June 20, 2011 청와대, 북한산, 남대문시장, 멀리

Only one more week left!  :-(  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today started out as a good day and then it went downhill.  You're thinking how could things go wrong in a wonderful place like Korea?  Today was the day.  It was extremely hot.  You wait outside for 3 minutes and you're sweating.  I'm not from a humid place so it was harder for me.  재원 Jaewon was so nice to take me around today again out of her busy schedule.  She doesn't get days off and so for her to take time out of her schedule is a huge blessing.  Benjamin was still in town so we met up and Jonathan Wright from Korean class came to visit for a few weeks and so we all met up.  재원 Jaewon kindly bought us lunch and then we wanted to see 청와대 Cheongwadae/The Blue House which is Korea's version of the White House and it's where the President of Korea lives.  We saw the outside briefly because it's heavily guarded by security and so we couldn't get close.

It's called 청와대 Cheongwadae/The Blue House because the roof tiles are blue.  Go figure!  It literally means "pavillion of blue tiles."  We hiked this place called 북한산 Bukhansan (boo-kahn-sahn) Bukhan Mountain but not all the way since it was really hot.  It's a major landmark for hiking, bird watcing, and rock climbing.  It was so hot outside that our cold water bottles were boiling.  Ugh..... As we were walking around and enjoying the scenery, I wasn't feeling too well but I thought that it was just the heat and that I was uncomfortable. 

북한산

북한산

북한산

북한산

북한산

I wanted to check out 남대문시장 Namdaemunsijang/South Gate market.  Man, I love street shopping.  You don't see a lot back home so it was refreshing.  I loved the fruit on sticks they would sell.  Big chunks of watermelon and pineapple along with other fruits looked even more amazing because of the heat. 

Cute little 한복!!

What on earth does that mean??  I think they're trying to say "FITS ALL 16" KIDS" but do you know of any 16" kids?? 

I said goodbye to Benjamin and Jonathan since I was leaving tonight to go to Shawn's house (he was a neighbor of mine back home and he's in Korea now).  I loved 재원 Jaewon and her family so much.  They've treated me so well here.  Already, I've built wonderful memories with them.  Just last night, we were all eating dinner together and 재원 Jaewon's youngest child can speak with an American accent really well and I mean really well.  I was so surprised.  He would say English words that most Koreans would have trouble pronouncing correctly.  So 재원 Jaewon's husband would say an English word with his best American accent and then the son would say it.  Of course, because he's younger, the son was better. As they kept trying it out, they asked me, "Julianne, who's better?"  I didn't want to make 재원 Jaewon's husband lose face so I just said, "I need to eat my dinner" and that set it off.  They were laughing HYSTERICALLY at that.  They couldn't stop laughing and thought that was so witty and clever.  I'm going to miss them so much.  It's with every family I've been with here, including the study abroad family.  I grow attached to them and love them so much.  Each of them have sacrificed so much for me to be here.  Especially 재원 Jaewon, it was so great.  Getting to be your mom's best friend is really neat. 

재원의 가족 Jaewon's family!

Now it's time to go to 성남시 Seongnam!  But then trouble hit.  As we were driving, I felt really sick and my stomach was killing me.  We pulled over and man explaining what's wrong with you when you're sick really sucks if you can't explain it properly in another language.  재원 Jaewon and her husband thought I needed to go to the hospital but it wasn't that bad to go to the hospital.  Sure, I felt like dying but not to the extent of going to the hosptial.  If you know how I deal with sickness or pain, you know I'm telling the truth.  I got some fresh air as we pulled over and they made me do some stretching exercises.....Haha interesting but it helped a bit.  We finally reached Shawn's house.  It's a good thing it's the closest city to 서울 Seoul or I would have been miserable.  When I got to his house, it hit me again.  I sat by the toilet for hours and during the middle of the night I made frequent trips.....Way to put a damper on the last week in Korea.  I feel bad for Shawn's mom.  She's so generous to let me in her home and now she's taking care of a sick person.  :-(

June 19, 2011 교회

For Sunday, I went to 재원 Jaewon's church.  They're not LDS and attend a Christian church.  However, they don't all go to the same meetings or church.  해경 Hye Kyung told me that as long as they go to a Christian church it's ok.  Inside I thought that was sad.  That's a big part of church back home is attending church with your family.  Because the rest of the family left to go sing in the choir, I went to church with 해경 Hae Kyung.  We took a bus to downtown and attended Jesus Christ Family church.  I've never been to another church but you've seen church services in movies before. 

Well, it seemed to me like a Catholic service just from what I've seen in movies but maybe I don't know enough.  They sing a lot of hymns, hymns I've never heard of in my life.  I couldn't understand the Bible they had either because I don't know religious vocabulary.  I thought church meetings were hard already when we went to the LDS services but another religion is even harder.  You hardly know the language to understand the religion.  The minister talked for hours.  Yes, hours.  Usually we have speakers and sometimes that can be hard to sit through but because I've never been to a service like this before, it was extremely difficult to sit through.  I can relate to foreigners when they come to church now. 

