Day 2 of The JK Epic Adventure: Namsan Park and Namdaemun

On the second day, we decided to head out to Namsan Park. It is one of the largest parks in Seoul. Namsan means "South Mountain" in Korea. It is 262 meter (859 ft), at its highest point. Also at the top is N Seoul Tower, one of Seoul most recognizable landmarks. You can see the tower from almost any part of the city. I have also been putting off going there because I have heard that it is always super busy and crowded and that it also takes for ever to actually get to the top.

For me, I actually did not have that problem. We decided the we would take the cable car to the top because it was too hot to actually wall up to the top, and then we would walk down it. So we got off the subway, and headed towards the inclined elevator which would take us to the cable car. The elevator was going uphill at about a 45 degree slope that could take people up and down. We then walked to the ticket office to go to the cable car. We waited in line for only a couple minutes to get the ticket, then headed to another line to actually get on the cable car. We weren't in line for very long. We only waited for about 15 minutes. Then we got into the crowded cable car and headed up to the top. The cable car ride was about 3 minutes long. It also gave us our first view of Seoul, and what we would expect once we reached the top.

The inclined elevator 

I was unable to get a pic from the bottom, but here it is going down 

We decided we would head to the top of the Tower before exploring the bottom area. We went and got our tickets, and again we did not wait very long at all before we were able to get into the elevator to go to the top. While we were in the elevator, they had a television at the top, which was making us feel that we were actually flying into space, and again when we were coming back down, we were coming back to earth. We saw a 360° view of Seoul. We took our pictures, and spent about 30 min to 45 min at the top, then decided to head back down.

One of the many views of Seoul 

Jess and I at the top

At the bottom of the tower, they have areas were couples can lock a lock to the fence. It seems like there is at least one place like this in every major city in the world. I just like taking pictures of them. It looks cool when they are all together like this.

Namsan Locks of Love

After we headed to the bottom, we decided to head to our hostel. We were going to stay in a hostel this night because the next day we would head down to Yeosu, in the southern part of Korea, for the Worlds Fair. Our train was very early the next day and we wanted to be close to the station. We stayed in a hostel called Yoon & Jin. We were only there for like 10 hours. It is located near Namsan. We wanted to cool ourselves off before heading out to the market. So we rested for an hour and headed back out. What was nice about this place though, was later that night, the owners brought us some watermelon to eat. It was very good and it was very nice of them to do that.

We then headed to Namdaemun Market, so that Jess could get the feel of a Korean market. What sucked was, a lot of the placed were closed. We went on a Sunday at around 6:30ish. So I'm unsure if that is how it is normally or what. We didn't spend too much time there. We explored for a tiny bit and then left.

This is the end of our second day of our adventure. Out third day will be spend in a different part of Korea.

Day 1 of The JK Epic Adventure: Gyeongbokgung, Cheonggycheon, and Insadong

On Jessica's first day in Korea, I took her to see some of old Korean and new. We first went to Gyeongbokgung. It is one of the largest palaces in Korea that was not fully destroyed by the Japanese during there occupation. I had gone to the palace during the winter time, so it was good to go again during the summer when it is greener. The palace is so large as well, so I was able to see some new things that I didn't see before. The only thing is, it was very hot and humid so the was not very fun walking around with.

Jessica in front of the palace

Hyangwonjwong Pavilion 

Jess and I! 

Korean love there umbrellas rain and shine!

After we were finished at the palace, we walked to the Cheonggyecheon. It is a stream in the downtown area of Seoul. It is also about a half of a mile away from the palace, so were were able to just walk there. I had gone here once before during the Seoul Lantern Festival. The stream is 5.2 miles long, so we definitely did not walk along the whole thing. In 2003, the stream went under a massive restoration that cost $900 million. It was fun going there. We were able to dip our feet into the stream and cool off a bit. We also met a few friends who were going around preaching the gospel to foreigners.

Cooling off! 

We then walked to Insadong, a neighborhood near the stream. Insadong is well known as a traditional street to both locals and foreigners. While in Insadong, we went to Jogyesa, one of the most significant Korean Buddhist temples. We also went to the Beautiful Tea Museum, which was a cafe, as well a history of how Korean's have used flowers in there tea. It was a bit interesting. I kind of having been wanting to go there for a while, just because I like tea. And it was interesting learning about it.

Jogyesa

This was only the first day, we still have many days to come.

