Not Ready for the New Year

It is a custom for Japanese Americans to clean their house, pay their bills and generally tie up loose ends before heading into the brand new New Year.

I'm seriously doubting that my own kids follow this custom, but it's pretty ingrained in Art, Mom and my consciousness and even subconsciousness.

Art would start washing everything down. I'd organize things and clean up closets, etc. and Mom does her thing all over the place.... usually.

This year, we're not quite ready. We were so focused on our grandson being here and finishing up our photobook for our trip to South Korea that I haven't even started on our holiday newsletter. And Art hasn't cleaned our windows like he always does.  I take it back. He just cleaned all the windows and cars.

Needless to say 2017 will begin in February for us. I'd better not write any checks until then.

How to Kill Your Garbage Disposal

When we refurbished our kitchen in Illinois we installed a shiny (I think it was shiny), new garbage disposal. Then I happily peeled a bunch of carrots and pushed it down the garbage disposal. Uhhhh....

Water backed up. The garbage disposal made sick sounds. We called in the plumber who told us he often gets calls from people who stuff things like carrot peels down the drain. From that time on, we've gone back to stuffing food debris in garbage bags or milk cartons and throwing it out with our regular garbage.

When we moved to Hawaii and renovated the kitchen we got a shiny, new garbage disposal again. I'm wondering why because Art is super cautious about not sending anything down the drain.

I was recently talking to our good friend, Craig who happens to be a plumber. He said another thing people really shouldn't throw into their drains is coffee grounds. I could hardly believe it. Seems to me it's just granules and shouldn't have a hard time passing through the drainage system. Craig says he would send a small camera down into the clogged drain to see what the problem was and it's often piled up coffee grains. No kidding?

That led me to looking up what sort of things you shouldn't throw into your garbage disposal.

Grease and oil, greasy meats, pasta and rice (cooked or uncooked), potatoes and potato skins, stringy or fibrous food like onions, garlic, celery, etc., fruit peels, eggshells, bones.... and yes, coffee grains. Sheesh!

OK... Can you remember all this?

Forget it. I'm throwing my food garbage in bags and cartons with the regular trash just like Craig's wife!

Looking Back at the Super Moon

OK, I admit it. I have nothing to post about today just because my mind is on my grandson.

Therefore I thought I'd post these photos that Art took of the Super Moon last month when I was fast asleep. Ummm... I'm not a morning person.

It did look a little bigger, but since it was called SUPER moon, I was expecting something twice its size.

I'm sure this will remind Art of the first time I saw the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian.

I waited in line to see it and was expecting something SUPER huge. I was disappointed to find not only was it not all that huge, but blue on top of that.

Ah well...

Protecting My Ears

Ever since I went to that workshop where they talked about how hearing loss can eventually affect your cognitive ability and how easy it was to damage your hearing, I've been extra careful.

My ears have always been rather sensitive. When we watched our kids at their high school swim meets, there was a coach who would whistle really, really loud. I don't know what it was about his lips and tongue that could produce such a high piercing whistle. Whatever the case, it actually hurt my ears and I had to wad tissue in my ears to block it out.

I find that my Zumba class also has music so loud that it's very uncomfortable for me. I started out using Art's construction ear plugs from Home Depot, but they were so big and inflexible that they kept falling out. Besides, they were bright orange and rather conspicuous.

I looked online and found the ear plugs on the left which worked much better and wasn't visible. However, I did have to twist it for a while to get it really plugged in.

I then thought I'd try the one on the right because it was smaller. Unfortunately, it was too small and didn't block out much.

So it's back to the one on the left. It does work great once I have them in. I can still hear the music, but it's not as loud.

When we went to Moana, the theater had the sound so loud that I was back to stuffing my ears with tissue. I really wished I had my ear plugs!  Hmmm... I think I'll stick that extra one in my back pack for emergencies. Now that I think about it, why do they have the sound so loud? It can't be good for little kids with delicate, growing ears.... or is everybody losing their hearing?

Exercise Pays Off!

This actually happened last week, but I'd already scheduled posts so I'm having to slip this one in here.

We were having our usual once a week mall walk with friends, Dave and Diane when we bumped into Mary again. She's the sweet person who gave us gorgeous bracelets last week that she made herself. Well... this week I had a little present for her that I wanted to share which I'd brought back from our trip to Korea. Wouldn't you know she was passing out another gift! It's a little angel charm! I've now got it hanging from my backpack.

