2003-08-19 - 9:50 p.m.

I'm really sorry for not updating more often. Seems like activities of daily living get in the way of spending the necessary time to write.

The following is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to my brother yesterday. [Note: Here we write "Namsan," but I wanted to emphasize that Nam = South and San = Mountain, two words in English.]

I'm a little stiff today because I walked up and partway down NamSan (South Mountain) on Saturday. Took a taxi the rest of the way down as my knees and calves were protesting mightily. The lance-shaped tower at the top gives a great view of Seoul. It has a rotating restaurant and observation area, as well as a "world folk museum" with lots of crafts on display.

The masks and pottery were the best displays, I thought. The quirkiest exhibit was an homage to Nelson Mandela, with a larger-than-life-sized statue of him surrounded by black pygmy statues, in front of a mud hut with a straw roof (which was supposed to be a copy of his birthplace). The museum was full of kids, many of whom were painting papier-mache masks, having fun and producing some really attractive artwork.

As is normal, several kids came up to me to practice their English. That's always fun for me, and the kids seem to get a kick out of it, too. One little girl and I had an interesting discussion of the display of masks made by North and South American Indians, lots of feathers.

NamSan is right in the middle of Seoul and is a wildlife refuge. It's a little taller than Mount Battie and the tower is about the same height as the Seattle Needle, though folks can't go clear to the top. The "skirts" of woodland extend out from the hill for nearly a kilometer radius, so it's quite a good-sized chunk of forest in the city. All these trees have grown up since 1950, when the mountain was denuded by shelling during the first weeks of the Korean War.

The woods are full of birds. I can identify magpies, doves and sparrows, but there are lots of other kinds in there. Other than the feathered folk, all I saw were squirrels. They look like our grey squirrels, but their tails aren't as big and fluffy. I've heard that there are hawks living on NamSan, too, but they weren't displaying themselves on Saturday.

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I'm feeling a strong urge to visit Maine this fall. At first, I thought that I was a little homesick, but the more I explore my feelings, I don't think that's it. It's more like a need for closure, to say goodbye to my life in Vassalboro and clean up the debris of it.

I don't yet know what to do with all my "stuff," but a list is starting to develop in my mind of things I could use here in Korea: my jewelry-making tools and materials, for instance. They're worth close to $1,000. And the hard drive from my computer. Maybe I could load it onto CD-ROM. I need to talk that over with Matt and Rick, my two favorite PC wizards.

At any rate, I feel the urge to do something productive and proactive about the accumulated possessions stored in the shed on Taber Hill.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Trails!

~ Sil in Corea

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