Party on the Beach

Having a whole week's vacation for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) was fabulous. I spent the beginning of my week relaxing and mostly indoors due to the torrential downpours and flooding outside. By mid week the weather had cleared up and I made plans for the long weekend. Sam, Terry, Sean, and I decided to go away for a little couples trip to Muuido Island. Muuido Island is a tiny island off the larger island of Yeongjong that houses Incheon airport on the west coast. It's really tiny and mostly known as a great vacation spot with nice beaches.

Once we got to the airport we hopped a bus that took us to the ferry. After taking the shortest ferry ride of my life (about 5 minutes) across and catching another bus, we made it to Hanagae Beach.

welcome to Muuido

shortest ferry ever

Sean and I on the ferry

Our first night we spent in these tiny little one room huts on the beach. They were pretty ghetto and in the morning our backs were aching from sleeping on the hard floor and we felt dirty from the gross bedding they had given us. When we found out there were no showers for our use we were a little alarmed. After exploring the area desperately trying to find somewhere else to stay, we came across a wonderful pension with many rooms which all had a kitchen, TV, bathroom, and AC. Needless to say the second night's stay was much more comfortable.

Sam in front of our tiny rooms on the beach

We spent the next two days enjoying the weather, drinking beer, eating seafood, throwing the football on the beach, getting some sun, making a campfire on the beach, reading, playing cards, grilling out, and relaxing.

Sean, Terry, and Sam on the beach

cheers

shells were everywhere

sunset the first night

campfire on the beach

Sean and I hanging around

Sam and Terry on the swings

BBQ our last night

In the early morning the tide on Muuido Island goes out. Way out. Probably hundreds of feet out. And beach dwellers are left with a huge sand bar almost as far as you can see. Sean and I walked out there one morning and were amazed by this natural phenomenon. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Then, just like clock-work, around 2:30P.M. the tide rushed back in within the span of an hour and you could enjoy the water until the sun went down.

the shoreline in the morning

tracks in the sand

I had a fantastic time on Muuido Island and felt blessed to have some really great people to spend an awesome weekend with.

Namaste

365 Days

Today is my one year mark in Korea. One year ago today I found myself in this country far from home and began to make a life for myself here. My life this past year has been a whirlwind of experiences and learning about myself. I am so grateful for this opportunity, but so grateful to have such amazing family and friends that make returning home such a treat.

These 365 days have been some of the hardest of my life. I never thought I would get homesick the way I sometimes found myself. I never thought I would not like my job as much as I did. I never thought I was anything worth staring at for so long. I never thought I would feel as awkward and frustrated as I did at times. Despite all of the not so good days, there were plenty of fantastic days to boot.

I will really miss the people, places, and little things that made my time here so special. The nice comments from my students in the form of a "teacher, your earrings are really big" or "teacher, your belt is really pink", the smile and wave from my favorite crossing guard, the free juice from the security man at the bank, the goodies from my co-workers at school, all the small kindnesses that had such a large impact on me. I will miss shopping at A Land in Myeong-dong, running along the Tancheon, trying new restaurants in Itaewon, gelato smoothies at my favorite coffee shop in Bundang, and all night excursions in Hongdae. I'm convinced no other city can party as long as Seoul can. I will miss all of the people that made my time here memorable. Most of all I will miss my boyfriend, Sean, without whom I might not have made it the whole year here.

Besides my one year anniversary, today also happens to be Korean thanksgiving, so Happy Chuseok! In the spirit of giving thanks, I am so thankful for my year in Korea and I feel truly blessed.

2.5 weeks until I fly home.

Namaste

Palace in the City

Since I have come to Korea I have wanted to visit one of Seoul's palaces, but never actually got around to it until this past weekend. Gyeongbokgung is the largest palace in Seoul and sits in the middle of Seoul's busy downtown. Walking through the grounds were many different buildings and structures, each used for specific purposes. I was surprised just how expansive it really was. On one end of the compound was the National Museum of Korea as well. The structures were fist built in the 12th century and have been reconstructed as needed due to damages that occurred during Japanese occupation. Each building was more beautiful and grand than the next. Gyeongbokgung is hands down one of my most favorite places I have visited in Seoul. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have included lots for you to see for yourself.

the Korean National Museum

structure in the park, beautiful

love the traditional Korean architecture

Sean and I in the palace grounds

stunning

guards overlooking the courtyard

sneaking a photo with the guard

the second gate

the main gate

The day ended with some shopping and lunch in Insadong. We had some delicious food at a little place off the main street. The main dishes were beef with soy sauce and japchae, Korean clear noodles with seafood. Really tasty.

with all the sides, waiting for the main dishes

beef and japchae

Namaste

My Favorite Korean Food

samgyetang

I must admit, I am not a huge fan of some Korean cuisine. The textures, spices, and flavors of some dishes do not suite me well as most are very spicy, but there are a few Korean foods that I really love and will miss back home. One of them is samgyetang, chicken and ginseng soup. It is a whole chicken stuffed with rice, served in a hot pot with ginseng and other ingredients floating around in the broth. After de-boning the chicken, you can enjoy the soup with a pinch of salt. It is absolutely delicious and very healthy for you as well.

Namaste

Seoul: The City That Never Stops

Seoul is one giant tourist attraction. There are so many things to see and do and experience. Just walking around the city is a tourist attraction. For an American like me, it's so different to see a modern city with huge sky-scrapers and fast cars dotted with ancient temples and bell towers. It's just so unique compared to any city in the western hemisphere I have ever seen. There's a real feeling of being in two time periods at once and I find it fascinating.