We go to the mall well before any of the stores are open along with a lot of other seniors. Since last week was the peak holiday shopping season, Macy's opened early. Diane was feeling a little tired with all their holiday preparations so we took it a bit easier. When I saw that Macy's was open, I suggested slowing down by walking through the store.

A greeter was out there with a basket of peppermints and passing out some sort of card. I always get confused with all the discount coupons from Macy's in the paper that I no longer pay attention to them. However, the greeter told us that she was passing out $10 gift cards to the early birds. Art, Dave and a friend also got cards.

Diane and Dave had too much to do after our walk so they gave us their cards.

We stopped by Macy's later that morning and found a lot of things were discounted between 30%-50%. I found $40 earrings that was discounted 60%. Using the gift card, I had to pay  $4.24!!! Awesome! We also got pajamas for our grandson that was discounted 30% and with the gift card had to pay just $4.65!!! Awesome sauce!

We then decided to use Diane and Dave's cards and got socks for both of them that were almost free! We were so excited to stop by their house to drop them off. They were surprised, but wouldn't you know they had some treats they wanted to share with us. Good gosh! This was truly the season of giving and being blessed with even more!

Bottom line: Exercise pays off in health, happiness and holiday cheer.

Mom and Moana

DJan recently wrote a blog post where she mentioned how much she enjoyed seeing Moana. Well I've really loved all the movies and books she's recommended so we decided to take mom to see Moana last Friday. Besides...Moana is very much about Polynesia and dear to our hearts. We avoid taking mom to see movies where there's a lot of dialogue because it's difficult for her to understand. Since she was a little down one day last week, Art thought we could also bring her Panda Express take out after the movie.

The theater was empty. What a surprise! We were alone until finally two other mothers came in with a couple of kids, but other than that we had the place to ourselves.

I kept watching the movie wondering how much she was understanding because the characters were speaking pretty fast and so much of the story line was in the songs. Still, I loved the movie! When it was over mom said she really enjoyed it, too. She had a few questions about Maui's origin and who he was, but otherwise, she was amazed at the animation, and loved the story. We asked what she liked best and she said, "music."

We got her favorite Panda Express dishes for dinner and then got a surprise visit from a neighbor who brought over little fruit cakes.

Later that evening mom came in smiling and then laughed and said, "It was a perfect day!"

Seeing and hearing her happiness was our best present for the holiday.

Well... actually, our grandson and his parents are arriving tomorrow and that will really top off our holidays perfectly.

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Holidays! Season's Greetings!

Holiday Greetings

I saw something on Facebook recently that made me smile. I've said this often, but I think it  bears repeating. Here's what it said.

This year Christmas and Hanukkah fall on the same day. This is a season of rejoicing and fun for people of different faiths. It's truly nice to include everyone.  I really believe that. I wish everyone would.

Making a List...

My grandson is coming! My grandson is coming! And yes, of course his parents are coming too. Just kidding. We can hardly wait to see all of them.

So we've made a list and checked it twice, gone shopping, and checked it a third and fourth time. We have diapers, baby wipes, baby food, pack and play, toys, car seat.... what else?

I'm trying to figure out what I should be moving out of reach, what is dangerous, what is breakable. I remember our granddaughter, KC coming when she was about 19 months old (here's a photo of KC and mom) and she's been to Hawaii almost every year since, but she's now 10 and it's been a long time since we've had a toddler.

A few years ago, I was going to put up the gate before they came to visit to prevent her from falling down the stairs and Tif had to remind me that KC was no longer a baby.

But now we're going to have a toddler who will be about 17 months old and he's a boy. If he's anything like his father and there's every indication he is, I'm going to have to pad the floors, the walls, the doors, and everything he might come into contact with.

Stressed? Who's stressed?

I'm so excited!

Moving on With The Times

The last sugar plantation in Hawaii located on the island of Maui was brought to a close last week when they took in their last harvest.

I got this from NBC news:

Sugar plantation owners played a large part in the 1893 U.S. backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the subsequent 1898 annexation of Hawaii as an American territory, which the federal government acknowledged and apologized for in 1993, calling the overthrow "illegal." 

That's the ugly part where big business in Hawaii did a horrible wrong to the Hawaiian people by taking the sovereign nation for monetary gain.

For 200 years sugar influenced so much of Hawaiian economy and even the cultural climate because the company brought in immigrant workers from Portugal, China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, etc. to work in the plantations.

