After only being here a month our largest Summer break was already ahead of us. We were about to have a six day vacation, which was actually just 4 days plus the weekend, but whatever.
Alex our boss was concerned that we didn't have plans and gave us information about the great city of Kyeongju (I believe spelling it with the G is more proper, however the K is how you pronounce it...or KGy.) So Kyeongju just happens to an ancient capital of Korea when some dynasty ruled for like 100s of years, I want to say 500, but I am probably wrong. The city is rather small now, but it is a tourist site with tons of history. You can just walk around and see amazing historical sites like 500+ years old. It is quite awe inspiring realizing that there is so much preserved history in the country. The United States just isn't old enough to have anything like this.
The first day we arrived at around 2:00pm, and right when we got off the bus we ran into another traveler named Sharron who was on vacation by herself. We found the hostel together, which had individual rooms ( I don't know if that is normal for a hostel) and was overall a pretty nice place to crash. Then we left for the Gyeongju National Museum. This place was huge and quite nice for seeing all sorts of pottery, old swords, armor, and just all sorts of random things to get a glimpse of how people lived thousands of years ago. I went camera crazy in that place, but decided to delete many of the photos because it was just too much.
Next we walked around this flower garden called The Rape Flowers. I am not making that up, but I do feel perhaps something was lost in the translation perhaps. But on everything we saw it was labeled Rape Flowers in English, so whatever. The gardens had beautiful yellow flowers and we walked throughout them taking pictures of them and the nice burial mounds. As I said everywhere you looked just seemed to be steeped in history. Eventually we made our way to the Cheomseongdae Observatory one of the oldest builds built in Korea for observing the stars. It was dark and it just seemed appropriate but you couldn't see any stars because of the cloudy sky and lights all around. Besides, they didn't like you into the structure.
The next day, Sharron went her own way on a bus tour and we decided to see the temples in the mountains which meant much hiking. We stopped at the first temple which was overly crowded, but nice to go through. The architecture and art is still so new to me I find each temple beautiful even when overcrowded by tourists. The pictures can tell much of the story at the temples. But, we decided to take a hike up the mountain to the second temple. It was a well constructed path of stone steps and well packed dirt trail but going up those stairs was exhausting. It was probably about 1.2 mile hike up to the next temple. This temple was much smaller but it housed a giant Buddha statue that was built in a cave. It was quite amazing. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures of the Buddhas at the temples (at least the main Buddhas) so we didn't get any pictures. But, as an art form they were quite amazing.
After the second temple Miranda and I were exhausted. But, we drank some spring water from the temple and refreshed ourselves for the final hike up the mountain. It was about another 1 mile hike up the mountain. The information guide warned us about the foggies up in the mountain, but we wanted to try to get to the peak anyway. The foggies were actually quite thick...in that foggies is actually just fog. As we hiked we noticed the air felt lighter and it was noticeably cooler up in the mountains. As we hiked up we saw fewer people, apparently it wasn't the touristy thing to do. We finally made it to the peak and it was breathtaking. Dragonflies by the dozens were flying all around us. We saw the tips of the trees as we were standing higher than all the trees on the mountain. We looked out and saw the other mountains, and the city below it was awe inspiring. The most amazing thing was seeing clouds pass by you at eye level. This was one of the most visually stimulating experiences of my life and I didn't want to leave. However, we needed to finish the hike down.
Going down was easy and what took so long to hike up took less than half the time to hike down. On the bus trip back to our hostel for a break, we noticed so much more to do. A lake with an amusement park and water park was available, and hot air balloon rides, and much, much more. This was the high end tourist trap locations of the city, but there was less culture and history in these traps.
The next day (Friday) was our last day and we only had til 4:00pm to really see the sights. We first went to a nice Folk Art Village where the artisans created crafts in the same methods they used years ago. Many of the crafts were quite beautiful and it was amazing to see such craftsmanship being practiced in the same traditional methods. Then we went to a small pond and just sat for awhile. I think at this point we realized just how exhausted our bodies had been from the previous days hiking and exploring for 7+ hours. We just sat and enjoyed the scenery and peacefulness of the pond and tried to ignore all the other visitors in the area.
On the bus trip back we crashed and slept for awhile, and watched a Korean concert on the bus television. We already recognize the popular Korean Pop songs. Then finally we were home again.
