Back to Seoul

I met Miri again for another day of holding babies. We spent about six hours at the orphanage, and I did not realize how tired I was until we were getting ready to leave. Being tired was probably 1 part playing with children and 2 parts sitting in the floor all the time. Here I am on the cusp of middle agedness and my bones are having to adjust to the floor - at least it is heated. These bones are also having to adjust to carrying children Korean style. Here, moms and grandmoms carry the children on their backs. I carried one little girl around like that for a big part of the day, but we finally had to make a change to American style so I could stand upright for a little bit.

On the way home, I tried steamed kimchi mandu and steamed meat mandu. I probably never would have done it, but Miri talked me into it. The stuff must have been good, because this "sampling" turned into dinner as we eventually ate two helpings. Here are the guys making the mandu, and they were amazingly fast at it:This is what I call one of Korea's "micro"restaurants. Five steps in front of these guys is open to the street and one step behind them are two tables with about 9 chairs total. Most folks just order and eat it standing on the sidewalk at the front.

P.S. You pronounce Mandu with an "a" sound like in father - not like the "a" sound in man. If you say it wrong, Miri will sigh deeply, roll her eyes at you and threaten you with a stick the Koreans call a "Rod of Love."