Gyeongbokgung Palace

Today was another adventure day, and I had such a wonderful day. I was so happy to finally see part of the culture, heritage and tradition of Korea. This is what I've been wanting to see, not shopping centers! I find these types of places fascinating to see first hand, and so interesting to read about.

As all of the other teachers are off in different areas for vacation (Tokyo, Cambodia, Malaysia, Busan), Jess and I took off today to see the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Pictures were taken immediately upon arrival, and my day will be told mostly through pictures now :)

This here is a terrible picture (due to being on a moving subway) of the Han River. You can really notice the smog in this one!

 

These are two stone artworks that were inside the Gyeongbokgung Subway Station - through Exit 5, you walked through here to reach the Palace directly.

I took this picture after just coming out of the subway station. I find it interesting to see the contrast between the traditional and modern so close to each other.

The Gwanghwamun Gate (left) and the Heungnyemun Gate (right) are two of four gates that allow entrance to the palace, everywhere else is surrounded by 5m high walls.

 

My ticket - 3,000 won to enter.

 

 

 

This was inside the palace walls - there were many of these buildings that we looked at and walked around. It took us probably two hours just to tour the palace on our own - then we went to two museums as well. It was a long day! 

 

 

 

 

I absolutely fell in love with the colours and designs used to decorate all of the buildings. It was so intricate - especially the roof!

 

 

 Me sitting by a cool green door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You were allowed to go into many of the buildings and see replicas of what the furniture would have looked like - long as you took off your shoes. Below, again, how pretty!

 

 

Here I am in the Queen's main residence. Below is Jess and I in the terraced garden called Amisan that has chimneys which you can see from the Queen's main residence's windows. Thank you to the kind lady who offered to take our picture.

 

 

 

 

This is a shot of King Gojong's palace within a palace. The pavilion is named Hyangwonjeong. So beautiful!

 

We also came across these statues - here is what looks like a soldier monkey. I'm not really sure what they actually represent, but I have a feeling that they have to do with the New Year and your birth year being represented by an animal.

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the Palace in its glory. Only the King could walk down the centre.

 

 

We also got approached and asked to have a picture taken.

 

 

 

We also went to both The National Folk Museum of Korea and the National Palace Museum of Korea - both with had free admission. There are many interesting things to see in both of these museums. But, by the time we got to the second one, I was a little bit tired of Museums - probably best to only do one a day.

 

There are also five other palaces around the same area that I would like to check out eventually. I don't know if it was because of everything that I saw today, but I was really in the mood for some good non-Western food - that or maybe it's because I'm getting a bit more accustomed to being here. I really do want to expand my tastes and try new dishes (maybe not so much meat though). We could not find a restaurant nearby the palaces, so we headed home though. But I was still determined to have something more authentic, so after Jess and I parted ways, I decided to try Pho Bay (Vietnamese Food) that is close to my apartment. I almost didn't due to the fact that I was alone but went anyways and now can officially say I've ate in a restaurant alone - how sad! :P I am so thankful that I went out with Tom and Joel for Pho in the past, otherwise I would probably never had considered this place and it was amazing! Such a good dinner to end the day. 

 

 

I do have more pictures from today, but that would make this blog post huge - so I only included a few. I will be posting the rest on Facebook (probably, unless I come across something better) in the next day for you to see :)

<3

Itaewon

Since I have removed the cardboard from my sliding doors I tend to wake up around 7am every morning but manage to be able to get back asleep, so it's not too bad. Though uninterrupted sleep would be nice. It would be awesome to find some sort of curtains for that part of my room, but it's not as easy as walking in a fabric store and Home Depot. For now, it's okay.

After laying in bed for awhile I started to read the book "The Grapes of Wrath" for the book club that I'm hoping to take part in. I'm only a few chapters in, but so far it's not bad. Afterwards, I decided it was time to cook my first meal in my apartment. I was quickly reminded of how bad I am at cooking eggs (unless scrambled). Tom was always the one who did breakfast and is 100% better than me at cooking eggs. Needless to say, it will be a year of me perfecting eggs. I also didn't want them scrambled since I do not have cheese or salsa, or anything for that matter to top them with. I also only have a plastic spoon to work with (all of the other utensils are metal). In the end, I think I came out with one overcooked egg and one slightly undercooked egg. It was also interesting getting the gas stove to turn on - took a couple times! I also cut up one of the pineapples I bought yesterday with the only knife that I own (see below) - but it was delicious.

