catching up

I swear I've spent most of my evenings this week just sleeping, which is really not at all like me. Though I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I started reading The Da Vinci Code on the plane to Osaka on Tuesday and have stayed up late every night since then pouring through page after page. Because of that I have needed to come home after work and take a nap every day since then. Bad Jen... But it's cool cause tonight I finished the book...and how awesome it was! If you haven't read it I suggest you get off your butt and hop to it, cause it is just that good...really!

So yes, tonight I came home from work, got something to eat and then proceeded to take a nap that I only just now woke up from. Good thing too since I hadn't set my alarm yet tonight. Woops. I hate spending all this time sleeping though, it makes me feel like I'm wasting such precious moments that I could be out doing other things.

Anyway, the trip to Osaka on Tuesday went perfectly. I didn't have any problems whatsoever, especially since I met up with some other foreigners at the airport who were on the exact same mission. We all banded together and got the job done without incident. Osaka is cool though and I definitely wanna take another trip to Japan whenever I am afforded the time and money to do so. And of course I took a lot of pics too, so here they are... :)

the udon I ate for breakfast/lunch at the airport

a pedestrian crosswalk in Osaka

those Japanese people love their bikes...

some side streets in Osaka

a mall we came across in our wandering

Ooooo...pretty!

what looked like a canal running through downtown Osaka

the train station

views from the train

a Pocky vending machine!

a view of the mountains from the airport terminal

my fellow foreigners

and so ends the weekend

Right now I am just relaxing after the long day and having myself a nice ice-cold can of Cass beer (hey I'm allowed to splurge every so often). And it was yet another long day indeed, jam-packed full of interesting sights and sounds. I was actually rather annoyed at the start since I didn't get up until about 11:15 this morning. It was my own fault though...I stayed up way too late last night. Oh well...

To begin, I wanted to go to a bookstore I had heard about called Kyobo Books, which was supposedly located in the Gwanghwamun subway station. But of course I couldn't find it when I got there so I pulled out my handy dandy guide to Korea which told me that the location of the bookstore was actually down the street...so out into the sweltering heat I went. Half an hour later I still couldn't locate Kyobo, but I did manage to find a different bookstore in the next subway down at Jonggok. Even so, they didn't have the cd I was looking for and the new Harry Potter book they did have was too darned expensive! And thus, empty handed, I left the store only to find that it had started raining, and here I am without my umbrella. I ran back inside and bought one and then decided to roam around the subway for a while because there was all kinds of shops down there as well. As it turned out by the time I actually left the station it had stopped raining, so my stupid umbrella purchase was all for naught.

After that things got increasing better and it ceased raining for the rest of the day. I began walking in the direction of Tapgol Park which was very near the station. While I was there I came across a camera crew that was in the midst of shooting...something, not really sure what. I watched them for a while and then travelled further down the street to this ancestral shrine called Jongmyo which was a wooded solace smack-dab in the middle of the city. It was almost strangely out of place...if I hadn't noticed the tops of the buildings just over the shrine walls I might have thought that this very quiet and docile place was no where near the city. But still there it was, this picture of serenity nestled among the hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul. I walked around there for a long time just taking in the atmpsphere and absorbing the nature all around me; it was wonderful.

Next I went back towards the station to a Buddhist temple that was located nearby. There was a service going on so I didn't actually get to go inside (though I did manage to snap some photos from the doorway). I walked around there for a bit, ate some kimbap that I had brought with me and then continued on my way. Since Insadong was very close I walked through the main street and then towards Myeong-dong which is also in the same area. I did some window shopping there for a while and then decided to spend the evening climbing up Mt. Namsan yet again since it had finally cooled down and I felt energized enough to take on the challenge.

It was a long way up Mt. Namsan and I thought those steps would never end! But finally, about 45 minutes later I reached the top, though sweat soaked and dehydrated beyond belief. I don't know why I do this things to myself... Still, once I cooled down, drank some green tea and sat for a bit I felt loads better and probably even more energized than when I had begun my hike. I meandered around the top for a while and then headed back down the mountain. By this time it was about 10pm and so I got on the subway to go home.

