much ado over fruit

I think that I have mentioned T.Y. in the past. He is the agent that Ken's company uses. Agents are helpful in foreign countries because they help set up apartments, custom clearance, etc. T.Y. (I usually don't like to use people's names in the blog that I don't know well but since we just use his initials I think it is hopefully okay) is very nice. He arranges transportation to and from the airport. He has arranged and played golf with Ken numerous times and we have also gone out to eat in Busan with his wife and partner (getting out of Okpo for the weekend Feb. 26, 2007). It was he that greeted me with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers at the airport when I first arrived (here we are Jan, 12, 2007).

Anyway, a couple of days after we returned this time, the doorbell rang and it was the driver that had patiently brought us home from the airport with a wonderful basket of fruit. I have been wanting to comment more on the food here and I guess this is a great time to talk about the fresh fruit. First and foremost, like most everything else here, it is not inexpensive. They have the usual oranges, bananas, and apples. You can sometimes find lemons but I haven't seen limes yet. They do have kiwi and pineapple. I have seen and eaten cantaloupe but haven't purchased due to the price. This past weekend, Ken and I paid $8.00 for half of a SMALL watermelon...luckily it was wonderful. I have had Asian pears in the U.S. and love them. I was hoping that they would be plentiful and cheap here. Plentiful yes, cheap no. If you haven't had one, buy one and try it. To me, it is a cross between a crisp apple and a pear. I personally love them and eat them at every buffet we go to. It just hit me that I haven't seen strawberries at the grocery store but I have eaten them numerous times at dinners....I will have to let you know more on that. I have noticed lately that purple/black grapes are plentiful at the grocery stores right now. The basket had some in it and they were absolutely wonderful. By the way, the fruit on the right is an Asian pear.


The only thing I wasn't sure of was this....
I noticed at Tesco they were also labeled yellow melon. They were okay but kind of tasteless. They probably have another name that I don't know. The fruit on the right is a peach. It is larger and whiter than the peaches back home.

Back to the original storyline...! I sent a thank you note to T.Y. for the fruit.

Today Ken received an email as follows:
Ken,
I was impressed much by your kind letter today and could not imagine you gave me such a letter because it was beyond our normal customs. By the way, I'm very happy to have such a letter from a man who support me all the time.
Thanks and Regards,
T.Y.

To which Ken responded:
T.Y.,
The thanks goes to my wife, Kim. She wrote the card because she enjoyed the fruit very much and wanted to show her gratitude.
Regards,
Ken

To which T.Y. responded:
Ken,
That is more honourble for me. Please tell my pleasure to Mrs. Kim Adcock.
Thanks and Regards,
T.Y.

I love being in a country where a fruit basket and a thank you note have such importance.

feels like one hundred

Current Conditions (as of 1:00 PM)
Today's forecast °F | °C
Mostly Cloudy90°F
Feels like: 100°F
Barometer: 29.7 in
Dewpoint: 75°
Humidity: 63%
Visibility: 6 miles
Wind: 10 mph SW
Sunrise: 5:50 AM
Sunset: 7:06 PM
UV Index: 9 Very High Observed at Pusan / Kimhae International Airport.

It is so very hot. I don't know why I expected otherwise - and it really isn't that different than Houston. I guess I am just used to swimming pools and air conditioned malls during this time of the year. Everyone I know seems to try to just get out in the morning and hole up in their apartments in the afternoon. I tried to ask the lady that cleans our apartment when it would get cooler. From what I understood, she said that from 8/8 to 9/9 is hot and then it would get cooler. I am going to hold her to that - on September 10th, I want to walk out of my apartment and feel cool air on my face.

At least I don't work in the shipyard. Ken took me for a tour (in the air conditioned car) on Sunday afternoon. He wanted to show me all the different parts of the drillship that now actually look like a ship. It really is amazing. All the parts are made and then put together. I don't have a mind that works that way to figure out how things are made. So I am in awe of those who do. Anyway, there is alot of concrete in the shipyard so you know it must get hot. There are also many huge hangars that probably don't have alot of ventilation. Ken said that whenever the temperature reaches 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit), the men get an extra 30 minutes for lunch.

We do have air conditioning in our apartment that works very well. The brand name is Daewoo Carrier - I know they have Carrier air conditioners in the U.S. There are actually 2 built in wall units upstairs and a wall unit downstairs that plays a little tune when turned on and off. ( I am sorry - I have tried several times to download a little video of this and have failed for some reason. Maybe I will be able to figure it out at a later date....I will let you know.)

clap your hands

So sorry that I didn't say goodbye in June! But it was such a whirlwind time prior to going back to Texas. We visited Hong Kong and Singapore, we came home for a couple of days and then I headed for Houston. More on all of that later because today I just want to enjoy being back in Okpo. Not that I didn't have an absolutely great time in Texas - but it is nice getting back to your own little "spot" in the world, albeit Okpo, South Korea for the time being.

We actually got here late Tuesday night, but jet lag has gotten the best of me the past few days. I do think that I am better today though. At least Ken had work to keep him busy this week. In fact, they had the keel laying ceremony for the first drillship this week. And he had a golf outing with some of the shipyard and company men today. It is so hot and humid here (but actually not that different from Houston). I hope it is cooler for the men today - he went to the Muju Golf Resort. It has skiing there in the winter, so he will be at a higher altitude and thus cooler. Maybe.

I, however, headed out at 9 a.m. to the neighboring town of Gohyeon to hit a favorite "dollar store" and the Tesco grocery store. I needed some more clothes hangers at the dollar store but I didn't seem to come back with any. I did come home with this cute jar. It is larger than it looks(probably 24" tall) and will look great back home somewhere.
I guess I will schlep it back in my backpack on the airplane in December!

Tesco seemed the same. Being a Saturday morning, it was quite busy. I don't think I have mentioned this before but - what is so interesting in my grocery cart? Walking down the aisles, not one or two, but numerous people seem to be enthralled in what I am buying. Being that I am in Korea, it really isn't too much different than what they have in their carts. Maybe it is the three bottles of Coke Zero (they don't have 2 liter bottles - it is 1.5 liter). Otherwise, I don't have a clue. They even had their exercise break while I was there, except the song was more like "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" instead of the "Hokey Pokey".


Even though I didn't clap my hands, I was happy today.