Little Updates....

Well we've been here for just over 3 months now and we still haven't shown you any photos of where we work! So we took our camera into school before class today and took a few snaps of the classrooms and staff room.  It's a hagwon which is a private english school academy with 4 classrooms and an IT room. It's only been open for about 1 year and a half so it's smart and new! Here are some pictures:

Last weekend we decided to venture in to Busan. We had heard that Busan had the largest department store in the world so we decided to take a look!! It was 14 floors high and included a spa, cinema, permanent ice rink and hundreds of different shops. We were amused to watch both adults and children fill the ice in their pink and yellow helmets while we ate lunch. We also stumbled across a foreign food shop which had some things we hadn't seen for months! However, even the most basic English supply like Yorkshire Gold teabags was being sold as a luxury item for almost £10. We had a longful look at the mature cheddar and all the tea and moved on. After a long look around the department store, we wandered down the road to Busan's most popular beach: Haeundae. Although it gets over 1 million visitors in summer, the cold January weather meant that it was largely dominated by hungry seagulls. The naive people who chose to feed them were hounded by packs of them. One defiant man had managed to somehow catch one and he stood on the beach showing it off to onlookers. Here are some pics:

One more thing, the other day we bought a hell of a lot of baked goods from our local supermarket, it being our traditional cake sunday and all. Because we bought so many, we were given a special bag to carry them home in and it made us chuckle:

Making Gangjeong and Trip to Gyeongju!

Making Gangjeong

A couple of weeks ago, our co worker Iris invited us to a monthly korean culture event that she helps to organise. It's held in a temple just outside Busan and is a free event for foreigners to come a learn a bit more about Korea! This months event was making Gangjeong, in preparation for Lunar New Year. It's a small rice sweet which reminded us a little of a crunchy rice krispie cake. We got to chat to lots of different people, expats and Koreans which was really nice. We had a great chat with a Korean school principle who gave us solid advice on how to have a long and prosperous life. His advice consisted of only three things; 1) Don't live in high rise apartments (for fear of earthquakes) 2) Don't live near the sea (for fear of earthquakes causing tsunamis) 3) Don't be shocked when earthquakes or any other natural disaster occur (for fear of spurring on a heart attack). We thanked him for his advice, smiling and nodding as he spoke. At the end we were given a box of our Korean sweets to take home which were gobbled up within the following week. Here are some piccies;

 Iris, our co-worker, making Gangjeong.

 Nina receiving wisdom.

Gyeongju!

Being Lunar New Year, we had a 5 day holiday starting the 21st January which we were very happy about. We took advantage of the time off to take a trip to Gyeongju, about an hour and a half north of Busan. Gyeongju was the capital city of the Shilla dynasty that lasted almost a thousand years up until its collapse in the late 10th century, so there were a lot of historical tourist sites for us to visit. On saturday, we took a couple of trains and arrived in Gyeongju around 1pm. Thankfully, we had done a bit more research into our hostel and it turned out to be much better than the dodgy one in Seoul. We dropped off our bags and headed out to find some bikes to rent as we had heard that this was the best way to see Gyeongju. On the way, we stumbled across a pet store selling puppies and Nina was introduced to what she thought was her soulmate, a sausage dog whom she named Sir Cliff after another of her soulmates Cliff Richard. It was love at first sight and she didn't stop making whiny dog noises for about 30 minutes. Here he is (against Nina's wishes, we didn't buy him):

 

Shortly after this brief love affair, we found a bike rental shop. The owner spoke not a word of English and Ed had a very brief miming conversation with him trying to figure out what time he wanted the bikes returned. Very luckily, a Korean couple popped their heads around the door and the wife spoke very good english and was able to act as a translator for us. Once they'd gone, Ed and the shop owner tried to organise payment. The owner requested a passport but Ed didn't really wanna give him his passport for fear that he may never see it again. Ed offered him his provisional drivers license which he looked at, and rejected, so Ed as a last ditch attempt offered the man his out of date student ID card. This was recieved with a smile as he noted down the student number and happily prepared the bikes for us.

We set off on our bikes safe in the knowledge that if anything were to happen, the Leeds Univeristy Union would be on our case. We biked for around 4 hours stopping at all the major tourist sites around the city. Gyeongju is famous for its mound tombs which are more or less the Korean version of the Egyption pyramids. Kings and royals were buried with eloborate jewels and finery and we visited a fantastic museum which showed a lot of amazing artefacts recovered from the tombs, some of which were 1500 years old! Here are some pictures from our bike trip around Gyeongju:

For dinner we found a unique little restaurant which was a Japanese and Korean fusion. Worn out and hungry from our bike ride we ordered an absolute feast!

