I look at the past couple blog entries, and even to myself, I seem schiz(oid).

Ah well.

The Eigenpost clothing store, where I wrote the last blog entry on Saturday night, was the last stop in a long afternoon and evening of sightseeing with Maiko, my friend from Level 1. But before I even go there, I should tell you that I had my first Korean take-out experience! Yup, I visited my dad's office, and had lunch there with him and one of the teachers. We had solleungtang, a beef-based soup into which you can dump your rice and with which you shovel in kimchee.

The food delivery is free, and usually comes via a motorcycle. The bike has a space in the back to carry a metal box. In the box are shelves, on which the food is placed. But no little white boxes will you find here! We got three bowls of soup (in plastic bowls, covered with Saranwrap), a small white ceramic bowl of radish kimchee, a ceramic bowl of cabbage kimchee, and a ceramic bowl of sliced scallions and pepper. Yum!

When you're done with the food, you set out all the dishes and leftovers in the hallway, and the delivery guy comes by later to pick them up. Far out, huh?

Well, yes, I'm easily impressed (and amused).

So after lunch, I took the subway up to Kyungbokkung, the old royal palace. The grounds are extensive, but that's kind of all there was -- you couldn't enter any of the buildings, only a few had exhibitions of furniture from the times, and though the roofs and walls and gates were beautifully painted, that was it. Of course, the main building was under construction, so maybe it's more impressive when you can go in there...

Mostly we just walked around the grounds and said things like, "Hey! Hangeul (the Korean writing system) was created here! Cool!"

One thing I did learn there was that nearly every building, it seemed, had been originally built in the 1400s, burned down by the Japanese during their invasion in 1592, and rebuilt in the 1800s. On Friday, when I mentioned to a work colleague that I was headed to the palace the next day, he said, "You know, Korea has a very long history, but not many historical relics." Well, with a history full of invasions and occupations, no wonder.

I recently edited a Koreana magazine article on uigwe, detailed records of special events (like royal weddings, funerals and birthday celebrations) as well as large-scale construction projects during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). Uigwe are incredibly detailed. For example, when the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon was recently added to UNESCO's World Heritage list, the evaluation committee members were amazed by the 1,500 page account of the construction process, which included: the type and amount of lumber, stone and metal used; the number of roof tiles and bricks used; the location at which the tiles and bricks were produced and how much each cost; and a list of the thousands of workers involved, as well as how many days they worked, what they worked on, and how much they were paid (divisible by quarter-days!).

In another uigwe of Queen Hyegyeong's 60th birthday (a very big birthday in Korean culture) in 1795, government historians kept track of the type of food, ingredients used, amount served, cost of preparation, and types of dishes the food was served in for 1,800 celebration participants over eight days.

I mention these amazing examples of recordkeeping (see, national history of being anal -- it's a cultural thing!) because uigwe were one of many things that were lost during the Japanese invasion of 1592. In fact, according to the article, ALL uigwe produced before the invations were destroyed or plundered by the invaders.

Another interesting factoid: about 300 volumes of uigwe are now in France, a result of plundering by French troops during the French Incursion of 1866, which France initiated in retaliation for the killing of French Catholic missionaries by the Korean government as part of its suppression of Catholicism. (Ironically, today the Catholic Church sends many clergy to Korea because Korea has good theology graduate programs). In an fascinating twist, according to the article, one of the uigwe volumes was sold to a cheese shop in Paris and then was acquired by the British Museum in 1891. Which just goes to show that -- it's the cheese.

Okay, history lesson over.

After seeing the palace, Maiko and I wandered through Insadong, a long street of vendors of Korean knicknacks and such, then decided to go to dinner at a touristy but very cool traditional Korean restaurant, where two servers come out carrying a table on which dozens of dishes are placed. Talk about balancing act! During the meal, performers sing and play traditional music, and once in a while, someone walks around clacking a huge pair of iron scissors, which is what sellers of yut, a sticky Korean candy, used to do in the old days to attract attention.