remember when I went to Korea?

day 14 (wherein Jason's mom had the longest birthday ever)

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:42:43 -0400

We left off the last post with us giving Jason’s mom her birthday gifts. We wanted to give them early so that she could pack them. We had tried, that night, to communicate the fact that we wanted to get her a cake, without her knowing. It didn’t work out. However, with confusion about why we thought it was her birthday all cleared up, we woke the next morning with a cake obtained.

Our flight home was later this afternoon, and the morning was bitter sweet. We would miss Korea very much.

And Korea’s yogurt,

and the engrish,

but mostly, the family.

The ride to the airport was not unlike our other car trips, complete with stopping for ice cream.

We flew out of Incheon airport, which was where we flew in two weeks prior.

Our flight home took forever. We took off from Incheon on Sunday afternoon, and arrived in California on Sunday afternoon. About thirteen hours later. We were early, so our plane did this:

And without fail, by the time we were in Washington D.C, our trip was delayed because of rain.

There were many desperate people arguing in the Dulles airport. It was hard to get some sleep, but not too hard, after a day that’s lasted so long.

We still felt bittersweet.

Jason and I ate cheeseburgers at five in the morning upon landing in Jacksonville.

day 13 (wherein we went to Korean Walmart)

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:42:39 -0400

Today we woke up and drove to the water to eat clams!

We were somewhere by the water. We sat outside the restaurant overlooking a park. Keun Sahmchon taught me a trick that I will never forget, where water makes a plastic tablecloth stick to a table sorta well, for a few minutes.

The park had a wonderful nautical theme.

Anyway, I loved it.

We went back to the outdoor shopping place we went to on the night of day one. It seemed to be near another military base. There were plenty of Americans, and most of the shops sold the same souvenir things. Jason bought some giant fans, and I thought really hard about buying a carved chess set. I wish I had. We were all separated, and decided to get some ice cream at Baskin Robbins. This is when I tasted blueberry aloe ice cream. It was the most amazing thing, but they don’t have it in the US. I wrote an email to Baskin Robbins, but much to my chagrin, received no reply.

We went to Lotte mart and Emart, to see what Walmart is like in Korea. It is bizarro in that it’s the same, yet different. Toys, groceries, clothing, tea kettles, mcdonalds.

I am loving it

The big difference was that it was multi-level. So how do you get a shopping-cart full of anything up or down a level?

We stayed up late giving Jason’s mom her birthday presents, and packing. Her mom and siblings were confused because, by their calendar, tomorrow wasn’t her birthday.

day 12 (wherein we rode the Seoul train)

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:55:00 -0400

We went to Seoul again, this time taking the train. Halmeoni came with us, and we didn’t really have any plans except to see the city. We understood that we would need to stand on the train, but this just meant we had to watch for available seats. We watched the towns speed by from the train windows.

Once in the hustle and bustle, we found ourselves in a shopping district.

There were some in our group who were very focused on buying clothes. The rest of us found ourselves waiting impatiently in crowded alleys looking for free wifi. We really wanted to see as much as possible, and soaked in what we could between shops. There were people busking for money, saleswomen trying to drag you into cosmetic shops, amputees being dragged on their stomachs by mechanical devices… I saw my first banjolele!

We ate more bibimbap at a place that sold congealed ox blood soup. We took the metro around to different areas in the city.

We ended up in a very tall shopping mall. Jason and his dad and I took an escalator to the top because we were tired of clothes. We found kitchenware, and I bought my very own sets of metal chopsticks. Gifts were bought for Jason’s mom’s birthday, and then we went outside to continue waiting. There was a food cart with corndogs covered in french fries.

impressed?

We were looking for something to do which everyone could enjoy, and had heard about an aquarium. We split up in two taxis and raced to a business and banking district. There we found Seaworld, in a 63 story skyscraper.

as tall as this guy is long.

There was a tank set up with doctor fish, and holes to put your fingers. Free manicures! After Jason stuck his fingers in another set of the holes, the dr fish left me, for the most part, and went to him. More food. I can’t believe how much it tickled, and I can’t imagine ever sticking my feet into a dr fish tank.

Bing su is a treat like shaved ice, with ice cream and fruit piled on top. We ate some before boarding the train back to Pyeongtaek. We later learned of a “bomb” left in a locker at the Seoul train station.

