Just a couple of photos...

I wanted to get a couple of pics up real quick. I'll write more later.

Dr. Bowen, Mr. Warren, myself, Mr. Jacobs... the three who interviewed me in 2002 for my board position at WIRB. I've wanted this picture for a long time!

Reverand Jun-Woo Kim, professor at Daegu Catholic University Medical Center, giving his opening remarks. All of the hosts have been fantastic, making sure our every need is met.

Dr. Bowen, giving her welcoming talk, and the media capturing it.

Dr. Brad Waite and myself, on a break. What I love most about this picture is the way Drs. Adele and Owen Reese are leaning in to get in the shot!

Dr. Bowen speaking. This shows the size of the stage.

Dr. Choi. He and his family attended my church when he was a WIRB fellow from Korea. It was so nice to see him again and chat a bit.

Looking across the meeting room. Talks were in Korean and English, with translation available. Notice people holding the listening device so they could hear the translation.

Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore. Or Olympia, for that matter.

Today was all about going to this crazy market district in Daegu. One taxi ride away that cost 7600 wan (about $7.50) sits this crowded, bustling, and at times smelly spectacle. It covers 9 square city blocks and has shops on streets, in buildings, and everywhere in between. Think Yardbirds, Yeagers, or a Farmer's Market. Now multiply it times, ohhhhh, I don't know. Maybe times 1000, and you'll start to get the feel for what this place is. 

Fruits and veggies (Owen on the right)





This lady was pulling the frozen fish out of boxes.  She was busy in the morning getting her display all set up.





And speaking of fish... these silvery packages are all dried fish of various sizes. Some were maybe an inch long and some were up to 2 or 3 inches. All dried. All silvery. All contained a smell I am not accustomed to smelling! I think there were no less than a dozen other shops all selling these fish.

 This is one of the dozens and dozens of inside shops. It actually reminded me of how an antique mall works: many vendors renting space inside of one big room. Each floor covered one city block. It was mind numbing just how much stuff these people were selling. Dishes here, but there were clothes, costmetics, socks, etc. One entire floor was filled with bolts upon bolts of fabric where women could come pick the fabric and have a dress maker design them a traditional Korean gown.



This is the street scene from a skybridge.



The scene from ground level. On the left is a shirt vendor. On the right is a noodle counter. I'm learning these noodle places are everywhere.



Another scene from the street. Notice the pile of ??? on the blue platter.  I consider myself a pretty adventerous eater, but this was too much for me!



I snuck a picture of this women. Yes, she's selling chickens. Live chickens. I think they will be somebody's dinner soon. I regret not getting a picture of the dead pheasants and rabbits hanging from a nearby pole, waiting to be purchased.

This lady was unloading her greens. So many beautiful types of produce.

Bag upon bag of nuts, grains and dried fish.



A place to purchase children's traditional clothing.



This is looking down onto one of these noodle bar places. Quite the kitchen set up. There were probably 20 or more places just like this one that sat one after the other, all down the center of the street.

Me, Owen and Adele. We are looking so happy because we found food we recognized (udon soup) and were ready for some lunch! We all managed to eat with chopsticks this time! See the lady to the right of Adele? I think she thought I was crazy for asking the noodle lady to take our picture.

The lady in the blue apron is making these FABULOUS pancake things. The dough cooks up chewy and the center is filled with a few bits of chopped nuts and honey/brown sugar all melted and gooey. She drops the dough onto the hot skilled and presses them flat so they don't puff up too much. After a few minutes and being flipped several times, they are ready to eat. They make an Elephant's Ear look like baby food. Sooo yummy! It's probably a good thing I don't know how to make these things.

안녕 (an informal hello in Korean, like "hi". Pronounced "an nyoung")



a folk village structure... more on this below

Well here I am in Korea for a WIRB meeting called "IRB Summit 2011". It's being held in Daegu and the WIRB chairs were invited to attend. Exciting? Yes! I came a couple of days early so I could spend some time seeing a bit of the country before the meetings. So now, before I hit the sack, I'm determined to get a few pictures up on this blog!

I don't have time for the post I really want to do... it's 9:49 on Monday evening, April 18 and I'm beat. Between a little jeg lag and a full day of walking, I need to make this short and sweet. Besides, I'm using the hotel computer and it doesn't seem to upload my pictures very quickly.



Hot towels and a glass of water... the first of many on the flight. It was 11.5 hours from SeaTac to Incheon Airport (Seoul).



On the back of the seats were computer screens. They showed movies, but also had a selection to show the progress of the trip. This shows us before leaving Seattle.



And this is when we crossed the international date line!

Today went to the a Folk Village. It took a taxi and 2 busses to get there but it was so worth it. I'll post more later. I am here right now with Adele and Owen, two WIRB friends so we spent the day exploring together. Owen should get a reward for navigating us all the way there and back without any mistakes! We weren't sure how to get back at one point, but after a little problem solving, we did it! To be specific, we had to match up the Korean symbols for the name of the town we were headed for... from the map to the bus schedule. Tricky? Ya. A lot! So here are a few pictures of the folk village adventure.

This is a little food counter place in the bus stop at Guangu. Ever eat at a bus depot? I've always been afraid to, but this place had fabulous udon soup.

This is the folk village. It's basically a Korean "Jonestown" where people still live and preserve the orignal Korean way of life. Original as in mid 1500's before the Japanese invaded Korea. It was different than anything I've ever seen but so interesting to walk around and peek into the different little places it held.



Look at this cute Korean grandma... What you can't see is the funny little cart she was pushing. Not really even sure what she was moving, but she was chugging right along. I like the contrast of the traditional clothing and the car. Oh, and the port-a-potty for the workers at that house!

Many of the homes in the village were occupied by people who seemed to run a business of some sort out of their home. This one sold planter pots. Couldn't see if they actually made them here, or just sold them.

In other homes we saw a tea-house and a bonzai plant nursery. I'll post more on those later.

Ok, I'm off to bed. More later!