 

 

 Jess eventually arrived at my place and I decided I wanted to go check out Itaewon today (which she had only been there once briefly) so we headed out.

 

 

 Itaewon is known for being the foreigner area in Seoul and to be completely honest, I was a little bit underwhelmed. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't whatever that was. However we did spend our entire day there. I think I expected it to be busier, and to see more foreigners and for it to have a different atmosphere. But after getting out of the subway station, we saw few foreigners (granted more than you see around where I live) and the atmosphere was generally the same. There were lots of shops, from Korean branded stores to Aldo and Converse. Shopping is HUGE in Korea. Which for me doesn't do too much, but it was cool to walk around and spot different places to go back to for gifts when Christmas arrives. Elliot mentioned to me as well that there is a Canadian Pub there, so I was determined to find it without knowing where to look, or what it was called. One part of Itaewon that I really liked was this back alley strip that had TONS of restaurants dedicated to different countries around the world. This really reminded me of being in Vancouver and being able to walk down the street and get any type of food you could possibly want. I did take a video of this, but don't think it would be that interesting to watch - but if I get bugged enough, I can post it :)

 

 

At this point we were starting to get hungry and had not found the Canadian pub, so we were going to try one of the Italian places - but I really wanted to find either gnocchi or risotto, but none of the menus had what I wanted. Most had mushroom risotto, but we know how I feel about mushrooms. With nothing else jumping out at me, I became even more determined to find the Canadian pub - which we did. I am not shy when it comes to asking strangers for things and have no problem stopping people on the street, asking if they speak English and then proceeding to ask my questions. So this is what I did - I was trying to ask one person who spoke back to me in Korean, when another guy overhead us and offered to help. Turns out he is from Toronto and was waiting on that corner to meet his cousin. He also spoke both Korean and English fluently. Although he had no idea where the pub was, we waited with him for his cousin who knew the area better and she was able to give us directions! Turns out it was only a few blocks away, but I don't think we would have gone down that road otherwise, so I am very thankful for them. Alas, it was closed when we got there and wouldn't be opening for another 1.5 hours. So we took some pictures, then went and had ice cream until 5:30 rolled around. The pub is called Rocky Mountain Tavern, and is decorated with hockey jerseys and Canadian license plates.

 

 

I also had heard from Elliot that they made Caesars (which I don't usually like), but figured since it is a Canadian drink, that I should have one. I'm still not crazy about them but drank it anyways. My Korean Caesar (it came with a lemon wedge):

 

 

It was wing night, but of course I did not have those. I'm not sure what typical Canadian food would be, but it all seemed to be pretty standard Western food - burgers, salads, wraps. I would say that only truly Canadian thing on the menu was poutine. I enjoyed a chicken wrap with fries. The servers are Korean so some things got lost in translation. The chicken was supposed to come tossed in a "cool creamy sauce" but I wanted it tossed in hot sauce with a side of "cool creamy sauce". She said this was not possible, so I asked for a side of hot sauce instead. When my food finally came out (not sure what was happening in the kitchen, cause it did take a long time), the chicken was tossed in hot sauce and I got hot sauce on the side! Oh well. The chicken was still a bit weird and looked very pink to me, but I ate it anyways. 

That was basically my day today. We were going to stop in Gangnam, but I was so tired by that point and didn't really want to look around another shopping city, so I'll save that for another day. But I am starting to learn the subway a bit better, it would be more helpful to have internet on my phone to be able to use the subway app to route where I am going, but I do not (thankfully Jess does). At this point all I have access to is the map online at my apartment and a physical map of the subway in Korean, so not very useful.

I am dying to see more than storefronts and hope to see more of the traditional side of Korea in the next few days.

Here are some random pictures of the subway, there are glass doors surrounding the tracks so no one can "fall down" in the tracks like at home. Also screens show each stop and a little bus moves as it moves through the stops so you can see where the train is in comparison to your stop.

Also, I have sent out my address to a few people today - please send me a message if you would also like to have it!

<3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woe is my Tummy

I have a video for you! I will be taking you on a walk from my apartment to a little bit past my school so that you can see my walk to school and the area around where I live.
I'm sorry that the video is so pixelated! Apparently the camera/recorder is not very good on my phone.