Keun Sahmchon’s friend was opening a bar that night, and we went to consume Cass, and hog the pool table. We stumbled back to Halmeoni’s house very exhausted.

day 11 (wherein otter = platypus)*

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:39:00 -0400

*Title credits to Jason. He’s making fun of me.

On this day we were staying close to home. Keun Sahmchon took us to some garden place where we saw some neat stuff.

Here’s a ram:

Look at this twisty tree:

Hey! Check out this grinding stone:

Other highlights:

awkward. turtle.

Jenny and I ate some spicy cold noodles for lunch. The noodles were cold, but they were just SO spicy, that we found ourselves blowing on them as if they were hot. We both did it without even thinking about it. True story.

We went to the Admiral Yi Sungsin memorial museum. I’d compare it, sort of, to Graceland, but far less tacky (I get side-eye for comparing the two). A big compound with his home, and a museum, even a 4D film. Stuff like this:

There were stands in the parking lot here, as most places, selling snacks. We had seen signs advertising ”toast,” and thought it was something that needed no advertising. Turns out we had no idea what toast was. Basically an omelet sandwich. It was delicious. Also delicious:

pig bar. Imagine good humor chocolate eclair and strawberry shortcake bars combined, and tell me why we don’t have these in the states?

Later that night, Jason and his dad, and Jenny and I went back to that bar to play some darts.

I got excited when Coheed and Cambria started playing on the music video system that was set up, so I happened to start recording. By chance, some man wandered in at that exact moment, and tried to sell Jenny his ass. What did I just type? Just watch.

I had a couple bottles of Cass by this point, so I didn’t even think twice.

What? Oh, the title of this entry? OK. We had Jason’s DS, and were playing Brain Age. It has this part where it asks you to draw something from memory, without showing you an image first. It asked me to draw an otter.

day 10 (wherein we went to North Korea)

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:51:00 -0400

Our day started early. We drove to the DMZ because tours to the JSA book way too far in advance. We had to get to the north border, see our sights, and get back home in time for Young Kwan ee’s birthday dinner. I remember feeling like it had been raining lightly for days on end, and having completely given up on my hair. The dampness was unavoidable. Bored with her doghouse walls, Dajungi took advantage of any new shelter she could.

We drove until the cities and towns disappeared behind mountains, until the streets were lined with barbed fences, and until we felt we could no longer wander freely.

We ran into the group of Wal-Mart employee tourists who we previously encountered in Seoul.

just kidding, guys.

We were at an observatory overlooking a North Korean propaganda village (excuse me… peace village) built back in the 50’s to make South Koreans think that the North was living in the lap of fancy luxury with tall buildings and electricity.

Through the coin-operated binoculars, I saw some North Koreans walking, but these buildings on the border are not really inhabited.

Next we met up with a bus related to some organized tour, and we joined them through some stops. We were not permitted to take pictures much of the time. On our first stop, we watched a movie about the Korean War, and walked through the joined Korean War museum.

Our next stop was the Third Tunnel of Aggression which allowed no photos. In fact, we were prohibited from bringing anything. Hardhats were provided, thankfully, and the sound of hardhats scraping the tunnel ceiling was deafening. We descended, and then we kept descending. The walls were dripping with ground water, and there was a water fountain halfway down drawing water from the granite. Refreshing. At the end, we reached a wall, and on the other side of the wall was dynamite and a water tank, and on the other side of that was North Korea.

I’m trying to find the best way to express that the last thing you want to do after reaching the lowest depths, is to turn around and climb back up. I guess that took care of it. Although we trekked down in a single file line, we managed to get split up among the strangers. Of course, Jason and his dad were racing. Jason made it to the top first, but his dad made it out first, so who really won is open for interpretation.

This all made us sweaty and emotional.

Once we were re-hydrated, we were back on the bus headed to another observation point. You could take photos standing behind a yellow line, but a guard made sure you did not operate your camera on the other side of the line. Against the wall, more coin-operated binoculars overlook the uninhabited village of Kijongdong. Visible were the flags of both the south, and the north of the Koreas.

South Korea is the white flag on the right, North Korea is the red flag on the left.

