Wednesday, June 29, 2011

May 18, 2011 광주

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising or the Gwangju Democratization Movement 광주 민주화 운동/광주 사태.  This event can also be remembered as 518, which is the date that the protest started.  This event will forever be rememberd in Korean history because it was one of the darkest times during Korea. 

Some background history on the event:  A politically minded military clique declared martial law to consolidate power after a successful coup d'eat.  Martial law was declared in an attempt to suppress the demand for democratization.   전두환 Cheon Doo Hwan took over the nation through a military dicatorship.  He sent paratroopers to how his intentions for those who oppose his and the clique's authority.  Most of the bloodshed took place in 광주 Gwangju which is the south eastern part of South Korea.  Many residents held a protest against the government.  Students and professors held demonstrations in front of Chonnam National University.  The paratroopers chased and beat the protestors.  The students regrouped and was again beaten and chased by the paratroopers.  The paratroopers moved in and then again beat the protestors and arrest them.  Regular citizens were upset with what happened so they joined in with the protestors.  Armies killed the citizens and even children. 

After a couple days, hundreds of thousands of protestors filled the streets, took the weapons from the armies and drove them out of the city.  김대중 Kim Dae Joong, who eventually became one of Korea's presidents and won the Nobel Peace Prize Award, participated in the protest.  I thought that was pretty interesting and cool. 전두환 Jeon Doo Hwan arrested 김대중 Kim Dae Joong blaming him for the rebellion.  They found him guilty (if you consider him guilty because who's judging 김대중 Kim Dae Joong?  Obviously supporters of 전두환 Jeon Doo Hwan!  Does that make any sense at all??) and was about to be sentenced to death but then ended up being sentenced to prison. 

However, this event is more sad and is one of the reasons why Koreans did not like/hate Americans for a long time.  Not only did America had NO IDEA of what was happening in Korea, President Reagan gave power to 전두환 Jeon Doo Hwan.  You're probably thinking, WHY ON EARTH??  BIG MISTAKE..... America allowed troops from the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to line up along the DMZ and suppressed the protestors and rebellion.  America did a couple dumb things in relation to Korea and this is one that is still remembered with lots of bitterness from Koreans.  After taking over with a military dictatorship, he eventually gets into office.  You're probably thinking, can this get any worse?  The 광주 Kwangju uprising revealed the immorality of the 5th Republic regime, an extension of the Yushin regime of 박정희 Park Jung Hee. 

Well, since it was the anniversary, we went to 광주 Gwangju to see the memorial.  Cool huh?  :-)  Since 광주 Gwangju is on the other side of 김해 Gimhae, it was a long car ride there.  We ate Chinese food at this really nice restaurant on the way there.  I can't remember the chicken we had but it was delicious.



Super good Chinese chicken!


짜장면 Chinese dish of wheat noodles with black blean sauce :-)

Finally, we arrived in 광주 Gwangju!  The monument was spectacular!  The cemetery's main function if an education center which teaches that injustice and dictatorship should never return to Korea.   While it focused on the May 18 광주 Gwangju Democratization Movement, they also featured 광주학생항독립운동 The Gwangju Students' Independence Movement of 1929 and 3.1 운동 The March 1st Independence Movement in 1919. 




The May 18 Memorial Tower.  The folded hands in the middle of the pillars and the egg shape in the center combine to symbolize the resurrection of life, and the reflection  of the sunlight from the tower represents the seed of hope.

We then visited this memorial they had for everyone who died in the uprising or those who were injured and eventually died.  It was pretty moving and seeing the children who died was very sad.  Seriously, what bravery these people had!  They had pictures of what happened during the protest, it was horrifying.  You think people have a somewhat decent discretion of cruelty, but this proved to be different.  It's amazing to see how far people would go to hurt these people.  It was disgusting. 


Portraits of those who died or were injured during the uprising.



Incredible statue recognizing the uprising


Graves near the monument

After looking at the graves, we looked at some of the monuments they had for 광주학생항독립운동 The Gwangju Students' Independence Movement of 1929 and 3.1 운동 The March 1st Independence Movement in 1919.  They were located in History Square.  History Square had bas-reliefs depicting the seven great civil resistance movements against injustice and oppression in Korea.  The reliefs depict the Patriotic Citizen's Militia during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, the Donghak Farmers' Uprising, 3.1 운동 the March 1 Independence Movement of 1919, 광주학생항독립운동 the Gwangju Students' Independence Movement and others. 



This relief depicts what started/peaked 광주학생항독립운동 the Gwangju Students' Independence Movement.  Two Japanese soldiers were harassing two Korean girls.  Students noticed what happened and they fought the soldiers off.


