Videos!!

So I figured out how to get videos onto my blog (kind of and with Scott's help) I have to post them to youtube and then put a link in my blog.

First video is of my apartment - at the botom of the "My Apartment" section

The next three are from the Folk Village - they are at the very bottom of the blog under the "First Weekend in Korea" section

Enjoy!!

Ian's Last Day in Korea

Ian and I spent Wednesday afternoon in downtown Seoul. We walked around the city hall area and saw a bunch of cool buildings. It was a pretty area with lots of trees and lots of art on the streets. The Seoul Museum of Art and a big theater was there too. We then wandered down to see Namdaemun gate and market. However, the Namdaemun gate is gone!!! It was destroyed in a fire last year. They are working on restoring it but it was quite a shock not to see the iconic Namdaeumun gate...very sad. Namdaemun Market was insane as always. Everything you could ever possibly want to buy you could find here. We wandered through the streets until it started to rain and then headed back home.

Picture 1 - Namdaemun Gate restoration

Picture 2 - Ian in Namdaemun market

We picked up a few groceries and a few last things for my apartment. We also discovered that McDonalds delivers here...order over the phone and the McDonalds scooter will deliver to your apartment...pretty amazing.


Picture 3 - McDonalds delivery

My New Home!!!

So I am finally settled into my appartment. It took most of the weekend to have it cleaned and get the few things I needed (dishes, bedding, etc.) But I am finally settled and it feels like home.

My apartment is located on a major street in the Seoucho-Gu area of Seoul. It is a newer building and in a great location.

Picture 1 - My street infront of my apartment

Picture 2 - My apartment building

My apartment is very nice on the inside. It is fairly modern

and has a lot of great features (like a rice storage bin/dispenser) It is pretty small but has a lot of closets and cabinets so I have had no problems with storage.

It has a large regrigerator and even a freezer, which is much more than I expected. There is a small stovetop but no oven or microwave...which could make cooking a bit trickier.

Picture 3 - My kitchen

My bathroom is pretty typical for Korea. No actual shower but a shower head that just drains into the drain between the sink and toilet. needless to say, shower shoes are requred since the entire bathroom floor is usually kind of wet. It is a nice bathroom though and is very modern.

Picture 4 - my bathroom

My windows look at the apartment building next to me so there is not much of a view but atleast I have a wall of windows!!

Picture 5 - apartment again

And Mom, my apartment is very secure...no need to worry. The entrance to it is locked and you need a magnetic "key" to get in or get buzzed in by the security guard. Then the door to my apartment has a key pad so you have to enter the code to get in. Once inside it automatically locks behind you. You even have to press a button once inside if you want the door to unlock again. There is also a security camera attached to my doorbell. I can look at my monitor in my apartment at whoever is out in the hallway. Pretty cool stuff!! My favorite safty feature is the large hook in my concrete wall (all the walls are concrete...no noisy neighbor issues!!) If I need to escape out my 8th floor window, I have a large safty harness and rope to rapel myself down the the apartment building from the hook...pretty cool.

My only complaint is that my washing machine is not the super cool one with the drying feature I thought. It does extra spin cycles for clothes come out not soaking wet but I still had to instal a clothesline to dry my clothes from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QutDMJ5-ue8

This is a video of my apartment (I can't post video's directly to my blog so I have to post them on youtube.)

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Ian and I visited the Gyongbokgung Palace today. It was absolutely beautiful. When we arrived we just happened to be right on time for the English tour that was about to start. We joined the tour group which was actually quite interesting...we also got our fill of Westerners.

Gyongbokgung was built by King Taejo, the founder of the Joseon dynasty and was the principle palace until 1592 when it was burned down during Japanese invasions. It was in

ruins for 300 years until it was rebuilt by Heugseon Daewongun started to rebuild it in 1865. However, during the Japanese colonial rule (early 1900's) 90% of the palace grounds and buildings were destroyed.

Well, today when we went it was like stepping back into the 1600's. The place is a vast area full of beautiful traditional Korean buildings and many ponds, pretty trees, and shaded walkways. It is so amazing how much status and hierarchy plays a role in Korean history and even present day Korea. Every walk way, building entrance, building, etc. had separate areas for the King, the royal family, and then the officials. Event he officials had to stand and walk according to rank. It is quite amazing.

Everyone also had their own buildings. There was the main building where official ceremonies took place, the King's living quarters, the King's studying building, the Queen's living quarters, the concubines' living quarters, the King's mother's building, etc. Everyone had their own space and never really went into buildings that were not intended for them.

