The Ramblings of Loren Christopher

I’ve been wanting to visit this site for quite a while. I first read about it on the Gangdong-Gu website (Gangdong is the district of Seoul that I live in), and thought that since it’s so close it would be worth checking out. Admittedly the reason I hadn’t gone is because I didn’t think it would be that impressive. I was expecting 4 or 5 old straw houses and a plaque written in Korean that I wouldn’t be able to understand.

After I paid the ridiculous 500 won entrance fee (ridiculous because it may as well be free, that’s like charging someone 10 cents….more hassle than it’s worth) I was given an English brochure about the area. I walked in and realized it was much bigger than I had assumed. Sure enough there were the straw houses, huts, settlements, whatever you wish to call them.

You know these people lived here over 6,000 years ago? They discovered ancient artifacts after some big flood in the city in 1925, and have since excavated other pots and weaponry from the site. It is pretty cool actually to walk around there and imagine that SOOO long ago there were people in my neighborhood hunting and fishing and making settlements.

They have an exhibition hall where you can view the real artifacts that they uncovered such as combed pottery, weapons, tools, etc. I was surprised by the amount of English they had. And of course, as with many exhibitions and museums in Korea, they had the creepy mannequins that are build to re-enact scenes of a family sitting around a fire, or kids pulling in a net of fish from the Han River. These mannequins really freak me out for some reason, I’d much rather leave it to my imagination.

The good thing about this place is that it’s not at all crowded. I went today (Saturday) and there were only a few groups of school children on tours, but other than that it was pretty empty. This was nice considering today was beautiful and they actually have a large park where you can just chill out. Some old Korean men were playing the Asian chess game at a picnic table of course.

If you’re living in the area I would definitely suggest checking it out, or if you are interested in Korean history then of course you should see it. Gangdong-gu’s district mascots are actually a cartoon cave-boy (Gangdongmi) and cave-girl (Gangdongei) and you see them on sign posts around the area, haha. There is some big festival every year at the Asma-dong Prehistoric Settlement site, it takes place in October although I can’t tell you much more about it now….I’ll have to ask my students and co-workers.

My friend from university has been in town this week (another visitor, I swear I had no idea so many people would come visit me in Seoul…had six so far).  Unfortunately we didn’t get much time to hang out since she only had a few days and was seeing a couple other people as well.

Today we went to ChangGyeong Palace.  Out of all the palaces in Seoul and Korea, this one is by far my favorite one.  I had only been during winter months when the trees were dead, so this was my first time seeing it in its new spring glory.  The reason this palace is so great is because there IS so much greenery everywhere you look.

Small pathways take you from one various chamber to another, you’re surrounded by trees and flowers the whole time….the lilacs were blooming and they smelled so nice.  I can imagine it would be beautiful in the fall too when all the leaves are changing colors.  The first time I visited ChangGyeongGung we did an English tour, which I would definitely recommend.  It IS interesting learning about how these people lived, and how many of the customs carried over into present-day Korea.

For example, when you look inside even the living quarters, you notice that there is no furniture.  Koreans never used chairs or beds, they sat on the floor, ate on the floor, slept on the floor.  This is why it’s customary to take your shoes off at the door in so many Asian countries (who wants to eat off the same place where you walk around on your shoes?  you wouldn’t want someone walking on your dinner table in their sneakers right?).

Also, they had ondol floor heating even back in the 14th Century, you notice that all the palace buildings are raised to provide room for heating equipment underneath.  This is something that still exists today in Korea and is quite common–floor heating.  I have it in my apartment and it’s so convenient.  My feet never get cold, and in the winter is works so well in heating my whole place.

So, on this bright sunny day, a stroll around the palace was just more than perfect.  I’ll admit, palaces are a bit like cathedrals in the sense that they get old after a while.  Once you’ve seen a few, you begin to feel like you’ve seen them all.  This one though, has such a pleasant layout with nature that I thoroughly enjoy it each time I visit.

We were nearing the end of our walk when we spotted a group of Koreans dressed up in traditional Korean clothing.  Then, we saw more groups of them all marching in the same direction…such ornate clothing and each group wore a different color, bright reds, green, blue.  The colors represent the rankings and positions (i.e. the noble court, scribes, warriors, etc).  We were blown away by how many of them there were, obviously they were getting ready to perform some sort of ceremony, so we followed them into the main palace court.

Sure enough, they perform the customary “receiving of the king and his son” (at least that’s what it seemed like they were doing).  Quite an odd feeling watching the king being carried in on the throne while they were playing traditional music.  I felt like I had stepped back in time quite a few hundred years until I glanced over to the right above the rooftop and noticed a modern apartment building.

