Gage has been saving up for a trip to Korea to visit us for quite some time now. An illness prevented her from coming during our winter vacation as we had planned, but, luckily, she was able to make it last week. It was Children's Day in Korea on Tuesday, May 5th, so most schools gave teachers the Monday off as well. Additionally, all EPIK teachers get the day off on May 1st for Korean Labor Day. It was quite a long weekend for the EPIK teachers (May 1-5), so it was a good time to have a visitor since we weren't working for most of her visit. Lily came for 2 weeks at the same time last year, but Gage could only stay for one week. Gianni had to go in to school on Wednesday, but my school had the entire week off! We got really lucky I guess. Unfortunately, the DMOE sent an email a few weeks before the vacation saying that anyone with the Thursday and Friday off had to either use vacation days or go in to work. I don't have vacation days to use, so I had to go in. The principal and vice principal decided that I would go in during those two days and watch movies with whatever students showed up. I've never even been in the library, but whatever. I was just really disappointed because I thought I was getting the whole week off to spend with Gage and the DMOE completely disappointed me when they sent that email. I still had the majority of the time she was here off, so I guess it was alright.
Gage arrived in Seoul the night of April 30th, so Gianni and I got the KTX fast train from Daegu to Seoul right after school. She made her own way to the hostel I had booked in Itaewon for the long weekend because we wouldn't be there in time to get her from the airport. We had a happy reunion at the hostel for a bit before going out for a quick dinner at one of the many kebab shops in Itaewon. Itaewon is the foreign area of Seoul, so you can find food there from all over the world. If you've been in Korea for any length of time, Itaewon is like heaven when you want a little taste of home. There are tons of foreigners walking around, both English-speaking and non-English speaking, and you can get all kinds of junky tourist souvenirs. Gage was extremely tired after her long travel day, so we gabbed for a few hours before going to bed. Unfortunately, there was a heat wave happening in Korea during that long weekend, and we couldn't figure out how to get the air conditioner working properly. I had it on all the proper settings, but the air just wasn't that cold, so the room never cooled off.
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| Handmade Market in Insadong |
The heat wasn't much better the next day, and we woke up early. Gage was probably a bit jet-lagged, so she got up early anyway, and we got up with her a few hours later because it was hard to sleep with the sun shining into the room. 8am is definitely earlier than we ever get up on weekends. We took Gage for some quick breakfast at Paris Baguette. She has had some Korean food, so she already knew she likes the sweet red bean that is in a lot of the pastries in Korea. Paris Baguette is the perfect place to get those kinds of things. I had planned for her first day to be a kind of relaxing day because I knew she'd be zonked from the trip over here. So we just went to Insadong, the traditional area of Seoul, for a walk around and some souvenir shopping. Insadong actually has some fantastic hand-made souvenirs, so it's much better than Itaewon for that sort of thing. Gage got some stamps for a friend, and I got Dad a Korean coin set, some fabric coasters with hangul (Korean letters) on them, and some lovely Choo Choo cat cards. Choo Choo Cats are big cat heads superimposed on traditional artwork or nice drawings. They are pretty funny. The cards I got are cats that are wearing traditional Korean clothing
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| Gianni and Gage in Insadong |
and hair accessories. The main street of Insadong has all kinds of souvenir shops on it, but there is also a 4-story open building with shops along the hallways where you can find some really nice things as well. The day was hot, and Gage is still not 100% recovered from her illness, so she needed a break and a cold drink after walking around in there for a while. We found a coffee shop to sit at for a bit. Later, we walked all the way down to the end of Insadong's main road, stopped for a dark chocolate ice cream horn, and got on the subway to head back to the hostel for a break and a nap. The only thing we had on the itinerary for the day was going to see
The Avengers. Gage really wanted to see it with us. Gianni and I had already seen it. I went to see it in 4D with my coteacher and Gianni saw it with everyone in Seoul for Marie's birthday on the biggest screen in the world. I told Gage about that screen, and she really wanted to go, so we did. Neither of us had any problem seeing it twice since we really enjoyed it. Plus, I really wanted to see this huge screen. Starium Theater at the Yeongdeongpo CGV houses the giant screen. The theater is in a really big mall--the only western-style mall I have been in since we came to Korea. The mall is called "Times Square." We got dinner at the food court in the basement of the mall. Gage was really impressed by how tasty the food court food really is here. There are food courts at most grocery stores and some department stores, and they all work kind of the same way. You order food at a main desk by telling them what number you want. There are about 5 different restaurant stalls, each offering a different kind of food. You are assigned a number or given a beeper. When the food is ready your number is called, buzzed, or displayed on a screen above the stall of whatever kind of food you ordered. You pick it up and get some chopsticks and return it either where you picked it up or to a tray return when you're finished eating. It's a really great system, and the food is quite good and really cheap. You get a very filling meal, too. CGV is one of the big movie theater chains here in Korea, and this one was really fancy. I had reserved tickets on Cine in Korea, a website where people will buy movie tickets for foreigners since most of the ticketing
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| Seeing the Avengers on the big screen |
websites are in Korean. I've probably said this before, but you reserve an actual seat for movies in Korea. I learned from the gang who saw the movie on this screen the week before that you want to sit further back than you normally would because the screen is so massive. We were sitting a few rows back, so I thought it would be okay, but even a few more rows back would have been better. Although this usually only happens at the deli at the grocery store in the US, in Korea, you have to take a number and wait for it to be called in a lot of places, like banks and movie theaters. I waited in line, showed them my confirmation number, and picked up our tickets. Also, movie tickets here aren't really tickets so much as just receipts. Gianni and Gage got the movie snacks, and we headed into the theater. Immediately, I was astounded by just how many seats were in the theater. Instead of the usual 3 sections, there were at least 5. When you sit down and look to either side, the seats continue on for way longer than they usually do. As we were watching the movie, I kept looking to either side of me and realizing just how many people were in this room watching with me. It was really impressive. The screen itself is so large that you actually have to turn your head to follow some of the action. Our seats were decent enough that we didn't have to do this very often, but if you sit in the first row, you would have to do it more. The seats in the theater recline automatically when you sit in them to make the view of the screen better, and they are very plush and comfortable. It was a really great experience, and we all had a great time. I found Gage an
Avengers movie poster before we left so that she could have a souvenir of her movie-going experience with some Korean written on it. Movie posters are really big in Korea. It seems like a lot of people collect them or at least take them when they see a movie. Gianni and I have quite the collection of posters from a lot of the movies we have seen here. Near the exit of the mall, there was also a display of Marvel figurines and models. The exhibit was closed, but you could still see in and take pictures of some of the life-sized models of each of the Avengers heroes. After the movie, I think we were all tired and ready to hit the hay because we had an early morning on Saturday.
