Trav's visit and a DMZ trip

One of my good friends Travis is living with his wife in China...he had mentioned a few times that he'd wanted to make the trip to Korea to see me and to check it out, and finally this last weekend that was a reality. He's been taking some online classes and had a break and so we made plans to hang out for the weekend. He got to Korea last Friday night, and so I went there Saturday morning to meet him. It was really cool to see him again, we were talking and I think it's been over 4 years since I've seen him. We talked about how funny/crazy it was that we were roommates in tiny Rockwell, NC four years ago, and now here we were hanging out in Korea together! HA! Whodathunkit?! So I'd asked him what he wanted to do, and we decided together to go check out the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between South Korea and North Korea. I hadn't been yet, and so we thought that might be an interesting trip. I reserved us a seat on the bus there, it was a little expensive (about 78,000 Won) but I thought it would easily be worth it. We left Seoul around 10:30AM and headed north to the border. They had a nice buffet lunch before we made our way to Camp Bonifas. Before we arrived there, they had two stops where they checked our passports. The camp is technically a UN camp, occupied by about 95% Korean troops and about 5% US troops. They took us into an auditorium and told us some of the history of the DMZ. Of course when the Korean War ended with a signed truce in 1953 (they never technically signed anything to end the war, just a cease fire) the area was established for an area for the two sides to talk when they needed to. The area is actually called the Joint Security Area, and inside the JSA there are several interesting landmarks. There is a conference building, with the middle sitting exactly on the line between North and South Korea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_JSA.jpg (it's just above the Home of Freedom, the little rectangle building). Inside this building is a table that also sits right across the line...when the two Koreas have held meetings, one side will sit on their side of the table, and the other side will sit on their side of the table(in the picture with me leaning on the window sill, you can see the concrete line outside the window...that's the divinding line between the two Koreas). This way they can meet, but still stay in their respective countries. We were able to go into the building (one side has a door into/from North Korea, and the other side has a door into/from South Korea. Of course we entered from the South Korea side, and inside the building we were able to walk into North Korea. So...I can now say I have travelled to North Korea! HA! Inside the building we were able to take pictures, and they had a guard blocking the door so that people couldn't defect into North Korea (as if anyone would want to! HA!) It was a really awesome experience to be there, and think of all the history in that area. After we left the conference room, we drove for about 2 or 3 minutes and stopped and we were able to look out at the closest North Korea village, with the tallest flagpole in the world (160 meters). South Korea had build a flagpole 100 meters tall, and so North Korea built one right after that was taller! Sorry my pics of the village aren't super clear...it was quite a distance, and it was really sunny...and so for some reason my pics of the village aren't very crisp, but you can see the flag and the little town. After that we went to the Bridge of No Return which was an area after the Korean War where prisoners were exchanged. Prisoners could choose if they wanted to remain in the country of their captivity, or cross over to the other country...but once they made a choice they were not allowed to ever return. It's really sad to think of all the Korean families that were destroyed by the Korean War, and to think of all the people who never got to see their relatives again! Anyway...the DMZ was well worth the money and we had a really cool and interesting time (plus, now I can count North Korea as a country I've been to!!!)

I also showed Trav around Seoul and we were able to see a few of the palaces around Seoul. I think he really liked Seoul a lot...I had seen most of the places but I still enjoy going back, even if I've been there before. I think he was happy with the fact that he go to eat Outback food and also hit up Krispy Kreme (in fact, we went there twice on Saturday! HA!) We also went to a baseball game...I had hoped that Doosan would have a home game, but they were on the road. However, Doosan and LG share the same stadium, so LG Twins were playing the Kia Tigers, so we went to the game and had a great time. One of the better games I've seen in a while, with Kia winning with a 9th inning rally.

I didn't post too much info about the DMZ and the Korean War etc....I know sometimes my blogs turn into history lessons, but if you're interested more about the area feel free to check out some stuff online, or just shoot me an e-mail with any questions or whatever. It really is interesting, but I hate boring people! HA!

Anyway...it was a really cool time, and it was nice to see an old buddy!

