Advertisement
Published: January 7th 2010
Happy New Year everyone!! We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and welcomed the new year in style!
A quick word about our Christmas in Korea. There's really not much to say-without our family and friends from home, it just wasn't the same - we even had taekwondo class on Christmas Eve, as if it were just any other day! We had a potluck dinner with all the other foreigners in Yangsan on Christmas Day, then Mike and I spent the weekend in Busan, enjoying the sunshine on the beach (we actually walked along the beach in just t-shirts it was so warm!) and exploring some new (to-us) areas of Busan. We walked down to a new beach, Seongjoeng Beach, along the way picking up some pretty seashells and being partly intrigued, partly disgusted by what appeared to be bones on the beach - pieces of leg bones, half a jaw bone and a vertebrae...too weird! Surprisingly enough there were actually people in the water surfing at this beach! I mean, it was warm out, but not THAT warm! haha!
After a few days back at school to finish on the semester officially (for me) and to
Our hotel room!
2 computers and a colourful mural!run winter camps (for Mike), we headed to the country's capital to ring in the new year the Korean way...with a bang...in more than one way! We got up bright and early (4:30am) in order to arrive in Seoul by 10am so we could get our visas for our trip to Laos from the consulate there. That was a bit of an adventure trying to find the teenie tiny consulate on some obscure back street (BTW, did I mention that Korea doesn't really name it's streets? Ya, makes finding places realllyyyy easy! lol!). We decided a cab would be easier, but when he took us around the block and let us out literally 10 steps from where we got IN the cab, we decided that we were better off finding it on our own! Luckily the woman working at the consulate was super nice and came out onto the road to wave us down! phew! We got our visas without a problem and are now just about set for our trip!
Once in Seoul, we met up with Mara and Drew and went to the electronics market again so Drew could buy a DSLR camera! Much to our surprise,
the salesman who helped us last time we were in Seoul (in October) remembered us, and was so helpful in answering all our questions! Boy, Seoul sure was a different city this time around! Last time we were there, it was a huge national holiday where most people go back to their hometowns, so Seoul was relatively dead. Not so much this time! Subways were packed, streets were bustling and stores were busy! It is so different to experience the city both ways!
New Year's Eve, we decided, was going to be done the Korean way. First we watched this awesome concert on TV, where all the k-pop bands did covers of each others songs (boy bands dressed as girls and girls dressed as boys). Essentially they were making fun of each other, but it was hilarious, and all in good fun! Then we had sam gip sal for dinner, and bundled up for the freezing cold night ahead. Near our hotel was the Jongno Bell, a historically important bell, that gets rung 33 times at midnight of the new year, so this is one of the biggest new year's celebrations in the city. The first thing we noticed
when we arrived at the area, was the ENORMOUS amounts of police officers. There had to have been at least 100 buses the transported police officers to the square. Apparently barricades don't work in Korea, nor does one line of police officers, because they had lines of police 4 (FOUR!) men deep!! It was a sight to see!
Before the countdown to 2010, we saw live performances by a few of Korea's major singers and groups. I can't for the life of me remember any of their names, but we did recognize some of their songs. It definitely helped (especially for Mike) being tall in a sea of Asians, who are typically shorter. Except for the odd other foreigner, we had a decent view of the stage. There was also some high-energy drum performances, which were very traditional. As the clock counted down the last few seconds of 2009, people everywhere on the street started letting off roman candles, and between that, the cheering and the bell ringing, it was an amazing thing to be a part of! Of course, we bought some roman candles for ourselves, because there was no way Mike and Drew were going to let
Mike's beautiful smile
Well, really he was trying to mimick the totem pole dude everyone else have all the fun! So we bought 10, and exchanged one to some guy who lent us his lighter to set the popping mini-fireworks off. Of course, as luck would have it, one of our candles was defective, and pretty much blew up in the guys hand...it just happened t be the one we gave away! What are the odds! haha. Luckily no one was hurt, except for a few tiny burn marks in jackets. The police quickly came over and tried to end our shenanigans, but with hundreds of people letting off these fireworks into the air, it was futile! We started off 2010 in the most Korean way we knew how - in a noraebang! We sang out hearts out for an hour, met some friends at a bar then made it home just in time for Mike and I to see the 24 hour mark of being awake (since we got up so early that morning to get to Seoul!)
Friday was mostly a write-off since we slept til noon, but after an all-american breakfast and the all-american diner, Mike and I scrounged up the energy to go see the Korean War Memorial, which
was amazing! There was all kinds of different displays and re-enactments of all the wars in Korea (and there have been a lot in their past!), but mainly the Korean War and Vietnam War. I thought the best part was the life-size replicas of life during war time - school being taught outside, the with chalkboard hung from a tree, the way refugees hid in the mountains and what war-ravaged cities looked like. Unfortunately, we were so enthralled with the exhibits that our progress was slowed and the museum closed before we could see everything - we will be back!
That evening, in true Canadian fashion, we went to the Rocky Mountain Tavern and watched the Canada vs USA world juniors game! It was great to sit in a bar, drink some beer and watch hockey on TV! And best of all, we won! woohoo! .
Saturday we woke
up to a fresh coating of snow on the ground which turned the city into a beautiful winter wonderland! This was the first time we had snow here, so it was a welcome sight! On the other hand, Koreans, weren't so welcoming to the snow! On the streets, they were 'sweeping' the snow with brooms and we even saw one man using a shovel, but he had the curve facing down! The women were all walking around with umbrellas to keep the snow out of their hair! Mike and I hit up the markets in the morning although most of the booths weren't open, I'm guessing because of the cold cold weather. Later we met Paul, Bertha and Sonia for lunch at an amazing Italian restaurant, did some shopping, then met with Mara and Drew for dinner before going to see Nanta! Nanta is a non-verbal show about cooking the is funny and entertaining, sort of like JUMP! It is the longest running and most popular theatre show in Korea. Everyone who has seen this show raves about how good it is! And that it was! They had amazing chopping and drumming skills and involved the audience a lot!
Sunday we returned to Yangsan, to the warmth of the south (and by warmth, I mean above 0 weather!) and the comfort of our apartment...and by comfort I mean that we slept on the floor all weekend in Mara and Drew's tiny hotel room because we were too slow in booking and no rooms were available, so coming back to a bed, even as hard as ours is, was welcomed!
Well, we likely won't be posting anything for about another month or so, because in just over a week (the 15th) we leave for our winter vacation trip to Cambodia and Laos! We are so excited for a getaway from the cold and to see some new scenery and culture!! We will be gone for 19 days, returning February 2. I'm sure we will have tons of stories and even more pictures, so we will update as soon as possible when we return!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 23; dbt: 0.034s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Heyyy :D
non-member comment
Wow , looks nice
Really looks good experience i think that is. ^^ And someday Come to korea again.