Korea: 06/30/11 Afternoon
-Saw a Korean movie at the theater. Sunny.
-Went to the dermatologist because my yearly nose pimple showed up (TMI?). It was basically a glorified pimple popping session. Nice facilities though.
-Lotte World. It was rainy yesterday so it was a pretty bad day to go, but yesterday and today are the last free weekdays I'll have in Korea.. and going to LW on the weekends is a no-no.
-Noraebang (karaoke).
MAYBE I'll explain more later.. gotta drop my mom off at the airport today! :( My safety net is gone.. on my own now.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Rules and regulations
Korea: 06/26/11 Night
Still not feeling up for describing my trip. Instead I will talk about random moments today.. all I did was hang around the house, since my cousin and his wife/kid came to visit.
-My aunt made 2 kinds of bindaedduk (Korean pancakes) today, and along with leftover fried chicken it was a lot of food for everyone at the house. After we ate, I kid you not, she goes "Ok, we gotta get ready to eat lunch!" And then we ordered jjajangmyun, tangsooyuk, etc. I will never go hungry here.
-Just a few minutes ago, a piece of ginseng rolled onto the floor. My grandma looked at it, said "I've been looking for that for such a long time!" and starts gnawing on it.
-I accidentally started speaking casually to this random "cousin" that I recently met, who noticed and was like "It's ok, let's just speak casually (as opposed to properly/respectfully)". Just reminded me that there are a lot of rules and customs in Korean culture that I'm either not used to practicing (giving/receiving things with 2 hands, for example), or are pretty black and white in the US but can be gray here. I kinda get a free pass since I'm a foreigner/Americanized, but at the same time, these customs are so second nature to them, I feel like deviance is still noted. ANYWAY! Just my 2 cents.
Still not feeling up for describing my trip. Instead I will talk about random moments today.. all I did was hang around the house, since my cousin and his wife/kid came to visit.
-My aunt made 2 kinds of bindaedduk (Korean pancakes) today, and along with leftover fried chicken it was a lot of food for everyone at the house. After we ate, I kid you not, she goes "Ok, we gotta get ready to eat lunch!" And then we ordered jjajangmyun, tangsooyuk, etc. I will never go hungry here.
-Just a few minutes ago, a piece of ginseng rolled onto the floor. My grandma looked at it, said "I've been looking for that for such a long time!" and starts gnawing on it.
-I accidentally started speaking casually to this random "cousin" that I recently met, who noticed and was like "It's ok, let's just speak casually (as opposed to properly/respectfully)". Just reminded me that there are a lot of rules and customs in Korean culture that I'm either not used to practicing (giving/receiving things with 2 hands, for example), or are pretty black and white in the US but can be gray here. I kinda get a free pass since I'm a foreigner/Americanized, but at the same time, these customs are so second nature to them, I feel like deviance is still noted. ANYWAY! Just my 2 cents.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Back in the city
Korea: 06/25/11 Night
Back from Jejudo! Will post pics later.. too many to sort out at this point.
Some parts were definitely worthwhile, but a lot of the tourist attractions were pointless. And it rained a lot today, so there wasn't much we could see. By the end of it all, I missed Seoul and was ready to go back. Would I go to Jeju again? Probably not. But I'm still glad I went and saw what it was about.
My trip to Korea is about half over! Lots of changes in the next few days.. the second leg of my time here will be vastly different from the past 2.5 weeks.
Back from Jejudo! Will post pics later.. too many to sort out at this point.
Some parts were definitely worthwhile, but a lot of the tourist attractions were pointless. And it rained a lot today, so there wasn't much we could see. By the end of it all, I missed Seoul and was ready to go back. Would I go to Jeju again? Probably not. But I'm still glad I went and saw what it was about.
