일월 (설날과 서울여행) | January Monthly Report (Lunar New Year and Seoul Trip)

This month, I began my two-month break from school. On my blog, I already summarized what happened during the first few weeks of break. During these weeks, I celebrated New Year’s Day, went skating, visited my extended host family in Gwangju, and attended my school’s English Camp. After the English Camp, I went to visit Sejin, one of my counselors from Korean Camp, in Suwon. In this monthly report, I will instead talk about the things following the trip to Suwon in more detail.

One of the major Korean holidays during this month was 설날 (Seolnal), the Lunar New Year, which was celebrated on January 23^rd. During this holiday, much like 추석 (Chuseok), which is a holiday I experienced earlier in my year here, Korean families go to the towns that their ancestors are from. Unfortunately, my new host family could not bring me with them because of a space issue, but I was able to spend the week surrounding the holiday at my first host family’s house instead. During this holiday, I was able to participate in 세배 (Sebae), a traditional activity during which the children of a family bow to their elders, receiving money in return. We also visited their ancestor’s graves and went on a hike during the holiday, along with eating the traditional soup 떡국 (Tteokguk). During the holiday, everyone advances in age by the Korean system of age, which makes me 20 years old here, even though I am still only 18 in the system used elsewhere.

 

쫑구 (Jjonggu), my first host family's dog and my exchange mascot, was happy to see me again.

The other major event that happened was that we went on our Rotary Trip to Seoul. To do this, we five exchange students took the train from Seocheon to meet with 지원 (Ji-won) and 효림 (Hyo-rim), two past outbound students from Donggang Junior High School who were showing us around the first day. The first place we went was to Gyeonbukgung Palace and Gwanghwamun. Although I visited some of the complex around these when I was here before with Sejin, this time I was able to see more of the attraction, which was very interesting to see.

 

Part of the Gyeonbukgung Palace Grounds

After seeing the Palace grounds, we went to Insadong and had tea, following which we shopped a little bit in the market. After being here, we went to a department store and spent our evening walking along Cheong-gye-cheon, a reclaimed stream that goes through part of the city. That night, we stayed at a place called “Rainbow Guest”, which was a nice bed and breakfast sort of place.

 

Salmulnori band in Insadong

The next day, we met up with another past exchange student, 예은 (Yea-eun), and went to the Korean Basketball League All-Star Game, which was a very unique and interesting experience. There were actually a lot of similarities to sporting events that I have seen in the US, but it seemed mainly to me as if the Korean style was more focused on making a show of the experience, while in the US, it would be more about the game. After the game, I was able to go up Namsan Mountain again to see N Seoul Tower. From there we walked to Seoul Myeongdong House, which was our place to stay for the night. At this house, we got to know one of the other guests, Richelle, who was visiting Seoul for a few days before embarking on an adventure to study in China. It was interesting to talk with someone who was just embarking on her adventure from the position at the midpoint of mine.

 

At the Basketball Game

On the last day of the trip, we went to the theme park Lotte World, which was a fun way of ending the trip. After we finished there, we went back to the train station to take our train back home. Originally, we were supposed to go on to have three more days in Daejeon, but those plans fell through. I was not to upset though, because I found myself rather exhausted by the intense trip that we had taken to see the city of Seoul.

Lotte World

수원하고 서울 | Suwon and Seoul

Last weekend, I went to Suwon to visit Sejin, one of the counselors I met at 숲속의 호수 (Sup Sogui Hosu), the Korean Camp at Concordia Language Villages. While there, I also got to see a lot of the city of Seoul, which I considered my first real visit to the city, because I had only seen a museum there during my first visit to the city. Upon visiting it, I felt that Seoul was definitely one of my favorite cities in the world.

To go to Suwon, I took the train from Gunsan. For me, the train ride was already an interesting experience, because it isn’t really a travel option for me in the United States. I have taken trains before, but never as the only mode of transportation for a trip and also never alone. It was not too difficult to do the trip though, because I only had to take one train and get off at the correct stop. In Suwon Station, I met with Sejin and we took the bus over to his apartment so that I could leave my bag there. After having lunch with him and his wife, I was going to be spending the day in Seoul. To get there, Sejin and I took a bus from Suwon to Seoul. It was a long trip, but Sejin had a movie on his computer that we watched.

