Home, Sweet Korea Home

We spent the month of December with family back in the States. It consisted, on my part, of binge shopping and restaurant hopping. I was able to buy some things I cannot find in Korea and some things that companies won't ship over, but mostly I indulged in the typical American tradition of over consumption and over sleeping!

After living in Korea for the last 2 and 1/2 years, my perspective of the States is obviously different than it was. I'll just throw out some random observations. If you don't like criticism, you might want to skip the rest of this post. You've been warned.

1. Wow, Americans really are fat (and statistics back me up). I'm truly sorry if this offends you, but it was honestly one of the first thoughts that came in my head when I walked into a store. It's not just that one person here and there was big, but so many people are. And no, it's not that Asian people are just smaller. They're actually not. What they are is healthier. They walk more and eat less. They don't get oversized portions for their oversized stomachs and then complain that they have to walk an extra 10 feet to their oversized vehicle because they couldn't find a spot close to the door. Like I said, I am really sorry if your feelings are hurt by this, but maybe you could learn something from the Koreans.

2. Service in America is appalling. I don't even think it can be called service. If you can't even look at me when you are speaking, yes, I consider you rude and I'm probably going to point it out. When you go in a store here in Korea, they are johnny-on-the-spot to find out what you need. Sometimes the hovering is irritating, but it shows they are attentive to your requests. We've even had people walk to another store for us while we waited to get us what we were looking for. Restaurant service in Korea is different from the States; here they don't come unless you call either verbally or by pushing the bell on the table. But when you do call, they are prompt and seem genuinely happy to serve you, not irritated by your request for them to perform the duties you are paying them to do anyway.

3. Dress appropriately fellow Americans! (And I'm not just talking about decency here, although I am sick of seeing your muffin tops and cellulite thighs. It's one thing to have them, it's another to flaunt them.) I'm mainly referring to people who think sweatpants/pajama pants are acceptable daywear. Unless you inhabit a nursing home, they are not. Real pants are a must if you don't want people to think you're low class. Also, no slippers. I don't care what the sole is made of, they are house shoes only. Once again, if you want to be treated with some respect, dress like you are worth it. As for spandex, save it for the gym, and even then, you might want to think twice.

4. I am really glad to be out of country for this election cycle. Other than the general lack of statesmanship or just plain manners among politicians, I will be happy forgo the sea of signs, unimaginative radio ads, and those endless horrible tv commercials that point out someone else's flaws while revealing nothing substantial of the candidate.

Despite all that, I still love America. After all, it is MY country.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Flower Market

I've been in Korea for so long now that I often forget how new and exciting everything here seems to those back home. We took a trip to the flower market, which occupies most of the third floor of the express bus terminal. It consists of several looooong rows of all types of flowers. The fragrance of all these flowers is like a slap in the face when you first come through the doors, but you quickly adjust. The vendors watch their wares, you pick out what you like, they wrap them up and you're on your way to try your hand at arranging!

The Christmas decor was out; a dazzling display to say the least!

The stunning lilies I got for about $2.50!

Lantern Festival

This was the second year of Seoul's annual lantern festival. The lanterns are set up on pedestals in Cheonggyecheon stream, which has an interesting story itself. They were set up in the center of the stream for about a mile. There is a nice walking path along both sides of the the stream, and they had it set up so that each side was one way. Having lived in Korea for a while now, I have to say this was a surprisingly efficient endeavor.

The lanterns were beautiful and very finely crafted; I'm pretty sure they were made of rice paper. Of course, most of them had a Korean theme, but there was an international section with mostly Japanese and Chinese displays. They did have the Statue of Liberty and Superman representing for the US though!

This is a display of Namdaemun, literally south great gate, the south gate for ancient Seoul. (Namdaemun is also the name of the market where we went midnight shopping in a previous post because, as you guessed, it is next to Namdaemun gate and has been for centuries.)

Lanterns you could purchase to float downstream. They only went about 100 yards before they had a trap set up to catch them.

Lanterns hanging in the trees. These were my favorite displays!

Walking down the path.

Naminara

The tiny Nami Island was formed by the creation of Cheongpyeong Dam on the Han River and has been built up as a major tourist attraction. A movie and a hugely popular Korean television show, "Winter Sonata", were filmed here, which adds to the attraction for the Korean population. In 2006 it declared itself 'independent', so in order to visit you have to get a 'passport'. This is simply the ticket purchasing process. They are supposed to have their own currency as well, but I didn't see it. The name "Nami" comes from a general from ye olden Joseon times whose presumed grave was on this site.

General Nami's grave.

I recently saw some beautiful pictures of the scenery at Nami Island, and knew I had to go. I've been wanting to go to Nami for some time, and that was definitely the push I needed! Unfortunately, we went a little too late to enjoy all the fall leaves. There were a few still hanging on, but the majority were on the ground. There are several other things to do on Nami, an exhibit of various countries ethnic instruments, a ceramics workshop and artisan viewing center, train ride, and more. We just went to be outside and enjoy nature! It was a nice day and a nice setting to be together as a family.