We definitely lucked out to see this type of ceremony.  I’m not sure what was special about today and why they were doing it…but it was VERY cool to see.  They have a “changing of the guards” ceremony twice a day at Gyeongbok Palace and I always thought that was pretty cool, but this put that to shame.  And, can I just say again how glad I am that spring is finally here again!?

Originally, a few friends and I had planned on heading down to Icheon for a day of pottery-making on Saturday.  As the week drew to a close, and the more we researched it, we decided to post-pone it a bit and just have a fun weekend in Seoul instead.

Now, I don’t know if I’ve written about the woes of shopping as a taller man of Western size here in Korea, but there are woes my friends.  Korea is a fashion-forward place, the people are an image-obsessed society and you find cool trendy fashion around almost every corner, and cheap too.

My excitement quickly turned to disappointment after trying on jackets where the sleeves went down just above my wrists, shirts that cut off just below my belly button, pants that stopped around my ankles, etc.  It’s not THAT drastic….but being almost 6′3″ (189 cm), I notice it.  There’s no point in buying clothing even if it’s slightly too small, because I won’t feel comfortable in it.  Shoes are entirely the same story.

Soooo, long story short, I bought lots of stuff when I went back to the states for Christmas.  This weekend though, we went to Myeongdong to check out the new Forever 21 store.  It’s an American company and I’d heard great things about their men’s clothing, so I was hoping for Western sizes and Korean prices.

It was….awesome.  I picked up a few things, all of which fit perfectly and are stylish.  Will be going back on a weekday this week when the crowds are more manageable.

So we just walked around Myeongdong and Namdaemun a bit….enjoyed the crowds and shopping.  Then we were headed off to Hongdae to meet up with some other friends.  Hongdae is one my favorite places to go out in Seoul.  The nightlife is great and it’s located right next to a couple big Universities so there are a lot of trendy younger people there.

I’ve posted a little about this area before, but it just bears repeating that Hongdae is FUN.  So many different people, scenes, things to do, etc.  We went to a couple different bars, saw a couple bands play live music, ate some delicious (albeit VERY spicy) tteokbokki on the street, and at some point in the morning we called it a night.

When I lived in Prague for a year, I used to have recurring dreams in which I would simply walk into a Cracker Barrel restaurant, the waitress would come up and I would order anywhere from 10-15 different American breakfast food items.  I would always wake up from shock when they were brought to the table.  Never did I actually get to eat them in my dreams.  Well luckily, Seoul is a much more modern and globalized city than Prague….there’s no sense in dreaming about ecstasy when it lies just a subway ride away.

I had heard about the restaurant “Butterfinger Pancakes” before, but only first ate there a couple weeks ago when my friend Houston suggested it.  They only have two locations in Seoul, (Apgujeong and Gangnam) and the newest location is most convenient for me to get to….so I was excited.

Sidenote for those living in Seoul, you can find the Gangnam location if you leave Gangnam station exit 6, turn left after the first block (I believe it’s the corner with The Body Shop on it…..walk down a little ways and you’ll see it on the left.  If you pass the Bennigan’s then you’ve gone too far!)

Well, where do I begin really?  When you have a craving for home cooking of the sorts (American breakfast being one of my favorites) and you’re in a foreign country it can be hard to find the real deal….done right, for a moderate price.  There are quite a few places to get American breakfast in this city, but they’re either not that great, or ridiculously expensive.  Butterfinger Pancakes has everything that you could want and more.  A wide variety of pancakes like chocolate chip, banana, even mozzarella and cream cheese (sounds gross I know, but they are incredible)….there are waffles, omelets, hash browns, fresh oven-baked biscuits, bacon, eggs, even pigs in a blanket.

The reason I feel this place deserves a blog entry is because the quality was superb, among the best pancakes I’ve ever had….even compared to back in the states.  And the prices were reasonable too (10,000 won for a full breakfast combo).  Thank you Houston, for taking me here to see what all the fuss was about!  What could I possibly miss from the states now other than friends and family?

I had a fantastic New Year’s downtown in Jongro with friends….I took some video with my new camcorder I got for Christmas:

 
Hope you all had a good one.  New Year’s resolution #1 for Loren = keeping his blog updated more often, haha!

Today was rainy and dreary, providing me with the perfect atmosphere to go visit the Korean War Museum.  This had been on my list of things to go see for a while now, since I think it can really help put the Korean culture and people into perspective.  Too often I overlook the fact that this country was torn apart by war less than 60 years ago.  Walking around the streets in Seoul, you’d never know it.