Lee's wedding

I had never been to a Korean wedding and was very curious how things might be similar and how they might be different. So, this past Saturday my friend Lee got married and I finally got to attend a wedding here and see what it was all about. Funny story...I knew that Lee was dating his (now wife) girlfriend all the way back in August, when we first met. For whatever reason they kept it a secret from all of their church friends (Dana, my director and friend goes to church with him and introduced me to him last summer) but he told me they had been dating. He asked me not to tell, and so of course I didn't. The rest of their friends didn't even know they were dating until maybe February or March. So Dana told me that Lee had a girlfriend, and I told her "I know, I knew back in August" HAHA! Anyway, Lee's a cool guy, speaks English very well and lived in LA for about 6 months.

So, Saturday was the big day for him. I met with Dana at their church and rode the church van down with about 12 other people. I had met one or two of them just going out to eat before with Dana, and just hanging out and what not. It was funny, Dana and I talked almost the whole way there (it was about a 45 minute ride) and most of the other people were just quiet. At one point I said to Dana "Man, we must really like to talk!" HA! It was like I finally noticed how much we had been talking and how quiet it was. So...we got to the wedding hall at around 12:15 and the wedding was at 1 PM. One thing I'll give Koreans and weddings...they are very efficient. At the wedding hall (it was about 4 or 5 stories tall) there is a wedding chapel, a beauty salon, a coffee shop, and a restaurant all together...makes pretty good sense, right? I also found out that a lot of Korean girls just use a wedding dress from the wedding hall...Lee told me that his wife Sami took about 15 minutes to pick out her dress! Amazing! And so much smarter than spending $1000-2000 on something you'll wear once and then store away in a closet for 70 years. So...we met Sami first and took some pictures with her. She looked really pretty...she usually doesn't wear makeup so she looked a little different than I had seen her before. Lee looked very excited when I met him and we chatted for a few minutes. Dana told me that usually they are only allowed 30 minutes (yes, 30 minutes) for their wedding ceremony, and then there is another couple that comes in right behind them. Saturday however, Lee and Sami were the only two getting married so they had as much time as they wanted. Dana likened it unto a factory...which I'd have to say I agree. 30 minutes...I mean, I can just imagine if one's preacher is telling you all the do's and don'ts of being married and then the coordinator comes in and says "ummmm, we need to wrap this up! We have another couple coming in!" HAHA! So, anyway, the place looked really pretty. The ceremony itself was actually about the same as western weddings, and after their preacher talked to them Lee played Sami a song on his saxaphone. I thought that was really cool and they both looked really happy. So after their wedding, it's custom for the bride and groom to go off, and dress in 한복 "hanbok" (traditional Korean clothing) and have a short meeting with the groom's parents, where they talk and make promises I guess, and then the parents throw food into a cloth and wish them well. Lee asked me if I wanted to see that and of course I said yes. They got all dressed and I thought it was so funny...Lee said that was the first time that he had ever worn hanbok, so he needed help getting dressed! I just assumed all Koreans wore it on special occasions, but he and Sami both said it was the first time they had ever worn it. I thought that was pretty cool and more interesting to me than the actual wedding since it was about the same as in the States.

So after all of that, the guests can go upstairs and they have a big restuarant and people can line up and eat. The food was really good...most of it traditional Korean food, and then some other types of food as well. There was one very intersting dish I did try. My friend Kevin (well, that's his English name) told me I should try some 소꼬리 (so kko ri) or cow's tail. I thought he was joking, but he was totally serious. I tried it...it was very intersting tasting. It tasted kind of fatty...sort of like the fat around a steak or something. The texture was kind of like dumplings. Anyway...he said it was popular at weddings and special events, although most of my Korean friends said they either A) had never tried it or B) don't like it. HA! It was decent though...