We woke up at 6am, ate a quick breakfast, and grabbed a taxi to go to Camp Kim where the USO-run tour company, Koridoor is based. Koridor offers tours to the De-militarized Zone (DMZ) and Joint Security Area (JSA). Gianni and I took a tour of the DMZ on our first trip to Seoul for Chuseok in 2013, but we didn't know that the best part of these tours in the JSA. Our previous tour didn't include the JSA, and it was more expensive. Having now experience a Koridoor tour and another tour of the same area, I would suggest only going to the DMZ/JSA with Koridoor. Other tours are completely not worth it. Koridoor is definitely the best. I remember looking into the Koridoor tours for our first trip to Seoul, but all the tours were sold out. When we arrived in Seoul and found some information about another tour company going to the DMZ, I thought it would be the same, but now I know it definitely was not. Anyway, Camp Kim is located fairly close to Itaewon, which is why Itaewon has been so built up to cater to foreigners. When you go to the DMZ and JSA, you have to follow dress code--no skirts and short above the knee, no shirts that expose the shoulders, no ripped clothing. You also have to show your passport when you check in, and later, the US military guys who act as your tour guides of the JSA also check them. It takes about an hour to reach the JSA from Camp Kim, and I wasn't feeling great during the ride there, so I kept drinking sips of water. By the time we arrived at the JSA, I had to pee more than I have ever had to in my life! It was a serious emergency. We had to wait at the gate to
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| Gray building behind us is North Korean |
Camp Bonifas, another US base, for our soldier tour guides to arrive. When we finally got to the auditorium where our briefing would be held before the tour, I ran off the bus and into the bathroom. It was a close call. The briefing was conducted by one of the soldiers. He explained some of the history of the Korean War along with what sites we would be seeing in the JSA tour. The DMZ is the zone between the southern border of North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea- DPRK) and the northern border of South Korea (Republic of Korea- ROK). It is kind of a no-man's land where only military personnel
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| The table divides North and South |
are really allowed to go. In between the two borders, and within the DMZ, is the JSA, where you will find military from both North and South Korea. The JSA and DMZ are within the Panmunjom Valley. Panmunjom is an abandoned village where the armistice of the Korean War was signed, and it is in North Korea. Notably, there were no South Korean representatives at the signing of the armistice. Instead, it was a peace made between the Chinese and UN forces. I have given further history of the Korean War in previous posts and will do so again later on in this post when I talk about the War Museum. For now, it is just important to understand what the DMZ and JSA are. Most of the DMZ is just forested area, and no one is supposed to enter the forested areas because there are tons of landmines all over the place. Our soldier tour guide was named Private Ball, and he said there are tons of animals around missing legs and things because of the mines. After our briefing, we were taken to the Freedom House. The Freedom House was built as an area where South and North Korean family members, divided during the Korean War, could see each other. Unfortunately, the North Korean leaders have not allowed this to happen in the Freedom House because, technically, it is on the southern side of the JSA, and they are worried about defectors. There was a somewhat recent reunion of these family members, but it occurred in North Korea at Mount Kumgang resort. North Korea doesn't typically allow these sort of reunions, but when they did, in 2014, it took place on North Korean land. Outside of the Freedom House is where you can see the North Korean soldiers stationed at a building not far away. There is constant surveillance by the South Korean soldiers of the North Korean ones. There are several buildings outside the Freedom House, and all of the blue buildings are South Korean while the gray ones are North Korean. Standing there, you really can feel how tense the relationship is. On the North Korean post, we were informed that there is usually one or two soldiers, and we got to see both. Apparently, since the Korean War, American soldiers have named the North Korean soldiers "Bob." So there is "Bob 1" and "Bob 2," and they still call them that today. We then walked into a nearby conference room building where negotiations between North and South Koreans and USA military personnel have taken place in the past. There is a table down the middle of the room that splits the building between North and South Korea, so, technically, we all went to North Korea that day. There are two very stern looking soldiers stationed inside the conference room to prevent
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| Left: Propaganda Village flagpole, Right: Freedom Village flagpole |
anyone from defecting on either side, though who would really defect to North Korea! Our next stop on the tour was an observation point where you can see out into North Korea. It was a beautiful day, and you could see all the mountains in the distance. Private Ball pointed out the village of Gijundong, which is also called Propaganda Village. In the DMZ, there is another village, Daeseongdong or Freedom Village, which was there prior to the Korean War. The residents of Daeseongdong are South Korean and were given special permission
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| The Bridge of No Return |
to remain in the village after the war and the establishment of the DMZ. They are farmers, and they don't have to pay taxes for living on the land. Only those families who have lived there since before the war were allowed to stay, and only women can marry into one of the families and move there--no additional men are allowed to enter. In Daeseongdong, there is a flag pole with a South Korean flag on it, so Gijundong responded by raising an even taller flag pole with a 600 pound North Korean flag on top of it. Gijundong is called Propaganda Village because no one actually lives there. It was made to rival Daeseongdong, but the buildings are all just facades. There are no rooms inside, and they are only sparsely lit at night. After getting some photos at the observation platform, the bus stopped at the Bridge of No Return. The bridge was used after the Korean War to exchange POWs. As you can imagine, more POWs crossed back into South Korea than went back to North Korea. The US and Korean military still aid those who choose to defect to South Korea. Most defectors go through China as it is a bit easier than making one's way through the DMZ's landmines. Still, there are gray phone boxes in the southern side of the JSA for defectors to use to call for help once they've left North Korea. We weren't allowed to get off the bus at the Bridge of No Return because President Clinton got too close to the middle of the bridge, and the divide between the two countries, during his visit to the JSA. I believe that was what Private Ball said anyway. Next to the bridge is a monument where a tree was once standing. Years ago, the North and South Korean military posts were closer together, watching each other. The North Koreans had 2 posts right near a South Korean one. The next nearest South Korean post had only an obstructed view of that one due to a tree that was growing in front of it. Therefore, there was a South Korean post with two North Korean posts around it that could not be monitored very well by other South Koreans. US and South Korean forces decided to take down the tree to get a clearer view, but when they attempted to do so, a fight ensued. North Koreans attacked the soldier with axes, and two US army officers were murdered. The monument marks the place where the Axe Murder took place and where the tree once stood. After the incident, the South Korean and North Korean posts could no longer be close to each other like that. That concluded our JSA tour, and we headed out of Camp Bonifas to see a few sites in the DMZ.