My trip to Korea is about half over! Lots of changes in the next few days.. the second leg of my time here will be vastly different from the past 2.5 weeks.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Lazy rainy day
It rained for the first time today since I've been in Seoul. Spent the day resting.. ie playing Angry Birds (addicting!), checking out K-dramas, sending emails. Glad that I didn't have any plans today, since the weather was making me drowsy.
Anyway, I planned to continue holing up at the house through the evening, but like I said, every day is a surprise, and my family and I went out to eat gopchang (intestines) and makchang (? not sure what this is, ate it anyway) for dinner. I was pretty hungry so I ate a lot. I'm still full.
Tomorrow I head to Jeju Island. I feel like I'm going on a vacation within a vacation. In any case, I'm game!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Happy summer solstice!
Korea: 06/21/11 Night
MIA on this blog for the past couple of days... the fatigue I mentioned earlier is no joke! But I still carried on with a flurry of activities because I can rest when I'm back home.. gotta make the most of my time here! Pictures are pretty minimal because I got lazy about documenting everything.. lots of food and my mug up in herre today.
06/19/11
In actuality, I awkwardly asked questions in my usual grammatically-challenged Korean, while she played with her iPhone. There was just too much pressure for us, complete and total strangers, to be bffs! It ended up being fine though. She's going to take me to see her friend's indie band play, so that's friendship enough in my book. Plus, eating ice cream/waffles and seeing huge Lassies are good icebreakers.
The Dream Team continued the festivities by hanging out at Chunggyechun, this stream with lots of lights and such. I'd venture to say we were the only non-couple group there. Woo moms and daughters represent!
06/20/11
For lunch, my mom went to eat lunch at her friend's house near Jangji station where a bunch of her high school friends were meeting, and I tagged along. Ate a lot. Per usual.
And then later in the day, met up with my good friend M in Gangnam. We haven't seen each other in a while, so we chatted for a couple hours over coffee and window-shopped a little. Then we met up with J for dinner. I got soba.. I love the ice cubes in it.. soo refreshing. Later briefly checked out Sinchon with J.
J cracks me up in these pics, so I'm posting them both. :) I wanted a pic of all of us with the cool street background.
06/21/11
Today I met up with M again, this time at Ehwa Women's University. Pretty cool area. We took these pics in front of the school's chapel, walked around, ate lunch. I probably won't be able to chill with M again while I'm in Korea so this is the last time we'll be seeing each other in person in a while.
And that is that! I always mean to include little observations as well in these posts, but by the time I upload the pics and caption them, I'm wiped. Here are a few though:
-No ovens in homes.. just cabinets/drawers underneath the stove.
-No bathtubs.. the entire bathroom is your shower.
-No central air conditioning.. they use this ac "box" in the corner of the room (the size of a grandfather clock).
-No dryers.. use good old fashioned clothespins/clotheslines/racks to dry clothes.
-No tax or tip paid in restaurants.. awesome. Esp when the food is cheap already.
-No beds (at least where I'm staying). Just a puffy pad, a bean bag pillow, and a blanket, and you're good to go. Fold it up in the morning and put it away, so that sleeping space is now living space.
MIA on this blog for the past couple of days... the fatigue I mentioned earlier is no joke! But I still carried on with a flurry of activities because I can rest when I'm back home.. gotta make the most of my time here! Pictures are pretty minimal because I got lazy about documenting everything.. lots of food and my mug up in herre today.
06/19/11
SO. On Sunday, one of my mom's best friends came over with her daughter. The daughter is the same age as me (3 months older), and according to our moms, this is the GREATEST COINCIDENCE EVER and this is the world telling us that we are destined to be best friends now too! Here we are, the ultimate mother-daughter dream team at a coffee shop. Can't touch this.
In actuality, I awkwardly asked questions in my usual grammatically-challenged Korean, while she played with her iPhone. There was just too much pressure for us, complete and total strangers, to be bffs! It ended up being fine though. She's going to take me to see her friend's indie band play, so that's friendship enough in my book. Plus, eating ice cream/waffles and seeing huge Lassies are good icebreakers.
