I thought it would be good to share a few more stories of our adventures here in South Korea. To start, the first night I got into Seoul was pretty stressful for me. Zurich had made a big mistake with my luggage, which I luckily caught before my flight out of Zurich but which wasn't completely fixed. They ended up NOT connecting my luggage with my next 2 flights out of Frankfurt and Beijing. I actually almost missed my flight out of Zurich because I was working with a supervisor trying to fix it. I ended up having to hurriedly say goodbye to Heidi which was really hard and didn't feel right after all our time and adventures together to just give a quick hug and fight back tears to rush through passport control. I left Zurich in the evening so as we were flying out of Zurich I looked down and could see the whole city and lake and river below me. I pointed out several places to myself to reminisce and I realized then that I was actually NOT going to be coming back. It was actually a little sad for me.
I got into Frankfurt and had less than an hour to talk to someone and see if my bags were going to be connected at least to Beijing as well as having to check back in again! And if anyone has been to Frankfurt they know that this airport is HUGE!!! I somehow managed and was able to have someone grab my bags to be put onto the flight to Beijing where I would again have to talk to someone to make sure that they made it to Seoul. This next flight was about 9 hours long but it was a redeye flight so most people fell asleep. They only showed one movie and this was only during the last hour and a half of the flight. I don't know why they did that. I really didn't like the airlines I flew on which was Air China by the way. All the Asians on the flight, which were the majority of people, were wearing those white doctor masks because of fear of getting swine flu I suppose. And they are SERIOUS about it. We all had our temperature checked at least 2 times once we landed in Beijing. We had to wait on the plane for everyone to get checked and then we had to go through a little quarantined area to fill out a health form to see if we were feeling sick. Although I had actually been really sick the week before I did NOT mention this on the health form because they for sure would have had me quarantined and I did not want that. After trying to get my bag situation figured out during the hour I had in Beijing, I was told that my bags were not going to be put on my flight to Seoul but that there were several more flights to Seoul later that night and my bag(s) would be put on one of them. I figured that was the best I could do and hopped on my last flight to Seoul. After filling out another health form and having someone make sure I wasn't carrying the swine flu, I talked to someone about my bags again. They would be here later tonight, I was told, and will be delivered to me in Anseong.
So I sat down to wait for Kaeleen who was supposed to be getting in at 7, which was 2 hours after me. I waited until 7 but no Kaeleen. So I decided to ask the airlines if by any chance my bags had arrived yet. Amazingly, one had arrived! At the same time I heard my name and Kaeleen was calling me. She had been there since a little after the time I got in and was looking for me the whole time! A little Korean man who was there to help us had had my name paiged and everything but I did not hear it. Luckily though, I had one bag and was told the other would be delivered to me in Anseong in the morning. So Kae and I hopped on a bus to Anseong, which was about 2 hours away, and eventually made it after a loooong trip. Cody met us at the bus terminal and took us home where we had something like potstickers and went to bed exhausted. I had been awake for over 36 hours and Kaeleen was somewhere near that as well. We slept a lot the next day!
The next night, Friday, we went out to dinner for our first Korean meal when Cody and Brad were done with work. It was really good! The next day was Saturday and Cody and Brad were hosting a large group of people from Chungju which is where Erin and Isaac live and work. Kaeleen and I were soooo excited to surprise Erin we could hardly wait! Finally, when they were on their way, I went outside to meet Erin and say hello to Isaac. I then told her to come put her stuff in one of the rooms in the house, which was where Kaeleen was hiding. Erin had no idea!! Cody made delicious shish kebabs and we met a lot of new people. We had to walk up a large hill where we played volleyball and badminton. Later, we hung out at the house for awhile, ordered some pizza, and ended up going out downtown for a few hours. It was a great day. Then on Sunday, we took it easy and watched the others play basketball. We went out for Chinese food in Korea, which was also really good. Then the next day Erin and Isaac had to go back to Chungju for work. It had been a great start of our trip!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Adventures in the Koreas
Korea is so fun. I am into my third week here and will be leaving next Sunday. It will be pretty hard to leave. It has been great hanging out with Cody again and my friends Erin and Isaac who are working in a nearby city. One of the most pleasant things about the trip though is that Kaeleen came in the same day I did in order to surprise Erin. It was quite impressive that we were able to keep the secret from Erin since so many knew about it except her. When Kaeleen, who was supposed to be in Portland, popped up in Cody's house to surprise Erin, it was one of the best moments ever! Erin was so shocked and confused. I was jumping up and down while Erin couldn't stop yelling and Kaeleen laughed the whole time. It was so great to be together again.
I really like so many things about this country. I can't tell you what a relief it is to be in a country who takes an interest in me again. There have been so many times here where I have said to myself or aloud "This would never happen in Switzerland". Every time Kaeleen and I would be walking around lost or looking for something, people would actually ask us if they could help us! When we were trying to find our hostel, we had a man come up to us and ask if we needed help. He then got out his own cell phone and called the hostel for us to get directions and then proceeded to walk us THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION HE WAS GOING to the hostel door! This would NEVER happen in Switzerland. We also had people come up to us and help us with the ticket machine for the subway. And at night we had several people try to get us to come have a drink with them because they like our blue eyes. People are so friendly and actually want to talk to us and ask us questions.
