4x4: The Second Island Tour

This time, Soijakdo( 小伊作島), we tried.

16 people from 4 families joined in as before. The same ferri boat as before. The differences from the previous tour in the last year, are at first everyone is getting old one more year, and at second, we needed to go one more hop from the last year's destination, Seungbongdo . The weather was fine this time, and the island was also wonderful.

A seagull we met on board..

A calm and peaceful beach

Children at the beach 1

Children at the beach 2

Children at the beach 3

Raphael presented Today's Show during a walk.

Came back from a walk

to be continued....

The life should be..

I believe it should be fun.

Sometimes it can be a ridiculous one.. (Oooops..Why is the picture rotated ?)

Anyway I believe it should be full of dynamic adventures. If not, try to make it so.. why not?

Buddah comes again into the street.. like always..


With His friends..


Praying for the future and asking for the truth..

and longing for the light..

Buddah bless you... bless whole the world..

南 無 阿 彌 陀 佛

May 19, at the Chogye Temple and at the Lotus Latern Festival, Seoul.

Went to a gallery.

Perhapse, MCCHAE looked pretty curious about living in the city center, which has some advantages and disadvantages like other places. And I really hope I could live in some place of UPTOWN of the city..


Art CanU Collection
(Phone Art Fair).
24 March 2007 at Insa Art Center.

Our place is really close from one of cultural hearts in Seoul, Insadong, and there are lots of art galleries.

Even though my kids are too young to enjoy some serious art shows, yet there's a funny show like this: paintings( and cartoons ) on the brand-new mobile phones, sponsered by a handset manufaturing company. A sort of contemporary art fair, mixing various handset designs and paintings.

A spring messenger

PASQUEFLOWER: Taken on 2 April 2007 at my parent's garden.

Supposed to be not so popular as a garden flower, even if the small flower itself is very famous.

Hard to recognize in the field when it is a sprout or a bud if not interested in. Actually I had plucked them often by mistake while cutting lawn grass. Yeah, my parent used to simply laugh to my mistakes, but possibly they might be hurt a little bit. You know, I found these flowers on the flower bed in the side of the house, this time, instead of some place - looked natural- under the pine tree in the grass, which the flowers used to be..

Boiled Pork Belly with Kimchi recipe.

As I said, it's the recipe for the dish-Boiled Pork Belly


Ingredients

A lump of the belly part of pork.

Actually the belly, the so called Sam-gyup-sal, which means the three-layer-fat(meat) , is the most popluar meat in Korea. Among lots 0f recipes for it, the grilled belly(Sam-gyup-sal gui) with sesami oil is the most common.

Oh, I found an interesting explanation for it in the wikipedia: samgyupsal


But in that night, I decided to make boiled pork, so I'd put the lump into the cold water (roughly 30-40 munites) to get rid of the remnants of the blood. (This can be skipped, because we would have the meat, not the soup, but as you know, the more labors, the better and finer flavor.. )


A bottle of Soju.


Soju is a distilled spirit. I love it very much like most koreans. Of course, nowadays, young people seem to prefer beer than soju, but I think soju to koreans likes beer to german, or wine to french, at least in my generation.(Sorry for this stereotype..)


Anyway one of the typical and popular alcohol beverages in the modern Korea. Actually pretty strong. Easy to be drunken if you lost your pace and control. But quite cheap-its most atrractive virtue, I think

Oh, I also found this work in the wikipedia: soju

Soju adds its flavor to the meat like wine. No problem in using wine, gin, vodka or even cognac instead of this soju if you want.

Assorted vegitables and Doenjang

Onions, Spring onions, Garlics, Gingers, Cinammon, Mushroom, and Bay leaves.

Bay leaves are optional, not conventional one. The other things are general and common for Korean cusine.


Doenjang - Soybean Paste.

Deonjang, a fermented soybean paste. Very important in many of korean foods, but please visit wikipedia for this : doenjang (how wonderful the wiki is !!)

==
Now recipe.

1. Pour Soju and fresh water together into a big pot, and put all the vegitables into the pot with t one or two spoon of doenjang.




2. Put the meat lump into the pot.

Actually I hesitated for a moment, what's the better, the steamed pork, the boiled pork, or the smoked? I chose the boiled one. It would take the shortest time among them.



3. Boil it for roughly 40 munites. (The time is up to you, actually.)



4. Steam it for about 20 munites. Well, if you spent more time when boiling, you can skip this and vice versa.




5. Now slice it as you want.

Like in the previous post, the dish is wonderfully matched with Kimch!

It was past the midnight when I completed. Perhapse, I was out of mind, a little bit..

Boiled Pork Belly with Kimchi

Well, it's not usual, especially in the weekday's night after work, but I'd done it successfully for about two hours or more. Yup, I made it for kids, though they could have it in the next morning. Agree the heavy pork meat were not excellent for breakfast dish, but anyway delicious..