The Dream Team continued the festivities by hanging out at Chunggyechun, this stream with lots of lights and such. I'd venture to say we were the only non-couple group there. Woo moms and daughters represent!
06/20/11
For lunch, my mom went to eat lunch at her friend's house near Jangji station where a bunch of her high school friends were meeting, and I tagged along. Ate a lot. Per usual.
And then later in the day, met up with my good friend M in Gangnam. We haven't seen each other in a while, so we chatted for a couple hours over coffee and window-shopped a little. Then we met up with J for dinner. I got soba.. I love the ice cubes in it.. soo refreshing. Later briefly checked out Sinchon with J.
J cracks me up in these pics, so I'm posting them both. :) I wanted a pic of all of us with the cool street background.
06/21/11
Today I met up with M again, this time at Ehwa Women's University. Pretty cool area. We took these pics in front of the school's chapel, walked around, ate lunch. I probably won't be able to chill with M again while I'm in Korea so this is the last time we'll be seeing each other in person in a while.
And that is that! I always mean to include little observations as well in these posts, but by the time I upload the pics and caption them, I'm wiped. Here are a few though:
-No ovens in homes.. just cabinets/drawers underneath the stove.
-No bathtubs.. the entire bathroom is your shower.
-No central air conditioning.. they use this ac "box" in the corner of the room (the size of a grandfather clock).
-No dryers.. use good old fashioned clothespins/clotheslines/racks to dry clothes.
-No tax or tip paid in restaurants.. awesome. Esp when the food is cheap already.
-No beds (at least where I'm staying). Just a puffy pad, a bean bag pillow, and a blanket, and you're good to go. Fold it up in the morning and put it away, so that sleeping space is now living space.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Feeling fatigued
Korea: 06/19/11 Afternoon
06/18/11
Took even more advantage of the salons here and dyed/straightened my hair. I've come to realize that every day is going to be a surprise here, since I fully did not intend to do either that day.
In the same vein of impromptu activities, I hung out with one of my cousins in the evening. It was essentially him showing me around Daehak-ro and buying me food haha. Not gonna lie though, it was nice having an oppa (older male/"brother" to a female) taking me around and me being the little dongseng. I haven't really had the chance to hang out with him since I got here, but it turns out that I get along with him pretty well. Fun times.
06/19/11
This morning a neighbor stopped by to drop off some conch!
Peeled those suckers out of their shells and ate them! My grandma (above) went to town on them. Again, you never know who or what's going to show up around here.
Then I went to church. I was supposed to go eat raw fish right now, but I think I've eaten enough since I've come to Korea to sustain myself for at least a year so I declined. Plus, I'm starting to feel the fatigue of constantly being on the go. God made Sunday the day of rest for a reason!
06/18/11
Took even more advantage of the salons here and dyed/straightened my hair. I've come to realize that every day is going to be a surprise here, since I fully did not intend to do either that day.
In the same vein of impromptu activities, I hung out with one of my cousins in the evening. It was essentially him showing me around Daehak-ro and buying me food haha. Not gonna lie though, it was nice having an oppa (older male/"brother" to a female) taking me around and me being the little dongseng. I haven't really had the chance to hang out with him since I got here, but it turns out that I get along with him pretty well. Fun times.
06/19/11
This morning a neighbor stopped by to drop off some conch!
Peeled those suckers out of their shells and ate them! My grandma (above) went to town on them. Again, you never know who or what's going to show up around here.
Then I went to church. I was supposed to go eat raw fish right now, but I think I've eaten enough since I've come to Korea to sustain myself for at least a year so I declined. Plus, I'm starting to feel the fatigue of constantly being on the go. God made Sunday the day of rest for a reason!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Friday with friends
Korea: 06/18/11 Afternoon
06/17/11
Hit the streets of Seoul for the day!