I wanted to check out a traditional market in Seoul, so Sean went with me and we found our way to the Gwangjang Market near Dongdaemun. This market sells a variety of different things. There are clothing stalls, gifts, household items, food, etc. When we arrived at the market it was later in the evening it appeared to be closing down. The vendors were all closing their shops for the night, but as we walked through the building a little more we discovered a thriving food market. There were lots of little stands set up right in the middle of the market where ajumas were selling all kinds of yummy foods (and soju and makgoli of course). There were kimchi and mung bean pancakes, parts of pig heads, feet, skin, etc., stews with thick pieces of beef and potatoes, and many other unrecognizable things. We sat down and had a kimchi and mung bean pancake. They were delicious. We then traveled a little further into the market hallway and found even more set-ups with lots and lots of men in business suits eating, drinking, and generally being merry. It was a little after work watering hole for the Seoul business men. There were many more stalls of creepy foods such as sundae (sausage) and lots of pig feet and intestines. Not really my thing. I just couldn't stop thinking to myself that people in America eat that stuff because they want to win $50,000 on Fear Factor or something, but people in Korea eat that stuff because they ENJOY it. The Gwangjang Market after hours was definitely an experience.

mung bean and kimchi pancake

serving up some yummies at the market

Gwangjang Market

Sean wanted to surprise me, so he took me to a place I had wanted to see in Seoul for a while; the Banpo Bridge. It is one of the most well known bridges in the world because of it's beautiful Moonlight Rainbow Fountain. The fountain shoots of spurts of water recylced from the river and is set to music with lights to create a fantastic little show. The bridge is in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest bridge fountain in the world. So many couples and families gathered near the water to see the show that goes off at certain times when the sun goes down. It was a very calming and romantic spot, a nice distraction from the busyness of the city. After all, they say New York is the city that never sleeps, but Seoul is the city that never stops.

Moonlight Rainbow Fountain

the Banpo Bridge

Namaste

Masks, Crabs, and Temples

There is really only one word that comes to mind when I think about the Korean countryside: green. The countryside is just an abundance of green everywhere you look. Green hills, grasses, trees, shrubs, plants, leaves, vines, etc. dot the land. It is absolutely breathtaking and refreshing.

green grass

I was fortunate to visit the Korean countryside again this past weekend. Sean’s brother is visiting in Korea and I tagged along for a short road trip to the eastern province of Gyeongsangbuk-do. We were able to see and do a few great things considering our weekend time constraint and the fact that it is monsoon season.

Our first stop was Andong, a city known exclusively for traditional Korean masks. There is a large folk village there complete with traditional homes, museums, souvenirs, and more. In this folk village people still live like they did hundreds of years ago. The government provides money for preservation and restorations. When we arrived, it began pouring rain, so we visited the mask museum indoors first and saw lots of masks from Korea and all over the world. There were so many and they were all unique with their own colors, shapes, sizes, textures, and uses. The rain let up and we hopped a bus into the village to have a look. The scenery was gorgeous and the homes were interesting. Each home was surrounded by a mud and rock wall and the roofs were tiled in the traditional Korean way. We were only able to see a small part of the village before the rain dumped down again and we made a sprint back to the bus stop.

unfinished mask

Korean masks

ajuma visor mask

outside the folk village

wood carving

wood carvings near the folk village

The next stop we made was in a town on the East Sea called Yeongduk. Yeongduk is famous for their snow crabs. As soon as we got near the water we saw tons of buildings with huge crab structures attached to the walls and roofs. They were all equally humungous and ridiculous, competing with each other for the most flashy in order to draw in customers. We chose a less flashy restaurant. After selecting our crabs we sat down and waited for them to be cooked and prepared for our lunch. After breaking apart the crab, we began to dig in (literally) with our hands and utensils. The snow crab was delicious, but a difficult food to eat. The lady at the restaurant even took the liberty of making fried rice out of the left over parts of the crab, AKA the guts for us.

fresh snow crab

guts inside the body, uh thanks

Our final destination was Gyeongju. Gyeongju is revered in Korea as one of the most culturally rich cities. It used to be the capital of Korea way back in the time of the Shilla Dynasty. There are multitudes of tombs, temples, and world heritage sites. We visited a couple of them. One was the Bulguksa temple, a huge temple and grounds that were built beginning in 528A.D. As we walked up the pathway and stairs to the temple it was apparent that it was not an average temple. It was huge. There were many temples within the walls of the grounds and we could hear the drone of the monks performing prayer services inside. The smell of incense filled the temples and drifted outside into the courtyards. I was surprised at the large amounts of tourists peering inside while the religious people were conducting these prayers, but perhaps they are used to it. This temple sight is a UNESCO world heritage sight. The sky showed signs of another approaching downpour, but we wanted to see one more sight before heading home. We hiked our way up to the Seokguram grotto only to find another steep hike into the mountains. As more storm clouds covered the sky, we decided to head back instead, so we didn't actually get to see the giant famous stone Buddha statue that sits at the top. However, we did get to see a beautiful view of the city, some smaller temples, and a large bell tower.

Bulguksa

inside the temple grounds

brotherly love

ok, so I snuck a photo

the inner courtyards

bell tower at Seokguram

The more I see of Korea outside of Seoul, the more I like. This really is a scenic and beautiful country.

Namaste

Mmmmmmm.......

..... home-made meatballs and spaghetti. For the first time in Korea.

noodles +

sauce and veggies +

meatballs =

voila!

Makes me miss the Scuderi's a huge amount.

Namaste