Well, that's totally bizarre. My post from yesterday has been partially erased and replaced by someone complaining about their difficulties serving a military ministry post, apparently.

Huh.

I think I'll ignore it and hope that Blogger magically fixes it.

In the meanwhile, have you noticed that my posts have gotten less frequent but much longer? Yeah, me too. I used to write every weekday, a little blurb about something I saw, or a fun turn of phrase on a milk carton, if nothing else. Now, it's a long-ass entry or nada.

Heaven and fate

I went with Etsuko on Sunday to the World Cup Stadium in the northwestern part of Seoul -- the exact opposite of where I live -- and ate at the Carrefour (!) there, then strolled around one of several little park areas nearby. We climbed up Trash Mountain, which sounds like an amusement park ride, but is a wonderful example of ecological creativity; the mounthill (between a mountain and a hill) is made out of -- you guessed it -- trash. The top, unlike the steep and craggy natural Korean mountains, is level and expansive and covered with several types of long grasses, giving it a rather European feel, actually. I told Etsuko about the opening scene of Sound of Music and did a little Julie Andrews twirl myself.

The park at the top is called Heaven Park, and it it, I think, one of my favorite parts of Seoul. One of my other favorites is Olympic Park, where I used to walk everyday last year for several months. I'm such a nature girl inside.

We ended up going to Shinchon for chicken barbecue at the same place where KB, Borough, Maiko and I started our evening of trashedness (hey! trash!), which ended up, as you know, in the muddle of emotion I'm currently trying to wade across. And after dinner, we again went to play Ninja Assault at a nearby orakshil (amusement room/video arcade). That shoot 'em up business is fun! Ninja Assault, like my one and only true love House of the Dead, features goblin-like monsters rather than human foes, so I don't feel bad about mowing them down with my plastic gun of ninja vengeance.

I think the woman who runs the arcade recognized us, because Etsuko and I had gone to play Ninja Assault on Saturday night as well, in an attempt to forget a rather annoying fortunetelling experience. On Saturday afternoon, you see, in a fit of boredom, I went with Etsuko to see a fortuneteller. Fortunetellers in Korea don't hunch over crystal balls or deal out cards with pictures of people on 'em -- they take your birth year, month, day and time, and consult a book or a computer to figure out your fate.

We went to a saju cafe near Ewha Womans College (the area supposedly has the best fortunetellers) where a couple of these fortunetellers were entertaining customers. We saw a woman in her early forties, I would say, and didn't hear too much to please either of us. According to the woman, I appear to have leadership qualities, but am on the inside timid and shy; I don't have much luck in the way of men; I also don't have much luck in the way of parents; I have luck in surrounding myself with people who are willing to help me but I don't use that help; I should never go into business; the men I meet this year until September or so won't be good for me; and if I do get involved with a man come the fall, I won't be able to study very well.

On the up side, I do have an ability to study; I should go into teaching work or work involving speaking; I have luck in traveling overseas; and there is a possibility I will get married and have two children.

And finally, in the neither-good-nor-bad/I'm-not-sure-how-to-react-to-this category: constitutionally, I lack water so I should be sure to drink lots and to surround myself with water; the north and east are good directions for me (in relation to Korea); black and blue are good colors for me; I should go to [ ] rather than Mongolia in August; and I'm not really a westerner at heart. Yup, that's right, my fortune says I'm a tried and true Oriental, and that my husband, should one come about, will be also.

Etsuko also received the news that she doesn't have much luck in the way of men or parents, plus that it was a good thing she was far apart from her boyfriend this year.

Yeah, I know.