Also, the queen had the worst job ever! She was chosen by the King's mother (via an application process of sorts) and then had to take care of everyone in the palace and could never leave or really even go outside. She had to care for the children, the King's concubines, and be the "lady of Korea." If she did not have any boys, she would have to raise the male child the King had with one of his concubines. The poor woman!! However, once she became the mother of the King, then she had a lot more power and a pretty nice building all to herself.

My favorite place in the palace was the Hyangwonjeong. It is a little pond with a beautiful little pavilion on and island in the middle. It is where the royal family go to hang out. Ian and I took several pictures here to add to my family's collection of pictures taken from the same site. All in all it was a pretty fun day.

Friday = DMZ Day

Ian again....

Just in case you didn't know, today I went to the De-militarized Zone. The invisible line that divides North and South Korea extends more than 240 km across the Korean Peninsula and is the most heavily fortified border in the world. Touring this border is something different from any experience most people have had, and aside from my previous visit to Auschwitz, was one of the most sobering and humbling experiences I have ever had.

I found that the best tour is given from the USO (United Service Organization) in Seoul. The tour begins with the 1.5 hour drive to the DMZ region which is only about 55 km away from Seoul. The bus follows the Han river as it winds its way north, along which the entire river is fortified with 10 ft barb wire fences and guard towers every 300 yards, most of which are empty. Keep in mind this is still very much in South Korea, but it just protects the river in the event of North Korean marine infantry incursions from the River. Upon arriving to the region of the DMZ the entry point is crossing the Han river into the security area, crossing over the Unity Bridge; which looks more like the "If you so much as flinch we are blowing you off this bridge" Bridge. On either end there are heavily armed guard posts, with thick extend able bars that can go across to seal off the bridge on both ends. Driving along this 4 lane bridge there are blockades covered in spikes and alternate in a pattern so as to force any vehicles crossing it to zig zag across it so as to limit speed. My favorite piece of equipment were steel barrels turned on their sides covered in spikes that can be quickly rolled out to block any vehicles trying to make it across the bridge.

Upon passing the bridge we made our way to the Joint Security Area (JSA) which is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Military Command (UNMC). This is basically the place where on the actual Armistice line the two Korea's share a compound and interact with one and other. As we entered the JSA we were met by two US Army soldiers who checked our passports and boarded our bus on its way to the US/ROK (Republic of Korea) military camp within the JSA. There are approximately 700 soldiers stationed at the JSA camp, of which 95% are ROK troops. One of the advantages of the USO tour, it was accompanied with a tour and escort from American Soldiers. After a brief video detailing the history of the DMZ we were taken on a tour through the military camp, past the worlds most dangerous golf course, a 192 yd Par 3 hole which has actual concrete bunkers around the green instead of sand and is over watched by North Korean soldiers in guard towers not more than 200 yards away.

We were driven out of the US military camp and into the actual JSA compound which is full of both USMC troops and KPA troops(Korean Peoples Army/North Koreans). The Military Demarcation Line (MDL/Armistice Line) runs down the middle of the JSA compound. Of which 50% of the buildings belong to the UNMC and 50% belong to the KPA and the Chinese observers, who no longer come. From there we were first taken into the Freedom Building which is where the North and South Korean family reunions were supposed to take place, which is just 50 feet on the South Korean side of the MDL, but the North Koreans later refused to do meetings there. The US soldiers then escorted us into the blue UN buildings that have served as the negotiating rooms for many historical meetings. In the rooms I was able to step a whole 10 feet into North Korea. The room was divided in half by the conference table in the middle, and the door on the opposite end was guarded by an ROK soldier who would not allow any tourists to pass and reach that door. The US soldiers told us they would use enough force to put you on the ground if you tried to step past them. We were told many horror stories of the past 60 years in which troops have been murdered there by the North Koreans including the 1973 Axe Murders and the 1984 Cafeteria Machine Gunning. There has not been a shootout in the JSA since 1984.

We left the JSA with a great respect for what the ROK and US soldiers go through as part of the UNMC assignment there. On our way out we were taken to Observation Post Dora where we had a great view of the North Korean propaganda village with its 160 meter tall flag post as compared to the South Korean villages 100 meter tall flag post. The flag on the North Korean pole is the largest in the world, at over 100' long and weighing 600 lbs when it is dry. We were also able to get a tremendous view of the entire expanse of the DMZ on both sides of the border, with the North Korean side devoid of trees since they have chopped all their forests down for firewood in the winter to keep themselves warm. As with most areas in the DMZ we were not allowed to take pictures. From here we would have easily been able to take pictures of the South Korean fortifications which are extensive, and include tank traps, mine fields, guard posts, and lots and lots of barb wire. We drove through several tank traps on the roads which are basically giant boxes on both sides of the roads that when a tank drives through they explode inward and crush the tank, I was praying for no malfunctions today.

