I finally got some more pictures of my trip down to Gyeong Ju on the eastern coast of Korea. Most of them are kinda boring or else just funny shots, but here are a couple.

In Korea, when you eat, there are always SIDEDISHES. Haha. As you can see, this table is basically full of them. Sometimes they're nice potato pancakes. Othertimes, they're jellyfish. Sometimes it's squid. Sometimes it's lotus stem. You never know!



And usually, as tall foreigners, we don't really blend in. This time, though, in front of the awkward-looking zodiac statues, I think we did a pretty good job.



I've been trying to get out of the house early and head into Seoul at least once a week. It's hard to do because my hours make the timing a bit weird, so last time, I was just kinda wandering around BUT I ended up catching this totally cool changing of the guard ceremony! I have a really cool 30-second video clip (on my phone that I'll tape on my camera... haha... 21st century) that I'll try to upload eventually. Or else I'll just have to go back to see it again! It was pretty sweet.



So, last weekend, Maggie came up for her first time to visit 서울 (Seoul). It was fun playing tour guide. She arrived and we had Indian for lunch before heading to 경복궁, Gyeongbok Palace. "Gyeongbok", from Chinese characters, means "place greatly blessed by Heaven." And it surely is. This palace, originally constructed in 1394, was home to the kings and queens of the Joseon dynasty, lasting from (according to Wikipedia) July 1392 to August 1910. Quite a family legacy if you ask me! The entire complex was destroyed in 1592 during the Japanese invasion (as was much of Korea) and was reconstructed in the 1950s following independence.

This place is huge: 330 buildings and 5,792 rooms covering 4,414,000 square feet of land in northern Seoul. And what's been reconstructed (a lot) is apparently only 40% of it! Unbelievable.

As you get off the subway, you walk up and see this majestic front gate. "Gate" doesn't really do it justice. There are (historical, not military) guards out front, and we arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards.



The next area immediately inside this gate is the royal palace. This enormous structure was where the king performed his official duties.



When the royal family would receive foreign envoys, they would throw lavish banquets at their royal pavilion hall. (I want one. The pavilion, not the banquet. Well, the banquet, too.)



This small hexagonal pavilion was apparently used as the prince's get-away house when he needed to separate himself from his father's politics. This was the most beautiful time of day to see the most beautiful part of the palace. (I want one of these, too.)



I think one of the most amazing things about Seoul in general is this amazing contrast of intense pull toward tradition and the extremely quickly developing metroplis the city is becoming. Looking back toward the front gate really showcases this quite well.



The next day, we also hit up a temple first founded in 794. This temple is so busy and bustling with practicing and praying zen buddhists. Very interesting. The temple now stands right down the street from the largest shopping center in Seoul.



After the temple, we visited Namdaemun Market, one of the larger street markets in Seoul. It has a bit of an African-Korean feel. (Well, not very African, but more the COEX mall!) At this place, they serve fresh (huge) slices of pineapple and honeydew melon on a kebab skewer. Mmmmmm. So delicious. (Out of all the things we have on a stick in MN, why is fruit not usually one of them?!)



It was a really nice weekend. Got to see lots of cool stuff and got to meet up with some Africans in Itaewon. Mostly Ghanaians who are doing business here and sending money back home. Interesting lot. Hopefully we'll see them again!

On Wednesday night, instead of going out for Hump Day, we threw a surprise party for Brittany. She was truly surprised (which is apparently hard to do with her), and it was a great time!