Today I am feeling a little bit discouraged. I ventured back to Lotte Mart to do some grocery shopping, and despite being in there a few times already, it was still a bit overwhelming. It is really, really hard to grocery shop when you don't know what anything says. As well, not everything looks the same either. I'm not even sure if what I bought is actually rice! I know overtime I will get more familiar with grocery items, especially when I start to pick up and learn more Korean. BUT, I'm also feeling discouraged (if that's the right word) because groceries are super expensive here. It's insane. Even things like produce and pasta which are generally super cheap at home, are expensive here. Here is what I bought today:

rice (I hope) - pineapple - eggs - trail mix - fettuccini noodles - alfredo sauce -  fruit cocktail - granola type bars (they are called ultra bars) - all for about $40 (cad).

I know that doesn't probably sound too bad, but it is. For example, the noodles would normally be around $1 at home, here they are $3. The pasta sauce was almost $6 etc. Toilet paper here is expensive too, a normal pack I'd buy at home would cost around $20 here. So I'm not really sure what I'm going to be eating. I know I can get buy with very little food, but that's not healthy. As well, I won't be eating too much meat, so protein is something I will need to get elsewhere. I was hoping to find beans (kidney, chick peas etc) but no luck. Also, not having an oven makes things a little harder too. Here I thought I could make my own pizza - ha! Also, they only have brown eggs, which I've never had before and don't know what the difference is but am a little worried about the potential of not liking them. Hopefully I do though, in which case, I see a lot of rice and eggs in my future. Here are some pictures from a flyer from Lotte Mart - for currency you basically take off three zeros and they would be the approximate dollar amount. For example - if something is 15,000 = $15 - if something is 6,500 = $6.50 etc.

 

 

 



They also have a foreign section except I don't recognize any of the items except these two:

Skippy and Nutella!! But again, very expensive! Food is my second biggest woe of the day.

Also, I forgot to mention before my silly blonde mistake. I went to blow dry my hair with my Canadian hair dryer and made sure I used the adapter. I also kept in mind Claudia's advice to use the low setting in case anything goes wrong, so I did. I turned it on low and immediately it was piping hot which I thought was strange but then the burning smell came. Immediately I turned it off and just let my hair air dry instead thinking that it was just a bad idea to think my hair dryer could be used here.

Have you caught my mistake yet?

 It didn't occur to me until later that day that I didn't use the converter! Ooops. I have not tried it since but I hope I didn't ruin my hair dryer!

There is a great website called MeetUp where people create different groups you can join. I have found a bookclub group that I am going to try out. The next meeting isn't until the end of August but that gives me a month to read that book they are on - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Because I don't know where any bookstores are yet, I bought and downloaded it off Kobo (because it was cheaper than on the Kindle) to read off my phone. I'm hoping that that will be a great way to meet some new people and I'll be doing something that I love as well :)

<3

Little Hurdles

Today was a bit of a lazy day for me, I stayed in my apartment for the most part. I tried to sleep in but couldn't really. I spent my morning catching up on the Bachelorette - I missed your company Bruno!! I had planned to go grocery shopping today, only to find out that all of the grocery stores close every other Sunday, so none were open today. Jess offered to give me her kettle since she doesn't use it, so I went over to her place to pick that up since I've been dying for some tea - something I also miss about home, especially the company that came with it :) Afterwards we went to Daiso and I picked up some more hangers to finish putting away my clothes.

Back at my apartment, I tidied, realized I couldn't clean the kettle (or anything else) because I didn't have dish soap, put away clothes and finally got rid of that ugly cardboard that covered my sliding doors. I realize that the other teacher likely put it up since there is a street lamp outside the window so I'm sure that keeps the room nice and bright throughout the night. But I'm going to try it out tonight without the cardboard and if it bothers me, I will find something more aesthetically pleasing to remedy the problem - yes, it was a guy who lived in here before me! I also angled my wardrobe differently and I feel the room has better flow now. I also turned around the shelving unit at the end of my bed so that the shelves could actually be used. The only other thing to work on is cleaning, that's a huge one, but figuring out a good chair/seat. I have a very low table and my back has been hurting sitting on the floor to be at table height. I also want to get rid of these camping chairs and the big desk chair that I have no use for.

My one and only meal today (because I couldn't get groceries) was pizza, from Mr. Pizza! I was actually quite impressed with it and it even came wrapped with a ribbon.

