Yeoju Pottery and Rachel

Saturday I went with some of the wives from the 524th Spouses Club to Yeoju to shop for pottery. It was about an hour and a half drive south of Seoul, and we stopped at a rest area to eat before we got down there. Unlike the U.S., the rest stops here offer very tasty, hot meals-a lot of variety, too. I ate a Japanese noodle bowl, and some Korean gimbop (seaweed wrapped rice rolled with pickled radish, egg, carrot, etc.). It was yummy! Oh, I forgot to mention previously that every time I go to the store or am around a vending machine, I try a new drink. So after picking out a Sunny 10 (basically carbonated lemon-lime gatorade), we headed down to the pottery factories. All around Yeoju are hundreds (or scores) of stores selling the pottery made in that very towns factories. Some of the stores we went into actually made the pottery below the showroom-and you had to walk through the workroom to see the stuff they were selling. Of course, I forgot a camera, but this won't be the last time I visit there-don't worry. We saw artists molding the pots with pottery wheels, then holding the pot in one hand and carving the designs out with the other. So very precise, and beautiful-I'm sure they could do some of the traditional patterns in their sleep, though! I bought a vase about 14" high and 29" around for 15,000 won (about 12 dollars), and one about 8" high and 20" around for 10,000 won (about 8 dollars). When I get my camera working, I'll post a picture up here. They're very pretty!
Chris didn't come along-he visited Yongsan Electronics market again with some friends. It's probably better, since he would have been the only guy there.
Rachel didn't want to go with me that day either because she was at a volleyball team sleepover the night before. The girls took pictures together- and I can't wait to put those up as well-very, very cute. Speaking of pictures, Rachel got her picture in the paper as Athlete of the Week in the Stars and Strips (Asia)- a military daily newspaper. She had a lovely little bit written about her-the school posted it up at the front office, and kids have been asking her since if she's "the one from the newspaper". A little bit of celebrity there :).
In other news-our friend James recently returned from a three week trip to the States. Rachel had a countdown running-she missed him. And the sweetheart that he is-he brought back a present for her-an Orlando Bloom calendar! As if she didn't adore James already...
She had jokingly tried to get him to bring back the standup, cardboard cut-out of the actor, so he compromised with the less obvious, but still embarrassing purchase of the calendar.