Because my earlier post for today was lame

I was walking home from work just now and saw five things in the neighborhood that reminded me that I was in Korea. (It's not like I forget I'm here, but gradually I'm taking all the weird and wacky things for granted.)

1. For the past couple weeks, on screens placed on the sidewalk or on chairs, someone has been drying red peppers. Hundreds of them. An old man is sitting in the shade next to the peppers today; other days I have seen an old woman sitting guard. Two weeks ago the peppers were bright arterial red; now they are shifting into the zone of red best characterized by the color of the crust on the lid of the ketchup bottle.

2. Across the street, two women are sitting in the shade, talking. One of them is a Yakult lady. Yakult sounds cool, huh? Beware the armies of Yakult! But actually, Yakult is a kind of yogurt energy drink. In the mornings, hordes of middle-aged women dressed in French mustard yellow jackets, black pants, and yellow hats storm the streets, selling these energy drinks.

3. A little further on, I walk past irregular blocks of soap drying in the sun. A few days ago, I saw a couple of women smoothing out the last pan of vegetable lard mixture in a styrofoam container. They must have broken up the soap and laid out the yellowish chunks to dry today.

4. A little beyond the soap, three old men are sitting cross-legged, shoes off, on a mat on the sidewalk. Seated strategically under a tree, they stare at a paduk board, trying to out-maneuver each other with the round black and white pieces. I've seen these men each sunny afternoon that I've walked home. Even when it's hot and humid enough to make your tongue sweat, they're out there, playing. Sometimes there are a couple of others watching.

5. As I cross the street to the block where the apartment is, I see two women walking toward me, sharing a sun shade. A green patterned parasol. Though I've heard that the latest upcoming fad is getting a deep tan, that definitely hasn't caught up to the post-teen set, which practices good skin protection.

I am living in a relatively poorer apartment complex, so it's a bit countrified. You're not likely to find the soap, peppers or probably even the paduk-playing grandfathers at a fancier, newer complex. I'm probably going to move to another part of town in November. But I'm very glad to have lived here.