One thing really lacking in Seoul is grass. There are precious few parks with grass and even soccer fields are packed dirt. There is some grass at the palaces. The mountains are green, but grass, forget it.

Since the Lil Buddha is tearing around these days (crawling) it is nice to find her some grass to move on.

There is one interesting park on an island in the Han river which has some grass. There used to be a water treatment plant out there, now it has become a park. I had only been there in the winter, when it looked really barren and forbidding. But in the spring it is quite nice in a post-apocalyptic sort of way. Everything is overgrown and really changes the structures left.





The grass is actually roped off.

But we took the risk and let Lark crawl around. She was looking ridiculously cute, I tell you what...



We weren't the only ones who noticed. Pretty soon photographers ran up and started taking picture after picture.






The woman with the tripod was something else, she had a really manic energy.

This went on for some time. A security guy came along and told us to get off the grass, but the tripod photographer said something to him to shoo him off (I think about the need to take more pictures) and he let us stay until they all were done. Then we had to leave.

I am not sure how Lark will adjust in the U.S. when she is not being photographed constantly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CHAOS WASHING MACHINES

My apartment comes with a washing machine called, imposingly, a Goldstar Chaos Hi Tech Washing Machine. I thought it was a dryer too but that doesn't seem to be the case. Korean apartments have these alleys between the living areas and the outside wall in which clothes are dried. There are sliding doors between the apartment and the alley, and large windows between the bedrooms and the alley. I thought I wouldn't have to use it but if the washing machine is also a "hi tech" drier I sure can't find the right combination of buttons. Not that I haven't looked. I tried to decipher everything with the help of my dictionary and limited knowledge of the hangul alphabet (which includes only a dim understanding of the actual letter order--still working on that). The word pronounced (I think) "saw" is a simple two letter word. But according to my dictionary, it means, "a cow, a bull, an ox" or "dressing, stuffing," "little, few,
Read more
Image
In case you didn't see that county map indicating increased Republican voting between 2004 and 2008 before they took it off of the NYTimes page, here is an image of it: This is a fascinating document that I think will be the focus of many studies. Explaining increases only in these areas in the entire country could be very instructive. Andrew Sullivan notes dryly: "Ah, yes, Appalachia and Arkansas. Obviously concerned about marginal tax rates for those earning over $250,000 a year, I suppose."
Read more
Image
Americans don't get riled up to protest. Give away billions in taxpayer money to financial fatcats with no accountability--no worries. Refuse to punish war criminal torturers--no problem. The battle cry is...moo. Koreans, on the other hand, live in a vibrant democracy and their political action is a bit more direct. Here is a striking photo of union protesters in Daejeon using sharpened bamboo spears to attack riot police. (an article about the current state of rioting in Korea, quoting a Sogang professor, is here )
Read more