I grew up in one of those plantations. Almost everybody I knew had one or more family members tied to the sugar industry as laborers of some kind. It was a way of life.

Eventually, sugar plantations on Oahu closed followed by plantations on other islands. Workers had to find some other kind of work. It was sad, sometimes painful, but it was accomplished. For many it was all they knew. A survey was conducted by the Star Advertiser recently showing the percentage of people who said their family had "roots or ties to Hawaii's historic sugar industry." 57% of the people who answered said they did. 38% did not and 5% had summer jobs with the sugar plantations.

I don't remember anger when the plantations closed. I don't remember people insisting it had to stay open or saved. I don't remember people blaming the president for the closure. It was accepted and understood that times were moving on.

Sadly, it's happening with the coal industry. Times have changed. We need to move toward other forms of renewable energy that don't contribute to pollution or climate change. President Obama shouldn't be blamed for trying to move the country toward more environmentally sound energy policies.

I'm really worried about our country and the direction it will now take.

Holiday Kindness

I go walking at the mall on most Wednesdays before the shoppers come. There are a lot of seniors who do the same thing and we sometimes bump into friends. Although Art prefers walking outside, I like walking in the air conditioned mall, avoiding the hot sun. I know, I know. I'm a wuss.

For several months, I'd noticed a woman who was always there walking on her own but going clockwise. I'd say 95% of the walkers go counter clockwise. I don't know why; that's just the way it is. I would therefore bump into her every time we made a lap and smile, laugh, nod or joke with her. Eventually, I introduced myself and learned her name was Mary.

Last week, Mary stopped me as I was walking with my friend, Diane and said she wanted to give me a present. She had bracelets she'd made and let me choose which one I wanted. She noticed Diane then and told her to choose too. Diane declined the kind offer at first but was encouraged to select one which she happily did.

Isn't it beautiful? I can still hardly believe it.

Diane took a photo of us together. I told Diane I wouldn't use the photo for my blog, but she suggested I use it, but blur out Mary's face like I usually do. Great idea. When I showed my daughter the photo she said, "You're both matching, mom. People are so nice in Hawaii."


It's true that I meet nice people everywhere I go in Hawaii, but Mary is extra nice.

Avoiding the Long Lines

I went to the post office to mail a flat rate box and saw a long, long, long line snaking out the door.

I'd already gone online to address, pay and make a shipping label for my  box so I was able to walk past everybody to drop it off in a bin.

When I turned around to leave, I saw everyone was staring at me incredulously.

I told them, "I did it online."

To which they all nodded and one woman smiled and said, "Thank you." I imagine a lot of them will now be looking into doing the same thing.

It really does make life a lot simpler and I'm really trying to simplify the holiday.

POSTSCRIPT:
And you can be updated automatically so you know where it is and the recipient will also know it's coming.

 I love it!

Technologically Challenged?

Someone recently sent us holiday Starbucks gift cards. It was very kind and generous of them. It just so happens that whenever we do our once-a-week walking at the mall, there's a Starbucks there that we all visit to sip and chat. I never used to go to Starbucks before because... well... it's expensive and I wasn't all that much of a coffee drinker. That has changed since I've started walking there.

My dear friend, Dave showed me the Starbucks app for my cellphone that seemed awfully convenient. He told me I could enter the gift card I'd gotten from my kids for my birthday onto my phone and just use the phone to pay for whatever I get.

I loaded the app onto my phone. It asked for the gift card number.

OK... That was easy enough.

Then it asked for the 8 digit code.

Where the heck is that?

I hunted all over the card and couldn't find it. I was afraid to take off the sticker next to the card number thinking it was like the scratch cards we get that says the card is invalid if removed.

I finally decided to gamble and removed it. What do you know? There's the 8 digit code!

I did it! Yay! I now had a lovely balance.

OK....

Now I've received these additional gift cards so I decided to add it to the app. I did everything I did before but the balance remained the same. I added the same numbers again and the app said I'd already used the  card.

What??? Then why didn't my balance show it? I checked the payment history and it didn't show what I added. Arrghhh...

So I called Starbucks. Aaron, who answered my call was a very sweet fellow. He first told me that the app was for my original gift card and that both gift cards were registered, but I could merge the two.

"But where's the card balance for this one?" I asked.

