Went out and did my first solo touristy thing yesterday at Changdok Palace. I caught the last English language tour just as it began, and as I handed my ticket to the gatekeeper, he asked, "Aren't you Korean?" "Overseas Korean," I replied, and ran past him.

I will definitely take you to this palace when you visit, because the tour was informative and interesting and the Secret Garden is stunning -- huge, forest-like grounds that made me completely forget I was in the middle of a crowded, dirty city.

On the grounds there is also a reproduction of a nobleman's house that one king ordered to be built so that he could, from time to time, go into the house, wearing nobleman clothes, and try to think like an ordinary person rather than royalty. Pretty progressive, even if only 5 percent of the population could be considered nobility.

At one of the buildings, I enjoyed seeing the little door used to push the royal bronze chamberpot outdoors, where it would be taken to the medical facilities and the contents examined by doctors. Daily.

This morning, I told my dad about going to see Changdok Palace, and he said, "That's the one with the Secret Garden, right? At the back of the garden, there are cherry trees, and one time, when I was a kid, some of my friends and I hopped the fence so we could eat some of the fruit. We got caught and dragged out the front gate."

If you recall, my dad and his friends also got caught hopping the fence at Kyungbok Palace when he was a kid, and made to hop around a building like a rabbit as their punishment. Heh.

There is a skinny little college intern sitting next to me, who speaks perfect Korean and English and has lived all around the world because her parents were diplomats. I've heard of these people, but I'd never met one before. Their fluency and comfort with both Korean and western languages and lifestyles makes them, I would say, a kind of modern-day Korean noble class.
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Dang, almost forgot -- congrats and happy anniversary to my dear Aunt Patty and Uncle John, who celebrate 30 years of marriage to each other today. As well as being a second set of parents to me, they are generous, principled, bashful people from whom I have learned a lot of important life lessons. I love you guys -- rock on!