Trail mix

DC: First day of the semester for the prof, so I take myself off up the hill behind our apartment complex, onto a fairly challenging trail for one as unfit as me, though it quickly leads me back to some already familiar urban territory, and snack action: at Dunkin Donuts in what, for the moment, we appear to be terming the new downtown, I resume my good book and enjoy a Double Cacao Bavarian doughnut, a square-shaped chocolate-custard-filled delicacy I never came across in nine years in the Big Apple. Soo good!

Photo second from top is the Hansol apartment complex, our neighbours to the north, and as imposing as our own Dongbo Nobility buildings. There's also a snap of the GS Supermarket, which we swung through on our first night here. It's U.S./UK style with the quality, choice and reasonable prices similar to such supermarkets in those countries. The orange-fronted place is a restaurant we took a chance on for lunch on our first full day here. We've not worked out its name yet, but Korean pals know it, and say it's a decent enough spot for cheap food. We loved it, actually, even though the waitresses didn't speak English, nor, apparently, was there a menu in English. We just pointed to the photographs of meals on the wall, and they came up with two spectacular soups for us. Man du guk for me - a spicy broth with four or five very tender shrimp dumplings - and a red spicy number with beef and vegetables for the prof.