He said........ Uhhhh... what did he say? I can't remember. He very patiently and cheerfully tried to explain how to use the app. I confess to being totally befuddled so he asked me if I would like him to merge the accounts together for me. I very gratefully accepted his offer. (There was a lot of befuddlements as he asked me for the account number, etc. which he had to tell me where to look to find, etc.)

Then I told him I had another card. He quickly said he could do that card for me too.

(I did complain about the 8-digit code. I told him I was ready to get a magnifying glass to try to figure where they hid it. He laughed out loud.)

Aaron also mentioned that I could manage my accounts online. So I asked if it would be easier for me to do that next time. Did he stifle a chuckle there?

"Uuuuuhhhh...." said Aaron. "You should truly feel free to call us and let us do it for you," he reassured me. "We are very happy to help."

I'm wondering what he told his friends about his experience with me. Whatever the case, we wished each other a "Happy Holidays" and I hope I get to talk to him again if I get another card.

All I can say is I've now got a lot of coffee or tea to drink.

The Gift of No Gifts

Many years ago, my very long time friend, Diane and I made a pact not to exchange holiday gifts. I think she came up with the idea first. I remember being a (very) tiny bit ambivalent about it for the first five minutes, but then grew to love the idea. December is such a stressful month and I really don't enjoy shopping.  I'm not one of those people who's good at finding the right gift. It's true. My daughter will remember little things about everybody that enable her to know what we would like. My memory is negligible.

Therefore once our children were grown it really was a wonderful thing for Diane and I to have this agreement. This doesn't mean we don't share things with each other. Diane bakes holiday cookies that are so amazing, it makes my mouth water to think about it. Everybody LOVES them. She gave me the recipe a long time ago, and I tried making it twice, but it really wasn't like hers. We then share some food item from our family to hers as well. It's perfect and it's more than enough.

My Zumba group made the decision this year to not bring favors (little gifts) for everyone to our Christmas Party. We decided instead to spend time getting things to donate to the homeless. We shared only fellowship, laughter, conversation and friendship at the party. It was more than enough.

Our children, their spouses and us share a little gift lottery where we have a different person to buy for each year instead of buying something for everybody. (Except mom and grandkids. They get something from everybody.) We then send each other our wish lists and suggest things we would love but wouldn't buy for ourselves. This isn't for everybody, but for us it makes our holidays less stressful and even happier...and it's more than enough.

Zumba Holiday Tea Party

For the last five years, our little Zumba group has been celebrating the holidays together merrily. We've enjoyed our parties in various restaurants in the neighborhood and maybe a little beyond. This year Naomi suggested we get out of our comfort zone and head out to the other side of the world, I mean island. We rarely go to Kailua because it just feels so far away. In actuality, it probably only takes a half hour to get there. Kailua is on the other side of the Koolau mountain range.

Naomi had gone to a little place called a Cup of Tea in Kailua and thought it would be a fun place for us to go. She organized a carpool to get there with a minimum of fuss. And indeed High Tea there was a LOT of fun! Then again, anywhere we get together is a lot of fun!

As soon as we entered A Cup of Tea, we were amazed at the gorgeous Christmas decorations that seemed to fill every corner of the rooms. It put us in the holiday spirit right away.

You could also buy a variety of different kinds of exotic teas, jewelry, and other assorted gifts.

Although both my children have experienced High Tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, Canada I never have. We've passed by, but never stayed for the tea.

My daughter Tiffany has been to several teas in Chicago as well and had described what I could expect.

The menu offered two options, Princess Heather and Lady Tiffany. You know I had to go with Lady Tiffany which included soup and salad whereas the Princess Heather had you choose either the soup or salad.

A three tiered stand came next filled with little sandwiches, scones and tiny desserts. There was also a cute little bowl of vanilla ice cream to end our luncheon.

Our meal was served with impeccable elegance by very friendly servers and we had a fabulous time. Was it worth the long drive to the other side of the island? Oh yes, definitely. Gracious! Naomi even had little fruit cakes for us to take home.

Happy Holidays, everybody! I'm definitely in the holiday spirit now. Next week, we've got a tai chi holiday party to attend. It's such a happy season!

One Word Answers

Mage posted a list recently where you had to respond with just one word. Sounded like fun so I thought I'd try it. (Many were the same as Mage. We must think alike.) Here goes:

Use only ONE WORD to answer the question! It’s not as easy as you think!