Next we went to Dorasan Station. I’ll spare you the history lesson, but it’s basically a symbol of hope for the reunification of Korea. If Korea were unified, South Korea would be connected by rail with the rest of Eurasia. Imagine the eerie-ness of a pristine, empty railway station. Then you look up and notice the next train to Pyeongyang will be departing shortly.

We got our bus tickets stamped with passport stamps that would have invalidated our passports, and left.

At a souvenir shop, you could buy North Korean goods.

Jason decided to sample the beer of a nation that can’t feed itself. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t awful. Like Heineken.

We rushed home, and were late for the birthday dinner. Jason didn’t eat, because he’s a biologist, and way too familiar with some of the buffet-style menu options. We decided to hit up some more karaoke, this time with more family. We were exhausted.

but that didn’t stop the rock.

Take a closer look at what the screen tells you when you score 100% on a song.

day 9 (wherein more Korean things happened )

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:35:59 -0400

Ive never read or seen anything of the Twilight series. I have seen the Adventures Shark Boy and Lavagirl 3D, so I know Taylor Lautner. Here he is:

We watched plenty of this.

This was Buddha’s birthday, and so everyone was off work or school. We decided to stay out of the crowds. We walked over to the base to see if Jason could find a new camera. Only Jason’s parents were allowed inside the exchange, so the Hermening siblings and I stayed in the food court and ate ice cream. A camera was purchased, and Jason spent the rest of the day taking photos.

He snapped us eating Halmeoni’s delicious mussels:

He took a panorama of the living room:

He annoyed his parents:

Jason’s mom wins the “most convincing smile” award

He spied on his family:

He took a handful of pictures of me looking out-of-place:

We went to dinner with his mom’s aunt and uncle. We ate at a place where the sign is a cat hiding the fact that it’s eating oxtail from an angry bull.

we ate this:

And after all that food, we ate this:

that many of them.

I can not stress enough that in Korea, you will never stop eating. Jason’s mom’s uncle also shared with us some ginseng wine, which he made. It was strong, and bitter. It was also wonderful. It looked like this:

day 8 (wherein Jason broke his camera)

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:22:04 -0400

Jason made me carry a purse in Korea. I don’t like carrying purses because they’re generally a pain in the ass, pardon my language. Not only that, but the purse I brought to Korea wasn’t good enough, because mine was apparently a beacon showing thieves that they could take my valuables. So I borrowed one of Jenny’s. The point is, he wouldn’t let me carry things in my pockets.

So what’d he do? He put his camera in his pocket.

Therefore while we’re sitting on the couch, understanding vaguely that we were going to be travelling to Seoul today, his camera turned on, the lens tried to open, and the whole device broke.

I’m not trying to make fun of him. I’m simply documenting a major incident in our trip. On our way out to Seoul, we went to a few electronics stores. I took in the wide selection of rice cookers and kimchi refrigerators. He didn’t find a camera worth buying, so we went on our way. Jason was grumpy, and understandably so. We were on vacation and not only could he not presently document the trip, he’s going to have to drop some unplanned cash. This also impacted me. Not only did I have a grumpy boyfriend, I only had a video camera. This is the only picture I have from that morning:

Hat dog! That really needed proper documentation, not just a blurry still from a flip cam.

So we drove to Seoul. Our first stop was Gyeongbokgung, which is a sprawling palace from the 1300’s smack in the middle of the city.

the first of ninety-nine-or-so gates

We were waiting in the courtyard for a changing of the guard, when Jason’s mom offered him her camera. So he switched her SD card for his, and cheered up.

This cheered everyone else up

note Jenny’s purse

We wandered around the palace, and the related museum, and then we left. My notes indicate that we “turned around on a hill, almost died” and I think this refers to the time where Keun Sahmchon made a 3-point turn at the top of a hill, and I was sure we were going to roll right off.

Our destination was Seoul Tower, aka Namsan Tower.

we did not take this photo

It was not an ideal day for observing cities from a tower. There was a cable car available for transport to the mountain summit, but it was too windy out, so we took the stairs up the mountain to the tower. After a few minutes, Halmeoni decided it was too many stairs, and retreated to the van. The rest of us soldiered on, into the cloud which engulfed the mountain top.

I don’t know about him, but I saw this:

There was a gift shop at the top, where I finally found some postcards, which I later sent to my mom an aunt. Also available at the shop were locks. We noticed the fences covered in locks, and immediately bought into it. The belief is that couples who secure locks to the gate, then toss the key, will stay together.

