This ws an easy day after all the intense days I had had, such as Day 4 in the DMZ, Day 6 on the other side of Korea, teaching the third graders over three days, and a full day culminating with eating at the revolving restaurant on top of Seoul. Tomorrow, I have a 22 hour day flying to India so resting is a good plan.

In my previous blog, I talked about how marriage makes you stupid. Things you were always able to do become strange mysteries. This was my experience today with the laundromat. I used to do my laundry on my own until Margaret and I started living together. Now I find myself mystified by the simple task of putting coins in a machine, adding dirty clothes and soap, moving them to a dryer, and putting coins in the dryer. After a couple of emails to Margaret, I didn’t do too badly. My only mistake was not following directions that cost me $2. The directions said to close the door before putting the coins in. When nothing happened after I pressed start, I realized that the door wasn’t closed and it demanded another $2. Whenever I do something out of order, I always think of going to a water fountain — press the button first then put your face in. For years I would put my face in first then get water all over me after pressing the button.

A few tips about washing clothes came back to me; don’t forget the soap, turn the tumbler a couple of times by hand after the wash to get the clothes that are stuck, make sure the clothes are really dry, and you have been successful if there are an even number of socks when you’re done. I got a 100% score.

I got a text that Kyung Mi was sick but Jinkyoung would be able to show me around a bit. I wonder if being stuck in the cold wintry weather while waiting for a taxi at the tower on Day 9 was partly at fault. Jinkyoung picked me up and gave me two options, an indoor amusement park that had a folk museum or an outdoor market. She recommendeed the amusement park but the market sounded better to me. Just as she said we were expecting cold wind and snow, I sneezed. Amusment park it is, especially since I have some difficult travels to India and China starting tomorrow.

The amusement park was huge. It had a skating rink, a monorail, and a balloon ride attached to the roof. The inside was organized around country themes; Egypt, Germany, England, etc. Outside there was a whole other set of rides.

Lotto Indoor Amusement Park

View from the monorail of some of the outside part of the park (left), maybe I should wear a bow tie on my head too (right)

It was possibly based on the idea of Disney’s Epcot Center. I enjoyed the balloon gondola ride that went around the whole indoor area on a fake balloon attached to the ceiling.

View of the Egyptian area of the park
from the gondola attached to the ceiling

I had my last Korean meal, with Jinkyoung. It was some kind of beef soup with several vegetable side dishes. Jinkyoung is hoping to come to the US to get certified to teach secondary math. She has a heavy-duty math degree and a master’s in math education but no teaching certificate. She spent some time in Kuwait and was not allowed to teach without certification. She feels a Korean certificate to teach math would not be as accepted, especially since she wants to teach in English. I’m trying to get information for her.

With Jinkyoung, eating my last Korean meal

It was fun to see a Korean amusement park. Of course, it would have been more fun with a child. I was wishing Keith was with me and that he was about 15 years younger. I had really good conversations with Jingyoung. We then moved to an adjoining museum of Korean history which was an interesting mix with the much lighter amusement park. There were some great panoramas (not sure that’s the right word) of miniature views of weddings and other ceremonies, which were really well done.

I have a lot in common with primitive hunters and gatherers

Jingyoung is obviously more evolved than I am

Panorama of a royal wedding

When we left, there was a nasty cold rain outside and I was glad not to have been at the outdoor market. It was fun to spend my last day in Korea with Jingyoung rather than just hanging out at my room. She’s quite an amazing person. Just as I’m getting somewhat comfortable with Korea, it’s time to go to the wild world of India, which turned out to be extremely different from anything I have been used to.