Korea: Nostalgic Views in Hwajeong

One of the best parts of living in the little make-shift office turned bedroom I had in Korea was the largely unobscured view offered by the large windows within, offering me a glimpse out onto the city of Hwajeong as the sun rose or faded into the horizon and all the various shades in between. Hwajeong, while not really Seoul proper, is still quite a bustling little suburb and full of life, so I'd often overhear whooping shouts and excited calls from people celebrating below, at all hours of the night. It was fascinating, and often quite beautiful. The trade-off was that occasionally I'd be awoken early on my day off and told that the office was needed for the home owner's work purposes and to, more or less, make myself scarce. These things. In theory, I could have found a small apartment somewhere in Seoul and rented it for cheaper than what I paid for my sometimes less-than-private space, as many of my friends and their cohorts in a different field emphasized, but my living arrangement was already predetermined in a contract that outlined my work requirements and obligations prior to my even arriving to Korea. I'm not bitter about it, though there were times during my stay where I'd get frustrated by feeling trapped in a situation that wasn't always to my benefit. The other rooms in the apartment were rented out on AirBnB for a higher rate than what I was paying, so I was getting a deal, but there were often strangers coming and going outside my bedroom, or an awkward wait for the shared restroom in the morning when several of us had obligations to tend to. Some of the AirBnB guests stayed on for a longer term, and we got to know eachother a little better in the brief encounters in the kitchen or hallways, but some nights I'd find myself answering the door to an exhausted stranger I hadn't been told to expect, a potentially spooky situation depending on the circumstances. I digress. In the end, I'm immensely grateful for having had the opportunity to live and work in such an incredible place as South Korea, and while I certainly wish I'd had more information going in, I'm still very much glad I went. 

Korea: Morning Commute from Hwajeong-shi

A necessary ritual in many modern lifestyles is the morning commute, the pilgrimage from a suburban respite into the bustling business centers of the city. My time in Korea was certainly marked with this ceremonial passage, morning and evening, as I made my way from the northern residential burb of Hwajeong down to Seoul proper to set up for the day. Every so often, I would get to work and begin setting up only for a coworker to awkwardly approach and ask if perhaps I'd misread the schedule, or maybe they had. Typically it was my fault that I'd misinterpreted my shift, and I'd end up having to find a way to fill the handful of hours at my destination until the shift began. Given how far out of the way Hwajeong was from, say, Lotte world, it didn't make much sense for me to go all the way home only to turn right back around and return, so I'd explore the nearby shopping centers or parks. As annoyed as I might have been in the moment for missing out on some additional sleep I might have garnered by staying home, it was generally a good thing that I explore these areas. The various Fun Caricature locations operating throughout Seoul are placed strategically in high-traffic touristy areas, after all, so the neighborhoods I'd coincidentally find myself arriving at too early in the day would have ample ways for me to entertain myself. 

The commute itself, though, had its own merits. While many mornings I'd take the time to catch up on podcasts, e-mails, or various threads on Reddit, the scenery wasn't unpleasant to look at by any stretch of the term. As the seasons evolved from one into the next, the scenery, too, would shift in shades and texture, providing an aesthetic affirmation of nature's workings. Depending on the time of day, I might pass a food stall with billowing plumes of dense and delicious steam flooding out onto the path, or vendors with freshly procured produce offering their wares.

The short walk to the train station, in and of itself, became a precious sort of journey. That green sign to the right in the photo above? That was my go-to market after returning home from work, as I could pop in and find most of the groceries I could possibly want at a reasonable price. E-mart, too, was just a bit further down the street on the trek home. There were several other groceries, department stores and markets all scattered about nearby, and there was a rather large one tucked into the basement level of the train station, too. No shortage of options available, that's for sure. Never underestimate the sheer convenience and walkability of the city of Seoul and it's suburban branches! It will truly spoil you to live in the area... I miss being able to walk to a store at any given time of day or night and find a hot meal or cold bottle of soju/beer/wine, or fried chicken, sweet and chewy egg bread... but I digress! I could write tomes about how tasty and bountiful the food is in Seoul...