Back in the gift shop, surprise! Halmeoni! She decided to tackle the stairs after all. Quite a feat, because by this time, the cloud we were standing in was getting pretty miserable. We decided to take the bus down (wait, what? a bus!?). Unfortunately Seoul is very easy to get lost in, so we got right to it. We got off the bus, in the rain, at what we surely thought was where the van was. It wasn’t.

I looked like this.

We finally found Keun Sahmchon, who took us to Ittaewon. Ittaewon is essentially the International drive of Korea, but deciding what non-Korean place to eat dinner was difficult. I was soaking wet and freezing.

i looked like this.

We settled on a pub, where we ate things like fish and chips, and I drank a Guinness.

we looked like this.

After dinner we wandered the streets of Ittaewon which, in hindsight, may have been extremely dangerous. We spent money at the souvenir shops, and looked at some hookers. At one point, we were standing for a while. I was still very cold, but I found some warmth next to a traditional Korean space-heater.

day 7 (wherein we wore sandals to hike a mountain)

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:45:00 -0400

We were told we were going to a Buddhist temple. I thought “Okay, a building with a divine presence. I’ll wear sandals.”

fml!

We learned too late that the temple was a dozen or so building-sized divinities standing, sitting, and lounging about on mountain with hundreds and hundreds of other amazing things to see. You can’t really tell from that video, but each of those steps was about two-feet tall, and nearly the end of us. We followed a path up, and noticed stacks of prayer stones, which people were drawn to taking photos of.

The next cool thing was an area with lanterns and bells which I got very poor video of, because I was out of breath from that steep prayer stone path.

We continued up to a bell which, inscribed on its outside somewhere, contained the names of Jason’s mom and her brothers.

did he say buddha farm?

Yes he did.

Countless golden Buddhas larger than an average man. And you can see the beginning of the other half in the video. Also, those shelves behind the Buddhas? More Buddhas. As if to fill in the cracks between Buddhas with more Buddhas.

We saw more Buddhas

and more buddhas

Then we left.

Driving through korea, you’ll see the mounded graves everywhere in the hillsides. Our next destination was to one of these. In particular, Jason’s Grandpa’s. We had meat and fruit to offer, as well as soju and cigarettes. It was all very somber, and I felt like a stranger who didn’t really belong there, so Jason’s mom introduced me, and I totally lost it.

For lunch we went to eat fish soup at a restaurant which uses an adorable sign like this:

Behind the wholesome fisherman, some cutesy little fishies inviting us to eat them. We didn’t think that they might have bones like this:

Angler? Whale? we never figured it out.

Our last stop was apparently a traditional-style village where movies and tv shows are filmed.

this happened:

twice!

day 6 (wherein we took the bus)

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:37:00 -0400

Jason’s uncle basically drove us around all day every day in his taxi, and then worked in his taxi at night, so we knew he needed a break.

Today we used the bus.

our bus stop was next to the town fridge-cemetary

I didn’t find anything particularly unusual about the bus. You pay 1000 won cash, it takes you on a route, stand if the seats are taken. No surprises there. However, we found that if you were not standing in the street, won in hand, with one foot up ready to step on, you weren’t getting on. I saw this, more than once, happen to people who clearly intended to board the bus. “you snooze, you lose, ajumma.” Similarly, you need to be ready to jump off the bus, and get out of the way immediately if you ever wanted to stop your endless route. We took the bus to Pyeongtaek, where there were errands to do.

First we paid a visit to Jakun Sahmchon’s wife where she works at a shopping mall. This was like being inside JC Penney, but each area selling a different brand is it’s own store. In that way, it’s sort of like the concourse of a mall, but there are no walls between American Eagle and the Gap… and it looked like the inside of JC Penney. I was, along with Jason’s mom, sort of surprised to find that the clothes fit me, as I’m six feet tall, and tower over everyone in Asia. Halmeoni was kind in buying gifts of clothing for me and Jenny.

We went to the train station so that Halmeoni could buy a ticket for Young Min ee to return to where the military is. I could just feel breakdancers in my presence, and sure enough:

you’re hereby served.

