A Day well spent :)

For the past few weeks I have developed a certain habit - every Monday I promise myself not to work the next weekend and do something for fun but some work invariably turn up and I end up working more on the weekends than the weekdays! When I was told that there will be a workshop this Saturday, it really pissed me off. The Human Interface Lab at SNU was going to have a tie up with Inha University and as a member of HIL, I was supposed to attend it. So instead of sleeping till noon, I woke up early on Saturday morning and went to INMC building at SNU where June Sig picked up Ki Ho and me for the workshop.Bu the colors of fall provided good distraction and I promptly took out my cam and started clicking.SNU Main gate ... always wanted to take a pic of it but never had a proper chance. A pic from a moving car is not what I wanted but something is better than nothing.

We reached Inha University at around 10:30am and the workshop began with introduction of the lab and its members. Everything was in Korean and I hardly understood anything of it - when my name was called, I just stood up and gave an expressionless bow!
But the presentations that followed, were very interesting indeed and the demonstrations were even better. Wireless transfer of embedded encrypted data through a communication channel - like sending a hidden message in an image file, mobile phone based orientation sensor and emotionally accurate speech synthesis. The demos were great fun and cheered me up!
Participants of the workshop: Members from Inha on the left and SNU on the right.


Human Interface Lab, SNU - Prof Kim Nam Soo in the center.

After the presentations, it was time for lunch and we headed for the Incheon fish market for some fresh crab. The crab is bought from the fresh catch and taken to any of the small eateries, where they are prepared and served according to your preference. Once in the restaurant (or whatever it is called) Prof Kim started asking me his favorite question - "Are you really Indian?". I sat next to the Professor and he bombarded me with questions doubting my "Indianess". You eat anything and everything (I can eat anything on the plate or hovering/flying/slithering in and around the plate!), you can drink a lot (man, what a complement :) ... makes me proud!) and your habits are not like the other Indians I have seen before - one question followed another. I made a sincere attempt to explain how I acquired my food habits, my drinking capacity and the reasons behind my outlandish hobbies!

In the meantime, food arrived - steamed crabs, followed by a spicy crab stew and I eat with great relish. Throughout the lunch, Prof Kim, lectured me on Korean food and customs - and the people around took their turn to tell me something about Korean culture.The unfortunate crabs the went into my stomach.

Gae-Meun-Tang .... spicy crab stew - Prof Kim took great effort to see to it that I pronounced the name correctly ... though I'm not sure if I have spelled it correctly!

Lunch ended close to 4pm but the day was not over. I decided to visit the Kyobo book store - which supposedly has a large collection of English books. To reach it I took the longest subway ride - lasting for about 1hr and 20mins. But I was not disappointed - Kyobo is massive ... almost a permanent book fair with a large section for books in English to satisfy even the most demanding customer. I happily browsed through the huge collection and spent almost an hour and a half there. In the end I got myself a membership of Kyobo bookclub and bought 3 books - one on the Angkor (still not sure if the trip to Cambodia will materialise or not), Aztec and Mayan history, and a French cookbook!

It was a wonderful day and greatly refreshed me but the good times were not over yet. And the reason can be seen in the picture below :)A wonderful and sweet Riesling from Rhinehessen. It had a nice aroma of cherries and a refreshing taste. I have always been a fan of Riesling and my palate is more oriented to sweet wines. So much so that the only wine that I brought back from Europe this time was a Riesling Icewine (beerenaulese).
I continue to sip the wine as I write this blog and as time progresses I feel even better :)