Korea: 홍어회 in화정 or Hongoe in Hwajeong

Throughout my entire stay in South Korea, I lived in the small town of Hwajeong, in Goyang prefecture. It's only a short commute outside of Seoul, about 30 minutes by train in to Anguk area which was without a doubt one of my favorite neighborhoods to spend time in. Hwajeong was a charming little suburb to reside in, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time living there! Not only was it easy (enough) to commute to and from work on the daily, but there were multiple options for shopping, recreation, and dining throughout the area. While your typical suburb in Las Vegas has at least one convenience store nestled in its midst, there's no real guarantee that you'll be able to get to a grocery store on foot, not in any timely manner anyway..this issue is referred to as "food deserts", where fresh foods are less readily available and residents need to commute to have access to amenities. In Hwajeong I could walk 5 minutes and have my pick from several small groceries, multiple convenience stores (of different brands/names) and countless fast or slow food restaurants. Who says that Americas the greatest country in the world? For sheer capitalistic indulgences and opportunity, South Korea certainly seems to have learned from us and upped the ante.   

Another thing South Korea does well, that we don't really do much here, is fermented fish. Tangent much, eh? In the United States, you might find some form of pickled fish hiding in a dusty, forlorn corner of the grocery store's "ethnic" section, but in Korea, there's a famous fermented fish whose name strikes fear into the hearts (and nostrils) of those familiar with it: Hongoe. This funky beast is the result of fermenting skate, those cute little mini-mantas who have the peculiar habit of urinating through their skin. This, naturally, gives the fermented variety of their flesh a distinctly ammonia-heavy odor that even I, a girl whose sense of smell is laughably non-existent, found challenging. To be fair, hongoe is a challenge even for native Koreans who grew up around the stuff. Typically eaten with super-ripe kimchi and sweet milky rice alcohol in the form of makkgeoli, you can also find hongoe prepackaged at some grocery stores. It's much more affordable to buy the prepackaged variety, and so I decided to give it a go, but I have to admit I wasn't able to eat the whole package on my own. The texture of the fish is unusual, too, with a cartilaginous crunch that's hard to compare to anything that hasn't been rotting in its own urine for an extended period of time. 

Even just looking at these photos is giving me olfactory flashbacks. Oof. Enjoy the photos of the pretty view from here out, to hopefully get some of the funk out! You might also enjoy noticing the little bird, who perched atop the tower here. 

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

🐟

XOXO,

NAU

Korea: 삼계탕 Samgyetang in Hwajeong

If you've found your way here through a convoluted series of fortunate internet-fated factors, only to come up confused at the title, asking yourself, "What even is Samgyetang?", don't worry. I'm here for you, boo-boo! First off; samgyetang is delicious, and it's something of a mandatory dish for any Korean-foodie and/or fan, especially during the summer months. While I opted to eat it for this blog post in the early creeping tendrils of winter, when the chill started to seep in a bit more and I needed a hot bowl of chicken soup to revive my spirit, this dish is typically eaten in the peak of summer swelter. Brought to the table boiling hot, the dish typically consists of a single small, young chicken stuffed with sweet, glutinous rice and a mixture of dried fruits and herbs to imbue the broth with a distinctly subtle and sweet medicinal flavor that I personally adore and now, coincidentally, find myself craving at least once or twice a year. Not only is the meat from that tiny little bird super delicate and tender, but the broth absorbs all the richness and flavor from both the herbs and meat to turn a soothing milky color. It's mild, which might come as a surprise to those who know my obsession with spicy food (and South Korea's generalized obsession with fiery foods, too), but it's an excellent dish to get you through the doggest of dog days of summer...or a brisk winter evening. Whatever floats your boat or sinks your submarine, after all.



Not only is it hearty, warming, and soothing all at once, but the dish gives you an excuse to consume an entire small bird to yourself. Alone. That's right- one serving is one bird. How fun is that? Indulge your desire to feel like a giant and get some nourishment. Winning. Stews and soups hold a very special place in the Korean food lexicon, too, so it shouldn't come as a particularly huge surprise to anyone who's cursorily familiar with the food. Samgyetang holds a special status in a cuisine well-known its deep and complex love of soups and stews, from hearty gamjatang with its dense and umami pork bone based broth studded with potatoes or light and slurpable miyeok guk for birthdays. While most soups come meticulously pre-seasoned, samgyetang comes to the table with it's own mix of salt and pepper for you to season the meat as you go, adding an additional element of DIY to the meal. You'll already be getting hands-on, anyway, as you deconstruct the little bird you're devouring, unless you're a serious pro with your chopsticks. I've yet to reach that degree of aptitude, however, and ended up with chicken-sticky hands by the end. Not the worst thing, not at all.  I'll gladly take chicken fingers in exchange for a bowl of samgyetang, any day.

