Here are some pictures from this past week to accompany the next post, which is an email Ana sent out earlier today.

   

From left to right: This little cartoon guy is Chuncheon’s mascot. He adorns a number of buildings, utility boxes, etc. This is the lake city afterall. - Here I am eating a beef rib soup with a wide array of side dishes, including a powerfully hot red pepper paste. - This is red pepper season here, so when it’s not raining, the streets and parking lots are littered with big mats covered in red peppers being dried in the sun. We’re surprised that they are just out in the open, but nobody must steal them or otherwise tamper, or else they wouldn’t leave them out in public. - Another example of how agriculture permeates the city. Vacant stretches of land become hobby gardens. This corn is growing right at the side of the road in the middle of town, again with no evidence of theft or other damage.

  

A storefront near our apartment. - A tiger statue on a bridge. - The view from our balcony. Almost everyone in Korea lives in apartment buildings like these. We’re lucky to have mountains like these nearby as well.