A Seoul-ful New Year: part 3

For Lunar New Year's Eve, a group of cousin Breda's friends and I rented a chateau/cabin/pension out the in South Korean countryside. We grilled meat/veg skewers and played Scrabble, and then because we're old, we were basically in bed by 10:30. Arpit and I rang in the New Year by watching an episode of Seinfeld. This was moderately more exciting than my Western New Year's Eve where I fell asleep on the couch until 12:05 while Tanu and Mengchen watched Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D. I'm pretty much a rock star.

Self pity aside, the cabin was really fantastic. We slept on the floor--which is apparently the way Koreans do slumber--but the floor was heated, so any discomfort on my part was overshadowed by the feline-like method of curling up on the warm floor.

 One phrase I heard quite a bit was "blah blah blah It's good for your health!" Included in these admonitions was to sleep on a marble mattress. yep, you heard right. stone.

Sleep Number: infinity.

 After our country excursion, Breda and I visited a lil village museum that houses traditional structures from around Korea. For New Years activities, they hosted quite a few folk games.

the STICK GAME!

the father would get the top spinning and his daughter would just start whacking
at it relentlessly.  She may have enjoyed making her dad re-start the top more than
actually playing with the toy.

tying New Year's wishes to be read by the wind.

KIMCHI POTZ.

 We found the main stage where several young men in traditional attire were banging drums and twirling streamers from their hats. Admittedly, it looked a little silly but must've taken quite a bit of coordination.

Then a group of break dancers rushed the stage and I anticipated a battle of the boy bands. But, alas, they worked together in an odd anachronistic mash-up.

The time came for demonstrations! Being one of the few white people in the crowd, we stood out easily. To Breda's delight, she was chosen to do a plate-spinny-thing.

so much glee. 

magical Breda is magical.

They appreciated her help so much that she got hugs and lots of attention. She loved it.

Quite a few food stands sold snacks outside the village. My favorite: red bean-filled fish-shaped waffles.

My least favorite: boiled silk worms that smelled like musky dust.

"good for your health." yeah, right.

Our bones started chattering with the setting of the sun, so we headed over to a BATH HOUSE (no pictures allowed). The hour preceding pajama attire consisted of lounging about nude in different saunas. I made the mistake of dipping into an extremely hot bath, so I turned quite a few heads as the hairy pink blob as I walked by. I may like attention, but even that was a bit too much.

A Seoul-ful New Year: part 2

A mere one year after the pseudo-military dictatorship ended in South Korea, Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. In fact, "the desire not to taint the Olympic Games with military dictatorship and riots served as an impetus for Korea’s transition to democracy." Thank you, Olympics.

If my primary title is Mister Christmas, then a secondary title would be Connoisseur of the Olympiads, so seeing the Olympic venues was an absolute must during my stay in Seoul. Breda was kind enough to accompany me in the sub-zero weather.

funky art piece in the courtyard. 

a hall to honor and house the best sport evar.

We found workout equipment in the shadows of buildings where the world's best athaletes competed. I'm pretty sure that it's for "golden-aged" citizens to use in their daily exercises, but that didn't stop us from playing on it.

inspired by the Olympic spirit, Breda works her... um,
I actually have no clue what half of these machines work.

look mom, an Olympic rabbit!

In case you didn't know, Korea has been awarded another Olympics for 2018 (sheesh, why hasn't the US won a bid recently? Chicago tried going for 2016, but Rio nabbed it). So Seoul built a World Peace Gate adjacent to the 1988 sites.

Koreans skating under the World Peace Gate while dreaming of beating Apollo Anton Ohno.

After taking in our fill of Olympic Dreams, we headed to a huge museum in Korea. We mainly looked at pottery. fancy.

Breda has lived in Korea for over two years now, and one of her friends invited us to their place for dinner! by then my palate had adjusted to kimchi, but my legs/feet hadn't adjusted to sitting on the floor (I'm such an old man).

yes, even grandma (<3!) sits on the floor like a pro.

 after a delicious dinner, the uncles insisted on us playing a traditional game or two. We picked up on the first one, which basically consisted of throwing four sticks onto the ground. Your piece moves on a board depending on what position the sticks land.

It was made especially exciting by the non-sober uncles who danced around with the sticks and yelled out with gusto the number of moves your piece got.

"do!" "gen!" "gal!" "yuk!" "mo!"

Just as soon as I finally got the hang of the stick game, they pulled out a card game that twisted mah jong and poker. Actually, I have very little clue as to how the game was run. I just played along and held cards while someone told me what to do.

I do know that to play a card, you had to flick your wrist so that it would land with a satisfying fwap on it's paired card. I did that real well.

Then after dinner we got to play with hedgehogs!!!! I'd never held one, but it was kinda like cuddling a hamster that had overdosed with very stiff hair gel. And they have adorable noses.

hedgehog whisperer 

hi.

The only thing that topped dinner, games, and hedgehogs was getting to see the family's kimchi refrigerator (yes, you read that right) and pots in which soy and other sauces are made! I was probably a little too excited to see real-life kimchi pots, but I figure that if they could jump around with sticks and plastic playing cards, then it was ok for me to take a bajillion pictures of the pots and fridge.

