4/9 Market

Yesterday we went to the 4/9 Market--- basically, on any date that ends in a 4 or a 9 there is a huge street market "on the other side of the tracks".  We walked under the train tracks and were in the middle of the biggest food/fish/flea market ever!  There was vendor after vendor set up selling their wares.  More kinds of fish than I've ever seen.  Even a couple of butchers actually cutting the meat while you waited.  We saw a cow head at one butcher's, but got told in no uncertain terms not to take pictures (after we already had).  There was seaweed being processed and any kind of Kimchi you can imagine.  I think we walked around there for over 2 hours.

Mary and I found a cross stitch store.  There were some really interesting patterns.  We each got a kit.  Marshall and Mary have pointed out to me that people post their phone numbers on the dashboard of their cars so if they are parked and you need them to move, you just call them.  In the cross stitch store , there were all kinds of little pillows and signs to stitch a number on and put in the car--- pretty funny-- one said "sorry parking"-- did that mean the person was sorry they had parked where they did or they had done a sorry job of parking?

Speaking of parking, it seems like if there is space and you want to park, you park, even if it is on the sidewalk, halfway out onto the road or in the crosswalk.

Oh, I promised to tell you about our dinner out with Kenny- Marshall's realtor.  He picked us up about 8pm and then drove somewhere, out of the downtown area on the other side of the bridge.  I know we passed the bus station where we came in from the airport the night I got here.  He decided on a place then had to find a place to park.  Mdx was sitting in the back seat with me, she said "Grandma, where is Kenny taking us?".  We walked back down to the restaurant and got seated.

Immediately, they brought a portable gas heater over to the table (which has happened in almost every restaurant we've gone into, especially if we have on or both of the kids with us).  Then the guy brought a container of hot charcoals and put them into the "pit" in the center of the table.  Kenny ordered for us and out came the side dishes-kimchi (both cabbage and radish), cabbage salad with a yogurt dressing (love this stuff-- it's kind of like coleslaw), hot peppers, bean sprouts, lettuce (to make wraps), red pepper paste, salt and pickled onion slices (another favorite!).  Then the meat started-- one kind at a time came out-- we had several kinds of pork, some of it looked like bacon, but it wasn't cured and beef. It was quite a feast!

And here is where I throw the Korean under the bus--- The guys had a "few" beers--- at one point Kenny asked Marshall "does your Mom drive?".  Marshall told him yes--- when we got back to his car he opened the driver's door and motioned for me to get in-- I was shocked, he was serious---so, I got in, Kenny got in the passenger seat and gave me directions and a lesson in the rules of the road as I drove.  Not sure how many local and international laws we broke, but we got home in one piece and it was kind of a neat experience! At one point, there was a police car 2 cars behind us with the lights on, Kenny said "they hardly ever pull anyone over"--great! Seems the police drive around with the lights on all the time.

Well, that's probably enough for today-- more later....