Growing Mushrooms

A rather peculiar sight that needs to be shared is the seeding, growing and harvesting of mushrooms. This particular picture is I believe of pine logs with small holes drilled in them and where the mushroom spores are seeded. The logs are then placed in teepee fashion and maintained in a cool, shaded and somewhat moist atmosphere. In the southern parts of South Korea these teepee log mushroom farms have been situated in small forests or along the sunless forest edges. This particular mushroom farm was at the edge of a bamboo forest near Damyang, the city of bamboo, and was sheltered in someone's backyard in their vinyl house, otherwise known as 'green house'.

The Origin of a Blog

With great speculation I begin to post some words and thoughts on my daily life and travels in Korea. I have always spurned the diary and denied the effort of keeping a journal for the mere reason that someone would seize my thoughts and those thoughts would cease to be mine. But perhaps it's time to compile a collection of memories and adventures to not only share with others but to revive the spirit of discovery in what was once so vibrantly new and culturally stimulating to me.

While others romanticize my foreign life and "exotic" interactions, I have grown accustomed to the differences and they no longer appear different or unusual to me. My camera is tired of kimchi and ancient palaces nestled between soaring scrapers, and I am bored with stories of plastic surgery and movie talents. I have adjusted, adapted, assimilated to a large extent. But there are cultural points that I see almost daily that demonstrate small cultural changes and that can be traced back to historical origins, and these still inspire me as I am interested in the Korean present and how it is so strongly but subtly linked to the past. Deciphering the cultural entanglement of past and the present, which rewrites the past, is challenging! And this is what I shall write about. Therefore, by beginning my blog I hope to sharpen my interests in what has become the usual for me, and once again avidly look for the unusual in the mundane, the ordinary, the Korean.