This relief depicts what happened during the 3.1 운동 the March 1st Independence Movement of 1919.  This sculpture mainly represents scenes from the independence declaration at 태화관 Taehwagwan by the 33 national representatives, the first independence rally at 탑골공원 Tapkol Park Japanese forces' killlings of Koreans. 

We saw some other graves which weren't much different the other graves but had an interesting feature.  Korean believe that you can still protest after your death.  There were red banners on graves (probably from family members) protesting the government. 


The Monument to the Tree Donors.  On November 21, 1996, 광주 Gwangju began a tree donation campaign.  All of the donated trees created the Democracy Garden.  The movement was meant to follow the spirit of the May 18 Uprising and to help establish the May 18 cemetery as an education center for liberty, democracy and justice.  The monument is a tangible sign of appreciation to the spirit of those who donated trees.


At the front of the memorial, they had banners that you could write a message on and it would be displayed in front of the memorial.


The memorial was pretty incredible.  People sacrificed their lives for their country.  It's great to see other countries beside America fighting to the death for liberty. 

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

May 17, 2011 축제, 태용, 돈까스

Being 20 doesn't feel any different haha but it's weird saying your new age. 

While we were taking a bathroom break, the girls noticed they had these in the bathroom....


Pink toilets for women's restrooms!

After class and lunch, Kenwood, Victoria, Michelle, and I went out to the markets nearby the house.  Michelle and I found some K-pop socks for 500 원 which equals about $0.50! 


2PM 닉쿤 양말 Nickhun socks!


I got 2PM 닉쿤 Nickhun and Michelle got Big Bang.

We went up to the university to study.  We thought we would could do language practice with the students by talking to them and getting to know them.  However, it didn't work out well.  Everyone was busy studying in the library or on their way out.  No kidding; it was impossible to find anyone.  While we were sitting down, we saw these two Korean (I emphasize that because it make sense later) girls on a bench.  Kenwood went to go talk to them because us girls were still afraid to use our language skills.  This is when it gets really interesting.  Kenwood started talking to the girls and as he was talking to them, they got really confused looks on their faces.  After he was done one of them says, "Sorry, we don't speak Korean that well" in an American accent!  Haha funny joke right?  We tried so hard to find someone to talk to and we end up talking to the only Americans on the whole campus. 

After studying, we heard there was a music festival happening tonight so we all (everyone from the study abroad) went together.  Before the festival, we met 심태용 Shim Tae Yong who has been studying with Derek a couple times.  The festival was pretty cool.  They performed a Disney medley and some Western classics. 



After the festival, we met 심태용 Tae Yong's girlfriend who was in the festival.  We were all hungry and so 심태용 Tae Yong knew of this cheap but good 돈까스 Japanese pork cutlet (dohn-ga-seu) restaurant nearby the school.  One of his friends, who is a girl, met up with us at the restaurant. 


WOW!


Back row:  Stephen, Rachael, Michelle, Benjamin, 심태용 Tae Yong's 동생 friend.
Front row:  Juni, me, 심태용 Tae Yong.


심태용 Tae Yong is so much fun to hang out with!  He's really funny and when he tries to speak English, he speaks really fast that's it's really funny.  We walked around and talked about meeting again at a nearby park.  We've noticed being here that the native Koreans are actually laid back and very friendly.  Seeing Koreans at their most comfortable (being in their own country) and us being the foreigners has been intersting to see.  Getting to know more Koreans in that context has given us a better idea of what Koreans are like.

May 16, 2011 Happy Birthday! Good Bye Teen Years!

It's my birthday!  Woot woot!  What a great way to spend my 20th birthday!  :-)  Breakfast was really interesting.  Usually Koreans have 미역국 brown seaweed soup (mi-yuhk-gook).  However, I'm not a huge fan of it so I wasn't disappointed that I didn't have it for breakfast.  Actually, breakfast was pretty meager lol.  We didn't have a chance to buy groceries and all we had back at the house was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  So that was breakfast haha lol.

We had class and they sang to me in Korean "Happy Birthday".  By then it was time for lunch.  We went to 본죽 Bon-jook, the porridge restaurant again which we were all excited about.  This time I got 쇠고기버섯죽 beef and mushroom porridge (shwe-go-gi-boh-soht).  So good!  "-)  Who would have thought having porridge for your birthday would be a real treat!  After, we went out in our language groups.  This time I was with Kenwood and Michelle.  We went to a shaman's house who gave a fortune to Kenwood.  It was pretty cool.  However,  I was really sleepy again.  I think it's hard to pay attention when they use technical terms that you're not familiar with.


