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What I said before about Seoul resembling other big cities I have visited was a total bluff. Seoul is insanely different from anywhere else I've visited before. The city is huge, with a population of 12 million and is recorded as the city with the highest density in the whole world. The subways downtown are always packed full with people. So when Seoulites decide to protest against the government you could say a light chaos erupts when they take over numerous city blocks at a time and invade with flags, food stands, music, news casts and angry speeches for 24 hours a day, including a overnight candlelight vigils. This is part of what I saw in my comprehensive Seoul tour on Saturday, given by Juno. Every night the thousands and thousands of protesters attempt to march to the Blue House (their "White House"), which is now blocked off by hundreds of police buses (covered in fence because the protesters do damage to the buses) and young police men. (In Korea Army or Police service is mandatory for 2 years immediately after high school.) The protest is organized by what is known as a "Pan-Korean Committee Against Mad Cow Disease," which has to do with the importing of US beef. Even though this risk exists, the Korean government continues to import US beef. This is what has caused (so far) a two month long protest in the streets of Seoul. Juno said Korean's protest about everything because in history, the government has never protected it's citizens. For example, when North Korea was invading South (Seoul is pretty close to the border), the President said, "We are winning, stay where you are, do not flee South" when in reality, South was losing. Believing him, Seoulites stayed, only to be killed when North Korea invaded. Also, during the Japanese invasion (1910 I believe), the King fleed Korea instead of staying and protecting his people. Juno said Korean's have learned that the government will not proect them, and therefore need to stand up for themselves. It was really strange to walk through a protest that was, in a way, against the US. I got stared at quite a bit but nothing more. I felt very safe. I even got interviewed by an internret broadcasted news crew, you may be able to find the interview online at this site: www.migrantsinkorea.net or www.ibmk.net.
Juno is an English tour guide in Seoul so I got to tag along with his group for free! 😊 We toured twp royal Korean palaces, the biggest Buddhist temple in Seoul and a couple of markets. I get to tag along another tour on Wednesday, which I am very excited for. That evening we also saw a Korean theatre with traditional music, dance and theatre. It was awesome.
Friday I had a very Korean experience, as I spent all day with him and his family running around Seoul. Juno's mom sells milk delivery contracts and we went to work with her, which was pretty cool to see. We were first taken out to a Japanese meal by her boss, which was pretty interesting. In that meal, I ate nothing I have EVER eaten before in my entire life. Let's say it was a bit difficult. Slabs of raw fish, some cooked fish and the Japanese version of sushi, which is sticky rice with a slab of raw fish on top of it. There were numerous different kinds of soups, fermented vegetables and pickled everything. I am very proud of myself. I only gagged once and hid it very well. It felt like a 20 course meal that would never end. I tried to try a big of everything. We sat on the floor in a small private room. Afterwords we went to work with his mom. We helped her set up her stand in the middle of a traditional Korean market, where I can't believe we didn't see a car accident because the streets are so small, the cars big, and the people on the street numerous. There was a little girl who stuck out to me, she was from across the street and ran around all day long, dragging her little dog behind her.
I got lucky enough to snap her picture twards the end of the afternoon. I don't think I'll be able to upload any pictures until I get to Taiwan, but hang in tight cause they're really great so far!
After a bit we left his mom and went to the Korean National Cemetary. It was very beautiful. The graves for commanders were larger than those for simple soldiers, Juno said it's because of Korean hierarchy (which their whole society is based on). At the cemetary we also visited a gorgeous Buddhist temple and saw some traditional Korean drums being played by a band.
So today, Sunday, was a pretty relaxing day. I slept until 11, which was much needed, and then went around Incheon with Juno's brother, Jun, cause Juno was leading the same tour I went on on Saturday. Our first stop was to a park dedicated soley to an American General who landed in Incheon and led troops to help South Korea. It was strange... lots of huge status and dramatic plaques dedicated to the Americans were all over. Next we visited a museum which recreated Korean shanty-towns in the 1960's and 1970's... lets just say I can't believe Korea has made it this far so quickly. We then took a stroll around an amusement park on a small island, the most facinating part being the food stands where dried flattened octupus and fish bodies were sold, alongside "wet," fat octupus legs and baby octupus were given in small paper wrappings, just like french fries at the State Fair or something. Totally gross. I saw a couple of girls plucking off the legs and shoveling them in their mouths. Uhhh Ick!!!!! Highlight of food for the day was ramen noodles for breakfeast and Korean pizza, corn and all, for dinner.
PS- There's no spell check on here, I have to apologize for any mis-spellings.
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Monteen
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Miss you!
Sounds like you're seeing a lot! I miss you and can't wait to hear more!!