Remember on day 1, when an elderly man mysteriously shook mine and Jason’s hands without saying a word, and then walked away? This happened again at the train station!

We had to go to the market, where Jason, his dad, and I looked for free wireless on our phones.

Allow me to discuss the family dog, Dajungi. She lives in the fenced-in yard, in her little dog house. When we first met her, we were told she was pregnant. Later, Halmeoni told us she wasn’t, and that she was just fat. Apparently she has a boyfriend dog, who we never saw, who lives a short walk away, and brings her meat in the morning. Meat! No wonder she dumped that loser dog who constantly sat, heartbroken, outside the fence. Anyway, Dajungi knows what she likes, and demonstrates this when greeting you by promptly rolling on her back so you can scratch her belly. The exception to this is when you’re holding a video camera, and ONLY in that situation.

UGH!

It was the most frustrating thing. I literally have half a dozen video clips of this exact situation with her.

But on this day, I snuck a shot of her greeting Jason.

I win, dog.

There was a chore that needed to be done at the Army base, so we took this opportunity to eat pizza and ice cream. Like Dunkin Donuts, you can find a Baskin-Robbins on most street corners in Korea. So it was no shock to find a BAskin -Robbins in the Camp Humphreys food court.

day 5 (wherein we made pot)

Mon, 30 May 2011 22:49:00 -0400

We piled in to the van, not knowing, once again, where we were really going. We went to the mountains today. This was at times scary, and at other times horrifying. I felt like we were always driving up, but when we stopped driving, we were at the bottom, looking across the dammed end of the Han River. We needed our passports to go the the Naminara Republic.

aka Namiseom, aka Winter Sonata Island.

This place, which was very beautiful, was apparently started as an amusement park, and was an imaginary country… or is an imaginary country… I am still very confused about it. From what i can determine, the amusement park turned into an ecological awareness project for the Korean YMCA and YWCA.

resulting in neat things like this

The sights to see included gardens, and statues erected from re-purposed trash.

also, ostriches.

We left. While it took hours to get to Naminara, it took about twenty minutes to leave. We turned somewhere, and ended up surrounded by pottery stores. We didn’t know we were intended to make pottery.

And so it went, this guy showing us what to do, us failing, and him pretending that we were doing well.

We didn’t get to keep our pottery, as it takes weeks to actually make. Perhaps one day we will have them.

jason’s

which looked better than mine

Our next stop was to see where soysauce ferments. I think. In a field of pots.

cool, right?

this was also a garden/ place where we took lots of photos of ourselves

Last stop before going home was to eat thirteen courses (okay, four) of dinner, which began with a miraculous squash soup, and ended with me drinking everyone else’s cold ginger tea. Slept like a rock.

day 4 (wherein we ate more questionable things)

Wed, 25 May 2011 16:57:00 -0400

This was, in fact, the day I had been most excited for ever since watching the South Korean episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman. I saw it, said “I’m eating that,” and here we are.”

We had quite a drive to get where we were going, although I never understood where we were at any given time. I can’t tell you where we ended up, but I can assure you… it was on the coast.

see?

Essentially, we went to where the boats bring their catch. You can come here and buy living sea creatures out of a tank or a bucket while people shout at you, or you can patronize one of the fine family establishments that feature nearly nude girls on the table-top tissue boxes.

Jason has a picture, but i’m not posting it.

The most fun thing about eating octopus that is still moving, is the difficulty picking it off the plate.

Jenny says she was never allowed to eat it when she was younger, because of the common fear they would suction to your esophagus, choking you. Andrew Zimmerman reported suction to his cheek, so I was afraid, and chewed carefully.

we also at gaebul, which looks like this:

yep.

That night we went to karaoke. Jason was forced into singing most songs. Here he is singing a song you’ll love:

gotcha!

and some other internet sensation, with Jenny:

Jason and his dad decided to test out their hangul reading skills, which resulted in two and a half minutes of this:

then Jason’s dad rapped

we’re so proud of him

even I got in on the action

which i’m still apologizing for

day 3 (wherein we discovered Korean Krystal)

Fri, 20 May 2011 18:17:00 -0400

We spent much of this day at a Korean folk village. This was a nice outdoor museum showing examples of traditional housing, and entertainment.

