Wednesday, Day Fifteen: Free Time

I've been getting the news on the television from the BBC and CNN out of Hong Kong (different content for the most part), mostly CNN yesterday since it covered the Presidential debates with a replay. For entertainment in the evening there is the BBC Entertainment channel "Out of this World" series batching several science fiction shows, one of which, "Primeval," I have never seen. It sounds like Obama did himself proud at the debate on Monday (whatever day that was here), but neither of his wins were as decisive as Romney's win in the first; Obama just didn't come to play as they say. If Obama looses that will be why. His leads evaporated over night. It all seems so remote over here.
 

I went down for breakfast and was again greeted by the delightful young lady who checks my room number, always with a smile. She remembered my number today; quite a feat. I chatted a bit with a volunteer who taught at Sogang in the early 70s but most of my group had already left for the DMZ, or were still at their sites, and the diners were mostly Korean. I'm told the DMZ trip will involve climbing a mountain so I told them when I arrived that I wouldn't go. 

Anthony of Taize

After breakfast I went back to my room and kept my leg elevated with an occasional hot compress. At about noon I got a call to say Anthony had arrived. We went to Little Jakob's coffee shop in the hotel. I had eaten breakfast late so wasn't ready for lunch. He gave me the tea and we talked, mostly about books. He then offered to take me to a bookstore, Seoul Selection, to find a bilingual book of poetry.  As we left the hotel we passed the weekly protest at the Japanese Embassy centered on the statue of the comfort woman (impressed sex slaves). I am scheduled to visit their shelter on Friday so didn't feel the need to investigate.

We went the other way and crossed Yulgok-ro, and walked a little down Samcheong-ro, until across from the east gate to Gyeongbokgung was the store. It is a small place, down some steps from the street but not really in a basement; a little dingy but lots of great stuff.  Anthony suggested Little Pilgrim by Ko Un (Anthony is going to England with Ko Un next week for a poetry event). It is a story of a boy's encounter with 53 teachers in his quest for truth. I noticed later in the room, Anthony is co-translator of the book (and many others). After showing me where things were Anthony left for class and I sat down to read from several of the books in order to select two bilingual books of poetry, one for Geoffrey's birthday (I'll let him decide which) and one for me. I made my selection. They are Between Sound and Silence, by Chang Soo Ko, and Forest by Kim Heung-sook.  

I came back to the room and fell asleep while lying down with a hot compress on my leg. When I woke up I had lunch (some left over tuna melt from Quiznos and two yaki mandu), then lay down again with another compress and watched the news and read  until I fell asleep again on the sofa. 

When I went down for dinner I saw Anthony in the lobby talking to someone else but when he saw me he told me he had left a parcel at the desk for me. I thanked him and said I had to leave with the group for dinner. When I got back I retrieved the package and when I got to the room opened it. It contained his translation of Himalaya Poems by Ko Un, a book of untranslated poems by Ko Un, and three bilingual books of poetry  which he co-translated and by three different poets. I was astounded at his generosity. 

We went to a restaurant in Insadong (인사동) and had a nice meal of  bibimbap. I sat with Gerry, Elliot and Cathy and we talked about our visits. We all had good experiences. Jon Keeton came up to talk a little about our visits with us too.

Street musicians in Insadong

Having fun

 After dinner we left to come back to the hotel but the women started stopping in shops. I went in two thinking to get something for Pat but the prices were prohibitive. I heard a commotion down the street and left the group to check it out. It was a small group of street musicians who looked to be high school girls.  Without the sounds and music, (which wasn't great) the pictures can't give a feel of the experience, but they were having a lot of fun and it was infectious. They got W1000 from me. A couple other street musicians were westerners, one individual on violin, and one playing guitar.

I walked back alone and got to the hotel before I knew it. I picked up the package and came to the room. Geoffrey called on the hotel phone. The ringer is off on the cell phone and I couldn't get it back on. He walked me through it.