Tired of all the hair being shed and the weekly bath and blow-dry required to keep her smelling sweet, we decided to get SaTang shaved.

Before:

Summer is coming soon and the warmer weather will be much easier to bear than with the wool she sported before. She wasn’t terribly happy at first with the new cut, especially since the clippers irritated her booty some and made pooping a little painful. She’s gotten used to it now and is welcome on more laps than before. Bonus: Quite a few more people like having her up close and personal since she doesn’t leave behind a brown and white carpet wherever she sits.

After:

Last month I showed videos of family and friends back home to my new Korean family. I figured they should return the favor and offer a few greetings from here.

So, here they are, MyeongHee and her son, DongHyun. Don’t worry if it isn’t all in English – it’ll easy enough to follow.

A few months ago, I mentioned that the US dollar vs the Korean Won was dropping like a stone. I suggested folks back home send me their dollars and after the value dropped further I would send them back, more in number than before due to the falling exchange rate.

It’s a good thing no one took me up on that. You’d have lost money. Back then, the dollar was close to 900 Won.  It was great when I went back home in February because I got more dollars than equivalent spending-value of Won. These days, that isn’t the case. Although the dollar is still dropping like a stone compared to the Euro, the Korean Won is losing value to the dollar. Go figure. One of Korea’s biggest trading partners is the US. If their value goes down, so does the Won. As of today, it stands at 997 Won to the dollar.

Just to put some real numbers to it, when I came home in February, I had  4.9million Won that translated in US$5300.  If I made the same trip today my Won would only get me US$4914. I’d lose almost $400 dollars.

Ergo, the title of this post. I’m a geek and I can fix your computers (I fixed several while on that trip) but I obviously know little about high finance.

It’s Saturday and the sun is out and one can actually see across the rive to apartments and the mountains beyond. It rained Thursday evening and cleared a bunch of the funk out of the air, although there’s still some lingering dust from Mongolia blowing around. Most of the first part of this week has been nasty and it was difficult to see even the apartments across the river.

I guess I’m still stuck in my western ways enough to think that wearing a surgical mask outside as many Koreans do looks, well, dorky. But that may have cost me, as the dust has given me a gnarly  set of allergy and cold symptoms.

The air is thick with pale yellow dust again today. I can barely see across the river and the mountains in the distance are just a memory. I took MyeongHee to work and when I ran the washers on the windshield I got a nice little pile of the stuff on the edges of the window. I’m trying to stay indoors as the super-fine particles are bad for the lungs.

This happens every spring in Korea, some times more severe than at others. Last week they canceled school and today seems as bad, if not worse. That may have been more because last week was the first day of the new school year and lots of parents and kids were going to school to get everyone settled. It’s funky today.

Shoes in Asia. They can be a strange thing. They are never to be worn in the house, as it keeps dirt from the outside from being brought inside. I’ve adopted the custom of removing my shoes on entering homes.  It’s a great custom and it seems strange to me now not to remove my shoes. When I was in Texas in February I was uncomfortable with my shoes on in people’s homes, although some places didn’t really have a place to put shoes when I came in. Most everyone here has a foyer or entry way where shoes are left.

Which brings me to the subject. We did some laundry and MyeongHee wanted to put them out on the back veranda to dry in the breeze. So, she slips on whatever pair of shoes is easiest and goes outside. I caught her putting on my shoes. I don’t mind her wearing my shoes – as long as no one else sees her.

She looks a little like a cross between “Olive Oyl” and “Little Orphan Annie.” Cute, but not necessarily the stylish hair salon owner she usually presents to the world.

I suppose if I fit any shoes in the foyer, I might also slip on the first pair that fit for a short outside trip. With the boats I have on the end of my legs, that limits me to just my shoes. But she has the smallest feet in the house and therefore can slip into anyone’s shoes.   I however, can swim faster and need no flippers. So there.

Sure, some things are better here in Korea. I’ve written about many. But one thing the US has going for it are the school buses. If you’re far enough away from school in America, there’s almost certainly a school bus that will pick you up and take you back home. Not here.

DongHyun’s first week at school was a little tumultuous. While there is a brand new high school just across the river from Cheonsang, he got assigned to a high school about 5 miles away. He tried the city bus first, which costs about $1 each way. One was way too early and one was too late and that exhausted his bus options. Getting back home on the city bus meant he would haven’t have time to get to his after-school study sessions as it would be almost 11:30pm by then. He tried a taxi, but at about $5 each way, that would exhaust a lot of cash getting him there and back.

Luckily, one of the other private schools near here (an English school like mine) runs a private bus to the high school. For $30 a month, he gets a direct ride from our neighborhood to the school. He got lucky and our wallets did, too.

Sometimes, its the little things that makes a difference. Amazing how much stress there was in the house trying to find an economical but timely way to get him to school. The yellow school buses of America, that seem  to be everywhere there  (usually in front of you when you’re in a hurry) were sorely missed.

