OUR VISIT TO BUSAN PART II
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ANOTHER SERVING OF ALPHABET SOUP FROM BUSAN!
The first taste of this soup is fishy!
A...........You don't know it, but
you really need ANOTHER look at that fish market!
(Don't let any of your pet fish see this!)
B..........Everyone loves this BRIDGE in Busan. We saw it on our last cruise, and heard its story.
It was built last year, and it connects two parts of Busan. Our friend told us that in order to visit family on the other side before the bridge it took two hours to drive there. Now it is a half an hour.
C............The CAFETERIA at Pusan National University is a busy place, and a place we enjoy eating and talking with friends at lunch each day.
D............Last night was the official conference DINNER, held at a wonderful Korean restaurant.
The organizers did an incredible job of presenting the vast variety of delicious food that this country is known for. It was a beautiful time, when at many tables this international group celebrated their great work, and 'played' together in good conversation and great food and drink.
Our gracious host Sung Yell Song opened the ceremonies with a bottle of champagne.
See the rest of the happy conference participants at dinner
We finished this wonderful Korean brew...see the beautiful bottle on the left. We had our first real taste of delicious Korean sashimi (center), and more of our favorite pancakes (right) this time a miniature, individual serving variety. At the end of the banquet, Rick was asked to say a few words, thanking the organizers for the great conference and dinner, and introduced his wife Kathy got to give a little 'conference talk' too. "Thank you for welcoming us. Thank you for including me. My husband knows a lot of mathematics. You all know a lot of mathematics. I know only a little mathematics...
well, maybe NO mathematics. But I know a lot about friendship...a lot about friendship. We have learned that Busan is a great seaport. And here we have built a great ship together, of mathematics and friendship. Mathematics and friendship... we will remember." THE CONFERENCE DINNER
Happy (and well fed) Mathematicians and Friends
********************************************************************** Saturday, July 24, 2004 It was another proof of our favorite equation: Rick + Kathy = success .
Doesn't it look worth waiting for? Here is our bowl of dongdongju, which came with tiny eggs. (It is not soup, even though it comes with a serving spoon!) The woman who served us helped us to peel the eggs and directed us to ladle some into our bowls. Next came the pajeon, with a dipping sauce. It was as delicious as it looks, and had a little seafood (small pieces of squid, we think) delicately embedded in it. (We had read in our book that the best pajeon is made with only a small amount of rice flower, and then egg, spring onions, parsely and seafood are added. This seemed to be a good description of this one. We have had others that were more doughy.) We were feeling very happy, and just a bit dong-dong from our dongdongju, when we noticed a group of Korean young people coming into the restaurant. They were from our conference, including our hostess from the temple tour Seojoung Bang! We joined them (and
gave them our beer) and then walked back through the brightly colored lights and bustling streets
to the university. On the way, we passed a pet store, where these little dogs were so cute, we wanted to bring a pet home! (Or was it the dongdongju?) As if we needed more success, look what we brought home from a convenience store on our way back. (It was a flat packet when we found it.) The man in the convenience store popped it in his microwave for us. Can you believe, as we approached the entrance gate of the university, we saw this banner stretched above the street? (We had missed it before, going the other way.) It is the announcement for our conference!
Go see more photos inside Won Chon!
Go to the next stop on our trip:NAGOYA
See the many small dishes served
E..................Last night we went out EXPLORING on our own on the streets outside the university. 
The area around the university is a maze of shop lined streets. At night they are teeming with strolling people
and sparkling lights, and there is an atmosphere of excitement and cheerful leisure. We had looked in our Lonely Planet guidebook and found the name of an interesting place, Won Chon, described as a 'traditional style soju bar, decorated with fockcraft and antiques. Try a bowl of dongdongju with pajeon (the traditional style pancake)." Folkcraft and antiques sounded good, and we have already told you that pajeon was our favorite, so we were off the find Won Chon. (There was no address or street name given.) Rick has a pretty good sense of direction, and Kathy is not afraid to lead Rick down unlikely paths, or to ask questions (even when she can't speak the language). So Rick got us into the general area, and after searching and wandering for a while, Rick would have settled for 'bibimbop'. But Kathy started asking people questions, pointing to the name in our book (which had
Korean characters next to it.) After a while we found a young couple who knew of it. They sent us off in a direction toward the train station, and soon after we started walking, we heard someone running behind us. The young man had changed his mind about where it was, and (not wanting us to be lost and disappointed) directed us further down the street we had been walking on before. We walked less than a block in the direction he pointed.
Now we did not know what dongdongju was, but we knew we would love the pajeon, so we ordered them both, and a beer.
Luckily we did not order two beers. (We ended up giving our beer away later!)
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