Seoul Survivor

I have some Korean-American friends who moved from America to China a couple of years ago. I asked them once if the culture shock in China was hard on them. They said China was much easier for them than America, because China looked a lot like home in Korea. Really?

Well, yes, really. I just got back from Korea. I know Korea has a different history, culture, etc. from China. I didn't meet up with any Koreans, nor did I go into any Korean person's home. However, from just looking at the surface of things around town, Seoul is very, very similar to a big city in China. Except for the fact that all the signs are in Korean.

An outdoor market in Seoul. 

A street near a university.

A busy alleyway near a subway stop.

High fashion ... love those flower heads!

Adorable little kids.

Preacher women (don't see street preachers in China much).

Korean-style corn dogs, deep fried with a little seaweed wrap, sold from a sidewalk stall.

Another variety of corn-dog with french fries added to the batter before deep-frying. And we thought America was the king of deep-fried junk food!

Ice cream colors should always match your clothing colors as much as possible, don't you think?

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

I don't know if you caught it at the time or not, but back in October, MH posted a comment to my blog giving a recipe for peanut butter cookies that require only 3 ingredients. I tried them out, and they are yummy! Like she says, they are crumbly, so make them and eat them before you clean the kitchen floor. :-) Furthermore, they have no flour in them, which I like since I get heartburn from eating things with flour in them (probably I have gluten-intolerance). This recipe is so easy you can probably memorize it. 

Personally I tend to bake with half the amount of sugar that recipes call for, as I have acquired the Asian preference for sweets that are less sweet. You may want to experiment with this.

Thanks MH!

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup peanut butter 

1 cup sugar 

1 egg 

Mix together, roll into 1 inch balls, roll in sugar (if desired), flatten slightly. 

Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, until turning brown and edges are cracking. 

They make a very crumbly cookie, but are delicious! And even better if you can get a hold of some hershey's kisses to put in the middle after baking.

Spring things

The trees are blooming and I'm thrilled about the warmer temperatures of spring!

I am "spring cleaning" my office this week, throwing out things from way back in the days when I lived in Bedrock. I don't need them anymore. I don't see much use anymore for having quantities of notebooks, pens, liquid paper, paperclips, and the zillion of other things that I used to go gaga for in an office supply store. My goal is to someday get as much as possible digitized so I can lead a somewhat paperless existence. It's going to take some time though. Maybe a long time. It is draining to look through things and make decisions about them.

I wish the digital age had happened about 15 years before it did. I would have saved so much postage and overweight luggage expense if I could have had books on Kindle all these years. (Yeah, I have a Kindle as of early last year; it doesn't take very long for it to pay for itself when you are used to getting books sent overseas). But I still have hundreds of English books that are cluttering my house. They are still good. How I wish I could wave a magic wand and make all those paid-for books beam themselves into my Kindle. I have no room in my life for any more real books, love them as I may. 

Every now and then I have to leave this country, cross the border into another country, then return. (There is a limit imposed by this government on how many days I can stay for each visa entry into this country). 

Therefore, I have to go to Korea soon. It's the cheapest place for me to go. So I'm going to add a couple of days and have a mini-vacation. I've never been to Korea (inside the airport in transit doesn't count). So I'm looking forward to seeing another new country this year, after having been to Japan in January (it was new for me too).

I'm praying their neighbors to the North will behave themselves while I am there. Ya know? 

One day this week

In the past week, the Middle Kingdom celebrated the Qing Ming (Ching Ming) Festival. The festival was Wednesday, but most people had four days off work, and returned to work on Thursday. Here is a story of a “day in the life” of me.

The day after Qing Ming

I breathe a prayer for the day, asking the Lord to open doors of opportunity for me as He sees fit. Then I walk to the street.

I step on a bus so crowded that the driver almost can’t close the door behind me. Though chilly outside, it is stuffy and hot inside the bus, and I wish I had worn fewer layers. I tense my muscles to brace myself -- every two blocks the bus stops, then starts again, sending me lurching backward and forward.

At each stop, more people get on the bus, but no one gets off.

After 30 minutes of this, I am far from my destination, but I am so exhausted from the hot, jolting, overcrowded bus that I get off and take a taxi the rest of the way.

From the bus, I know where to get off, but by taxi I am less sure. I see a cemetery up on a hill, and I think it is the same one I saw yesterday, so I get out of the taxi.

A village lady and her daughter are busy doing some unknown task by the dirt shoulder of the road that fronts their home. I ask her the best way to get to the cemetery. She tells me where the front gate is, but says it is more convenient to take the shortcut. She points to a dirt path leading up the hill.

I decide to take the shortcut. She puts down her armload of green onions and offers to accompany me. We walk up the path, she shows me where the fence is broken, and she holds it back while I crawl through. 

The Quiet Park

I am surrounded by small parks where I live. I love it. The park by the street is always filled with people (mostly elderly men playing cards). The traffic noise is ever-present. It's fun to go there if you want to feel like you are in the big middle of life! But if you want a few moments of peace and quiet, you go the other direction, to the park I call "The Quiet Park."

And she's off! Mimi is enjoying the sunny days of spring, galloping through the grass at The Quiet Park, on her way to chase cats, bite children (like the boy below perhaps?) or sniff where other dogs have been. She's always mindful to stop and smell the roses blades of grass along life's way.

Look at this kid! Not only is he safe from getting any kind of scratch, but not even Mimi could bite through all that garb!

Spring in the Kingdom

Finally! Shadows have made a comeback because the sun is out! I'm back in Bamboo Forest enjoying the early days of spring.

White flowers on trees were the first to appear, followed by red ones on trees. I don't know what kind of tree this is that blooms with white, but it's a beauty.

I took this photo this morning. Can't wait for the magenta flowers to open up!

Today was the first day for these pink blooms to appear.


Spring is always stunning in the Middle Kingdom. I didn't see a whole lot of this kind of thing growing up in a desert (though I must say, I loved it there too).

Fall like rain

“Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants.”

-- The words of God from Deuteronomy 32:2
(NLT)

P.S. I’m experimenting with bigger photos.