Tuesday was the 2nd anniversary of the death of MyeongHee’s father. That requires an ancestor service to be held, so on Monday evening we went to Pohang after work. We didn’t get there until 10:15pm or so and they were ready to start the service as soon as we got there. A traditional ancestor service begins right at the stroke of midnight, but people having far-flung careers and what not, they started around 10:45. Modern Korea has forced at least that part of this otherwise ancient ritual to bend a little.

We arrived and immediately the women brought out enormous trays of food and placed them on the floor. From there they set them on polished wooden pedestals and put them on the ceremony table. All the while, I was hoping for a bite to eat since we’d had to drive rather than eat. Instead, I watched as the table filled with meat, fish, rice dishes, fruits and vegetables. This looked no different from the Chu Seok dinner table I saw back in September. Missing, though, were the big wax cakes from her mother’s 70th birthday. After the table was set, the brothers passed a little wine and incense over the table. They took turns and each twice bowed deeply. Then they rearranged the food, put the spoon into the rice and took out a spoonful or two. Then they turned out the lights, we all bowed our heads and we gave the ghost a minute or two to chow down on whatever he wanted before they turned the lights back on. I had to keep from snickering to myself that when they turned the lights on someone would have snarfed down a plate or two and claimed a miracle had occurred. Sort of a whole Benny Hinn cum Laugh In thing. Nope. Not a thing. Just my smirking into my collar. It seemed a little strange, but only because westerners don’t have such ceremonies.

Then the entire group took turns bowing deeply, beginning first with the brothers, then me, then the women. Since this is an ancestor service, MyeongHee’s mom, the widow, didn’t bow. She did, however take some of the rice wine and sprinkle it out ceremoniously onto the patio. That finished the ceremony and I thought we might be able to eat then. No such luck.

We had to first transfer all the food from the wooden pedestals to regular dishes. Some food never made it back to the table. A couple of grilled fish disappeared and most of the fruit didn’t survive either. Once everything was on regular plates, we could eat. By then it was close to midnight and older brother had to drive back to Masan, about 2.5 hours away. He waited patiently while his wife did the dishes. She’s got it bad. Tradition holds that the oldest brother is head of the family when the father dies. His wife is then in charge of all the family celebration preparations. She does a pile of cooking and cleaning when we all get together. Anyway, they left after midnight and I slept on the floor shortly thereafter.

The next morning we headed back to Ulsan. It had snowed overnight in Pohang and there was a one-inch layer in most places. It was melting as it hit the roads so driving wasn’t really a problem. It was a gorgeous drive back through the coastal mountains, filled with snow-coated trees like so many candy canes. The snow was actually really helpful. On Monday, we had another hwang sa, a yellow dust storm that blows in every spring from Mongolia. The snow washed it right out.

Sunday evening we had a small housewarming party. MyeongHee worked her butt off in the kitchen making an elaborate meal while I busied myself cleaning up the place. She made a meat dish, noodles, soup, side-dishes too numerous to mention and the ubiquitous rice. I made a barbeque chicken with some western-style bbq sauce I’d found in one of the bigger department stores. I was going to make Rotel and cheese dip, but there was too much food already. We’ll save that for just us on the next movie night.

I took this picture early, before any guests arrived. Once they did, there was no time for posing. The table is just beginning to get full and by the time the school director and his family arrived there was no room left for even a single dish. DongHyun was camera shy, so all I could get was of him setting the table.

The school director had to leave early as his kids start the new school year on Monday. In typical foreigner fashion, my American, British and Canadian friends came late, arriving just as the Koreans were leaving. There was still massive amounts of food, so we ended up having essentially two separate dinner parties; one Korean style and one more western. We ate and drank and laughed until the early morning.

I have to really hand it to MyeongHee. After everyone had gone home, she admitted that was the first time in her life she’d ever had guests over for a dinner party. Apparently when she was first married, her husband was a drunk and mostly out of the house so they never did anything at home. She did a stellar job making the food and making sure everyone had full glasses throughout the evening. She was a fine cook and hostess.

Even though I spent two weeks back home in the US, I took only a couple of pictures and a few clips of video. I guess I was having too much fun seeing everyone to try and record the events. Nevertheless, what video I did collect was worthy of sharing.

I asked people for any wishes, warnings or other words of wisdom to pass on to MyeongHee. Since she didn’t get to make the trip back home with me, she gets the pleasure of meeting my family and friends via video. In retrospect, it might be an even better way to ease her into the family as they can be jokers.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the bright idea to do this on the first day back home, when the entire family was present. That might work to the viewers advantage, however, as it’s short and sweet. The result, though, is that many significant people who could have been here are not shown. My brother Andrew and his family, my sister Sue and hers, and numerous friends that I saw but didn’t record. Instead, you get the reader’s digest version of who’s who.

p.s. Teri, she hasn’t learned about barking spiders. But the dog takes a lot of blame for strange noises. 🙂