Sorry it’s been so long since our last post. We have been really busy at school lately. Not only did we get a new schedule that makes us work even longer than before, but we have been preparing for “open classes.” Open classes are classes that we teach in front of the parents so they can see what their kids are doing and learning at school. To say that the open class is a true representation of an average class period would be an obscene lie. We have been preparing for these classes for over a month now and normal classes for the past couple weeks have been devoted to teaching the open class material so that the students appear to be English geniuses when their parents are watching. As a business major, I understand the necessity of promoting the private school through these classes, but as a teacher it makes me feel uncomfortable. I’m sure the parents don’t expect to see an everyday class, but it still feels like we’re being entangled in a big web of lies. haha.
Wow… it’s been almost a month since our last post. In that time we haven’t done as much travelling as we would have liked, but we did go to Seoul on two separate occasions. The first time, we went with our co-teacher who lived there for eight months last year and he was going to show us around, but it rained all day Saturday, so it turned into a shopping trip basically. The only tourist attraction that we got to that weekend was Namsan tower, which is one of the tallest in the world… definitely top 10, maybe even top 5. It gave a spectacular view of Seoul and we were able to see a lot of the temples and palaces and stadiums, etc. in the city. Before the trip I wasn’t excited to visit Seoul and up to that point I certainly hadn’t seen anything that made me want to come back, but seeing all the palaces and temples made both of us really want to make a second trip and visit as many of them as possible… which we did! Due to the weather, this trip was probably the most random trip I have ever been on as most of what we did was unplanned or happened by chance. Examples of randomness include a real Mexican mariachi band; fish eating our feet; a Korean band playing “Just the Two of Us” with a beat-boxer, two bongo players, and a tap dancer; and a brand new club that was waiving the door fee for foreigners. We waited until the mariachi band was finished playing so we could meet them and ask them where we could find the best Mexican food in Seoul. They didn’t speak English so I asked them, “Donde esta la comida mexicana?” (Where is the Mexican food?). Their response: “Mexico!” Touché, my Spanish-speaking compadres.
The hotel we planned on staying at was booked for the night, so we trudged around in the rain for an hour or so looking for one that had vacancies and was relatively cheap. Apparently those two things are a lot to ask for in Seoul. We ended up spending the night in a Korean style hotel room, which means you sleep on the floor. You still get all the sheets, comforters, pillows, etc… you just have to lay them on the ground instead of putting them on a bed. It was actually quite comfortable and we stayed there again on our return trip.
The second trip was much better than the first. The weather was perfect except for a thirty minute shower on Saturday and we were able to visit three palaces, one park, and one museum. I spent 80,000 won on souvenirs and still spent a tiny bit less than what I spent on the first trip. Definitely one of our better trips.
Brian and Katie’s Top 5 Trips:
1. Busan, the first time – it was our first weekend trip in Korea and the sites we visited were all so varied that it felt like a really complete trip. On Saturday we went to Beomeosa Temple, Sajik Stadium, and Centum City (a big mall). On Sunday we went to Hyundae Beach and the Busan Aquarium. It was also the first time that we were able to find many different kinds of food in Korea, including Mexican! Overall it was a great trip that will be hard to top.
2. Gyeongju – it was our first weekend trip by ourselves. It was a lot of fun exploring a new city on our own and not having to be mindful of our companions’ interests. Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla Dynasty, which lasted for a decade shy of one thousand years, making it one of the most historical cities in the world. On Saturday, we visited a large temple with the most exquisite artwork we have seen so far, a giant statue of Buddha in a cave complex, a national history museum, a royal palace with a pond in the middle, and an ancient observatory that looked simple at first glance but its construction was symbolic as well as advanced for the time. We spent Sunday at a historical theme park that was really cool. We saw so much there and there is still more to see!
3. Seoul, the second time – see below
4. Busan, the second time – I struggled with the last two spots, but I just couldn’t put a day trip ahead of a weekend trip. This was a relaxing trip; we mainly went to shop because the forecast was rain, rain, rain. It was nice to go to a big city and navigate it fairly easily. Luckily, it stopped raining on Sunday and we accidentally found a famous park with a tower. We didn’t do a whole lot on this trip, but it was just what the doctor ordered.