The vacation was nice, and it really helped my confidence about living in the country and visiting other cities easily. Gwangju still doesn't "feel" like home yet. But we still get lost in downtown and can easily become overwhelmed by the amounts of people all around. Though, coming back to something familiar was definitely a relief.
Friday, July 31, 2009
New Photo Slide Show Added
We just added some new photos from our 3 day vacation from Kyeongju.
There are over 100 photos in the set, so the slide show may not be the best means to view them, but you can click on any photo and go to our photo bucket album, from there I think you can see all of them.
I will be updating Facebook and Blogger soon with stories from the vacation. It was pretty amazing...I think the best part was hiking up a mount, all the way to the peak. It was amazing and beautiful.
But more stories soon.
There are over 100 photos in the set, so the slide show may not be the best means to view them, but you can click on any photo and go to our photo bucket album, from there I think you can see all of them.
I will be updating Facebook and Blogger soon with stories from the vacation. It was pretty amazing...I think the best part was hiking up a mount, all the way to the peak. It was amazing and beautiful.
But more stories soon.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Random food from Gwangju
So Steve and I were cruising the town the other night (by foot of course) trying to figure out what we should eat. We've pretty much lived at Kim bap nara for the last month, so we were trying to find something a little different. I finally have enough Korean under my belt to make some very sad attempts at communication out here, and we've been a little braver about our food selections. So we decided to kinda scope out this funny fish restaurant that we always walk by. The major draw of this restaurant is the giant blow up cartoon tuna that guides you to the front door. He's giving you the thumb up while wearing his giant chef's hat, so you know that when he goes to cook himself, he'll do it right.
As we walked up to the building, attempting to look in the windows to see what they served, one of the waitstaff basically told us to go inside. This kinda happens a lot here when you're a lost looking American. I don't know if they just get a kick out of us because we don't know anything, or if they feel sorry for us 'cause we look so confused. Many of them regard us with what I think a mixture of sympathy that would probably be better used on a lost 5 year old. "Awww... look it's an American, I think she's lost. Maybe we can feed her. Oh, I don't think she knows how to eat this, maybe I'd better go do it for her... Poor thing can't even speak decent Korean." Mind you this is not exactly a complaint, because there have been many times that this interference has helped me out significantly, but it is mildly comical to see the expressions on their faces when we don't use the correct dipping sauces and what not, it's like they're embarassed for us... I've decided it's the same for them as it would be for us if a Korean came to America and ordered a hamburger, only to take the bread off and cut the meat with a knife while dipping the french fries in mustard. Or so I think.
So anyhow, he grabs us and takes us in, and we immediately realize that this is a little nicer restaurant than we wanted to eat in. So I'm trying to ask if we can split a meal. I said "ok" at some point because I was trying to remember the different counting sufixes and they thought it was hilarious. They all laughed and said "ok, ok". Maybe it's a cuss word? Anyhow, so I managed to explain the sharing (it was rather easy in the end. They have different suffixes for numbers depending on what your counting so I told him the number 1 for a thing and then pointed at us and said the number for 2 people, God bless him for understanding) So we got a cheaper price for splitting a meal, and we're thinking that if the meal is too small we'll run by the convenience store and get some Kimbap on our way home. So we get escorted to a private room, and they even turn the fan on directly at us so it was blowing stuff all over the place.
And then began what I can only describe as an hour of straight eating. I don't know if they kept feeding us because we were foreigners or if they didn't have anything to do, or if everything they fed us really was supposed to be part of the meal. We started with Marsh snails and two types of soup. One was the rice Juk, and the other was just a broth. the marsh snails were very clammy, but you had to fish them out of their shells with a tooth pick, and that was little questionable in our book. After that came some salad and sushi, and some type of squash. The waiter identified it as squash by pretending to be a farmer and harvest squash, I kid you not. Then came the whole plate of different types of tuna sashimi. It was huge. And it had different cuts of meat from different tunas, and the chef brought it out and managed to explain most of the cuts very well to us. They also brought out fresh seaweed to wrap the fish in, or we could use the dried laver (also seaweed) that was on the table. At this point I was sure that we had gotten our money's worth, and was feeling pretty good about our meal. Then one of the waitresses came in and asked something about our soup and salad. I don't know what she asked, but we smiled and nodded that it was good, and three minutes later we got another salad with a different dressing on it. They also had pickled garlic and radish and ginger. We ate all of that with the tuna, and they brought us out a huge bowl of the stuff.
