Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Study break is over!

Hi,
So school began today (Wednesday), and it was great! I had one class today which is called Korea through Ethnography. It seems to be a really neat class and I can't wait till my next class. Essentially, its everything I wanted to learn while I am abroad in South Korea; Korean social identity, nationalism, culture, movements, marginalized social groups in Korea, North Korean refugees, Korean sport culture, etc = amazing!!
I get the chance to also create a 30 min. movie as well with a group and then write a 12-15 page paper about... wait for it... MY OWN TOPIC! This has never happend to me, usually I have always been given a topic which is not really that cool. Okay, so now that you guys all probably think Im a pretty big nerd, I'll let you know what I did up untill today.

So where did I leave you... Oh thats right, the Chicken and Beer restaurant. Well we didn't really end up doin much after that, just headed back to the res and chilled for a while. The following night however was quite interesting. We went to an amazing Korean BBQ and ate more meat than anyone has ever eaten before (not really, but it seemed like alot). We had four bottles of Soju and then headed to a bar for some more drinks. When we got their we ordered three different flavours of Soju (one for each of us drinking, there was four of us all together). We got Yogurt, Kiwi, and Orange flavoured, Yogurt was deffiently the best. That night we also decided to play some Truth or Dare, which allowed us to actually meet some locals. We met a group of Koreans. They took us to this bar, which was packed like sardines and then ditched us. Classic.
We didn't stay that long before we headed back to residence. We were not really liking the bar, The people were literally, cramping our style...lol... haha.
The following day, I headed to a fish market with Christian. It was quite gross, fish everywhere and the smeel was sickening. The day wasn't that nice either, it was pretty rainy.
That night, nothing happened, we went out for dinner with some friends and then back to res. We were tired from the day.
Tuesday was the big day for me, wow!
It was the day Yvette (auzzie friend) came bake from Busan and we met up and toured around. We got to see Changgyeonggung Palace, visit a poor neighborhood, see the Fortress, visit another market, have some good beers and say our parting good byes untill the next time we have a chance to meet up. She was heading back to Australia the next day, she should still be on the plane now.
But listen to this, among all the other cool things me and Yvette did on Tuesday, we got to visit a Buddists Temple. While we were walking along in the heavily crowded streets of the tiny neighborhood, we walked across a step that led to a tiny colorfull palace looking building. What do we do, walk in of course. As we go up to the steps and head on over to the door to see if anyone is praying, a lady stops and begins to pray from the tiny street towards the building. We quickeley scurry away out of her sight and hide. After a few minutes we look around the door frame and she is no longer there so we continue with our curiosity. We go towards the steps and as we atart to slightly open the door, an older man comes out of a building behing the temple. We signals us in. So we take off our shoes, head on in, take a few pictures. As we are about to leave, the old man comes out of a door and signals us in further. We continue through the door into his secret quarters where he studies and sleeps and he sits down. We then sat down and he began to read our palms. Though we could not really understand him, it was really neat and such an unforgettable experience. After he read our palms, we travelled over to his computer and showed us pictures or different people and then of different places, all over the world. We stayed there about 1 hour and a half. Though we were hungry, the interest for me in that moment just did not care about my hunger.
He asked me to come back, and I think he sayed that either, I could watch him write Korean words or he can teach me how to write Korean words. Not too sure but am excited to find out.
I mean really, who gets to hang out with a monk?

Anyways, that was my favorite experience so far and I am glad that I got to experience it with Yvette, the true wanderer. Here are some of the pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!!!

Went out drinking with the roomey (Christian) and two othere. He is from New York, originally from Ecuador.
Flavoured Soju (Yogurt (left), Kiwi, Orange)

We played Truth or Dare that night and met some interesting Koreans

Top (Myself, Josh, Brolley, Eric, Joe)
Bottom (Christine, Jacob)
The next day some of us went to go get some cell phones and on our way back, we all got folded waffles with ice cream and syrup in the middle = YUMM!!


The phone lady had this on the back of her computer. Thought it was funny

Changgyeonggung Palace, one of the five grand palaces of the Joseon Dynasty
Before the Dynasty however it was the Summer Palace of the Goryeo Emperor (5 emperors during this time). The Goryeo Dynasty lasted from 918-1392 and was created from the three previous Kingdoms Silla, Baekje, and Goguryeo. In 1392, the Joseon Dynasty essentially overruled the Goryeo Dynasty, and made the land their own untill... previous post... when the Japanese invaded and the Joseon Dynasty became severley weakened.



Inside
In the poor neighborhood the doors are super small

The neighborhood was all up hill

Random Buddhist Temple in the small neighborhood

The ceiling of the Buddhist Temple

The Fortress. Its a long brick wall that runs the length of the city

Just some turtles sitting in a tub, in a maket. Can you guess what they may be used for?
1 hint = Hopefully they remove the shell

Farewell Yvette!!! When I come to Australia, drinks on me!

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