Nanta and a scary taxi ride!

The show Nanta (which means cookin') is a huge hit in Korea! So as a treat for Kari we took in the show on Saturday night. Knives and other kitchen utensiles are transformed into musical instruments by the performers. It has a comedic element as well as the chefs must create a wonderful wedding feast "by six o'clock". Food flies, dishes are thrown, and people are in rolling on the floor in hysterics watching the hi-jinx of these chefs. Kari was not really excited to go, but once in there she agreed it was fantastic.Scenes fromNanta

Kari in front of the Nanta sign in the
Jung dong theatre.

On the taxi ride there, our driver was getting very upset because he had to keep finding alternative routes because of the demonstrations against the American Beef deal President Lee has made. I found myself quite nervous being an American. It's the first time I ever felt that way. And, that has not been the case the whole trip. The Korean people are so friendly and welcoming and were definitely that way this trip. But they are upset with their president and the riots are out of control. Last night the police estimated there were 50,000 demonstrators.

This picture is taken from cnn.com/asia.
It is the streets of Seoul last night as we were on our way to
Nanta. Very daunting, indeed!

Then we hailed a taxi back from Nanta (the theatre was just to the side of all these demonstrations). It took a while to get one to stop--and the one that did drove like a maniac. At one point I grabbed Kari's hand as we rounded a corner in the midst of traffic. Several people on the trip who have been to New York City say it is not as congested as Seoul! So imagine that...now some lunatic taxi driver doing seventy miles an hour in the city! It was terrible. He wanted out of that area so badly.

Before we went to Nanta, we went to the Korean War Memorial Museum. The architecture was beautiful. Typically American, I thought it was going to be only about the Korean Conflict of the 1950's. But this was a museum about all the wars that Korea has been involved in. (Duh!) It was a moving and sad place to visit.

These are statues outside the Korean
war museum. These depicted
the war between North and South Korea.

Well, this will be my last post in Korea. I might post once more when we get home. For all you Faith people--I spoke with Michele VB today on skype. I am old enough to still be awed that I can talk with someone while I am in South Korea and she is in Georgia. Right now Kari is talking with Stephen for her last time. Kari and I are blessed to have Mike in our lives making all these "geeky" things possible!