Chuseok money for each of the girls and placed it in a box with a little note.  We arranged everything, had a cold beer and snack and went to bed.  Sunday was festive.  We all went to one of their favorite Shabu shabu restaurants for dinner.  The Korean version is much like the Japanese, but at the end they mix cooked rice, egg and some squash with the stock that remains after all the beef and vegetables are cooked. After letting it cook a bit, you eat it.  Delicious!  When we got home, we took the waveboard and roller blades to Hedegi Park?? ( Sunrise Park), a short walk from home.  May and I walked the path while Jay and the girls played with the toys.  Jay was surprisingly good on the waveboard, which looks like a figure 8-shaped skateboard, divided in the middle so it twists and you make it move by rotating your body and moving your back foot, or some combination of contortions that I would never even try. 

Everyone went back to school on Monday, and I continued to entertain myself in Seoul and Incheon.  It was a lovely fall week with only one day of rain, Tuesday, when I happily stayed home, read and wrote the blog.  On Monday and Wednesday I took the subway back to Seoul and biked for 4 hours each day on different paths along the Hangang River and some smaller waterways that flow into it.  It was great.  On Thursday I spent hours in the Blue Ocean JJimjilbang.  Friday was another day in Seoul where I met Caroline’s niece, Sharon.  I had just found out on Monday when she emailed me that she was in Seoul for a conference.  I took the subway to the Hyatt, where she was staying.  We went by shuttle from there to Itaewon, looked around that part of Seoul, shopped and shared a bottle of soju and a typically Korean lunch.  I went out at night with Jay, May and some of his colleges for more soju, a tasty grilled fish and kim chee soup.  So my last full day in Korea was truly Korean.  This morning we had a big breakfast, Jay and I went for out last walk in Sunrise Park and then May and Jay came with me to the airport, where I now sit.  They have just announced that the flight will be boarding 15 minutes later than scheduled because of ‘flight connection’ problems. 

Jin Hee finds her Chuseok money

Min Hee with her Chinese box of Chuseok money

Us with the gifts

May prepares the Shabu shabu as Jay eagerly awaits it

Min Hee with the things she will cook in the other pot of broth

Jay in his Pilipinas jacket, holding a bottle of Bagoon and May in a Canada hoodie, holding a bottle of maple syrup.

Peking Duck

Some of Jay’s Korean friends had told him that the food in Beijing was bad, but we ate well.  On Wednesday after a shopping trip that was an unqualified failure, we had one of the best meals I’ve eaten in my life.  I didn’t want to leave Beijing without eating Peking

Duck, so before even leaving Vernon, I had chosen 2 restaurants that were recommended in Lonely Planet Beijing.  One of them was closer to our hostel than the other, so I asked the really helpful people at the front desk of the Peking Yard about taking a taxi there.  The young man told me and then mentioned that there was a very good restaurant within walking distance.  He said his boss always took visiting family and friends there for the duck.  As Jay and I were on the shanks’ mare tour, this seemed just the thing.  We invited a German girl we had met on the first hike to the Great Wall to join us.  Hua’s Restaurant turned out to be on the brightly lit, big avenue that Jay and I had walked along on our first night in Beijing.  Jay spotted the sign and a waiter who was stationed by the door quickly sensed our interest and approached us.   Like our hostel, the entrance on the street was not large, but the restaurant was a maze of rooms, kitchens and yards that extended back a long way.  We followed him to a beautiful open area with trees, about 4 tables and rooms around the sides.  The moon was full above the branches and the atmosphere perfect for the Moon Festival.  Our waiter, Walter, was helpful and friendly.  The succulent duck was carved by a man in a white cook’s hat who stood just behind us, and the pieces cunningly arranged under the finely sliced, crispy skin before it was placed on the table.  I had read in the guide about a few restaurants that served Peking Duck ‘lite’ to accommodate those who like that sort of thing, but I don’t.  I had also read somewhere that those who like Peking Duck, like the skin the most, and after eating it, I now know why.  Walter showed us how to take a paper-thin pancake, open it on your hand, spread one of 3 sauces on it, add meat, skin and assorted vegetables and fruits and finally fold it into a morsel that can be eaten in 2 bites.  Delicious!  Along with it we had rice, snow pea greens and a wonderful eggplant and pork dish.  I thought of the dinners Jim and I used to have with Al and Caroline and Mela and Don.  It was a very good evening.