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| Gianni and Gage at the Observatory |
Gianni and I had already seen these sites on our previous tour, but at ever place, we got to see something we hadn't before. Our first stop in the DMZ was Dorasan Observatory. On our last tour, we were told that we were not allowed to take pictures at the front of the observatory platform. Instead, we had to stand behind a yellow line for photos. I was very pleased to find out that, for some reason, they were not enforcing that rule on our visit this time. Tensions between North and South Korea wax and wane constantly, so perhaps on our last tour, tensions were high, so pictures weren't allowed. I'm not sure. Before checking out the observatory, we watched a brief (and pretty propaganda-y video). It was good, but there was definitely a white dude narrating it, and saying things like "our nation" when referring to South Korea. Whose nation is it? Not yours buddy. The theater and the observatory offer a panoramic view of the DMZ and distant North Korea. The video pointed out several major sites that you can see from the observatory, so that was helpful. On our last visit, we hadn't been to the JSA, so I really didn't know what I was looking at from the observatory. This time, I had much more information, so I understood the significance. Dorasan Observatory allows you to see both the Freedom and Propaganda Villages with their flagpoles, Kaesong Industrial Complex (a factory in North Korea where some South Korean managers work), and the road into North Korea used by military personnel to deliver supplies and goods to the North Korean people. There are also binoculars you can pay to use to get a closer view. After the observatory, we stopped near Dorasan Train Station to get some lunch. There were two buffet options: bulgogi (Korean marinated beef) or bibimbap (rice and veggie mix). We all opted for the bibimbap, and there were all kinds of lovely sides that came with the meal. The food was pretty good, and we could eat as much as we wanted for only 8,000 won ($8). After our
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| Tickets for the DMZ train |
lunch break, we went to Dorasan Train Station, the last train station in South Korea. You can pay 500 won (50 cents) for a stamped ticket and go out onto the tracks where trains from Seoul come to the DMZ. I'm not sure how you would get tickets for the DMZ train, but there is a special one that goes right to Dorasan Station. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the train on the tracks. We didn't go out to the tracks on our last tour because we didn't have change, but this time we did. The train at Dorasan used to travel to Kaedong Industrial Complex to bring materials to the factory and return with finished goods, but the North Korean government stopped this border crossing in 2008. As I said in the previous DMZ tour post, Dorasan Station is a really modern, nice-looking station with signs all around with hope for a future where Korea is united and the train can run from South Korea all the way to Europe. It's kind of strange to see, but if Korea ever is united again, it will be amazing to have seen this station when it was basically unused. The last stop on our tour was the 3rd Tunnel. There are 4 tunnels that the North Koreans built into South Korea--at least of the ones that have been discovered. The third tunnel has been open to those on DMZ tours, and you can actually walk to the end of it. The tunnel is really short and narrow. It's not that long, but there is a steep ramp leading down into it. Due to Gage's illness, she is prevented from walking too much at one time, so we opted not to walk down it. Gianni and I had already done it, so I didn't mind skipping it this time. Instead, we checked out the security cameras showing the inside of the tunnel and looked at the diagrams they have of it. We took some pictures with the DMZ sign outside the tunnel, and before leaving, our tour group watched a movie about the Korean War in the little theater they have near the tunnel. There's some sort of tunnel ride that we didn't get to do, which I'm a little bummed about. Not sure what it is, but guests put on hard hats and get into a little car that looks like it goes into some sort of tunnel. It's probably a fake to give the impression of the real one for those who can't walk for long distances or something. On this tour, I really feel like we gained a better understanding of the Korean War and the DMZ. It was much more interesting and informative than the last time, and I think we were all happy to have done it. It is a unique experience that I think is important for all visitors to Korea to have. At the end of the tour, we found out that this was only our Korean tour guide's second time leading a tour. She did really well for her second time even though her English wasn't perfect all the time. I'm sure she was very nervous. We drove the hour back to Camp Kim and took the subway back to the hostel. The plan was to see a Starcraft game that evening, but Gianni and Gage found out they had gotten the date mixed up. The game was the next day instead. After the early morning and long day in the heat, we all crashed for a few hours. I had to wake the sleeping beauties up at dinner time, and we all went to a Thai restaurant Gianni and I had gone to on another trip to Seoul. The Thai food is no where near as good as the Amarin back at home, but it serves its purpose. I am going to have so much eating to do when I come home.
Gianni and I took Gage to the most amazing brunch place ever, which we haven't visited since our first time in Seoul. The place is called Tartine. At night, it is a pie cafe, and in the morning, they serve breakfast. There are actually two Tartines across from each other: one is the cafe and the other is a pie bakery. We decided to visit the War Memorial of Korea on the third day in Seoul. Gage is a history buff like me, so I knew it would be right up her alley. The majority of the museum is dedicated to the Korean War with special rooms about ancient wars and current military information. There's even a photo zone set up where you can take a picture promoting Dokdo as Korean territory. Dokdo is a tiny rock island that is disputed territory. The Japanese call it Takashima and the Koreans call is Dokdo. The Korean people will never stop reminding you that it is Korean territory. After our day at the DMZ and JSA, I really felt like I understood way more than I did during my first visit to the museum. The tour just put all the information at the museum in context. We spent the morning and afternoon exploring the museum's two Korean War rooms and looking at all the tanks, missiles, and planes outside. Now for a little bit of history on the Korean War. Please skip if you are uninterested:
(I will add some history soon. Sorry, but this takes a bit longer than you might expect.)
