Bali and Korea -- March 31, 2012

InAe was gone when I arose at 8:30. She’d left a big breakfast for me, as usual, but I ate only the fruit knowing that I was going for an early lunch with YoungIl at an Italian restaurant I really enjoy, Mad for Garlic. She and I had gone to another of these franchised operations in 2009, and I liked it a lot; I do enjoy garlic! Almost every item on the menu has garlic in some form. Here we are with the extensive menu.

We tried a different pizza from the one we’d had last time. It was good (crust had sweet potato and garlic), but not as good as the one from several years ago. So YoungIl requested the waiter bring a bowl of roasted garlic, which he did, and we happily added it to this pizza.

We also had a delicious salad with a variety of mushrooms, lettuce, cheese, and one sprig of asparagus.

The first time I ate here I was amazed to find a container of mouth wash with paper cups in the bathroom. They still provide this necessary amenity along with the usual soap..

From the restaurant we walked around the corner to a “gourmet” coffee shop. I had never heard of Dutch coffee, but it is made in this laboratory-style apparatus.

I would have had some, but at this shop it is served only cold, and I wanted a hot cup of coffee. They also use this new-fangled device which operates much like an old-fashioned percolator although it looks like a science project. – And I thought percolators were outdated!

Since there wasn’t a “sitting at the restaurant table” picture from Mad for Garlic, here is one of us sitting at the coffee shop. Note the potted cacti behind us!

YoungIl, who had attended yesterday’s Save the Children session, reported that participants had commented on how they liked my English, that they could understand me. I was happy to hear that my efforts to be understandable had succeeded.

After YoungIl left I contacted HaeJung hoping she might be available. But she has a cold and headache and is feeling relatively miserable. So I worked on blogs and decided to attend a performance this evening, calling to check on the availability of tickets.

Karma is a non-verbal production, using dance-like martial arts, some drumming (more taiko then Korean), and some moving around dramatically, rather like opera, to tell the story. The “story” reminded me of the Balinese dance in that it appeared to be very convoluted involving gods changing roles. There was a comic character who was a poongmulnori dancer – but dressed all in yellow. In the background behind scrim-like screens an artist did Korean brush painting as the performance was going on. In any event it was quite entertaining.

When I refused both on the phone and in person to purchase a VIP ticket, feeling the cheaper ticket would be fine, the clerk gave me an “upgrade” to the VIP seating. Since the theater was only about 1/3 full, I guess they thought it would be a good thing to be nice to a foreigner. Of course, there were no pictures allowed during the performance. But here is a picture of the curtain prior to the opening.

And after the performance was over the performers gathered in the lobby for pictures to be taken.

I left the theater at 8:45 and made good connections on the subway so was back at InAe’s at 9:30.