Warning: This Blog Post Contains MANY Pictures

Saturday was amazing. Adrienne, Grace and I got a taxi to Lex Kim where we met Joomee and Mr. Wee. Joomee is Shoomee's sister. She works at the school. I am not sure of the exact job description, but she is a receptionist + some. Mr. Wee is our driver. On our list of things to do: Changgyeong Palace, Changdeok Palace, Seoul/Namsan Tower, walk around Insadong, have a traditional Bulgogi (Korean BBQ) dinner and see the Korean musical, Miso. Here is a picture of us in our sweet ride. :-) It is a huge van and there were about 100 identical vans lined up outside the palaces. Sun Roof!

So I knew nothing about these Korean Palaces (which are located right in the middle of Seoul) before I visited them, and I would be lying if I said I was an expert now. However, here is some information about the first Palace we visited and yes I have the brochure in front of me... King Seongjong (r. 1469-1494) had Changgeyeong Palace built to serve three queen dowagers, or widows. 

We were only here for a short time because we needed to get to Changdeok Palace in time for the English tour. I found Changdeok Palace to be more impressive. This palace was destroyed during the Japanese invasion in 1592-1598. It was rebuilt after fighting ceased. What I found the most interesting about this palace is it only opened to the public in 1996 because a princess (Princes Deokhye of Korea) still lived here until she died in 1989! While on the tour here, I was informed as to why Koreans take their shoes off in their houses and some restaurants. The heating system in these Palaces is through the floors. You will see how they are on a platform of stone. There were coals under the houses and they would light the coals at fire places inside. The fire would catch the other coals and spread throughout. The heat comes through the floor. The heating system in Korea is the same to this day except they pump hot water. People sit on the floor to get warm faster. They don't wear shoes inside because they don't want to sit (or lie) on a dirty floor. Makes sense.

I like this picture because you can see Seoul Tower in the background. Also, these canals used to have water in them.

 The King's Thrown.

The Queen's Bed.

After the second palace, we drove to the bottom of Namsan Mountain in the center of Seoul. Seoul Tower is at the top of this mountain. We took a cable car up. 

Here are some pictures from the base of the tower. 

 Crazy artwork. 

 Guards

 Had to do it.

I was told that there is a scene in a famous Korean movie where love birds came up to Seoul Tower and locked a lock on the wall or a tree and threw the key off. It was always a tradition, but not many people paid much attention to it. The popular movie has couples coming from all over to take part in this tradition. Here is JUST one of the trees (well one and a half). They also write love letters on key chains.

The elevator ride up to the top of the tower was priceless. Leave it to Korea to have a full screen on the ceiling. When they close the elevator doors the movie starts and its as if you are blasting through space. Awesome. We had lunch at the top of Seoul tower. It was so nice. I had ribs and there was a full buffet of the most delicious foods. I tried two new things. Snails and Jellyfish! The Jellyfish was actually Jellyfish salad and it had a weird spice on it.

I had to pull the snail out of its shell.

After lunch we took a bunch of pictures.

This panoramic view is pretty awesome.

 Seoul is massive.

We then went to this place that is translated to: Octagon Shaped Building to Hangout (haha). Apparently the royalty used to hangout here. 

In Insadong, we went to a bunch of art galleries. There were a lot of really neat pieces. Here is a picture of the square we were in for a while. It was soooo busy. You can't really see from the picture, but the walk ways are actually inclined so you are walking up in a circle (or rectangle).

After more shopping than I ever wanted to do, we went to dinner at a traditional house. It wasn't a normal restaurant. There is only one room and you have to make reservations. We sat on the floor (finally I got to do this)! The food was amazing as usual. We then went to see Miso.

 Oh yea!

 Awesome.

That night Adrienne and I decided to go out for some drinks. My friend Leor used to live just a couple subway stations away from where I live. He told me to go to his stop and look for a bar called VUDU and ask for L.J. the bartender/owner and tell her I knew him. I figured why not try to find this place knowing it would be nearly impossible. We had no idea where it was. We started asking random Korean people on the street where it was. The second group we asked didn't seem to know, so I just asked them what they were doing for the rest of the night and Adrienne and I followed them. One of the guys found it on his phone and took us there! I found L.J. and she gave Adrienne and I a free drink. She seemed to really like Leor and his girlfriend, Jamie. Not only that, but the kid at the bar was Leor's old neighbor. We spent the rest of the night there before going home and barely remembering eating at garlic chicken... 

Sunday I was hungover and ordered Papa Johns. It took me 10 minutes to order on the phone. I was so frustrated and tried to remind myself that I was the problem, not the lady on the other end of the phone. It may have taken me 10 minutes to order, but my food arrived in 15 minutes. The delivery guys here ride little scooter (or motorcycles) and barely escape death on the daily. The pizza was 17,500 won and SO small. You live and you learn.

That night I played soccer again. It was a lot of fun, and I think I played a lot better than the first week. Monday was a holiday, so we didn't have work. Joomee took Adrienne and I to Costco. :-) I got a bunch of food and a blanket and a pillow. My bosses are sooo nice. When we were in the car on the way there Joomee gave Adrienne and I an envelope full of cash. Costco here only takes cash, so they thought ahead and brought us some. It is going to be deducted from our paychecks, but still very thoughtful. While we were there she also bought us blankets. They are so nice.

I have made it a personal goal to take a picture of the flowers at school every week.

This week went well. I went to work early and stayed late everyday, but I think it is going to pay off. I just might be getting into the swing of things. Today was one of my coworkers birthdays so the school took us all out to lunch. We went to this amazing seafood buffet in COEX. It was HUGE. They had sushi chefs making every kind of sushi, they had fried squid, shrimp, octopus, ect, mussels, crab salad, soups, stir frys, pizza... yea pizza? It was amazing. They also had the tastiest dessert section.

 All the desserts were bite size.

The cake they got for my coworker.

So I leave you again with what I did this past week. I think I am going to go to a fireworks festival tomorrow. Goodnight!