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| A player named "Zest" in his soundproof booth |
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| The Korean commentators and screens to that display the game |
One of the top things on Gage's list when coming to Korea was to see a Starcraft game. Starcraft is a computer game where players play as one of three races (protoss, zerg, and terran) to destroy each other's bases. Both Gage and Gianni watch Starcraft matches live streaming on youtube, and I was forced to go against my will. To my great surprise, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We watched the first day of the KeSPA cup at the Nexon Arena in Gangnam. We ate lunch at a kimbap place nearby before taking our seats. There actually weren't very many spectators because it was only the first day of the matches. We ended up staying for about 8 hours and watching all 6 of the preliminary round games. Each Starcraft game is best of 5, so the players have to win at least 3 matches to win the round. Gage and Gianni tried their best to explain what was going on to me, and I did pick up a few things, though I wasn't totally sure why one player won the game in every case. Sometimes it was clear, but sometimes the other player looked to be doing well and still lost. Starcraft is an e-sport and is played by professional players. These players are on sponsored teams and everything. There are even game referees that watch the person play to make sure everything is fair. The players sit in sound-proof booths on either side of the stage, and the Korean commentators sit in the center of the stage. Gianni got a radio to listen to the English commentators who were sitting in the balcony and watching the action as well as translating a bit for the Korean commentators. There are screens above the stage that display everything happening in the game, and the TVs under each player show just what that player can see. The most fun part for me was playing the silly game the sponsors had to win prizes. There was one where you had to pick a ball from a bingo machine, and then find that color ball inside one of the HTML brand bags on the table. If you matched the ball colors, you get the bag in which you found the ball. Gage and I tried and failed, but Gianni won a backpack worth 85,000 won! The other game was a board game where you spent the entire day going around the board. The player who got around the board the most would be the winner, and the prizes looked really good. You could roll the dice after every match, and I played it the whole night before I realized that the game would be continuing on the second and third days of the KeSPA tournament. That took me out of the running for the prizes since we weren't going to be coming the other two days. Oh well! I was the only foreigner playing, and I became friends with the guy who was running the game. I explained the situation, and he felt bad, so he gave me a notebook signed by the SK (cellphone company) Starcraft Team as a consolation prize. I had actually been doing quite well in the game. I gave the notebook to Gage to take home. Towards the end of the night, another spectator who had been there all day told us we should make a sign. There was a poster explaining what to do in English, but I didn't understand what it was talking about. This guy was nice enough to help us. Gianni made the sign, mentioning that he was there with his "girlfriend and friend." In order to win a prize, we had to get our sign on camera, and Gianni was being very unenthusiastic about it, so I grabbed the sign and took care of it myself. I got our sign on camera, and only realized after that is said "my girlfriend and friend," so people may have though Gage was my girlfriend hahaha. Oh well. When our sign got on camera, we were given our prize of a 50,000 won gift card to a movie or restaurant! What an awesome day! We definitely came out on top with all of our winnings, and we had a great time watching Starcraft.
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On our last day in Seoul, Marie, Ben, Matthew, and Maria were also there for the long weekend. We met them to have another delicious brunch at a restaurant called Suji's. They even have cinnamon buns at that place, though I didn't get one. We met them after spending an hour or so at the English bookstore in Itaewon called What the Book? Gage wanted to get a Korean War book for her dad. I'm glad I could introduce Gage to a few of my Korean friends. After brunch, we separated from the group. Gage, Gianni, and I were only staying until that night, but everyone else was staying until Tuesday. We took Gage to Gyeongbukgung, the main palace in Seoul previously used by the Kings and Queens of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). Even though the second palace is my favorite, Gyeongbukgung is really important to see when visiting Seoul because of how large and grand it is. We were going to take a tour, but one wasn't starting for a white. Instead, I got an audio guide that was pretty cool. You could touch the end of the machine onto a paper map of the palace and hear about different areas of the palace. Korean Palaces are so completely different from European ones. There are three gates leading into the palace, each gate has a large courtyard behind it. The last gate has a courtyard and the throne hall, the main building of the palace. Behind the throne hall, there are the private residences of the king, and behind that, the private residences of the queen and princess. The prince has separate rooms near the king. Parts of the palace that had been under reconstruction on our last visit were open to the public now, including an area where they used to store all the fermenting jars as well as the kitchens. The kitchens were strange because they were basically a series of open rooms where different stages of food preparation would occur. There was no audio guide for this section, so I'm not totally sure where the actual cooking took place. Gyeongbukgung is very beautiful, featuring several pavilions where the king and queen would entertain guests or relax as well as amazingly detailed paint on buildings. The first week of May had a lot of festivals happening in Korea, and the palace had a Royal Court Culture Festival. We didn't stay to watch the court ceremony that they were doing in the main entrance to the palace, but we did see some soldiers holding flags inside. They looked pretty cool. Luckily, the last day of our trip was the only one that wasn't blazing hot. Gyeongbukgung doesn't offer much sun protection, so I was worried we would fry if it was super hot. Instead, it was windy, which meant that all the brown dust that they cover the courtyards of the palace with blew around a bit. I'm not sure why they covered the palace courtyards with dirt, but I've seen a lot of Asian palaces and none of them have very much grass. I guess it just isn't the way things were done in Asia. We didn't want to go out the back entrance of the palace since it is far from the subway station, but we pointed out the President of Korea's house, the Blue House (because of its blue roof), to Gage. It is behind Gyeongbukgung. Also behind the main palace buildings is the most photographed place in Korea, a pavilion surrounded by a pond where the king and queen would relax. The last building of the palace is a Chinese-style octagonal library building. After a few hours, we were all getting tired, so we took the subway to the train station. I had purchased tickets for a 7pm train, but we were all ready to head back to Daegu by 5pm. I paid a little more and had our tickets upgraded from the slow train to the KTX, and we left Seoul right away. We had a bento box dinner on the train and got home in time to watch a few TV shows and relax.
