Busy Weekend

Although not a long weekend this weekend started on Friday for me. Before work I headed into the city with Becky and Sam (2 of my coworkers) and Jen and Joy (my director's daughters). We went to the 'Blue House' or president's house, in Korean called Cheong Wa Dae. The name 'Blue House' comes from the colour of the roof tiles. It is mainly open on weekdays for tours, so we booked this tour 2 weeks ago. They only run tours one Saturday a month. So going on the weekend was impossible -- before I leave. We had to meet the tour group before 10 am so we left Osan at 8 am -- ugh! Lucky us, we got to do the tour with a big group of kids -- fun fun! The grounds of Cheong Wa Dae are beautiful, especially in fall, and the house itself is spectacular. You don't get to go inside, just look around the outside, but it is really nice.

After the tour I introduced everyone to my favorite Indian food restaurant in Dongmeo. It is sooooooo tasty. The girls liked it -- which was great -- since I wasn't sure if they would. They have not been exposed to a lot of foreign foods. From there we headed back into work.

On Saturday I went on the Han River Boat Cruise. I was lucky and got there only 15 minutes before the boat was to leave. So I got on, and was the only person there. Then 5 minutes later a couple got on. Just as I am thinking the boat with leave any minute I hear a bunch of kids, screaming and running. I look up to see about 75 kids running towards the boat -- this is not going to be so nice and quiet after all! The kids were all a part of a youth group and they were accompanied by only 2 adults -- yikes! They were around 11 or 12 for the most part. One girl spoke English quite well (in the middle below) and she asked me questions, to which no matter what I answered everyone thought it was funny. Especially if my answer included a Korean word. This country can be soooooo funny! I cannot imagine what it would be like to grow up in such a monocultural society that I thought anyone who looked different was the most interesting person around.

The kids were pretty well behaved and since they gave them lunch on the boat -- they were not out talking to me the whole time. So I did get some opportunities to get some pictures of the city. Here is the 63 building, the tallest building in Seoul.There are a lot of people and a lot of roads,here are some of them intertwining.
After the tour a did a little more shopping. While walking around the city I came across this building art. I am now finished buying Christmas presents. Although I will probably go back to Insadong 1 more time, because I love it there.

On Sunday I went hiking. I read that the hike uo Namhansan was easy and only took a couple of hours, so I was able to not worry about getting up early. Usually went hiking I get up at 6 and head out -- but not this time -- yea! I got to the town and started up the mountain. Passed some rock wishes, everything was beginning normally. then about halfway up I passed a man going down -- in his bare feet!!!! Now this would be crazy in Canada, but here it is really insane! Since whenever I wear hiking SANDALS in the summer time Korean hikers like to yell at me for my footwear. They think you should always be wearing hiking shoes (or high heals --- but that's another story). So needless top say that was very odd.

The hike to the first peak was really easy, maybe 40 minutes, then at the top there was a road! What a strange mountain!?! Oh well from there I headed towards the south gate. This mountain has the southern fortress that protected Seoul on it (Nam means south). The northern fortress is on Bukhansan (Buk means north). It was not far away. At the gate was the official entrance to the park -- but they did not seem to be charging money -- very strange. I walked along the wall for a bit. There were some nice views of the southern part of the city, but they were hazy views. Inside the park was a pavilion where a king (himself) fought for 45 days to keep the city safe. It was a nice building. The hike was beautiful as we are nearing the end of fall the mountain was a nice copper color.

along the hike there were lots of little chickadees. They are really cute, and I love to see any wildlife in Korea. It was a nice easy hike, and I got home pretty early so I was able to relax in the evening -- yea!

Last Weekend -- late update

Last weekend (Nov 11 & 12) was a pretty slow weekend in terms of events. On Saturday I was not feeling well, so I decided to take it easy and do some of the stuff I needed to at home. I got a lot done on my scrap book, and started a lot of other projects. The problem that this caused a paper and picture scrap filled bomb to explode in my apartment. It took me until Thursday night to get it all cleaned up!