1. Where is your cell phone? Backpack

2. Your hair? Gray

3. Your dad? Dead

4. Your other half? Art

5. Your mom? Healthy (active, opinionated, kind, caring, funny)

6. Your dream last night? Nothing (I can't remember.)

7. Your favorite drink? Mocha

8. Your dream/goal? Healthiness (Without pain)

9. What room you are in? Bedroom

10. Your hobby? Blogging (I meet the most wonderful people through blogging.)

11. Your fear? Illness (and pain)

12. Your home away from home? Illinois (Illinois and Hawaii are home to me.)

13. Where were you last night? Home (We don't usually go out at night.)

14. Something that you aren't? Mathematical

15. Muffins? Blueberry (I say this even though I gravitate to chocolate chip.)

16. Wish list item? Eyeliner  (Still trying the find the perfect one.)

17. Where you grew up? Waipahu (on the island of Oahu)

18. Last thing you did? Dishes

19. What are you wearing now? Cardigan (It does get cool in Hawaii.)

20. Your TV? Sony

21. Your pets? None

22. Friends? Fantastic (I'm blessed knowing such beautiful people.)

23. Your life? Happy

25. Missing someone? Children (Grandchildren, friends... how do you choose?)

26. Car?  Prius

26.5.  Truck? None

27. Something you're not wearing? Shoes (I don't wear shoes in the house.)

28. Your favorite movie w/one word title? Departures (Japanese film that won Best Foreign Language Film award at the 2009 Oscars.)

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? Tonight

31. Last time you cried? 2015 (I rarely cry, but sometimes.... well...)

32. One place that I go to over and over? Computer

33. One person who messages me regularly? Daughter

34. My favorite place to eat? Maguro-ya

35. Your favorite food? Salad (I'd say ice cream, but that's two words.)

Time Out for a Holiday Excursion

Art always insists on taking mom out for some kind of excursion so she gets out of the house where she can get too comfortable and set into a routine. We took time out from our busy-ness to give mom a bit of holiday fun.

This time Art drove us to Ala Moana Center so mom could enjoy the holiday atmosphere.

We stopped at Macy's to get her a new nightgown to put under the tree. She listened to some holiday music that a band was playing.

What Art really wanted to do was take mom to walk around Shirokiya's Japan Village.

I wasn't too thrilled because I find the food there too expensive and not very memorable. Other people have told me the same thing. When Japan Village opened this summer, you could hardly walk through the aisles because it was too crowded. At 11:30 on this day, it was almost empty.

We walked around Japan Village and Mom did enjoy seeing what was available.

In the end we decided to try the buffet at the new giant Foodland across the parking lot which was also underwhelming.

We noticed that the construction workers were all gathered there though.

After lunch, Art wanted to take mom back to the Japan Village to try Zunda shakes.

He remembered our being introduced to that Sendai treat when we were there in 2008 visiting Mom's sister and her family.

Mom's sister had brought several Zunda shakes for us to have on the train to Hiraizumi. (You can see auntie carrying them in the bag in that bottom photo.)

The fellow at the Zunda shake stand said this was the first Zunda opening in the U.S. There was a TV monitor above the shop that showed videos from the Sendai area. Mom was delighted and drinking the delicious soy bean shake brought back beautiful memories of her time with her sister who she misses.

We asked the fellow manning the stand if he was from Sendai. We all laughed together when he told us he was actually Chinese.

And so ended another successful outing saved by a shake.

Memories of Pearl Harbor

Yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

I took this photo yesterday of Pearl Harbor and tried to imagine what it might have been like. The attack occurred well before Art or I were born but we've heard many stories from people who were there as well as the consequences. It was eerie to picture in my mind's eye airplanes dropping bombs and ships in flames.

The arrow points to the Arizona Memorial where many dignitaries must have been gathering to honor and remember those who gave their lives there.

Art's aunt lived very close to where the attack happened and remembers the day clearly. The grandmother of the store owner where we used to buy our tofu remembers Japanese aircraft strafing the streets and leaving bullet holes on top of cars in Wahiawa. I have two uncles who served in the 442nd. My aunt's husband remembers his father and older brother suddenly being awakened at night and taken to the internment camp with bayonets pointed at them, not because they did anything wrong but because his father was a general manager at a Japanese language newspaper. My mother knows priests who were also taken to internment camps because they were more educated. The horrible attack and the horrible times after that need to be remembered and even more important, need to be learned from.

