(I'm dividing this Lazy Update into two parts because there is just too much to write in one post.) This past week has been crazy - both physically and mentally. Midterms finished last Friday so the following four days were a mini-holiday. I got lucky with my exam timetable though. A lot of people, especially the local students, had exams up until Tuesday which was the last day of the schedule. The four day break was really good for releasing all that pent up stress about my mid-terms and 'refreshed' me for the next two months of school work. Speaking of which, I feel like these next few weeks are going to be so crazy again. I have so many projects due within the same time, plus church work, plus meeting up with friends (I know that's not necessarily...necessary...but!) plus figuring out how to fit in exercise everyday. I am getting fat. :(
Soo, last Tuesday was the last day of my four-day mini holiday. The weather was so horrible and it was raining all day, but I had to go out and do some gift shopping. I had no idea what I was going to buy, so I was station hopping around Seoul in hope that I could find something good. I ended up finding what I wanted at 이대 Idae (Ewha University) and 명동 Myeongdong. That night I went out to have dinner with my room mate for the very first time! We've been getting closer and closer lately, which I really like because this was how I wanted to be with my room mate in the first place. It only took two months to get to this stage....
Anyway, after that I joined some other exchange students at a nearby bar where I met some Koreans who frequent the E-Lounge (English Lounge) in our library. We then proceeded to the noraebang and spent an hour just singing and tiring ourselves out before walking back to the dormitory in time for the 1 am curfew.
Wednesday was the first official day back after mid-term exams, and for some reason it felt really good to have classes again. I guess I like the structure and order of school. After my classes finished, I went to meet up with a friend who had come from Hong Kong. She and her other friends were in Seoul for three days and they asked me to join them for dinner. We went to 광창시장 Gwangchangshijang near 남대문 Namdaemun and had tastings of three kinds of food - 김밥 kimbap (rice rolls similar to sushi), 빈대떡 bindaeddeok (green bean pancake ...soo good) and 육회 yookhwae (raw beef strips). The first two items were really delicious, but the raw beef wasn't really my thing. I ordered a bowl of 냉면 naengmyeon (cold noodles) instead. At the beef restaurant, one of the owners started asking us how to say things in Cantonese after finding out that we were from Hong Kong. It was really funny hearing him pronounce the words wrong, but I honestly applaud him for trying to learn it. I guess you learn whatever you can and whenever you can; that guy will definitely go far.
It was really nice to see my friend again, and to meet her other friends as well. After dinner we went to Doota, one of the biggest shopping malls in Seoul. The group of friends spent a long time looking around and trying unsuccessfully to bargain with the shop keepers. That's one of the things here - you don't haggle that much. You can ask for discount but it's seen to be rude if you start haggling. I guess that's the one of the differences between Koreans and Chinese people.
Thursday was really tiring, but one of the best days during my week. I had originally planned to visit my buddy's home and have dinner with her family, but her mum thought I was coming next week instead. It didn't matter though, because we ended up going sight-seeing in Seoul instead. First we went to 청게천 Cheonggyecheon which is the small river running through inner Seoul. There were lanterns hung up everywhere in preparation for Buddha's Birthday. Apparently it's really beautiful at night time when the lanterns are lit up, so maybe I'll go have a look when it's closer to May 10th.
After that, we went along 광화문 Gwanghwamun which is the gate right outside the biggest palace in Seoul. There's a massive statue of King Sejong and statues of the three inventions he's most famous for - the sundial (pretty sure that was invented by someone else ...), celestial globes and of course, Hangul. There's also a huge statue of one of the best soldiers of Korea. I can't remember his name, but he was the one who defeated the Japanese back when they invaded....so I guess that's pretty important.
We arrived at our destination - 경북공 Gyeongbukgong - the biggest palace in Seoul. This was the place where the king and queen used to live during the old days. It was humungous. And SO pretty. I don't think I've ever seen so many trees in one place since arriving in Seoul, and the flowers were all blooming and out. It was also really peaceful and quiet which is another thing you don't get a lot in Korea. My buddy kept saying "Oh I feel so refreshed now" (sounds kind of funny in English but makes better sense in Korean) and I knew exactly what she meant.
Walking around the entire palace would have taken over two hours, but we had other places to go so we left after only an hour. We were looking for 북촌한옥마을 Bukchonhanokmaeul Bukchon Hanok Village, but it was already six o'clock and we were really hungry. She took me to this restaurant which is famous for 수재비 soojaebi (noodles in hot soup) and it was soo good. Especially since the weather was kind of cold, the hot soup and 'noodles' (it's similar to 餃子皮) made me feel SO much better and energized.
My buddy didn't actually know where the village was so she asked a couple of policeman. They were entirely unhelpful so we had to walk around and look for signs ourselves. Eventually we walked into the right place and behold - silence. There are actually signs saying that you shouldn't make noise as to not disturb the residents, so it was extremely quiet. Even though there weren't signs saying you couldn't talk, my buddy and I felt compelled to speak in whispering voices rather than normal volume.
Part 2 will be up soon....
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