On Sunday I went to Seoul to go to the Seoul National Art Gallery, and did some shopping in Namdaemun and Insadong. I started the day at Namdaemun, and actually saw the gate (mun means gate) for the first time, even though I have been there many times). I also had lunch at a street food stall -- mmmmm seafood pajoam (pancake -- sort of). From there I walked to the art gallery. The Art Gallery is located on a really pretty street beside one of the palaces.The Art Gallery was cool. It had a huge modern electronic and technical art display on -- which is not my favorite -- but I enjoyed it. There was a great piece titled the emptiness of water. It was a huge piece of metal with holes cut out for all the enclosed bodies of water in the world -- but not the oceans. I really liked it; it is neat to look at Canada like that -- we really do have a lot of water in our country! From there I walked to Insadong. The walk from the Art Gallery (near city hall) to Insadong is always interesting, 'cause there are many embassies in the area, including the American, so there are often protests and events there. It is always fun to see the number of riot police ready to move in at the first sign of trouble. I have yet to see a violent protest here, but Claire saw one in Osan one day. Just before Insadong I stopped into one of the biggest book stores in Seoul -- their English section is the size of a small book store on its own -- and bought a couple books about Korea that I wanted -- including a cookbook. Then shopping in Insadong before heading home -- I love Insadong.

Korean Medicals

So about 2 months ago my boss told me that since I had been in Korea so long I had to go have a medical. I had to go or the school would get charged a lot of money (~$1000.00). Fine, I said -- not at all impressed. Then I asked if I could go to see a doctor in Seoul who would speak English -- more about that fruitless adventure in an earlier post.

Sooooo I had to go to the hospital in Osan, with Samantha (my boss) and our bus driver. I went this morning. It was the funniest thing ever. First Samantha filled out the form she was given which included questions about age, health history etc. The diet question was (Samantha's translation): Do you like vegetables? Meat? Only meat? What?????? Also it didn't seem important that my father had had a heart attack -- ok then....Moving on....

It was in this large room, with lots of small side rooms. They weigh you on a scale right at the front door -- fully clothed -- except shoes. Then take you blood pressure -- again right there in front of everyone. Next they test your eyesight -- I had contacts in -- but that was OK?!? Ok now a hearing test -- sound proof booth and press a button when you hear a sound.

So far so good -- not too strange. But it is time for the urine test. I get handed a paper cup. You know they kind most often used at water coolers. Very sterile I'm sure. And I am given a piece of litmus paper that tests pH and some other stuff. I pee in my cup and head back into the office with it. I later realize that I was supposed to pee in the cup and then dip in the paper and dump out my pee -- I didn't understand the dump it out part.

Next the blood test -- pretty basic. Only one vile, and it was a regular need -- not one of the more modern ones we have at home. After that a chest x-ray -- really? Why????? Ok then. There of course was no reason why.

Then I got to see the doctor -- he said 2 or maybe three words to me in Korean (without Samantha there) then "ok" -- and sent me off. It was rather entertaining as he sat down, so I started to sit and just as mu but hit the chair he jumped up and said OK and sent me on my way. Finally I had to go into the dentist room -- yikes -- I have never been to any dentist but my one at home. But he just looked in my mouth with a mirror and a little light.

Done and done -- too weird -- not sure what that accomplished.

Deoksugung Palace

This weekend was another busy one -- that is the way it is set to be for the next 6.5 weeks -- yikes is that all?!?

On Friday I headed out to WaBar to wish Jill and happy b-day again. I knew some of the guys were going on a pub crawl, but with a doctor's appointment in the morning that was not an option for me.

On Saturday I headed into the city to see a travel doctor. My appointment was at 10:30 and I went to the International Clinic in Itaewon. I arrived at 10:00 and checked in, they did not have my appointment written down. Apparently there are 2 International Clinics in Itaewon (Why did this surprise me?) thankfully I was early. They gave me directions and I headed to the other one. I got there and handed them all my stuff. I need to talk to the doctor about my trip to South America, but I also needed a basic checkup that all foreigners who stay longer than 18 months or so need. I really did not want to go to the doctor with my boss, so I had my boss call the clinic to make sure I could go there. But at this point the woman behind the desk says they don't do these checkups -- How to Frustrate Foreigners 101! I say my boss called to check. She says they must have miss understood, I said -- My boss is Korean, you spoke in Korean!!!!!! I never will understand how easy it is for people to have miss understandings about something that is soooooo freaking common!!! argh!

