A day behind

Hello. I arrived to Japan today and hit the ground hard, working immediately until late at night. I almost collapsed into a heap onto the very comfy futon in the lovely ryokan where I am staying but of course I have to check how to get to my next appt tomorrow first...so here is what happened YESTERDAY, which explains why I am so behind. Up there is the husband of another jiseung artist.

It's very warm in here because he's raising these:

 !!!!!!!!!

The artist had her two other jiseung friends come and one, who makes hanji dolls, had these. Meticulous and perfect on their own, but also perfect

 when nested!

Lots and lots of colored threads ready to go. A very different method from how I learned.

I absolutely love how she gets her patterns. I learned some new things yesterday by looking at all three of these artists' pieces. Oh, and that was after I gave a lecture at Yongin University (in Korean). And this was all being filmed by the DP of a documentary on hanji to be aired on January 1 in Korea.

That's me shooting as we pull away from the house in the countryside (one province south of the one Seoul is in). We got stuck in lots of rush hour traffic. The professor who invited me to lecture had to rush off early so the PD took me home but insisted on buying me dinner first. I was so dazed that I could barely pack by the time I got home and put my shower off until 4:30am today before I got the shuttle bus to the airport, did last minute gift shopping, and got on the plane to Narita (next to two Czech guys).

Today: got off the plane, got my luggage, got my rental phone, took a late train out, called the ryokan because I didn't understand the directions I had so they actually just came all the way out to meet me at the train stop, and then met the first person for my research trip. She was an exchange student in high school years ago in Columbus during the Vietnam War. So fascinating, having this half day with her. She took me to see an 80-yo washi teacher who has so much more energy than me and I saw the most amazing facility and learned so much and got amazing gifts and all that I will expand on later.

It's already overflowing!

Depleted

I have lost track of time as I battle to keep a cold at bay. All of the sudden leave from weaving came with tons of other drama that kept me up at nights, plus we now have real winter cold. This was from last week, the smaller kimjang at my cousin's house that her mom did. I helped only the tiniest bit; the rest of the time I was spending with field notes and translations.

These are the convenience stores that used to be Family Mart, but now are CU (with a bubble between that says, "CVS for you"). I keep wanting to figure out the bus routes that take me all the way up the mountain to home instead of having to hike it, but I have yet to ride it all the way here.
I can barely remember the week but it was a whirlwind, as Seoul life is always such. 

On Tuesday, I got to meet an amazing conservator / professor that I have wanted to meet for years and two things came up suddenly that are wonderful.

One: She knew of an excellent jiseung artist and tracked her down right in front of us (getting the number and address, only to find she had moved, and then calling to make an appointment immediately). I get to meet her next week, and because it's kind of close to where the professor teaches, I was invited to give a lecture that same morning. A little insane to have a week's notice, but also very Korean.

Tuesday (Nov 11) was also Pepero day, a fabrication by the industry to sell more Pepero (like the Japanese counterpart Pocky, which I grew up with: those skinny sticks dipped in chocolate and other flavors that come in boxes that open kind of like cigarette boxes). 11/11 apparently looks like them, and you buy them for your romantic interests, so it's like a November Valentine's day.

On Wednesday night after the tiny bit of gimjang, I met with a documentary team shooting a TV special about hanji. It's due to air Jan 1 and they wanted me to leave Korea early so they could shoot me making hanji in Cleveland. I said no, and then they suggested meeting me in Japan. Except I'm not making paper in Japan, so I'm not sure how that works. Anyhow, it's all up in the air. Above and below are from my Thursday visit to Bumilla for lunch.

I met Bum in Korea during my last visit, as he was a past Fulbright art researcher who stayed in Korea and eventually got married and opened this lovely cafe with his wife Camilla! It was nice to see him after five years and see what he is up to. I brought some cords from Morgan hanji seconds to show Camilla (who does macrame) a little bit of jiseung, and watched her barista friend show them how to make a macchiato. Then I went to say hi to Vinnie in the Fulbright office. After trying to catch up on work and prep for Japan + weave a tiny bit, I ran back to the office to say hi to Mrs. Shim on Friday, only to find out that another teacher (persimmon dyeing) from Jeju Island was calling me to see her and a colleague from California (who was about to leave Korea the next day).