 

Day 2 we took a bus to visit Bulguksa Temple which is UNESCO world heritage site.  Wikipedia does not lie when it says it's " a masterpiece of the golden age of Buddhist art in the Silla kingdom." It was a huge temple complex that is popular with foreigners and koreans alike. Unfortunately a lot of the temple was destroyed by Japanese invasions, however it has been redeveloped and rebuilt in the exact likeness of how it used to be. It was extremely grand and you could imagine Korean royalty walking around the grounds. Once we had looked around the temple complex, we thought we'd take a nice stroll up to the Seokguram grotto, another world heritage site. We were assured that this was a leisurely walk but it turned out to be a pretty hefty hour long hike up a mountain. It was completely worth it at the top as the grotto housed an ancient statue of buddha built in 742! We weren't allowed to take photos inside the grotto so we have copied a photo from the internet for you to see. Here are the pics:

(Taken from internet.)

On Monday it was Lunar New Year's Day, and the city of Gyeongju was spookily quiet and absolutely nothing was open. We searched for somewhere to have some breakfast but the only place which provided us with some refuge from the very cold weather was a pair of golden arches. McDonald's didn't seem to be affected by the Korean festivities so we begrudgingly went inside ordering some chips and a Bulgogi burger- more for interest rather than hunger. We decided to visit a folk village just outside of Gyeongju. The site had old authentic Korean houses made with thatched roofs and was still inhabited by some Korean families. Although the weather was absolutely freezing we wondered around and took some pictures before heading back to the station to go home. Here are a few snaps from the village ;

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

x

Snowy Seoul!

Day 1,
After working on boxing day and the day after, we had a 5 day holiday which we decided to spend in Seoul! On the morning of the 28th we took a train from Jin Yeong straight to Seoul and arrived about 1pm. Koreans seem used to a slightly warmer climate as the train was SO hot! We had to keep rotating who went next to the heater and we both ended up in t shirts even though it was about -2 outside. Arriving in  Seoul we headed to our Hostel, which was coveniently located a few minutes from one of the metro stops. When we arrived we found our room had yet to be cleaned, meaning that it really didn't look its best. Having a shared bathroom, we didn't realise that we would be sharing our corridor aswell. Outside our room were two bunk beds, one occupied by a dancer from Hong Kong, who greeted us only in his pants. Regardless, we made our way to some of the nearby palaces. We had a look around Bukchon which is a traditional village with small winding paths and traditional houses. It was a very charming place, pictures are below.  In the evening we explored Insa-dong which is a trendy area full of bars, restaurants and trinket shops. After dinner, wanting to avoid our return back to our hostel, we headed over to Hongdae which is the main university area in Seoul. After passing many a jazz bar and k-pop club, we found a suitable drinking establishment. Back at our hostel we had found that our room had been cleaned! Hooray! It was alot more welcoming!

Day 2,
We got up nice and early and went around one of the main palaces called Changdeokgung. We were lucky in that it had snowed a little over night which made it look a little like a winter wonderland. Although this came at a price, as it was absolutely freezing! We had a look around the palace itself, then went on a guided tour of 'the secret garden' which is a huge stretch of land behind the palace. Our tour guide was very informative although had a sort of monotonal voice which made it sound like she was constantly confused and angry. Pictures below;

Not satisfying our fix for palaces, we then went to the other main palace called Gyeongbokgung. This was a slightly grander palace and was guarded by soliders in traditional 15th century dress, and were most definitely  wearing fake beards and moustaches. We happily posed with the straight faced soliders. Whilst Nina was trying to pose for her photo, a Korean woman came very close to her, and thinking that she just wanted a photo with the soldier, Nina tried to move out of the way but it turned out that it was infact Nina whom she wanted the photo with...! The palace itself was very beautiful and it was surrounded by small ponds and pagodas.

Day 3,
DMZ day! On Friday we went on an all day tour of the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, and we both agree its probably the strangest place we have ever been. The tour began with a short stop at an area of war memorials for soliders who had fallen during the Korean war and also journalists too. 

We then stopped for some lunch, as it had taken over an hour to drive up near to Panmunjeom which is where the border is. Lunch was really good, we had traditional bibimbap which is a rice, egg and vegetable dish. We were then driven to just outside the start of the DMZ, where there was another war memorial and also the remnants of a steam train which had been attacked by North Korea during the war and you could still see all the bullet holes. You could also cross a small wooden bridge which had been built by POWs escaping from North Korea in order to cross the border.