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| Seomun Market |
For Gage's first day in Daegu, we wanted to let it be relaxed and not get up early. Since it was Gianni's last day of vacation, I thought he should choose the activity. He decided he wanted to take Gage to Seomun Market, Daegu's oldest traditional Korean market. We got ready leisurely and had a small breakfast with the anticipation of eating a meal at the market, which neither Gianni nor I had ever done before. Gage got to ride on the new monorail to get to the market. We both kind of forgot that Tuesday was the holiday though, so the monorail as well as the
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| Gianni and Gage eating Kalguksu |
market itself were both packed with people! Seomun market has a few different parts. Outside, people sell fruits and vegetables under umbrellas on the street as well as people selling food along the middle of the market's alleyways. We decided to stop and get some very fresh mandu (dumplings) from one of those vendors and some hotteok (fried dough pancake stuffed with nuts and brown sugar) from another. Outside, there are also more legitimate shops with walls and roofs that are on the ground floor of some of the market's buildings. All of these shops are open in front, so still, technically, outide. Seomun market owns about 6 buildings and each building is crammed full of stalls where people sell anything from home goods and clothing: the indoor section of the market. We braved the crowds and walked around the maze of a market outside for a while before heading inside to the basement of one of the market buildings. In the basement is where you can sit at a tiny restaurant stall and have an actual meal, and we were needing some real lunch. We found a place selling kalguksu (clear broth with veggies and handmade noodles). Kalguksu is a very basic dish, but hard to dislike, so we thought it was the best option. We were ushered to a small table by the man serving food, made to order right away, and brought our food just a few minutes later. I think we really gave Gage the real Korean experience at the market. After I finally found the touristy souvenir shops that I had heard existed in the market and decided I didn't want to buy anything, we decided to go downtown quickly to cool off with our first bingsu (flavored, shaved ice) of the season. For some reason our favorite bingsu shop, Bing Bing Bing! wasn't serving strawberry bingsu even though it is in season. We had to settle for green tea, which comes with a red bean stuffed rice cake (Gage enjoyed that part). Not my favorite bingsu but whatever. We all got pretty tired after that, so we went back to our place to relax. We got some Korean fried chicken from our local guy. Korean fried chicken is really good and worth trying if you come to Korea.
Gianni had to get up early on Wednesday to start back at school, but I had one more day of total freedom to hang out with Gage. We got up late, and I took her to the bank to change her dollars to won. Gianni's school forgot to pay him on time, so we were seriously running low on cash ourselves. Gage was nice enough to pay for me until Gianni got paid that night and could replenish my bank account. I decided to take her to Apsan, a mountain near our area of Daegu. Gage can't hike at the moment, but I wanted her to be able to see the city from above, so I found out that Apsan has a cable car to the observation deck that Gianni and I have been to twice at night. I've never been during the day though. We got off the bus at the base of the mountain, and it was bit more of an uphill walk than I anticipated to get to the cable car. Thankfully, Gage did quite well with it, and we rested briefly on the way up. It was about a 15 minute walk. A lot of people had gone back to work on Wednesday, so there weren't many people on the mountain or waiting for the cable car. We were two of about 6 in our cable car, and the cable car was running every 15 minutes both up and down the mountain. The view on the way up was lovely, seeing the city peak in between the mountain. Everything is so lush and green right now in Korea. The cable car ride was short and steep, but only cost 9,000 won ($9) per person. Gage said the walk was worth it for the view from the observatory, and I have to agree. I've seen it at night and, now, in the daylight, too, and it is always beautiful. Daegu is a really beautiful city. We could see the way in which the city is built around the many mountains that surround us (Daegu is in a valley). We could see Daegu Tower, built on a small mountain in the middle of the city--just a green space popping out among all the buildings. Gage commented on the apartment complexes and how all the buildings in them are exactly the same height. We took some pictures and rested before heading back down the cable cars. There were some lovely flowers on the mountain that I couldn't help taking pictures of. The walk back down the mountain to the bus stop was much easier than on the way up--downhill! We stopped for a coffee and popsicle on the way down, which was very refreshing after our short hike/walk. By the time we got home on the bus, Gianni was out of school and on the way home. We had tired ourselves out though, so any plans of going downtown for dinner went out the window. Instead, we rested for a few hours and Gage taught me how to play Civilization, a computer game she and Gianni think I would like.For dinner, we went to our favorite restaurant in Sangin: Red Pork! We had to introduce Gage to the red pork Lady and have her try some real Korean barbecue. We also got amazing milk shakes for dessert afterwards--I was so full! When we got home, we watched
The Conjuring because Gianni wanted to me to watch it, and Gage said it was good.
Because the DMOE told all the EPIK teachers that we had to go to work on Thursday and Friday even though my principal gave all the teachers those days off, I had to go in. The principal and vice principal decided to make sure I went in by making me play movies for the students. My question was "who is going to show up to school during vacation!?" But that didn't seem to be a problem they were concerned about. Before the vacation, one of my coteachers who also runs the library, Mrs. Lee, showed me how to turn everything on and play movies. I arrived at school at like 9am (later than my normal 8:20am), and I was supposed to watch movies from 9:30 to 12:30 with kids. I was even given snacks to give the kids who came. At around 9:30, some students came in, and I asked if they wanted to watch a movie. They said they just wanted to read. Several more came later and did the same thing. Far be it for me to stop kids from reading. The principal poked his head in the library once before any kids showed up--just making sure I came in...thanks buddy *sarcasm*. He came back later, and I think he asked the kids if they wanted to watch a movie, and they told him the same thing they told me, so he then left us alone. A little later on, a bunch of kids showed up, and asked to watch
The Hunger Games, so I turned that on. About 20 minutes after that, a parent or a teacher I didn't recognize came in and started cleaning up the trash the kids made from their snack. I don't know if she said something to the kids or if they took her cleaning as their cue to leave, but that huge group just left about 20 minutes of movie time. Some girls were trying to check out a book, and a mother showed up to help them with that. I knew there would be parent volunteers coming, but they had no idea what I was doing there. After helping the girl, the mother said I could leave, and I had to explain, in broken Korean, that I wasn't allowed until 12:30. She went off to sit on the couch and play on her phone, and I watched TV shows on the computer until 12:30 rolled around. There weren't any students there, so we sat in silence for a solid hour. Sun Mi, my coteacher, was nice enough to apply
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| Chocolate Bingsu from Holly's Coffee |
for me to leave early so that I could get back to Gage. Thursday was our big downtown day where we did a lot of fun things in scenic downtown Daegu. First, Gage did some souvenir shopping. She got a hat that just says "oh my god, this is awesome!" on it. I also took her to my favorite store, Hot Tracks, to look at all the crazy and fun stuff they sell. We needed a break, and I wanted her to try what I see as real bingsu, chocolate bingsu, from one of the coffee shops. It was amazing. We relaxed at the coffee shop for a bit before going to another coffee shop that was a bit more unique: a cat cafe! I have visited the other cat and dog
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| Baekdusan the cat attacking Gage's shoes |