쇠고기버섯죽  :-)


Haha poor Kenwood.  The chick in black has the sam shirt as him.  I guess Kenwood has true Korean sytle because all of the clothes he has, someone else in Korea has it too!  Haha we told him that his shirt looked like a couple's shirt.  :-)

After that we had some free time.  Kenwood, Michelle, and I since we finished our language practice when out shopping around the city.  I found some 소녀시대 Girl's Generation (so-nyeo-shi-dae) socks!  They were really cheap so I got 태연 Taeyeon and 유리 Yuri.  :-)  Hey, why not treat myself?  It's my birthday, you know.  Then I wanted to buy some birthday candles because I love the birthday candles they have here.  They're long, skinny, and so much fun!  I went to a 7-11 and asked if they had any.  The lady gave me 8 and as I was about to pay, she told me there were free!  AWESOME and HOLLA!!!!!  As we were walking, we saw some of the others.  We called out to meet up with them but then all of a sudden, they ran away.  As they were running away, I saw Benjamin holding a blue box.  I had an idea of what that was but I thought I wouldn't ruin their plan.  :-)

When we all got back to the house, they asked me where we should go for dinner.  I wanted to get 삼겹살 sam-kyup-sal which is where you wrap rice and meat in lettuce and then you can add sauces or whatever you want to it.  We went to a store nearby.  It didn't look very clean but we thought we wouldn't be able to find one close again (even though it's Korea, we haven't found a ton of places serving it).  So we went inside and the lady didn't give us a lot of meat and it was pretty expensive.  All of us in the end were still a bit hungry.



Then all of a sudden, Steve was like, "I need a snack.  I'm starving."  Everyone said it was ok but they had this confused look on their faces.  Knowing it's Steve and that he eats a lot, I wasn't surprised but I thought it was weird he was leaving early. Then a couple minutes later, Derek came by with Steve and they brought with them a cake from Paris Baguette and a present! 

We had the cake at the house and it was really rich but delicious!  :-)  It was a chocolate cake :-)  I'm turned 20 today and the cake was so cute with zoo animals that it looked like it was for a 4 year old.  :-)  Funny huh?  The cake was really good.  The present they gave me was a Hello Kitty tupperware pack.  They said, when they saw this they thought of me.  How???  I don't know how but it was cute and so nice of them to get me a present!  :-)


Birthday cake from Paris Baguette!


Isn't this cake darling?  Haha it's still funny to me that I have left the teen years and they chose a cake suitable for a little child.  But who cares?  It's so cute and they were so thoughtful.




My favorite part of the cake:  candles!




You know you want some?  It was that good.




It's a Hello Kitty tupperware set!!  OH MY GOSH!!!



Presents:  Hello Kitty tupperware and 소녀시대 Girl's Generation socks


Darling birthday card


Message from everyone on the study abroad

Lately, we've been watching really funny YouTube videos; particulary Japanese advertisements.  They're so corky, random, and hilarious!  Like take this one below.  When we saw this, we couldn't stop laughing.  If you watch it overand over again, it becomes more funny each time!


Haha each time I watch this, I die of laughter.  It's so random and crazy!

It's been such a great day!  Very relaxed but it turned out to be great.  I'm in Korea; hello!  I love the snacks here.  Especially banana milk!  You're probably thinking, well, we have banana milk back in America.  No, this is different; it's so much better and I don't like flavored milk so this is good stuff.


We love banana milk!





Thursday, June 23, 2011

May 14, 2011 Another Day Added to the "Best Days of Korea" Category

Today was so much fun!  We went to 인제대학교 Inje University to meet up with 박현준 Hyun Joon.  We practiced Korean with him and then we decided to grab some lunch.  We went out to 대박집 Dae-bahk-jeep which was close to the campus.  We ordered some 삼겹살 Sahm-kyuhp-sal which pretty much made my day.  :-)  If you have never tried Korean food, this is what you need to try: 갈비 Kalbi, 삼겹살 Sahm-kyuhp-sal, and 곰탕/설러탕 Gohm-tahng or Solo-tahng.  Incredible!  The lunch didn't turn out to be very filling but it was delicious.


대박집 Restaurant of glory 삼겹살!


OH BABY!!!!!


As you can see, we're all gone here because after this meal, we died and went to heaven :-)

After lunch, everyone wanted to do their own thing except me and Michelle.  We still wanted to do stuff with 박현준 Hyun Joon.  So Michelle and I went with 박현준 Hyun Joon and looked around what was in town and then studied at the university.  We went out to Baskin Robbins and got this huge bucket of ice cream!  It was worth like $15!  We got 4 flavors but Michelle and I ended up eating most of it.  I don't think 박현준 Hyun Joon was that hungry.  Ice cream is still amazing after eating Korean food.  :-)


You think that's huge?  Yeah, you're not imagining anything.  That's real.