 

It was yummy and you get a 20% discount for doing take-out, which is great. This was the New Yorker - ham, pepperoni, onion, green pepper and mushrooms. They also have a potato pizza that I'm curious to try.

 

After a quick few bites, Megan came over to take me on a short tour of the subway. We took the 15-1 bus by my place to the train station (that's also where the EMart, movie theatre and big shopping mall is) then got on the train. The system is a little overwhelming at first, I don't remember if I posted a picture last night, but here is a map of the subway lines:

 

 

Just crazy! We took the subway to Gangnam which was about 20-30 minutes away. The station at Gangnam is filled with shops. We walked through it but didn't look around too much, then did a quick walk outside and headed back. I am planning to go back to Gangnam sometime this week so I will take and post pictures then, but it is very nice and looks more similar to downtown Vancouver than my city does. I also want to go to Itaewon which is the foreigner area as well as to hopefully some more historical sights/attractions in Seoul.

Today was all about little victories for me - starting to learn the subway could be one of them as well. But I somehow deleted all of my music off of my laptop and I was completely devastated because my music picks me up. After some time and some googling, I was able to recover the deleted files from my computer and I got my music back!! The other big thing for today was wifi. I bought a wireless router the other day and have been trying to hook it up for the last two days without any luck. Try, try again, right? Finally tonight, I don't know how, especially because this is what I was going off of

 

I got it to work!! This means I can finally use my laptop in different areas of my apartment, and can use my phone! But I probably spent a good hour or more trying to figure it out tonight, that doesn't include the time spent earlier today and yesterday.

Tomorrow I will hopefully have groceries and finally be able to cook for myself! I also have my medical exam tomorrow - it will be an adventure trying to find the building and floor the doctor is on.

<3

A New Day, A New Post

Today I woke up bright and early like always without an alarm - sigh. It took me a bit to get going, but I finally put on some music and started to sort things and put them away. Part way through I got to Skype with Yvonne and Mark which was nice :) Afterwards I continued on - until I ran out of hangers! But I did manage to get everything out of my suitcases and put those away and got my flag and pictures up on the wall which made my heart happy. As the day went on, I realized that I really needed to go buy a few things and needed food. Mark and Yvonne wanted me to check out McDonalds to see what interesting things they had there so Jess came over and off we went.

The first stop was the bank and my Canadian card was accepted - hooray! Then we had McDonalds but I'm sad to report they didn't have anything odd or interesting on the menu. The only really different thing they had was bulgogi, but that's just beef anyways. I had a Big Mac which tasted the same as in Canada. I tried a nugget and again, it tasted just the same. What I did find fascinating is that McDonalds delivers!!

 

Afterwards, we checked out the "dollar store" = Daiso, and I got a plant! :) There were two other ones I wanted to get as well and might go back for them. Hopefully I can keep it alive.

 



After we dropped that off back at home, we decided to take the bus to EMart, the other big store similar to Lotte Mart. I think I like EMart better, I'm not sure why. It was my first time on the bus though! I still haven't gotten all of the essentials yet, but got a few, like a Brita filter. Apparently, the water is safe after filtering it through that, which is convenient. I also got a bathroom rug and a wireless router but I don't know how to hook it up. Below is a cute mug I bought and then a funny bowl that my apartment was furnished with.

It's 1am here right now and I'm falling asleep, so here are some more pictures of the day. There is a nice river that connects to the park I'm across from.

Then there is also an underground walkway you can use to 'cross' the street, it seems a bit sketchy but it's been empty every time so I think its okay. Here it is with the sidewalk before and after it:

Next some pictures of a typical street, EMart and the subway station:

I might take the subway tomorrow with Megan to figure it out a bit before all the teachers go on vacation so I can explore during the week. It looks complicated!

Oh I also went and saw Wolverine tonight at the movie theatre with Megan and Chris - that was fun. It made me miss home a bit though since we used to go so much! They usually always play one English movie. Although there are parts where they spoke Japanese in the movie which normally would be subtitled in English but since we are in Korea, they were subtitled in Korean, so might have missed a bit of the plot that way!

I also had an interesting encounter today walking home which may make some of you concerned, but don't be!! The long of the short of it - guy from the bus was following me, eventually came up and struck a conversation, wanted to treat (his word not mine) me if I came to Seoul, I said no thanks and he said have a good day and booked it.

Okay time for bed on that lovely note! <3