North Korea has no Trees!

So, the title is not actually true, but I'll get to that later.

This weekend was very interesting. First, on Friday night I went with Ki Sung to a magic show put on at Yonsei. It was very amatuerish but I got to see the junior/senior among students relationship in action. For instance, the guys who gave Ki Sung and I tickets was Ki Sung's junior in his major and though they were "friends" he wouldn't look Ki Sung in the eye.
Afterwards I got to eat in a tent restaurant. Which is literally a tent set up beside the road with folding tables that serves food late into the night.
Saturday morning I attended Ki Sung's cousin's wedding. It was a western style wedding, so it's was set up like ours except that it's held in a wedding hall that does six weddings an hour, the wedding itself only took an hour, and people from other weddings kept wandering in. Not even the bride and groom were safe as the people from the company hired to run the wedding kept fidgeting with the bride's dress as she said her vows and camera men were at the pulpit with the preacher taking photos.

Each bouquet was for a weddding, there were about 30 in this room.
Here is Ki Sung's family and the bride and yes I am in some of there family photos now.
Ki Sung can sing very well and so he preformed a song for the couple accompanied by his junior.

And the reception afterwards took place in the cafeteria in the basement where you got a meal ticket and were served and hurried along by waitresses. All the wedding parties ate together.
Now, for the most exciting part of my trip. Sunday morning I woke up at 4am and spent the day in North Korea.

Ok, let that sink in. Yup, I crossed the DMZ, about 20 minutes into North Korean territory and went sightseeing in a city called Kaesong there.
So, here is the South Korean checkpoint. We left Seoul at 6am and arrived in Kaesong at 10am. The four hours in between was for security clearance. A straight ride from Seoul to Kaesong only takes about 40mins. But it's a whole other world across the border. A world that has its own currency but makes foreigners use the American dollar.
The official North Korean border. We weren't allowed to take pictures from the bus, guards stationed on the bus and along the roadsides made sure of it. They were actually supposed to censor my photos coming back but it being Sunday evening the security was amazingly lax on both the North and South Korean side. We were escorted by no less than four trucks with North Korean soldiers at all times and when we were allowed to leave the bus, there were designated buildings to take pictures of. I didn't follow the rules very well as you'll see later. So, many of the following photos were supposed to have been censored but weren't.


This is a typical North Korean building. The houses all looked like this. There is glass in the windows but it's not particularly straight, the buildings themselves and pretty dilapidated, there is a shingle roof and all the windows are painted this color blue. It's pretty much the only color in the cities apart from the colors of the changing leaves and the clothing. Oddly enough, neon green is also used alot. Fences and buildings would be painted this color. Never in large amounts but it is still kind of shocking in such concrete surroundings.
So, the reason we visited Kaesong is that it is the Old Koryo Dynasty capital and so has many historic sites. Here is a waterfall.
And the names carved into the stone are about 500 years old. Chinese characters are apparently no longer allowed in North Korea so these names far predate this policy.
We ate lunch at a "famous"restaurant in the city. 13 side dishes but no main course and the lights and heating were off due to power shortages. North Korea didn't seem very poor but little things like that show what we're missing.
So, here is the begining of covertly taken photos. This is downtown Kaesong. We were allowed to walk about a block but North Koreans were kept far away from us. But you can see them crossing the street.
A tower.
A department store
A building under construction. It's apparently being made in the "traditional style" but what that means is that they don't have the equipment or technology to upgrade their building techniques. This building will be finished in 10 years and is already falling apart.

A statue of Kim Il Sung overlooking the city. We were not allowed to approach it.
Note the North Korean car in this picture. Outside of the military vehicles we saw two cars both seemed to be from the 1950's. North Korea has these wide well paved roads and even a highway to Pyongyang but no cars to drive on it.
Some houses and a famous mountain. It looks like a pregnant woman lying on her back.