Ok, in answer to Greta's post...I will try and answer briefly on my plans (and then add more details when I really do know more)

Yes, crazy as it seems, I've been here almost a year already...my plans for now are to end my contract with Kids College at the end of June (well, actually July 3rd...there are some teacher issues and my boss asked me to stay a few more days) and then I'll probably be headed back to the States around July 8th. I'll probably be there for a few weeks, and then hopefully if everything goes well, I'll be back here in Korea around the 1st part of August. So...as I said, when I know 100% I promise I'll let you know more. I just hate to tell people something and then be wrong. So...that's the skinny! :)

Asan City Tour

This Saturday I went on a city tour of Asan, which is the next city west of Cheonan. In Korea it is quite popular to have these city tours...people all get on a bus and just go from place to place in an area and have a person (on a microphone of course HAHA) telling about all of the different areas. It's kind of nice, and it's easy and cheap...so I did that this weekend. Of course, 2 minutes into the tour the woman started talking with her microphone, and pretty much talked the entire time. I'm sure it was some useful info for all the Korean folks, and yes I can understand some Korean thesedays, but it was pretty useless to me. We went to four different spots: The Asan Folk Village, a botanical garden, and old Catholic church built in 1890 and then to the Asan Folk Museum.

I had been to the folk village before, but to a different area, and so this was still a new experience for me. It is cool because at the village, some of the houses are just for tourists, and then some of them people actually live in. I thought that was really cool, and I think it would be fun to live in an old traditional house. Maybe if I'm rich someday, I will buy one! :) The weather was actually really cold in the morning...almost felt like fall, and then by the afternoon the weather was pretty nice. The folk village is a famous area for some traditional Korean movies and Korean TV commercials. So...I took a few pictures of one of the most popular roads there.

The botanical garden was pretty cool too...although the location was RIGHT NEXT TO a dairy, and so since it has been raining a lot, you can imagine the smell was like...ummmm...well, not so nice. Once inside the botanical garden though, it was nice and the smell was gone. There were about 5 or 6 huge buildings that had all kinds of beautiful flowers and plants/trees/shrubs from all over the world. It was really nice, and I really like photographing flowers, plants...so it was cool. The coolest part was lunch though...they sold 꽃비빔밥 (kkot bi bim bap). Bi Bim Bap is kind of like a rice, mushroom, meat mix, it's really delicious. And kkot means flower...so they had this rice dish with flowers in it, and you could eat the flowers. So...it was really beautiful and also delicious :) After eating I went to an area where you could go inside a little area and buy bird feed and the birds would come and eat out of your hands. I thought the botanical garden was really cool.

The third stop was an old Catholic church. It was really cool and unique because it was built in a western style architecture...so it looks different from most buildings in Korea. It was built as I said earlier in 1890, and all around the outside there are statues of Jesus and of course Mary, Joseph, etc. I often see Catholic nuns travelling around on the bus here, but I had no idea that place even existed. It was very cool though, and it was also neat that the sun came out by the afternoon and so I got a few good pics of the church with the sun shining.

The last stop was the Folk Museum...it was OK, it had some really good Korean cultural things, but since I've been here a year, I knew most of them. The best part though was our guide. As I have said before (and I love Koreans, so I'm not being mean here, it just makes me laugh) Koreans love microphones. So...at each stop she got off the bus and even had a little portable microphone with a speaker around her neck, so people could hear her talking. So...in the museum, most people split off and just looked around at their leisure, but I was walking around where our guide was. The funny thing is there were literally 4 of us and her...and she was STILL talking with her microphone. I wanted to get a pic, and should have...HAHA! Anyway...it as a good time, and I had a cool weekend.

I'm excited, my friend Travis (he's from NC, but living in China with his wife) is coming to visit in two weeks, so I get to hang out with him for the weekend. We're planning to go to the DMZ, so I'll try and get some great pics if we go there.

Doosan Bears again...