I'll post my recipe soon..

Ingredients: Pork(Lump of the belly part), Onions, Spring Onions, Garlics, Cinnamon, Bay leaves, Deonjang(Soybean Paste), Soju and fresh water.

A Few Conflicts

1.

SJ, the little boy, was crying in bed and I was so surprised last night. After I got what made him so sad, I was very sorry and was sad, too, like him.

He has complained for weeks that he didn't want to go to YMCA's Gym class. In fact, my wife and I was very happy that the downtown YMCA Gym was really close to home, and thought any regular exercise would be good for the kid. So we registered him to two hours a day * three days a week afternoon class, and he is learning to swim and inline-skate. (Yeah, he returns to home 1:30 pm from his kindergarten and goes to the Gym 3:00 pm.)

As for inline-skating, he's fine. He's good at it. But for swimming, he has a trouble in breathing now.

I tried to explain that it's only two weeks that he began to learn and only 6 swimming classes so far, so it's natural for him to feel some difficulties to breath like a fish, but he looked so scared to practice it anyway.

I was a little bit shocked that he said he hated three days(M/W/F)of a week due to the swimming class, and hated also the other three days(S/Tu/Th) because he had to worry about the scary swimming class in the next day. Unhappy 6 days a week. No. Actually he also said he hated Saturday because of the three-hours-long english class he began since March. So full of unhapiness.

In the end I'm not sure all of these are for him or for his parents, my wife and me.

(Spring is coming to us, regardless of whatever I'm doing, thinking,...)

2.

Very barely, I could feel a lull and another storm I'll possibly face soon and hardly avoid at work. Well, obviously and seriously I need to think about my job at the current work and my future now. I need to agree everything was changed and to wake up from a long lazy hibernation.

To be dull may be helpful. To be more aggressive may also be helpful. Hmm, making money is really hard.. How wonderful if the life can be initialized and restarted like some setop boxes.

Two more options maybe. Begining my own business again, or going to school to put something new into my brain.

I need to find what I like to do for the next 30 years-the third age- at first. I'm also considering to change the confusing blog title from routes-finding to routes-found. No joke.

(I'm still staying in the winter, but the nature is preparing for the changes in its genetics..)

3.

It's not my interests as well as not connected to my trouble, but Mar 21 is the 113th memorial day of the Donghak revolution(or upheaval) which (might be) was the first human rights declaration against the old hierarchical society in Korea..

The building in the picture is the main church of the chondogyo, a korean religion which is following to the idea of the revolution..

Just make things right.

I went to Sangju last night, and met my cute boy and girl, and wife in a week. And picked them up this morning from Sangju to our sweet home, and now working at my office alone again..
-
I had terribly busy and die-hard hours without them for a week, but it was quite good that
I could watch all the episodes(22) of Prison Break season 1 and 18 available of season 2. All 40 episodes. I'd never tried to do such ridiculous and stupid things but they were really surprising and fabulous. I couldn't stop watching them easily. And I could feel how people became 廢人(the crippled: actually the word has slightly different meaning-extremely radical maniacs- in korean netizon).
-
Cool, really. I liked the words of S:

We'd got to have a faith...
Just make things right...
Now we go..

Home Alone, Being A Workholic.

Yeah, truly a sad story.

My kids and wife are visiting to her parents at Sangju city, quite far away from Seoul for days. Yeah, without me, by train(KTX) to Taegu, for congratulating her younger brother's graduation. It was the last Friday and they went to her parents' home altogether for a week stay.

That looked nice.
That would be fine though I would have lonely and scary nights alone, I had thought.
That would be fine though I would have to make my meals by and for myself, I had thought.
In other words, I would have free nights and free weekend. Excited a lot for free hours for myself and for my own fun. Wow.

No, no, however, not happened such things. I was free from my family but instead, stuck to my work. I could be back home past the midnight every night, had to spend whole the weekend writing some dull reports at my office..

Possibly I need to go work on Mar 1st, the national holiday, and the following weekend.
I really hate the current mess.. I hope I could escape from.. soon..

The February Story

It's really tough. Too many things on few days. Too busy at home as well as at work and it's hard to make some time for posting.

I had a 5 days-long SEOL(New Year's Day) holiday in the last week and it's very good chance to take a rest or a short family trip. But unexpected jobs came to me without a word, and I had to go work three times at weekends and the holidays. Several overnight works and strong stresses made me fully have lost the regular/usual living pattern temporarily.. And I'm trying to recover from the mess as quickly as possible though it's not easy. I have still some job to complete till this week, and have to go work today and tomorrow, but really hope this is the last weekend work..

=====
It's almost one month after we moved to the new house. Except that it's a little bit small, everything is fine. Very convenient and fabulous. Easy to access to anyplace in the city. Lots of restaurants and stores near the house. A market around the house. We all are satisfied with this new shelter except one thing I said.