We killed it!  This is real too.  We ate all of it. 


박현준 Hyun Joon, Michelle and I at Baskin Robbins


박현준 Hyun Joon decided that he would take another photo of me and Michelle.


He said the other one didn't turn out and would take one again....haha


We thought he was finished


We had a hard time smiling the whole long time that we bursted into laughter.

After ice cream, we went back to the university, found a bench outside, and studied.  After a while of being there, a couple students came up to us and was wondering if they could film us chatting to each other.  They said it was for a group project or assignment or something.  After they filmed us, they left but then they returned after a few minutes.  One of them came up to me and was talking in Korean but none of it made sense but I guess everyone else understood.  Michelle and 박현준 Hyun Joon just looked at me and then said, "Well, are you?"  I'm thinking, "Am I what?  Huh?"  Michelle and 박현준 Hyun Joon said, "He's wondering if you would like to be a model for their next assignment for filming?"  They explained that it was a homework assignment and since we would be at the university a lot I said sure.  Since today really was nothing I thought it'd be ok.  The director and I exchanged numbers, his name is 오효섭 Oh Hyo Seop.  Now that I told you that story, remember it for the end.  Hahaha.....

We went home to meet up with the others to go to 노래방 Karaoke!  Since my birthday is on Monday, we won't be able to do anything on that day because we're supposed to go to FHE at the branch.  :-(  So, we decided that we would go tonight.  We invited 박현준 Hyun Joon but he had to leave for 부산 Busan tonight so he declined. 

We went to a 노래방 Karaoke room nearby after dinner and it was soooo much fun!  We're still talking about this memory.  I didn't know how this would go down because although many Americans love karaoke, people are still conscious of their singing so I didn't know how this would turn out.  However, it turned out amazing!!  We had so much fun with each other and we've never laughed so hard in our entire lives!  Everyone did a great job!  I took a couple videos but they're just for our eyes for personal reasons :-)  But don't worry, I've giving you the best one below.  I got pictures of everyone except Rachael and Benjamin singing but they sang and they did very well!


노래방!  Everyone plus Benjamin but he's taking the picture!  Me, Michelle, Kenwood, Victoria, Rachael, Juni, and Stephen.


Michelle


Juni with tambs


Stephen


Juni


Kenwood


Me.  I'm surprised that I got up and did this because I'm not one into karaoke that much but coming to Korea, it's not that bad anymore haha.


Victoria


MUST SEE VIDEO!  This is us singing "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake.  Everytime we watch this, we're dying of laughter.  Especially at the person recording this and screaming and making faces.  :-)  Might I add too, what's really "Take it the chorus" in the lyrics, I thought the lyrics said, "Take it the corner."  Hahaha lol.  

 

PLEASE WATCH THIS TOO!!!  So, after 노래방 karaoke, I found this video on YouTube that I couldn't help but notice similarities between this video and our 노래방 video.  Check out the video at 7:23 and you'll see exactly what I mean!!  I told everyone else to watch it and we were passing out because we were laughing so hard!  But watch the whole video as well; it's in English subtitles so if you don't know Korean you can follow along.  I thought all of it was hilarious!

After 노래방 karaoke, we went home and pretty much had a laptop party haha.  Also, this is where you need to remember the filming story I told earlier.  So here it goes.  All of a sudden, I get this text from 오효섭 Oh Hyo Seop that said this, "아니예요.  촬영보다 친하게 지내고 싶네요 ㅋ 혹시 궁금한거나 그러면 연락하셔도되요."  That translates into "Rather than filming, I just want to spend time together.  If you have any questions about Korea let me know."  Haha, um wow, that wasn't forward at all (hint my sarcasm?)  I showed it to Kenwood and Juni to make sure I understood right and they were shocked too.  At first, they were laughing while reading it but then they got this serious look on their face.  Then everyone else saw it and it got loud.  "Are you going to do it?  Is he cute?  What are you going to do?  Are you going to respond?"  And I said, "There's no way.  I'm not going to respond.  Even though I met saw him today, I don't remember his face that well.  I realize now that what we thought was going to be a little project, I should be more cautious."  Then Benjamin said the best thing, "Julianne, he just wants a green card!"  After that, everyone bursted into laughter for a good 5 minutes.  Haha we all thought in the beginning it was nothing but it's turned out to be otherwise.  Well, he hasn't contacted since and good thing it was a temporary number.  But still, lesson learned. 

Korea has been so much fun and especially today, I felt we all got closer to each other.