Well, last Tuesday (May 5th) is Children's Day in Korea, and so I had the day off not only at the middle school, but also at Kids College. I was so happy to have a full day off, and as I said in my last post, I was planning to go to another Doosan Bears game, it was a day game and I was exciting to go back to Jamsil Stadium and watch the Bears. So, I got up around 9AM, hit the subway station and rode on up to Samsung Station which is close by the stadium. There is a Buddhist temple there (Bongeun Sa) which I stopped at last summer. It's a really cool temple and with Buhha's birthday just passing, I had heard that the temples were decorated really cool with many colorful lanterns. So, my plan was to go by Bongeun Sa, snap a few pictures and then head over to the stadium and settle in for some afternoon baseball. Well, after getting my pictures I walked on towards the stadium (it's maybe a 15 minute walk) and as I was getting close to the stadium I saw a whole bunch of people wearing Bears stuff walking AWAY from the stadium and past me back to the city. I thought, "Hmmm, that's strange" and keep walking. Well, as I crossed the river I could see into the stadium and the place was PACKED and it was like 1:30 (2 PM start) So, I keep going, and got up to the ticket window. There were 1000s of people all over but not many in the line to buy tickets, so I thought "This is great, I can get tickets in no time!" So I walked up to the window and the lady said "Sorry, Sold Out!" Ugh! I was bummed out and felt like an idiot. I didn't realize they were playing LG Twins, who is a huge rival, and they both share the stadium...plus with it being a holiday, and baseball being very popular in Korea...NO DICE! So, that sort of took the wind out of my sails, the air out of my balloon, (insert your favorite let down cliche here) I hadn't really planned much else, so I went by COEX, a huge mall, and then just came back to Cheonan. I was pretty bummed about missing the game, but it was on TV and Doosan lost 0-12, so actually I didn't miss much.

So...I had to have a rebound game and so I went back again on Saturday, this time with more success, not only for me, but also for Doosan as they won 4-3 and are now 3-0 in the games I attend this season! :) HA!

It was a great night for baseball Saturday...the weather was nice in the evening, a little breeze and it just felt great!

PS: If you're curious why my t-shirt says "OB Bears" and not Doosan, well...OB was the previous name, so this is sort of an old school t-shirt, and I got it for 10,000 Won! ($8) So, maybe you didn't notice, but I know Becca will notice! HA!

Everland and 이순신 Festival

This past weekend was really cool. This time of year is holiday time...Saturday was Buddha's birthday and then tomorrow is Children's Day. So...I had several days off of school (including tomorrow) and so I tried to get out and see a few more sites. Friday I went to Asan to the 이순신 (Lee Sun Shin) festival in Asan. I don't know if you remember in my first ever blog I went to his house in Asan (Hyeonchungsa) and posted some pictures. Anyway...he is really famous in Korean, he was an Admiral of the Korean navy and fought bravely against the Japanese in the Japanese Invasions during 1592-1598. His birthday was April 28, 1545 so I think that's why they had the festival this past week. He did some really amazing things. He designed the "Turtle Ship" which was an amazing war ship which sometimes featured over 20 cannons, versus the Japanese ships having 1 or 2. At the Battle of Myeongnyang Lee Sun Shin commanded 13 ships versus 133 for Japan. The Koreans were victorious and forced the Japanese to retreat. He grew up in Asan (near Cheonan) and that's why the festival is there. It was really cool...I went to Hyeonchungsa again (his boyhood home) and then they had 100s of exhibits set up along the river in Asan. They had a portable bridge across the river since the festival was on both sides of the river. It was a little windy late in the afternoon, and it was kind of funny watching people try and cross the floating bridge. As the wind picked up, or course it was moving the water and then people just walking across the bridge too...hahaha, it was swinging all over the place! HA! It had been nice most of the day...and then around 4 PM the sky turned black and the rain started pouring down. I was glad I had been there long enough to enjoy it before I got soaked! :)

So on Saturday I went to Everland! I had been waiting to go here for quite a while...it's the biggest amusement park in Korea and has the steepest wooden rollercoaster in the WORLD! It has a 77 degree drop...unreal how scary this thing was. I've been on some pretty scary rollercoasters over the years, but the T-Express was by far the scariest. The first drop it literally feels like you're going straight down! It was scary, and I thought my stomach was going to come out of my mouth! HA! The only thing I was a little disappointed in as that they were working on two of the rollercoasters in the park, so the T-Express was the only coaster I got to ride. There were still some other cool rides though, so it wasn't a wasted day or anything. The park in HUGE. There are some really pretty areas with flowers and fountains, and the weather was perfect for a day at an amusement park. It was nice and sunny but not hot.

I had a great weekend, and tomorrow I'm planning to go back to another Doosan Bears game...they are having a day game since it's Children's Day. Hopefully I can help them go 3-0 this season! HA!

Doosan Bears!