Following the observation tour we visited the 3rd Tunnel of Aggression, the 3 of 4 tunnels discovered by the South as part of a network of tunnels dug by the North Koreans under the DMZ so that they can launch a surprise attack on Seoul without having to break through the DMZ fortification. The 3rd tunnel was discovered in 78 and and the 4th was discovered in 1990. This tunnel is roughly 220 feet under the ground and runs for over 1.6 km of which we were able to walk through about 300 meters. Keep in mind that this tunnel was built for North Koreans, so pretty much all the other Americans on the tour were hunched over walking through this tunnel which at times was only about 4.5 feet tall. Keep in mind we did this for about half a mile there and back, so my back was pretty dang sore by the time we got back to the part of the tunnel where we could actually stand. It gave me quite a dreadful feeling of claustrophobia, I was pretty thankful when we turned around.

Those were the highlights of the tour, with some miscellaneous details i left out. Good work if you kept up with all the acronyms, ROK, UNMC, DMZ, KPA, MDL, and JSA. Everyone should tour it at some point, I highly recommend it.

Thrusday Adventures

Thursday, August 20th

So today was a fun day. We started by going to the National Medical Center. We saw that it was going to be a rainy day so thinking ahead I grabbed my raincoat and umbrella. We made it to the center in a decent rainstorm and finally found the right building after several people gestured and told us round-about ways to go. Once there I received my hospital card and was informed to go to several different areas in a large room for quite a variety of tests. They first got my blood pressure, weight, and height (all automated and entered into a computer that held all my personal data...very efficient) I then had my "dentist" check and "physical exam" both of which mostly involved a series of questions. Then I had to give two urine samples and they then took 3 vials of blood. Lastly they sent me back to the main building for chest x-rays. All of this only took about a half and hour. It was extremely efficient.

Once we got outside there was a full on monsoon going on. It was insane...we were drenched within seconds of being outside. It seems that most people just find shelter until the intense downpour stops and only a light rain is left...we did not discover this until after we were dripping with water inside the metro station.

Once back we took a bit of a break and found some dry clothes. We ate some good kim bab (kind of like california rolls) and went to a PC Bang (PC Room = Internet cafe) We did some emailing and web surfing due to the fact that our internet we mooch off of in the hotel is pretty slow.

All the PC bangs are set up for gamers...it is only 1000W for an hour and they all have computer games pre-loaded. I think Korea is the only country that has computer games as a spectator sport. There is seriously a channel that just show people having contests playing Star Craft (some computer game) with a huge audience watching and cheering them on. Occasionally they also play wii games or some other game but mostly star craft. 9The picture is of the giant tv screen in our hotel room)

This evening we took a walk up to the Seoul Performing Arts Center which is just up the street from me. It was a beautiful complex with great views of the city. We found a Lotte Super on the way back (multi-level shopping store) which I was pretty excited to find.

Tomorrow is my last day of training at my school and Ian will be visiting the DMZ which I'm sure he will have pictures to post and information to write.

Monday through Wednesday

This is Ian, Lindseys early week has been boring, shes already a slave to the Korean working market. So here's my quick and ugly run down on the first 3 days on my own in Korea.

Monday, I embarked on an adventure to the COEX mall and World Trade Center. The COEX mall is an absolutely gigantic underground labyrinth of shops and eateries that stretches for nearly a kilometer under several blocks of Seoul. It is very nice, very American-esque shoping mall, except for the whole subteranean shopping experience. The real reason I went there was for the largest aquarium in Seoul. Shocking, I know. Well needless to say, the Korean take on aquariums is a bit different than the American. American aquariums generally strive to create as natural an environment for the fish and animals as possible, Koreans seek comedy I am pretty sure. While they did have the standard environmental specific areas, they also had some rather interesting choices of fish tanks; such as the refrigerator fish tank, the harp fish tank (which actually played music as fish swam past light beams), the phone booth fish tank, and the ever popular PC fish tank. All and all a rather interesting experience. Lindsey and I surmised that they either take incredibly good care of their fish or turn through them pretty fast. I am putting my bet on the latter.

