More Springtime Shots

This weekend was the big Korean bullfighting festival in Cheongdo (bull-vs-bull, not matador), as well as prime flower-viewing season in Gyeong-ju... but I just couldn't bring myself to face the crowds at either location. Instead I took a pleasant walk around my neighborhood, photographing the spring flowers. I also discovered another photogenic and yet less pleasant side-effect of spring: a pregnant feral cat who has made my rooftop her home.

Spring has sprung!

Today was the first Saturday in a while with good weather here in Daegu. I'd really been looking forward to getting outside and taking some photographs, and I was thrilled to wake up and discover warm, dry, sunny weather.

Of course, first things first: Charlie had her second vet appointment today. She is still terrified when we go, but I think she was calmer this time than last time, and she was so good. Didn't bite or scratch or even growl. My former feral wildcat has come a long way!

After dropping Charlie off at home (and rewarding her with some tuna), I set off for one of my favorite parts of Daegu, the stretch of parks along the Geumho river between the Ayanggyo subway station and Mangudang Park, to take some springtime flower pictures. Here are a few of my favorites, although the full set of 56 photos is worth checking out. It can be seen by clicking here. Enjoy!

Why do you smile in photos?

Seriously, why *do* you smile in photos? If somebody asked you that, what would you say? Well, you'd say it's just what you do when someone points a camera at you. People ask me why Koreans are so fond of making the v/peace sign in photos... the thing is, it's just what they do. It's as natural a thing in photos here as smiling in photos is in the USA.

The other day, one of my students whipped out her cellphone near the end of class and asked if she could take my picture. I obligingly smiled and waited for her to snap the picture. She hesitated, then sighed exasperatedly and said, "Teacher! Do this!" And she made the v/peace sign. I asked her why. Her answer? "Because it's a photo!"

Anyway, here are some photographs I shot during the speech contest we held at the school a few weeks ago. I was trying to get candid shots, but take a guess at what happened just about every time I pointed a camera at someone:

Spring is coming!!

Spring is finally beginning to roll into Daegu, with flowers beginning to blossom. There are nowhere near as many as there will be in about a month, but I was quite excited to be able to go for a stroll in the sunshine and shoot some flower photos. Enjoy!

Re-examining the pig's head

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I discovered a pig's head in the foothills, just downhill from some secluded tombs. Here it is, in case you'd forgotten:

I told my students about this. They told me that on holidays (such as the recent lunar new year), families will go to the tombs of their ancestors and to bow and make an offering of food, alcohol and money. Often a pig's head is included, with money stuffed into its mouth and ears. (Apparently, if the pig seems to be smiling, it is very lucky. From this angle, it looks to me like it's smiling.) My students suggested that perhaps when the pig's head began to go bad, it was removed from the tomb area and thrown away at the bottom of the hill.

I've tried to find information on this online, and haven't been too lucky, other than learning that the ceremony in question is called 고사 (gosa). I have found several English language blog posts of people who have witnessed the bowing-to-a-pig's-head ceremony at a variety of occasions for luck. Photos were taken. Here are the links:

Pighead Ceremony

Hip Hop and Holiday Cheer

차례, 제사, and 고사

Yulhacheon Redux

I'm currently reading Paul Theroux's Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, a 2008 travelogue in which he reprises his 1975 The Great Railway Bazaar. He somewhat ironically comments on the 'danger' of revisiting the destinations of previous travels, and of falling into the trap of comparing how things were to how things are... which of course Theroux then spends much of Ghost Train doing. I had thought of this a little last Tuesday as I explored Yulha 2, continually remembering how it used to be a field, but as I'd never actually explored said field, it wasn't exactly revisiting.

I thought of Theroux a lot today, as I walked north along the Yulhacheon, a stream which runs south out of the mountains into the Yulha area, taking nearly the exact route that I took back in August 2006. Not only was it a different season (meaning vastly different vegetation), but the completely rural area of 2006, while still rural, is now in the early stages of development (land cleared and flattened). I wasn't able to go up into the mountains in the same spot as last time, as there were do not enter signs and active construction equipment. However, I did make it into the foothills, and discovered a different set of tombs than the ones I found back in 2006.

Do not enter - construction zone!

The Yulhacheon

A path up into the foothills

Hillside tombs


A hillside view of the nascent construction

Daegu in the distance (you can even see Daegu Tower) with more tombs in the foreground. Taken at 200mm zoom.