This past weekend I went to my second Bears game of the season...and so far I guess I'm a good luck charm! They have gone 2-0 in the two games I've been to this season. Last year I went to watch them when I first got here and they lost in the 10th inning...so they are 2-1 in the three games I've been to.

I LOVE Korean baseball...not to knock MLB, but I think I'd go to a Korean game anyday! The crowd is loud and they cheer literally from before the first pitch. I think one cool thing here is that as small as Korea is there are usually fans for both of the teams...so even though Doosan had a home game, maybe like 40% of the crowd was cheering for the other team...so the atmosphere is really cool.

I've been a fan of Doosan ever since Hines Ward visited Korea after winning the MVP award in the Super Bowl. He went to a game and threw out the first pitch, so I just sort of adopted Doosan. I felt a little like a traitor cheering for Doosan since they were playing the Hanwha Eagles. The Eagles are from the province I live in (Chungcheongnam Province) but oh well! HA!

The game was really exciting, Hanwha got off to a quick start scoring 2 runs in the top of the first, but then Doosan struck back and matched them. Doosan added another run in the 2nd inning and led 3-2 until the 7th inning when they hit a 3 run HR and pretty much sealed the game. They went on to win 6-2, and so I was of course very happy.

The weather was really cold...I was surprised because it's been so warm here the last few weeks, but I braved the wind and a little rain. Ramen Noodles are popular here, and so I got some of those to keep me warm.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to go to quite a few more Bears games. One nice thing I've said over and over is that stuff here is priced right, Koreans don't feel the need to rip you off just because you're at a sporting event. Tickets were 5,000 Won (about $4) and then a big bag of chips was 2500 Won. Ramen was 2000 Won. I love the fact that I can do so much here for so cheap!

Cherry Blossom Festival/대천 Beach

Ok...well, the cherry blossoms FINALLY arrived like I was anticipating, and so this past weekend I went to Cheonan's Cherry Blossom Festival, and it was really awesome. Actually...I went to 대천 (Daecheon) Beach in the morning and then to the Cherry Blossom Festival in the evening.

We (Dana, Sam, I) left for the beach at around 10 AM. We had planned to leave at 9, but Sam overslept and honestly (even though this hardly ever happens) I did too (I woke up at about 8:50). I hit snooze several times and then then did the "Ok, I'm awake so I'll turn off my alarm, but then I actually fall back asleep" routine. I thought I was going to make us late, and when I called Sam he answered on like the 10th ring and I could tell I woke him up! HA! So, anyway...we took off for the beach. We stopped along the way and you can always tell the areas that don't see many foreigners because they all just stop and stare at you. So, we grabbed some snacks and headed down to the beach. We got there around 11:30. I was hoping to jump into the sea and take a swim...but when I got about ankle deep in the water, I quickly decided that there would be no swimming taking place (at least not on my behalf) as the water was freezing cold. The weather was nice, but the water was cold. So...we bummed around and looked at all kinds of sea creatures, and then strolled up and down the beach. Koreans dress a lot different than Americans at the beach. Very few people were wearing swimming suits...in fact...most people were wearing pants and jackets, and I swear it was mid 70s! I was surprised! Dana's friend lives there and so she met us for lunch, we had 해물탕 (Haemultang) which is seafood soup http://www.flickr.com/photos/misskoco/443445835/ It includes shrimp, octopus, and a whole bunch of other seafood. There were some really good things that I pulled out of shells! HAHA! Sam didn't eat much, I guess I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food. Anyway...I thought it was really good, and actually octopus is very delicious. So...after we ate, we saw a really cool hiking area that had some rocks, so we hiked around there for a while and got some really cool pictures.

We headed back to Cheonan and then went to the Cherry Blossom Festival later in the day. It was at a local high school (Bugil High School) and in the evening there were fireworks. It was a little crazy, I had never been up front for fireworks, but we were like literally in the very front row and the fireworks were exploding right over our heads. So, after they fell...all the little stuff from the fireworks was like falling all on us! HA! It was crazy! It was cool I saw some of the girls from the middle school too...so they said HI and I talked to them for a bit.

So...I had a great weekend...now that spring has finally arrived, I'm hoping for more good times. Good Bye winter!
:)