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| Fat Cheeks the cat |
cafe in Daegu before, but this one was new for me. This cat cafe only has cats, no other animals. Also, the cats seemed pretty well cared for, and the place was cleaner than the other cafe. There were so many adorable cats. I don't consider myself a real cat person, but some of these little guys were great. As soon as we walked in the door, one cat named Baekdusan took a liking to Gage's shoes. She couldn't untie his shoes because he was attacking the laces. In these cafes, you usually can't wear shoes because they want to keep the floors clean for the animals. To stay in this cafe for however long you want, you need to pay 8,000 won ($8) per person, and the price comes with a drink. They had two cats that were the ragdoll breed, just like Gage's cats at home. There was also a scottish fold that I decided to name "Fat Cheeks" or "FC" for short. The cats were really friendly and relaxed, most of them were sleeping on a play structure in the middle of the cafe. We probably spent 2 hours in there before Gianni came down after school to meet us. For dinner, we ate dak galbi (fried rice with veggies, chicken, and cheese). Our last event for the evening was meeting Maria and Matthew for an hour of multibang activities. Gage doesn't like board games, so I didn't think we should take her to the board game cafe. The multibang has all kinds of stuff, including wii, xbox, noraebang, and computer games. They had Starcraft, but that's a one player game if you only have one computer, so instead, we played a funny Korean game with
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| The Cat Cafe |
all kinds of silly mini-games, kind of like Mario Party games. We also played some Super Smash Bros. Gage doesn't really play console games, so it was a new experience for her I think. I think she had fun, but she did say that she didn't understand the point of having multibangs when people could just play those things at their house. Definitely a question worth asking. I hadn't though about it, but I think the reason for multibangs is because people in Korea don't tend to have their own consoles. Firstly, computer games are much more popular, so people don't really buy consoles. If they want to play them, they would rather go to the multibang for an hour. Even in the case of computer games though, the kids don't have nice, high-speed computers at their home, so they go to PC bangs to play games on faster computers. It may also have something to do with how small Korean homes typically are and give the kids another opportunity to get away from their parents. It is an interesting cultural difference though. In the US we tend to do things in our own home, but Koreans do a lot more outside their homes. Gage got me started watching the TV show
Hannibal during her visit, so after the multibang, we went back home and watched more of that.
On Gage's last day in Korea, she came with me to see my school. I had to watch movies with the kids again. This time even less people came than before. A few students showed up to read, but the vice principal asked a few boys if they wanted to watch a movie. They agreed, and I put
How to Train Your Dragon on for them. As soon as the vice principal left the room, they also left. Some of the girls who had been reading were half reading, half watching the movie, so I left it on. Another parent volunteer showed up and, again, I had to explain to her that I had to stay until 12:30 and watch movies with the kids. She sat silently on the couch while Gage and I watched
Hannibal on the computer...though that got really hard when I started playing the movie. Gianni went to the wrong place when he was trying to meet up with his coteacher for club field trip day, so his coteacher told him he could just leave. He came to meet us at my school. After the first movie ended, the girls decided they wanted to watch part of
Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief," so I turned that on for them. As soon as 12:30 rolled around, I cleaned up, locked up, and booked it out of there. Sun Mi applied for early leave for both days. We really didn't do a lot of Gage's last day. I wanted her to be rested and ready for her trip home. She was amazing enough to agree to take a suitcase full of our winter stuff home with her, leaving less for us to transport ourselves. I had the bag already packed up, but we had to make a few adjustments and get her stuff in there as well. We watched more
Hannibal and the Korean TV show
Running Man, which I had never seen before but my students talk about all the time. It's a really funny game show where the contestants (always the same people except usually there are celebrity guest stars) have to complete challenges to win something. When Gage finished packing, we went out to shabu shabu (It's really Japanese, but, basically, it's Korean hot pot). At shabu shabu, you are given a bowl full of broth to heat at your table. You then add in meats and veggies to cook. Once you're done eating the broth, veggies, and meat, you are given rice and an egg to cook with a bit of the remaining broth. It turns into a kinds of porridge to end your meal. We really needed some vegetables after eating so much meat during the week. We had to get up early to make sure Gage got to the bus terminal on time, so we got to bed early.
Gianni and I took Gage to the bus terminal in a taxi because of the big suitcase. We were there well before the bus took off, and we got breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. She made it to the airport with plenty of time, had no trouble with my suitcase, and got home safely many hours later.
Although our vacation sounds like there was a lot of resting--and there was--we had a lot of fun and got to show Gage all that we've been doing in Korea for the last two years. And even though we've been here a long time now, we still got to experience new things while shew as here. It was amazing getting to see her, and I'm really glad she was able to make it, even if it was for a short time. I didn't feel too sad saying goodbye though because I know I'll be seeing her when we move back home in just a few months! Thanks for coming Gage! We love you!
The birthday weekend continued on Saturday with an early morning bus to Samcheok in north east Korea on the coast. It took about four and a half hours to get there. We got off the bus on the side of a random country road. There were a few shops around, but no taxis driving by whatsoever. We tried to ask people to call a taxi for us, but we were told that none would be willing to come to take us to our where we needed to go since it was too close--or at least that's what we thought we were being told. The first place we were trying to go was to the Haesindong Park (Penis Park), an entirely uphill walk for about a half an hour away from where we were. We had a bus schedule, but the time the bus was supposed to arrive came and went. Just as we were about to give up and start trudging up the hill with all our bags, the bus appeared! It was a miracle. I guess the bus schedule we had was from terminal to terminal, so times that the bus was supposed to arrive at the stops in between those terminals was not listed. We only had to go two stops on the bus before arriving at the Penis Park. The man at the ticket booth at the park was nice enough to let us store our bags in his booth while we walked around the park. The Penis Park was quite expansive. As you walked up and down the hills of the park, you could see the various carved, wooden penis statues--some had really funny faces. The park, built on a cliff face, also offered beautiful views of the coast and ocean. Gianni and I each took pictures with our Chinese Zodiac animals that were carved into the penis statues. There was a penis see-saw that a bunch of us had fun on, and there was even a penis canon. After all the walking, we decided to take a bit of a break and wander down to the rock beach at the park. The water was clear and beautiful, but the sun was beating down on us. On the very edge of the cliff, where the park ends, there is an alter to a young girl. We've heard opposing stories about the reason for the penis park, but all involving this young woman. In the most disturbing story, the young woman died a virgin. As soon as she died, all the fish in the area left. A fisherman later masturbated into the ocean there, and the fish miraculously returned. Apparently, since the girl died a virgin, that's what her spirit needed as an offering. So the penis park was *ahem* erected to appease her spirit by giving her the penises she never got during her lifetime. Seriously gross and disturbing story, but there it is. I've seen too many carved penises during my time in Korea. I think I'll be happy without seeing anymore. We did have a fun time though.