Tuesday, was my visit to the Korean War Memorial & Museum which was the coolest thing I have seen so far here in Seoul. An absolutely collasal structure, with grounds filled with fountains and serentity ponds next to obsolete military equipment. Tanks, missles, helicopters, and a wide variety of aircraft, including a full B-52 bomber. Inside was a museum detailing the history of Korean warfare, since the conflicts with the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty up to the modern Korean military 'superiority'. They are very proud of the Republic of Korea (ROK) army and its ability to beat the North Koreans should it come to that. Its was a pretty interesting museum, if not a little long. They had replicas of ancient Turtle Warships used to defeat the Japanese, and re-enactments of the battles during the Korean War. For the folks more interested in the humantarian side they even had a mock refugee camp you could walk through to experience what the women and children of the korean conflict went through. It took about 3 hours to experience the history of Korean warfare, and by that time I was fairly spent and decided to retire.

Wednesday, was a big more low key and unambitious. Just a short jaunt to the National Museum of Korea, which features ancient artifacts and historical works of art. I wasn't exactly engrossed by the historical artifacts and art work, not really my style, I am more into the war museum's death and dismemberment theme. Regardless, the most impressive thing there was actually the building itself. An oppulent, modernistic, and absolutely mammoth building. Quite gorgeous actually, the interior was all white marble and they clearly spared no expense. After 3 hours of basically being bored and with the afternoon heat and humidity at full force I decided to retreat to the safety of my air conditioned hotel room. Its way too hot here. Thats all for now folks.

First Weekend in Korea

Friday, August 14th

So Ian and I have had a great first couple of days in Korea. We arrived on Friday evening, August 14th. The flight was long but good. Asiana airlines was a great airline. They took very good care of us and we had our own tv's which helped the 12 hours past a bit more quickly. After gathering our many bags we easily found the bus we needed to take to meet Benjamin. The bus was a charter bus which was nice being that we were on it for a little over an hour. Benjamin was there waiting

for us and after the poor guy put all 4 of the bags in his tiny car he drove us to the hotel. It was much better than we were expecting. It's small but clean, safe, and nice. The bed is ridiculously hard but I can move into my apartment on Saturday. It is quite literally across the ally/street and down 2 buildings so the move should be quite easy. We were very exhausted so went to bed and woke up to explore Seoul the next day!


Saturday, August 15th

We were up pretty early today due to the time change and highly uncomfortable bed. We got ready and headed out to Itaewon...the "American" shopping area in hopes of finding a cell phone rental place. We did not realize that the best and one of the only places to rent was at the airport. It took us a bit to figure out the subway system but a very nice Korean woman who did not speak a word of English was eager to help us through very fast Korean speaking and large hand motions. We thanked her for her help and headed on our way. Itaewon did not have any such places and had a lot of tourists and Americans due the the nearby base so we decided to head somewhere else. We got back on the subway and headed for the nice looking park along the Han river. Once we got there we realized that they are completely renovating the park but we still strolled along and had some great but hazy views of the city. By the end of the day we had the subway system down...it is extremely easy, clean, efficient, and modern...I am a huge fan.


Sunday, August 16th

Today we woke up early again on account of going to bed very early and the very hard bed. We found that the GS tower had a LG Telecom mobile phone rental facility (one of 4 in the entire country...2 of which are at Incheon Airport) It ended up being extremely close to us but unfortunately it was closed on Sundays. After some pastries at Dunken Donuts (which is on every street corner...I swear) we took the long subway/train ride down to Suwon to catch the bus to the Korean Fold Village. It was extremely hot (this weekend sent record temperatures for the summer) but very fun. The Folk Village covered almost 300 acres and we walked most of it. We saw the old-style farms, houses, and way of life. We also visited the Buddhist temple grounds and ate our first very traditional and delicious Korean meal. We also watched some very impressive shows. Fist was the Equestrian acrobats. Think of the pommel horse in the Olympics but on an actual horse which is galloping very fast around a ring. It was very impressive. We then watched the Farmer's Dance which was absolutely fantastic and extremely impressive (see the pictures and videos) Last was the tight rope walker , who was an elderly gentleman, who did not only walk on the tightrope but also did jumps and tricks along with his own narration. All in all it was a very fun day which left us very hot and extremely tired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4vzYea8Ixg

This the the equestrian acrobats video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJoKh9H4KiA

Here is the tightrope walker video
(you slackline people...I want to see you do this by the time I get home)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R2L6CJzskY

Here is the farmer's dance video. The beginning is cool and then about halfway through you can see them using the ribbonos on top of their hats.