Long Time No See, Chun-jang

It’s been a while since I last saw Chun-jang.

I’m just grateful that he acknowledges me at all.

Whenever I mutter something to myself, he seems to feel like he has to answer somehow, so he gives me a little “meow.”

I think Chun-jang has made a friend recently.

The two of them even go down to the stream together to drink some water.

After quenching their thirst, I sat facing Chun-jang. There seemed to be some kind of silent tension between the two of them…

Then these two started playing around.

Chun-jang is usually so calm that I never realized it, but this guy is surprisingly nimble;;

I visited quite a few different places this month.

A friend had an interview near Seoul Station and stayed at my place for the night, so after the interview, we went to Anguk Station and grabbed some bread.

London Bagel Museum, which was incredibly popular for a while.

Considering how expensive it is, there are plenty of fun little details to make up for it.

My favorite thing was that you can add as much sugar to your coffee as you want.

I’m not particularly into sweet foods, but I do like sugar itself quite a bit.

When I was little, I even used to climb onto the kitchen sink like a monkey and dip my finger into the sugar jar in the cupboard.

I’m a little sad I didn’t get a picture of that Americano loaded with sugar.

I also went back to the Damien Hirst exhibition.

Each piece is so direct and distinctive that they leave such a strong impression, making the exhibition enjoyable even on a second visit.

After the exhibition, I happened to pass by the area and noticed an Our House Bukchon store, so I stopped in.

They had a table and chairs that I absolutely loved.

They were the Palissade collection by HAY, a Danish lifestyle brand, and I added it to my wishlist of things I might buy someday before I die.

I’d love to put them in the yard of another item on that same “maybe someday before I die” wishlist—a country house—and enjoy a slow, leisurely morning there.

Hopefully I can manage to buy at least one of the two.

I think we ended up parting ways after visiting Changdeokgung Palace that day.

I also went to the Seoul Museum of Art in Seosomun for the first time in a while.

They were holding an exhibition by Yoo Youngkuk called The Mountain Is Within Me.

The exhibition featured abstract paintings of Korean mountains, carefully arranged in spaces that made use of light, shadow, and the surrounding environment.

“Abstraction” is the process of representing only the common characteristics of something. In that sense, it’s similar to generalization in that it reduces complexity.

In programming, abstraction refers to the process of identifying the commonalities and essential properties of objects in the real world.

Take a car, for example. A car is a means of transportation.

The ability to move forward, move backward, turn left and right, and start and stop are characteristics that can generally be applied to most means of transportation, such as trains, subways, bicycles, and boats.

So we can group these common characteristics together and abstract them into the concept of a “means of transportation.”

Abstraction in art works in a similar way. An artist can express the common characteristics of mountains, or the iconic features that define them, through painting.

The difference is that artistic abstraction can be subjective rather than realistic.

Because artists incorporate both representations of the natural world and abstract expressions of their own personal impressions into their work, abstract art can inevitably feel profound or difficult to understand at first glance.

That’s what makes abstraction interesting, but it can also be difficult to understand, and after looking at a number of works, I sometimes find myself getting a little tired.

After finishing the exhibition, I happened to capture a fun little moment on video.

I happened to discover a walking course called The Road of the Korean Empire, so I decided to walk it on another day.

I got off at City Hall Station and made my way through Jeongdong-gil, the area around Deoksugung Palace, Seoul Anglican Cathedral, King Gojong’s Road, and finally Gwanghwamun.

It had been a while since I’d seen Seokjojeon Hall and the gardens at Deoksugung.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Deoksugung, right next door, was under construction, so I couldn’t visit.

After leaving Deoksugung, if you head over to the nearby National Jeongdong Theater Cecil, there’s an elevator inside.

Take it up to the rooftop and you’ll find the Cecil Rooftop Observatory.

Seoul Anglican Cathedral is right in front of the observatory, so you get a surprisingly foreign-looking view in the middle of Seoul.

I wandered around here and there along the course and eventually made my way out to Gwanghwamun.

A café I had visited once before.

I’d tried to go back afterward but couldn’t remember where it was, so I never found it again. Finally, I found it.

I hope there comes a day when I can go back again.

It was also nice to see Gwanghwamun Gukbap again after so long.

They were preparing for the evening service, so there wasn’t anyone around, but I imagine business is still going well.

At the end of the month, I went down to my hometown with my maternal grandmother.

She lives in Busan, but she had come up to Seoul because she had some things to take care of.

She said she would stop by my place before heading back to Busan, so we decided to go down together.

These two—my mom and grandmother—eating janchi-guksu together at Yesan Market.

Did I take the picture a little too sneakily?

I also visited Children’s Grand Park, ARKO Art Center, Naksan Park, Kakongjok’s main branch, and My Seoul at Seoul City Hall, but this post is getting long enough already, and I don’t want it to stop being fun to read, so I’ll leave it here.

Trumpet vines have bloomed along Dorimcheon.

I really like what the flowers are said to symbolize.