An office building
A park


I traveled with two guys from my dorm, this is Fabeel.
While the city was very interesting my favorite part of the tour was this man. Chang Son Jun. He is a North Korean citizen of Kaesong assigned to stay on the bus with us and make sure we followed the rules, (no photos and no political talk) But he sat next to me. My Korean is good enough that we could have a simple conversation. He has two children, likes to play sports, is learning English and supports Obama!
He was very nice to me. And explained more than our tour guide. And though there is no way to ever see him again, I have a friend in North Korea.
The rest of the tour after the city center was kind of boring. Here I'm gaining 10 years good luck.
And we went to a Koryo palace. This is an old shrine.
A dedication to Kim Il Sung when he visited in 1992. Propaganda was everywhere, from big signs in the hills to large paintings of the Kim family by the roads and in the fields.
And finally, Kaesong is know for its ginseng so here are some 1,000 year old ginseng trees.
A view across the DMZ. The scenery was beautiful. All the trees have been cut down on the North Korean side to prevent spies and defectors but the land itself is very well preserved and majestic. There are huge mountains in North Korea with villages in the valleys. This same landscape has been destroyed in Seoul where neon covered buildings cover everything and hiking means walking a paved path with hand rails. Kaesong maybe poor but the simplicity of it was actually very beautiful.
South Korean guards
And the road blocks leading up to the border.
So, sorry I didn't tell anyone I was going to North Korea beforehand but I didn't want to worry you. Actually, a lot of people did the same as me. I really enjoyed my trip and I am now safely back in South Korea. On a completely different note I have something to add to my lists of foods I ate but probably shouldn't have, Tuna fish eyes.

Halloween Update

So, once again nothing exciting happened this week. I really should get out more but things like presentations and papers keep me in Seoul. But last week was Halloween and so the school actually rented out a popular night club for the international students to celebrate in. (Koreans don't trick or treat) So, it was a fun night of dancing and costumes, completely separate from the local culture. Anyway here are the best pictures of the night.


These are all in the subway on the way to the club, I was dancing too much at the club to take pictures.


So, here is my boyfriend Ki Sung (military) and Mackenzie (80's areobics instructor), my Taekwondo partner. Ki Sung's uniform is real, he is apparently a Sergent in both the US and Korean army. Me and Ki Sung, I'm a librarian.
And finally Jun, one of Ki Sung's friends and Mackenzie making spectacular faces.
I know this post is short but I have some spectacular plans for this weekend but they're secret for now. And no it's not paragliding again.

I'm Back!

I had midterms all last week so in addition to having no time I did nothing of interest. That was remedied this weekend when I went out with a Korean family that my friend had met one day. They actually took my friend, Mary, and I to dinner the Sunday before and this past Sunday we visited their family farm and did a little walk around Seoul National Park.


A family farm in Seoul, means a place about 2 yards square on a nearby mountain that is rented to a family where they grow cabbages, onions, pumpkins and squash. This area had about 100 "farms".
We then walked a bit over to the National park which is also, part amusement park, part zoo and part art museum. Here is my friend Mary showing her appreciation for a piece called "Beach".
During this whole time Mary and I were made to talk in English with the families two sons, ages 15 and 17. It's sort of Korean fashion to be very generous but to expect something in return and so Mary and I are taken out on family outings and fed very well but then become free English practice partners for the sons. I spoke to the 15 year old, far right, who in true teenager fashion, said almost nothing to me and was incredibly embarrassed by anything his parents did.
We also made fun of the art alot. I'm picky and Mary is an art major and so we climbed on many of the sculptures that weren't up to our standards. This one was amusing though because it was called "the thinker" thus our poses.
On Tuesday Mary and I again had an adventure. We went to a smaller zoo in Seoul for the purpose of playing with dogs. There was a puppy zoo for children here and after paying 3,00won (a little less than $3.00) we got unlimited play time with about 15 dogs. (Huskies, Border collies, labs, retrievers, corgies, terriers...) I haven't played with an animal since before I left but it was surprising to even see them. Bigger animals, like dogs, don't live in Asia because there is no space for them to be kept. You will occasionally see something like a handbag sized dog but nothing bigger than that. For this reason many Koreans are afraid of bigger dogs, even ones that we would consider medium sized because they lack experience with them. In addition to this many Koreans fear cats as well, because the ones living in Korea are mostly feral and are not kept as pets. I think the only pets Koreans do have are fish. This one and a pug sat in my lap the whole time, while my right hand was petting a massive sheep dog and the other was occupied by an older golden retriever. The border collie and the huskies couldn't sit still long enough to receive attention.