I did see the doctor about shots -- turns out I have all I need. And the doc speaks Spanish, so we did half our meeting in Spanish -- fun fun. Then he gave me a prescription for larium (the crazy malaria med) and antibiotics. They are much cheaper in Korea so that was great.

After that I hit Insadong for some quick shopping then back to Osan for Jill's party. It was a great time. Lots of people some drinking games, sorry I forgot my camera was in my bag -- I have a bad tendency to do that. I switched to water early on so that I would be ok the next day.

It worked like a charm and I woke up at about 10 and headed into the city to Deoksugung. It is a palace in central Seoul. I have never been there before (why? Well probably because it is so close I kept putting it off). They have a changing of the guard ceremony. It was fun to watch. I love Korean traditional clothes. They are so bright and colourful. I also always like looking at the photos after, 'cause then you can see that all the facial hair is stick on (he he:)

Inside the palace was really nice. Some of the buildings are quite old. This is the only palace in Seoul that survived the first Japanese invasion in the late 1500s. And some of the buildings even survived the other invasion and the Korean war! So they are pretty old. One is not painted, which is shocking in Korea. Like usual the buildings are absolutely beautiful. The painting on them is just fantastic.There were also some really nice gates and walls in the complex. They have great brick work and carvings. This is an incense burner. It is very large, it could hold about 100 incense sticks at once.Just inside the main gate is a large statue to Kong Sejong. He is the most famous Korean king. He developed hangeul (the Korean alphabet) among other things. The amazing thing about hangeul is that it was specifically developed to create an educated populace, when the wealthy could already read and write in Chinese. He developed it to allow the poor to become educated and it was specifically made easy to learn. That is why the UN has named their literacy award after him.

Aside from all of that, the park on the palace grounds also includes a beautiful treed arbor, and some displays of ancient Korean technology. The treed arbor was great because while I was taking pictures of it I started watch a little boy, being a little boy. I love how similar kids are from one country to the next. I did not get the picture I wanted of this boy, but check out these 2 the before and after, notice the birds in the first and the posture of the boy in the second.
Of the ancient technology they had this water clock. The cravings on it are beautiful. The rocket launcher was also cool.
So Sunday was a great day, and much more relaxing, which is good.

Jill's Birthday et. al.

November 1st was Jill's birthday. Happy Birthday Jill!!!!

This was a good excuse to go out for chicken and beer. Besides it fell on a Wednesday which is our normal dinner night anyways. So we headed to our favorite chicken place pork deugae (or 2 forks) and ordered one of each kind of chicken (sweet, hot, regular and smoked) and chowed down -- yummy. There we 8 of us -- so we ended up having to make a maze for the poor waitstaff by moving the tables around -- oops. But it was a great night.

Around the table from front to back to front starting on the left are Liz, me, Natalie, Brenda, Craig, Jill, Mel and Amy.

Then today being Thursday my boss bought us dinner. He is possibly the best hagwan (after school academy) boss in all of Korea, and he buys us dinner every Monday and Thursday (actually the office staff do the ordering, but he pays). So they have started asking what we want, and we talk about it earlier and choose. Then it arrives at 7 and we eat quickly between classes, and if we are still hungry we eat the leftovers at 8. It has been great. We had kamjatan tonight. It is spicy potato soup with pork on the bone. It is delicious and it is heated at the table so the restaurant brings a burner and gas along with dishes. Then they come back and pick up the dirty stuff later. I think the delivery system here is great. Also you get a bunch of side dishes with every meal -- man am I ever going to miss kimchi (Korean spicy pickled veggies -- usually cabbage).It may sound weird but it is spicy and delicious.