Suwon

So I begin this post with what should be the last picture but despite blogging for one year I still can not figure out how to get my photos where I want them. So here is the finished product and you can see the process below. Netta made this beautiful pot on our trip to Suwon.

We took the subway (about 1 hour ride) to Suwon to visit John's friend Mr. Park. He offered to show us around his city and we had heard that there were some cool things there so we finally made it out there.

Mr. Park is coming to Santa Cruz to visit us soon after we return to the US. He is actually bringing our cat for us - even though he hates cats. Luckily we found someone to foster her for the 2 weeks between when we leave and when he is traveling. So all he has to do is meet them and get Swallow in her kennel and deliver her and check her in. Then we will be there to pick him up when he arrives with Swallow. Hopefully it will all work as planned.

Anyway I digress, we had a lovely day in Suwon. We started with a great lunch of calbee which is meat barbequed at the table. Suwon is famous for its calbee and it lived up to its reputation- it was delicious and we all ate way too much. Then we went out to check out the palace that is in Suwon but before we went in there was a water fountain in front and the girls had to get a bit wet. It was a pretty hot day.

Olive near the fountain - this is her excited but kind of wary face.
Below is Netta in the fountain - you could run into this section where you wouldn't get wet if you timed it just right which of course she did.
I think we will all miss these fountains they are good fun on a hot day.

Here is Olive on the steps in the palace. She got new crocs and was pretty bugged by sand getting in them in this area. She kept stopping to clean them out.
So here is the pot making activity. There were a bunch of activities set up for kids inside the palace. Korea is so great that way - everywhere you go there are hands-on experiences for the kids. I have heard many people say that Korea is a great place to be a kid.
I love these photos and the way this woman helped Netta form the pot she made. Netta sometimes complains about people over controlling her artistic process in Korea. They want her to do her art a certain way and she of course resists. In this instance she said she really appreciated this teacher's gentle guidance.
Netta forming the opening.
Creating the lip edge.
I love this one where they are holding hands.
Then Netta had time to decorate the pot with her own design. She spent a long time doing a kind of comb design- it was crazy because then we went to the prehistoric park the week after (I know the blog posts are out of order - sorry) and discovered that the comb design is a very ancient pattern used in Korea. Netta said she had no idea about that- she must have been channeling ancient Koreans while she decorated her piece.

We left the pot with the kind lady and she then glazed it in the ancient celadon style and fired it and mailed it to us in Seoul. It arrived yesterday and looks so great.
This is the throne room of the palace.
Netta still concentrating on her work.
This is what Olive did while Netta was finishing her pot. She sat in the dirt and shoveled it with her croc, watching the sand fall through the holes of her shoe.
More shots of the palace and the trees behind it.
Cute Olive asking me to take a picture of her. These shots are hard to get with Olive always on the move.


Next we walked to the Fortress Museum in Suwon. This is outside the museum - it shows how they moved the stones to build the fortress.
The museum was interesting - I had to spend most of it in the lobby with Olive as she was not remotely interested in the contents of the museum. This was a reminder of how much she has grown in this year. When we arrived in Seoul we could go to museums all the time and she would just sit in her stroller while we puttered around through the displays. This time is no more.......but we had fun looking at the fish in the lobby.
Then we walked to the fortress wall along this stream. It was really beautiful - the flowers are amazing here.
This is a fountain near a gate of the fortress. Unfortunately all I can remember about this part of our walk is that Netta wanted to get a closer look at the water and found a dead, decomposing dog in the water. She was disturbed and talked about it for a long time.
Here is Mr. Park (next to John) and his brother on the bridge over the stream.
Kids in the stream, looking for critters.
Netta in the stream too.
Netta looking at some baby turtles that the kids had in bags. They were not from the stream but they sure were cute.
A flag on the fortress wall. The fortress wall is almost 6 kilometers long. We walked along some of it and it is amazing. There are holes for guns and lookout posts.


Here is Netta - she is actually angry here - I love how the little girl is looking up at her curiously.
John and Olive trotting up to one of the buildings on the wall.
A closer look at the building.
This is an amazing buddha that we saw from afar up on a hill nearby. I wanted to walk up closer but alas the day was not long enough......
Mad Netta. We all had a good laugh about this picture.
So this was a group practicing in the square where we ended up after our fortress walk. They were great!
The flying frisbee trick.

Musicians outside the palace. Can you see the shells they are playing?
After our day out we had pizza before heading home. I thought this bottle was funny. The brand is Bornitaly but it is 100% America and we found it in Korea. This is a good example of weird items/translations. I wish I had taken pictures of more of these- they are everywhere.

Ok I can tick Suwon blog entry off my long list of things to do. I am still not all caught up with the blog - maybe I will be finishing it in California.