At the zoo, we also witnessed a Korean television show being filmed but the speech was too fast for me to understand.
And being a children's zoo there were many school groups who greeted us loudly with "hello" every time we passed. One girl even got so bold as to say "I'm beautiful." Though I think this is less vanity and more she confused her pronouns.
Now to make up for not updating here are some scenes from Seoul.

Early morning subway rides. Good in the winter because the train is toasty and you no longer have to hold on to the railings for stability because it's packed so tight.
View of Han River at night. The Han river runs straight through Seoul and has parks and bicycle routes all along it. Shincheon by night, looking down from a 13th floor Italian restaurant.



Yonsei, from the same restaurant. The big building on the right is the hospital and I live just behind that. The main road down the middle goes to the front gates on Yonsei and the mountain in the back is on our grounds and there is the Yonsei dairy at the top.
A church that amused me. It's name is Beautiful Church and if you notice it's spire leads down into a building that must be part convenience store. This actually happens alot. Few buildings ever really stand alone and neon is never left out. The cross at the top will glow bright red at night.

Seoul from the top of a Ferris Wheel.

And now to the people I see all the time.

My language exchange partner Shin Kyungchul.
Mary and the dalmatian that took a nap in her lap. Hosub, a Korean American from New York whom I spent 24 hours with studying for my North Korean History exam.

Kisang, my boyfriend, in his full Kendo armor.
Girls from my Korean class, Seong-ah and Ann, intentionally striking Korean poses.
And then Benard and Wendy, also from Korean.
And finally Laura, in a picture that defines everything about her.
K, so hope that satisfies everyone. The next couple of weeks should be eventful so, until then...

Norebang

Not much happened this week. But I did join Kendo club (the sword martial art) and so I went out to a "norebang" (karaoke room) with them after practice. Here, you are set up in your own room with food and drinks for a few hours and everyone takes turns singing and dancing. They have English songs too, but usually they're much older. The following pictures were taken at the norebang with some members of Kendo club.

So, here is my language exchange partner, he's also part of Kendo club. His name is Shin Kyung Chul. We meet once a week to practice Korean and English over dinner.

And me, in a stolen hat and glasses.
Kyung Chul again (right) with another guy.


Me and a graduate of Yonsei who still comes to practice sometimes. He apparently teaches middle school so he would sing songs like "row row row your boat" to show off his English skills.
And finally, this week I went on a sogeyting, or blind date set up by my language partner with this guy Ha Kisang. We got along well and so I've seen him everyday this week He's 23, a mechanical engineering major, and fluent in English because he worked with the US army for his mandatory army time. He's helping me out alot with my Korean.

Some more experiences around Seoul

This week was much more productive. On Thursday night I went out to Itaewon to scout it out for my friend's birthday. Itaewon is the foreign quarter of Seoul. Here is where the GIs come to hang out as well as anyone who is passing through Seoul but doesn't want to bothered with Korean. Everything here is in English and large sizes. All parts of Seoul that I have visited look the same but feel different and that's the case here. It feels foreign and a little bit unruly. Both of which I confirmed on Saturday night when I went clubbing there. When people go abroad they often feel like the rules no longer can effect them. You see a lot of this in Itaewon. It's not a bad place though. For instance, my roommate and I found a nice middle eastern restaurant and smoked hookah (legal, flavored tobacco). Seen here. Friday was Founding Day, the day the bear that became human from living in a cave and eating only garlic gave birth to the founder of Korea. Kyra and I went to two of three palaces in Seoul. Built around 1405, this palace has become Korea's Williamsburg, complete with changing of the guards and a King and escort wandering the grounds.
Still a nice place though. But not quite as awesome as the one's in China.
Me with my Founding Day Korean flag in the back gardens.
And some of the many strange statues that periodically show up near old buildings. Haven't found a meaning for them yet.
The second palace was a UNESCO World Heritage Site and so we had to take a tour around it and thus got only a limited view. But here is the "Secret Garden" of the emperor.
Finally, on Sunday I met up with Sehee, an old intern from White Tiger, and visited Kukkiwon, the world headquarters of Taekwondo. I watched first degree and fifth degree testing. It really didn't seem that hard so hopefully when I test for third degree in the spring, I'll pass.

On a side note, I'm officially coming home Dec. 19th. So, I'll see everyone then.