Blogs from South Korea, Asia - page 351

I wanted to give the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) tour it's own entry because I felt like it was eventful enough to deserve it. So, from Seoul, we boarded a tour bus in the early morning that would transport us safely to the DMZ and the JSA (Joint Security Area) and back. We shared our bus with a Japanese tour group-- which was interesting because first the Japanese translator would explain things in Japanese, and then our English translator would explain things in English. Thus, essentially we got the tour twice-- if only I knew Japanese. First of all, there were dress restrictions. No open-back shoes, flip flops, etc.-- in case something happened and we had to run. Oddly, they allowed heels and other dress shoes. I think they should've said tennis shoes only, but then again, ... read more

We left for Gyeongju on Friday afternoon (we had an early dismissal of school that day). The whole staff went; not just teaching staff but dorm staff, kitchen staff, cleaning staff, and Korean admin staff. It is a time to build community between the different parts of our school. The school foots the bill for everyone to stay at a really nice hotel for the weekend, eating these massive buffet dinners and even getting some cultural experiences (I’ll talk about those later). Our speaker for the weekend was a guy named Ben Torrie (which I thought was pretty funny, eh Freemans?). He comes from a long line of American missionaries in Korea and China. He spoke on building community (and did this well), but what I found most interesting was his current mission in Korea. He ... read more

The sun sets away to the west as the plane begins its descent into Incheon international airport. Leaving behind the world of marbled warmth, the plane enters the grey carpeted mass, where beneath the clouds, the gloaming paints the grey land in ever drearier colours of gloom filling me with a deep sense of foreboding. At Immigration I take my place in the queue marked ‘Foreigner’, whilst away to my left, a line of muscle bound crew-cutted American GI’s chat excitedly in the queue marked ‘Military Personnel’. I am about to walk into America’s last Cold War toe hold, and a country technically still at war with its brother to the North. Out into the frosty air I am met by two young men, speaking limited English, whose task it is to put me on the ... read more

So after getting up this morning to the lovely sound of loud voices, click-clackety heels and rolling suitcases outside our door for an hour straight, we decided to get up. Neither Erika nor I were in an overly up-and-at-em mood, so we hung out a bit this morning, just relaxing, reading, and getting the strength to go and visit some palaces up close. We knew that one of the palaces had a changing of the guard ceremony around 2ish, so we had some lunch and walked over to that palace. We had just sat down to rest when the ceremony started, a little early. Glad we'd gotten there for the start! The "guards" were in cool costumes (I don't think that they were really guards like I saw in Athens and in London, but more like ... read more

We did a little shopping today. Went to a couple of markets and bought myself a t-shirt and a new pair of glasses. There was nothing wrong with my old glasses, but they're so cheap here (75 000 won = $85?) that it's nice to have some variety. Besides, the new ones have nose pieces which means they slip less easily down my nose when I'm sweaty (which is a common occurrence here -- good thing for antiperspirant!) Not much in the way of souvenirs for other people. Nothing here would mean anything to anyone else if they hadn't seen it for themselves.... So if you're expecting a souvenir, sorry! Unless you want a cell phone dangly thing, not much else is available at good prices. We also went by the Electronics supermart. Digital cameras and ... read more