Nick of time

I realize I shouldn't take all those little idioms for granted in English. Since I have to learn a million for my Korean exam. Well, I won't actually learn them all but they're something that I hadn't given much thought until I found out I'd be tested on them.

Yesterday, I realized that I needed REAL down time, and let myself take the night off to read about polar bears and narwhals and go to bed early.

Today, I was so thankful I got that rest b/c it was another long day. Good, but long. I did jiseung homework until I had to run to dyeing class. We did a simple dye, so it was pretty painless, and I finally brought some hanji to dye so I hope that works out. Then a whole bunch of us went to a temple close to my home to meet the son of a famous late monk who was an incredible Buddhist painter. Then we went to the temple grounds. Totally gorgeous stuff. Kind of embarrassing that I hadn't been there b/c it's so close, but now I know where to go for a quick mountain escape. The late monk had done all the paintings along the outside of the temple's buildings, which are fantastic. These are my pics from the visit.

Michael and I headed back to my place to digest and then we ran out for dinner and coffee in Hongdae before meeting Kim Baek-ki and his artist friend who lives on the big island and does all sorts of work w/paper and hanji. So now I have a TON more leads, but of course that means a TON more research. But just in time: the professor I meet on Thursday down south is at the university where apparently two other professors teach, whom I should meet. So I hope I can quickly arrange meetings for while I'm there so I don't have to make that trip again.

It has been super to have Michael as an associate; our research interests converge nicely and it just makes the meetings less stressful. Plus, it's invaluable to have the post-meeting sessions to debrief. So much to be thankful for!