Jason learned how ajummas grind grains, and the like:

I learned about bibimbap:

It was at this meal that i graduated to metal chopsticks, like everyone else.

still clumsy

There was a demonstration of a traditional farmers’ dance. This was something like a drumline, but with more spinkicks.

hard. core.

by the end of the day, my hair looked like this.

It was Keun Sahmchon’s wife’s birthday, so we went out to a special dinner where we ate duck prepared four different ways.

you put the meat in the lettuce, with something out of most of those tiny bowls.

That night, we decided to go out. We tasted three different types of South Korean beer. First we went to a club and tasted OB. We quickly decided it wasn’t our scene, and found a bar where we could throw darts and shoot pool. Jason taught Young Min ee how to do these things, and we tasted Cass and Hite. I preferred Cass. In America, after drinking beer, it is customary to eat some Krystal burgers. In Korea, they’re fortunate enough to have Mrs. Kim’s egg cheese burger from a snack cart.

day 2 (wherein we tip-toed through the parakeets)

Fri, 20 May 2011 16:25:00 -0400

When Jason’s mom was with us, we felt assured that we would be able to communicate, and therefore know where we were going.

Today we were informed we were going to “some tourist place.” So Keun Sahmchon drove me and Jason, with Jenny and their parents, precisely there. This particular tourist place was closed Tuesdays, and we briefly argued whether or not this was actually Tuesday, since we felt like we lost a day and were completely confused.

Back in the van, we were being driven to another somewhere we didn’t know. This required almost crashing several times, as the roads are often wide enough for only one car, yet accommodate many, and built without shoulders or rails while they tower high over a flooded rice field or mountain valley.

Our destination was: the Happy Together Pyeongtaek Flower and Spring Festival!

Kindergarteners everywhere

I promptly discovered that the kindergarteners traveled in hoards, wore uniforms, and had the exact same backpacks, which they left laying about in what Jason’s dad referred to as “backpack farms.” There were at least fifteen different groups of kindergarteners at the Happy Together Pyeongtaek Flower and Spring Festival. The festival was delightful. The flowers were lovely, and there was an exhibit with bugs, and birds including a cage of parakeets, which i was itching to jump in to.

Video

Which i did.

Something else we spent a lot of time on was trying to capture just how far into the air this kite flew:

there was also this great band

We went to another market afterward, where I decided to sample some more of the local treats… Brace yourselves.

silkworms

They weren’t bad. They tasted buttery and crunchy, and exactly like walnuts, in my opinion.

When we made it back to Halmeonie’s house, I met more of Jason’s family. Keun Sahmchon’s older son, Young Min ee, is in the military, and he had taken a few days vacation to spend with family, so he had arrived at some point during this day. His younger son, Young Kwan ee lives where we were staying, and I’m sure I had met him by this point, but I know I failed to mention it here. Jason’s other uncle and his wife and son were there, too. We ate bbq chicken for dinner, and it was some of the tastiest bbq sauce I’ve ever had.

day 1 (wherein we ate your best friend)

Wed, 18 May 2011 18:42:42 -0400

By the time we managed to get out of bed, everyone else was awake. Now it was time for breakfast. I wasn’t previously informed, and therefore not mentally prepared, that breakfast meant rice and soup, as well as kimchi (as with every meal), and anything else that Halmeoni felt like preparing. Everything was delicious of course, and I’ll eat anything, basically, but more on that later.

We were splitting up today because Jason’s parents had grown-up things to do, so Jason and Jenny and I were going “somewhere” with Keun Sahmchon (Jason’s uncle, who is older than Jak Eun Sahmchon).

the man drove us practically everywhere, and was entirely amazing

Before we could go anywhere, it was imperative that I have my first experience bathing in Korea. Where we were staying was traditional in that the bathroom was the shower. It was also the laundry room. Basically, the room which houses the toilet has a tiled floor with a drain in the middle. There is no bath tub. There’s a shower head, and also a bowl with a cup for rinsing off (which I used more often than the shower head since I could never find a happy medium between freezing or scalding water). When you enter the bathroom, even if you’re not bathing, you wear the rubber slippers because the floor is always wet.

