Back to Korea

On the 9th, we flew back to Kagoshima Airport and went to visit Takaaki and his family again. We went to the hot spring / public bathhouse. Taakaki was busy, so it was just me and the 4 year old Konan on the men's side. There were a few other old men in there, but Konan did not mind. He still acted as if he were alone. In Korea, children typically play and splash and have fun in the various pools. In Japan, they are more sedate and try not to disturb others. I think Konan might be Korean. He was tossing bucket fulls of cold water all over the place, sliding on the rails, and standing on the chairs. I guess I am not sufficiently fearsome in his eyes.

Konan has another little cousin that did find me scary, at least on our first meeting. Taisei is a little bit delicate I guess, but I did not realize that soon enough. When I met him at a family dinner in December, I sat next to him and gave him a nice, fast speech in English. Most kids just look at me funny for a while and then wander off. Taisei cried. Boy did I feel bad.

Luckily for me, sometime over the New Year, Taisei's mother convinced him that I was not yelling at him and that I am really a fun person. When we met again last week, Taisei had warmed up to me and had no problem practicing English and climbing all over me.

On Saturday night, we went to a bonfire. The local fire department in a very small village where Takaaki works had piled a bunch of wood and bamboo in a field and lit it on fire. It was a good fire. I especially enjoyed listening to the bamboo burn. I guess the liquid in the various bamboo chambers heats up. Fairly frequently, a long piece of bamboo would split length-wise with a loud bang. Sometimes, the little paper-thin divider within the bamboo sections would shoot out and float over the crowd. I enjoyed that.

On Sunday, we took the bus back up to Fukuoka and visited two of Rie's friends. One of them was an ALT after me in Kagoshima and was back for a visit. In the afternoon, we took the high-speed ferry back to Busan. The waves were a bit rough, so the sounds of retching were a little bit loud.

Today, I made it back to work and sorted through my 51 waiting e-mails.