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!