I woke up at 7.30am with the alarm going off. I tried to stop it on my iPad and then I realised it was on my phone. We had breakfast together and, as usual, the folks gave me too much choice. I've noticed that Asians eat a lot of fruit at all meals; for breakfast we had Chinese Apples and our Apples.
Jisun and Rewa went off to a children's play ground. The government gave five families US$6000 to set up the group and to meet regularly for a year. The money is used to buy educational material, toys and food for the children. It's happening because the government is worried about the breakup of society in South Korea. It was Jayang's job to prepare everything for a lunchtime barbeque. I said I'd help but his response was, "I've got two hands so I'm OK". I relaxed, read and watched the depressing news about Judge Kavanaugh being appointed supreme court judge in the USA. I hope voters remember and turf out the Republican representatives at the November mid-term primaries
Two couples, each with one child, came for the bbq and the men took turns doing the cooking of the pork, mushrooms, onion rings, sausage and corn while I sat and lauded it over everyone. It was a lovely, sunny day compared to yesterday and quite hot too. Later in the afternoon Cheol Min came to visit. He's from Action for Life 1 so I've known him since 2001. He's had health issues, mainly with an irregular heartbeat, so his company, LG, has given him 3 months off work with reduced pay. He now stays home and takes care of his daughter while his wife works in a publishing company.
Cheol Min and I are quite close so we always have great conversations about our own journeys in life and issues we are facing. Sadly, his mother died suddenly not so long ago so that's giving him a lot of heartache. He also feels responsible for a brother who is single and who lived with the widowed mother; he's feeling it especially bad. A couple of years back he started having panic attacks. A lot was to do with his stressful job with LG and I'm glad he spoke to them about the long spells he had to be away from home, and lots of travel, and so they gave him a job that doesn't involve travelling. He said he always learns something about life from me. Most likely it's because I make all the mistakes and learn from them and then I pass on my learnings to others.
Cheol Min asked Jayang to take a photo of the two of us together and I managed to injure my arm. I just knocked it against something but I'm a good bleeder and so I performed. Everyone panicked. Jisun came running outside with a container of medical supplies. I said I only needed a bit of water and some toilet paper but they didn't listen. I'd still got some tea left so I washed my arm with it and then stuck a bit of bandage on the wound; it soon stopped bleeding. I've noticed I'm getting quite a few skin bruises - the kind that old people get. It's what usually happens when I'm travelling and dealing with suitcases, underground, buses etc.
When the other guests left the two of us went with Jisun and Jayang to another local restaurant - this time it was said to be Chinese Korean food. We had a dish involving pork mixed with sticky rice which we dipped in hot sweet sauce. This was followed with noodles in a soya bean sauce, a very spicy dish with mussels, another dish of large shrimps in a sweet sauce and ending with dumplings. It was very nice although the spicy dish was a challenge. Yet again I couldn't pay. I'm learning to read body language to know they are talking about the bill but so far I haven't been able to get up fast enough to pay.
Cheol Min took me back to the hotel via the underground and a short walk. It's a good job he was with me as I went ploughing into the closed glass door and nearly knocked my brains out.
My brain didn't feel any better when I entered my room for the first time. There are 3 very thin futons and hardly any furniture. The bathroom fixtures are falling apart and I can't lock the door. I've only been on the mattress for an hour and already I'm aching; after two hours it'll switch to agony unless I can get another mattress. I've noticed that some of the lads have got an extra futon so I'm going to try to get one. I'll need help as the man at the desk doesn't speak English. The Air Con is whirring away and I know I'm going to freeze to death if I can't talk the lads into turning it down. It's going to be an 'Oh Dear" night.
