Ending Japanese Rule of Korea

I was in the center of Seoul on the day when Koreans celebrate the end of Japanese rule over Korea. It was a Saturday. There were Korean flags everywhere, and there were people selling Korean flags everywhere.

I saw a gathering across the street. So many people - so quiet... respecting the day with silence, just holding their flags high, and remembering.

My Korean Family

This is my Korean family. This is actually Ellie's family - but they are also my Korean family. They were so nice and took care of me and treated me like family. I miss them. And actually, my Korean grandmother isn't in these pictures. They're all so nice - I really am looking forward to seeing them again soon!

Directly behind me is Ellie, then from left to right is Ellie's aunt, her mom, and her dad.

Doksu gong Palace

Nearing the end of my stay in Korea, I started visiting lots of places that I wanted to see before I left. There a few old palaces to visit. I went to two of them. The first one I went to was Doksugong Palace.

I went with 3 other people and we saw the royal changing of the guards. They do this every weekday. It's pretty interesting.



One thing I thought was funny that I had to snap a picture of was - when the guards were marching to the front gate of the palace... they had to march past a Dunkin Donuts. :) hahaha - it provided such a contrast between this ancient reenactment and a modern donut shop.



Traditional Korean buildings are pretty cool.



And it was also cool to look down and see the traditional buildings, then to look up and contrast that with the huge modern skyscrapers in the not-too-distant background.



These are the friends I went with! :) I miss them already



They took me outside the palace where we walked around the wall and they told me that in Korea, it's bad luck for couples to walk along this wall. It means they will break up. So I quickly snapped a picture of some people in front of me that I think were couples, in prediction of their coming break-ups.



The reason it's bad luck is because there used to be a divorce court somewhere down this outer wall - so couples walking together were usually walking to the divorce court. As we were walking... I spotted one of the Royal Guards! I caught him in normal clothes!



Anyway, we had a great time.

Multiple Gender Bathroom

After lunch one day at a restaurant, I followed some signs to the bathroom and this is what I ran into. Yikes! Normally in America when you find a bathroom for both genders, it's just a single toilet and you have to take turns... but not this time. How awkward! A large bathroom with a line of toilet stalls for men and women, and also some toilets just for men (for pee). I couldn't imagine using one of the special toilets for me and suddenly some ladies walk in... no thanks!

Music: The Namolla Family - "I Love You"

So last week I was walking from Subway (the restaurant. yes... those people at Subway know me pretty well now) when I passed one of the shops. Shops in Korea often play music to set an atmosphere for their shop. Anyway - this shop was playing music and I'd heard this song before in Korea but I never had ANY idea who sang it or what the name was! It was all in Korean! But I really liked the song, so I stopped to listen to it. Then I went in the shop and asked the lady who sings the song or what the name is... and she didn't know.

Then the song ended.

So I went and drilled some students for the artist or name of the song by whistling the tune. NOBODY knew! But FINALLY one lady was able to find it for me! It turns out the song is written by a comedian group in Korea called "The Namolla Family" and they made this song for a movie (a bad movie, from what I hear). But I really like the song.

The only words I really understand are "I love you" which is the name of the song. In Korean, "I love you" is "Sara-heng-gay". It's one word. Say it real fast, then listen for it in the song. Anyway... here's the song. Also, if you type "Namolla Family" Into YouTube, you can see one of their comedy skits. I don't understand a word of it - but it really looks funny.

Keep A Person!

Just something funny I saw in Korea. Oh graffiti - you gotta love it... and you also gotta wonder what the perp. is THINKING when they are spraying...

Sungshin at night

Right now, I'm staying in Seoul - somewhere between Sungshin Women's University and Hansung University. It's really a great area - I'll definately add more pictures to this post later of the area. There are the normal HUGE apartment buildings -- but there are also houses and restaurants that are built in the old traditional Korean style with the nice wood work (I'll add those pictures later).

Here's just a couple pictures of the market-walk at night. This isn't seasonal or anything. Every night, these lights go on and you walk underneath. There are people everywhere - restaurants and shops and street vendors... it's a great area. During the day - these are just white. They still look nice - but at night -- wow.