Dichroic Reflections

wrapping up

We got to sleep at around 6 last night, and slept until Rudder the masochist got
up for rowing at 4 (well, I slept on and off until almost 7) so I think the jet
lag is almost over. I'm completely unpacked -- Rudder got his done last night,
which inspired me so that I actually unpacked all my stuff instead of leaving it
sitting around as usual. And I even have my laundry in progress. Not as far along
as I thought, though, since I've just realized I didn't turn on the dryer.

The job front looks good, too -- I got several calls while I was
away, returned a few of them, and should really be making more calls instead of
doing this. I have another interview set up for Tuesday already -- the job sounds
great; the only drawback would be way too long a commute. It's right next to a
small airport, though, so maybe I'll just get a little used plane and fly to work,
like Rudder's always saying I should do.

Now, back to Korea
reporting...

The Folk Village we went to on Tuesday was very well done. They
didn't appear to have anything special going on for the lunar new year, though; in
fact, the crowds were bigger but they may have had fewer living history demos than
usual. At least, there were fewer than I expected. This was the first chance we'd
gotten to see the smaller thatched-roof houses ordinary Koreans used to live in.
We'd seen several represented in museum pictures and dioramas, but even in the
small towns near we drove through on Monday and Tuesday, they seem to be a thing
of the past. Richer people had tile roofs, similar to those in the palaces and
temples.

The oddest thing about Korean architecture was its
uniformity. Every palace and every temple we saw was decorated in the same style,
with the same exact colors. Here's one of the best, Gyangbokkung in Seoul, with a
close-up of its roof decoration:

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0>

They were all like that, with stylized lotus tiles on the end of
the roof beams and the same shade of green used everywhere.

It was
good to see Rudder's cousins again, too. They put us up for four days, giving us a
taste of military life and an insight into life with three children. In return, we
dragged them out to a temple and the Folk Village, things they hadn't yet done
through the inertia of family life and chores. I think we wore out the kids, and
probably the parents too. These are the ones I've mentioned before. They had
stayed with us a few times, when they flew out of our local airport. Staying with
them gave us a better view of the girls --they're not ideal children by any means,
and the younger one especially has a distinctly me-centered view of the world. On
the other hand, that's probably par for the course at four years old, and the
parents have really done a wonderful job getting the kids to be reasonably
mannerly and not sulky. They're worried about the baby, who's not yet talking at
one and a half. It's early to worry, of course, but he does seem to be fairly
unresponsive for his age. They're planning to have tubes put in his ears, which
may help.

It was odd to be in a country where people are so, so
polite to visiting Americans. Possibly that's because the Korean War is still so
strongly felt (technically, it's still on; they never signed a peace but only an
armistice). Anyway, people were very welcoming and helpful. People from Rudder's
company who have lived there have actually found it easier to deal with than
Europe, because shops are everywhere and are open late and on weekends. We had a
fairly easy time getting around, though having a hotel concierge was certainly a
large factor in that. Also, all of the public signs, on highways, in subways, and
everywhere else, were in English as well as Korean, and often Japanese, too.
Announcements on the subways were in all three languages. I'm not sure whether
this was because of the number of current tourists, a holdover from the Seoul
Olympics, or in anticipation of the upcoming soccer World Cup, which will be split
between Japan and Korea this month.

Korea had never been especially
high on my list of places to see; I went because I had the free time and it was an
opportunity to go at very low cost. I don't believe in missing opportunities like
that. I would recommend it, though, to anyone with a yen for travel.