I was booked for dinner that night, but managed to meet them in the streets of Insadong and talk for 20 or 30 minutes before running back to the subway to see JL for dinner. She was a researcher during my Fulbright year and is teaching theatre. The next day, I felt awful from lack of sleep and too much cold, but survived watching my cousin's daughter play outside before rushing to meet Amelea for lunch. I taught her papermaking for Oberlin at the Morgan a few years ago and she has since graduated, lived in China for two years on a Shansi Fellowship, and is now teaching English on a Fulbright grant. It's always gratifying to see promising and already accomplished Obies on their paths. Then I stopped at the enormous store near home to get seaweed for my Japan trip (probably one of the best all around gifts: Japanese people appreciate Korean seaweed, and it's so light!).

[Subway station wisdom.] I came home to lay down for a moment before my cousin took me out to a delicious dinner with his daughter. Too much food! But exactly what I needed while feeling ill. I still could use more sleep but for now need to prep for this lecture and pack for Japan. I think this is my first day without an appointment since I arrived (I had one but cancelled it: better to see my teacher on the island than in Seoul!). I realized yesterday, as I trudged up the mountain with tons of seaweed and fever sweat, that I don't remember having a vacation since 2010.

Kimjang

While at my cousin's house on Sunday evening (after having spent the earlier part of the weekend with a different cousin), I got a call from my dyeing teacher. He asked if I had time on Monday to come over, and I thought he said to come take class. I thought, well, I don't really need to dye anything nor am I in the mood to do it, but I'd be happy to see him now that I'm back in Seoul. So I got up and rushed over the next morning, only to see THIS.

Which could only mean one thing: I wasn't there for class, but to help with kimjang! That's what everyone in Korea does in the late fall, to make kimchi for the rest of the year, and to do it in big quantities and with lots of help.

I had helped a tiny bit with a small batch of white kimchi up in the mountains for my jiseung teacher, but they are a small household. Here is where the cabbage, which had been quartered, was soaking in salt water to brine. The outdoor workers emptied the huge container as they rinsed all the cabbage for the final step.

In the meantime, us indoor workers (chilly enough to have to light the charcoal burner) shredded radish, cut greens, cut green onions, and put it all into this great round plastic container sitting on top of two folding tables. I noticed one end was not quite supported by a table, which became a big problem later.

Tiny shrimp, before being added to the mix. There was a LOT of other stuff that went into this batch, things I never imagined went in (like sticky rice paste).

Once all of the ingredients were ready, the red pepper powder was added and then it was time to mix mix mix. We got this all done before lunch, and then went upstairs (with some of the mix and salted cabbage) to eat. It was delicious, but then we came downstairs to find that the precious sauce had leaked out of the unsupported end onto the floor. So much work, gone!

We did our best and then took the rinsed cabbage and rubbed the mix in between all of the leaves and packed them away into bins and boxes. Near the end, the mix wasn't wet enough, so they added some extra ingredients to make up for the loss. The entire batch won't taste the same, obviously. I would have stayed to the bitter end, but my back was killing me, so I left around 3pm with precious cargo: a small bin of kimchi for my family! It was great to feel like I earned my keep for one day. I came home to shower, start a new jiseung piece, and then sleep sleep sleep.

Confessions

On my first insane day back in Seoul, trying to immediately be a city girl again, I went to an antique store that I had visited with my dyeing teacher five years ago because I saw old books in the window. I splurged on two, specifically because they were bound with paper string. This one has 2-ply string, the other (a better book: of poetry!), 1-ply string made from old book pages.

I had to trim the ends in Seoul, no time to do it in the mountains as we rushed rushed rushed away.

