So we finally had some time off work. Lorraine, Nathan and Anthony and I all went to Seoul from Wednesday to Friday. We arrived in the afternoon on Wednesday, and after dropping our stuff off at the motel, we went to Gyeongbok Palace, which Anthony was excited about, but which actually felt like a little Forbidden Temple to Lorr and I. It was still cool to wander through all the courtyards. Then we walked through Insadong, which is a popular, traditional street/area, with lots of shops. Nearby was Poshingak Pavillion, which houses a bell that is only rung three times a year, one of those being New Year's Eve. It's kind of Seoul's equivalent of Times Square. We stayed around that area for the rest of the evening. Near midnight, the streets around it were absolutely packed. We tried to get near the bell around midnight, but we ended up just being squashed by the crowd as it pushed towards and was pushed from the bell. It was crazy. Everyone was buying or selling (and setting off) little stick-like, hand-held fire-crackers. At midnight, so many were set off that it was impossible to look up at the sky without getting ash in your eyes. We all got little burnholes in our coats. It was great!
The next day we went back to Insadong and wandered around a little more, then to Itaewon, which is the foreigner's area. In the evening, we took the cable car up to the top of Seoul Tower to look out at the lights of Seoul. They never stop.
On Friday we went to the War Memorial, which is also a huge museum. It was pretty interesting, covering warfare in Korea throughout history. There was a lot of stuff on the Korean War, though a lot of it was written in only Korean. Actually, from what I understand, they only translate passages relating to victories for the Koreans into English. Any losses are only in Korean. In the afternoon went to another market, but it was kind of a confusing place. We spent a long time trying to figure out where we were supposed to be, and then a while wandering inside a textile factory before we found the area we were looking for. But it was good. All in all, it was a really nice break from teaching and Changwon.
Anyway, now we're back into the swing of things, and counting down from the six months mark, instead of counting up toward it. It's good. As Lorraine says excitedly, we have less teaching days this half of the year than last.
- Marie 05/01/04 |
