For Alex

Alex asked me about playing my violin here, so today I will write about that.  (And the rest of my Sunday, I think.)

Sooo, Sunday morning, I showed up at church at 10:30 for the chamber orchestra practice, and realized that I had left my tuner at home. (Boo.)  The only other player there was the sax.  By 10:45, two flutes had shown, and just before 11:00, the cellist showed up, started tuning, and immediately popped her A string.  She didn't have a spare, so she played on three strings.  They stuck a lead sheet in front of my face, which made me rather happy.  I was afraid I would be reading complex classical music, an intimidating thought in a land of serious classical musicians.  However, improv is something I am pretty okay with, and, as a result, I had a GREAT time.  We played a couple praise tunes I didn't recognize, but we also did Shout to the Lord and Draw Me Close to You.  We played with some of the hymns too.  I was especially thrilled to hear Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, since I had done that in Suzuki and knew the harmonies, but what made my day was when they started In the Garden.  That was my lullaby growing up, and my one of my late grandfather's favorite hymns.  All-in-all, the violin experience was unprofessionally perfect.  I love playing, especially in a group where the audience can't tell if I'm out of tune (thank you, Mr. Saxophone player in a C-instrument dominated group).  :)

After church, we went on a culture trip to a traditional Korean village (you may have seen pictures of this on my Facebook page).  What I DIDN'T tell you was that the pastor was totally trying to set me up with this Korean guy, Ricky.  The pastor made me ride in Ricky's car, and designated us as a group by ourselves... so I spent the whole day with him stuck to me like glue... ... ... it was awkward to say the least.  At dinner, Ricky poured my cup full of water and everyone else's half full, which I'm told is sort of a profession of love, and he traded seats with a couple of people so he could sit next to me.  Ohhhhhhh the stresses of trying to politely rebuff advances while avoiding starting another world war...

Anyway, here are some photos of my trip (click on them to make them bigger):

This is the water wheel at the entrance to the village.

People actually live in the majority of the village.  It is the responsibility of the oldest son in Korea to move to a home near his parents' grave and live there for three years after they pass.  There is a burial ground in this village, so that is the reason why most people live there.  It's so pretty though, it's almost worth giving up all the amenities of modern life.

These are warriors that are carved from trees and placed at the front of villages to protect the residents.

This is me at the doors to one to one of the museum houses.

Part of an upper class compund

This is a lower class home (you can tell by the roof).  The middle class compounds have a combination of both styles.

Rice fields forever - they smell really good!  I wanted to go running through them, but the bases of the stalks are totally submerged in water, so that would not have been a good plan.

You know me and tiger lilies.  If it hadn't been for the nasty white bugs on them, I probably would have grabbed one and tried to root it, but, alas... nastiness prevailed, and they're all safely waiting for another awesome photo op like this one.

Okay!  I love you all and will continue to take posting requests via email, Facebook, or blog comment. :)