On Sunday morning, we got up at 9am to try to make a reservation at the tourist information office to ride Samcheok's rail bikes. Apparently, it would have been a good idea for us to book days in advance because the rail bikes were all sold out. Rail bikes are these little cars that seat four people. They are kind of like paddle boats, but they are on railroad tracks instead. The tracks in Samcheok are right on the coast, so it would have been a really pretty little ride. Anyway, we changed our plans and decided to visit one of the two popular caves in Samcheok instead. We grabbed coffee, muffins, and bagels at a coffee shop nearby, left our bags at tourist information, and hopped on the bus to the caves. Both caves are in the same area, but you have to make a reservation to go into the smaller one. The ticket booth for the cave was in the shape of a bat because, I guess, you can see bats in these caves. The bat is like their little mascot. We didn't see any bats in the large Hwanseongul Cave anyway. It was about a 15 minute walk uphill to get to the monorail cars that lead to the mouth of the cave. You can either take the monorail or hike up yourself, but we opted for the monorail even though it was an hour long wait. We knew we'd have a lot of walking in the cave to do, so that was enough for us. The mountains where the caves are were really quite lovely. Korean mountains are so jagged and rocky, and everything was so green. As soon a you exit the monorail car, you can feel the cool, humid air from the inside of the cave. It was really chilly in there, but not so bad as long as you kept moving. The cave was massive! All we had to do was follow the metal pathway, and it took you on a walk all through the cave and its many different caverns. There were all kinds of beautiful rock formations, pools of water, bridges, and waterfalls. We must have walked around for at least a few hours before coming to the exit. I've never been in a cave that large before.
We had to get down the mountain quickly in order to catch our bus back to Samcheok city and buy bus tickets back to Daegu (well, Sian, Thomas, and her mom were going to Seoul instead). Maria, Matthew, Ben, Marie, and I bought tickets back to Daegu, but we had enough time to get some Chinese food for dinner before we boarded the bus. The bus ride was pleasant and pretty comfortable. Although the buses were a little weird both to Samcheok and back; the front of the bus had 2 seats on one side and 1 seat on the other side, and the back of the bus had 2 seats on one side and 2 seats on the other. It made the aisle a little off-centered. Our bus stopped in Pohang to pick up some more people, and some girls got on and sat behind us. After a few minutes, they got up the courage to speak to Gianni and I, since we were closest to them. We spent the entire hour long ride from there back to Daegu talking to them. Turns out they were high school girls, and they were all cousins. Later, we found out their names were Ji won, Hi won, and Shi won! Hilarious! They wanted to take a picture with us before we left at the terminal, so we did because they were so nice. Gianni and I grabbed a taxi home. The end of another nice weekend in Korea made even nicer by the fact that we didn't have school today because it is a Korean holiday, Buddha's birthday. It coincided with Memorial Day back home this year, so we plan to talk to our parents tonight. Gianni and I celebrated buddha's birthday by going shopping for some new clothes and shoes at home plus and eating some amazing chocolate bingsu (shaved ice) from a new shop in our area. Probably the most amazing that I've had, which is saying something because we've eaten a lot of bingsu.
The day after Gage left Korea, we had another early morning planned. Sian was a fantastic girlfriend and planned a paintball trip for Thomas's birthday! The normal group of our friends along with some of Thomas and Sian's other friends surprised him at the train station and headed out to Gumi. There is a paintball club in Korea, created by foreigners and based in Daegu. Sian talked to one of the members who organized everything. They go to Gumi like once a month to play, and they taught us how to do it and some different games to play while we were there. Gumi is pretty close to Daegu, so it wasn't a bad train ride at all. A small van picked us all up from there to go over to the paintball area outside the city. This place is run by a man who calls himself "Snake." He is a serious badass dude, and he's amazing at paintball. I think he used to be in the military and now runs this place. He does paintball there but also business team building retreats and stuff. Once we arrived, we got all geared up in helmets with masks as well as full canvas suits that, if they were orange, would have made us look like prisoners.
