mgedwards – Page 281

Namsan Hanok Village

Today we said goodbye to our good friend Trudy who came to visit us for a few days. She’s on her way now back to the U.S. to stay for a month. Before she left, we took her to Namsam Hanok Village, a place filled with traditional Korean architecture. After having spent most of her time visiting Seoul’s many markets, she wanted a glimpse of something very different. We wanted to take her to the Korean Folk Village south of Seoul, but we didn’t have time. I didn’t even know about Namsan Hanok Village until I heard about it this morning. It’s a gem of a place near downtown Seoul on the northern flank of Namsan, the mountain crowned by Seoul Tower. It’s a welcome alternative to the palaces, markets, and shopping centers one can visit ad nauseum in Seoul. The simplicity of the homes gathered in this village, surrounded by lush greenery, is calming and serene. When we visited, the Seoullites were not yet out in full force. A lack of people added to pleasantry of the place. I posted several photos of the village for your viewing pleasure.

According to Lonely Planet, Namsan Hanok Village is a group of authentic, historic homes moved from their original locations around Seoul and deposited together in a single location. Consolidating treasures may seem a bit contrived, almost artificial. However, I appreciate that Seoul had the foresight to preserve these treasures in one accessible location. Egypt consolidated two temples at Abu Simbel to avoid submerging them when it built Aswan Dam and created Lake Nasser. Consolidating is much better than submerging, demolishing or giving away historic treasures. Namsan Hanok Village is a hidden treasure. It is not well advertised and is not prominently displayed in any Korea guide book I’ve seen. If you visit Seoul and don’t have time to visit one of any of the traditional Korean villages located throughout the country, be sure to make a trip to Namsan Hanok Village. It’s free too. The Joseon Dynasty period boy and girl mascots roaming the village are a bit over the top, but my son found them fascinating and let us take a picture of him with them.

I had more trouble with technology today. It seems as if every time I buy a new piece of technology I run into trouble. I haven’t boughten any new electronics for awhile, so I almost forgot the frustrating feeling that comes with troubleshooting technology. I do DVD conversion as a hobby (transferring VHS and digital video formats to DVDs), and I needed an easy way to upload VHS video footage to my computer. I have all the pieces I need to create DVDs, and I’ve done it successfully in the past. I grew tired of borrowing the living room VCR, so I thought I would buy a cheap VCR to use exclusively with my computer. I bought a VCR from Wal-Mart.com for $39.99. The VCR is fine, but there’s a compatibility problem between the VCR and my computer. I use a converter called Dazzle DVC 80 that connects electronics such as VCRs to computers. The video streams from the VCR to computer via Dazzle just fine, but the audio isn’t working. As a result, when I upload video footage and play, it plays like a silent movie. That just won’t do. I think it’s because the Dazzle DVC 80 has dual left-right audio inputs, while the VCR I bought has a single audio input. I have to do some research to figure out what I need to do to fix the problem. The Dazzle DVC 80 also has an S-video input, so I may have to pay a little more for a VCR with an S-video output. The most frustrating thing is that this always seems to happen. I buy a new gadget, open the box, flip the switch, and it doesn’t work. That’s technology for you. It’s your best friend and worst enemy.

Gender difference of opinions?

I shared the idea of going to Papua New Guinea on a three-month assignment with a few people I know and trust. I wanted to see whether they thought taking this assignment was a good idea or a bad idea. Again, the assignment isn’t mine by any means. However, if I’m convinced I should take it, I can lobby hard for it at work. I have a great chance of getting it if I want it. The assignment has both positives and negatives aspects, and it isn’t clear how good an opportunity it really is or how much of a hardship it will be. I do not even know if the opportunity will pan out, but it has definitely stirred strong emotions among those who know about it.

What is perhaps most interesting is that those who favor going to Papua New Guinea and how those who do not differ by gender. Every woman I talked to about it thinks that I should not go to PNG, regardless of whether my family accompanies me. Every man I talked to thinks I should do it. I have my suspicions as to why this is, but I thought I would throw this out to you, dear reader, as food for thought. If I have the opportunity to take an important assignment in a very difficult location, probably separated from my family for about three months, should I take it? Should I pass on it? What do you think? And why do you think men would agree and women would disagree? It just goes to show you, we don’t always think the same way.

Our first house guest

Our first house guest in Korea arrived today. Our good friend Trudy, who lives in northern China where she studies Mandarin Chinese, arrived this afternoon. She will stay with us for three days until she departs for the United States on vacation. After she returns to China in July, she will study for one more month before she moves to a small city in Qinghai Province in order to teach English. Qinghai, located in central western China, is the Chinese version of Nevada (sans the glitter of Las Vegas). Dry and isolated, it has missed much of the frenzied development taking place along China’s eastern coastline. I admire Trudy for her willingness to live and teach in relatively harsh conditions. She will be one of the first foreign teachers teaching in that part of Qinghai. It’s great that she can bring native language instruction to an area of China that sorely needs more TLC, especially economic development. She definitely has a servant’s heart.

I’ve known Trudy as long as I’ve known my wife. In fact, I met them together one fateful day in the fall of 1992. Through the years she’s been a great friend. She was the maid of honor at our wedding, and we see her every year or so whenever she passes through where we live (until recently in Seattle). She had never been to Korea before, so she went out of her way to book a connecting flight from China to the U.S. via Seoul. We’re happy to see her, because we always love catching up with her. As my wife says, she’s one of those friends where you can pick up the friendship right where you left it. Do you have a friend or friends like that–the kind you’re still very close to even if you rarely see them? In general, my family doesn’t get too many visitors. We didn’t while we lived in Seattle because Seattle is a bit isolated relative to the rest of the U.S. Granted, my entire family, including Wade3016, visited us while we were in living in Washington, D.C. However, I don’t anticipate that we will have many house guests here in Seoul. My parents, Wade3016, and his aunt have told us they’re planning to come for a visit, but not until next year. My wife’s family will probably come for a visit from China. That might be about it for our house guests in Korea. I’m happy to be able to show someone the live we have here. It’s great to share. If you’re in the Seoul area while we’re here, let me know and we’ll see if we can connect.

We have a spare bedroom that I fixed up for Trudy. Until last weekend it served as an ad hoc storage area. Her arrival gave me an excuse to straight up the room. Unfortunately, space is at a premium in our house, and I had to shuffle a bunch of junk from the room to other areas of the house. Most of it went into the laundry room, so now the laundry room is full of boxes. I’ve created a small path so that we can access the washer and dryer for the time being. One of these days I’ll get rid of some of those boxes, but for now it’s nice to have reclaimed the guest bedroom.