Since the last time we posted, our weekends have been really busy! We've been out and about even more than usual.
Last weekend we took the subway to a big annual festival that is held in Korea. This festival celebrates the birthday of Buddha. Even though we weren't overly concerned about his actual birthday, we still thought it would be interesting to check out this event! Upon arriving we were greeted by a packed street, full of people, tents, and (of course) Buddhist Monks. As well, the streets were lined with paper lanterns, hanging from street poles, electric cables, and rooftops. It was very neat to see, and we even had the chance to make our very own paper lantern.
The crowd was surprisingly made up of almost 50% foreigners, so we felt somewhat at home amongst the English speaking Canadian, American and British people. As evening approached there was a large parade which took place. However it got fairly repetitive after 15 minutes...only so many lanterns you can see before it gets boring haha.
Moving on, we had a fairly standard week at school, except that we got to meet the official owner of our school. Surprisingly he is 25 years old (and only looks about 20), but he is a world famous Korean singer (singing in the unique style of popera). His name is Lim Hyung Joo, and he told us how he wanted to create this school to provide opportunity for children to be able to achieve what he has achieved himself. It was neat to sit down and talk with a celebrity, as he impressed us with stories of fame, such as rubbing elbows with madonna, and various other celebrities. We were particularly impressed when he told us he knows the Korean couple from the TV show Lost (since this is one of our favorite shows). We are supposed to go to dinner with him sometime in the near future, so we are both very excited!
Last weekend we ventured on our first trip outside of the city of Seoul. We hoped on the KTX train, and sped our way ( at 300 KM/h) to the city of Busan. Busan is the second largest city in Korea, with a population of roughly 3 million. We both saw a large difference in the people, places, and culture however. Busan was more casual and laid back, and far less developed than Seoul. The locals liked to stare at us more so than we found in Seoul...likely because they don't see as many foreigners in their areas. However we didn't let this deter us, and we had a fun weekend, even though it rained saturday and sunday!
On Friday we visited a popular beach in an area called Haeundae, and enjoyed a nice sunny day. This was nice, but fairly uneventful. The next day we packed up our bags and skipped over to a different district. Our plan was to take a ferry to a small island just outside the city, where they had a beautiful botanical garden. However to our dissapointment the ferry was fully booked, and we had no choice but to forget about it. We visited a famous fish market named the 'Jaemgachi fish market', where they had rows and rows of live fish, waiting to be scooped out of the tank and thrown into the frying pan. It was another neat experience, despite the pouring rain. All in all we had a really great weekend, even though we didn't get to see everything we had planned.
Now it's time to begin another work week. We truly do live for the weekends here, but I suppose that's everyone's story no matter where you live in the world!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Feeling more like home..
Yes, it's true. This is finally starting to feel like home to us.
After going through over two months of adaption, Seoul is beginning to feel like our home. The security guard at the front no longer gives us dirty looks, but now greets us with a smile everyday! The cashier at the local convenience store recognizes us, and is now always patient when we don't know how much money to give him. Does it get any better than this haha.
Although we are still shy to go out to authentic Korean restaurants, we think that soon we will be brave enough to get it a shot. If all else fails, we'll just point at the menu until they bring us something (even though we may not like it).
Today we visited the DMZ (de-militarized zone). This is the area between North and South Korea which is set up to keep the two countries separated. It was very interesting to see this. The area was heavily guarded with troops, high barb-wire fences, and look out points. The most interesting portion of the trip was when we had the chance to venture through a tunnel which had been dug by North Korea. The tunnel stretched from North Korea, through to South Korea. It had been set up for the North to spring a surprise attack on the South. This was only one of 4 tunnels which are discovered. They believe that there are many other tunnels still undiscovered to this day. It's kinda scary, especially when they told us that the tunnels could transport 30 000 troops per hour to infiltrate into Seoul. We also had the chance to look into North Korea from an observatory. However, the troops there were very insistant that we did not take any photos. Anyone caught taking pictures was immediately stopped, and the soldiers forced them to delete the photos taken.
Last weekend we went for a big hike at Namsang park. It was only a short subway ride for us, but the hike was certainly not short. We both felt a little out of shape by the end of the haul, as we were sweating and tired. However it was worthwhile to make it to the top, as we got to look out over all of Seoul. The view was incredible, and we could see how big the city truly is. There is also a special area at the top of the hill, where a large chain link fence stands. On this fence were thousands and thousands of locks which people had attached. The idea is that couples will go here, lock two matching locks onto the fence, then throw the keys over the fence, forever leaving their locks intact to show their love for each other. Cute cute, we know.
We haven't done much else new lately, we've found a few spots we like to visit, so we spend our time at these places. Can't go out adventuring every weekend!
After going through over two months of adaption, Seoul is beginning to feel like our home. The security guard at the front no longer gives us dirty looks, but now greets us with a smile everyday! The cashier at the local convenience store recognizes us, and is now always patient when we don't know how much money to give him. Does it get any better than this haha.
Although we are still shy to go out to authentic Korean restaurants, we think that soon we will be brave enough to get it a shot. If all else fails, we'll just point at the menu until they bring us something (even though we may not like it).
Today we visited the DMZ (de-militarized zone). This is the area between North and South Korea which is set up to keep the two countries separated. It was very interesting to see this. The area was heavily guarded with troops, high barb-wire fences, and look out points. The most interesting portion of the trip was when we had the chance to venture through a tunnel which had been dug by North Korea. The tunnel stretched from North Korea, through to South Korea. It had been set up for the North to spring a surprise attack on the South. This was only one of 4 tunnels which are discovered. They believe that there are many other tunnels still undiscovered to this day. It's kinda scary, especially when they told us that the tunnels could transport 30 000 troops per hour to infiltrate into Seoul. We also had the chance to look into North Korea from an observatory. However, the troops there were very insistant that we did not take any photos. Anyone caught taking pictures was immediately stopped, and the soldiers forced them to delete the photos taken.
Last weekend we went for a big hike at Namsang park. It was only a short subway ride for us, but the hike was certainly not short. We both felt a little out of shape by the end of the haul, as we were sweating and tired. However it was worthwhile to make it to the top, as we got to look out over all of Seoul. The view was incredible, and we could see how big the city truly is. There is also a special area at the top of the hill, where a large chain link fence stands. On this fence were thousands and thousands of locks which people had attached. The idea is that couples will go here, lock two matching locks onto the fence, then throw the keys over the fence, forever leaving their locks intact to show their love for each other. Cute cute, we know.
We haven't done much else new lately, we've found a few spots we like to visit, so we spend our time at these places. Can't go out adventuring every weekend!
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