Saturday Dec 3
Woke up from a crazy dream. I should know better not to eat bread or anything before I sleep! Wierd how food does that to you.
So after sitting around most of the morning, and into the afternoon, I finally decided to leave at around 2 to go downtown on my own adventure. I didnt quite know where to go, until I saw...DUH! The art street! So down I went to the subway, and on to the street of Art in Gwangju. As soon as I got off the subway I knew I was in the right spot, cuz there were buildings all around me that were covered in fabric! Top to bottom! The whole building was encased in art work temporarily I assume. U know when everyone gets together and does a 4'x5' or something piece of fabric or canvas or whatever and paints or draws whatever on it and then sews it together... It was beautiful. Some were pieced together in different colors to make a quilt looking piece in the middle. Look at the pictures if you can...you'll see what I mean.
So on down the street was little shops, and my main find was old wood, an leather punching/decorating shop, lots of tea ceramic shops, and GoldMine! lots of places to get paintbrushes and paper and paints and canvas and PAPER! Oh the paper took my breath away. You would think you were walking into a fabric shop, but noooo...it's all paper on bolts! Paper on hangars, paper in rolls. Every color you could imagine, and some really beautiful prints. All handmade paper. Oh man. Guess what you're gonna get for Xmas! And oh yes, ink paintings and sketches. Big bamboo paint brushes..one I saw with horse hair that was HUGE. And stone ink wells that are just spectacular. Smooth black stone that is carved out on an angle for ink. Yum. Ha ha...yes ...yum!
And then as I walked down a side street and noticed all the stone statues on the side of the street like they werew just dime a dozen...I saw some really gorgeous pieces of furniture there...I guess that I would pay attention to. Then I found a little shop that was ....what do you say when you find a treasure little down and out store full of shiny statues of Buddha, multiheaded shrine statues, a big knight or soldier in the front of the store, holding a piece of real armour....oh man....that thing...I wonder how old it is. If it's real...it must be...I dont know how old...hundreds of years? And then, I looked up, and this lady of the store gets up and looks all sleepy....then I look down and her husband is sleeping on the floor, and she just gets up and nods at me and sits there. I ask her if I can take pictures and she nods. Then her cell phone goes off...and here's this middle aged lady talking on her cell phone, while she and her husband sleep on the straw mat floor in the middle of ancient treasures! Oh man...I feel the National Geographic moment coming on! ha ha!
It's funny that it just feels like I live here, and sometimes I have to wake up and tell myself that this is really happening! I feel so disconnected sometimes...but Oh I LOVE it. Maybe there really is something to my name meaning.--Wanderer. That's exactly what I love doing. Hmmmmm.....
So then I look up, and see that there is the SDA church right ahead. Wierd. So I go across the street...and make a long story short, I meet up with some wonderfully nice people who invited me out to dinner, and then a movie. They paid for everything very graciously, and attempted to use their English as much as they could. Oh yes, we went to an ice-cream parlour after. IT's a whole other store/restaraunt that just sells icecream and coffee...etc... And it was gorgous!
One of the girls and I completely are on the same page in terms of design and art and fashion...cuz she bee-lined to the Korean Vogue...oh yes...Korean Vogue complete with the model Devon Aoki on the front. And we gushed over the same things.
You know, this whole experience really is showing me and proving that everyone is the same in so many ways....no matter what culture or language or ethnicity, we all are just the same. Maybe a little variation here and there...but really! What is it with me that has this unsatiable craving for everything ELSE. What ELSE is out there? What ELSE can I see or experience. What ELSE , what Else, what Else!
SO we saw the movie in Korean, and I understood every bit of it except for some words where the situation explained it all. It was really funny and cute and amazing to experience. There's a reason why I like foreign film of any kind. For me, its' the visual experience, and then the story, and the cinemetography taking me into another viewpoint using color and light, and then language and little things that every culture has that is intrinsic to them. Mmmm life IS beautiful, and it really makes me see God so much more and how colorful he really is. And why did he make Asians to look like they do, and do the things that they do, and use the colors that they do, and to bow in 'respect' to eachother, .... and why did he make me 'white', and give me the desires that I have, and make me want to go everywhere that is foreign to me and LOVE it at the same time? Or anyone else for that matter.
So I can hardly wait to go to Thailand if I can at Xmas. I really hope that works out!
Well, I gotta sleep. I have to get rested for the sauna experience tomorrow...yay! I can HARDLY wait.
Later! and dont forget to comment or write!
Happy birthday mom!
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