And then for the big event! We entered the DMZ after a thorough check of our passports by an American solider. There are over 700 military personel in the DMZ, 5% are American and the rest Korean. Interestingly, there is still a small town inside the DMZ as villagers decided to stay there after the area was created. They don't have to pay tax on their farm land, but they have a curfew of 11pm and when farming on their land, they are guarded by armed soldiers- quite a strange existence! The town is called Freedom village and there is a small primary school there. Just over the border there is a North Korean town which the South Koreans have named Propaganda Village which holds the world record for having the longest flagpole in the world boasting the North Korean flag. The flag at the top weighs more than 300kg! It is apparently completely deserted but electricity is seen to be switched on and off at the same time every night giving the appearance that people are still living there.
We reached Camp Bonifas (named after a US soldier killed at the DMZ by North Koreans in 1986) inside the Joint Security Area (JSA) and were given a quick-fire talk about the history and importance of the DMZ. Originally, the JSA had been made up of various buildings belonging to the North, South and the UN. However, after the incident in 1986, it was decided that it be split down the middle between North and South, with UN buildings built half on each side so that talks could take place. This created a demarcation line, basically a slab of concrete dividing the North and South. Both countries' army personel only stand guard at the border when their own tourists are visiting as during the winter it can get extremely cold. When we arrived it was -10 C! So, from Camp Bonifas we boarded different UN buses and were told to wear UN guest badges so that "if people start shooting, they know you're civilians"! We were taken right up to the border to see the South Korean soldiers standing guard. Opposite us was a large white building, the North Korean HQ of the Joint Security Area. We were told that there were guards inside and lots of cameras watching us at all times. There was even a North Korean soldier standing guard outside the HQ looking at us through his binoculars! Then we entered the UN building that was half in the South and half in the North. We technically crossed the border into the North inside the building and got to take a picture of the demarcation line from the Northern side. The trip was of course topped off with a visit to the gift shop where you could buy anything from DMZ magnets to full JSA army uniform! We decided to get a DMZ mug so we can drink hot chocolate and look back fondly on our lovely tourist experience. Some photos below...

Above is the view of the border from the Northern side.
Arriving back into Seoul at around 5pm, we decided to climb (or rather cable car up) Mt. Namsan. This provided spectacular views over Seoul. We followed this with dinner and a movie (Sherlock Holmes 2). It was in English just for us, and everyone else in the cinema had to read the subtitles.

Day 4,
A slightly more chilled day, we visited the National War Museum which was a very impressive building. It gave us some more insight into the Korean War which was interesting. We followed this by a trip to the highly recommended Itaewon, at first we thought we may be in the wrong place, as we weren't really impressed with it! So instead we went to explore Namdaemun market which is the oldest and largest market in Korea. It was full of vendors sellings fake underwear, purses, shoes, fur coats and many other things. We then headed to Myeongdong which is like the Oxford Street of Seoul- very very busy but full of life. Here are a couple of pictures;

 

It being New Years Eve, we treated ourselves to a curry for dinner! We found a cute little indian restaurant in Insa-Dong which was surprisingly tasty! After this we found a snazzy bar called 'The Flair', which was literally something out of the film cocktail although it had a modern twist and all the menus were ipads! The bar staff would attempt to juggle and throw bottles and cups some more successfully than others! Then the whole bar played bingo together and one of the waitresses did a short dance performance to a k- pop song! At 11.40pm we headed out to Jonggak where everyone gathered around an old bell which was struck at midnight.There was a fun and happy atmosphere and people let off fireworks at midnight. Pictures below;

 

Day 5, 

Our last day, we checked out of the hostel, saying farewell to our dancer from Hong Kong. We had wanted to visit a flea market in Hongdae but once we got there we were told by a tourist information guide that it only took place in the summer! So, feeling the cold and not really having any place to go, we indulged in some dunkin' donuts. On our way to Seoul station, we bypassed Noryangjin fish market where Ed had a field day taking photographs of the bizarre fish on offer. We were very close to buying some very large salmon fillets but thought we might not make any friends bringing them on a 5 hour train journey home. Both being completely nakered by our trip we both slept all through the train ride home and went straight to bed when we arrived back! All in all, we had a really fantastic trip. Pictures of the fish market below; (we think the octopus looks like an alien).