One More Procedure Then Anyung Heekaseyo

We were hoping to be discharged tomorrow but the doctor came by and told us that Andrew still has stents to drain his liver. These apparently have to come out endoscopically. So another couple days here. Hurray! Besides, its raining out and Andrew couldn't take me sight seeing anyway.

Thanks for Angel Prayers

I wanted to thank everyone who prayed for an angel to come look after Andrew. You did a tremendous job. Today I was lucky to get to meet Andrew's angel - Sohee. She is every bit as sweet as she looks.

Got in trouble with the original picture because it doesn't begin to do justice to Sohee (although Andrew never looked better, unfortunately). So here is the only alternative they could come up with. Better???

World Peace

Yesterday, before we finally received a visit from the Doctor, I wandered just east of the hospital to the Olympic Park. It was a beautiful peaceful park surrounding many of the venues from the '88 Games.

This is a picture of the World Peace Gate at one of the main entrances to the park. The way I see it we need about 6 billion people to walk through this gate. I clipped this explanation of the paintings from a Korean website:

The Paintings of Four Spirits
With straights and curves as the basic lines, blue and red (symbolic of Korea's flag, Daeguk) were used as the main colors to represent the concept of Um and Yang (yin/yang), the Oriental symbols representing the two opposites of the universe, as well as the spirit of creativity. Choojag (a spirit shaped as a red phoenix that guards the south), Hyunmoo (a spirit shaped as a black turtle that guards the north), Bakho (a spirit shaped as a white tiger that guards the west), and Cheongrong (a spirit shaped as a blue dragon that guards the east) are the four spirits appearing in the mural paintings of Koguryo era mounds. The images of their ascension to heaven signifies life against the body and freedom against spirit, in addition to the dauntlessness and strength of the Korean people. This visionary expression serves to ensure the balance between the ceiling and the rest of the gate. The strong coloring represents both the Danch'eong color of Korea's ancient buildings and the dignity, splendor, and grandeur of this memorial gate.

As I wandered through the park I found small garden areas where I could sit and reflect. Here are a couple more views.

The first is a seating area along the pathway with a very cool breeze and amazingly quite in the middle of this city of 10 million. The second is from the site of the ancient Fortress Mong Chon that looked out over the City in a defensive position high above. The haziness is from yellow sand blowing over from the Gobi Desert in China. Andrew's hospital is on the left of the cluster of buildings in the center of the picture.

Andrew's surgery, removal of his gall bladder, is scheduled for his morning at 8:00AM. That is Thursday night, 7:00PM Miami time. Please keep him in your prayers at that time. He is more than a little nervous.

Thank you all!

Anyung Haseo!

I have made a very important discovery. I have discovered why Asians are shorter than westerners! (Although Koreans are the tallest of the Asian nationalities - but don't let any facts get in the way of my story.) They live all stacked up on top of each other. So if you are unlucky enough to live on any of the lower levels, you will get all squished down. Simple.

This is picture of a housing development that seems fairly typical all around Seoul. There must be at least a couple of hundred of these buildings in this one development. (Don't come home drunk!) I count thirty stories in each building. According to wikipedia Seoul has a population of over 10 million people. There are over 44,000 people per square mile living in the City - an area approximately similar to Miami-Dade County. The buildings around the area where I took this picture all seem fairly new. This is Songpa Gu (Gu means district) and this area is where the Olympic village was when Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics in 1988. To the left of where I stood to take this picture is Olympic Park (Haven't been there yet - plan to today) and to my right about a mile away are all of the sporting venues that were built for the games. This development is on my walk from the subway station to the Asan Medical Center where Andrew is.

I might take a subway further out into the City later today to check out some ancient Korean sights, so, stay tuned, tomorrow, or yesterday, or whenever.

Love to all form beautiful, crowded Seoul! Hey, who farted?

PS: I was watching one of the Enlish braodcasts on TV - like the Discovery Channel, and there was a story about how the Chinese were actually the first to sail across the Pacific Ocean to discover America. Who knew?

Anyung Haseo!

I thought that I had better start with an entry about Andrew. Yes, he's the sick one in the hospital, the reason for my trip. Here is a picture of him, labeled with his name in Korean (He said they spelled it wrong). He is teaching me how to say hello in Korean (see greeting above). I am looking forward to meeting some of his friends tonight.

Speaking of tonight, I have no idea what time it is or what day it is. What I know is that I boarded a plane in Miami on Monday morning at 6:30 AM. I flew over Anchorage Alaska. Anchorage? Since when isn't the shortest distance between two points a straight line? Get a map. Anchorage?

The sun never went down. Daylight all the way. But, when I arrived in Seoul it was Tuesday night! I've been robbed! So don't ask me the day or time. The only consolation I have is that (and i have done the math myself so it must be right) I will arrive home in Miami a few hours before I leave Seoul. I did the math myself.

If I ever figure out when I am I will share some more of the goings on from Seoul.

Thank you for reading.

Kamsa Hamnida.

SWINE FLU PROBLEM SOLVED!

What were all of the experts thinking? All of the testing and warnings and advisories. It was really creating quite a panic. So now, problem solved. No need to worry about swine flu any longer. With the stroke of a pen, swine flu has been totally eradicated. Poof! Gone! Arive Derche! Hasta la vista baby! Sayonara! Ciao! And, who solved the problem? That's right.

And this innovative solution is quite cost effective too. One sheet of paper, one pen and no more swine flu. Now I can feel real good about running out and pigging down several slabs of baby backs. Yum!