Seoul!!!!

Okay I am back to posting! Sorry for the long delay, I was really sick for a while so I would just come to work and do my best to survive the day then go home and sleep until work the next day. Thank God that is over with.

But anyway I went to Seoul and it is such an amazing city. Really I only saw one small part of it but I think it is like the time square part of new york. So it was really fun.

I met a Korean friend there that I was hooked up with through another friend in the states and he was super cool. He showed me around and helped me when I took the wrong exit from the subway.

Oh! quick funny prestory. On my way to Seoul after work I hopped on the subway but I left at like 7pm so the subway starts closing down cars after rush hour. Everything is in Korean so I have no clue that my subway car is getting closed down before I get to my destination and then some Korean dude came up and grabbed my knee and said "last stop." So fortunately, once again super nice Korean people saved me again.

So back to Seoul. The main station was super confusing so i went out the wrong subway exit but Calvin (my new Korean buddy) was resourceful and he found me. First off, Seoul is HUGE, like HUMONGEOUS! Yeah everywhere I look the buildings are 15+ stories high for as far as I can see. There are thousands of people on the streets and hundreds of vendors everywhere on the streets. And plenty of 위극인 (foreigners like me) too. There is a good chance I totally did that word wrong, but since I am really trying to learn Korean I like when i get the chance to use it.

Anyway we went to eat this really really good Military Soup i think it was called. Because after the Korean War the people were too poor and didnt have much to eat so the US military had ham and sausages which they gave to the Koreans and the Koreans combined that with their own food. So it is a soup with a very spicy red broth and many different vegtables and ham and sausage. Sooooo very tastey. And of course we had the side dishes too which is some very spicy kimchi (김치) and some japanese fish like things and more. Sooo good! Every Korean food that I have tasted I have really enjoyed so far.

Then we went to a really famous stream in Seoul called Cheonggye (I think). It is a stream that runs through a very well known part of the city. It is basically like a long narrow park that lots of people go to hang out in. During the day families are hopping across the rocks in the stream to the other side and at night couples and friends are sitting next to the stream just hanging out. It is very peaceful and everything is artificial so once again it's very clean and comfortable.

Also there are loads of bridges that go over the stream since it is like a story down from ground level, hmm hard to describe. But yeah you look down on the whole mini-park/stream place from the sidewalk on the street above and you go down a story of stairs to get there.
But back to the bridges. The bridges represent history and on the walls all the way from the start of the stream for probably miles are these very well done asian art style murals in tile that show lots of Korean history and culture. They have lots of the Chinese writing that the Koreans used to use then a explanation in Hangul and then much to my suprise there was en explanation in English too. Calvin and I read them for a while until we got bored at looking at soo many because it goes on for a long time.

So on one of the bridges there is this awesome lights and music show! Yeah all for free and it was pretty cool and high tech. So there are these really powerful mist machines then a lazer light thing that really plays tricks on the eyes as it reflects off the really thick mist. I am sorry my explanation sucks but it looked pretty cool. Calvin and I were just lucky enough to be there when it happened because the signs said we came at the wrong time.

Okay, then we went and cruized around the city a little bit more until we got to another big open plaza area with fountains and a giant statue of one of Koreas really famous generals that fought off the japanese. He invented the turtle boat and fought the Japanese very succesfully until he died in battle... and I cant remember his name : / sorry. Anyways that was awesome and there was a lot about Korean history there which was interesting.

So to wrap up the night we saw where the embassy was and a giant gate! like a freaking huge gate which apparently hosts the Korean national building which is "The Blue House."


Oh and one of my favorite things is there is some new program in Seoul for a transportation system or who knows what? (definately not me) but the mascot for the program is a 'Haechi' which is probably spelt like this: 해치 or 핯이. I think the first one. Anyways you know those asian gargoyle like things that stand infront of their gates and houses, yeah that is a haechi. Anyways check out the picture of one made out of plant.




Well in the end I got home from Seoul and it was a load of fun. Getting home consists of me getting on a bus that goes within 10 minutes walk of my house but I have no clue what stop to get off at so I tell the bus driver where I need to get off and hope he remembers to tell me when that is. It has worked out 2 times now and I still dont have the hang of it, everything in Korea looks to foreign for me, so to identify one place over another from a bus window is near impossible.

Anyways I am really trying to learn Korean and really failing very hard becuase I can't think of any good way to do it. I tried buying a book for it and I have been trying to make Korean friends but time is an issue for me and them. But I am not terribly worried, I will figure it out eventually. I am open to ideas.

안녕히 나ㅅ세요