The following day, Thursday, was the real day of the Moon Festival.  I joined many other people who were staying at the hostel in the making of dumplings.  We had 2 big bowls of ground pork mixed with spices and chopped green onions and piles of round wrappers.  Our chief instructor was one of the staff, who also cleans rooms and does many other tasks there, but her real skill is dumpling making.  None of us even approached her skill.  In under a minute, she could sculpt a dumpling that looked like a perfect French braid.  When they were cooked and finally presented with the other dishes on the buffet table, it was a laugh to see the variety of failures and her perfect works scattered among them.  Jay and I went for a walk in the neighborhood and under the full moon after dinner.  I went early to bed, and he went out with others from the hostel.

Now I have written about the highlights of the holiday.  It was everything I had hoped it would be.  Jay and I traveled well together, and I was happy to spend so much time with him.  We haven’t lived together in years, let alone share a room in a hostel.

On Saturday morning we ate a good breakfast in the hostel and went for a final walk around the hutong.     

The carving of the duck

About to begin eating the duck

For dessert we were given sliced melons and oranges and these little pastry birds in boxes

The best looking door on our street

A car parked on our street.  We wondered why some cars had this board and brick tire-covering system.  I finally asked the young man at the desk in the hostel.  He asked me to guess, and when I was wrong twice, told me it was to keep dogs from peeing on the tires.

If you click on this picture it will get bigger and you will see that the gold letters read, Kindergarten of Ministry of Finance.  No wonder China is taking over the world economy; they begin their training early.

This is where you will work if you don't go to the Kindergarten of the Ministry of Finance.

One of thousands of such conveyances that move goods around the hutongs.

Jay puts a last bandage on his foot on the final day of the shanks' mare tour of Beijing.

The National Museum of China

Jay and I spent Tuesday time-traveling through China in the National Museum of China on Tian’anmen Square, and all for free.  You just have to show your passport and have your bags and body scanned every time you enter.  Jay did lose his lighter and quite a few others as a result of security scans on our trip.  We could understand them fearing fire in the forest around the Great Wall or in the Forbidden City, which burned frequently, but the museum was built entirely of stone and marble. It took us until we were starving for lunch just to tour the basement, which is the part I most wanted to see because it has artifacts dating from before Peking Man to the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.  After reading Peter Hessler’s book, Oracle Bones, I wanted to see examples of the first known writing in China, which was found on flat bone and turtle plastrons (the bottom shell) dating from the Shang Dynasty (16^th to 11^th centuries BC).   We saw those and many more wonderful things.  Then we had to leave the museum to get something to eat because a guard had told us that the cafeteria was closed because of a conference.  We later discovered that a little lunchroom was open but by then it was too late.  We walked a few blocks into a shopping area, turned onto a side street and sat down to a beer and dumplings.  It was good to eat and rest our legs.  We returned to the museum to visit the area Jay wanted to see, the history of China from 1911 to the present, the fall of the Qing Dynasty to Hu Jintao.  Much of it was not translated into English, but there were many pictures and artifacts, and from the parts that were translated you could get a pretty good idea of the Chinese perspective, most of which was understandable but not exactly what we in the west have been told.  Socialism with Chinese characteristics, which is the way the Chinese refer to their present state is interesting to ponder because we hear mostly about bribes, corruption, lack of freedom and human rights abuses, which undeniably exist, but it’s a vast and heavily populated country and some things seem to be working.  Jay kept commenting on the fact that the people we saw in the street and in our hostel looked more relaxed and happy and were more helpful to foreigners than most Koreans are.  Also they don’t seem to be as obsessed with their appearance and with wearing American brand name clothes as Koreans and most Westerners are.  Jay noticed right away that the Chinese are not as obviously addicted to their mobile devices as the Koreans are.  As soon as he mentioned it I realized it was true; I thought of it again today as I rode the subway into Seoul to go biking.  In a full car, I could count on the fingers of two hands the number of people who were not on their devices and they were mostly sitting in the 6 seats at the back of the car reserved for people over 60.  

This felt hat made me think of Micheline.  It shows how ancient her craft is (Western Han Dynasty 202BC-8AD), and it might inspire her to include some feathers and a few hat pins in her next design.

A painted stone Buddha/ Oriental Venus de Milo dating from the Northern Qi Dynasty

I loved this little lady, so peaceful and yet colourful.  The pottery in the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) was some of my favourite.

The Quinlong Emperor who was so scornful of Marcartney's 'tribute'.