Week 9 - Two Months!!

This week marked my 2 month anniversary here in Korea. I've learned quite a bit in just two months about Korean culture; from it's history to its customs to its language. It's been fun and challenging adapting to a culture that is so different than my own.

Korean class is going well. I'm learning a lot, but now I just need to really practice.

This weekend I went on a couple MeetUps. It's set up through www.meetup.com, a social networking site where people make groups by interests and location. I joined the Seoul Travel and Culture group and Seoul Village, a Spanish speaking group. The first group is actually well organized. The leader sets up tours throughout South Korea. They go on many trips which include things like hiking, biking, sightseeing, temple stays, etc. This Saturday I met up with them for a walking tour of some palaces and a prison.

We started off by going to the Jongmyo Shrine. Jongmyo is a Confucian shrine built in 1394 and was dedicated to the memorial services for the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Joseon Dynasty. After that we visited Changgyeong Gung Palace and Chang Duk Gung Palace. Call me ignorant if you must, but I feel like after seeing one palace, you have seen them all. They all have their own special history and meaning... but the architecture seems to be very similar. After the palaces we took a short taxi ride over to the Seodaemun Prison. It was constructed beginning in 1907 while Korea was considered a protectorate of Japan.

The prison was used during the Japanese rule of Korea to house anti-colonial activists, and could accommodate around 500 people. After the Japanese occupation ended in 1945, the prison was used by the South Korean government until 1987, when it was replaced by a facility in Uiwang City, Gyeonggi Province. In 1992, the site was dedicated as the Seodaemun Prison History Hall, part of Independence Park. Seven of the prison complex's original fifteen buildings are preserved as historical monuments.

During this MeetUp I randomly ran into Ms. Purcell, a former staff member of Tracyton Elementary... my elementary school. What are the odds of finding someone from Bremerton in the chaos of created by the 12,000,000 people of Seoul? It was pretty crazy! The MeetUp ran from 9am until 4pm. I tried getting home as fast as possible in order to take a little nap before meeting up with the Seoul Village group at 6pm. Walking around Seoul for so long really takes it out of you. But it's fun and you do learn a lot.

The Seoul Village group is a bunch of English teachers and Korean who are trying to improve their Spanish speaking skills. There were about 20 people or so at the MeetUp. We all conversed in Spanish for about 3 hours. Met a lot of west coast people. Also made plans to go find legit Mexican food in Seoul... apparently there is an actual taqueria nearby!! We also made plans to go salsa dancing. Oh man, I'm starting to really like Seoul! This group is led by a Korean guy who grew up in Chile. He speaks Korean, English, and Spanish perfectly well. His accent is tight. His buddy, another Korean guy, lived in Mexico City for many years. He speaks with a Mexican accent. It's almost weird hearing them speak perfect Spanish with the accent from the region they were in, but having Korean features. This group meets monthly, but everyone decided they'd want to get together more often!

Later that night I went for a drink at a Jazz bar in Sillim, a nearby neighborhood. There was a Korea girl singing English songs while playing the piano. She was sooo good, but didn't want us taking pictures of her. My Jack n Coke was $10 though... and I swear, every time I get a cocktail it tastes like it's been watered down... with water!

On Sunday Evan and I and his friend, Alex, went to Yongsan Electronics market. I've been wanting to go here for a long time. I've heard so many stories of how it's an electronics heaven. Walking around, asking from booth to booth the price of things, I noticed that there really isn't any good deals at this huge market. I've been wanting to get a 5th Gen iPod nano 16GB. In the states it's $176. The cheapest I've found it here is at $250. Not quite a good deal.

We headed over to the War Museum of Korea which is also in Yongsan. This is probably the best museum I've ever been to! First of all, it was FREE99 and oh man, I love FREEE!! The place is huge with various displays of the various wars in which Korea was involved. The museum houses six exhibition rooms displaying over 13,000 items under different themes, including an outside exhibition area consisting of numerous military equipment. The outside exhibition area was by far my favorite. I felt like a little kid playing around and just being in awe by all the airplanes, helicopters, and tanks! This is definitely a great place to hit up on a sunny weekend!

From Yongsan we walked over to Itaewon in efforts to find a cellphone... there was a shop with an Indian guy who I think was trying to scam me. I did not like his offer at all so I ditched the area. We must have walked about 10 miles today.. er at least it felt like it. After walking through Itaewon we headed over to Dongdaemun... this are was very cool. Finally found a legit deal for a phone. Almost toooo good to be true. I walked in and out of the store with a free phone, 1 year contract, no deposit, and ony $13/month in less than 10 minutes. After being outside the store for 2 minutes, I ran back in to get a copy of my contract. Like I said, it just seems too good to be true. After walking around Dongdaemun we headed towards Myeongdong by following this awesome artificial stream that runs east to west in a straight line through Seoul. "Myeongdong is one of Seoul's main shopping districts featuring mid- to high-price retail stores and international brand outlets. It is a particularly popular area for young people as a center for fashion and nightlife. Myeongdong is the ninth most expensive shopping street in the world in terms of floorspace rents."

Definitely another great weekend in Seoul!