At some point the chef comes back in with more fish (I don't know why exactly) and began dropping it onto our tuna plate. He meticulously explained what each piece was and then was gone. It was like 6 more pieces of tuna sashimi. And then they brought out the vegetable omelet things, and the fried onions, and the random fried meat things. Then they brought out some type of teriyaki pork with lichens. We keep eating as well as we can, but I was beginning to run out of room for the tuna, of all things, and Steve was slowing down as well. Finally we thought that the food was over, and we could just muster our courage and eat the last of what we had been brought, and go home almost clean plate members... and then they brought another salad, with a new type of dressing. Just one though, I don't know about their salad set up, they always brought them out in single serving sizes, I'm sure there was something else we were supposed to do with it, but who could tell.
And then they brought out the bowl of rice, the kimchi, the onion kimchi, the fried anchovies, and a sweeter kind of kimchi that I haven't had before. That was when we decided that we wouldn't be finishing everything. Each time they brought things in they would smile at us, and Steve and I began to wonder if they had a bet running on how much the fat Americans could eat.
But here's the crazy part, we only paid 25,000 for the whole meal. That's less than $25. And that was for both of us. It was crazy. So needless to say, we'll be going back there the next time we get paid.
On other strange food news, about half way through our day today, they announce that because of the break, and the heat, they've bought chickens for everyone. So that was strange, but whatever. Then, the president of the company holds a meeting in between classes to let us know that he wants us to stay healthy over the break, and please enjoy our chicken, and thank you for your service and please stay safe over the break. They continually tell the foreign teachers to stay safe, and often ask us to take our temperature regularly to make sure we're not getting sick. So then we all pick up what we assume is a chicken that has been carefully wrapped in a black plastic bag that's reminiscent of a good old American liquor store bag. The Korean teachers got big Styrofoam containers, but I didn't think to ask why they had different packages. So later in the afternoon I find out that we haven't been given a chicken, but instead chicken ginseng soup, and the Korean teachers have actually gotten a cooler with a full chicken in it. This actually makes a lot of sense because we don't have an oven in our apartment, only a stove.
What's really funny about this is that it's not the first time we've been given random food at school. One time a teacher got married and bought everyone hamburgers. All the time I come in and there's a crate full of fruit of some sort that parents have bought and dropped off for the teachers. They bring rice cakes (not the diet kind but the Korean kind, their big gooey balls of cake filled with random things), donuts, plumbs, grapes, you name it. And then when I mentioned today that this was the most random gift I'd ever received from work, they told me that it wasn't unusual at all, and that if I waited, I get all sorts of gifts like this. So here's to Korea, the country that keeps trying to feed me till I burst, and still makes me loose weight.
On a completely separate note, I think we'll be spending our vacation time in Gyongju on the east coast, so be looking for new pictures after next week. I'm told it's full of temples and lots of free tourist attraction places.
As we walked up to the building, attempting to look in the windows to see what they served, one of the waitstaff basically told us to go inside. This kinda happens a lot here when you're a lost looking American. I don't know if they just get a kick out of us because we don't know anything, or if they feel sorry for us 'cause we look so confused. Many of them regard us with what I think a mixture of sympathy that would probably be better used on a lost 5 year old. "Awww... look it's an American, I think she's lost. Maybe we can feed her. Oh, I don't think she knows how to eat this, maybe I'd better go do it for her... Poor thing can't even speak decent Korean." Mind you this is not exactly a complaint, because there have been many times that this interference has helped me out significantly, but it is mildly comical to see the expressions on their faces when we don't use the correct dipping sauces and what not, it's like they're embarassed for us... I've decided it's the same for them as it would be for us if a Korean came to America and ordered a hamburger, only to take the bread off and cut the meat with a knife while dipping the french fries in mustard. Or so I think.
So anyhow, he grabs us and takes us in, and we immediately realize that this is a little nicer restaurant than we wanted to eat in. So I'm trying to ask if we can split a meal. I said "ok" at some point because I was trying to remember the different counting sufixes and they thought it was hilarious. They all laughed and said "ok, ok". Maybe it's a cuss word? Anyhow, so I managed to explain the sharing (it was rather easy in the end. They have different suffixes for numbers depending on what your counting so I told him the number 1 for a thing and then pointed at us and said the number for 2 people, God bless him for understanding) So we got a cheaper price for splitting a meal, and we're thinking that if the meal is too small we'll run by the convenience store and get some Kimbap on our way home. So we get escorted to a private room, and they even turn the fan on directly at us so it was blowing stuff all over the place.
