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Published: August 8th 2007
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I started off Saturday at Sam’s house. We enjoyed a great American-style breakfast that his mom bought for us - some great pastries and my much beloved & missed milk. We were going to go swimming, but I wasn’t allowed in until noon since I was a non-member. We decided to go hiking behind his apartment building instead.
Talk about a rough climb! It was almost straight up all the way. When we finally got to the top, we had a nice, hazy view of Seoul below. We enjoyed the calmness of the morning air high up the mountain. After eating and drinking some and getting turned upside down on some exercise thing, we headed back down to the house.
After getting cleaned up and I said goodbye to my Korean omma (mom), we headed out to meet Heather, Celestia, and Charity in the Myeongdong shopping district. If you need something, just head to Myeongdong. Although the prices were not that great, I still enjoyed walking around with the thousands of Koreans in the district and looking at the different stores.
After Myeongdong, we headed over to Cheonggyecheon Stream. Talk about an urban wonder! This used to be
nothing but an old highway running through central Seoul. A few years ago, the people of Seoul decided they needed to take steps to make their city look more beautiful. What’s their solution? Tear down the road built over this beautiful stream and build a park for everyone to enjoy. It almost reminded me of a stream that could be seen in the Smoky Mountains minus the surrounding skyscrapers. It was very nice sticking my feet in the cold water to catch a break from the stifling humidity.
We then headed over to the Hongik University section of town, known for being a night-life hot spot and the place to be for young Koreans. David met us, and we took part in an ancient Korean ritual - karaoke! We stepped into a private room with a huge screen, dancing lasers, and a huge speaker system; the room was also completed with tambourines, maracas, and a squeaky hammer. It was a little funny because the Koreans that were with us knew the lyrics of the English songs much better than us Americas. We danced, sang, and had a good ol’ time. If you ever think about Korean karaoke, you must
be ready to just go crazy; otherwise, its not going to be that fun. We went wild, though, and had a great time!
After singing our lungs out, we met up with Naomi and ate at Mr. Pizza, known for being a place where Korean girls like to hang out. We had the “Golden Potatoe” complete with actual potatoes and a sweet potatoe filling in the crust. It was actually pretty good; just a little different.
After dinner, we headed to the nearest pub to watch the Korea-Japan soccer game in the Asian Cup. Koreans always love a good opportunity to beat up on the Japanese. It was so great to be there with the Koreans hoping that their national team would pull through. I found out one cool fact, though. The father of Steven (a former student at CN) is the team’s main medic, and he is very famous in Korea. Anyways after neither team scored during the game, they headed into overtime. After an intense overtime match, the Korean goalie finally blocked a Japanese shot and won the game. Such a great time to be in Korea!
On Sunday, we woke up at Heather’s
apartment to a very hearty breakfast - a popular Korean chicken dish complete with salad, soup, potatoe salad, and bread. We also had some ginseng, which Heather’s mom told me was good for “men’s stamina.” Hum. After eating that breakfast, I was ready to go back to bed.
We got into the car and headed to Incheon to Heather’s church. It was all in Korean, but it was still interesting to visit a Korean church; everyone seemed really friendly, too. I did recognize the words “Taliban” and “Afghanistan.” Heather told me they were talking about the Koreans being held hostage in that country. It is such a sad story, and they certainly need our prayers.
After church, we headed to a local Italian restaurant with Heather’s friends. The food was really good; I especially enjoyed the spicy squid spaghetti. We went Korean style by sharing the dishes that we ordered (Korea is a very communal country). We even got free drinks that came with the end of the meal. I was told that they do that in nice restaurants to allow people to sit and socialize with their friends. As an added treat, they even brought us out
some free fresh fruit; Heather said that it normally doesn’t happen and that they must have liked us. I really enjoyed the company of Heather’s girl friends, Har-dim and Eu-dim; they kept going on how handsome and trendy I was. That’s it...I’m moving to Korea!
After lunch, we got on a train back to Seoul; on the train, we met up with Celestia and Naomi. They had gone to a Naomi’s church that has 8 services that beam the service to 5 different locations; they even had English ear pieces.
We then headed to central Seoul to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace, the royal house for the Joseon Dynasty. It was such a beautiful place; the architecture was absolutely stunning. We even had our picture taken with the Royal Guards; we were supposed to have serious faces, but they told us that after the fact. One of my biggest impressions was that it was amazing to look beyond the walls of the palace and see the skyline of Seoul right next door. It is so cool how the city mixes the old with the new and modern. There was one section of the palace where visitors could try their hand
at some traditional Korean games; I got some compliments on my handling of the Korean top. They kept telling me, “you must be Korean! You need to move to Korea!” Aww, shucks.
We then had dinner in Myeongdong at a place called Minto. It was really nice inside; it sort of looked like a street in France (though, I’ve never been to France) with shops painted on the wall and apple trees in the middle. This place is known for having very pretty waitresses and a good place for college students to hang out (especially the couples in the back that displayed tons of PDA).
After dinner, we then headed to the Namsan Mountain, the home of Seoul Tower. Talk about a trek up! We rode a cable car up to where the tower is. I was a little nervous because they packed us in that car little cattle. It was a beautiful ride, though, with all of Seoul brightly shinning beneath us. The view from the top was really good, too. We could see Seoul for miles and miles. Such a wonderful way to end a great weekend in Seoul. Now, back to teaching!
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