I'VE HIT THE MOTHERLOAD!!!!!

While driving to Asan for our trip to Admiral Yi's park (see previous post), my eyes were transcendentally drawn to a junk store at one of our turns.  Of course, I had to come back. So with the help of my beautiful and brave friend, Leah, we risked our lungs, tetanus shots, and scaredy cat-ness of big horking spiders lying in wait for us, eager to pounce on an unsuspecting arm or leg, and dug through Ajusshi's treasures.  Man, oh man, what glorious, heavenly things awaited us!  Doors and windows and old silk screens and beautiful paintings and dressers and old cameras, I could go on and on.  We climbed through some pretty treacherous broken glass and rusty metal pipes to get to the good stuff.  All in all, Leah came home with a beautiful door, which Ajusshi lovingly tied to the top of my Jeep with an extension chord he found amongst his rubble.  And I found and old door, and old screen and two old windows.  I have posted some pictures of other treasures to be found.  

Ajusshi's prices were a little steep....something that will change as we build a relationship with him and he does not think we are stupid Americans.  I am sure the more we go, the more his prices will go down.  It seems most business people in town are skeptical of Americans; maybe because they do not speak English and we do not speak Hangul.  But that will never stop me from finding treasures and goods that are unique to Korea.  We googled how to say "See you soon" which is "god dangsin-eulbogo", we wanted him to know we would be back.  He seemed skeptical of our motives at first, but I think with the loot we packed in my Jeep, and the fact that we were not afraid to dig in his outside junk pile, made him view us differently.  A definite trip back for sure, only this time with a Bongo truck and a KATUSA, to ease the translation process!!!  (Note to self...must also learn to translate "junk" in a positive fashion in Hangul).

 

Okay, so I am a neglectful blogger.  I try, I really do.  It has been a WHILE since my last post.  We are all settled in our apartment....so much so, that it might be time to rearrange things while the Mister is gone (muhahahahaha - he hates when I rearrange things).  We have been super busy...which I will update this blog with pictures later of our trip to Hong Kong, my treasures I have found, and a myriad of other things going on here in the Land of the Morning Calm.  

I felt compelled to post today because my sweet friend Jacqi and I, along with a sweet new friend (new to me) Katrina, took our ducklings to Asan.  It is a nice town about 20 minutos away from the Hump (that's Camp Humphreys to you commoners!) It was a mildly chilly, but gloriously sunny day in our neck of the woods.  We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch (okay, I cheated and went to Subway) under a tree.  The park is for Admiral Yi, a very important military figure and hero to the Korean people.  Admiral Yi was an extremely skilled naval officer who effectively used the Turtle ships, or Korean Warships, to save the peninsula from the Japanese invasion in the 1590's.  There are several books written about his tactics, his love for his country, and his heroism.  The park is expansive. There are so many beautiful trees; Cherry Blossoms being the main ones.  But the azaleas are blooming like crazy.  Some of the trees in the park are over 500 years old.  Admiral Yi's house is on the park property, as well as the museum, his grave, the shrine built in his honor, and the graves of his descendants.  This park is one of the reasons I love Korea.  It was a living nature museum to one man who played such a pivotal role in Korea's history.  I have never seen a park in the States that compares.  Not to say there aren't any, I just haven't seen any.  The sheer beauty of the landscaping and naturalistic aspects of the park made it enjoyable for everyone.  It was very romantic and beautiful. It was so romantic and storybook like, you would think Prince Charming would come sauntering down the hill amongst the trees on his white horse. The breeze, the sun, the wonderful Korean people, and my company, made this day truly enjoyable.  Okay, enough rambling, here are some photos:

And I could not resist adding photos of my Ducklings! 

Turtle Ship!

Admiral Yi and Monty

Koi invasion!!!

Beautiful!!! 

Just in case you needed to know where you should go to hang on a park bench and look suave, I found the place...30m to the right!! 

 

The only Cherry Blossom left in the park in full uniform!