And then began what I can only describe as an hour of straight eating. I don't know if they kept feeding us because we were foreigners or if they didn't have anything to do, or if everything they fed us really was supposed to be part of the meal. We started with Marsh snails and two types of soup. One was the rice Juk, and the other was just a broth. the marsh snails were very clammy, but you had to fish them out of their shells with a tooth pick, and that was little questionable in our book. After that came some salad and sushi, and some type of squash. The waiter identified it as squash by pretending to be a farmer and harvest squash, I kid you not. Then came the whole plate of different types of tuna sashimi. It was huge. And it had different cuts of meat from different tunas, and the chef brought it out and managed to explain most of the cuts very well to us. They also brought out fresh seaweed to wrap the fish in, or we could use the dried laver (also seaweed) that was on the table. At this point I was sure that we had gotten our money's worth, and was feeling pretty good about our meal. Then one of the waitresses came in and asked something about our soup and salad. I don't know what she asked, but we smiled and nodded that it was good, and three minutes later we got another salad with a different dressing on it. They also had pickled garlic and radish and ginger. We ate all of that with the tuna, and they brought us out a huge bowl of the stuff.
At some point the chef comes back in with more fish (I don't know why exactly) and began dropping it onto our tuna plate. He meticulously explained what each piece was and then was gone. It was like 6 more pieces of tuna sashimi. And then they brought out the vegetable omelet things, and the fried onions, and the random fried meat things. Then they brought out some type of teriyaki pork with lichens. We keep eating as well as we can, but I was beginning to run out of room for the tuna, of all things, and Steve was slowing down as well. Finally we thought that the food was over, and we could just muster our courage and eat the last of what we had been brought, and go home almost clean plate members... and then they brought another salad, with a new type of dressing. Just one though, I don't know about their salad set up, they always brought them out in single serving sizes, I'm sure there was something else we were supposed to do with it, but who could tell.
And then they brought out the bowl of rice, the kimchi, the onion kimchi, the fried anchovies, and a sweeter kind of kimchi that I haven't had before. That was when we decided that we wouldn't be finishing everything. Each time they brought things in they would smile at us, and Steve and I began to wonder if they had a bet running on how much the fat Americans could eat.
But here's the crazy part, we only paid 25,000 for the whole meal. That's less than $25. And that was for both of us. It was crazy. So needless to say, we'll be going back there the next time we get paid.
On other strange food news, about half way through our day today, they announce that because of the break, and the heat, they've bought chickens for everyone. So that was strange, but whatever. Then, the president of the company holds a meeting in between classes to let us know that he wants us to stay healthy over the break, and please enjoy our chicken, and thank you for your service and please stay safe over the break. They continually tell the foreign teachers to stay safe, and often ask us to take our temperature regularly to make sure we're not getting sick. So then we all pick up what we assume is a chicken that has been carefully wrapped in a black plastic bag that's reminiscent of a good old American liquor store bag. The Korean teachers got big Styrofoam containers, but I didn't think to ask why they had different packages. So later in the afternoon I find out that we haven't been given a chicken, but instead chicken ginseng soup, and the Korean teachers have actually gotten a cooler with a full chicken in it. This actually makes a lot of sense because we don't have an oven in our apartment, only a stove.
What's really funny about this is that it's not the first time we've been given random food at school. One time a teacher got married and bought everyone hamburgers. All the time I come in and there's a crate full of fruit of some sort that parents have bought and dropped off for the teachers. They bring rice cakes (not the diet kind but the Korean kind, their big gooey balls of cake filled with random things), donuts, plumbs, grapes, you name it. And then when I mentioned today that this was the most random gift I'd ever received from work, they told me that it wasn't unusual at all, and that if I waited, I get all sorts of gifts like this. So here's to Korea, the country that keeps trying to feed me till I burst, and still makes me loose weight.
On a completely separate note, I think we'll be spending our vacation time in Gyongju on the east coast, so be looking for new pictures after next week. I'm told it's full of temples and lots of free tourist attraction places.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Welcome to Random News from Korea
Hi to everyone who stumbles across this page. This is a random place to write an introduction as there are piles of post already up, but I wanted to take a second to explain what's going on with this blog. My name is Miranda New and my husband Steve and I are currently living in South Korea. We want to be able to document our journey through the new culture for ourselves and our friends and family, hence this blog. We have been posting all of this on Facebook, but wanted a place where we could post side by side, because I don't think either of us does a good job explaining the whole story without the other one. So we'll try this out. We'll try hard to label who's posted what, and hopefully you will get a better understanding of how Gwangju looks to us. The posts that come before this post were originally Facebook Notes that I've cut and paste into the blog, so some of the Chronological order is a little screwy, but they covered our first impressions of this big crazy city, so I wanted to make sure they were in here. Hope you enjoy our rants and rambles!
