Guest Post

So tomorrow morning, around 6:00 a.m, Anne-Reed is going to leave for Beijing. After having had her by my side for the last nine days, the idea of having to reorganize my mental and physical spaces to account for her absence is kind of weird and already a little sad. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the habits of daily life, walking the same route to the same places to see the same things, that sometimes you really do forget about how great your city might be. Seoul through a visitor's eyes was very illuminating for me because I got to do so many things that I wouldn't have done without Anne-Reed being here, and for that I'm so grateful to her. And she was such a trooper, always game and open-minded to almost anything. Her curiosity and adventuresome spirit never wavered, two qualities that I admire so much in her.


I think one of my fondest memories of her visit will be the day we went to Changgyeong Palace. It hadn't even been the marquee event of the day, but we kind of stumbled into the grounds (because it's connected to a bigger palace), not really expecting much, and found ourselves in an unbelievably beautiful area. There was a lake filled with koi fish and ducks, a lush side pond filled with lilypads, and everything was bright green, very different from the drab buildings and concrete just outside the palace walls. I would never have known this place existed without Anne-Reed.

When she leaves, I am going to miss her a lot, like I always do whenever we go our separate ways. But I also know that the next time I see her will be filled with as much adventure and love as this trip has been, and for that I can't wait! Until then, I guess I'll just tide myself over by reading her blog :)

-Jieun

Satiating my sweet tooth

I finally partook in some waffle eating for a glorious afternoon snack (a really decadent snack!) with some great friends.

(Below: Hayeon and Jieun. Hayeon will also be in Beijing for the year! Beijing is the place to be!)

On another afternoon, Jieun, Jeesun, Kicheon and I had on of South Korea's famous sweets, patbingsu. Patbingsu is essentially flavored ice, normally served with sweet red beans. Ours was served with ice cream and rice cake on top. Deliciousness!














(Left: Jeesun )




On another search for something sweet and after a long day of touring palaces (post to come soon), we ate a cutesy snack shaped like a poo. Actually, these breads are quite common in Korea but usually in the shape of a fish and called "blowfish bread." But someone came up with the cool and crazy idea of creating a poo mold! WOWSY! The bread was glutinous filled with red bean paste and rather tasty, although perhaps you can see from the picture below what it is imitating?? Eek!

(p.s. please don't send Anne-Reed hate mail about this last post. Jieun contributed to some of the more graphic details. )



What it should be..

A shout out to Paul!

Temple life

Thursday afternoon, I decided to partake in a "Temple Life" program at Bongeunsa, a Buddhist temple in Seoul. Although completely touristy, I actually had a wonderful time. The program was two hours and included a tea ceremony, Zen meditation practice and paper lotus making. The tour group was an interesting mix of people, including a Methodist church group from Alabama visiting for research, English teachers, a few vacationers like myself, and the son of the Egyptian Ambassador to Korea. The meditation reminded me of all the breathing exercises in Yoga, so I much enjoyed trying to get lost in my breath keeping all thoughts out of my head (which is so hard!!).



Left: Inside Bongeunsa

Right: The paper lotus I made! :)












Post soul-searching, I was brave enough to order some cold buckwheat noodle soup in the largest underground mall in Asia, Coex, right across the street from the temple (talk about traditional meets modern!).

Above: Cold Buckwheat noodle soup, yum! The objects that look like jelly are actually ice cubes. It is really quite refreshing on a sticky humid day.

Korea is for lovers

On Tuesday, I wandered around a bit as Jieun was attending an LSAT class. It is always liberating to act like you know where you are going in a country, even if you may have no clue. I immediately noticed the sheer mass of cafes along the street sides, one after another. There are the independently owned cafes, as well as a good amount of Coffee Bean, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. I wonder how they all stay in business, but I also noticed the rather large amount of young couples sitting in cafes with their iced lattes, gazing into each others eyes.

Later in the evening, Jieun, a good friend of Jieun's (Sejin) and I took a cable car up to the N Seoul Tower in Namsam. The tower is located on top of a mountain in the middle of Seoul and from the top you can see the entire metropolitan sprawl of Seoul. We got there as the sun was setting, so a daytime view quickly transformed into a sparkling nighttime panoramic. How beautiful! Apparently, Namsam is also a popular date spot and the railings around the tower are festooned with locks inscribed with lovers' names. The locks are aptly named "Locks of love."











(Pictured: Me, Jieun, Sejin - Sejin will be in Beijing for the year.. yay!





For dinner, we ate fried pork cutlet, Japanese style, that you could dip in a mustard/steak/tobasco sauce. Miso soup, rice, and cabbage with a peanut sauce were served alongside. Yum! Speaking of such.. I am smelling something delicious in the kitchen... I think Mrs. Paik is cooking and boy, the smell is making my mouth water. Better go for now!

Say Kimchi!

Gyeongbokgung Palace

In every travel guide about South Korea, it is almost certain you will hear about the "fluid mix of ancient and modern aspects" within the country (Lonely Planet). On Monday, I was able to experience a bit of the ancient at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace seems to have a turbulent history of being destroyed and rebuilt, with the latest destruction during the Japanese colonial rule in the early 20th century. Gyeongbokgung, translated into "Palace Greatly Blessed By Heaven," was a place were kings were crowned, met foreign convoys, and determined state affairs.

The palace is filled with Chinese and Japanese tourists following tour guides rigorously waving tour group flags in the air. As a fairly big park, Jieun and I tried to circumambulate the palace leading to a very serene morning amongst gardens and pagodas. It was a slightly misty morning, but the cool rain helped ease the intense humidity!