The leaves in these parts are finally bursting out into brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows as Suhee and I head into the final leg of our Korean tour. These next 15 days will see us doing screenings every day in a different city, and sometimes, two! It will include macrobiotic cooking, nature workshops with kids, moms, and adults, and screenings with several organizations who are doing some innovative things with ecology, education, and community wellness activities.
Our first stop was in Busan for three days, the first two of which revolved around a ‘nature’ school which is one of a few in this country that is based on Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf school, where children are taught largely in nature, with concepts of community, collaboration, and holistic learning put at the center of the educational experience.
They had no trouble getting into the spirit of the workshops and came away with some new ways to make colors, and perhaps a slightly deepened relationship with nature, although honestly because of the way their schooling process works, these young bright children are really into that relationship already.
All of the colors you see below, were taken directly from nature by the kids and their parents during the workshop; rocks, soils, leaves, flowers, berries, they produce a wonderful range of colors to match the season!
The morning after our workshop with the kids, we ran a second workshop with the parents, a few of whom responded with more enthusiasm that the children did the day before. One of the women was particularly happy with the colors she was getting from stones in the area, and spent most of the time by the river, with a color pallete of earth and stone by her side.
We couldn’t help but stop by the local ‘fish bread’ shop the next day which, honestly, isn’t as gross as it sounds. These sweet breads (think pancake) are shaped like a fish, and usually have a sweet filling such as sweet red bean paste or custard.
This day saw us at another community cafe in Busan which seems to be one of the meccas for local artists and musicians to gather and share their work and music.
Later, our host took us to an unassuming looking restaurant called “Spring Day” which was set oddly in a gravel lot with apartment towers above and surrounding it. We were not quite sold on the place at first…
Then we saw the garden. The image below is just a wee bit of it, but the rest includes a good bunch of chickens, some of which were running around the garden and gravel parking lot. The restaurant is small and serves a set number of dishes each day. It’s not an ‘exclusive’ type of place, but you do have to call in ahead to reserve a seat so that the chef knows how much food to collect that day.
We thoroughly enjoyed this special ultra-local lunch!
That’s it from Busan! Next up, we’ll visit Daejeon to host a macrobiotic cooking workshop with our good friend Kaori!