Preparing for the Holidays with Our Grandson

We are eagerly awaiting our grandson's visit in a couple of weeks. When my son surprised us by saying they were thinking to bring our grandson to meet his great grandmother, I didn't think they were coming this year. Imagine our excitement to learn they are actually able to make the long journey from Maryland!

This Thanksgiving they sent us a video of our 17 month old grandson running around a hotel room in excitement which got us thinking. Our house has not had a toddler for 8 years. Our Christmas tree from past years is pretty big as you can see from the photo on the left. It's a bit over 6 feet tall.

We went out on Black Friday to find a much smaller tree for half price at Home Depot. It cost $25. Perfect! At about 4 feet in height we wouldn't have to worry about it toppling on top of him. We also selected all our unbreakable ornaments to decorate the tree.

As you can see they're all soft and something he can handle without a problem.  When our son was little, we put a small tree inside a playpen so he couldn't get to it. Our grandson is turning out to be a chip off the ol' block with his energy and sense of glee.

Oh it's going to be a very Merry Christmas this year! I have a feeling he'll be running circles around his great grandmother.

Eddie Bauer Coat Disaster

While in South Korea I had a wardrobe malfunction which proved quite disappointing.

I went to the bathroom at a South Korean restaurant and discovered a lot of fine dust on me under my heavy windbreaker when I left. I assumed it was dust that might have come from the hand dryer. Nothing like that had happened before but since I was in a foreign country, I figured anything was possible. I dusted myself off and went my merry way.

The next time I used my heavy wind breaker on another cold day in Korea, I discovered more dust when I took it off. Good grief!  I hadn't used a hand dryer so could I have somehow shed dry skin? That much? Is that even possible? It never happened when I lived on the mainland. I dusted myself off again and put the windbreaker away.

When I got home I put the coat into the laundry with all our fleece jackets, etc.

What a shock to find all our coats were covered with tiny flecks of white powder.

We couldn't figure out where it was coming from until I looked at my Eddie Bauer coat very carefully in the sunlight.

It  seemed to be coming from inside, under the black netting.

I cut the netting away to see how that lining had deteriorated. The fine dust was on all our other jackets that was in the laundry with it. I'd followed all the washing directions carefully through the years. The outside of the coat is pristine, but the inside makes it unwearable. It took three washings to get the other jackets clean again.

I wrote to Eddie Bauer, but they said I could return it to get what it's worth now and that it's not expected to last forever. Forever is probably about 10 years for this jacket.

What a disappointment! I used to like Eddie Bauer before, but I'm going to look for another brand to replace it.

Any suggestions?

Day #11: Return to Hawaii

Since we all had so many omiyages (gifts) we'd bought, our tour leader, Peter passed out sturdy boxes the night before to everyone who needed it to pack our things to check in at the airport.

We had a wonderful last breakfast and returned to our room to prepare for our morning of fun shopping with tour friends.

Would you believe my stomach got upset? Doggone it! The last day and I get a bad tummy! I insisted Art go out with our tour friends and explore the area.

He came back a couple of hours later to pick me up.

My tummy had settled down with the help of a couple of Pepto Bismol tablets and we went out to lunch with friends.  I had a bland soup with veggies but avoided the spicy kim chee.

We then got on the bus that was now packed to the gills with boxes, suitcases and carry-ons.

We were supposed to go to the Seoul Lantern Festival the night before, but it had grown late and we didn't know it was supposed to be such an awesome thing. There was also a concern about people traffic from the political demonstration around the city.

The lanterns are set up on Cheonggyecheon Stream. Long ago, the stream had been drained, covered in concrete and made into an elevated highway.

In 2003, Seoul mayor, Lee Myung-bak initiated the project to restore the stream on which the lanterns now sit.

I found this on Youtube.

Lara explained that this is the site of an ancient concubine's tomb.
It was right under a bridge.

Carrie, Maria and I got refund checks at the airport for our earlier purchases .

Because we were separated from everybody else, we missed being able to say good bye to our tour friends which we regretted.

We were able to stop by the Culture Center and decorate some Korean boxes (for free) which we sent to our granddaughter and grandson.

Our flight back to Hawaii was only 7 and a half hours. Yahoo! It was over 9 hours going to Korea.

Art was happy with the souvenir t-shirts he bought and he felt I needed to get a souvenir too. He made it a point to take me to a Starbucks the night before we left to pick up this mug from Seoul. I love the dragon handle.