Seoul Subway Car

Once in Seoul, we got onto the Subway and went to Insadong, which is a district of the city that has many more traditional shops. Where we first walked into the main street, a large crowd had gathered around a group performing traditional dance. They were wearing masks and were accompanied by musicians playing the traditional Samulnori instruments. From there, we walked down the street, looking at the many shops. One of the most memorable for me was a large tea shop that had free samples of their tea from Jeju Island. We got into the line that had formed inside the shop and had some of the best green tea I have ever tasted.

The Dancers at Insadong

From the market, we walked a few blocks away to wander the streets of the Bukchon Hanok Village. A hanok is a traditional Korean house, and this area was notable for the sheer quantity of them being preserved in one place. It was interesting to see the beautiful architecture of the houses in this part of the city. While we were looking around, there was a Chinese travel show that was also filming in the area, so there is a possibility that we might have made it onto Chinese television.

Sejin and I at the Hanok Village

After seeing the Hanok Village, we walked over to the National Folk Museum at Gyeonbokgung. It was part of a large complex around Gyeonbokgung Palace. We looked at some of the buildings in the area that we didn’t have to pay for, as I might be going back to see the Palace during the Rotary-sponsored Seoul Trip that I will be taking later in the month. From there, we walked by Gwanghwamun, the Gate to the Palace, and over to Cheonggyecheon, which is a reclaimed stream that goes through part of the city. Along the stream, they had walkways, bridges, art, and greenery that made it into an interesting walk.

We turned off from Cheonggyecheon after a few blocks, and we went to Namdaemun Market, which is one of the busiest market districts in Seoul. It was rather overwhelming, because there were people everywhere. Our major stop here was to get dinner. We went to a noodle shop, named 명동교자, that had extremely good food and was apparently rather well-known. When we went in, the restaurant was rather crowded, but we were able to get a spot very quickly, but when we were leaving, the line stretched out the door.

Namdaemun Market

Once we left Namdaemun Market, we took a cab to Namsan Mountain to see the North Seoul Tower (also called Namsan Tower). To get up the mountain and to the tower, we climbed up the stairs instead of taking the cable car that most people take, which has a very long wait. As soon as we reached the tower, they announced that they would be starting the tower light show, so we sat down, and watched the light show that was projected onto the Tower. We were extremely happy with our good timing to see that show. Although we didn’t go up to the observation deck on the tower, we admired the view and the attractions around the base of the tower. One of the most interesting of these attractions is the many locks that are attached to the fence on part of the viewing space on the top of the mountain. The reason for these are that couples will write a love message on a lock, attach it to the fence, and then throw the keys for the lock over the fence. After we finished at Namsan Tower, we took a bus to get back down. Because of the large demand to go up and down the mountain, the bus was one of the most crowded that I have been on. When we got down from the mountain, we took the bus back to Suwon and went to bed very tired.

Namsan Tower During the Light Show

The next day, I went with Sejin and his wife to pick up their kids from their Grandparents house in a nearby city. I spent most of the day with the whole family. We did not do as much on this day, because I was very tired, but I got to see more of the city of Suwon. We visited one of Suwon’s major attractions, Hwaseong, a fortress wall that extends around the main part of the city. Here, I walked around part of the wall with Sejin and his daughter. It was interesting to see the ties to all of Korea’s history still being visible in a major way. Most of that day, I got to spend with Sejin and his family, which was something that I really appreciated, but the next morning I had to take the train back to Gunsan.

크리스마스! | Christmas!

First off, I would like to address the thing that everyone has been asking – how has South Korea been changing with the death of Kim Jong-Il, the leader of North Korea? Well, I waited an extra week just to see if things would change, but really things have not really changed at all for me. I don’t feel like anything major will happen, but we will just have to wait and see. But, on a lighter note, I want to talk about the exciting Christmas weekend that I have been having, which certainly defied my expectations.

The weekend really began on Friday, because my school had a field trip to Seoul that I had forgotten about until the night before. For this field trip, we went to the National Museum of Korea, which was quite an interesting attraction that was advertised as the Ninth most visited museum in the world. When we got there, we were allowed to go around and look at the museum during the morning to meet back for lunch at the food court. My favorite part of the exhibit was definitely the collection of paintings, but what sticks in my memory best were the statues on display and the interesting building that it was all contained inside. I also ended up buying some pins for my rotary blazer from the gift shop.