First! For lunch, I met up with J on her break. We went to this Korean restaurant in Insadong with some fancy-schmancy grub. I just ate and went home but I wished I had stayed and explored a little because supposedly it's an artsy area? I'll go back.
Then for dinner, I met up with some co-workers in Hongdae. We ate paella at this Spanish place that they liked. Me, not so much. But it was interesting to eat Spanish food in Korea.
Then we walked around.. and Kim Hyun Joong was there! PURE CHAOS ensued. People running to catch a glimpse of him, girls screaming. I was only able to see the back of his head though.
Wanted to capture the craziness of people trying to see him but only got blurry pics. Any time he turned his head slightly in one direction, the people facing him in that direction went nuts.
Checked out the street vendors. Co-workers and I wearing ridiculous sunglasses at a table.
Crepes for dessert! I had a crepe with green tea ice cream, green tea cake, and bananas. It was wonderful.
We passed by a crowd surrounding these drummers. They looked like they were having so much fun.. the guy in the blue shirt was esp letting loose. I took a vid of it, but missed the part where they were really getting into it. Check it out.
Apparently this dog is famous in Hongdae? In any case it was HUGE.
Random sights around the streets. The bear was cute but looked sad.
And that was was basically the end of the night! This is the first time I've hung out with non-Koreans here, and it was a different experience than with Koreans, both American and from here. Not bad though.. it was nice to be around people whom I could easily communicate with. But check Insadong (but not really.. gonna go back again) and Hongdae off my list!
06/17/11
Hit the streets of Seoul for the day!
First! For lunch, I met up with J on her break. We went to this Korean restaurant in Insadong with some fancy-schmancy grub. I just ate and went home but I wished I had stayed and explored a little because supposedly it's an artsy area? I'll go back.
Then for dinner, I met up with some co-workers in Hongdae. We ate paella at this Spanish place that they liked. Me, not so much. But it was interesting to eat Spanish food in Korea.
Then we walked around.. and Kim Hyun Joong was there! PURE CHAOS ensued. People running to catch a glimpse of him, girls screaming. I was only able to see the back of his head though.
Wanted to capture the craziness of people trying to see him but only got blurry pics. Any time he turned his head slightly in one direction, the people facing him in that direction went nuts.
Checked out the street vendors. Co-workers and I wearing ridiculous sunglasses at a table.
Crepes for dessert! I had a crepe with green tea ice cream, green tea cake, and bananas. It was wonderful.
We passed by a crowd surrounding these drummers. They looked like they were having so much fun.. the guy in the blue shirt was esp letting loose. I took a vid of it, but missed the part where they were really getting into it. Check it out.
Apparently this dog is famous in Hongdae? In any case it was HUGE.
Random sights around the streets. The bear was cute but looked sad.
And that was was basically the end of the night! This is the first time I've hung out with non-Koreans here, and it was a different experience than with Koreans, both American and from here. Not bad though.. it was nice to be around people whom I could easily communicate with. But check Insadong (but not really.. gonna go back again) and Hongdae off my list!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
DMZ & JSA field trip
Korea: 06/17/11 Morning
06/16/11
Lots of pics today! Went to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and JSA (Joint Security Area) for the day.
We started off at this park (the name escapes me right now) that had altars built to honor family members in N. Korea. The wall of notes to loved ones is especially sad.
Then we walked through the 3rd Tunnel, one of the N. Korean tunnels the S. Koreans found and blocked off. It was an intense walk... about 350 meters down, and then the same steep climb up. I do not recommend this not only to people who are out of shape/inappropriately dressed (there were women in high heeled sandals going down.. I was like GOOD LUCK girlfriends you are in for the hike of your life), but also to people who are claustrophobic.. I'm generally not, but even I was getting a little freaked out by how far down we were and how narrow the tunnel was. Plus it's dark and wet. But we were able to see the blockade that was made. And drink DMZ water. We were not allowed to take pictures down there.