Korea: 짜장면 Jjanjangmyun in Hwajeong

Once I started the downward spiral into my rabbit hole of previously unprocessed photographs from my 6-month-extended-business-trip-slash-sabbatical to Korea, it was only a matter of time until I found myself deep in the thralls of food porn again. The food in South Korea is not only delicious and complex, with everything from starchy noodles drenched in rich, savory sauces to sweet and crunchy bingsu in the summer, amazingly crispy yet juicy fried chicken (the one true KFC supreme; Korean Fried Chicken), to sushi so fresh it'll latch to your throat and try to climb its way back out if given half a chance- but it's often quite affordable, too! Like, absurdly, unreasonably, questionably affordable for the volume of food and variety of side dishes provided. This, naturally, leads to a sense of frustration and/or annoyance when returning stateside and searching out Korean meals- what was a $6 freshly cooked restaurant meal in Seoul is now only available in packaged format in that price range, and if you dare to try to dine in a restaurant it will cost at least twice what you're used to it costing in Korea. Sigh. The ex-pat's dilemma... is this the true definition of a first world problem? I suppose I should really be happy that I can find these dishes in my home country at all, and quit bellyaching at the fact they cost more than I'm used to. 

This bowl of noodles, drenched in a savory black bean sauce of disturbingly high mucilaginous material, is a good example of that unreasonably cheap food. This meal cost less than $3, and was cooked fresh in a restaurant less than 20 feet from the front door to the complex I was living in. This feast was legitimately cheaper than buying an instant cup of ramen from the convenience store equidistant to my front door. They had several other options available at exceptionally low-cost points in this tiny restaurant, too. To be fair, though, the exceedingly slimy consistency of the sauce was a bit of a turn off for me- and this is coming from a girl who happily slurps up the auspiciously named "Dead Body Soup" made with super-slimy fermented soybeans and makes "tororo okra" with boiled okra minced until fluffy and snot-tacular. But for such a low cost, it's hard to complain about a freshly made meal where someone else ends up doing the dishes... While this wasn't my favorite jjangjangmyun of all time, it's a dish I would still recommend anyone try while visiting Korea!

Korea: Supermoon 2016

During my time living in South Korea, there was an especially spectacular supermoon - or maybe it was just the stunning view my little room in Hwajeong offered me at the time... whatever the case, I was glad to have been able to capture some measure of it for posterity. I tried using my phone and my digital camera, which is coming up on a few years old now so it's rapidly becoming something of a fossil by technological standards but I wasn't entirely disappointed with the results.  There are certainly professional astrophotographers out there with the equipment intended for truly capturing the beauty and magnificence of our friendly little satellite who captured exponentially better photos, but for a point-and-shoot it's not bad, and none of them would have captured my specific viewpoint at that particular time in history. I wanted to be able to share this moment with the people I care about back home, and record it for my own memory in a tangible way. The science of human memory, and the terrifying fallibility of it as time goes on and our biological machinery grows weary shows how fragile our recollections can be, so having external reservoirs for memories seems like a pragmatic way to try to preserve the passing moments in a lifetime. Maybe I'm just sentimental in this way... I've always had an affinity for words and was a voracious reader growing up, so the idea that our thoughts can be captured by words like an insect in amber has always appealed to me. Why not include photography in this mix? With the ever-expanding technological prowess available to the modern consumer, we have an endlessly growing selection and price point to make these things happen. That's more or less the premise behind this blog, as I try to preserve memories of my travels in a way that is authentic and externally based. It takes time and effort, but so do most worthwhile things in life. We've all got our magnum opus...and who knows, maybe after writing hundreds of blog posts and typing out dictionaries worth of words, an actual book of some sort might come into being. You never know if you don't try, and to do anything well takes practice, after all. But I digress, I'm veering away from the point of this post... the moon! Photos of the moon! There are more of those to be found here, never fear. 