After the first service, they served everyone lunch at the meeting.  I met some of 해경 Hae Kyung's church friends and it was a little scary at first because they looked at me like I knew what was going on and knew how to communicate well.  It intimidated me that I kept very quiet and only talked if they asked me a simple question.  I tried to answer the best I could with the Korean language skill I've acquired but man it would be so much better if I knew more.  해경 Hae Kyung said people can attend as many or little services as they want.  If you want to attend all, it finishes at 7:00.  Wow.....if we thought 3 hour church was something, going to church services until 7:00 is something.....wow.  And that's what we did!  해경 Hae Kyung helps out with the primary and little children.  They sing songs and teach the children Bible lessons.  Holy cow, can those kids sing.....scream!  I wondered if I would be able to hear afterwords but because they're so cute I didn't care. 

I met the minister of the children and the lesson today was about stealing and how it breaks the 10 commandments.  I got to talk to the minister a little bit and he asked about my religion (this is all in Korean so it felt pretty cool) and I told him but I didn't stop there.  When Dr. Peterson talked to us about different religions and missionary work, I shared with him that I've never attended a different church than my own but I could find many similarities between our religions (which there were) and that they have treated me so well and made me feel welcome.  I told him I was especially grateful because that is what our church does or strives to do.  I think they were surprised by my response because I don't think they've ever heard anyone share something like that with them.  I knew "someone" was with me the whole time because I could feel the Spirit at times and I felt safe.  No I didn't feel that complete peace but a little portion was there. 

Haha you know how foreigners are when they have to introduce themselves in front of everyone and it's always a bit awkward?  Well, been there and done that today.  It's uncomfortable a bit and I can see why they feel lonely.  Even though I know I'm going home soon, imagine what it would be like for an immigrant?  I felt scared and confused if 해경 Hae Kyung wasn't in the same room or building because when you're new, you need a friend.  There's something about it that it's always better to have a friend in everything.  I prefer to be alone and work alone on many things but even I recognize that there are situations and moments you need someone else by your side.  I'm so grateful for 해경 Hae Kyung and letting me accompany her everywhere.

June 18, 2011 전쟁기념관, Gallery Chezart, Dinner with the Family

재원 Jaewon took me to the 전쟁기념관 War Memorial of Korea which was great because I haven't visited it yet and many of the others on the study abroad visited it already.  I don't know if it's just me but I swear, all of the 할머니들(grandmas) and 할아버지들 (grandpas) hang out here and anything historic.  It was an incredible memorial.  Even the outside architecture was beautiful.

They saved many things so they could display anything war-related in the museum. 

Hallway

The quote in the next 3 pictures I found to be very interesting.  I think it adds something more to the museum.  Whatever your political opinions are of war, I thought this was interesting.

Utah

North Korean torpedo that killed over 150 South Koreans last year on 전안 Cheonan.

I thought this was sweet.  This is a big rope and it represents the struggles and twists Korea has faced but the light above is a beacon of hope.



Turtle ship

재원 Jaewon took me to lunch at this cafe restaurant called Chezart by the memorial.  It was very metropolitan.  They had pieces of artwork hanging and waiting to be hung.  They had a baby grand piano with a live musician (you know what I mean, I don't mean to sound dumb with a "live musician".  Of course, they're living but not a CD).  It was so darling and I'm so grateful for her time and work in making me have a good time here.

We went back inside the museum to look around and found the funniest thing.  These kids were drawing "팥빙수" but it looked like, and yes I just went there, poo.  재원 Jaewon and I couldn't stop laughing.

Here's some more parts of the museum:

Isn't this suit sweet?

Someone wanted to get married the traditional Korean way outside.

So good.

I love Korean children!  Kyaaaa!

I also love good looking Korean men haha

After the museum, we went shopping in 명동 Myeongdong which I've decided is my favorite shopping place besides the luxury stores.  I bought some BB Cream since it's the huge craze here and in Asia.  Korea is the only maker of it so floods of Asians and Europeans have been coming here to get some.  Hey why not join them?  I'm not going to lie, it takes me by surprise when people of different nationalities speak Korean because it's so unique.  No one besides people from New Zealand and a few from America have been able to convey the Korean accent very good.  Well, as I was shopping, a more fair skinned man was ringing me up for makeup and was speaking to me in Korean (duh) but it was really good.  I asked him if he was from Turkey or Kazakhstan because I've seen quite a few of them from there here but he was from (I know this is sad but I can't remember) the Middle East (I think he said Afhanistan). 

