Sports Day 2016

Friday was Sports Day at my school, and I took a few iPhone pictures. The events take up the whole morning, then we have lunch. I was hoping we might be dismissed early, but it was not to be. It's okay, though, as I have the entire week off for "Spring Vacation" from May 2 to 6. I'll be doing some things around Seoul and the northern part of the country, so come back to the Patch to see what I get up to.

Meanwhile, here are a few pics from Sports Day.

Today's Word

... is Adoniser. My theory is this word is a shortening of "Adonis-izer", and denotes a store whose products will turn one into an Adonis. I choose to ignore the fact that it is a women's apparel concern.

Today's other words are "Wast", which I applaud for its efficiency, not wasting extra letters on an e, and "Edurecting", the gerund form of Edurection, the anatomic condition achieved by getting, um, excited, about learning.


I saw the sign below at Seoul Pub in Itaewon during March, part of the St Patrick's promotion. But it wasn't this one sign, posters and bar cards also alerted imbibers to the establishment's "Patrick's Mouth Special".


Finally, this sign taped to selected doors on the platform at Dangsan station, announces essentially, "Beware! Pigeon shit". In the last several years, pigeons have taken up residence in the large barn-like structure covering the above-ground tracks of the 2 line portion of the station.

Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival 2016

The theme of this year's festival, followed by the best shot I got. I have come to the festival here every year since 2009 (click the "cherry blossom festival" tag in the label cloud to see each year's post), but this is the first year you can see my standard pic without glasses--that is, me without glasses, you should wear glasses if you ordinarily do.


The star, of course, of the event is the cherry blossoms, on around 1400 trees donated to the Korean government by Japan about one hundred years ago, lining Junjungno:


Additionally, there are numerous other features for visitors' entertainment and edification, including portraitists, magicians, musicians, and shopping opportunities.


Mixed in there are photo ops, including characters I've never heard of, but couldn't resist anyway:


Finally, a few more of the blooms:

Spring Flowers Seen Clearly

Springtime: the peninsula wakes from its winter slumber, color splotches and splashes the landscape, the sun shines and Tuttle publishes some pictures of flowers.


This year, the floral display is of particular significance to me. For the past several years, my vision has become more and more compromised by cataracts, until it reached a breaking point when I "lost" my glasses to a wave on Koh Phangan during my holiday. The past few weeks, I have made numerous visits to the hospital, leading up to surgeries this week (Monday and Tuesday) to remove my cloudy old lenses and replace them with plastic intraocular lenses.

It was scary, well, the first one was, but after two follow-up visits and a few more simple procedures to come (removing the stitches, mainly), the process seems to have been a success, according to Doctor Song. According to me, it's unbelievable!! I cannot believe how bright and colorful everything is--not just flowers. There was an hour or so when I had one old lens and one new one, and it was jaw-dropping--one "world" hazy and yellowish, blurry and dingy, the other one white and sharp and clear!

I've always loved the flowers, and they've taken up a significant acreage of the Seoul Patch, but now I can appreciate them so much more! And speaking of flowers, here are a few more:


Above, a magnolia, an azalea and a cornel dogwood (Korea's first spring blossom), all taken on my school grounds. Finally, a couple of ornamental cherries I pass by every day on my way to and from school:

고척스카이돔, aka Gocheok Sky Dome

Nexen Heroes Professional Baseball Team of the KBO has moved from their home at Mok-dong to the new domed stadium in nearby Guro, and I met up with good ol' Andy and his two older kiddies to check it out for a pre-season match versus Samsung Lions (although the less said about the game, perhaps the better).

Curiously, while I thought I left the subway at Gaebong station, I guess I lost track of things, and later learned I actually got off at Guil (these are sequential stops on Line 1 heading toward Incheon). Still, signage and walkways make it easy.


Since it was preseason, all seating was general admission (and while previously pre-season Heroes games were free, this year they are 10,000 W). The seating chart is below, too--and the home team side is now along the first base side.


Here are a couple of shots from inside. Sadly, I failed utterly to take pictures of the cute kids. OTOH, they're so cute they probably would have broken my camera!


Anyway, the seats are super-wide and comfortable, with a cup holder on every arm, plenty of legroom,too. On the downside, there are some sections where you may have to cross fifteen people to get to your seats. As of yet, not an impressive selection of food providers, and not much in the way of pocha outside, either.

Still, never a rain delay from here on out!

Thailand, Koh Phangan: Food

I snapped a few pics of snacks available in a typical Thai convenience store (aka 7-Eleven); frankly, they mostly don't look delicious, but thankfully the same cannot be said of the huge majority of food I ate on this trip (and, it has to be said, any other).

As mentioned before, I spent one week at Smile Bungalows at Bottle Beach (Haat Phuad) on Koh Phangan. Lots of traditional Thai fresh foods available here. The first picture, however, is a salad new to me, called Phyla Gong, which was awesome, even though I don't know exactly what it is. Other standard fare, done well, included some curry and and order of tempura shrimp.


But my favorite seafood when near any ocean is the grilled red snapper. On Bottle Beach, there are only four or five resorts, and they seem to take turns doing a seafood grill-up dinner. First is my fare at the resort next door, followed by the offering at Smile:


My second week began at New Lapaz Resort at Maenam Beach on Koh Samui. First up some giant prawns, delicious:


Another high point was a beef "sizzler" which is lit on fire then delivered to your table:


I have previously documented many meals at Maenam Village, but though it is a critical part of my holiday cuisine, I don't think I've ever published a breakfast pic. To end this post, and my brief Thailand vacation, here is breakfast at Tommy's Swiss Restaurant, including scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, ham, and a rosti, Swiss-style hash browns with bits of ham in it. An amazing way to fortify oneself for the coming day!