Today we celebrate the coming of Spring in Romania. We give each other a small token called a Martisor. I bought a bouquet of flowers from a happy man selling on the street corner. I brought them into a cafe.
A happy couple took this picture. I explained this photograph was for everyone I love back home especially the Romanian women in my life. It was for my mommy, (My daddy too), my grandmothers, Getutza and Roxana, Flori, Marika, my cousins, my aunts. I told them that the flowers were for them too. When I finished reading, I gave the woman the bouquet. She can arrange it in a pretty vase in her own home.
Sometimes giving is better than receiving.
Today we also celebrate Independence Day in Korea. I went on an adventure. Sola in Seoul.
I wanted to celebrate both in my own way, alone. But I ended up celebrating with everyone in Seoul. And I met some incredible people along the way.
First stop: Jongmyo Shrine.
This is where the kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty are remembered and celebrated. This site houses their ancestral tablets. Walking the pathways is enacting a spiritual memorial. I couldn't wait.
I got off at Jongno Subway Station. Exit 11, my lucky number.
HI!! I'm here!
Then I got there and saw the line-up...
Blame communism and the infernal line-ups but for the life of me I couldn't stand there and wait. I wanted to move.
I'll be back. The days haven't been stuffed into a sack!(Romanian saying translated mot a mot)
Instead, I lingered around the grounds. Most days the park surround the Shrine is filled with veterans and elderly men playing checkers or Go! outside. But today on Movement Day it was ESPECIALLY masculine and crowded with the clear-thinking minds of Yesternight.
I marched toward the statue of King Joseon
and on my way saw an array of intense gaming:
It was interesting. There were gasps and oooh's and ahhhh's (and wide eyes and open mouths)in regards with my presence there. I felt like a foreign creature with long legs and green skin equipped with an ethereal presence and airy hair and feathery footsteps.
I was none of the above fair creatures. I was quite obviously ...intruding. I continued down Jongno and went into Bukchon Village which is a beautiful artsy neighbourhood nestled in the heart of Seoul preserving 600 years of history and artifacts.
So I decided to keep stealing moments. Because even though I live here, I'm foreign.
These are my favourite thefts:
lovers.
with art comes...art criticism. and potted plants apparently. Forests grow out of opinions. The way Athena grew out of Zeus' head.
waiting in traffic by a caravan. I love caravans.
I stopped at a tiny tea house in the heart of Bukchon.
It was probably one of the few moments in my life when I got to a place and felt like I entered an adriana-shaped hole in the wall. It was great.
Now, life's ironic because I wanted to celebrate Korean Independence with strangers....from Korea. For example:
He saw me in a tiny palace on my way to Bukchon village and wanted to chat. So we did! His friend took our picture. He grabbed my hand and I burst out laughing. Good man, he was.
Anyways, March 1st celebrates a movement of Korean Independence from..Japanese occupation.
So of course I meet an elderly ....Japanese couple from Tokyo. We chat and I tell them I want to see the cherries bloom in the spring. They were lovely and sophisticated. They finished their drink and left. I kept reading.
All of a sudden.....
The Japanese man rushes back in when I was reading this book of American movie poems, and gave me his email.
He said they'll be my guide. His wife loves Nova Scotia. In between dimpled smiles he explained he'd take her in a few years. I'll show them what I can when they visit my world.
I finished my tea, and on my way to the subway I saw a big clumsy puppy tied outside an antique store. And a tiny dog scrambling around.
I have few weaknesses in this life. I can live anywhere in the world, I can speak a bunch of different languages, I can lose a third of my weight in a year, I can get into good schools, I graduate from good schools, I can go for years without a man but I cannot for the goddamned, infuriating life of me....pass by a dog without loving it. I just can't.
I'm probably crazy.
Oh, and carts of books. Weakness.
Happy Spring.
And remember! Don't try fried maggots or silk-worm stews without a translator present! (photo not included because...I threw up shortly after)
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