The food is really good here. The only thing is that I think I would get pretty tired of it if I was living here. I have been craving good bread and cheese and I have only been here a few weeks. But perhaps that is also because that was my main foods in Switzerland for the last 9 months.
Last week Kaeleen and I went to the DMZ (or Demilitarized Zone). We took a tour and rode on a bus to the border of North and South Korea. It was a little scary since there are so many tensions between the U.s. and North Korea right now. But it was very safe and there are so many rules that we have to follow that keep us safe. It was a really interesting experience. I can say that I have actually been to North Korea now. We saw a few North Korean soldiers as well as Propaganda City which is an empty "city" with unused buildings that were created just for the purpose of North Korea seeming outsiders to be a progressive country and look like a normal modern country, which of course it is not. I will post some pictures of the DMZ and that whole tour. Again, if you click on the slideshow below you can see the pictures better and slow down the show.
Some other pictures in this slideshow are from our visit to the Seoul Tower at night. It was beautiful and so so so high! There were locks all hanging onto the fence around the main viewpoint and around the tower. I don't really know the significance of these but it looked cool. Also, there were "love benches" we could sit on at the viewpoint. These benches, as you can see in the picture, were bent in the middle slightly so that the couple has to sit close together. There was a light show that was performed on the tower and loud music playing. It was really cool. The view of Seoul from the viewpoint was also amazing. We went up to this tower with some people we met who were staying at the hostel Kaeleen and I stayed in. We ended up going out with these people and some others later that night in Hongdae, a pretty hip and cool section of Seoul.
Also included in this slideshow are pictures of our Dr. Fish adventure. There are cafes here where you can order a coffee and a waffle and then spend 20 minutes sitting with your feet in a big tank of water filled with little sucker fishes. These fishes swarm to your feet and bite off the dead skin. It feels so weird. I actually was not really able to do it. I could not get both of my feet in the water, and when I finally did get one in, I could only leave it in for about 3 seconds. It was just too weird and scary for me. But Kaeleen and Cody both did it and they claimed their feet never felt better when they were done. Gah!!!
I have other stories to tell about my time in Korea as well as pictures to post but I will have to do this later!
I really like so many things about this country. I can't tell you what a relief it is to be in a country who takes an interest in me again. There have been so many times here where I have said to myself or aloud "This would never happen in Switzerland". Every time Kaeleen and I would be walking around lost or looking for something, people would actually ask us if they could help us! When we were trying to find our hostel, we had a man come up to us and ask if we needed help. He then got out his own cell phone and called the hostel for us to get directions and then proceeded to walk us THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION HE WAS GOING to the hostel door! This would NEVER happen in Switzerland. We also had people come up to us and help us with the ticket machine for the subway. And at night we had several people try to get us to come have a drink with them because they like our blue eyes. People are so friendly and actually want to talk to us and ask us questions.
The food is really good here. The only thing is that I think I would get pretty tired of it if I was living here. I have been craving good bread and cheese and I have only been here a few weeks. But perhaps that is also because that was my main foods in Switzerland for the last 9 months.
Last week Kaeleen and I went to the DMZ (or Demilitarized Zone). We took a tour and rode on a bus to the border of North and South Korea. It was a little scary since there are so many tensions between the U.s. and North Korea right now. But it was very safe and there are so many rules that we have to follow that keep us safe. It was a really interesting experience. I can say that I have actually been to North Korea now. We saw a few North Korean soldiers as well as Propaganda City which is an empty "city" with unused buildings that were created just for the purpose of North Korea seeming outsiders to be a progressive country and look like a normal modern country, which of course it is not. I will post some pictures of the DMZ and that whole tour. Again, if you click on the slideshow below you can see the pictures better and slow down the show.
Some other pictures in this slideshow are from our visit to the Seoul Tower at night. It was beautiful and so so so high! There were locks all hanging onto the fence around the main viewpoint and around the tower. I don't really know the significance of these but it looked cool. Also, there were "love benches" we could sit on at the viewpoint. These benches, as you can see in the picture, were bent in the middle slightly so that the couple has to sit close together. There was a light show that was performed on the tower and loud music playing. It was really cool. The view of Seoul from the viewpoint was also amazing. We went up to this tower with some people we met who were staying at the hostel Kaeleen and I stayed in. We ended up going out with these people and some others later that night in Hongdae, a pretty hip and cool section of Seoul.
Also included in this slideshow are pictures of our Dr. Fish adventure. There are cafes here where you can order a coffee and a waffle and then spend 20 minutes sitting with your feet in a big tank of water filled with little sucker fishes. These fishes swarm to your feet and bite off the dead skin. It feels so weird. I actually was not really able to do it. I could not get both of my feet in the water, and when I finally did get one in, I could only leave it in for about 3 seconds. It was just too weird and scary for me. But Kaeleen and Cody both did it and they claimed their feet never felt better when they were done. Gah!!!
I have other stories to tell about my time in Korea as well as pictures to post but I will have to do this later!
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