Photo A Day: July 01-07

July 1 - Went to a new gelato place that opened up about a month ago. While Alison and I were there, the owner, an ahjumma, was trying to set us up with her son. 

June 2 - These are growing in an area on my walk to work. They make me happy every time I see them. 

July 3 - I made some 4th of July Red, White and Blue swirl cookies for my students tomorrow. 

July 4 - Happy 4th of July from Korea. Here are my classroom decorations. I also have 50 days left in Korea! 

July 5 - Took a couple students out for a snack. We had some ddeukbbeoki and i'm not sure what the black stuff is. They were saying it is blood sausage in English and it comes from a pig. 

6 - Jessica finally got to Korea. OMG the most epic Kayla and Jessica Adventure begins! 

July 7 - Had a fun first day in Seoul with Jess. We will have a lot more of these kinds of days!

My Best Friend Visits Me!

So for the past year, even before I came to Korea, my friend and I have been planning for her to visit me. We were at first talking about it and not really thinking much of it, but then we really got serious about planning the visit. She was going to be going to Europe with her family and then she would fly to Korean afterwards. Then when she booked her ticket several months ago, it all became very real. I was super excited that she was going to visit me. Then she finally came to Korea. It is also a good time for her to come. I only have a little over a month left in Korea, and my airplane ticket home has been booked which has been making me very homesick. So having a friendly face from home coming to visit me has been nice. I have been planning an epic adventure for us both. We will both see new things and have an awesome time. Let "The JK Epic Adventure" commence.

4th of July in Korea!

This has been an interesting 4th of July. It of course does not feel like the 4th of July. I haven't heard loud fireworks outside of my window at 3 o'clock in the morning. I also don't see the America flag every where I turn. It has just been very strange. I am getting home sick and so I am starting to miss those things.

On Saturday, June 30, one of my co-teachers had a 4th of July Party. It was fun, but it wasn't the typical 4th of July party from home. Mainly because of the food. I had made my grandmothers recipe for potato salad, which is typical 4th of July food, but the rest of the food was Korean food. Some of our Korean co-teachers came so they brought Korean food. I also made some cherry and blueberry mini pies/tarts. The top part of the crust was a star, so they were cute. Also, the co-teacher hosting the party, carved a shark out of a watermelon. It was very cute. We played games and talked unto 4 am. It was fun.

Star Spangled Mini Pies

The Shark ate all the watermelon

Then today, at school, I had decorated my classroom with red,white and blue everywhere. I even made my students some red, white and blue spiral sugar cookies. They all loved them. We didn't have a party or anything, but it was still fun for the kids to see the decorations and eat some cookies. One of my students just learned perfect and fantastic, so he was calling the cookies perfect and fantastic. It was so cute.

Happy 4th!

 

Next year, I will have a proper 4th of July. I will watch the fireworks and eat picnic food. Happy 4th everyone and stay safe.

Korean Students vs American Students

I feel this is a perfect description between America Students and Korean Students. I found this on one of my new favorite websites called "Eat Your Kimchi," so I wanted to share it. Please enjoy and check out their blog eatyourkimchi.com

Photo A Day: June 22-30

June 22 - Today was a long exhausting day at work. The kids are always have an extra bit of crazy on Fridays. Grrr. Now it's time to have a bit of fun.

June 23 - I finally tried the newspaper nails. It worked pretty well and it looks cool with the Hangul. When I bought the newspaper the lady at the store asked me something, probably along the lines of "are you sure you want a Korean newspaper." I also used the #1 choice of alcohol here in Korea, soju. 

Jun 24 - It was a very hot day today in Korea, and what better way to try and cool off with watermelon ice cream with mini chocolate chips as seeds. It was ehh, I probably won't buy it again. 

June 25 - After the first half of my day, I headed down to get some coffee and saw some of my student getting snack. I just taught these two an hour before hand. They are always super excited to see me outside of school. They even gave me a french fry. 

June 26 - As I was walking to work I saw this kid wearing this shirt. I read it then looked at the picture, I'm not quite sure what the picture is supposed to be, especially with that writing. English on Korean shirts is funny! 

June 27 - I received a post card in the mail from one of my best friends! Thanks Jessica, I'll see you very soon! 

June 28 - I saw the new spider man movie today. I have to say I liked it a lot better then the Tobey Maguire ones! 

June 29 - After work we had a "Chicken Party!" 

June 30 - My coworker had a 4th of July Party. I made little start spangled pies/tarts. They were a hit.