Old Palace, Seoul, Korea

After going to the mud festival in Boryeong, South Korea, I scampered over to the capital, Seoul to visit some tourist sites. There are not one, but 5 palaces in the capital city. The oldest is Gyeongbokgung Palace (Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven) which has 7, 700 rooms in over 500 buildings. So a palace is not just a large home for royalty, but a place that has government offices, meeting halls, and even museums. I could not see the whole place, but I was very impressed with the folk museum which shows how people dressed and worked many years ago. One thing that has not changed is the national dish, kimchi, though there are many recipes. Vegetables and spices which have been fermented for months, it is spicy and sour tasting! Purrs, Gulliver

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Japanese writing

Konnichi wa! That is Japanese for Good Day! Japanese writing is very difficult. There are two ways of forming a letter – one is called kanji, and is borrowed from Chinese characters. The second is called Kana, which uses more symbols. Almost all Japanese sentences use a mix of kanji and kana with several thousand kanji characters are used regularly. The traditional writing is not across the page, like English, but vertical, and read down the columns from right to left. Because of this mix of scripts, the large number of kanji characters, and the different direction of the words, the Japanese writing system is often considered to be the most difficult to use anywhere in the world.
Purrs, Gulliver

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2018 Olympics

Woo hoo! My friend Smokey took me to the Winter Olympics in South Korea. The original Olympics were held in Greece during the ancient times. The modern Olympics move from country to country with athletes from all over the world competing for bronze, silver and gold medals. This is the second time South Korea has been host. The first time was the summer Olympics in 1988 in the capital, Seoul. I wanted to see the downhill skiing, speed and figure skating and hockey events. Smokey chose curling, alpine skiing, biathlon, hockey, luge and snowboarding. We had to compromise to see events together. The host city this time was PyeongChang, South Korea, and they used a mascot called Soohorang, who is a white tiger. The tiger represents trust, strength and protection in the Korean culture. Purrs, Gulliver

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Baby Tiger!

Vietnam food is considered very healthy because they use a lot of fruits, vegetables, fish, herbs and rice. Traditionally, each meal has something spicy, sour, bitter, salty and sweet. While I was visiting Vietnam, I asked what a specialty dish would be, and the chef said “Baby Tiger!” They eat tigers here? No, it is actually cats! If a cat is a pet, it is usually walked on a leash to keep it from disappearing. Potbellied pigs are also kept as pets, where at home pigs are eaten as bacon and pork chops. I started daydreaming about what people eat around the world. People from India revere the cow and would not dream of eating a hamburger made of beef. Before I realized it, the chef was chasing me through the village market, waiving a knife and calling “Here kitty kitty!” Because the Vietnamese language uses different tones to make meanings of a word change to something new, it was hard to understand the chef, but his meaning was clear! Whew, I felt like I barely escaped with my life! Purrs, Gulliver

And here is a comment from one of the teachers:

My kids get such a kick out of Gully’s adventures! The cat-hunting Vietnamese cook had the exact response I hoped for….a discussion of differences, not judgments of cultures. Sushi, Tajin, escargots and nopales were all loved by some and considered really weird by others….but after a talk, we decided it’s a decision, not a judgment. “I don’t like sushi” or “I’ve never had sushi” is different from “Sushi is disgusting”. Thanks again for all you do!

Happy Birthday, Po!

“My wish is for you grow up to be healthy and happy!” I purred when I saw the baby. Po’s mom told me he is two years old in China even though this would be his first birthday in the United States. I enjoyed the longevity noodle your parents served! It was a looong noodle, enough to fill up the whole bowl, and I tried my best to eat it all without breaking the noodle, to ensure you would have a long life! The zhuā zhōu tradition interested me. Your parents put out different objects – a coin to represent wealth, a doll for many children, a pen, a stamp, an abacus, a flute and some other things which represented different careers. The tradition holds that the first item you choose represents your future. I guess we will have to wait a few years to find out if the prophecy comes true. Purrs, Gulliver

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