April 17-19, 2009 Gyeongju

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For my last trip in Korea I decided to return to the promise land, Gyeongju. I say return because apparently I visited the area in 1998 with my mom, but don't remember much. I figure I was young and naive so I must have overlooked all the history and culture of Gyeongju. The trip started out nicely though, our train had an aracde, private norebangs(karaoke rooms) and a food & beverage car. This definitely helped since we didn't arrive at our hotel until 4 am. Throughout the entire trip I was reminded of the amazing history of Korea, Bulguksa Temple, Seokgulam Grotto, and Cheomseongdae. The Buddha at Seokgulam Grotto was especially amazing, but I couldn't take any pictures, sorry. It was also a really nice break from being in Seoul: clean fresh air, wide open space, beautiful scenery and we even got to rent bikes. The weather and company also made the trip refreshing. Seventy degrees and sunny all weekend and even though there were eight of us we all got along really well (shout out to Hannah, Brian, Heidi, Angela, Trevor, Judy and Kim). We also had some amazing galbi chim (slow cooked beef), I felt like I was eating all weekend. That doesn't sound like me does it? Enjoy the pics.

Bulguksa Temple

inside Bulguksa Temple

Sokkatap Pagoda

2 of the 4 kings guarding Bulguksa

Cheomseongdae Observatory

April 1 & 5, 2008: Korea, Double the Fun!

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With my year in Korea coming to a unexpectedly quick ending I've been trying to do all the things I've wanted to but just haven't. This last week I experienced two of the coolest things in since I've been here.

On April 1st I went to a World Cup qualifying match between North and South Korea in Seoul. I was completely blown away. I've been fortunate enough to go to a lot of sporting events in my life and nothing even comes close to this experience. So a little background before I get into the game. This match was going to determine who would take over 1st place for the World Cup qualifying pool, North Korea was currently in first over South Korea by 1 point. I also heard that the last 4 or 5 matches between the two had ended in draws. So other then the fact that there still at war this seemed like a pretty important game. The atmosphere of the stadium was incredible to say the least. I don't really see soccer as a major sport in the United States but in Korea it's huge. The build up of the game was pretty nerve racking, South Korea had lots of opportunities but they just couldn't close. And at the 87th minute off of a free kick, South Korea scored and the stadium went insane. I was jumping up and down in my seat and hugging everyone around me, and I'monly a casual soccer fan. So I can only imagine the emotions of an avid fan. But it's hard not to be involved in such a celebration when everyone around is going wild. It was the most intense feeling of happiness I've had at a sporting event. I can only hope that I ever feel that excited at a sporting event again. But as I was told by my friend David, national pride plays a larger role then the game itself.




Since being in Korea I've been introduced to some pretty amazing things, but I have to say that one of my favorites is b-boying. My friend Mindy suggested a documentary called Planet B-Boy and since then I've been hooked. If you're interested at all I would highly recommend checking it out. So for Mindy's birthday I decided to take her to a b-boy show this last Sunday. The original show, Ballerina Who Loves B-Boy is actually playing on Broadway in New York, so if your planning on making a trip out there I highly recommend it. The show I went to wasn't the original, instead it was called "The 2nd Story" but it still got very good reviews. Thanks to my friend David we just happened to get front row seats, so we were essentially part of the stage. I was completely blown away by the sheer skill of all the dancers. There was such an eclectic mix on the stage: break dancing, ballet, pop n lock, and etc that it made the show so different. Everything from the costume designs to the stage props fit the show so well, and it even had a nice hint of humor. Even after watching the documentary seeing all of the dancing live is just uncompromisable. These are videos I took during the show and they'll give you a little peek into what I experienced. Enjoy!

Super Awesome!

Feb. 9, 2009: TIme To Play Catch Up

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Well it seems to be about that time for me to update my blog. Can you believe it, I've been here for 9 months now! I knew the time would go by fast but it feels like just yesterday that the US economy was good, I was rockin' the green Volvo, and saying "I swear I'm gonna go to Korea". For those of you who haven't heard I'll be returning to the States early in May. I've been doing a lot of thinking and planning about my upcoming move so if any of you have leads on a job, a place to live or a car I would really appreciate it. Now, onto the adventures.


1. I had the opportunity to go to my first hockey game and man, was it awesome. I've been told by many Canadians that the quality of the game was not near NHL but I still had a good time. I actually enjoyed sitting in the rink all bundled up, oh and the zamboni too, but that figures. I'm definitely hoping to visit some Sharks games back in Cali.



2. I visited the National Museum of Korea with my friends Angela and Trevor (happy Angela). It's pretty amazing to be in an area where I have such easy access to cultural centers, gotta make sure I fill my quota. The other really nice thing about visiting museums and other tourist attractions is the ridiculously cheap entrance fees. For this particular museum it was free because we came pretty late but normally its only about $3. The museum was HUGE, I've read on the reliable Wikipedia that it's the biggest in Asia and 6th biggest in the world. The collection inside was interesting but I really enjoyed the architecture and layout of the building.