Miniature model of the JSA.
My first real glimpse into N. Korea. Couldn't take pics beyond a certain area or ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers would delete everything from the camera.
After, went to this train station that was supposed to signify the future of the Koreas and the hope that they will be connected someday. This concluded the DMZ portion of the tour.
Then began the JSA (or Panmunjeom) part of the tour. I actually enjoyed this part way more than the DMZ. We saw a lot more than my pics contain because some parts we were not allowed to photograph.
Wearing the badge they gave us. xP
On the N. Korean side of the conference room. This soldier is guarding the door that leads directly into N. Korea.
In this picture, the portion of the table above the microphones (that are on and monitored 24/7) is the N. Korean side, and below is the S. Korean side.
ROK soldiers guarding. They wear sunglasses to not make eye contact with N. Korean soldiers (KPA) and guard with half their bodies behind the building.
N. Korean observing us. It got REAL real quickly. I should also note that in this area we were not allowed to point or make any gestures in case the N. Korea used our photos for propaganda.
N. Korea propaganda village (Gijongdong). Nobody lives here.
Memorial of a tree where 2 US soldiers were killed by KPA with axes.
Bridge of No Return. POWs were lined up here and could choose which side to stay on. But once they chose, they couldn't go back.
It was a pretty exhausting day overall. I did not like that the trip was so touristy, since there were tons of people and we had to see everything really quickly, plus it kind of took away from the seriousness of where we were with all the tour buses and people taking pictures every which way (though I know I am also guilty of contributing to this). I think that's why I liked JSA better. Less people came with us, and we saw soldiers in action, guarding the nation. But I learned a lot more about Korean history and to be able to see places that are relevant in current events made it that much more real.
06/16/11
Lots of pics today! Went to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and JSA (Joint Security Area) for the day.
We started off at this park (the name escapes me right now) that had altars built to honor family members in N. Korea. The wall of notes to loved ones is especially sad.
Then we walked through the 3rd Tunnel, one of the N. Korean tunnels the S. Koreans found and blocked off. It was an intense walk... about 350 meters down, and then the same steep climb up. I do not recommend this not only to people who are out of shape/inappropriately dressed (there were women in high heeled sandals going down.. I was like GOOD LUCK girlfriends you are in for the hike of your life), but also to people who are claustrophobic.. I'm generally not, but even I was getting a little freaked out by how far down we were and how narrow the tunnel was. Plus it's dark and wet. But we were able to see the blockade that was made. And drink DMZ water. We were not allowed to take pictures down there.
Miniature model of the JSA.
My first real glimpse into N. Korea. Couldn't take pics beyond a certain area or ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers would delete everything from the camera.
After, went to this train station that was supposed to signify the future of the Koreas and the hope that they will be connected someday. This concluded the DMZ portion of the tour.
Then began the JSA (or Panmunjeom) part of the tour. I actually enjoyed this part way more than the DMZ. We saw a lot more than my pics contain because some parts we were not allowed to photograph.
Wearing the badge they gave us. xP
On the N. Korean side of the conference room. This soldier is guarding the door that leads directly into N. Korea.
In this picture, the portion of the table above the microphones (that are on and monitored 24/7) is the N. Korean side, and below is the S. Korean side.
ROK soldiers guarding. They wear sunglasses to not make eye contact with N. Korean soldiers (KPA) and guard with half their bodies behind the building.
N. Korean observing us. It got REAL real quickly. I should also note that in this area we were not allowed to point or make any gestures in case the N. Korea used our photos for propaganda.
N. Korea propaganda village (Gijongdong). Nobody lives here.
Memorial of a tree where 2 US soldiers were killed by KPA with axes.
Bridge of No Return. POWs were lined up here and could choose which side to stay on. But once they chose, they couldn't go back.
Then made an impromptu trip to the Korean War Museum since we were dropped off really close by.