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Published: September 29th 2009
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Yes, it has been a while. In my defense I haven’t really done anything blog-worthy in the past few weeks. Last weekend my co-teacher took us foreign teachers to Insadong, which is a “traditional” area of Seoul. It was nice but extremely crowded. Cars are not allowed to drive in the touristy area on weekends which made it a bit better. It is basically an area filled with shops and street vendors selling “traditional” things to tourists. I had been toying with the idea of trying silkworm larvae (a street snack sold in Korea) so my co-teacher bought a cup of it. Well…I tried one and that was enough. I can cross that off my list of things to try in Korea. We also saw rice cakes being made by young guys who chanted and sang while beating the rice. We walked around a lot, visited some shops, and ate at a great restaurant. I had the best mandu (dumplings) that I’ve had in my time in Korea. Very tasty. After Insadong we walked over to center Seoul and caught a kids show performance outside which was very entertaining.
This past Sunday we attempted to go to Donggureung Tomb, which
is just outside of Seoul. It is a cluster of tombs and a UNESCO world heritage site. As a fan of cemeteries and tombs, I have felt a serious urge to visit these tombs. After a 90 minute subway ride into Seoul we couldn’t figure out which bus to take to the tombs, so we gave up and decided to go to Dongdaemun and Myeon-dong instead. We didn’t spend much time in either. Dongdaemun is a shopping area known for huge buildings that sell various things (fabric, clothing, shoes, bedding, etc). I bought a robot necklace on the street for 3,000 won (less than $3) but it broke on the subway ride home. I guess that’s what I get for bargain hunting. There was a palace/fort in the middle of Dongdaemun which I thought was quite nice. It reminded me of Athens, where amidst all the skyscrapers you still see efforts to preserve ancient sites.
After Dongdaemun we headed to Myeon-dong, which is only 2 subway stops away. This is yet another shopping district (seems like every district in Seoul is a shopping district). This district was PACKED. I’m not a big fan of swarms of people with one
goal in mind: shopping. We went to a 3 story Forever 21 store, and I can safely say I still couldn’t find anything I liked enough to buy. Guess it’s just not my style. Then we headed home, nothing exciting.
This is a short week, we have a 3 day weekend for Chusak, which is the biggest holiday in Korea. It’s kind of like Thanksgiving, everyone travels to their family’s homes and celebrates together. Several of us were originally planning on going to Busan for the weekend but we procrastinated and now train tickets are sold out and buses are rumored to take about 9 hours. I have lined up a fun weekend for myself regardless of the setbacks. On Saturday I’m planning on seeing a soccer game with some foreigners, and on Sunday I’m going to Everland, which is an amusement park.
Work has been good. The kids are getting used to seeing me as their teacher and authority figure, so I no longer want to go home crying on a daily basis. On Thursday the kids will all dress up in traditional Korean outfits called humbaks (not sure how to spell it) and we will have
a day of traditional festivities for the kids including games and a lesson on the significance of Chusak.
We have a 2 week vacation in December which I am very excited about. All of the other foreigners are going home for Christmas, but I am having a rather unconventional holiday season this year. My boyfriend will fly in on December 12 (the day before my birthday) and spend a month here. We’re planning on flying to Japan, it’s only $300 roundtrip because it’s winter. China was another option, but the visa is $150 and travel within China isn’t cheap. So, Japan is looking like the best and most exciting option for Christmas break. Looking forward to bringing in the New Year in Japan!
Nothing else exciting to report. I finally got my alien registration card and bank account, so I think I’m officially done with paperwork for quite some time. I’m going to try really hard to save up a decent amount of money that I can spend on traveling during my time in Korea.
I will have more pictures and posts soon once I’ve done some more touristy things. Hope all is well. It has been
just over a month that I’ve been in the country and I feel like I’ve come a long way already. I am continually improving my ability to read Hangul, which has helped me in getting around on public transportation.
My friend and I have reserved seats on a tour group going to the DMZ on October 11th. I'm extremely excited for the opportunity to visit the DMZ, and it's not quite as scary because we'll be with guides. We get to visit ImjinGak, which is the furthest that people can go on their own. We also get to see the 3rd tunnel, which was made by North Koreans in an effort to infiltrate South Korea. There is also an observation platform, from which we will see Propoganda Village. For those of you that don't know, it's a village in North Korea that was constructed to make North Korea look technologically advanced and prosperous. it consists of highrises that are not functional, just "props" in which lights are turned on in the evening to make it look like people live there. Creepy.
The DMZ is one of the top 3 places I was most looking forward to visiting, so
I'm extremely excited. Mom, don't worry, we're going with a tour group so nothing will happen!
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