Miranda New
Miranda New
Thanks a lot Blanket Lady......... NOT!
I got racial stereotyped today!!!
Yeah, we were at Kumo World, this giant electronics store that also carries a lot of other strange things and I noticed a couple of booths selling blankets. Now for reasons I cannot ascertain, we only got comforters when we moved in, and it doesn't seem common for people to have normal bed sheets. You can buy them, but there's not a huge selection, which is totally cool. But we only got really thick comforters, so I was hoping to buy some thinner ones today. Now a major part of our first problem was language. We are working on learning a lot of things, but we haven't learned how to talk money. Usually the vendors are used to foreigners and write out prices or put them on the cash register screen, or type them out on a calculator. I've had plenty of vendors who speak enough to tell me the price in English. This woman apparently did not want to do any of those things. I asked her for the price, and wrote out a little won symbol and a question mark next to it and she told me a price in Korean. No problem, I still had paper out so I asked her to write it down. She wrote down 5,000 won, as far as I could tell. I'm thrilled cause I'm thinking that I can get one for each bed for under $10.00. I reach into my wallet and give her 10,000 won and she shakes her head at me. She tells me the price in Korean again, which clearly won't work as I've already had to bring out paper to get her to write it out. I again hand her the paper and ask her to write it out. Again with the 5,000 won. I think maybe she's telling me that they're two for one, so I offer her 5,000 won. Now she gets angry with me and chews me out in Korean. Finally I tell her I'm sorry in Korean and good bye in Korean. She glared at me and Steve as we walked away and I was annoyed because I really wanted those blankets. We get to the next stall that we find that sells blankets, and try to approach the woman there about buying a blanket. She pretty much refused to talk to us and sent us out of her store. She refused to give us prices and refused to talk to us. So tonight I will be sleeping again under my ridiculously thick comforter. Tomorrow I'm going to one of the blanket stores near the school. There's several, and one of them must be willing to sell a blanket to a white person who's just tired of being hot at night... So I've officially been the victim of racism. It was very strange because even here usually people accept the fact that we don't know what the crap they're saying and seem to find it novel to try to communicate with us.
On the up side I managed to order our lunch with out much help from the picture menu today. I asked the waitress to bring us two bowls of the soup with sushi please. She did confirm it on the menu with me, my accent must still be pretty thick, but she pointed at the right picture. So take that blanket lady. I didn't want your blanket any how... ok I really did, but now I'm glad I didn't buy it from you... at least until I go to sleep.
Good night everyone.
Yeah, we were at Kumo World, this giant electronics store that also carries a lot of other strange things and I noticed a couple of booths selling blankets. Now for reasons I cannot ascertain, we only got comforters when we moved in, and it doesn't seem common for people to have normal bed sheets. You can buy them, but there's not a huge selection, which is totally cool. But we only got really thick comforters, so I was hoping to buy some thinner ones today. Now a major part of our first problem was language. We are working on learning a lot of things, but we haven't learned how to talk money. Usually the vendors are used to foreigners and write out prices or put them on the cash register screen, or type them out on a calculator. I've had plenty of vendors who speak enough to tell me the price in English. This woman apparently did not want to do any of those things. I asked her for the price, and wrote out a little won symbol and a question mark next to it and she told me a price in Korean. No problem, I still had paper out so I asked her to write it down. She wrote down 5,000 won, as far as I could tell. I'm thrilled cause I'm thinking that I can get one for each bed for under $10.00. I reach into my wallet and give her 10,000 won and she shakes her head at me. She tells me the price in Korean again, which clearly won't work as I've already had to bring out paper to get her to write it out. I again hand her the paper and ask her to write it out. Again with the 5,000 won. I think maybe she's telling me that they're two for one, so I offer her 5,000 won. Now she gets angry with me and chews me out in Korean. Finally I tell her I'm sorry in Korean and good bye in Korean. She glared at me and Steve as we walked away and I was annoyed because I really wanted those blankets. We get to the next stall that we find that sells blankets, and try to approach the woman there about buying a blanket. She pretty much refused to talk to us and sent us out of her store. She refused to give us prices and refused to talk to us. So tonight I will be sleeping again under my ridiculously thick comforter. Tomorrow I'm going to one of the blanket stores near the school. There's several, and one of them must be willing to sell a blanket to a white person who's just tired of being hot at night... So I've officially been the victim of racism. It was very strange because even here usually people accept the fact that we don't know what the crap they're saying and seem to find it novel to try to communicate with us.
