Happy Pepero Day!

No doubt I’m overdoing it with the blog this weekend, but I wanted to post something positive, lest you think that tripe is the salient theme of our past week. For one thing, we have been acquainting ourselves with Korean literature, and thus far our impression is that it is not tripe, not at all. The short stories we’ve read have been somewhat bleak, with the Japanese occupation and the Korean war standing out as inescapable themes, but very readable and in some cases gripping. The one I read yesterday, “The Cry of the Magpies,” is one of the most intense stories I can remember reading in the past several years. I’m not sure why Korean literature doesn’t have more of an international presence, or maybe it does and I’ve just been ignorant of it. At any rate, look up Yi Sang or Kim Dong-ni if you’re curious. And speaking of war lit, Chris just told me that Norman Mailer died today. I can’t say much about him because I’ve only read The Naked and the Dead – but it did make a huge impression on me, more than any other war book I’ve read.

This week saw an entertaining mini-carnival appear in our Woomi parking lot. Chris bargained for delicious dumplings (with no sweet beans, thankfully) and we discovered a nightie with the thought-provoking slogan, “I [heart] ‘Em Young” (!!?). There was even an ultra-carni kiddie ride that threatened to break free of its bolts at any moment, tossing mini-Koreans all over the residents’ Hyundais. Otherwise, the week was uneventful but not unenjoyable, nothing like the previous one.

Yesterday we had a late-afternoon hike with Susan and Tommy Toms, some of our favorite co-workers and the most dedicated hikers on the faculty. As soon as we got to the summit of our own small mountain (Gwanggyo – we finally learned its name), Susan began hatching plans to connect our area via the wooded wonderland to all kinds of other neighborhoods, so we have our work cut out for us in the coming months. The weather at this point is no deterrent to hiking, and from what we hear it probably won’t be, except for a few frigid weeks in January / February. (And for now, the neighbors continue to keep our apartment about as warm as it was in August.) On the trail, we happened upon some lucky child’s woodland hideaway, where Susan and I were tempted to pocket some of the trinkets (I liked the well-used Grimace figurine best). The Koreans showed us new tricks at the exercise oasis, and I tried to emulate them, with no particular success. We did find some exercise equipment accompanied with detailed instructions and diagrams – see the photo. The woman in the diagrams was doubtless the most voluptuous Korean female ever drawn – we’re not sure where she buys her undergarments or swimwear, but I don’t think it’s at the LotteMart. After the hike, we finished up the evening with a greasy meal at a western-style diner – a pancakes-for-dinner kind of place – which was the perfect antidote for the ghastly provisions of the previous night.

Today is Pepero Day, a Korean holiday that commemorates the alignment of the date and a popular snack (not quite as momentous an occasion as Armistice Day, I think it's safe to say). Peperos are crunchy little sticks of nondescript bread-cookie, half-coated in chocolate (or other flavored dips). They’re pretty good, and since they look like sticks or number 1’s, 11/11 is a logical day to celebrate them. Well, logical if you’re the Pepero company, anyway – a little web searching offered various explanations for the holiday, but I like to believe the one that claimed Lotte (of LotteMart notoriety) invented it. Kids exchange the Peperos sort of like valentines, so we bought a few to give to our homeroom students tomorrow.

Our Pepero Day outing consisted of the short bus ride to Suwon, a city of a million plus people that turns out to be much closer to us than Seoul. The bus ride took less than 20 minutes, and we were dropped off right in the middle of Hwaseong Fortress, the main tourist attraction in Suwon. The fortress walls are a World Heritage site, and a 5.7 kilometer walk takes you around the entire loop, with nice views and plenty of old-meets-new architectural contrast, since the walls surround the modern city center. Hwaseong was built in 1734, and like everything else, was more or less razed by the Japanese, but has been carefully restored. We didn’t pay that much attention to the history, but enjoyed a few hours of leisurely walking and photo-taking in the perfect fall weather. Afterwards we spent a few dollars on the chance to shoot some blunt arrows in “traditional Korean archery” style. Chris was able to call upon his elementary school archery skills, and we both had a good time annoying the angry little fat man who ran the archery field and spent the whole time barking Korean orders and poking at us.

Hope you all had good weekends as well, or are still enjoying yours if you’re in the Western U.S. and haven’t even begun your Sundays yet (how absurd is my weekly bout of jealousy over this fact?). I’ve been procrastinating my lesson planning while writing this entry by perusing other people’s “Life in Asia” blogs, and have remembered that long-windedness is not necessarily a valued blog trait – so, I'm sorry. I’m beginning to annoy even myself with my lack of concision. There’s a goal for next week . . .