SUNDAY WITH DAVID

At 6 a.m. Sunday morning we hauled ourselves out of bed to find rain falling. Nonetheless we got up, dressed, and shortly after 7:00 were perched at the airport bus stop near Sookmyung Women’s University Station. We were waiting for David who was dropping in for 13 hours, a stopover in his flight home from teaching in Papua New Guinea. Few cars on the street, not many people about, most of the shops closed, but buses hurtled by in waves, stopping to let people on or off. Blue buses, green ones, even the occasional long-distance tour coach, an airport limousine bus, all came and went as we waited. The rain came and went too.

View from the bus platform (my photo)

Shortly after 8:a.m. a dull-gold airport bus stopped and David stepped out. We surrounded him with chatter, herding him towards A Twosome Place for their morning set (scrambled eggs, yum!) only to discover it wouldn’t open till 10:30. So we settled for Starbucks—David’s first caffe latte in months—and good blueberry scones instead, Then a quick walk through the campus where David spied a black-crowned night heron sitting on a stone in the pond. We’ve seen those herons often back in Toronto but that’s the first one here.

Our next plan was to catch the Changing of the Guard at Deoksugang Palace and then wander around downtown. Downtown was pretty quiet. Was that perhaps the aftermath of the soccer loss the night before? The square in front of the Palace was surprisingly empty when we arrived—and then we saw a sign that the ceremony was cancelled because of the rain. So we walked David past the controversial Van Bruggen/Oldenburg sculpture “Spring”, to Berlin Square. After peering at graffiti on the Wall we walked beside the Cheonggyecheon, a stream that runs for some four miles as a narrow park through the centre of the city.

Graffiti on the Berlin Wall (my photo)

David contemplating Mobius by the Cheonggyecheon,

We left the stream and caught the subway to Itaewon, where we threaded through the crowds and looked at shop windows and carts offering souvenirs, t-shirts, very beautiful scarves, fine suits, leather jackets, antiques, splendid ties, shoes, hats, cosmetics, etc. It was lunch time and we prowled up a couple of alleys finding Italian, German, Persian, Thai, and Nordic restaurants as well as lots of pubs—but we wanted to give David a Korean meal. Then he spied a sign for Korean barbecue—at a restaurant called Don Valley Beef & Pork Korean Restaurant! So we were meant to eat there. The menu included vegetarian dishes and bibimbap and I devoured the dol sot bibimbap. The others liked their food too. Cass beer washed it all down and kept the talk flowing.

Back on the street we headed for the Berlin Café to hear Robert Harwood play--but found he wasn’t on till evening. The view looking out over the street was wonderful, the breeze coming through the window fine, so we ordered a good bottle of wine and before long Nancy joined us. Talk and laughter flew around the table till it was time for David to catch his bus back to the airport. It pulled in as we were crossing the street to the stop, he stepped on, and after a bit of confusion about the money—was that a PNG bill he pulled out of his wallet that freaked out the driver?—the fare was paid, the door closed, and away he went for his 14-hour flight home.