On the up side I managed to order our lunch with out much help from the picture menu today. I asked the waitress to bring us two bowls of the soup with sushi please. She did confirm it on the menu with me, my accent must still be pretty thick, but she pointed at the right picture. So take that blanket lady. I didn't want your blanket any how... ok I really did, but now I'm glad I didn't buy it from you... at least until I go to sleep.
Good night everyone.
Buses Buses Buses
Today we woke up for church and were running a little late. We missed the 98 (our bus to downtown) and decided to take a chance with the 50 bus. We were hoping that it would take us downtown and make it to church.
Instead it took us to an E-Mart we thought was at the bus terminal so we got off. It turned out we weren't any where the thought we were (save for E-Mart.) So we decided to look around...and buy some Roman Noodles.
Since its rainy season it meant that it was raining and we were of course without our umbrellas. We stopped at a sandwich shop to each lunch/breakfast Alice et Lucy. They served American style sandwiches and Miranda got a Ham and Cheese and I got a Chicken Salad Sandwich with nuts and raisins. It was delicious (as our kids would say.) It tasted like the best sandwiches we both have had in months...perhaps it was only because how nostalgic it was, but it was fantastic. The lady making our lunch even spoke English.
From there we hitched a ride on another bus 45 that we believed would take us to downtown...and it would of, except we were worried we hit it wrong it was going to the greenhouses that it dumped us at yesterday. We ended up at the Gwangju World Cup Stadium. We walked around a park, and saw a golf range with 3 stories. But we weren't were we needed to be, so we decided to move on. We jumped onto another bus.
The 47 bus was going to take us whether it lead, and we were riding it to the end, unless it hit downtown, which as we watched the city go by felt unlikely. It finally pulled up to a place we recognized. The Bus Terminal. So we jumped out and explored the terminal, then went to a place I would call Wayne heaven: KUMO WORLD. Kumo World is basically a 6 stories Fry's Electronics. It has Computers, Cell Phones, Musical Instruments, Electric Fans, Video Games, Sound Boards and pretty much anything electric. Kumo World was amazing but there was nothing for us there, and we soon needed to go find our way home.
We ate and quickly jumped on the 9 bus to downtown. We knew this bus would get us to our destination and we were happy to get going. Arriving downtown we felt that we should look around some more and eat dinner. While we were out we saw several note worthy sights, but my favorite was a store called YO! Black Secret...which was a small clothing boutique.
We didn't have a camera with us, so we missed opportunities to share the sights, however we learned a few good points about Gwangju bus system. It is bigger than we ever knew, and we shouldn't just take random buses if we have a place to go. I regret missing church and I regret not doing some more work around the house. But, I enjoyed today...it was a great adventure.
Instead it took us to an E-Mart we thought was at the bus terminal so we got off. It turned out we weren't any where the thought we were (save for E-Mart.) So we decided to look around...and buy some Roman Noodles.
Since its rainy season it meant that it was raining and we were of course without our umbrellas. We stopped at a sandwich shop to each lunch/breakfast Alice et Lucy. They served American style sandwiches and Miranda got a Ham and Cheese and I got a Chicken Salad Sandwich with nuts and raisins. It was delicious (as our kids would say.) It tasted like the best sandwiches we both have had in months...perhaps it was only because how nostalgic it was, but it was fantastic. The lady making our lunch even spoke English.
From there we hitched a ride on another bus 45 that we believed would take us to downtown...and it would of, except we were worried we hit it wrong it was going to the greenhouses that it dumped us at yesterday. We ended up at the Gwangju World Cup Stadium. We walked around a park, and saw a golf range with 3 stories. But we weren't were we needed to be, so we decided to move on. We jumped onto another bus.
