I am thankful to be safely home again.


(My own front yard; it’s a beautiful fall, this year.)

A few final scenes from Korea, just for fun…

The medieval royal palace in Seoul, with the modern world intruding.

Squid, drying in long ranks along the shores.

Morning tea with the monk on the mountain.

Christopher, who would have been extremely cramped if he’d lived in Korea in the Middle Ages.

Treatment (apparently) for eye strain, courtesy of Dr. Han, who has followed in a long family tradition of acupuncturists.

Odd dishes on the lunch table: This is fish sperm. Yes, that’s right, fish sperm.

And this is the most gorgeous sushi in the world.

Finally, my gratitude again goes out to the publisher of Theory & Praxis, Mr. Kim, and my beautiful new friend Yeonglan Han, president of Corea Literary Agency, who spent the entire week translating for me. Many, many, many thanks. May we meet again soon.

Showing 4 comments
  • Lori

    And so, how was the fish sperm?

  • Under the Sky

    Wow, what a spectacular trip! Thank you for sharing all of those photos.

    How did your sons like the trip?

    I hope you are enjoying the lovely fall.

    Warmly,
    Kate

  • Riverfront Headmistress

    What an awesome trip! I currently have a S. Korean on exchange here in VA and she loves looking at the photos of her home in Seoul. I hope to go one day too.

  • HappyHomeSchoolingMom

    I am from S.Korea and currently homeschooling my 2 kids. My husband is from here, as a descendant of Irish/German who can’t or refuse to eat any Asian food despite of his world-wide traveling experiences. Today was my first day of visiting your website just to find all these articles and photos about your visit to Korea! How interesting and wonderful to see the familiar photos of my home country that I haven’t seen for 6 years. I use your history books as our history books which my 2 young kids(4 and 6) are absolutely crazy about.

    Your Korean handwriting was very impressive.
    Did you know that the shape of Korean letters(vowels) were created according to the shape of your mouth when spoken?
    For example, if you phonetically say “ahh..”, the vowel shape goes outwards as you open your mouth outwards naturally. “Uhh…” sound will make your mouth shape narrower and move inwards, as the vowel was created to go inwards.
    Your name “Susan”…”san” makes ‘ahh” sound, which is the reason why the Korean letter (vowel part-that 2 lines adjoined) points outwards. Your last name “Bauer”…”er” makes the sound of “Uhh..r”, which is the reason why the Korean letter(vowel part) points inwards. Hope this explanation is understandable.

    When I was working in Korea, I used to take all types of executives of our firm from overseas to the places like you went… I wish I had a chance to be with you and your boys as a translater in S.Korea. Who knows?

    Oh…regarding the octopuses in the photo, a lot of Koreans love to eat them while they are alive.( I have never tried and I will not…) Many of them enjoy the special mouth/face/jaw muscle exercises(??) trying to locate live octopus(partially chopped) that are stuck inside their mouthes… No matter what, squids and octopuses were great sources of Protein and they still are….in the country where the beef costs 10 times more than in USA.

    It is very encouraging to hear about your trip to Korea. Hope you will help people in the world know more about the 5,000 years of Korean History.

    Thanks a lot for the wonderful books that you have written for our kids and me.

    Blessings,
    Kelly

    PS:…Fish sperms ??? Hmm… I always thought I was eating fish eggs which sounds more appealing..anyway..they are very very delicious.

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