Seoul

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We spent the weekend in Seoul with our friend Sean. We hooked up with Ben who Sean knows from his church in Ohio. Both Sean and Ben are teaching as hogwans (after school schools) teaching english. We got to take the KTX (bullet train) for the first time: its a great way to travel! a 2.5 hour trip took 1 hour! We took the subway to meet Ben who graciously allowed us to crash on the floor of his little appartment for the night. After dropping our stuff off and having a big Korean lunch, we set off to explore Insidong - a really nice shopping area. Its a cobblestone street with art and gift stores lining either side. We loved exploring all the neat things to buy. We ended up buying two scroll paintings for our wall: one of bamboo and one of little birds. I also bought a little silver butterfly necklace. The place was packed; there were many street stalls selling food. We had a late dinner with Ben's friend Suwon from China. The dish we had was invented during the Korean war when people were so desperate for food that they would use scraps from the soldiers' meals: it had hotdogs, spam, vegetables and noodles in a hot broth and was served with tater tots! Although it sounds gross, it was actually really good (and the tater tots were a nice reminder of home). After dinner we went and looked a temple nearby (I don't know what it is called because it wasn't in my guide book). Then we made our way back to Ben's house, pulled up a bit of floor and fell asleep.

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