Snapshots of a weekend in Seoul

I've enjoyed many a weekend in South Korea's capital city, but I realized this last weekend I had not actually written anything about this amazing city!

So I left the bars and actually did some touristy things this past weekend to write home about.

Seoul is one of the largest cities on the planet, it's full of incredible places to see, eat, drink, and just meet amazing people!  I spent the entire weekend in Seoul (not that I'd intended to do that... explanation below) and had a great time!

Friday found me in Seoul to meet a friend I had made last weekend in sleepy Hongcheon.  She goes by the English name Jenny (sadly I already spaced her Korean name, yes I'm terrible).  As it would happen, Jenny is the daughter of my landlady, who I happened to bump into on the street last weekend.  As is the odd tendency in this country, meeting with one Korean immediately segued into meeting her entire family.  So I met my landlady's daughter and her two sons, all more or less by happenstance!  Jenny is a lovely girl who was really excited to meet a foreigner, as she's preparing to take her English exams in college.  She was so excited to meet a foreigner that we ended up meeting to hang out and catch a movie last Friday.

I met Jenny in the Dong Seoul Bus Terminal on the easternmost end of the city.  From there we traveled south by metro to Samseong Station, where the COEX mall resides.  Granted, I've seen some massive shopping centers since coming to Korea, but COEX is ridiculous!  The complex sprawls over a huge area, both above and below ground.  The mall possess a substantial movie theater where we hung out and saw an American film "Warm Bodies."
(Movie Critic Aside: Warm Bodies is a decent flick, passing itself as a pseudo romantic comedy set in a zombie apocalypse.  Though its a relatively well made movie, I felt it wasn't quite as "ha ha" funny as I had anticipated.  That and it wasn't particularly graphic for being a movie full of flesh eating zombies.  All in all, I'd give it a 6ish out of 10)
Sadly, the film let out late and Jenny and I had to part ways on the subway before the last trains ran their course.  I made my way to Itaewon where I spent the night in a hostel just up the street from the subway.  For fifteen bucks a night, it wasn't shabby.  Having arrived near 1am I immediately set up my bunk as quietly as I could and slept like rock.

8am arrived earlier than I would have cared for, but still I rose to wash and make my way into the city.  I wasn't much surprised to find the streets sparsely populated with people shuffling to and fro.  In Korea, very few businesses (other than grocers and convenience stores) open before 10ish (often later).  I had set myself on a solemn quest, to traverse the streets of Itaewon (which many call "Little America") for the one thing you can't find anywhere in my town.
A Western style breakfast.
My journey took me to one of the few restaurants that was open at the early hour of 9am.  A place called Suji's where I put up my feet and proceeded to order Eggs Benedict with a side of American Bacon.
It was passable by American standards, having lived in Korea for six months, it seemed divine!
My breakfast was pleasant and relaxed, I even struck up a conversation with a couple of foreigners in the table next to me.  They were a pair of gentlemen working for an engineering company, in the twilight of their career and living abroad for a while rather than just settling down in the States.  Nice guys, it made the start to a nice day.
Having a day to yourself in Seoul is kind of like being a kid let loose in a toy store, there is so much to do!  Though, rather than let myself get side tracked by the comforts of little America, I finished up my shopping early and made my way to the War Memorial of Korea.

The Memorial is actually more of a museum, featuring artifacts and exhibits from throughout Korean history.  Arriving from a side gate I found myself approaching the Museum through the name plates honoring the foreigners who fought during the Korean War.

The fallen from the great state of Indiana

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The view of the plaza from the wings of the Memorial.

 Though the central feature of the facility is the actual memorial to those who died in combat.  Entering through the main doors I found myself in a massive circular hall that broke off into various exhibits and the memorial shrine.

This main hall features a MASSIVE memorial drum (it's actually about the size of my apartment) commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Korea's Armed Forces.  Sadly, they would not let me play it...


The memorial hall is reached by passing down this corridor.  Warmly lit with soft lights, nationalistic music gently playing as you enter, it's simple but serene.  At the end of the hall is a dark square room with candles that can be lit in honor of the fallen.  In the center of the room, in a glass case, is a series of large books containing lists of names.
I did not take pictures in the actual memorial, out of respect, but I did admire the shrine they had erected there.  Having seen a number of memorials in America, I expected to find an altar full of writing and symbols, flags  and columns.  However, none of those things were present.  The room was circular, and at the center was a gentle fountain.  The fountain itself was the lower half of a sphere, standing about four feet high.  Water gently flowed out of the center and over the edges of the sphere to the pool at the base.  The walls were lit with soft lights, rough patterns (not unlike the shape of Korean mountains) stood out in relief on sections of the wall.  Above was a massive mural of twisted dry plants that reminded me of wheat bundled together.  Highest stood a simple orifice, where a strand of sunlight shot down on the fountain, a sight not unlike images of the Pantheon in Rome.
I walked slowly, respectfully, around the simple shrine taking in the soft sound of falling water.  I paused to reflect on what this shrine conveyed and the men it meant to honor.  I left the way I came feeling rather pleased with the experience.  All in all, I feel that the shrine at the War Memorial in Seoul is the most tasteful memorial I have ever seen.  Simple, powerful, and reverent. 

