And yet, things like this make Korea look pretty good...
Personally, I've been feeling very homesick the last two days, but a really awesome thing happened to me and Nadia on Wednesday of this week.
On the way home from having lunch with Chris at GoPets, Nadia and I were walking through the subway station near our house. It is called Yaksu Yok (Yaksu Station). Along the corridor, there were beautiful paintings being sold. I see this often, elderly gentlemen painting on a small table, selling their paintings on thin parchment paper. I'm not sure if you can ask for custom ones, but they usually draw them right there. Anyway, yesterday we saw one such man. Nadia took to looking at all the paintings and pointing at them and talking about them: "Yook mommy! Yellow fowers!" "Yook mommy! Pink fowers!" "Yook mommy! He mad!"
She then made faces to match, but she wouldn't do them again for the camera. Silly girl. But the guy was watching Nadia and getting a kick out of her (as most people here do). All of a sudden, he asked me which one she liked the best. I kind of got what he was asking, because he knew a few English words here and there: "baby" "like" "picture". I asked Nadia which one she liked the best and she pointed at the cherry blossoms one. She has good taste. :-) So, I thought that he was just painting another one for his showcase...he had just finished another one right after we got there, so I knew that he was painting more. Now I wish I had gotten a movie of the process - he was fun to watch. Little strokes here and there and voila! A cherry blossom tree. Every stroke was deliberate, every dot of paint had a purpose.
Nadia was actually watching intently, so we stayed. Otherwise, I would have left. I guess she knew that he was painting what she had picked out, so she was interested. Then, he asked me what our names were. And he asked me to write them down. !! Then it dawned on me what he was doing. Wow. So, I wrote our names down. All of a sudden, being the mom that I am, I crossed out my name and wrote in Maya's. I knew she'd be sad if Nadia's name was there but not hers. LOL So, he wrote out a message to them next to the cherry blossom tree. He signed it and stamped it with his personal seals. It is gorgeous.
The finished product.
The Hangul reads "Welcome to Korea".
I only had about $5 on me, and I tried to give it to him, but he refused. I think I might have offended him if I had continued to try to give it to him, so instead I took a picture of Nadia and him.
Nadia must have really liked this kind gentleman to sit on his lap and smile like this.
I want to try to catch him again on the weekend, with Chris and Maya, and maybe buy a couple of his other works. I would be proud to hang them in my home.
Mr. Kim Young Sik.
Nadia loved watching him paint.
In Yaksu station in front of paintings by Kim Young SIk.
Nadia was waiting (not so patiently towards the end) for her picture.
Putting on the finishing touches on the cherry blossoms.
Other pictures by Mr. Kim Young Sik.
Some of his paintings in comparison to Nadia.
On the way home from having lunch with Chris at GoPets, Nadia and I were walking through the subway station near our house. It is called Yaksu Yok (Yaksu Station). Along the corridor, there were beautiful paintings being sold. I see this often, elderly gentlemen painting on a small table, selling their paintings on thin parchment paper. I'm not sure if you can ask for custom ones, but they usually draw them right there. Anyway, yesterday we saw one such man. Nadia took to looking at all the paintings and pointing at them and talking about them: "Yook mommy! Yellow fowers!" "Yook mommy! Pink fowers!" "Yook mommy! He mad!"
She then made faces to match, but she wouldn't do them again for the camera. Silly girl. But the guy was watching Nadia and getting a kick out of her (as most people here do). All of a sudden, he asked me which one she liked the best. I kind of got what he was asking, because he knew a few English words here and there: "baby" "like" "picture". I asked Nadia which one she liked the best and she pointed at the cherry blossoms one. She has good taste. :-) So, I thought that he was just painting another one for his showcase...he had just finished another one right after we got there, so I knew that he was painting more. Now I wish I had gotten a movie of the process - he was fun to watch. Little strokes here and there and voila! A cherry blossom tree. Every stroke was deliberate, every dot of paint had a purpose.
Nadia was actually watching intently, so we stayed. Otherwise, I would have left. I guess she knew that he was painting what she had picked out, so she was interested. Then, he asked me what our names were. And he asked me to write them down. !! Then it dawned on me what he was doing. Wow. So, I wrote our names down. All of a sudden, being the mom that I am, I crossed out my name and wrote in Maya's. I knew she'd be sad if Nadia's name was there but not hers. LOL So, he wrote out a message to them next to the cherry blossom tree. He signed it and stamped it with his personal seals. It is gorgeous.
The finished product.
The Hangul reads "Welcome to Korea".
I only had about $5 on me, and I tried to give it to him, but he refused. I think I might have offended him if I had continued to try to give it to him, so instead I took a picture of Nadia and him.
Nadia must have really liked this kind gentleman to sit on his lap and smile like this.
I want to try to catch him again on the weekend, with Chris and Maya, and maybe buy a couple of his other works. I would be proud to hang them in my home.
Mr. Kim Young Sik.
Nadia loved watching him paint.
In Yaksu station in front of paintings by Kim Young SIk.
Nadia was waiting (not so patiently towards the end) for her picture.
Putting on the finishing touches on the cherry blossoms.
Other pictures by Mr. Kim Young Sik.
Some of his paintings in comparison to Nadia.