Sightseeing with Su Jin
On Sunday the 19th, another teacher at my school, Su Jin, asked me if I wanted to go to Seoul with her to see the Chagall art exhibit and visit a temple (I know...both of which I have mentioned in my last post). I immediately agreed to go with her. She picked me up outside the grocery store near my apartment at around 8:30 am. Not willing to drive into Seoul (I do not blame her in the slightest...Seoul is a scary place when you are in a vehicle), we parked her car at Osan City Hall and took the bus into the city.
The bus picked us up almost immediately and cost 3000 won (1120 won = 1 US dollar). 40 minutes later we were at the Nambu bus terminal in Seoul. There was hardly any traffic on the way. From the bus terminal, we jumped on the subway to head to the City Hall subway stop (the closest to the Art museum). While we were exiting the subway station, we noticed that there was a huge festival going on in the park across from the City Hall. We watched from across the street for a little while and headed to the art museum.
The art museum was just that...a Chagall exhibit. Pretty interesting.
After the art museum we decided to check out the festival by the City Hall. It was a Youth Cultural Festival...so I got to see a couple of traditional dances and eat a rainbow colored rice cake. Korean rice cakes are much different than those in the States... much better. They are more like cake and less like hard crunchy things.
Then it was off to lunch. The restaurant we ate at was a traditional Korean restaurant. You must take your shoes off before eating and you sit on a raised platform but it's still like sitting on the ground. There were 17 side dishes served with our meal of spicy tofu soup. I don't really know the names of any of the side dishes, except Puchimgae, which is "Korean Pizza" though not at all like our pizza. It is eggs and flour with vegetables and squid in it... one of my favorite Korean dishes so far.
After lunch we headed off to the temple. We were meeting one of Su Jin's friends at the temple who works on an army base, so she speaks English very well. We talked for a while on the bus ride and the following walk to the temple. The temple was beautiful. Located on the foot of a mountain in Northern Seoul. We specifically went to that temple because they have 2 monks from America who guide meditation and give lectures on Buddhism in English. We didn't make it in time for the guided meditation but the lecture was very interesting. I can now say that I have heard a monk use the phrase "bitchin'"!!!
After the lecture we went and sat in a park and talked more. They tried to teach me more Korean phrases which I later wrote down and hopefully some day will remember. Both Su Jin and her friend also speak Chinese so we had an enlightening conversation about the Chinese language. By the time we left it was 6:00pm and Su Jin and I still had a long subway ride to the bus station and a 40 minute bus ride home.
At the bus station I even asked for my ticket in Korean...and was given the right ticket! I've had problems on the train before. I say I want a ticket to "Suwon" and they hear "Suhwan" which is a completely different city in the opposite direction. But luckily my "Osan Chu-seyo" (Osan, please) worked!
Got homeat around 8:00pm, cleaned my apartment for a little while, then went to bed.
That was all for Sunday... hope everyone else is doing well!
E
The bus picked us up almost immediately and cost 3000 won (1120 won = 1 US dollar). 40 minutes later we were at the Nambu bus terminal in Seoul. There was hardly any traffic on the way. From the bus terminal, we jumped on the subway to head to the City Hall subway stop (the closest to the Art museum). While we were exiting the subway station, we noticed that there was a huge festival going on in the park across from the City Hall. We watched from across the street for a little while and headed to the art museum.
The art museum was just that...a Chagall exhibit. Pretty interesting.
After the art museum we decided to check out the festival by the City Hall. It was a Youth Cultural Festival...so I got to see a couple of traditional dances and eat a rainbow colored rice cake. Korean rice cakes are much different than those in the States... much better. They are more like cake and less like hard crunchy things.
Then it was off to lunch. The restaurant we ate at was a traditional Korean restaurant. You must take your shoes off before eating and you sit on a raised platform but it's still like sitting on the ground. There were 17 side dishes served with our meal of spicy tofu soup. I don't really know the names of any of the side dishes, except Puchimgae, which is "Korean Pizza" though not at all like our pizza. It is eggs and flour with vegetables and squid in it... one of my favorite Korean dishes so far.
After lunch we headed off to the temple. We were meeting one of Su Jin's friends at the temple who works on an army base, so she speaks English very well. We talked for a while on the bus ride and the following walk to the temple. The temple was beautiful. Located on the foot of a mountain in Northern Seoul. We specifically went to that temple because they have 2 monks from America who guide meditation and give lectures on Buddhism in English. We didn't make it in time for the guided meditation but the lecture was very interesting. I can now say that I have heard a monk use the phrase "bitchin'"!!!
After the lecture we went and sat in a park and talked more. They tried to teach me more Korean phrases which I later wrote down and hopefully some day will remember. Both Su Jin and her friend also speak Chinese so we had an enlightening conversation about the Chinese language. By the time we left it was 6:00pm and Su Jin and I still had a long subway ride to the bus station and a 40 minute bus ride home.
At the bus station I even asked for my ticket in Korean...and was given the right ticket! I've had problems on the train before. I say I want a ticket to "Suwon" and they hear "Suhwan" which is a completely different city in the opposite direction. But luckily my "Osan Chu-seyo" (Osan, please) worked!
Got homeat around 8:00pm, cleaned my apartment for a little while, then went to bed.
That was all for Sunday... hope everyone else is doing well!
E
posted by Elissa @ 8:35 PM
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