Jonggak and Myeongdong

Since I have started Korean language classes, I have been centering the majority of my free time around Jonggak and Myeongdong. Both places are in the heart of Seoul. Haha, that is kind of funny to think about. I have been so busy with classes, friends, and other events that I took today (Sunday) off just to devote to catching up on my blog.

Starting with Korea class, I have been to three classes so far, and I am really enjoying the experience. I can't remember if I had stated before, but my teacher is Sunny. Due to many people being away for the weekend, I didn't have class this weekend, and I am happy because I didn't study at all last week. (Don't tell my teacher, lol : p) However at the last class that I had, we had a short quiz on new present tense verbs that we learned. While I definitely didn't score perfectly, I was really surprised by what I was able to remember thanks to my study buddy Sarah. I had imagined that learning the Korean language would be easier because I am immersed into the culture itself. However, I forgot that I spend the majority of my time teaching English, and thus, I am not forced to learn the language at all. While Sunny is a fantastic teacher, I am realizing that I am going to have to dedicate a lot more time to learning the language. Fortunately, my friends Mark, James and Sarah meet almost every morning before work to study Korean, and so, I am without excuse. I really hope to have a base level ability in the Korean language by the time my one year contract is ended.

Here are some more interesting photos of the area where we have Korea class...

The best part of Korea class is all the fun I have had hanging out with my friends. While walking around Jonggak, we were able to find a Pita Pit. Due to the nostalgia of the restaurant and its connection to the west, we, especially James, felt like this was finding a precious gem on the street. One unnamed person in our group even thought of it as a "pseudo-religious experience". LOL I still prefer the Egyptian sandwich guy much more, but having Pita Pit was like having a little bit of home which made it well worth the find.

 Ahhhh, the perfect match :)

 Since American Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Korea, my friends from work and I decided to have Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday after. I am really happy that we did what we could to celebrate this special time. I had made inquiry into several catering restaurants to see if they sold cooked turkey. The best deal I was able to find was an 8lb turkey with cranberry sauce and stuffing for a grand total of $100 (100,000 won). Even at these prices, I would have forked out the money just to taste part of one my most favorite holidays. However, I was too late to reserve one, and this was probably for the best. Regardless, we had a really fun night. The best part was playing pictionary and guessing who in our group the distorted figure resembled the most. My favorite is my caricature of Sarah. LOL

 James traversed land and sea to find the most coveted and sacred cranberry sauce. He is now forever dubbed James the Conqueror 

 Mmmmm.... mashed potatoes and gravy! So good! Thanks Mark!

Can you tell I'm in love with Mark's mashed potatoes and gravy, lol

Sarah Teacher ... LOL

Yuhyun's caricature of Stephanie :)

Nayeon's caricature of James, haha.

Nayeon's caricature of me ... nice :)

Another good coffee place went to study Korean as well as other things was called Coffee Themselves. While I'm not sure what they were intending in the name, I liked it because I interpreted as they drink so much coffee they are coffee. Ah, if only... LOL

 This was a really good tiramisu! 

On Saturday, I was really privileged to attend the wedding of one of our Korean co-workers. The wedding was at Myeongdong Cathedral. Both the wedding and the cathedral were beautiful! It was also fun that all of my friends from work were able to attend. I was also surprised when I turned around during the wedding to see my boss sitting behind me, lol. That was a kinda awkward moment, but it made the event all the more interesting. The best part of the wedding was the food afterward. We had a banquet of Korean food. It was amazing and so good! I have to find more people that are getting married in Korea, lol. The cathedral itself has a long and integral part in Korea's history. It is considered by everyone to be one of Korea's most precious treasures. The importance of this location combined with such a beautiful wedding has made for a really great memory. You can find out more about the cathedral on this Wiki link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myeongdong_Cathedral

 

I love this picture as you would almost assume that we are in some old world European country. 

In other news, I did some Christmas shopping in the tourist district of Insadong. I think it is so funny that this tourist district promotes selling the more traditional wares of Korea, but while living in Korea, I have rarely seen any of these items. I think it is an open judgement of our western prejudicial ideas of Asian cultures and societies. While all of the traditional wares and items of Korea are precious treasures, these items do not represent what Korea is today. Korea is soaring into the future and Korea's past and culture is only the central core that is propelling it so vehemently into the future. The reason I think that Insadong is an open judgement of "the west's" prejudice is that these are the items we want to buy when traveling to Korea. We want to hold onto our identification of Asian cultures as still living in the past. However, "Asian" societies are living in the future. They are striving to push technology and society into the next level of the human experience. Even in my judgement, it is not fair to clump everyone together. I think I should rather say that this was prejudice and imagery that I once held, and this is how I have changed my views and opinions while living here in Korea. Thus to be brief, I will simply show and narrate Insadong which is still a fun place to visit.

The pottery was so beautiful!

 

These were in the street planters. Lunch anyone?

This was inside a really fancy tea house. I would have liked to have bought some of their tea but it was so expensive!

Walking down the street, I saw several interesting comic posters on the walls of a hallway. Thinking "Ah, what the heck", I decided to walk up the stairs in the sketching looking hallway. At the top, I was greeted by an elderly Korean man saying something in Korean and showing me two fingers. As I looked up, I was stunned by the collection of action figures, models, comics and other various toys of the past 50 years. I then understood that he wanted me to pay $2 to enter his museum/collection. It was well worth it to feel like I was a little kids again. As you can partly see below, it was amazing to stare at the collection that he had from both western and Korean comic books and cartoons. All the Star Wars collections made me think of my friend Jordan back in the States. It was fun and scary to look at some of the dusty toys and think about how I used to play with those. Does this mean I'm getting old? I think so... oh well, it is the inevitable. Regardless, it was a lot of fun. The picture immediately below is of the Korean Robot hero Taekwon V

The idealistic home. Mom is knitting away, and little Johnny is playing with his machine gun. "Haha, now Johnny don't shoot it in the house. Haha, kids these days"

I like the kid's expression in the background. That was my expression!

I hope Owen, a kid I used to babysit, doesn't see this, lol. He was scared to death that Chucky was going to get him while he was in timeout.

I think my dad would be asking the curator how much he would want for this statue. LOL

'like'

I think this was supposed to be a replica restaurant of a traditional Korean tea house.

This is just a small crumb of the Korean K-POP phenomenon. These street performers were asking for donations, but as you can see, they have spent hours practicing to music. I would have taken a longer video, but I felt sort of awkward standing by myself and recording their performance.  For a better idea of the K-POP craze, please follow the YouTube link below. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49AfuuRbgGo&feature=fvst

The KPOP street dancers which is Korea today was contrasted by a traditional Korean performance at the other end of Insadong. Both performances we great to be a part of.

Well, there are many new adventures coming up this month and so I can't wait to see what the future holds. One such thing is that I have been forced along with my friends to sing a Christmas carol in front of thousands of people including AIG insurance big-wigs. I'm not so excited about this but it will be an experience none the less, lol. So, till next time, remember all the great blessings of friends and family during this holiday season and ...
Cheerios ~ I.L.Hathhorn