E-TAE-WON

diane and I went to Korea
in September of 1982
to do some christmas shopping
we took our tennis rackets
but of course it was winter there
with ice on the courts
we pulled on our ear lobes
all day and night
to prevent jet lag
and laughed all night
diane lost her key to the hotel safety deposit box
where she had put her shopping money
and they had to jackhammer it open
before we ate I checked my food and dianes
and got whatever had no garlic
canned figs with heavy cream for breakfast
free of the garlic I did not like
the people were friendly and helpful
we bartered for everything
and got cash on the black-market
we had to be in the hotel by midnight
when the city lights went out
according to marshal law
when we visited the DMZ
there were four of us on the bus
for the three hour bus ride
through no mans land
from Seoul to the DMZ
the young korean man who accompanied us
wanted us to be sure we told the americans
to keep their troups at the DMZ
and that the Koreans wanted an undivided country
many had family in north korea
it was a very interesting trip
the rest of the time we shopped
Seouls main shopping area
E-TAE-Won where we bargained for everything
we ordered all the eel skin items we could
and hand picked all that we bought
we flew back to Seattle with twenty korean toddlers
and a bag full of christmas gifts
the kids were being adopted by american families
don picked us up at LAX and we drove
to snowy big bear california
diane put a hot water bottle in my bed
it felt good on that cold snowy night
sleep came quickly full of visions of shopping
E-TAE-WON