And now here I am at home, completely amazed at how I could have possible been able to squeeze so much into one weekend. But again, this is Seoul and there's still so much I want to do here. These things I've done so far...they're only the beginning. :)

an aquarium I saw in the Gwanghwamun subway

City Hall

Tapgol Park

the pagoda in Tapgol Park

a gazebo-esque structure in Tapgol Park

the filming crew I saw there

a path at Jongmyo Shrine

the main hall at Jongmyo Shrine

another view

yet another view

the Buddhist temple I visited (Jogyesa) - which was under construction

a service that was going on inside the temple

the bell outside the temple

Seoul Tower from afar

Seoul Tower up close

just another Saturday

And so I spend yet another Saturday running around and keeping myself insanely busy...and despite the hellish heat outside, today was pretty fun! I didn't actually get going until about 2pm but after that I was on the go until about midnight tonight. The best thing about Seoul is that you can go anywhere you want at anytime because the public transportation is just that good.

I started off the day going to Inwangsan, which is a Buddhist temple area built on the side of a mountain just north of Seoul. I spent a while just wandering around trying to find the temples until I finally came to what I thought might be the path up to the entrance. But by that point I had already climbed about a million stairs and was completely soaked with sweat and dying of dehydration so I decided the rest of the hike up to the temples might be better on a day when the temps were a little more bearable. So I trekked back down and headed to the Sookmyung Women's University subway exit for my first Korean lesson.

The classroom was in a small building just next to the Namyeong-dong office so it wasn't that hard to find once I spotted the Namyeong office sign just outside of the subway. I went up to the 5th floor and registered and then went back down to the 3rd floor classroom with another Indian couple who were also having their first lesson. The class was cool though and it really helped me polish my Korean writing and reading skills. I think I'll stay at the beginner level for a couple more weeks and then move up to the next if I feel ready enough. So the class lasted from about 4:30-6:2o and then after that I headed to Dongdaemun Market since I hadn't had enough time to go there last night.

Dongdaemun was a trip! It is so insanely busy on a Saturday night and the deals stretch as far as the eye can see. I ended up buying three super-cute t-shirts for only 3,ooo won each (about $3 each)! Across the street were other various shopping malls that I hadn't seen the first time I visited Dongdaemun so I took the subway tunnel under the street and came out on the other side. Outside the malls there were several stages set up with numerous Korean rock & pop groups performing on each one. There was one that was actually quite decent and they played several American cover songs too, two of which were Tub Thumping and Lady Marmalade. I'm going to try to find their cd tomorrow and buy it since I liked them so much. I spent the remainder of the evening there at Dongdaemun wandering around and looking at all the many items for sale at the hundreds of vendor stalls. At about 11:00pm I borded the subway and headed back to Jungwha.

When I got home I stayed up and chatted with Amanda and Erin, the other two English teachers from my school. Erin had another friend of hers over as well; his name was Mike and he teaches at a school not too far from here. We talked for a long time as we sat and laughed over Korean music videos on the TV, and finally at about 3am I called it a day...and now here I am.

And of course I continue to meet the most interesting people throughout my travels around Seoul. Tonight I met a Korean German who was visiting her native land even though her family lives in Germany now and that's where she grew up. I was only able to chat with her because she also spoke English too. I also met a Korean American who lives with his family in Alaska but was here in Seoul visiting his parents. Pretty cool... I have found that all of these people I've met through such chance occurences are all really friendly, which makes me feel a lot better about being here on my own. I have not met one single person who has been at all mean to me, and for that I am greatly relieved.

Tomorrow I'm going to head back to the Insadong/Myeong-dong area downtown in order to find a bookstore that sells English books so I can at last buy the new Harry Potter novel. There's also a Tower Records around there too that might carry that cd of the band I heard tonight at Dongdaemun. After that I might go try to hike up Inwangsan again, but not until at least late in the afternoon so it won't be so hot. And after that, who knows?

the stairs I hiked up


more stairs!


from the top of the stairs


the view from where I was on Inwangsan


some of the shopping malls at Dongdaemun


the first band I saw there


the second band (the one that I liked)