Korea: Mystery sushi

How adventurous are you? Are you willing to eat the unknown, the mysterious, the...uh...crunchy? On this particular evening, I decided to take a leap of faith and purchase an unknown seafood platter at the local market... Living in Hwajeong, I had access to multiple varieties of fresh seafood and fresh markets where all sorts of delicacies from the oceans were made readily available...With so many options available, I felt I absolutely had to experiment and try a few new things, given the ready proximity to the seas that the Korean peninsula offered. There's a mixture of sweet and spicy chili-pepper paste that you will frequently find served alongside Korean raw fish that sets it apart from it's Japanese equivalent, where wasabi and soy sauce may be the regular choice (some fish varieties are served with grated ginger or garlic instead of the wasabi)... trust me, however, when I say that the Korean sauce is exceptionally tasty, with a balance between pungent spicy goodness and sweet, savory smoothness. It's an invigorating way to enjoy the fresh seafood, with the complex flavor profile of the sauce adding to the satisfaction you feel upon completion of your meal. I enjoy most presentations of raw fish, so long as the fish is of good quality. 

This fish was very fresh! It had a beautiful reflective skin and mild fishy flavor that was enjoyable...but I'm the kind of girl who enjoys a good mackerel from time to time, so strong oily fishes aren't something that bother me. I don't fully understand why they were sliced in this specific way, though, as it meant that many of the bites had tiny bones that could potentially revenge the fish's death by stabbing your mouth as you eat. Not that I can blame the vengeful fish spirits...given the size of the cross-sections, the fish themselves are likely not that large, to begin with. I ate a fair portion of it with soy sauce and wasabi before trying the bright red sweet and spicy sauce.  Like I said above, I appreciate most preparations for raw fish as long as the fish is good, but with all the bones to contend with in this batch I found the sweet-spicy chili sauce helped me finish the generous portion.  

Overall, it was pretty good. There's always the chance that my foolish self simply dove headfirst into it raw, when the preferred preparation for this specific fish would have been cooking... but as I don't know, I went for it and was pretty happy. The bones were mildly annoying, but when you're consuming the flesh of little beings sliced up whole you kind of have to expect some degree of anatomy to be involved. I know there are plenty of people out there who can't handle chicken or fish on the bone, and I respect that. The bones were certainly not my favorite part of this meal... 

Live and learn, and try new things!

Until next time~

🐟

XOXO,

NAU

Korea: Spicy octopus dinner out in Hwajeong

Given that Korea is a peninsula surrounded by the life-teeming waters of the ocean, seafood plays a crucial component in the cuisine. There are countless delicious dishes utilizing this bountiful booty in endless ways, from still squirming sannakji (small octopus) to bubbling cauldrons of seafood stew called maeuntang, to quick dishes like this octopus stirfry. It's a dish I ate several times during my stay in Korea and have since recreated for Antho, who quite enjoyed it too. There are a lot of awesome recipes for it out there on the vast expanses of the internet, but it's always nice to go out and try it in a restaurant! On this evening, Yonie and I went out for a meal together and enjoyed this delicious dish in a restaurant I had walked by hundreds of times without realizing. Even in the suburb of Hwajeong practically every building is multiple stories tall with various shops and restaurants occupying the many rooms within... walk down a hallway and you may find yourself surprised to pass a budaejigae (Army base stew) restaurant, a nail salon, a fashion shop and noodle house before exiting to the other side.  There are simply so many options available, it's really astounding. Personally, I love it. There's absolutely no way I could have tried every single restaurant in the time I was there, even if I ate out every single night of the week. Another mind-boggling thing is how affordable it all is... because of the steep competition there, costs of dining out in restaurants is often less than $10 per person! It can go up depending on the cuisine and the location, of course, as again there's no shortage of options for high-end dining, too, but for a budget diner and aspiring gourmand, South Korea is a wonderland. There's something for everyone, too! Whether you like spicy food or prefer to keep things on the mild side, can't get enough noodles and carbs or are devoutly carnivorous... Even vegans can find some tasty things to eat, though I have to admit that's one particular culinary leaning that doesn't have much traction there just yet. There are temples and places that do serve strictly vegan food but you may have to seek them out specifically, as even seemingly innocuous "safe" things like vegetable banchan will frequently have fish broth or sauce as a base or flavoring component. I'm decidedly omnivorous to the point of eating live shrimp and squirming octopus, so this isn't an issue for me, and I'm in love with the abundance of different dishes that proliferate the Korean dining table. To each their own, though! Make it your own. 