The museum’s name is a bit misleading, as it’s not just an exhibition of the Korean War, rather it includes the entire history of the Korean military.  There is plenty of information on the war though.  I will save you a detailed historical account, whether or not you know much about it depends on how interested you are in it….but if you’d like to learn more you can check out this site.

It is fascinating though, how these two countries (North and South Korea) came to be as they are today based on different ideologies and a proxy war that ripped apart a people that were once united, albeit under Japanese rule.  It is in fact sad, but comprehendable, and I couldn’t help wondering whether or not the world really learned anything from the tragedies that took place here.  This blog, however, is not a political one, and although as an International Relations graduate I would love to write more on this….I will try to spare my readers the rant.

Nearly 3,000,000 people were killed as a result of the war, which is just an astounding number really. Almost 600,000 South Korean soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war….and there are huge hallways lining the outside of the museum where you can read all of their names (in Hangul of course).

I would probably rate the museum itself as “above average”.  There are a lot of miniature war scenes scattered throughout the place, and plenty of weaponry from the times throughout history.  I couldn’t help but feel that it lacked a certain emotional ‘pull and tug’ that so many other war museum I’ve visited have.  On the other hand I was a little tired and didn’t take my time to see everything in detail.  I did enjoy all of the old uniforms that the Korean military wore hundreds of years ago.  And they had shields and belts dating VERY far back into history.  As an American it’s always impressive to me when a country has a history that goes back so far.

Walking around the museum I was reminded of this Korean man I met a couple months ago.  It was the most random thing, I was sitting in a park during one of my breaks from work, right here in my neighborhood, and this old Korean man came up to me and started speaking to me in English.  I was impressed to say the least, but once we got the conversation going it was really exciting.  He had been in the military for 35 years he told me, he joined in 1950 at the start of the Korean War.

What an amazing (and random) opportunity is was to talk to this man.  So we just sat there in the park, for probably half an hour, discussing the war and politics of his country.  He spoke frankly about the war it seemed, or at least I was surprised by his frankness since he was in fact a Korean.  I could tell he felt serious contempt for the North, and the only story he shared with me (I didn’t push him too hard) was that he can still remember the US army dropping napalm to light up their targets at night before they wiped them out.  Soon though, he had changed the subject to his travels (to over 40 countries he said, I may not have believed all this if his English hadn’t been so good…it’s rare to meet an old Korean person who speaks English so well), and before I knew it I had to say goodbye and go back to work.

It makes you understand this country more though, if you take some time to learn about its history and the people.  Things have by far not been easy for Korea….I tend to look at this country sometimes as “the Poland of Asia”–geographically unfortunate, but a strong culture nonetheless.  It’s just a shame that it remains divided still, but that’s not for this blog entry.

So to conclude, if you’re in Seoul on vacation, you may want to skip the Korean War Museum depending on how much time you have….rent a documentary about it instead.  If you’re living in Korea though as a teacher, it’s definitly something you should check out during your time here.  It would be a shame to live here and then leave without getting a chance to see this place.  Don’t worry about getting bored because there is plenty to see for just 3,000 won….and if you’re a foreigner, as with most touristy places in this country, you’ll be humored a few times by the groups of Korean kids saying hello, and maybe even a group of attractive girls (as pictured here) who told me they love me, ha!

This weekend has been nice and relaxing…..no trips out of town, just hanging out in Seoul with friends, catching up on some work and reading.  There has also been a lot of smog in the city lately I’ve noticed, more than usual at least.  Anyway, Seoul is a city where you can find lots of random things to do to suit whatever mood you happen to be in on that given day.  That’s one of the things I like about this city so much is that you can never really get bored….and I suppose if you do then you only have yourself to blame for it.

One such strange and interesting excursion (that I’d been wanting to try for quite a while now) is a visit to Dr. Fish.  This isn’t a real doctor, it’s a nice little cafe with books and a cozy interior, but they also have a foot spa area.  The fun thing to do at Dr. Fish is to actually have your feet eaten by a big group of a special kind of fish.

You go in and take off your shoes and socks, wash your feet off, and then plop them into one of these tiny pools filled with hungry little fishies just waiting to bite off all the dead skin from your feet!  We went to the one in Gangnam (it’s right across the street from CGV) and everyone was really nice.  We were ushered around instantly by this Korean guy who works there.  After we had something to drink, we went over and washed our feet and he asks us, “Which fish would you like?” (pointing to two of these little pools)  ”Big fish, or small fish?”

