I learned something new...

Yesterday, I learned something new about my host country. When you park on the street in a parking spot that's been delineated by white borders, you have to pay to park there.

I guess it's like having a parking meter there to shove quarters into, but it was just different having a Korean man approach me and try to explain this to me, when the only word I really understood was "Musso" (which is the name of my car -- kind of like someone would use "Accord" or "Mustang").

Well, problem solved thanks to a little explanation by a store owner who spoke good English. The price? 1,000 Korean Won per half hour - about $1.10.

Time for some new art work

Well, despite being too busy to think most days, I took some time this Wednesday to attend my art class. This art class is held every week, but I have only found time to attend three times in the past two and one-half months. But, I am going on an extended trip starting next week, and I wanted to finish two paintings that I had been working on. I HATE to have unfinished projects hanging over me (which should tell you how happy I am going to be in about 6 weeks when I can say I've finished my graduate project and exams, and am just waiting for graduation!)

So, here's the debut of these two new paintings. The one featured here was inspired by a photo of a hibiscus bloom that I took while vacationing in Hawaii in November, taken outside our beach cabin at Pililaau Armed Forces Recreation Center in the town of Waianae on Oahu. It is a departure in subject matter for me. I've now painted four paintings, three of which have been landscapes. This is the first time I've stepped out of that subject matter.

The other painting has been added to my sidebar. It depicts Kimchi pots on a roof top. Anyone who's been to Korea will instantly recognize this icon of Korean life. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of experiencing Kimchi, you can read more about it here. But, truly, kimchi is not something that you can truly know until you have tasted it. (As an aside, I had the best cabbage kimchi that I have ever tasted this week at the home of a friend, Lee JooYeon, who is the wife of our chaplain. Like many things, the store-bought kimchi pales in comparison to that made at home with love.) If this painting looks familiar, it's because I posted an in-progress look at it before during this post on January 15th.

Encouraged by my teacher, Mrs. Shim JungAe, I am entering both into the local military fine arts exhibition and competition that will take place late April through early May.

No, not a blog party, a pity party!

Okay, the fact that my good friend Cheri actually posted a link to my near-dead blog has embarrassed me into posting.

Why no posts last month? I just didn't have the energy. Princess Pea was sick 3 out of 4 weeks of February (stomach flu, cold, ear infection in that order). So, every shred of energy that I had was pouring into taking care of a sick toddler, then trying to arrest the chaos that my home was descending into, then trying to finish my graduate project (now only 5 weeks to go until the deadline). No energy left for personal blogging.

Plus, what time I did dedicate for the internet didn't suit itself for posting to the blog -- you see, often when I try to access blogger, even when I'm logged in, everything displays in Hangul (the Korean language). It makes it really hard to post. I can't do anything except click on the orange button, which I can usually remember means "publish."

Okay, pity party over. Now let's resume blogging...