It's my new view from the living room. The Bukchon and the Bukhan san are over there..

====

I got the free admission tickets for Louvre Museum Exhibition at the national museum from an oil company's promotion. We went there and enjoyed the famous art works. Impressed on the Napoleon portrait and other big paintings.

I was very pleased when I got that SW didn't get sleep as before while watching the paintings, and though not serious for all, SJ looked to be interested in a few works. We may wait for more years for this kind of funs. In fact, my condition on the day was really terrible due to a hangover, I couldn't concentrate on the works, too. Anyway, it's free. (Feb.10. Saturday)
====

SJ and my wife went to a concert.

I was not sure SJ would like Strauss or Ysaye, but Schubert's Fantasia and Tchaikovsky's Valse were included in the program, so I chose the third day's performance on Sunday evening without a hesitation and bought the tickets.

The player was one of the promising young violinists, actually quite famous one. The small size of the concert hall was nice to enjoy solo's plays, I thought.

It would be wonderful if we all went there, but SW and I had to stay at home. SW is too young to go concert and I was very tired and needed to care of her. When I asked about the performance after they're back home, both of them were smile, just smile.. I could guess. (Feb.11. Sunday)
=====

Yes. SJ had completed his second year of the preschool courses. He got a general reward(I think all kids received), and the perfect attendance reward. I couldn't join in the ceremony held in one weekday. (Feb.15. Thursday)

=====

JY's (my wife) birthday after Valentines' day.

Usually we have birthday parties on the days in the lunar calendar, but JY's lunar calendar birthday is the new year's day, and hard to have a party every year. So we had a small party for her on the birthday in the solar calendar.

I couldn't prepare a wonderful gift. Stupid, yeah.. Just a PIG ice cream cake! SJ gave her a blossom of rose. Anyway happy birth day for JY. (Feb.15 Thursday)
=====

The New Year's Day as usual. Nothing special, except I had to go work to check something..

Kids are growing everyday and the so called kids' clothes are getting smaller quickly. SJ's Hanbok(Korean traditional costume) didn't fit already in the end of the last year, so we decided to buy a new one. We went to the store, where my mother usually go for hanbok shopping, and bought one, easily. By the way, the lady (owner) gave another girl's suite for SW as a present ! (My mom is a patron!) We didn't take account of the new clothes for SW, but got one. Thanks.(Feb.16. Friday)

SW took the new one in the picture, but she didn't tried it on the new year's day, because it's a little bit thin for the season and a little bit large for her. She took her old one and we saved the new for the next time.

SJ didn't take his new hanbok, too, because he got another suite(the blue one in the picture) from his cousin. (Feb. 18. Sunday)
===

At the late afternoon of one weekday, we went to a theme park for fun. (Feb.20. Tuesday)

(In the park, he was running from here to there)

(SW was waiting for SJ and her mom who were on the roller-coaster, at a restaurant. Her pose was getting similar with her brother.)

( Going out from the park. Not crowded. )

立春大吉: Onset of Spring and Big Fortune

We've never attached at home any kind of Charms so far, but we did it yesterday, the onset of Spring, the first seasonal session of 24 divisions a year.

It says Big Fortune at the onset of Spring. I wish it so...
It also says Everything will be fine(or good lucks..). I wish it so, too.

===

We've successfully settled down a cozy house at last, though we have a plan for another move in Aug. or Sept.

No feelings, no thoughts. We don't need such kind of luxury things at the moment.

Fine if it's convinient to get to my office and to SJ's preschool.

One thing I'd like to try if possible is to upgrade my understandings or appreciations for arts in this arts' street. Another thing I hope is to reduce the goods we have for living as much as half..

Mountain Trout Festival

The temptation was quite strong when I saw fishing pictures at
Raphael's blog. Fishing on ice like Pingu. Actually it was my son's earnest wish for a couple of years, too.

So we decided to go Hwacheon for fishing, and to enjoy Mountain Trouts Festival.

We could arrive at the place at about 9:30 am after two and half hours drive, but there're already lots of people fishing on the river(surprisingly it looked artificially being iced and looked very safe). We found spots and waiting for fish on the crowded river.

(The hole for fishing)

But obviously there're more people than fish. From time to time, some of them yelled cafter catching beautiful trouts, but we gave up our efforts after two or three hours without any fish. Kids were dissappointed. Fortunately, however, there're many other funs like sled, ice tunnels, ice house and so on.

(We needed real fish, but this fish lamp was also nice)

Sledding was another fun we could enjoy for hours. Real pleasures. We spent most of afternoon for this sled-riding on the river, the side of the fishing spot. There were big family-size sleds on which three or four kids could ride at the same time, but we rented three small traditional sleds due to the more than one hour waiting time for the big one. The small sleds were also nice anyway.