Now we are all of the spirit that if you’re going to try something new, you may as well dive right into it, so we chose the “big” fish….which, to be fair, weren’t really TOO big, just bigger than the other minnow-sized ones.  Nothing could have prepared me for the bizarre feeling that I was about to endure.  Immediately after I stuck my feet in, the fish came swarming up to me and attacking, so I jerked them out of the water.  These things take time to get used to.  I had to dip my feet in for a few seconds at a time and then pull them out.  Gradually I got more and more used to the feeling of all these sandpaper-like mouths chomping away at my dead skin, that I was able to relax a bit.

Conversation was difficult though, as I would randomly interject my sentences with a loud “WOOAH!!”  or an “EEEK!”  I must have looked like I was having seizures because my body would jerk into different directions periodically.  Especially when they got up under my toes, that really sent me into convulsions!  For twenty minutes though, and at just 2,000 won ($2), it was an experience that was well worth it.  And my feet do feel really soft now thanks to all the “food” I gave those little guys!  I will definitely go back sometime.

We headed down the street to Dos Tacos for some Mexican food and margaritas, a nice way to relax after Dr. Fish.  Then we headed over to a board game cafe.  They have these randomly throughout the city and I think it’s such a fun idea.  You go in, and they’re set up like little coffee shops.  After you order something to drink and look at the “game menu”, you just order whichever board game you’d all like to play and they bring it to your table.  We ended up playing Clue: the Simpsons version and had a lot of fun.  I hadn’t played Clue since I was little, and even then I only played a couple times I think….so we were all a bit “clueless” (har har har) as to what the rules were, but we quickly got the hang of it.

Gangnam is a really fun area of Seoul….it’s one of the biggest areas actually and the one where most Koreans want to live.  So there are lots of things to do there as you could imagine.  Unfortunately like I said it has been really smoggy lately, so I didn’t take any pictures of the street because you wouldn’t be able to see a whole lot.  I frequent Gangnam though so I’ll be sure to post some another time.  For now though, I need to do a little more work and get to bed.

I woke up earlier than usual this morning and decided to head over to the Gyeongbok Palace and take some pictures.  I hadn’t been there since Aubrey’s visit in March when all the trees were still dead, so it was nice to go back and see what little greenery is still left this time of year.  It’s about a 45-minute subway ride for me, but I only have to make one transfer and it’s pretty much a straight shot, so not too bad.

Now for your little history lesson of the day.  This is the biggest palace in South Korea (I believe), or at least it’s the biggest one in Seoul.  You can get lost just wondering around this place as it goes back quite a ways and there are dividers everywhere that lead to other sections of the palace grounds.  It was built in 1395, but unfortunately, like so many of the palaces here in Korea, it was destroyed by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea.

Fortunately enough, the city of Seoul renovated it in the 1990’s and brought this monument back to its original splendor.  This is fantastic of course, but almost all of the palaces in this country were renovated in the late 1900’s….which means they all look very very similar.  Impressive, but similar.  Anyway, this was the largest palace of the Joseon Dynasty, which ran all the way up until the early 1900’s.  It included the Great King Sejong who is on most of the Korean currency.  King Sejong was an amazing literary, mathematician, and scientist who invented the Korean writing system used today called Hangul.  I’m grateful for his contribution because it makes learning the language so much easier compared to other Asian scripts.

While wandering around this place it’s fun to imagine what it must have been like hundreds of years ago.  People walking around in their hanboks, scribes and scholars studying Confucianism hoping to pass the state tests (not a far cry from the test-run system still in place today actually, haha).  

Like I said, I was there bright and early this morning so it was nice to walk around and take pictures without having to worry about catching other people in them.  Soon though, it got a bit more crowded with kids and high schoolers visiting for class field trips.  The kids are always so cute when they see a foreigner and they’re in groups.  Eighty percent of the time they will shout “hello” or something.  I did get bombarded by a group of high school girls also, telling me “You are so handsome!”  I’ve heard that many times here, although I try not to let it go to my head because I’ve heard it’s a very common remark toward Westerners.  It’s still nice though, haha.  And I love the look on their faces when I say “kamsa-hamnida” (thank you).

I was leaving the front gate just before the changing of the guards ceremony took place, so I got to take some photos of that as well.  Their outfits are fairly unusual….heck, perhaps even comical.  The giant swords they stand with on the other hand, are no laughing matter.  There is one guard who bangs on a giant drum to signal movements for the guards, and also a smaller group of men playing instruments.  You might call them the “royal band”?  Not sure.