The 47 bus was going to take us whether it lead, and we were riding it to the end, unless it hit downtown, which as we watched the city go by felt unlikely. It finally pulled up to a place we recognized. The Bus Terminal. So we jumped out and explored the terminal, then went to a place I would call Wayne heaven: KUMO WORLD. Kumo World is basically a 6 stories Fry's Electronics. It has Computers, Cell Phones, Musical Instruments, Electric Fans, Video Games, Sound Boards and pretty much anything electric. Kumo World was amazing but there was nothing for us there, and we soon needed to go find our way home.
We ate and quickly jumped on the 9 bus to downtown. We knew this bus would get us to our destination and we were happy to get going. Arriving downtown we felt that we should look around some more and eat dinner. While we were out we saw several note worthy sights, but my favorite was a store called YO! Black Secret...which was a small clothing boutique.
We didn't have a camera with us, so we missed opportunities to share the sights, however we learned a few good points about Gwangju bus system. It is bigger than we ever knew, and we shouldn't just take random buses if we have a place to go. I regret missing church and I regret not doing some more work around the house. But, I enjoyed today...it was a great adventure.
Random things in Gwangju
Well, it's Saturday again. The morning started with an excellent Korean lesson, that left me feeling like I might actually be learning this language a little. I can sound out Korean writing now, and as many have told me there's a lot of English in the Korean language. They call it Kongalish out here. Now I have a pretty functional arsenal of Korean words that make navigating day to day life fairly easy. Not to say I can have big conversations with anyone, but I was able to let them know that I don't eat Kogi today (that's beef and pork) at the restaurant we ate at this evening.
We continue to wander around the city looking for new things we haven't seen yet. For having been here for about a month, I feel like we have a pretty good grasp of the city. We can ride the buses to the two or three places we need to go, and we can get in a taxi and go where we want to go and make it home most of the time. I know several of the street name now and understand where they go and how the meet up with each other. Each week we find something new that we hadn't seen before.
Today we got to meet up with some of our new friends after our English class. We caught lunch at a great mandu place in down town, and wandered the streets after looking at different stores. I really need to take pictures of the shirts that we find out there, I didn't have the camera today or I would have. Some of them are pretty funny. One of my favorites today was the one that had the simple silhouette of the Mikey Mouse head above the pocket, and the words "Black Mouse" written right above it. It's what you call to the point. Or the ones that try to use random English phrases as a catch phrase. Sometimes... well, sometimes they don't really understand what they're writing. The F word apparently makes pretty regular appearances on the shirts. I'm told it sometimes shows up on the kids shirts at the school. Today we found one that gave the directions for washing the shirt. (You know the ones, on the tag of the shirt). That was what was decorating the front of the shirt. Wash in cold water and air dry, or something like that.
Steve and I went on a little bus adventure this afternoon as well. We jumped on a random bus and rode it to where it dead ended. That was pretty far from where we lived, but we managed to find our way home. I'm beginning to understand what the buses do and where they go. It's pretty exciting.
So anyways, we're doing pretty great out here in Gwangju. Hope everyone is having a great time in Texas.
Miranda
We continue to wander around the city looking for new things we haven't seen yet. For having been here for about a month, I feel like we have a pretty good grasp of the city. We can ride the buses to the two or three places we need to go, and we can get in a taxi and go where we want to go and make it home most of the time. I know several of the street name now and understand where they go and how the meet up with each other. Each week we find something new that we hadn't seen before.
Today we got to meet up with some of our new friends after our English class. We caught lunch at a great mandu place in down town, and wandered the streets after looking at different stores. I really need to take pictures of the shirts that we find out there, I didn't have the camera today or I would have. Some of them are pretty funny. One of my favorites today was the one that had the simple silhouette of the Mikey Mouse head above the pocket, and the words "Black Mouse" written right above it. It's what you call to the point. Or the ones that try to use random English phrases as a catch phrase. Sometimes... well, sometimes they don't really understand what they're writing. The F word apparently makes pretty regular appearances on the shirts. I'm told it sometimes shows up on the kids shirts at the school. Today we found one that gave the directions for washing the shirt. (You know the ones, on the tag of the shirt). That was what was decorating the front of the shirt. Wash in cold water and air dry, or something like that.
Steve and I went on a little bus adventure this afternoon as well. We jumped on a random bus and rode it to where it dead ended. That was pretty far from where we lived, but we managed to find our way home. I'm beginning to understand what the buses do and where they go. It's pretty exciting.
So anyways, we're doing pretty great out here in Gwangju. Hope everyone is having a great time in Texas.
Miranda
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