Blog 31 - 1st November

As Seoul prepares for the G20 on 11th and 12th November, these women are not demonstrating but are government sponsored to tell everyone to drive safely for the G20. Now that our car is fixed, we'll be sure to obey!

Our second try to go to the countryside was successful and we found our way to Heyri, an artist's village about one hour to the north of Seoul. We spent a wonderful autumn day wandering around galleries and drinking coffee. Here is the link
http://www.heyri.net/eng/heyri_info.asp?depth1=1&depth2=1&InfoTab=Info

Parts of Heyri felt more like Scandinavia or Europe than Korea, apart from the kimchi pots!

We were invited to the ex-President's traditional hanok house for a garden dinner by Societas Koreana. The son of the ex-President was born here and gave a wonderful speech about traditional architecture that was pitched perfectly for laypeople. It looked like a wedding with candles and flowers arranged on our tables.

Here is our local gardening shop! Even though this old woman speaks no English, we manage to be her best customers. She adds everything up and we hand her some money, trusting that she has given us a fair price. This is how we do lots of our shopping here and although it may sound naive, Koreans do not seem to charge foreigners extra. We were most impressed with her cupboard filing system!

Today is the nine month anniversary of this blog that had its beginning on 1st Feb. How time flies when you're having fun!

Blog 30 - 17th October

I have two different stories to report - one happy and one sad. The first three photos are of a photography class I attended, hosted by SIWA (Seoul International Women's Association) and led by professional fine art photographer Mihe Shin. Can you notice how my photography skills have improved? Here is the link http://www.siwapage.com Check out the amazing array of activities and events to cater for everyone!



We were guided around Buckon Dong, a traditional area with hanoks, old Korean houses, followed by a wonderful dinner at a modern Italian restaurant overlooking rooftops.

I have showed photos of traffic in previous posts, however this time it has more meaning as we have recently purchased a car. Hooray! Our lives have been transformed as we enjoy a new freedom. It is a 14 year old Hyundai with 223,000 kilometers on the clock. Damien's colleague offered it to us for AU$100 as an alternative to the wreckers. We have been successfully negotiating driving on the other side of the road (i.e. the right) and avoiding the 10 million crazy Seoul drivers. Until today!

We had planned a trip to the countryside and set off with map and provisions early Sunday morning to avoid the traffic. Here is our lovely car, broken down on the side of the road. We had planned to leave it and return tomorrow, however the police had other ideas! After a fruitless drive around the neighbourhood in the police car, searching for open car repair places, (us in the back seat with no handles on the doors!) the police kindly phoned our insurance company and in a few minutes the tow truck arrived. To add some fun and another layer of complexity, all these interactions were in Korean , however , the young policewoman had some English which was an amazing help.

And so we wait with baited breath to see the outcome after business opens tomorrow.

Repair work had just been completed on Friday by the Hyundai service center. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode.

Blog 29 - 3rd October

Since my last posting Damien and I have returned unexpectedly to Australia for Damien's mother's funeral. Muriel was 91 and died peacefully on 18th September. Here she is pictured at Portland, Victoria in 1953 on the far left with cousins Dorothy, Bernard, Kevin and Brian and her own children, Damien (sitting in front of his Mum) Geraldine, Jacinta, Anne Maree, Julian and Carol plus their grandmother and her sister Mary.

Fast forward to now with Dorothy lunching with Judy who kindly chauffeured me 3 hours from Melbourne to Warrnambool. Thanks Judy. We had been so looking forward to her husband Michael visiting us in Seoul. As it turned out Michael had our whole apartment to himself for a week!

Mureil was buried at Tower Hill Cemetery, near the famous volcano on a cold and windy Warrnambool day.

The funeral was followed by suitable feasting at Nonna Casalinga. Here are the seven Mugavins with partners.

An added bonus was seeing Jacob and Dominic, two of our sons, who travelled from Canberra and Adelaide respectively.

A visit to Warrnambool would not be complete without a brisk walk along the beach!

An unexpected passenger and co-driver on our road trip back to Adelaide was Damien's cousin Kevin whose Blue Tadpole Wog Boy Car (yes - his car has this name!) was dying of thirst - the water pump broke. Here he is photographing water on the Coorong with Damien. Which way is the water??

Travelling back to Adelaide we spotted a long long row of dead foxes on a farm fence. Feel free to look at Kevin's wonderful photos (with his permission)
http://gallery.me.com/kevinrooney11/100061

More family reunions and more eating and drinking with my family once we returned to Adelaide!

Visiting Australia now in spring time and walking with Spook along our river was wonderful. Stay posted for autumn photos of Korea.

Blog 28 - 19th September

Our most recent visitors were two Australian sisters, Hannah, who is living in New Zealand and Emily from Canberra. They are the daughters of Ronis, a past guest editor on this esteemed blog and ex-neighbours from Koolaman Street.

We spent ages wandering in the rain around Bukchon Dong and accidentally stumbled across a small workshop making Korean knots and watched the three women chatting and working.

The Seoul Museum of Chicken Art was a wonderful surprise with hundreds of chickens and artwork of chickens form all over the world including Africa, Australia and Europe. A welcome respite after the pouring rain. Here is the link http://www.kokodac.com/html/about/chicken.htm

Emily and I wandered a bit further to see the World Jewelry Museum however it was closed. here it is anyway for those who are looking for it in Jongro Gu . www.wjmuseum.com

Those who have visited us will be familiar with Hoam House restaurant across the road. Check out the dishes that accompany bibmbap. Something to look forward to for future visitors. Here we are with Stephanie who is living and studying in Beijing and squeezed in to our apartment for a few nights too. She crept in at 3.00am and we woke to a surprises packet of German muesli from China for breakfast.

On 11th September we went on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone. The grey building in the background is in North Korea where North Korean military, equipped with binoculars were watching our every move.

Here our friendly ROK (Republic of Korea) army are protecting us!

The view into North Korea from the armistice site. Our US Army guides had to memorize a 14 page script describing the landmarks of the DMZ and take up to 3 tours a day. This is their job! What fun!

This monument is commemorating the armistice ending the Korean War in 1953. Below is the exact place of the border between North and South Korea. The microphones on the table are monitored 24/7 and the United Nations flag marks the spot. No - the soldier is not a dummy! He is for real. We resisted the temptation to buy a doll like him in the army tourist shop.

On a slightly lighter note, we attended the Korean International Art Fair at COEX. The UK is host this year and Australia will be host next year. This means that instead of four Australian galleries there will be many many more. Here is the date - put it in your diaries for a visit!

Following a visit to Friends meeting house and chocolate cake in the nearby grounds of EWHA Woman's University, we ate a last meal traditional Korean style on the floor with other Quakers. Of course a Korean experience is not complete without a taste of Makoli (rice wine pictured in the green bottle)

Our balcony is looking much more lush after Damien's Fathers Day gift of plants.