After shopping, we went out to dinner with the rest of the family and 혜경 Hye Kyung, 재원 Jaewon's oldest daughter came from 수원 Suwon (where she's attending college) and she's very good at English.  She's focusing much of her studies on English and she's very good.  After dinner, I realized that I didn't prepare a house gift for her family so I went to the store with 혜경 Hye Kyung to pick up some treats.  It's always important that you bring gifts to a host family (I'm a bad girl!  How could I let something like that slip??) When we got home, we watched "Beastly" and although we all laughed a bit inside because there were some corny parts, the part that was hilarious was a segment in the movie when the main guy pretends to be watching TV and Vanessa Hudgens calls him out because he wasn't really watching TV.  The TV program was in Korean that he was watching!!  He said he was learning Korean and she asked him what they were saying and he didn't know.  Confidently, Vanessa Hudgens answered it.  Haha we laughed so hard at the part more than any other part because not only was it clever and witty the conversation they had but the Korean took us by surprise that it would peep up in a movie such as this or at all.

I love this family so much.  I can tell my mom surrounded herself by good friends and good people.  Honestly, I think I've surrounded myself around people because of the gospel and so to choose good friends I think is very difficult without the gospel so it's amazing that my mom and her friends had that wisdom.  I think it's blessed their lives.

June 17, 2011 Our Separate Ways/Last Day of Study Abroad Together!

It's our last day together.  We're all leaving different times.  Victoria left last week because she's doing an intensive Japanese program in San Francisco, Kenwood left because of family, and the rest of us hung out one last time but then Michelle left in the afternoon to fly back home.  I was leaving to go stay at one of my mom's best friend's home.  We got some 떡볶이 ddeokbokki/spicy rice cakes (which were so good but they made these really hot that I almost cried) and then did 노래방 karaoke one last time which was EPIC!!  It made it even harder to say goodbye.  We sang "Soulja Boy" and it was so funny.  We had no idea what the lyrics were at first that after we sang them, we thought, "Oh!  So that's what they're saying!"  We've gotten so close and created so many memories together.  Before, none of us knew each other very well and now it's a different story.  Before we went to 노래방 karaoke, Juni ran into this clown who wanted to have a rock, paper, scissors contest with him.  Funny thing, Juni won every single time and whoever won, the loser has to fan them.  So the clown got really sweaty.  Michelle left to go to the airport and I packed up and took a cab to the CBS news station where I would meet my mom's best friend from high school. 

It was scary to be by myself again but I made it to the news station fine.  I waited in the lobby for someone to find me.  I thought it was my mom's best friend but it was one of the secretaries.  She took me up to where she was.  It's kind of funny, I thought the secretary was my mom's best friend, she's very young, and so I was like, "wow!"  but then I met 재원 Jaewon who looks more like my mom's age.  재원 Jaewon had to do some work before she could leave but she knew I was going into broadcasting so she let me sit in on a talk show and a radio recording.  I really wanted to do this when I got to Korea; do something relating to my major while I'm there.  The practices are still the same over there which I thought was nice.  The only difference is language haha.  After she took me to her home in 평창 Pyeongchang in 서울 Seoul which is a very nice and rich area because of all the greenery and privacy.  We took my stuff to their apartment.  There I met her husband and son.  They helped me get settled in.  They're so nice and hospitable.  We met her youngest daughter 수경 Sookyung at a restaurant for dinner.  She's so sweet and darling.  What a beautfiul young girl.  It's still a challenge to only think in Korean again but it's good.  I feel more prepared and that I can converse more.  It's not perfect but I can tell a big improvement ever since I got to Korea.

CBS Studio

CBS Radio

June 16, 2011 이태원, Korea National Museum, Water Show at 한강

We visited 이태원 Itaewon because it's a popular tourist attraction but in my opinion, it's not that cool.  It's a part of Korea where they have foreign products sold and lots of foreign workers are here.  It's not that cool because it's a sketchy area.  We just went so we could say that we went there.  They had lots of things going on.  They had products from the middle east, India, and so much more.

It was really hot today so we were slow going places.  Next was the Korea National Museum.  We just took a rest outside of it because we were exhausted.  Outside of the museum, they had pretty gazebos, steps, and ponds. 

Korea National Museum



We heard of this water show they play in the eveings by 한강 the Han river but we thought we would catch a quick bit to eat.  I got the best 만두 dumplings ever!!

The water show was incredible!  So many people get proposed here at night and from far off you can see N.Seoul Tower!  You can ride your bike on the bridge while the waters are playing and it feels so good to ride your bike with that breeze going by.  We walked on the bridge and could already feel it.  The water show was incredible and beautiful.  Those pictures below aren't lying. 

Korea at night

Walking by the 한강

Every time we leave the house or go home, we see this sign/picture outside a restaurant we pass by.  It's weird!

It looks like a demon!