You know what? I'm going to have to clear off another shelf for all my souvenir travel mugs.

Our trip to South Korea with Kobayashi Travel was truly a wonderful, exciting experience. Art and I agree that what made it extra special was the fact that every single person on the tour was so very friendly, kind, warm, caring and thoughtful. At the end of the tour everyone we talked to mentioned how terrific it would be if we could all travel again together.

Unfortunately, we all have different places we want to see.

We're thinking China again next year.  We'll see.

Day #10: DMZ

We went down to breakfast on time at 6:15 to find we were just about the last ones there.

We savored our second to the last day's morning treat.

We then boarded the bus that would take us north to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) which separates North Korea from South Korea.

As the bus left our hotel, we saw streets lined with police buses ready to keep the peace at the protest demonstration against the South Korean president.

That sounded ominous.








 

More Facts, Opinions and Information from Lara:

• South Korea has a love/hate relationship with America. They love the American people, but hate some of what the government has done.
• The American government kept a dictator in power because he was easier to control than a democracy. I believe she was talking about Park Chung-hee during the Nixon, Johnson eras.
• Koreans blame themselves for not being able to protect themselves from outside influences and aggression.
• North Korea actually has far more natural resources than the South.
• The LG company stands for Life's Good.
• Hyundai means modernization.
• Samsung means Three Stars. Three is a powerful number to Koreans.
•  There are 5 important colors to Koreans. Red-chili, White-garlic, Yellow-ginger, black-fermented fish sauce, Green- onions.

These stones gathered from historical battlefields around the world remind us of the grief war has caused.

These ribbons hung on barbed wires separating North and South Korea hold wishes of reunification from families torn apart.

When we entered the check point, a soldier came on board to make sure we all had our passports. We were warned that if even one person forgot to bring their passport, the entire group would not be able to enter the area.

Ummm... I took this photo of the soap in the bathroom. I thought it was such a novel way to prevent a bar of soap from getting messy.

And yes, Art did buy a t-shirt there. He was hesitant at first because it's such a sad area, but I told him he should get it as a reminder.

We were moved by that sculpture representing the desire to come together.

From an observation area, I could use my long lens to take a photo of the North Korean flag. It's supposed to be the 4th tallest flagpole in the world.

In 1978 the Third Tunnel was discovered running from North Korea to South Korea. Four tunnels have been found so far.

Lara says it was probably in preparation for a sneak attack. North Korea has denied this claiming it was a coal mine even though there's no coal there.

I was wondering why we needed to put on helmets and discovered the reason why when we walked through the tunnel. I could hear lots of helmets clunking on the low ceiling of the rock tunnel. I was glad I wasn't tall.

When we headed back into the city, we stopped at an amethyst jewelry shop.

Art and I weren't interested in buying jewelry so we asked Lara if it would be OK to see the demonstration that was just up the street.







It was pretty darn awesome! The energy, organization, emotion of the crowd really moved us. We didn't understand a word they were saying but knew they wanted to oust their president.... badly.

The demonstration blocked the street outside our hotel so we had to take the metro to get back. I was impressed with how calm and efficient both Lara and Peter were in making sure we all made it safely through the train system.

When we got to our hotel, we saw an incredible crowd of people covering several streets. I have no idea how far it went.

We looked down from our window and saw a river of people that streamed past in an endless parade of protest.

Our tour group then gathered together to walk to a festive shopping area and saw holidays lights lining the streets.

Art had fun taking photos of street food that he really wanted to try, but our tour leader, Peter said we needed to keep our appetite for dinner.

I loved the Daiso store which is like a dollar store. It was such fun to see almost all the other tour members also shopping there.

But Art?

Well, he found the potato spiral stick which he found more interesting that our granddaughter loved when she and her parents visited South Korea a couple of years ago. The cotton candy would be a no no for me.

We were surprised to find our last dinner restaurant would be at Todai (seafood buffet) Restaurant. There used to be a Todai in Waikiki but it had gone out of business. This one in Seoul was doing great!

It was a glorious night and we enjoyed the walk back to the hotel.

When we got back to Hawaii, we would see this in our local Star Advertiser newspaper. How awesome is this to think we were actually there?!!

Everyone in our tour group was planning on doing a lot of shopping the following Free Day. We made plans with several other tour friends to enjoy the morning together before going to the airport.

Alas...