Category: My Photos

A Korean child’s first birthday is a special celebration, called 돌 [dol = anniversary]. They celebrate with a sort of public party similar in character and atmosphere to a wedding reception. My coworker Danny had such an event for his daughter’s first birthday, today. I started out intending to take some pictures but then I didn’t, really. Here’s a few.
A candid, fuzzy shot of Danny’s wife, and him holding their daughter, who’s dressed up in some traditional Korean clothes.

A somewhat out-of-focus picture of the child choosing a small toy gavel – there’s a tradition where the child is presented with some items to choose, which serve as a sort of prediction for her future. Choosing a gavel makes her a lawyer, maybe, or a judge or future president (?). Note the presence of an MC at left.

Here’s a much better picture of another coworker of mine interacting with his very cute 5 year old daughter. The kept making faces at each other and they looked the same. It was entertaining.

[Daily log: walking, 7 km; walking-with-a-really-extremely-heavy-box-because-I-went-shopping-and-bought-something-big, 1 km]

Ilsan (the name of the new, western half of the municipality of Goyang, a Seoul suburb of about one million to the northwest of the metropolis) is not, in most people’s minds, a particularly glamorous place. Nevertheless, much the way Burbank is the “workaday world” behind the glamour of Hollywood, in L.A., with its many TV and movie studios and corporate offices, Ilsan has two major television studios, and it’s hard to watch Korean TV without recognizing neighborhoods and landmarks.

In that way, I feel as if I’ve landed in a sort of “parallel-universe” version of Burbank, sometimes (which is striking only because I lived in Burbank for several years in the early 2000’s). I was reminded of this when I was jogging and was struck by a view of the MBC studios building reflected in the lake at Hosu Gongwon. Here’s a picture.

Despite it being nighttime, pictures were easy – between the full moon behind the overcast sky and the city lights, it was plenty bright enough for pictures. Also in the park, I saw a 장승 [jangseung], a sort of traditional Korean totem.

I love jangseung. I don’t know what the hanja on this one says [Update: my friend Sanghyo provides info in his comment, below – the picture above is 지하여장군 = The Underground Female General – which frankly sounds like an awesome name for a blog or rock band]. She looks pretty scary, up against the swirling night sky.

[Daily log: walking, 4 km; running, 3 km]

Yesterday during Children’s Day, I went ice skating. Really. Among other things.

I met some friends who have a child – which seemed appropriate. We hung out at this street-fair style gathering at a place called 고양어울림누리  (roughly, you might call this Goyang Harmony World – Goyang is the name of my city, and Harmony World is a sort of multi-use municipal cultural center, with theaters, museums, sports centers, etc.).

First we went ice skating – I last went ice skating in the late 1980’s. I didn’t do very well. Neither did many other people. I never fell down, though. Above, here is a picture of me taken by one of my friends from outside the skating rink with a cellphone. Not very good resolution, but I offer this as proof that I actually did this thing, for those who know me well will be skeptical.

After that, we had a kind picnic sitting in some shade among many other families and social groups gathered in open plaza areas. There were many fountains and many children playing in fountains, and except for the wind, it would have been a hot, summery day. The wind kept it pleasant.

We walked around the booths set up for the fair. There were lots of activities for kids.

The son of my friends wanted to make an airplane. We stopped at that booth.

I walked around while the boy was making his airplane.  I saw many booths full of crowds making various crafts. And I saw one booth that was almost completely empty – it was a traditional book-making activity. This made me sad. Making books is my number one favorite craft type activity.

We walked to where a minor-league soccer game was going on. There were only a few people in the stands, but players were taking it very seriously. They argued with the refs.

It was definitely springtime.

The airplane was a good investment. The boy played with it for several hours, continuously. Despite the wind, which caused it to follow quite unexpected routes. I like this picture – the plane spun off around behind him, and he’s spinning to try to watch it. The shadow of the plane on the ground looks a little bit like a dragonfly.

Thus I spent my Cinco de Mayo, 2012 – better known locally as Children’s Day.

I awoke this morning and looked out my window, speculatively… facing the day, as it were.
There was snow.
“엄ㅁㅁㅁㅁㅁ… 첫눈”
So I leaned out my window and took a picture of the buses in the middle bus-lanes of 중앙로 (Central Avenue, the street I used to call Broadway because I couldn’t figure out its name, before they put up helpful western-style signs).
“First snow.”