Blogs from Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea, Asia

After countless palaces and temples in S Korea, Japan, and Thailand, I wanted to see something different. After some research, I found Seodaemun Prison. This historical location was built during the Japanese occupation to control Korean activists. My research also suggested against younger visitors as it holds some gruesome reenactments of what happened during 1908-1945. I was meeting three friends in different areas of Incheon and Korea, so we had a few stops along the way. As a tip for anyone living in Incheon and wanting to get to Seoul quickly using the subway, get yourself to Bupyeong. From Bupyeong, you can grab an EXPRESS BUS to Yongsan. You go up to the Yongsan tracks and choose the side that has the electronic sign reading 급헹 (Express) 용산 (Yongsan). From Yongsan, we made a few transfers ... read more

I'm on my way! As my friend Jan, commented, I've been talking about this for such a long time that it's hard to comprehend that I am now on my way. I had a few tears as I waved goodbye to Bill and Sarah and I'm sure Customs wondered why I seemed so dazed but then it's not every day that one sets off on such an experience. My first port of call has been Seoul...what a great idea. If you need to fly to Europe a stopover here is a fabulous idea... luxury plus at the Hyatt and a good night's sleep before the next leg of the trip to London. And it's all included in the cost of the flight. It is very warm here.. a taste of summer with lots of cicadas, hot ... read more

Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun. Today I had my first Korean cooking class! We made bibimbap and a jigae (stew). For the first hour of class we watch our sansangneem (teacher) prepare the two dishes and talk about them in Korean. It was like watching Julia Child in Korean. I was trying to keep track of what she was doing and the order of preparation, since our instruction sheet was also all in Korean and the only food words I know are rice (bap) and cucumber (oo-ee). Luckily my partner Angel, who's from Hong Kong, was paying attention too. We got right down to work like we were on Top Chef or something. There was chopping and salting and open flames and boiling and ingredient fetching and sauteing and tasting. I had a lot of ... read more

Today I had to bid farewell to the Hongs. I really enjoyed my two days with their family. But now it's time for the next adventure- dorm life on Yonsei's campus! Of course, I'm on the top floor. And there's no elevator. Luckily Chairman Hong and his driver carried my bag up the stairs for me. (When it's time to leave I'll just chuck it out the window.) I had trouble opening my door at first, and then it opened itself! I have a Korean roommate! Yay! Her name is Minyoung, and we've spoken maybe 10 sentences to each other so far. I usually have good relations with my roommates- flashbacks to high school and college- so this is the first time the language barrier has really prevented me from being as friendly as I could ... read more

Man that was a terrible paper. So terrible. I stayed up until ~0700 writing it and then went down to the lounge to print it out. I COULDN'T! what the heck, right? So the way it works here is there's this 'username/password' you need to make in order to print with these computers. And then you have to deposit money into the account so that it can subtract from there. Anyhow, it was really lame and wouldnt let me print and i couldnt figure it out because the error messages that popped up were in korean and no one was up at 0700 to help me out. took a nap ~0730 and woke up at 0850 to rush and get ready for class. Before going to class, though, i had to run to the library in ... read more

Actually woke up for class today. David woke me up. Psych, bleh. Art History, Prof got pretty pissed when a girl put her head down during 'discussion' time. There's usually an awkward silence when nobody knows what to discuss of the art she puts up. and she yelled at us for wasting time, say that we're being graded for it. pretty serious. Had lunch w/ stella and then tried to read up on Romans so I could write my paper. didn't get much done. Korean class. First hour, a bunch of people were missing. maybe 4-5 people. doesnt sound like many, but our class consists of 14 students. then john came late. anyhow, i spilled my coffee when i got overexcited/upset about being #3 to go during our speaking final. that was kind of embarrassing. might ... read more