5. Bijindo / Yokjido, the second time – I had to create a tie to get these two islands on the list. The first, Bijindo, is two mountain-islands connected by what we assume is a man-made beach. The beach is pretty cool, but the best part about Bijindo is climbing to the top of the southern mountain and taking in the view from a boulder that juts out and allows you to see more than 180 degrees around you. Yokjido was fun the first time, but it was even better the second time when we took several of our co-workers with us. Go-karting around the perimeter of a huge island and stopping to take pictures of all the beautiful views is a great way to spend a Saturday!
So now that I’ve recapped our top five trips, let me tell you about our return trip to Seoul.
Intrigued by the palaces we saw from the tower the first time, we set out to see as many of those as possible while still running a couple errands. We’re going to Japan for our week of vacation, so we needed to get two Japanese Rail (JR) passes so that we can travel by train for a fixed amount. Apparently these passes can only be used by foreign tourists and must be purchased outside of Japan. Unfortunately, all of the offices that sold these passes were closed for the weekend, but we were able to fax copies of our passports and wire transfer the money and we received our passes a few days ago. The other errand was finding Babo Shirts, a store that sells funny shirts for foreigners living in Korea. “Babo” means stupid in Korean, haha. I got a shirt that says, “I’m a Englishee Teecher,” Katie got a shirt that reads ‘awesome’ in Korean, and we both got “Millionaire in won” shirts. As it was July the 4th, we decided to find a KFC for lunch so we could get some all-American fried chicken. After lunch, we accidentally found a palace (if you’re in the right section of Seoul, there are palaces everywhere!) dedicated to King Sejong, the fourth emperor of the Joseon Dynasty. He was the creator of the hangul alphabet so that the illiterate masses could read and write without studying Chinese characters for years. He also contributed many other things to Korean society in a wide range of areas, but I can’t think of any right now :P We got a free book on him, so maybe I’ll add some more about him later after I’ve read it. But anyway, the cool part about that palace was all the different architecture in it. Over time, many different architects from around the world designed buildings for it, such as England and Russia. Most of the buildings looked Korean with a distinct foreign flair, while others looked like they didn’t belong in Korea at all. One of the structures actually resembled the White House, haha!
The next day we visited two much bigger palaces. The first, Changdeokgung, is only available to tourists by guided tours. We missed the English tour starting time by ten minutes or so and they were going to make us wait for the next one an hour later, but I used what little Korean I know to say, “English, 11:30, fast fast fast!” The lady behind the window didn’t look too happy about it, but she said, “Hurry up, hurry up!” and let us through. Once we were inside we realized that this place was much, much bigger than the palace we visited the day before and any of the temples we had been to up to that point. Little did we know that the next palace would be even bigger… Our tour guide was a short Korean lady dressed in traditional clothing. Her English was pretty good and she even attempted some jokes, but her accent made it tough to tell what she was saying, so most of the people on the tour just waited patiently until she was done talking and we moved on to the next place. Changdeokgung was a cool place for several reasons, including being the home of Korea’s most famous king, Sejong, as well as Korea’s last monarch. A couple ponds, a secret garden and a royal library where young students took exams in front of the king were pretty cool, too. We’ll definitely be posting pictures soon so you can see for yourselves.
The final stop on our self-guided tour of Seoul’s palaces was Gyeongbokgung. By far the most impressive of the palaces we visited, this one had it all. As we walked through the entrance, we found ourselves in a massive courtyard looking straight at the royal throne room at the center. The backdrop included mountains on three sides and the Blue House, where the current president of South Korea resides. On either side of the pathway leading to the throne room were stone posts that had military and civil servant titles on them that designated the positions these men were to stand at during processions and ceremonies. The rest of the courtyard was large enough for several hundred soldiers to stand side-by-side, so we really felt like we were finally seeing what we had expected to see at an Asian palace. Several hundred soldiers obviously wouldn’t comprise an entire army, but the best soldiers hand picked for special occasions would be a sight to see indeed!