The central hall of the War Memorial in Seoul

From there I passed into the Museum to see the various exhibits.  The Museum contains lots objects, from the ancient dynasties of Korean kingdoms to the artifacts remaining from the recent war.  I enjoyed walking through the facility, looking on all the old items from Korea's past.

Got to love historical models, they make history come alive in a Lego kind of way!

Back when Bottle Rockets meant business!

I was surprised to find Hobbits had once lived in Korea!

Hobbit doors!

Of course, I enjoyed the Medieval section of the museum most of all.  But seriously, who doesn't like seeing cool buildings, swords, and armor!

After having concluded my visit to the War Memorial in Seoul.  I made my way back to Itaewon where I met up with an old friend.  Our meeting place took us to the section of town just East of the heart of Itaewon where we came upon the second great culinary quest of my journey.
Hamburgers

Totally legit burger joint

Jacoby's Burger is a bit small, though more or less average for a restaurant in Seoul.  As it was a weekend, the place was PACKED with people.  But thankfully, we didn't have to wait long.  Sharing a pint of the local brew me and my buddy James ordered our burgers and onion rings, laughing and catching up.
When our burgers arrived I was happier than I care to describe (see picture below)

The face of ravenous hunger

I was ultimately impressed with Jacoby's Burger.  It was actually an impressive meal, the onion rings were excellent as well. 
From there, James and I hit the town.  Gearing up for an exciting evening, but that's a subject for another blog post....

Either I'm going mad or I'm going native....

So I just woke up from a nap.
On my desk...
At work...

Granted such a thing would be unheard of in the States.  Or at least it would be unheard of a professional falling asleep at their job and not getting fired for it.  In actuality, it's quite common here.  Though one tends to see his fellow coworkers dozing at their desks towards the end of semester, it's not uncommon to find teachers in their chairs with their heads kicked back sound asleep.  I've seen it, and now I've done it.
I can honestly say, I'm not proud of having passed out at my desk during the last 40 minutes, but it is a very Korean thing to do.  I suppose with my new rash of afterschool activities at Seoseok Middle School, I finally have a Korean teacher's workload.  Namely, that I'm teaching over 20 classes with no information about my students, class sizes, goals, or curriculum.  Yesterday, was the first day of my Middle School after hours program (which I learned about on Monday).  Today, there is apparently another Middle School class right before my two hours of High School (a class of 8 "excellent" students, which I was informed I'd be working with... this morning)
Given my experience with "Advanced" students in the previous semester, I'm verily certain I'm stuck babysitting 8 students who were passed over for other afterschool programs.  I'd pretend I'm hopeful that is not the case, but I've been here long enough to know that I can't trust anything I'm told prior to the moment it occurs (even then can change).

For example:
Today I set out to teach a lesson on feelings/emotions with my Middle School Grade 1 class.  It wasn't until I had come to class and began plugging in the school laptop that I was told the projector was broken (in fact there were simply dangling chords where the projector once hung).  Taken aback I was now stuck with 20 kids for 45 minutes and no material at all.
What to do?
Simple, I reached into my addled and sleep deprived brain and seized the first untested classroom game I'd read about the day before.
Sadly, I believe that it was the most successful class I've taught this week.  Basically, it involved generating vocabulary lists from students and then having them work in teams racing to write the word on the chalkboard.  Forcing students to change writers each time got an impressive amount of classroom participation (75% of all students actively participated, that's nigh unheard of!).  Though I tried it again in my second class of the day and it was much less successful in generating participation (granted I was competing with the distraction of freshly falling snow (yes it snowed today, no I'm not bitter about that at all, stupid spring season...))
But the whole point of this rant is to note a shift in my professional environment that is distinctly Korean, working obscenely long hours with little to no preparation.  This is not easy, especially considering the long holiday I just emerged from and the relatively light workload of the previous semester.
All in all, I'm not sure if I'll make it to April with the amount of classroom materials I'm expected to conjure in the space of a few hours.  Material enough for at least one class in all but two grades in the entire Korean education system!  I shutter sometimes fearful that one of my co-teachers will appear from around some corner asking me to teach Kindergarten or Senior year of High School next week.
It's sad, but three weeks in and I'm already burning the candle at both ends.  I can hardly imagine pulling this off for a month, let alone an entire semester!  How do people make entire careers out of such a haphazard work environment?  Or is there some special Korean/Zen secret to operating in this school system?
Needless to say, the surprise classes and the cascade of new student names are getting to me.  Something here has got to change....