Once we were mostly clean, we were off on our first adventure. Jason’s uncle is a taxi driver, so we were fortunate enough to not only have a driver, but a driver who knows people and places to go. Jason’s uncle also does not speak more than a few words of English, so we rarely knew exactly where we were going unless Jason’s mom was around. The first place we were going was a carwash, which was mostly the same as the ones you’ll find at most gas stations in the states. Afterward, we hit the highway. We quickly stopped at a rest stop, which I would liken to a rest stop on the turnpike, but with more food, more souvenirs, and more people trying to run you over.

I may or may not have thought it was our destination

Jason’s uncle ran inside, and brought back some treat, which quickly became my favorite thing ever:

hodo kwaja.

I can only explain this as a walnut-shaped waffle, filled with sweet red bean paste, and a piece of walnut. I couldn’t get enough.

The “somewhere” we were going was the Independence Hall of Korea. It was this beautiful museum made up of exhibition halls each dedicated to different parts of Korean history. It focused a lot on the period of Japanese imperialism, and the struggle for national rights, which was moving. There were some interactive parts, including where we learned about torture.

flogging

Other things of note were the field of Korean flags

and noticing that the men in the handicap-able signs were a lot more reckless than ours at home.

Wheeeee!

Afterward, Jason’s uncle took us to the nearby city of Pyeongtaek. We ate Jajangmyun for lunch, and drank soju. A nice man laughed at us, and told us “sayonara” when he left. Next, we walked to the market, which was exactly as nuts as we expected. Living seafood everywhere, fruits and vegetables laying about, people shouting at us. An elderly gentleman approached me and Jason, and shook our hands without saying anything. Jason refused to hold my hand for the rest of the day.

We returned to Halmeonie’s house, where I met Keun Sahmchon’s wife. We were ready to depart for dinner. We drove to a restaurant. As we were walking in, we were informed that we were about to eat dog, which we had previously agreed to, but thought that we might have more time to psych ourselves up for.

I felt nervous. I felt a little guilty, and tried desperately not to think of any of my beloved furry friends I’ve accumulated in my life. The table was being set, and at this point in the trip, I was still using wooden chopsticks, while everyone else ate with metal chopsticks. I imagined the service staff at the restaurants kept wooden sets for clumsy white people, because they always had some when asked. The dish was served. It was a massive pot of dog soup.

it looked, and tasted, like beef

we ate it with rice wine to dull the remorse

It was tasty, but I didn’t eat very much of it. Jason was showing his mom pictures on his phone of a family pet, so those of us from the states were disturbed.

The last thing we did was take a stroll around an outdoor shopping area. Most shops were closed, but there were some bars and restaurants, and I heard Coheed and Cambria, and got excited.

We had had a long day, and were still jet lagged, and we fell asleep as easily as the night before.

day 0 (wherein we flew to Asia)

Tue, 17 May 2011 14:57:00 -0400

Any great journey begins with travel.

Jenny graduated from UNF on Friday night, and since a taxi was picking us up very early on Saturday morning, we all slept over at Jason’s parents house. We departed JAX that morning, on our way to Chicago. My sinuses hate me, and flying is extremely painful because of that, so I decided to try out a product called earplanes.

they make you look like this.

They’re pretty good.

after a short layover in Chicago, we departed for Japan. We watched “Red” and occupied ourselves in other ways

like this.

The screwy thing was that it was always daylight. We ran from the night, and it chased us to the land of the rising sun. We tried to sleep, but it was uncomfortable even though we had an extra empty seat. and so it went for twelve hours hanging by an invisible thread over the pacific ocean.

United serves you with chopsticks on Asian flights

at the Narita airport, we were tired and grouchy.

and in danger of luggage-stealing ninja

i took a brief look around, where i saw such snacks as dried squid, wasabi or soy sauce flavored kit kat bars, and loads and loads of tea.

i don’t remember the flight from japan to korea. I think i slept poorly, or i just zoned out, but i knew i was over being up in the air, within spitting distance of the stars.

we made it somehow. our bags managed, as well. a new stamp in our passports, and we were on our way to meet jason’s halmeoni, and keun sahmchon. they were welcoming, and i was relieved because I wasnt sure what to expect. the drive to their home was approximately 2 hours, and i don’t really remember it because of exhaustion. i do remember thinking we were driving through big cities, but i was informed that the endless tall buildings we saw were apartments.

they were everywhere.

we were shown to our bed, where we were putting jason’s cousin out of his room, and went to dreamland until far too late into the next day.