We woke up at 6am, ate a quick breakfast, and grabbed a taxi to go to Camp Kim where the USO-run tour company, Koridoor is based. Koridor offers tours to the De-militarized Zone (DMZ) and Joint Security Area (JSA). Gianni and I took a tour of the DMZ on our first trip to Seoul for Chuseok in 2013, but we didn't know that the best part of these tours in the JSA. Our previous tour didn't include the JSA, and it was more expensive. Having now experience a Koridoor tour and another tour of the same area, I would suggest only going to the DMZ/JSA with Koridoor. Other tours are completely not worth it. Koridoor is definitely the best. I remember looking into the Koridoor tours for our first trip to Seoul, but all the tours were sold out. When we arrived in Seoul and found some information about another tour company going to the DMZ, I thought it would be the same, but now I know it definitely was not. Anyway, Camp Kim is located fairly close to Itaewon, which is why Itaewon has been so built up to cater to foreigners. When you go to the DMZ and JSA, you have to follow dress code--no skirts and short above the knee, no shirts that expose the shoulders, no ripped clothing. You also have to show your passport when you check in, and later, the US military guys who act as your tour guides of the JSA also check them. It takes about an hour to reach the JSA from Camp Kim, and I wasn't feeling great during the ride there, so I kept drinking sips of water. By the time we arrived at the JSA, I had to pee more than I have ever had to in my life! It was a serious emergency. We had to wait at the gate to
Gianni and I took Gage to the most amazing brunch place ever, which we haven't visited since our first time in Seoul. The place is called Tartine. At night, it is a pie cafe, and in the morning, they serve breakfast. There are actually two Tartines across from each other: one is the cafe and the other is a pie bakery. We decided to visit the War Memorial of Korea on the third day in Seoul. Gage is a history buff like me, so I knew it would be right up her alley. The majority of the museum is dedicated to the Korean War with special rooms about ancient wars and current military information. There's even a photo zone set up where you can take a picture promoting Dokdo as Korean territory. Dokdo is a tiny rock island that is disputed territory. The Japanese call it Takashima and the Koreans call is Dokdo. The Korean people will never stop reminding you that it is Korean territory. After our day at the DMZ and JSA, I really felt like I understood way more than I did during my first visit to the museum. The tour just put all the information at the museum in context. We spent the morning and afternoon exploring the museum's two Korean War rooms and looking at all the tanks, missiles, and planes outside. Now for a little bit of history on the Korean War. Please skip if you are uninterested:
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On our last day in Seoul, Marie, Ben, Matthew, and Maria were also there for the long weekend. We met them to have another delicious brunch at a restaurant called Suji's. They even have cinnamon buns at that place, though I didn't get one. We met them after spending an hour or so at the English bookstore in Itaewon called What the Book? Gage wanted to get a Korean War book for her dad. I'm glad I could introduce Gage to a few of my Korean friends. After brunch, we separated from the group. Gage, Gianni, and I were only staying until that night, but everyone else was staying until Tuesday. We took Gage to Gyeongbukgung, the main palace in Seoul previously used by the Kings and Queens of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). Even though the second palace is my favorite, Gyeongbukgung is really important to see when visiting Seoul because of how large and grand it is. We were going to take a tour, but one wasn't starting for a white. Instead, I got an audio guide that was pretty cool. You could touch the end of the machine onto a paper map of the palace and hear about different areas of the palace. Korean Palaces are so completely different from European ones. There are three gates leading into the palace, each gate has a large courtyard behind it. The last gate has a courtyard and the throne hall, the main building of the palace. Behind the throne hall, there are the private residences of the king, and behind that, the private residences of the queen and princess. The prince has separate rooms near the king. Parts of the palace that had been under reconstruction on our last visit were open to the public now, including an area where they used to store all the fermenting jars as well as the kitchens. The kitchens were strange because they were basically a series of open rooms where different stages of food preparation would occur. There was no audio guide for this section, so I'm not totally sure where the actual cooking took place. Gyeongbukgung is very beautiful, featuring several pavilions where the king and queen would entertain guests or relax as well as amazingly detailed paint on buildings. The first week of May had a lot of festivals happening in Korea, and the palace had a Royal Court Culture Festival. We didn't stay to watch the court ceremony that they were doing in the main entrance to the palace, but we did see some soldiers holding flags inside. They looked pretty cool. Luckily, the last day of our trip was the only one that wasn't blazing hot. Gyeongbukgung doesn't offer much sun protection, so I was worried we would fry if it was super hot. Instead, it was windy, which meant that all the brown dust that they cover the courtyards of the palace with blew around a bit. I'm not sure why they covered the palace courtyards with dirt, but I've seen a lot of Asian palaces and none of them have very much grass. I guess it just isn't the way things were done in Asia. We didn't want to go out the back entrance of the palace since it is far from the subway station, but we pointed out the President of Korea's house, the Blue House (because of its blue roof), to Gage. It is behind Gyeongbukgung. Also behind the main palace buildings is the most photographed place in Korea, a pavilion surrounded by a pond where the king and queen would relax. The last building of the palace is a Chinese-style octagonal library building. After a few hours, we were all getting tired, so we took the subway to the train station. I had purchased tickets for a 7pm train, but we were all ready to head back to Daegu by 5pm. I paid a little more and had our tickets upgraded from the slow train to the KTX, and we left Seoul right away. We had a bento box dinner on the train and got home in time to watch a few TV shows and relax.
Gianni had to get up early on Wednesday to start back at school, but I had one more day of total freedom to hang out with Gage. We got up late, and I took her to the bank to change her dollars to won. Gianni's school forgot to pay him on time, so we were seriously running low on cash ourselves. Gage was nice enough to pay for me until Gianni got paid that night and could replenish my bank account. I decided to take her to Apsan, a mountain near our area of Daegu. Gage can't hike at the moment, but I wanted her to be able to see the city from above, so I found out that Apsan has a cable car to the observation deck that Gianni and I have been to twice at night. I've never been during the day though. We got off the bus at the base of the mountain, and it was bit more of an uphill walk than I anticipated to get to the cable car. Thankfully, Gage did quite well with it, and we rested briefly on the way up. It was about a 15 minute walk. A lot of people had gone back to work on Wednesday, so there weren't many people on the mountain or waiting for the cable car. We were two of about 6 in our cable car, and the cable car was running every 15 minutes both up and down the mountain. The view on the way up was lovely, seeing the city peak in between the mountain. Everything is so lush and green right now in Korea. The cable car ride was short and steep, but only cost 9,000 won ($9) per person. Gage said the walk was worth it for the view from the observatory, and I have to agree. I've seen it at night and, now, in the daylight, too, and it is always beautiful. Daegu is a really beautiful city. We could see the way in which the city is built around the many mountains that surround us (Daegu is in a valley). We could see Daegu Tower, built on a small mountain in the middle of the city--just a green space popping out among all the buildings. Gage commented on the apartment complexes and how all the buildings in them are exactly the same height. We took some pictures and rested before heading back down the cable cars. There were some lovely flowers on the mountain that I couldn't help taking pictures of. The walk back down the mountain to the bus stop was much easier than on the way up--downhill! We stopped for a coffee and popsicle on the way down, which was very refreshing after our short hike/walk. By the time we got home on the bus, Gianni was out of school and on the way home. We had tired ourselves out though, so any plans of going downtown for dinner went out the window. Instead, we rested for a few hours and Gage taught me how to play Civilization, a computer game she and Gianni think I would like.For dinner, we went to our favorite restaurant in Sangin: Red Pork! We had to introduce Gage to the red pork Lady and have her try some real Korean barbecue. We also got amazing milk shakes for dessert afterwards--I was so full! When we got home, we watched The Conjuring because Gianni wanted to me to watch it, and Gage said it was good.
