High School reunion, Korean style

The school where I work is owned and operated by an American woman (G) and her Korean husband (YM). I've known G since I was eight or nine years old, and she is one of my best friends. G and I went to elementary, middle, and high school together in a small, southern town in the USA. It's a little odd to think about two people from our hometown living and working in the same place in Korea... but we're hardly the only graduates from our alma mater on the peninsula. One of our friends - a high school buddy of ours (S) - is in the US military, and is currently stationed on the Korean peninsula. S has been here for nearly a year now, although as he isn't stationed in Daegu, before yesterday I'd only seen him three times and G hadn't seen him at all.

Yesterday, however, S came down to Daegu and the three of us - plus YM and their adorable baby - spent the day together. It was a wonderful and totally chill day. We went up into the Palgong mountain area, to a small duck restaurant (that raises their own ducks and grows their own veggies) for an absolutely delicious lunch.

G, YM and their baby... and really delicious 오리 고기 (duck meat)


A good lunch = a happy baby!

This was followed by a trip to the brand new Daegu Art Museum (abbreviated repeatedly as dam - which, while not spelled damn still inspired much mockery). An art museum was a rather absurd destination for the five of us, as the baby is too young to appreciate art, and the rest of us, well, we don't exactly dig modern art. Luckily for you, the museum didn't allow cameras, or else you might have to suffer through photos of blue canvas, black canvas, and white canvas (and other such "works" of modern "art"), accompanied by my snarky commentary. The baby began to cry (his voice echoing quite stunningly throughout the galleries) and we may have used that as an excuse to make a quick exit.

[For those of you who are modern art fans - this place is located near Daegu Stadium. It's a huge complex that just opened on May 26th. There are several galleries currently exhibiting paintings and sculptures, and several more galleries that as yet are still empty.]

dam: Daegu Art Museum

On the museum grounds is a fairly large decorative water feature, complete with quite a few signs warning people to stay out of the water. These signs were, of course, being completely ignored - and there were more people in and around the water feature than there were inside the museum proper. We took the baby for a swim, which was tons of fun to photograph.

My favorite photo of the day: Babyzilla!
(That's S sitting in the background, btw.)


My favorite bit of art at the museum. Granted, this was made by me, so I'm a bit biased.

Afterwards, YM took the baby home while G, S, and I went for coffee. Later we went grocery shopping, then hung out at G and YM's home, watching TV, having excellent conversation, and eating yummy dinner (E-mart curry and nan is excellent). After I returned home, I thought about how domestic our day had been. Additionally, much of our conversation had revolved around things such as acquaintances behaving badly - and immaturely - both here in Korea and back home in the States. Honestly, this was the first day that I have had the thought that yes, finally, I am a grown up. Granted, I'm in my 30s, so in theory I've been a grown up for a while, but somehow it's only just now kicking in.