The inside of the museum

After a really good lunch, we went to a musical at the Yong Theater, which was in a different part of the same building. Although, I was expecting it to be one full musical, it was actually a story made up of songs from several musicals, quite a few of which I had already heard before. When the show started, I was surprised, because they were performing all the songs in Korean, which really made the performance even more exciting. Although I did not really understand the story that they were using to tie the songs together, I really enjoyed hearing the familiar songs in Korean.

Once the musical was finished, we went back home. I was a little sad that we were not going to get to see more of the city, so I tried to take some pictures of the buildings we were passing. I look forward to going back soon, as I had a great time and Seoul seems to have much more to offer.

This is only a small piece of Seoul

The next day, it was Christmas Eve, but in the morning, I was feeling very sad. This was because I had been feeling very disappointed with the level of my Korean for the last couple weeks. I was very pleased when my host sister gave me the gifts from her and my family to me, pins for my blazer and warm socks. It does not really sound like much, but I really liked recieving these gifts along with the gifts from the other exchange students on the Thursday before (a touque, some candy, and a few Korean knick-knacks). That afternoon, my host family also paid for me to go see a movie at the theater, so I was able to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which I really enjoyed.

Although I was not expecting it, later that afternoon, my host family’s extended family began to arrive. That night, we had a big dinner with everyone having arrived. Afterwards, I went outside with my host siblings and two of their cousins to play in the snow that had fallen that day, just in time for a White Christmas. We had a short snowball fight, and then made snowmen. Again, although it seems really simple, this was just what I needed to feel like I fit in with my new host family.

Some of the family preparing the table for our Christmas Eve Dinner.

On Christmas morning, I slept in, but I got up in time to have breakfast with everyone. Not much happened in the morning. There was no Christmas tree in our house or gifts to open; it was just time to relax at our house. When it came time for lunch, my family told me that we were going out for lunch, so I grabbed my coat. A few days before, we had gone to the same restaurant. When we had been there before, there were not many people there, but this time, even though it was Christmas, the place was full.

After lunch, I surprised yet again, when we went to a nearby amusement park. Since I had thought that we were just going to be gone for lunch, I had not grabbed my hat or gloves, so my hands were very cold after the many rides that my host cousins made me go on with them. I had a great time at the amusement park though, but I also forgot to bring my camera with me, so I will just have to go back. They also have an ice rink there, so I might get to go skating sometime, which would be nice. Once we finished at the amusement park, the extended family had to head home, which was the end of my Christmas weekend celebration.

Probably the most interesting thing about the way Christmas is done here is that it is not a time when everyone gets a break from school. I was lucky that it fell on a Sunday, or I would have gone to school for Christmas. Unlike in the United States where break goes for the week or two around Christmas and New Years, our winter break starts after this next week and stretches through both January and February. During that “break”, I do spend a week at school for an English Camp and the Graduation Ceremony for my grade (The school year here runs differently from the way in the US. In the US, grades switch during Summer break; here, they switch during the Winter break). During this last week before break, the exchange students at my school have a test on our Korean. Our school gave us a few of the tests from the previous years, and I did pretty well. The real test for me is that I am pushing myself to use my Korean more, because the score on the test is not as important as whether I can get as comfortable with the language as I want myself to.

부산 | Busan

This weekend, I was able to go to Busan, which is South Korea’s second largest city. I organized this trip in order to see Aidan, Cassandra, and Nasiba, the three other exchange students from Central States Rotary Youth Exchange. I also was able to stay with Hwa, who had been the Inbound student in my District from South Korea last year.

On Friday morning, my host father brought me to the bus station in Gunsan. I was a little tired, but I was also very excited about going on the trip, so I couldn’t sleep on the bus. The bus was also overbooked, so they brought out extra chairs to put in the aisle for people who must have gotten their tickets later. I had brought things to do during the four hour bus ride, but instead, I spent the time taking in the scenery that we were driving past. When I got to the station in Busan, I called Hwa to let him know that my bus had arrived. I was going to meet him at a subway station near his house, so I told him that I was on my way. I also bought my return ticket for going back on Monday. I had prepared a card that said which bus I needed to give to the person at the ticket booth. That was a very good idea, because the line was a little long and I would have felt bad if I had to try to explain what I needed in Korean and held everyone up. I was also wanting to be sure that I had the correct ticket.