The harvest from three weeks of sore fingers.

The mad dash towards Seoul (this is still about two hours away) as the sun said goodbye. The car in front is the Korean version of my car back home (they make different models for import and export).

 Someone's keeping bees!

This is nearing the area where my teacher parks his regular car, where we had gotten onto the boat on my first visit.

Rushing across the footbridge to get to the car. We had to take the truck on the dirt mountain passes for a while, park it. Then hike for a while. Then get into the car to take another dirt road to the paved mountain roads. To reduce motion sickness, as the regular road open to the public is 100% switchbacks, we took the road through the military base, which required a little paperwork for me. But nice views, and very very close to North Korea. After the long drive, they dropped me at a subway station, and then I took a cab home from City Hall because my bags were too heavy for me to do the regular hike uphill.

My teacher INSISTED that we finish this piece before we left. I thought it was insane, but he started late at night and kept going until maybe 1 or 2am, then got up and started again at 7am and worked until 3pm. He gave me the other Siberian gooseberry branch that he tied up so I can make another one 100% on my own, but really wanted to show me the finish on this. So his wife and I were worried the entire day because he was weaving like a maniac, sweating, with very pained hands. I couldn't believe he would delay his trip to see his sibling in the hospital for this. They were also waiting for a shipment of fresh oysters from his hometown in another province, so to store them properly for kimchi making, which every Korean household is in the midst of right now. When we got the news at night, his wife had begun the process, so we were in a mad dash to make the first batch of kimchi before we left so they could bring it to their family.

It will take a while to process everything. But I did have a lot of stress while I was there for so many reasons, and was wanting to get away. This isn't how I imagined it would happen, but I am relieved to be back with family where I feel at ease and less monitored. I am trying to divulge less, for everyone's sake, but it was not paradise, though it looked that way (and of course in the immediate return to Seoul, I was sad). I'm hoping to make a duck before I leave Korea, though my time has already been swallowed by other things—which are wonderful. I am with another cousin, with whom I've been closest since I was young, so that has been deeply rejuvenating (the public bath visit helped). Today, I get to meet the newest member of our family, a baby girl of another cousin!

Unexpected

My teacher had a family emergency arise late last night so today ended up being my last day in the mountains. I got back to Seoul just after the evening rush hour and am still drowsy from motion sickness medicine. More later (and I already have a lunch meeting tomorrow; back to city life!). Sad to have had to leave in such a rush, just as things were calming down in so many ways, but family is important. Of course my teacher insisted on staying long enough to finish one last piece. Of course.

Etiquette

Today I went to see if Bum wanted to walk with me and almost stepped on a mouse that he had killed on the side lawn. So I let him be and went on my own, my first solo afternoon walk. My teacher and his wife had to go to Seoul today so I had some much-needed time on my own. I am less than 50 cords away from 200, which I started making yesterday. I wanted a break before dusk to ensure I'd have time outside.

When I got back, I noticed the moon had started to rise. I got to do my yoga while looking at the moon!

A communal drying area (there are plastic platforms that are stacked to the side that come out during various harvests.

Apparently the Korean pine trees grow like this, more crooked and stout. There is an area of Japanese pine trees, tall and straight and spindly.

The gingko tree is nearly bare. This is just past the fruit trees and chicken coop on the steep hill down from the house. At the bottom of the hill was one of my least favorite smoke smells: burning garbage, from the neighbors directly below, a couple in their 70s with lots of land in various patches spread out along the mountains that they farm diligently. They are very kind and have taught my teacher and his wife a lot about how to do lots of things (like the acorn harvests and processing, and so on. Once, she sent up a wild mountain boar stew). Their dog always barks at me but is thankfully leashed.

