1. scared the Korean teachers by ranting and muttering about teaching to dead people.
2. attended two adoptee functions – one to socialize and I had to subject them to a dead person – two attended public forum on adoption where the bio mom’s life being ruined by contact (how often has this happened?) took precedence over adoptees being denied access to basic information about their identity.   (how often has THIS happened?)
3. read my stupid blogs over a billion times.
4. Michael Jackson died.
5. watched an amazing period Korean drama that had lots of spooky spirits.
6. wrote an article for the school paper on going to school in America.
7. didn’t have to stand on the subway.
8. posted answers on Y!A about adoption.
9. only ate ice cream once twice three times.
   
10. nobody showed up for my evening class.

1. let my produce go rotton in the refrigerator.
2. my test lesson went stellar and the rest of the week it bombed.
3. avoided my Korean homework and didn’t remember jack.
4. woke up repeatedly all night and left for work late, having to grab a taxi.
5. shed half my hair and haven’t had time to clean the house.
6. chewed a week’s worth of gum in one day.

This is the table Nine Stone’s mother-in-law set for us in Andong, who is renowned for her cooking.  I told my tutor about this meal, and she was jealous.  “Even I haven’t ever had a traditional meal like that.”  Everything on the table was made from scratch by her.

At the upper left is the best (and only) tempura I have ever eaten and liked.  It was sooo delicate and melted on your mouth.  I asked what was in it, and the answer was:  flowers and peppers.  Later, I asked how it was made, because the batter seemed lighter and finer textured, and I suspected that the flour was milled finer than normal.  After I found out that the delicacy was flowers, I wondered how they did not get totally destroyed during the process.  The flowers are lightly tossed in the flour and then gently steamed, and then fried.  Not greasy at all.  Can’t tell you what a delight it was to experience the lightly sweet flowers and the also sweet yet spicy peppers.

I’m not sure if the next dish is ginseng, but it had that kind of flavor and texture but covered in a sweetened red pepper sauce.  I also don’t know which green that was in the next dish, but it was yummy.  The reconstituted dried sardines at the lower right seem like typical fare, yet these were seasoned just right and not overly salty.  Of course that is mushrooms next and at the lower left was the most scrumptious salt fish ever, covered very simply by green onions and red peppers.

some kind of bean paste sauce (again, better than what you’d buy in the store) sushi (Korean’s call sashimi sushi) which is octopus, and rolled shredded dried fish.

Then came the main dish which she is famous for:

These are handmade noodles.  Rolled flat and hand cut, they were super thin and delicate, covered with nothing more than the dried seaweed, thinly sliced fried egg (I can’t remember what the vegetables are) and sesame seeds.  No sauce, just the flavors of the foods shining through.  It was incredibly subtle and light.

Halabeoji feeds his grand daughter yummy noodles…lucky girl!

Halmoni and her daughter didn’t eat until everyone else was finished, eating whatever side dishes were left.  I wanted to help them clean up, but was told because I was a teacher and guest that would be inappropriate.  She kept apologizing for the flavor of the food and hoped it wasn’t too strong, since she had a cold and couldn’t taste as well.

I told her I wished I could live with her and learn to cook, and it turns out she has had several foreigners do an internship with her for up to six months in the past.  But it is distracting and time consuming, and she can’t even get to her painting, which is her real love.  (Amazing calligraphy that she won contests for hang on the walls)

Nine Stone’s wife joined us the following day and I asked her if she could cook like her mother.  She said her mother refused to teach her, because she didn’t want her to ever have to work that hard and that she had to concentrate on studies and go to college.  Such is the case with most young women these days, like my students, who only know how to fry an egg, can’t make kimchi, and eat instant noodles on the run.

How I wish I had some money to pay for an internship and that she had the will to teach me!  To learn about the local wild edible greens, how to pick them, dry them and prepare them, how to cook over a wood-fired stove and orchestrate everything to maximize energy efficiency, wash the clothes, keep the fire going, clean, sew the clothes (she sews her own hanboks) and feed the family, etc.   A treasure trove of knowledge and yes, back- breaking work of an era that will soon be gone forever.

the hanbok dress was made by the grandmother by hand, of course.

I’m so jealous…

These were at a food exhibition at a gallery in Insadong last weekend.

My friend Lisa and her kids took me there and showed me several interesting places I’d walked past before, oblivious to some of its cultural offerings.

Young-a had never seen this dish before, but the name says it is steamed baby pig.

She said, “gross!”  But actually, I bet it is really yummy, even if it IS gross looking.

Someone from Wonju added Kim Sook Ja to my document because they knew we were siblings and it would be easier and less paperwork.

Then, someone else at Holt didn’t like that because it made us harder to adopt as siblings, so they attempted to distance our relationship by changing my birth date, but that’s all they could do because the mayor’s stamp was already on the two for one document.

ADDED:  I don’t know why they gave us different family names.  Maybe those are our names.  Maybe we’re half siblings.  There are many stories where grandmas end up taking care of their daughter’s children of different fathers, or of women forced to give up their children by other men when remarrying.  Anyway, there are many scenarios that can explain two half siblings.

okay, now I’m getting really pissed off.

Do you realize what kind of deliberate intent it takes to hang a BIRTHDATE on a toddler that is a YEAR OFF?

Say I was 16 months old in the little square orphan # photo… that would have made me 25 months old when I came to America.

But, according to the birthdate on file I would have been 33 months old.

What do you think, just over 2 years old?  or almost 3?

My daughter and son looked much older at 3 years of age.  And as for me remembering the word ipeuda in Korean, my daughter knew over 2,000 words at age 2.  If I even begin to imagine what kind of impression such experiences have on children, knowing how smart they truly are, I become even more against international adoption every second.