It’s a pretty neat show to watch.  After they’re finished everybody runs up to get a picture standing beside one of these guys as they stare blankly forward.  Koreans are typically very camera-shy, but the guards here just have to get over it I guess because people are snapping away (myself included).  I’ll have to go back in the winter when it snows.  I’d love to get some pictures with snow on the palace rooftops!

Admission into Gyeongbokgung is only 3,000 won (about $2.50), and they do offer audio tours or live tours which I haven’t done here yet.  I did at another palace in the city and I’m guessing it’s more of the same.  All in all, this is a nice place to visit for sure.  It’s the biggest palace in Seoul (possibly in Korea) so if you go to one, then this is the one to check out.  It’s nice because there are mountains in the background also, which unfortunately I could barely see today because of the fog, but they are there!

Molly and I went on a little picnic at Yeouinaru this past Sunday.  It’s an area by the river with lots of grass where people hang out and relax.  It was featured in my “Springtime in Seoul” video actually in the beginning, although it was MUCH less crowded when we went this past weekend.  Still though, there were people hanging out and enjoying themselves as usual.

Molly is a fun person to hang out with and we have a lot in common, one of which is our devout love of Korean food.  So we had an appropriate lunch of kimchi ramen (ramen is really big here, and delicious), kimbab (the Korean version of sushi), and kimchi.  I could eat this food for the rest of my life and be a happy camper, haha.  There is much to do along the Han River in Seoul…you can paddleboat, fly kites, jet ski, innertube, take a cruise on one of the river boats (something I really should do before it gets to cold!) or just bike along the river.

This is where they host the Hi Seoul! festivals which they have quarterly each year.  There are lots of events at these things like open-air concerts, strange competitions, shows, you name it.  I’ve always meant to make it to one of these things, but it just hasn’t happened yet.  Yeouinaru is pretty far from me also, so that doesn’t help with the motivation in heading over there.  Plus I can see another point of the river if I travel about 10 minutes away from where I live, and there are other parks on my side of town as well.

We were a little tired though and content with just walking around.  We ventured along the Han and then happened upon the National Assembly Building which we’d never seen before, so we explored a bit of where the government resides.  It had a very Washington DC feel to it, but in a creepy way because it was Sunday and hardly anyone was walking around there.

All-in-all a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon, for sure.

I had the wonderful privilege last week of hosting one of my best friends in his visit to Seoul.  His name is Jesse (on the left in the picture), and we used to be coworkers and roommates back in the days when I lived in Orlando.  His good friend Colin works for AirCanada and received free tickets direct to Seoul, so he decided to bring Jesse along and visit me here.  Colin is a really nice guy and I’d met him a couple times before.

To be honest (and I don’t think he’d mind me saying it), Jesse was a little apprehensive about coming.  He had the usual concerns about people staring, not being able to find his way around, what there is to eat here, etc.  So I was very glad to show him what Korea is really like and how it’s not actually some scary or strange place where he will feel like an outsider, haha.

It’s a little difficult to sum up their trip here, because they really did a lot of stuff.  I think the highlight would be visiting the noraebangs here.  Noraebang literally translates to “singing room”, and I’m sure those of you who are familiar with the movie “Lost in Translation” have heard of them before.  They are everywhere in Korea.  You go in and are escorted to your own private room where you can order drink and food to be brought up in a cart.  Then you and your friends proceed to have your own karaoke show.

I took them to a nicer one where the walls and furniture is all a tacky Barbie Doll them, and we had a window room where we could dance and sing while people walking around on the streets below could watch us, haha.  As foreigners, there were a few moments when we had a crowd of smiling onlookers down below.

Our room actually had a loft that you could climb up by a ladder and chill up there if you wanted.  It proved to be the ideal spot for Colin and Sandra to pass out near the end of the evening, haha.  One of the first things we all said the next morning was how much FUN we had at the noraebang the night before!

Well, they enjoyed the palace, went shopping in the fashion district of Dongdaemun, went to the big touristy markets in Insadong, all of which probably wouldn’t mean much to you unless you’re familiar with Seoul.  One of my favorite things we all did together was head up to the Seoul Tower at night and have dinner at an Italian restaurant on the top.  I had been up the tower before, but only during the day.  It proved to be much more spectacular at night as you can view the sea of lights below you that go back miles and miles until they reach the mountains.  It was a full moon and couldn’t have been more perfect.

Playing host to these guys was really enjoyable, as it was when Aubrey came to visit me in March.  The more I get to know this city and country, the more I fall in love with it and want to share that passion with other people.  I know they both left Seoul wishing they had more time to spend here, and they mentioned quite a few times how badly they want to come back.  Mission accomplished, haha.  I wonder who my next visitor will be?  Hmmmm….