More photos below!

Korea: Jjajangmyun in Hwajeong

Hwajeong is a little suburban area outside of Seoul city proper. It's a short drive, about 20-30 minutes to the heart of the city, and about forty-five minutes to an hour by train/subway into Insadong and the Jogno area. With it's close proximity to the big city and all its entertainments, I still enjoyed taking some slow days to wander around the neighborhood and try some of the restaurants. It's really no less convenient than being in the inner-city, as Hwajeong had a plethora of shopping options and restaurants all relatively close to the apartment. Yonie's place in particular was SO close to the station that you could literally walk out the entrance and hit 5 convenience stores, 7-8 cosmetic stores, 5 different grocery markets (from sprawling Wal-mart type department stores of food and housewares to a roughly10-foot square farmer's market that spilled onto the sidewalk in front)... Then there were all the restaurants! From fast food favorites like Lotteria and McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and KFC to specialty restaurants serving specialty wild boar meat barbeque and fish fresh from their tanks. There was even a restaurant serving boshintang, dog meat soup. Yes, that's right, you can still find dog meat throughout Seoul. They've definitely tried to tone it down over the years and protests occur quite regularly in the more densely populated tourist centers, but if you look in some tucked away alleys or narrow hallways of large food centers you might find a restaurant serving it quietly.  This post, however, is far more dog-friendly! No dogs were harmed in the making of this post! Huzzah.

What I ate instead was jjajangmyun, a chewy, springy noodle with savory black bean sauce stuffed with meat and vegetables. It's delicious and comforting, not at all spicy, which makes it a kid-friendly nostalgic favorite I'm told. This is a dish that was originally based on a Chinese noodle dish but has been adapted to suit Korean palates and taken on a life of it's own, so it's often found in places that serve similar dishes, like jjampong, a spicy seafood noodle soup or tangsuyuk, sweet and sour pork or beef. While jjajangmyun arrives with the sauce piled on top, you get to stir it all together at the table which can be quite fun. This is not a dish to eat when wearing a light colored shirt, though, so be warned. Slurping the noodles can sometimes cause a bit of sauce shrapnel spillage if you're inexperienced or clumsy, but a lot of places that serve jjajangmyun offer napkins or bibs to protect your dignity. I know that I, for one, have a mild meltdown over stains. The shame, I tell you! 

Since the sauce itself is decidedly pretty tame, you'll typically get some sides to perk up your meal. Pickled radish is common, as are chunks of sharp raw onion and a bit of black bean sauce. I like onions and pungent funky things of that nature, so this is all fantastic and perfectly acceptable to me. This dish has, of course, become a nostalgic favorite for me so I'm always happy when I find places that serve it in my area, whether it be in Hwajeong or Vegas. I enjoyed this meal and then went about exploring the area a bit more, for a relaxing day off. Sometimes the slower days were the nicest, just taking in the cool autumn breeze as the weather gears towards winter and the trees start to change their tones. 

More photos below!

Seoul: Bus ride from Hongdae to Hwajeong

Having satisfied my craving for Taco Bell and gotten the results of some lab work I'd had done at a nearby clinic, it was time to pack it in and head back. Hongdae is an excellent area if you want to hang out for awhile, though! There are tons of restaurants, trendy shops from big name to indie creators, street food stalls, bars and plenty more. I, however, had plans that evening somewhere else and it was nearing go-time.  

I found the public buses to be rather comfortable for the most part, though some of the busier routes (like Namsan tower) could get claustrophobic during peak times... This route was rarely crowded when I took it, and it was quite an affordable method to take, too. I could take one bus from a shopping mall a few blocks from where I was staying straight into the heart of Hongdae! So convenient. Funny thing is, I had posted a photo of some street food from a stall near the apartment and someone on Instagram recognized the area! They clued me into the bus route and I'm so very grateful for that. Social media can be pretty amazing sometimes, right?

This is going to be a pretty photo heavy post, but I wanted to capture as much of the experience as I could. I know it's routine for many people, but this is a novelty for me and I feel very honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to live like a local for a little while. I think it's the best way to explore and experience any new culture, personally, so I strive to do that whenever I can... so far I've lived in Japan and Korea, and the week I spent staying in Hong Kong was fantastic- though I stayed in a hotel for that one. It was nice, though I'd like to try an AirBnB next time we visit. It's definitely on my to-do list, but for now, enjoy these photos from my stay in Seoul!