After getting the ticket, I went to the subway station to get on the train. I had planned it out beforehand and knew where I would have to switch trains. I also found out that my bus card for Seocheon would work on the subway, but I thought I should try getting an actual ticket. I had to watch how to do it over someone’s shoulder (Note to anyone going to Busan: you have to hit the line number of the station at the top of the screen first), but I was able to get the ticket on my second try. When I got to the station I was going to, I was able to find Hwa pretty easily, then we went to his apartment, so I could drop off my stuff.

I stayed in an apartment near the top of the shorter apartment building in the middle of this picture

After that, we went to the Shinsegae Shopping Mall, the largest department store in the world. It was interesting, because instead of being spread out, it went upwards, having many floors. We first went to a bookstore, where I bought two books: a Korean version of  The Davinci Code by Dan Brown, which I chose because of it’s short chapters that I felt were more reasonable to translate, and, by Hwa’s recommendation, the first volume in the Korean version of the comic series 명탐정 코난 (Detective Conan – The english version is called Case Closed) by Gosho Aoyama, which is originally a Japanese manga. Then, we also went to the food court and had Italian food, which was the first time I had eaten Italian food in over two months (I don’t count the Korean pizza, because it is very different).

Shinsegae

Later in the day, we were able to meet up with Aidan and Nasiba to watch the Busan International Fireworks Festival. We watched from the Haeundae side of Gwangan Bridge, where there were less people (but still a lot of them). There was a drizzle of rain, but we hoped that it would hold off because we didn’t bring any umbrellas. Unfortunately, it didn’t hold off, so we got very wet, but a nice lady let us share space under her umbrella. In spite of the rain, the fireworks were absolutely amazing.

This wasn't even the halfway point

The next day, I went to church with Hwa’s family. The interesting part of this was that High school students didn’t go to the actual church. Instead, we went to a building next door, where they had a service for only the high school students that was divided up by grade. Afterwards, we went to the UN Korean War Memorial Cemetery. It was very interesting to see, because it really brought the war into perspective for me, especially with how important the role of the United Nations was in helping Korea.

Part of the Memorial

Once we finished seeing this, we went to Seomyeon, an underground shopping mall, where we had lunch and then met up with Aidan and Cassandra. The four of us did some shopping then went to see the movie In Time. In Korea, English films are subtitled, so we could understand things just as well as the Koreans. Everyone in our group agreed that the movie was very good. After the movie we met up with Nasiba and one of her friends from school, then went for dinner at the American chain restaurant TGI Fridays where we met up with the German exchange student, Clara, and one of her friends. After dinner, I said goodbye to the other exchange students and Hwa and I went back to his house. We went to bed early, because I would have to take the subway across town to the bus station early in the morning.

The next day, the ride home was also very easy. The real challenge in traveling came when I actually got to Gunsan, because I still had to get across the river to go home. I had planned on taking the local bus, but the schedule at the bus stop by the station was very confusing. I was thinking that I would just have to get on whatever bus came and hoping it worked out, but I was tired from the trip from Busan. I ended up taking a taxi back, which was very expensive. It cost more than the four hour ride to Busan, but I felt that it was worth it to know that I was going to be heading in the right direction.

I think that this trip was very good for me to take, because it allowed me to see a little bit of how life would have been if I had been placed with the other students that went to Busan. I realized that although I loved my time there and look forward to going back, the best place for me is in Seocheon. One of the major things that prompted this thought was Hwa’s mother saying that my Korean was much better than she expected from an exchange student after two months. I feel that it is only because I have been doing a lot of studying in class and outside of school here, which I probably wouldn’t have been able to do as well in the city, because of how easily I would get distracted with all the things to do and learn about. To me, It seems as if the students in the city are getting to see more of the culture, while I am getting to do more with the language. Although I won’t get to see as much as some of those students will, it just gives me an excuse to come back.