It’s beginning to taste like Christmas…

Mike’s Grandmother just sent 2 big boxes full of cookies and mincemeat tarts. Who needs turkey when there are cookies to be had?

Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll…

Okay, I tricked you into reading this segment. It’s actually about the Paper Museum….which was really cool!!!

Highlights included a page from the Guttenberg Bible, a page from Ann Franks Diary, and we got to make our own paper.

The funniest part was a small diarama showing the paper making process, onto which was projected a hologram of a ‘paper nymph’, and 3 small logs. In a sickenly sweet voice, the nymph told the logs that they would “enter the processing plant, where they would be stripped of their bark, and mashed into a porridge like substance before being flattened into paper.” At which point the masochistic little logs shouted “Hooray! We want to be a paper!!” sick. really really sick. They didn’t even tell kids that they shouldn’t try it at home. Now all the little tots who frequent the paper museum are going to race home and try to mash each other into porridge.

A Night of Music and Culture…

Ahhh, our hotel. It’s like Upper Canada Village goes to Asia. A small Korean Inn, built to emulate a Korean manor of 150 years ago. The rooms are small and cozy, with really really warm heated floors. The doors are twin sliding doors … heavy paper on wooden frames. It was freezing cold outside, but so toasty warm inside. No beds, we slept on heavy mats on the floor. Mmmmm so toasty warm.

For an hour in the evening, the folks at the Inn put on a Traditional Korean music festival. First, some cool stringed instruments that look like benches sounded lovely.

Next, a guy playing a tin-whistle made out of bamboo-y stuff. His facial contortions were amusing to watch. First, he went red in the face, then he went puffy in the cheeks, then he went crossed in the eyes, then odd screeching sounds were brought forth from the instrument. That one was harder to listen to.

Third, a guy played a solo piece on the stringed bench.

Fourth, a woman ‘sang’ a screeching, shouting, grunting song – that sounded very difficult to do, and she got a loud ovation for it.

Finally, the group of Bench Players returned and played some really nice Christmas carols. It was awesome.

Afterwards, they served us boiled sweet potatoes and green tea.

nice.