HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I hope you’re all having a lovely holiday… unless you’re not from Canada, in which case HA HA!!!

I travelled to Seoul with a group of friends on Saturday. We went our seperate ways during the day, then met at the Grand Hilton for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Thanksgiving Dinner. As you can tell from the title, it wasn’t as cozy as home, but there was some fabulous turkey and all the usual fixin’s (if you count fully dressed salmon as a usual Thanksgiving fixin.) Many of the Canucks present brought Korean friends with them, and you could hear explanations down the buffet line. “That’s the turkey…yes, it’s really a bird that big. It’s like a giant chicken.” “Those are brussel sprouts… don’t take any.” “Oh! Beets! Like we used to have at Grandmas. Don’t get the juice on you”. etc. etc.

On Sunday, we had ANOTHER dinner for 7 or 8 of us who wanted to pitch in to whip something up. The atmosphere was much closer to ‘homelike’, but there was no turkey…

I followed up a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend (the weather was also perfect) with a flu shot today. Now my arm hurts. ouch.

I hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving, and loved ones nearby to share it (and the leftovers) with.

So, more about Kyoungju. For those interested in a speck of Asian history, I present the following snippet:

HISTORY BIT: A long long time ago, (about 100 BC) on a Continent far far away, (Asia) three l’il ‘ol city-state type areas bickered, fought, and sought alliances with China. The runt of the litter (the Shilla kingdom) was seen to be the least interested in wealth or war. However, as the stories of Clifford the Big Red Dog will tell you, the runt of the litter sometimes turns out to be big stuff. It was the little Shilla kingdom that eventually united the three feuding Kingdoms and created the first unified Korea. Kyoungju was the Capital for 1,000 years during the Shilla period. That’s a lot of history packed into one little city. It is often called “The Museum Without Walls” becuase you can’t take 10 steps without tripping over a piece of history. (Well, in my case, I can’t take 10 steps without tripping over my own two feet…but tripping over history is better).

‘WHAT I DID THERE’ BIT: I’ve been to Kyoungju before, so a few of the things I saw were repeats…but worth it. It was also great this time because it was Chuseok, or Korean Thankgiving. Everyone was at their family homes, so there weren’t many tourists. We went to Sokuram, which is considered to be one of Asia’s finest examples of Buddha. It’s way up on top of a mountain, and he’s got a big jewel in his forhead, so when the sun was rising or setting, you would be able to see it for miles around. The next stop was Bulguksa, a temple, which (like Sokuram) was built around 500 A.D. It’s gorgeous, and has what is considered to be “The most beautiful wall in the world”. It was pretty. It’s contructed with large, smooth rocks and no mortar.

THEN – the bonus of the trip… we were walking around the lake after a rotating Italian dinner. (Rotating because the three of us couldn’t decide what to order, so at 5 minute intervals, we’de pass our plates clockwise and enjoy 3 dishes instead of just one.) Anyway, we were stuffed and needed to walk it off. We came across an outdoor amphitheatre (is that redundant?) and sat down. As we looked around, it looked like the stage was being set up for a show! About 20 minutes later, a show of Korean folk and court dances started. It lasted an hour, was incredibly professional, and was FREE!! I assure you that my mouth was gaping through most of the performance… I looked just like a slack jawed yokel. The best of the best was “The Dance of the Three Drums”. It’s difficult to explain, so when Eva gets her pictures downloaded, I’ll post one here. (Silly me thought “I don’t need my camera, we’re just going for dinner”.)

And that was my weekend.

We spent a great weekend in Korea’s historic city of KyoungJu. To keep me happy, we trolled through the museum (where this happy little buddha “with lively eyebrows” lives). We also saw some of the most incredible examples of Korean music and dance. It truly was one of those “wow, I can’t believe I’m here” weekends. I’ll tell you more about it when it’s not past my bedtime.