2002-11-23 - 11:21 p.m.

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

I'm very happy. My friend Magic brought me a packet of Saffron. Now I'm all "haired up" to make saffron rice. A little web research has given me a few recipes. Here's one:

http://www.ecook.co.nz/recipes/76.html

Our meditation meeting, held at the new time, 8 p.m., drew ten attenders! Eight were local folks, and Cho translated for Magic and myself. One of the men read the manuscript section on Meditation and Prayer from the Korean translation (now underway) of the step book. Before the meeting, a half-dozen of us had supper together in a near-by restaurant; it was a real treat.

Today has been rainy, but the sky began to clear as we left the meeting. There was a cold wind from the north-west, and I was glad to get into the subway. We'll have ice in the puddles before the night's over.

Happy Trails!

~ Sil in Corea

Nov. 19 (transcribed from paper)

9 A.M. -- Woke from an odd dream abut bringing a video (some sort of safty exam) to Bob Durocher and his son "Eddie" [apparently, I appropriated the name from Terroni's son]. In the dream, I knew th folks who made the film, four families who lived near each other on a ridge in New Hampshire, I think. The preteen kids in the film were my friends and had evolved the idea. {It's all a bit hazy now. ADL got in the way of noting it upon awakening. I just remember being glad to see Bob and meet his son.}

I went to the Aloha meeting Sunday night expecting to see Magic, and there he was! It was strange, but I've had the feeling that he was due in town for the last week.

I've been sticking close to home since Thursday, when I went to the USO only to find that a couple of short-timers had cancelled the meeting. I came home a little wrathy, as I'd used my rapidly dwindling subway pass on a wild goose chase. I took my inventory after calming down and saw that my low cash reserve was fueling the anger mask, which covered fear of running out of ticket in case I had to make a run to Sanbon to borrow cash from my son. It proved an unfounded fear, since Chung showed up for his class the next morning, and I went down and got a new subway pass afterward. He didn't pay the "month-ahead" but that's no big deal.

10:30 a.m. -- Whew. I just did a whirlwind neatening, in case he showed up today for the "extra lesson" we discussed last Tuesday. I really like the looks of this "pad" when it is ready to receive guests.

The storage boxes are down in the "kitchen" end, lined up beside the counter space with shawls covering them. The bedding is folded into two "couches" and covered with the brick-red and navy-blue blankets. My pillows become arm-rests. My one "high-class" plastic storage box makes an end-table in the corner where the couches meet. It's draped with a black-watch tartan scarf and holds a stack of reference and text books. The coffee table/study table serves both couches. There is a little space behind the end-table which is the draft-free nook housing my yoghurt-making setup, simply one or more 12 ounce lidded plastic containers on the heated floor, with the wool tartan tented over them.

Yesterday, I got a nightlight. This frees me from having to put the head of my bed near the light switch. Now I can unroll the couches where they are, away from the door.

Last Wednesday, at the meditation meeting, we decided to change the start time to 8 p.m. People said nine o'clock was too late. We also made the meeting bi-lingual, and Cho promised to be the interpreter. The meeting has always attracted a higher percentage of local folks than the other English-language meetings. The only other meditation meeting is on Sunday at 11 a.m., south of the Han River. We hope to attract people from the north side of Seoul. We're hoping that these changes will revive "Aloha-Wednesday;" two times last month I was the only attender.

For sure, we can count on Magic when he's in town. He assured me of that Sunday. He's strong for meditation. In fact, he told me that he committed to meditate each Wednesday in Teheran at the same time we were meditating in Seoul. (There's a six-hour time difference, so he was meditating in the middle of the afternoon.) I was touched that he'd take the time out of his business day to be with us in spirit.

My demo class yesterday went very well. The mothers enjoyed the free-wheeling discussion on friendship, and the kids' sessions were quite good, too. For the very little ones, I reviewed greetings and introductions and sang "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." The older kids (6-7 years old) did a color, cut and paste exercise using "place" words,- "in the box," on the table," etc.

Afterward, I talked with the school director about introducing names of fruits by cutting up and giving pieces of fruit to the children. She immediately saw the logic. She said to tell her when I wanted to do it, and she would buy the fruit. Kids remember the English names a lot better when there's a direct connection between the sight and taste of the real thing. I learned that from Mrs. Kung, the school secretary in Tan-Hyon-dong, last year.

Happy Trails!

~ Sil in Corea

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