(My nephew and younger brother went together. 3 adults and 3 kids. Playing with kids is a hard-labor sometimes)


(My little girl was getting asleep while sled riding..)

We left the place in the late afternoon, and could be back home after 4 hours driving due to the weekend traffic jam.. I think that's a sort of payments or costs for pleasure..

(The crowded river for fising and sledding)

What are the necessaries for 7 months ?

The next moving date was fixed: Jan 26. But not fixed yet what we are going to bring with us to the new house.

Actually, it is a sort of furnished apartments and we don't need to move kitchen gadgets or a closet. No fridge, no gas-cooker, no washer, and no closets.

We'll bring some clothes, bedclothes, the small stove, the electronic kettle, and some kitchenware like pots, dishes and spoons. The computer and the small audio player will be moved too. Kids books and some toys, too. We may need a small table and chairs.

(SJ's toy house -The Jae-Ne Jib,means His House, would be the largest size toy we have to move )

I'm hesitating to bring the TV set and the DVD player becuase a small desk or draw table might be needed for them, but kids must be demand them.. Don't know..

I'm hesitating for a book-shelf. Actually we used four big book shelves and 3 small ones before, but I'm not sure we still need any of them. I threw away a lot of my books already, and put away a lot of kids books . Perhapse we can give up this item.

I'm hesitating for the sofa, becasue I- I'm sure WE- might be rolling over the living room or the bed room while I'm staying at home. And I don't like to see the rolling kids like potatoes while watching TV. But it's too large to move by myself. It would be better to change my mind. What's the matter if we are rolling over all the places at home for moments..?

I'm a little bit worrying about that I became too familiar to discard something, but not so bad.. Anyway I wish it would be like living in a hotel..

The Lake Park at Ilsan.

The Lake Park at Ilsan is quite famous but we've never been to there so far. We went to there on the last sunday and spent couple of hours in a small theme park(with baloons and air mats). SJ had enjoyed his first bunge jump-actually a sort of tumbling. The little girl enjoyed the air- mat-playground but cried for my stupid attempt of the tumbling..

We found the next destination and are going to move two weeks later. Again, my wife sought it and had a contract for it. It is a small apartment in Ankookdong-exactly Kyungwundong and very close from the old downtown. Yes, it takes quite long to my office..

The Second Search.

My wife are looking around two or three places for our temporary residence.

Her necessary condition is that SJ can take his school bus easily as possible. My condition is that I can get to my office by metro or by bus within reasonable time. SJ has also his own idea on this. He said he doesn't like old apartments, and it should have a silver-colored appearance(he means the brandnew buildings wrapped with aluminum panels or glass curtain-walls, i think)


And it would be better if

• the directions of this and the next moving are not westward
• the cost is not too much
• the space is large enough for four family members
• the surroundings are nice for daily life: parks, hospitals, shopping malls and pleasant neighbors
• and so on..

We are considering a small apartment or studio in one of these areas: Jamwon, Angook, and Hannam dong. Kwanghwamoon was a strong candidate, too, but there's none available at the moment.

Some of the family members and friends are wondering why we do not settle down simply and why we are hopping from this place to the other place far away, and hopping again soon. I fully understand the question and agree the curiosity partly. But hard to explain.

What I can say at this moment is that the journey is still on the planned track so far fortunately.

Winter Wanderers

New resolutions for a new year? No, no, never to my family, at least, this time. We could manage only daily schedules or, at most, weekly schedules. Any yearly plan may smash and destroy my wife's brain as well as mine.

Two words for my family at the moment are wandering and wondering. Wandering life and wondering future.

-

Bundang is a wonderful place for living, according to my wife, because

• most of places are flat and no high hills to climb to go home.
• there are a lot of markets and stores, and no need to buy food for a week in discount stores.

In my opinion, it's a nice place too because I could reach to my office from home in 40 minutes by walk, no costs for commuting, and plenty in the morning and in the evening.

As for my kids, they are really pleased with two new family members. Their aunt and uncle are very kind and deliberate.

There's a lot of benefits in living here, but it is just a temporary shelter for January. I think we moved to here only in terms of sleeping, eating, and daily chores. If not, why did we have such a hard saturday in the last weekend.

Due to the sudden attack of the big snow while we were waiting for SJ's one-hour english class and my appointment with the dentist, which were happened far more than 30kms from the current home, we had to wait for more than two hours of snow removal.

Anyway, in the coming weekend, we'll resume to search for another rental house in downtown again.

PS. There're some confusions in the move at the end of the last year. The biggiest one is that the two-day-long plan was changed to a single day one. In the meanwhile, the fridge was delivered to the wrong place. Many of plants and pots were broken/lost due to the careless handling. I was annoyed but no way.

PS2. Thanks to stone for your interest. Actually there's no private place for me at the moment, so it's hard to update the blog..