We just got back from an awesome 6 day trip to South Korea! All credit for this trip should go to my student from last year, Hatty Lee. She is the one who started our crazy obsession with all things Korean. Korean music and TV dramas are extremely popular in China. Most of my students love Kpop (Korean pop music)! Hatty Lee begged me last year to watch a TV show called City Hunter. It is a Korean TV show, so I was very hesitant at first. I thought to myself this is stupid, why would I watch a Korean TV show. I live in China! She continued to pester me about watching the show and finally broke me down. Let's just say the rest is history. Lesley and I love Korean dramas! They are awesome! (Don't judge me unless you have watched one) I won't even tell you how many shows I have watched over the past year because it's embarrassing. haha Anyway, this is the background for the reason Les and I really wanted to go to Seoul!
After that long explanation, I am going to try to keep it short by just describing the pictures.
Getting on the subway from the airport!
Flashing the Korean won! These were 10,000 bills! Feeling rich! haha
Lesley's friend from high school is currently living in Seoul teaching English. We stayed with her for 2 nights! This is her apartment. We loved it because it reminded us of our TV shows.
Sleeping on the floor like the Koreans do!
Our first full day was jam-packed! We hit up one of the palaces, a traditional village, and did some shopping!
One of the emperors...I don't remember his name. Whoops!
In front of the Gyeongbokgung Palace
One of the guards
Lesley and Kate inside the palace walls!
Kate and I standing where the common people used to stand when being addressed by the emperor.
Weird thing is Les and I were just common people in Korea. No one cared that we were foreign. This is the opposite from China. It was strange not being stared at the whole time. We were like, "Hello! Look at me! I'm special!" haha Oh no, what has China done to me!
There were several of these cuties walking around in traditional Korean outfits that the emperors and queens would wear! So cute!
My favorite area of the palace! It was gorgeous!
After the palace, we grabbed some grub at TGI Fridays and did some shopping!
This shopping area was so crowded! For some reason, Lesley and I always seem to be swimming upstream when there is a crowd.
These socks were everywhere! I loved the face ones!
When in Korea, act like the Koreans do!
We ate mostly Korean food, but we did indulge ourselves a little with some Western treats!
Pictures from the Traditional Village!
Lesley and Kate posing behind hanbok dresses (traditional Korean dresses).
Traditional Korean home
The door ways were so small!
Traditional Korean bed with a rectangular pillow.
How did anyone fit in there to be carried?
Kitchen area. The pot on the ground was used to make kimchi (fermented cabbage), a famous Korean side dish.
These guys and gals were practicing kungfu while we were touring the village!
For dinner, we ate Korean BBQ! It was delicious! I loved all the Korean food we ate.
Korean food > Chinese food
Every Korean meal is served with several side dishes, including kimchi (fermented cabbage).
This is kimchi. I actually really liked it. Oh how my taste buds have changed since living in China!
We had to take our shoes off at the door and sit on the ground. Pretty cool!
We went to a buffet style BBQ place. This is wear we picked our meat to cook!
Day 2 included mostly shopping and eating!
Kate's apartment is across the street from a TV station. Every Sunday morning they film an episode which includes famous Kpop bands. These girls were lined up from the night before! Crazy Kpop fans!
For lunch we ate bibimbap, a rice bowl with veggies, meat, and an egg. It comes in a clay pot and is still cooking when it arrives on the table. You mix it all together and the egg cooks into the rice. It was really good!
About to try it!
This was a treat on the street. It is in the shape of poop! Gross!
We went shopping for some souvenirs for us and our Chinese friends, who also love Kpop! We ended up with socks and pens with the faces of our favorite stars on them. Yeah, we are cool!
It's called a potato tornado! Yummy!
Last picture of the day, obviously we did a lot of shopping!
After shopping, we saw a movie in English! Ahhh...what a treat! We saw the new Star Trek movie! To top it off I got to eat real popcorn!!!! I love popcorn! It is easily my favorite snack ever! I have to pop my own on the stove here in China, so to have legit movie theater popcorn was amazing! Obviously, I was really excited about it and I'm still dreaming about the popcorn.
This wraps up my first 2 days in Korea. I will post about the rest of my trip soon!
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