Blogs from Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea, Asia - page 2

Hello everyone! It's been a great week this week with lots of tourism!! As I mentioned in my last blog it was the Chu-Seok holiday (like a thanksgiving celebration) so when I broke up from school last Friday, I didn't have to go back until the following Thursday :-) The Friday was a fun 'Chu-Seok day' at school. We did fun Chu-Seok activities in the morning and had a really exciting assembly in the afternoon. The children did some dancing and Korean drumming and then we had some real Korean drummers come in and do a show. They have these ribbons coming off their hats, which move really effectively with the slightest movement of the guy's heads and they had this cool dog costume thing, which the kids went wild for! I've put a few pictures ... read more

Today was very special because today we went to visit the famous Namsan Tower. Before we went up the tower, we wandered around the mountain park. The park itself contains over 600 plants and animal species. Northeast the park there is a small traditional village called Namsangol Hanok Village. At the mountain park, we took the tour bus around the park to see the different plants that grow here. It took us about two hours to get through the tour. We also participate in a quick walk on the jogging tracks. After that we went to the botanical garden and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and flowers. When we move onto Namsangol Hanok Village they had many events there when we came; village tour, fan/kite making and folk dancing are to name a few. There were ... read more

Hi Everyone! So I've been here a whole week! It partly feels like 2 days, and partly feels like 2 months! I'm very settled in, yet the week has gone really, really fast :-) I've basically classed this week as a holiday, as suggested by the headteacher. So no work and lots of sightseeing, eating out and drinking! Here's a rather brief summary of how it's going so far.... It was a good start to my new life here when I got upgraded to business class on my flight from Beijing to Seoul. Obviously I would've preferred it to be for the 10 hour stint of the journey, rather than the 2 hour stint, but I'm not complaining. I got slippers, a better blanket, food on actual plates instead of in a foil tray, and my ... read more

After our luncheon at the Latin American Festival we had plenty of time on our hands to do something else with our day. I tried talking Shauna into a peaceful walk around a park near our location but she insisted on doing it "some other time." So, we ended up in Yongsan at the Korean War Memorial Museum. Basically, its a museum surrounding the Korean War. But they have 10-acres of property where tanks, missles, aircraft, helicopters, anti-aircraft guns, howitzers, amphibious tracked tanks, personnel carriers, trucks and more are spread out on the property awaiting decay in the sunshine. They had war machine relics from the South Korea, France, Soviet Union, US and Canada. Plus several monuments, sculptures and fountains. We didn't have time to actually go inside the museum but... Here are some images from ... read more

What causes for us to become inspired? This is an answer that I think changes based on one;s past and daily experiences. In this blog posting I will share some of my inspirational experiences and let you come to your conclussions about the causes. Currently I am continuing to embellish myself in my Hanji Painting. At times it can be a bit challenging as I am learning artistic techniques. None the less, I love doing this. I have set-up my own little studio within one of the enclosed balcony areas. It is a great work space and not to mention such an amazing view of the river. Social shopping has dramatically slowed down as I try to stay at home more. An outcome is that I do not have as much one-on-one interaction with the friends, ... read more