A Seoul-ful New Year: part 1

The semester at PKU ends just before Lunar New Year - it's like their Christmas/New Year holiday. This year Lunar New Year began in late January, and nearly everyone in China--including my lab mates--go home for the holiday (they say it's the largest annual mass migration) so I flew to South Korea to spend the holiday with cousin Breda! As children, we'd seen each other about once a year at Christmas, but that regularity ended with the death of our shared grandpappy in '98, so it was a fun, long-awaited reunion.

As might be expected with any other Asian country, there were many similarities between China and South Korea, but also quite a few differences due to several factors. I think I'll turn this into a brief foto gallery and fill in with commentary.

Structures had similar styles to Chinese counterparts, but often the colors were a bit more muted or "earthy." As an Oregonian, I can appreciate the organic approach.

Token shot juxtaposing the ancient with contemporary.

prepping a tree at a temple for Lunar New Year!

temple ceiling

We went to LotteWorld, which is Korea's version of Disneyland. fun and wild times were had by all.

oh yeah, I turned 28. nbd.

fiendfyre!

Inspired by Tanu's panda hat, I went on a cat-themed spree in Korea.

I do what I want.

The day I was grateful for my brother's forehead grease

Tonight I ran an assay with some umbilical blood vessel cells to see if the treatment I want to eventually use would kill the cells (not my intention). Basically you feed the cells a molecule, and if they are alive, they convert said molecule from colorless to brown. Then you use a machine to shine a light through the dish, and its level of darkness corresponds to how viable the cells are.

Well I finished the incubation time and ran the plate of cells through the reader, but my data was all wonky. I examined the plate (think 4x5 inches with 96 little wells in which the cells live) and saw that there were several bubbles in many of the wells. This wouldn't affect how alive the cells are, but when the light shines through the well, the bubbles could refract the light and lead to an incorrect reading.

So I took a pipet tip to the tiny lil bubbles, and had very little success popping them. Then I tried sharpening the plastic tip, and finally I poked with a needle, all to no avail. Whatever was in the juice that the cells feed on made for some sturdy bubbles. I had about as much success as if I were trying to pop a balloon with an wet noodle.

Then I remembered a trick that my older brother Travis showed me once upon a time: he poured a glass of soda pop and pointed to the persistant foam on the surface. He then wiped his forehead with his finger and swirled it on the foam surface. Like thermodynamic magic, the foam quickly dissipated and he was left with bubbling liquid. Though it was somewhat astonishing, once I realized that it was the grease on his forehead that was clearing the foam (the oils reduce the surface tension of the bubbles, causing them to collapse), I was disgusted. I mean, who wants forehead dirt and oil in their drink, let alone their teenage brother's?? (I won't admit that I've used this trick a few times in private.)

So I took the pipet tip, surreptitiously wiped my forehead, and then poked a bubble. Thermodynamics won again, and the bubbles were no more. Note: while this introduced all sorts of bacteria into the wells, I tested the cells right after the contamination and then threw them away, so there's no risk of detrimental effects to the cells (my forehead, on the other hand...).

My readings came back with much less variation and looked like what I'd expected, and for once I was glad for Travis' antics.



But just once.

A Hong Kong Holiday: Part 3; An Especial Temple

Temples are not a rarity in China. In fact, there are over 70 temples in Hong Kong alone dedicated to a local deity. That's not to say that the commonness of Buddhist Temples makes visiting them underwhelming; absorbing the culture while observing worshippers and admiring the architecture can be enlightening.

But in Hong Kong I had the opportunity to visit one of my Church's temples, which is a rarity in China. Although the government allows freedom of religious belief, it does not guarantee freedom of religious activity. Don't get me wrong- we don't have to conduct Sunday activities in secret, but certain limitations are imposed. However, as a Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong is exempt from these rules (as far as I know) and is home to an LDS Temple!

Visiting this was pretty high on my to-do list, and Tanu gracefully accompanied me while we traipsed across Hong Kong in search for the edifice. Finding it was actually somewhat difficult, as I couldn't get service from my cell phone provider and had to rely on hard copy maps instead of GPS (*gasp). But the sun was setting as we finally reached the temple, which allowed for some great outdoor shots.

It was Christmas Eve when these photos were taken, and even though I'd tried to convince myself that I wouldn't sulk too much because I wasn't spending the holidays with family, I have to admit that I did feel some lil lumps in my throat throughout the day.

However, of all the places to be on Christmas Eve without family, I suppose the temple ranks among the best. Of course, the buildings themselves are aesthetically pleasing and everyone can appreciate their beauty (much like, as an outsider, I enjoy some aspects of the Buddhist Temples). But for me, LDS Temples are especial buildings.

In addition to temples being places of worship where we learn more about God and ourselves, we believe that marriage ceremonies that take place there are eternally binding; that is, family relationships solemnized here can exist after this life, forever.

So on this penultimate day of Christmas festivities--a day when family togetherness is the root of so much holiday happiness--being at the temple allowed me to reflect on how much my family means to me. We are not perfect, but I am so grateful for the close relationships that I have with my parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. If I am to spend eternity with anyone, I'm glad that it'll be with this bunch.