GUEST WRITER!

A special treat for you today: Nina agreed to let me post her two dispatches on her trip here. Without further ado, ladies and gents, a fresh new view on the wacky world of Korea.

Dispatch 1
Hello from Korea, where people eat silkworm larvae. I'm trying to get
up the nerve...

I am staying with the lovely Helen Kim, whom many of you know, and her family in Seoul, free from my boring gym existence and into a very different existence indeed.

Korea has leapt forward in so many ways, at such breakneck speed, that it seems to me the country needs to step back and breathe. The grandmothers Kim, age around 75, have lived through:
1) Japan's brutal occupation
2) the Korean War
3) several dictators
4) now: democracy
5) now: a very 1st world country, that in many ways is superior to ours in the US. Just an example...Practically everyone has high-tech cell phone, with features like superpopular digital cameras in them, mobile connections to the internet, and wonderful reception all the time, including in the subway. And 80% of households have DSL.
6) now: Just 10 years ago, people started getting divorced, and now Korea has the highest divorce rate in the world, except for ours truly.

Seoul is unnervingly ethnically homogeneous. As one Korean said to me, "If you have to find someone in a crowd, good luck!" In cosmopolitan Seoul, almost all the restaurants serve Korean food. Although they love Western brands, and revere people who speak English, Korea seems more Asian than Japan and interested in the cultural influence of China on its history. But altogether, Korea seems comfortable in its own, constantly changing, skin.

Love from a kimchi tourist,
Nina

Dispatch 2
Korean Glamour
Koreans are primpers. This is especially true for teenagers and twentysomething women, who use the digital cameras in their cellphones to make sure their makeup is perfect. Every two minutes or so. I learned how to tell if someone has permed hair, (almost everyone does, including many men), and Helen Kim tried to get me to get a perm too, as they're so cheap, but I wimped out at the last minute.

Gourmet, Korean-Style
I have immensely improved my wielding of left-handed chopsticking. Helen's grandmothers, like many Koreans, were worried about my delicate Westerner's insides when encountering Korean cuisine. Korean food is garlicky, spicy, and more complicated than Western food, with sometimes 20 different side dishes at one meal. But I liked it, especially Korean barbecue, which the country has made into an art form. I was especially amused to hear that the most popular gift on a bridal registry is a large refrigerator, different from your regular fridge, for your kimchi. That's because your kimchi would stink up your ordinary fridge, so of course you need to have a second fridge! Priorities, priorities....

DMZ Weirdness/Scariness
I went to one of the most tense and creepy places in the world. It is the Demilitarized Zone between the North and South Korea. There's an all-day tour given by the US Army, where you see downright odd North Korean behavior. Way disturbing. The Northern soldiers are walking around in some places, and you are not allowed to take pictures nearby, because the North might see you, assume that you are a spy, and start shooting. The last stop of the tour is a visit to the tunnel that North Korea was digging under the DMZ to the South. The South discovered the tunnel when it reached South Korea. When confronted with this little breach of contract, the North claimed it was a "coal mine." (There is no coal there.) Mostly the tour makes you nervous the whole time you're there, and for much of the days afterwards.

The Ancients
The final part of my visit was to the Southeast of Korea. We visited lots of beautiful royal tombs, palaces, and Buddhist temples. Helen's father arranged for a once-in-the-lifetime stay at a Buddhist temple with view of prayers that are not usually open to visitors. We attended chanting as the day began (for monks, at 3:30 in the morning), and walked around buildings that were built in the 12th century. What I learned: I know nothing about comparative religions, including my own. And: Korea is really old. And really proud of itself, as it should be. And: I have just begun to visit Asia. And I need to go back, soon.

I write this in Los Angeles, where thanks to the International Date Line, it is earlier than when my departing plane took off. So, I'm still in Korea, sort of. I wouldn't mind at all.

hk here again. Many thanks, Nina. We enjoyed having you here.