Arriving at Nami's port. You have to take a ferry boat over to Nami. It takes about 5 minutes or so. OR you can zip-line over, which looked waaaay fun!

 Meta-sequoia path. 

 Gingko path. This is one of the quintessential images of Nami Island.

 Free range ostrich!

Midnight Shopping

I got an invitation to go night shopping at Dongdaemun Market, a bustling market that doesn't even set-up till 11 pm or later where you can buy whatever your heart desires. Who wouldn't want to shop at 1 o'clock in the morning? Well, usually that would be me. However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. It was definitely an experience and I enjoyed it with a great group of ladies! We also saw several young kids with their moms, and even after all this time in Korea, I'm still surprised when I see kids out so late at night. 

Can you tell how sleepy we were? She is modeling a lovely horse purse for sale. This is in what the American community I'm around calls 'purse heaven'. Any thing you could want in any price range is here. Clutches with decorative brass knuckles handle, armored armadillo looking backpacks, and any name brand knock-off you can name. (They seem to be especially fond of Coach.)

Doosan Tower, one of the big western style shopping malls - instead of the traditional market style shopping- is in the background.

Fall

 Fall! A beautiful time of year. I was concerned that living in the big city would prevent me from seeing the leaves change, and for the most part I have missed a lot. (I really miss the Daegu Aroberetum!) However, I made sure to get to some place where I could see more than 2 or 3 trees at a time! We went to Naksan Park, where part of the Seoul Fortress wall stands. It was great weather and we had a nice time just being outside and enjoying the views!

One of the city gates.

 Fortress wall.

This tree was a brilliant red, but the light was not in my favor.

 Gingko trees along the sidewalk near our home.

 These leaves were enormous! I don't have anything in the picture to give a scale comparison. They were about a foot long and about a foot wide, huge!

Seoul's "Amazing Race"

The Seoul tourism desk here on post provided a fun and challenging opportunity this past four day weekend to get out see more of Seoul using 'urban orienteering'. It sounded like a lot of fun to me, so I talked the hubs into it, found a baby-sitter for the kiddos, and off we went! We were provided with a pre-paid transportation card (good for subway, buses, & taxis, though we were not allowed to use taxis for this) and full page photo hints (including a picture of the nearest subway stop) with a direction, azimuth, and distance.

Example of a clue sheet.

It really wasn't that challenging to find the objects, and when in doubt it was very easy to flash the picture around to people and they were very obliging. We didn't win, and that was okay; I didn't intend to. The prizes were various nights stay at the hotel on post, and what would I do with that anyway? I live here! We did have a lot of fun together, and that was what I intended, though I was exhausted by the end of it! 

Getting some directions.

Lunch! I can read something about vegetables and toast.
We just got the stuff on a stick.

One of our objectives; self-portrait.

The guy who took this for us actually took several pictures; he was trying to be artistic I think!

Seoul International Fireworks Festival

There have been numerous fireworks festivals recently around Korea, and I have been unable to go to any of them no matter how much I planned. So when I found out there was going to be one right in my backyard (almost) I was determined to let nothing stop me! There is not much to describe about a fireworks show; I think it's pretty self-explanatory. The show lasted about 80 minutes and involved three teams from Japan, Portugal, and Korea. Here's an excellent video clip with a much better view than we had. One interesting thing to note: some of the fireworks would explode as English letters; I've never seen that before.

Not the greatest picture, I know. I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to spell out.

The picture below does not do justice to the crowd. There had to be over 500,000 people there, if not more. This made exiting the park difficult, to say the least. My husband and I got separated in the crush (literally) and I was swept along by the crowd to places unknown. This was, honestly, a little frightening. Not being able to control or see where you are going is not a good feeling.  However, it all worked out (after about a 3 mile walk!).

The crowd extends behind me and well past the tall building in the center.

A few more pictures to enjoy. 

Smile!

COEX Mall

The COEX in Seoul is a multi-purpose place. It has convention centers and exhibition areas and an underground mall that contains a large movie theater, an aquarium, and a kimchi museum.

I found the mall disappointing. Unless I missed something there was a minimal selection of stores, though restaurants were numerous. We chose not to visit the aquarium today, it being Saturday and highly crowded. We did visit the very small kimchi museum. It was actually quite interesting and I learned there were many more types of kimchi than I could have imagined!

The kimchi making process:

preparing the cabbage

preparing the spices

mixing

storing for fermentation

They also had a tasting room with 8 different kinds of kimchi to sample. I could not bring myself to sample any since I didn't know who had done what and when. Also, I must have something with kimchi; it's not something I can just eat by itself.