This makes more sense from above! On my walk, I wondered if I'd see the widow at another house further on the path. I have no sense of distance, but if I walk to what they call 'tiger rock' (apparently it's very hard to climb) and back, it takes about an hour, maybe less. I'd say her house is less than halfway to the turnaround point. She lost her husband a couple years ago and lives by herself while still farming. I didn't see her at the house, but a little ways down the path I saw her weeding and said hello. She didn't realize who I was because I was alone (usually I'm with my teacher's wife), and wondered why I was walking so late in the day. On the way back, I saw her back near her house cleaning up the remnants of a broken cone and she invited me in for coffee.

[Yesterday's tomatoes! ALL gone except for the big one.] I couldn't say no, because we had already said no twice on our walks, and I didn't want to insult her. I kept my coat on because I had not dressed to be seen, and it was a lot of small talk but you learn a lot in these random moments with strangers. She said she thought I was just another person from the "eco school" going hiking, and asked about my teacher's fancy house, and what you could make out of hanji, while talking about being sick from working too hard trying to chop down trees by herself with no power tools and laying on the floor all day. Of course right when I was putting on my shoes to leave, she gave me the lecture about how I have to get married, especially given how OLD I am.

[Wildflowers my teacher's wife picked on the way home one day.] My teacher said that in the city, you can ignore your neighbors and not even know who lives next door, but in the mountains, you rely so much on each other that you have to help when summoned—which is why his wife went to help with the yearly kimchi pickling for the rest of the year. They asked me if Americans do anything to prepare for winter, and I said we live so far from reality in that way that we don't, aside from switching out clothes and bedding.

I was glad to come home to Bum. My teacher and his wife RUSHED home from Seoul to make it home before dark (as there are zero lights on the mountain path), so much so that his head hurts now and she got terrible motion sickness and purged along the way. They were amused by my stories—it's remarkable how much seems to happen even in the middle of nowhere. I had to stop mid-post to help unload groceries, eat dinner, and finish cording, all before 9pm. All 200+ are done, and I'll let them sit until tomorrow before unwinding half to start the next basket!

Halfway?

I asked why this one was in a plastic container, and it was because my teacher wanted the gourd to grow into a square shape. Instead, it broke the jar.

This is for Velma. It took an entire day for my teacher and his wife to make this after his father taught him how. The straw cover keeps the woodpile dry and they've had it now for two or three years.

I don't have pictures but will run down to get more once I catch my breath and my hair dries: the gingko tree was so pretty on the way up. Today, my teacher pointed out how many leaves it has lost in 24 hours. Almost all of them!

That is a boat. Earlier in the day yesterday, the surface of the water was like glass, completely placid.

More like this. That (right around the electrical lines) is a duck.

My teacher's wife accompanies me on my walks and loves kicking her boots through the dry leaves. I have wanted to go in the other direction (away from the DMZ) for a while, mostly out of curiosity, but was warned about two mean unleashed dogs. My teacher agreed to drive us on the motorbike past the dogs so that we could get by safely. The walk was amazingly gorgeous and so different from heading north. I didn't bring my camera, though, so hopefully another day I will be brave enough to just walk past the dogs. There's an entire camping school over that way with platforms for tents and everything, and a big road that goes right into the water, just like that. We sat on the rocks for a while and saw the sun come through the clouds.

She insisted I document what happened to all of the leaves on these trees (this is from yesterday, not today). Almost gone, the yellow canopy!

My teacher's kozo trees have also lost almost all of their leaves!! I was shocked when I noticed. It happens so quickly.

This is my teacher's basket for working in the fields, to spread fertilizer or soil, a small version. That's what I have to make next. New techniques, yay! Having to make 200+ more cords in the next two days, boo! I've been taking it really easy for the past few days to rest my taxed hands.

My teacher harvested a couple of these branches for us from Siberian gooseberry trees they have out back (apparently they produce a tinier, sweeter fruit that looks just like kiwi).

These strips stare at me every day but I've been avoiding them. I'd rather pick and eat delicious tomatoes (what we did today), take long naps, and read. But I need to get to work today, even though it's a Sunday. I have just under two weeks left before I head back to Seoul for good, and to Japan a few days after that. I hope we all survive each other until then!