The palace was so big that it was split into many different sections. The first and most prominent was the quarters of all the different royal family members. The king, the queen, the king’s mother, and the prince all had their own areas of the palace. The queen and the king’s mother had really cool gardens in their areas. The prince stayed with the queen until he was old enough to move to his own area (it was pretty young, we don’t remember for sure but maybe 5 or 6). Another section of the palace housed an open air pavilion that is raised off the ground more than any other pavilion in Seoul (we’re still not sure if that’s either impressive or cool, but they were pretty proud of that fact). A pond surrounded the pavilion on three sides and gardens surrounded the pond – we stopped there and rested for several minutes to take in this picturesque scene before heading on to the best part: a gazebo in the middle of a different pond with only a footbridge leading to it that is too narrow for more than one person to cross at a time. In one of the corners of the pond there is well water that springs up and runs through a small bowl-shaped indention in the stone before it continues down to the pond. The water hits the bowl at just the right angle so that it swirls around in clockwise fashion before finding the outlet. The well water is good for drinking as well as dipping your feet in on a hot summer day.
We spent a couple hours exploring Gyeongbokgung and still didn’t see everything, but we ran out of time and had to make it back to the bus station. As I said before, we will be posting lots of pictures later on, but we just felt really bad for not having posted on here in a really long time and we thought it was time we wrote about our adventures instead of just posting pictures with brief captions. But if that’s what you like, there is more where that came from, don’t worry!
The main hall of Changdeokgung
self-explanatory
The king's carriages would pull up here and drop off important people
Glimpses of modern Seoul over the trees
The building at the top of the hill was King Sejong's royal library. People would come from all over to study there...and it's also where students would take exams in front of the king. No pressure there...
The big gate in the middle was for the King's use only...the two smaller gates on the sides were for servants.
A study room for one of the princes. It's the only building at this particular palace that faces north, which is apparently good for studying.
This gate is pretty awesome. Whoever passes through it will never grow old...and also gets to make a wish. Can't beat that!
Leaving the 'secret garden' area
This tree is believed to be several hundred years old. Our guide told us the only way they could tell for sure was to cut it down, a process that seems a bit counter-productive in my opinion.
Gyeongbokgung :
Mountain overlooking the palace.
Pagoda in the distance
Me in front of the main hall
The courtyard for this palace was huuuuuuuuge and could easily accommodate hundreds of people for ceremonies, coronations, etc.
This is what my throne would look like if I were a Korean king...
A view of the courtyard facing away from the main hall
The ceiling of the main hall was incredibly ornate and beautifully painted.
Some more of those mysterious and decorative chimneys
Ancient Seoul vs. Modern Seoul
The hall behind me was built literally right on this huge pond. It was used by the king to entertain important people...and it looked like a postcard.
A lotus blossom growing in the pond.
Another view of the hall
Cool buildings in the distance
One of the main gates
If you've seen The Ring, you understand this picture. If only my hair was black!!
My all-time favorite place in this particular palace. The little pagoda is built on an island and the only way to reach it is to venture over the small wooden footbridge. I want one of these in my backyard at home...
Another view
A spring flowed into the pond, first going through this little rock basin. It felt realllly good on my feet but it was also super cold.
The water also tastes good too!
There's the pagoda!
Mountain overlooking the palace.
Pagoda in the distance
Me in front of the main hall
The courtyard for this palace was huuuuuuuuge and could easily accommodate hundreds of people for ceremonies, coronations, etc.
This is what my throne would look like if I were a Korean king...
A view of the courtyard facing away from the main hall
The ceiling of the main hall was incredibly ornate and beautifully painted.
Some more of those mysterious and decorative chimneys
Ancient Seoul vs. Modern Seoul
The hall behind me was built literally right on this huge pond. It was used by the king to entertain important people...and it looked like a postcard.
A lotus blossom growing in the pond.
Another view of the hall
Cool buildings in the distance
If you've seen The Ring, you understand this picture. If only my hair was black!!
My all-time favorite place in this particular palace. The little pagoda is built on an island and the only way to reach it is to venture over the small wooden footbridge. I want one of these in my backyard at home...
Another view
A spring flowed into the pond, first going through this little rock basin. It felt realllly good on my feet but it was also super cold.
The water also tastes good too!
There's the pagoda!