An odd little discovery

Though most of the world may look warily at North Korea, my friends back home are often surprised to hear that most people here in Korea are not particularly concerned about their Northern neighbor.  Having lived here a while, I've picked up on the vibe of my Korean counterparts and have also adapted to a sense of nonchalance in regards to North Korea.  In doing so, I've realized I've taken for granted the violent past the two nations have shared and the delicate balance they possess in the present.  I was reminded of this past today as I was hiking a new trail near my house where I came across not one, but five different concrete bunkers!  Most of them are small alcoves in the mountainside where soldiers might have sought cover in the previous war.  Since then, they've become overgrown and ignored.  That didn't stop me from snapping a few pictures though!

This is the first bunker I noticed, I almost didn't see it!

I wasn't able to explore inside these bunkers, for lack of a flashlight on hand, but that doesn't mean I won't!

These bunkers fill me with questions more than anything.  The mountain they're place on is overgrown in trees and one would be hard pressed to see anything from their little windows.  Though, if the forest were cleared away, I'm sure one could look down on the city of Hongcheon from most of these bunkers.  It makes me wonder when they were built, who manned them?  Did they ever see any use in combat?

I find these relics to be somewhat strange, solemn reminders that there is much about this country I don't know about.  A violent history that may not be as long past as I imagine....

Korean colds are like regular colds... on steroids

So this Friday saw the end of my prescribed allotment of cold medicine.  I went to the doctor for the first time on Wednesday, having stayed home the previous day with the worst cold I've experienced yet. 
This veritable "super-cold" first laid into me last Friday, slowing me down with an insufferable amount of fatigue.  My lethargy only became more pronounced as the weekend passed and come Monday I found myself hacking and coughing.  I spent a significant part of my workday with my head on my desk sleeping, another first for me.  I wish I could say I took a certain amount of satisfaction from sleeping on the clock, but the course of my Monday only saw an increase in the severity of my symptoms.  These of course were exacerbated by the fact that I had agreed to stay late to teach two extra classes with Seoseok High School, which turned out to be a catastrophe in its own right (details on that fiasco later). 
By the time I slinked back to my apartment I was suffering chills and quickly diagnosed myself with a fever.  Doing as I often did back home in the face of such ailments I fired up the heat, put on a sweatshirt with my pjs, and put to my bed with a roll of paper towels and a lot of water.  In my experience, a long night of sleep and sweat is often enough to kick the common cold out of residence.  Alas, Korean colds seem to be of sterner stuff.  I awoke with aches, chills, and not the slightest relief from my sore throat and cough.  Weak and dejected, I texted my co-teacher with the unfortunate news that I would be unable to work.  The remainder of my Tuesday was lost in a haze of naps, reading, and bad television streamed over my laptop.
Wednesday arose with only slight improvement, whilst debating whether or not I could work from the comfort of my blankets I received a call from my co-teacher, establishing whether or not I was still amongst the living.  It was that moment I decided I had waited long enough to try to weather this thing au naturale, and told him I would hit up a local doctor.
After a little research (which consisted of texting my coordinator about where to find a doctor) I found myself in the local pediatric clinic in Hongcheon.  Though the doctor did speak a little English I was disappointed to know I'd been waylaid by what he diagnosed as "common cold."  Having spent lots of time on the internet over the past few days I had run my symptoms through a series of websites.  In doing so I'd established that I was likely suffering from one of the following illnesses in descending order:

Bronchitis,

Flu,

Viral Pharyngitis

Mold Sickness,

and

Malaria

Interestingly enough, all these diseases share the same basic symptoms: cough, sore throat, headache, body ache, fever, chills, and fatigue.  Guess how many of them I've had in the past week?  Yeah, not pretty.  It's moment's like these that I wonder if there haven't been an explosion of people suffering hypochondria in the wake of such websites as Web MD....

In any case, the doc wrote me a prescription which I had filled by the pharmacy next door.  I'd enjoyed the effects of over the counter medicines before, but never prescriptions.  Koreans don't fuck around when it comes to prescribing drugs.  I must have been given 30 pills!  And I'd only been given 3 DAYS worth of medicine!  Check it out!

Needless to say I am wary of which pills do what....

 

Though I am often suspicious of modern medicines, I must confess that I did feel better almost immediately.  I managed to return to work on Thursday and fumble my way through my lessons on Thursday and Friday.

Alas, my medication regime is over but I am not yet well.  I awoke today with a profound sense of lethargy and was unable to work up the nerve to rise from my bed for the better part of an hour.  In fact, all I've wanted to do today is lay in bed and sleep.  Not that I'm sleepy, I just have no energy.  This is likely the after-effects of having a late Friday night, but I am wondering if my cold is about to make a encore performance on my immune system.  I sincerely hope not, but I've never successfully willed myself into good health as of yet.  I'll have to keep close watch of my health over the next few weeks to figure out if I really am fighting a cold or something more serious.  I've at least cleaned all the mold from my apartment (having successfully ripped out a quarter of my apartment's wallpaper).  Hopefully, that will be the last of it... but optimism is ill suited in matters of mold.

In other news, Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Wear green, drink beer, and be in good spirits!

Cheers!