 

 

Seoul: Bus from Hwajeong to Hongdae

Seoul and it's surrounding areas have no shortage of means by which to get from one end of the city to the other, which means it can be beneficial to look into your options. Living in Hwajeong while there, a suburb not far from the city proper by Line 3, I had a decent assortment of strategies... Taking the trains could, at times, be quite crowded depending on the time of day, as I found during my work commute. Living in the suburbs is a popular choice for many residents, and many of those people, just like myself, had to commute into the urban center for their work or school. Depending on where I was going, it could sometimes be much better to take a bus- Hongdae being one such area. While I could ride Line 3 over to an adjacent station, then transfer to a different line and crowd in with the students headed to class, I found the hard way that it was a little too easy to miss my stop and end up at Seoul station, where to reroute to the place I needed to be would require walking to the opposite end of the rather large building (and up/down so very many stairs). If I was in a hurry, say to catch a doctor's appointment my lovely friend and experienced ex-pat Carmen had arranged for me with an English-speaking woman doctor, taking the bus would drop me off within five minutes' walk of the clinic's front door. This would spare me the potential panic of realizing I'd gotten a smidgeon too absorbed in a story on Reddit and missed my stop, losing valuable time.  No transfers to worry about, either. The bus stop for the ride to Hongdae was in front of a large department store complex not far from the train station entrance, so it was no less convenient getting to it, either. There was a handy LED sign displaying the bus routes, their ETA and destinations- albeit in Hangul, but it's not the hardest alphabet to learn and you can start to parse out key words and phrases with a little effort. At least, after being in Korea for a few months at this point, I found my comprehension of Hangul increasing without having to spend an intensive amount of energy into studying it... that is to say, I didn't really study much, if at all... I probably would have picked it up much sooner and more smoothly had I applied myself, but I digress.   

Your preloaded transit card works for the busses, as well, so no need to panic trying to figure out pocket change for fair. Just make sure your card is loaded at a train station and go about your day. I very much enjoyed taking the bus into the vibrant, trendy area of Hongdae, and the ease with which it returned me to my area. I took lots of photos because I found the different perspective novel. 

Enjoy!

Korea: Journey through Hongdae

On this particular day, I had to head in to Hongdae station for a visit at a medical clinic. I was getting a routine check up done, but I also wanted to follow up on some dizzy spells I'd been experiencing. After getting to Korea I found I quickly started to lose weight with the more active lifestyle, and having control over my food choices again was really empowering after living in a household with four very different food preferences where meat would often be cooked unseasoned, you know, because you can add whatever sauce you like when it's been boiled to submission...but I digress... once I was living more or less independently in the apartment, I'd gotten into a routine of eating scrambled eggs for breakfast, a packed lunch and salads for dinner...which was all well and good, but I was stretching out the duration between meals too long. My commute to work was over three hours on some days, so there were nights were I wouldn't get home until well after 8 or 9pm, and I wanted my lunch to be in the middle of my day, around 3pm, so I'd go without food for over 7 hours somedays...which with all my walking around left me drained. Luckily the clinic visit was all good news and I left feeling optimistic and hungry! In Hongdae station I stopped and grabbed a little pastry from a stand inside the secure area, which was super tasty! Cream and sweet bean, yum. I love all the little shops and stalls in every transit station, you never have to search far for a fresh coffee or a snack to tide you over, which makes it all the sillier that I would go so long without indulging myself. Korea has such an abundance of tasty foods available and conveniently, I definitely had no problem regaining some of the weight I'd lost once I stopped feeling intimidated. Same sort of thing happened when I first moved to Japan...the first couple months I find myself adjusting and still reeling from the move and culture change, and as a result I find myself mildly trepidatious about trying to order from any restaurants or stands, especially since my ability to speak Korean is abysmal at best. Thankfully most people I interacted with were patient and amicable! 

These photos are all about capturing that commuter life vibe I was talking about a bit in my previous post. With the short walk from the apartment, most of Seoul was readily available! I can't talk up their public transportation enough, it's really good at doing what it needs to do. It serves it's purpose well, and I am immensely grateful for it's existence. 

Enjoy the photos!