Possible evidence of the Korean 삵 (salk)? At first I thought it was scat, but on closer examination it seems to be a hairball!

I also found this... not the sort of thing one usually finds in Korea.

Yulha 2: it used to be a field...

Today was Independence Movement Day, and as such, a national holiday here in Korea. I didn't expect to do anything at all today, as the weather forecast predicted rain all day long. I woke up late to the surprising discovery that while it was dreary and overcast, it wasn't actually raining. I figured I should make use of my day off and at the very least take a walk. I decided to check out Yulha 2, the brand new neighborhood located just to south of my neighborhood. The last time I was here, during 2006-2007, the area which today makes up Yulha 2 was just a field. Granted, everything on our earth was once a field or untamed wilderness or somesuch, but it's always a shock to witness the kind of development that three years can bring. Keep in mind, everything in these pictures sprang up since September 2007. Compared to my delightfully retro neighborhood, Yulha 2 is frighteningly modern!

This apartment complex (still under construction) will house atheletes during the 2011 IAAF World Championships, to be held in August-September 2011.



The Yulha 2 development extends all the way to the Geumho River (which runs east/west across northern Daegu)

Yulha 2 as seen from the Geumho River To see the complete set of photographs from Yulha 2, CLICK HERE.

Record snowfall!

I remember, early on in this trip, telling my cousin what he could expect out of the weather here in Daegu. "We might get a few snow flurries, but the snow never sticks here in the city." Hah. You might remember that back in December we had some crazy un-Daegu-like snowfall, and well, I awoke this morning to an even heftier blanket of the white stuff covering just about everything. Take a look:

The view from my apartment, 1:45pm on 2/14/11

On my walk to work

Somebody obviously gave up on biking, and left this chained to a tree.

Neighborhood park, where my cousin sometimes plays basketball

Meanwhile, in the northeastern province of Gangwon-do, they had a really absurd amount of snow (they're calling it a 'snow bomb') - check it:

'Snow-bomb' hits South Korea and Korea chaos after heaviest snowfall

Putin: The Japanime Rabbit Zek? (UPDATED!!)

While I was lounging about my apartment being ridiculously lazy for my lunar new year vacation, my cousin George took the ferry to Japan and had a merry old time. He also discovered (and photographed) this:

Now, can anyone explain this madness to me???
(P.S. zek (зек) means prisoner, in case you were wondering.)

UPDATE: Hahahaha - I found it!! Not that it really explains anything, although it does reinforce my belief that Japan is weird. Wikipedia explains here. Or you can watch the madness below. Enjoy!

A Seolnal Walk

I'd be willing to bet that most Americans have at least heard the phrase Chinese New Year... although I'd also be willing to bet that most of them have no clue as to what it entails. Additionally, I'd bet that most don't know that China isn't the only Asian country to celebrate a Lunar New Year. The Korean Lunar New Year celebration is a three day holiday called 설날 (pronounced seolnal, with the 'n' being almost silent) and it is a huge, family-based holiday [wikipedia]. Businesses shut down and families load into cars, buses, and trains to travel to their parents' or grandparents' homes for the holiday. For those foreigners in Korea lacking in a Korean ancestral homestead to which to return, it's a rather uneventful time.

After January, when I was teaching extra 'intensive' classes, and working very long, sleepy days, I was quite thrilled to discover that the three-day Seolnal holiday fell on a wed-thur-fri, giving me a pleasant five-day weekend as a reward for making it through January unscathed. I had envisioned spending the entire five-days curled up on the couch, nestled between Charlie and Gwen's dog, Songi (I'm pet-sitting, while Gwen and her family do Korean family things), alternating between good books, bad tv, and wonderful naps. And then the most bizarre thing happened: it warmed up! While the US is completely snowed in, and my friends in the former Soviet Union are suffering through a typical winter, South Korea has stumbled upon some warm weather. The highs have been in the 50+ range (Farenheit; that's 10+ for you Celsius folks), and are expected to stay that way through Monday at the least.

I figured I should take advantage of the unseasonable weather, so yesterday I took a wonderful, long walk (wearing a sweater, no coat) along a rural stretch of the road connecting East Daegu and the neighboring community of Gyeongsan. The full set of 65 photographs from my walk can be seen by CLICKING HERE. Some of my favorites are below.

The red line is where I walked, from the top of it to the bottom and back.

Again, the complete set of photos can be seen HERE.