3. One recent event that brought me back home was seeing The Roots in concert. The show was amazing, one of the best I've ever seen. Keep in mind that it's also possible that I've been so deprived of live music that I forgot what it sounded like. Nonetheless I had an amazing time and a bunch of my friends caught souvenirs that they were throwing out to the crowd, Justin caught a drum head and Hannah and Heidi caught drum sticks. But none for me :(. The venue was really nice and small so I was right up there near the front. I'm also hoping to go see John Legend in late March.


4. I'd have to say out of all the things I've done recently, having my mom visit was the best. After being here for 9 months seeing a familiar face was amazing. For Seollal we went down over the 4 day weekend to visit relatives. It was surprisingly a really nice and relaxing trip; everyone was so excited to see my mom that I flew under the radar. Which is where you want to be when visiting Korean relatives, believe me. The trip also gave me a chance to learn about my parent's past which is a pretty intriguing story. I'm glad that I also had a chance to hear it while in Korea because the context would have been lost any other way. Another amazing tidbit is that I found out that I have 46 cousins, crazy! Here's one of them, cute huh?



5. For those of you that love sushi, this last story is for you. Before my mom left, one of my cousins and her husband took us out to dinner to this Japanese restaurant. There was only 6 of us but they served enough food for 12. This first picture is the appetizers they served us. Keep in mind that this picture only shows half of it because the same thing was on the other side of the table for the other 3 people. Next came the tempera, pajangs (Korean pancakes), and other various side dishes (no pic). The picture on the right is the entree they brought out next. After eating all that other food this is what they expected us to eat. But wait that's not it. Following the entree they brought out a soup made from all the remains of the fish. Pretty ridiculous but amazing at the same time.


Well I hope you enjoyed the post and I'll try my best to be more diligent about writing but I can't promise anything. Hope all is well.

~Sunny

Jan. 4, 2008: Winter Vacation

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Happy New Years!!!! Well I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I have to admit it was tough being away from everyone this time of year but I made the best of it. I'm really looking forward to starting off the new year right and enjoying the rest of my time here. As of today I've been in Korea for 8 months, and the time seems like it's flying by. I feel like this last 4 months will be a blur. I've been getting a lot of questions about my return, which will most likely be at the beginning of May.

Well I am on the last night of my holiday vacation which has been pretty low key. I decided to stay in Korea to try and save some extra money. With the tumbling economy here and abroad I thought it best to play it safe. Nonetheless I had some adventures and took care of some business.

One part of my vacation that I didn't really enjoy were the multiple visits to the dentist. It's a frequent habit for foreign Koreans to get dental work done when they return to Korea. With the national health coverage it's extremely cheap for people to have dental work done so I made a couple visits over break. To give you a perspective of the cost, the two wisdom teeth on my right side were removed in the US for $800. In February I'm having the other two on the left side removed which will run me about 12,000 Won, equivalent to about $11, amazing huh?

On the brighter side of my vacation I felt I had a very "big city" New Years Eve celebration. So in typical fashion my evening started really late, met up with some friends around 11:30 PM. I know this may sound absurd to many of you but Seoul doesn't really shut down. In my 8 months here I've only heard "last call" once and it was at 4 AM. So we visited Hongdae a very popular spot and rushed to a bar where we enjoyed some drinks. From my prospective it didn't seem that the stroke of midnight was that big of a deal. There was no elaborate countdown and most people didn't really acknowledge the occasion. Nonetheless the night continued on, which led us to a couple of clubs and eventually 5 AM. Now by this time we decided to head home, but getting a cab in this area can be very difficult and expensive. So we decided to get a bite to eat and wait for the subways to open at 5:45. When it was all said and done I finally hit the sack at 7:00 AM. To say the least Korea is always an adventure.

After New Years Eve I spent the next night visiting Seoul Tower with Mindy and her friend Dawn from the US. I'm not really a fan of tourist attractions so I generally leave those things for when people visit. We took a gandula up to the base of the tower and rode an elevator up 777 ft to the observation room. It was a really clear night so we had a great 360 degree view of the city. The thing that I found most interesting were the city names posted all around the observation windows. Each one was placed in the direction of the city and how far away it was from the tower. You can see an example in the Picassa. Another interesting tradition I learned about was the fence of locks. There is a fence at the base of the tower that is covered in locks, and I mean covered. Apparently couples use these locks to symbolize their love, throw the keys away. I can only imagine all the keys that sit at the base of this hill.

Over the break I also had a chance to visit the DMZ, which was far more interesting then I expected. With the US military presence in Korea my friends and I were able to take a tour through the USO. During the tour I actually had the opportunity to see North Korean soldiers only 50 meters away. In the picture above I was actually standing in North Korean territory; fortunately that 6'6'' Korean soldier was guarding the doorway. It's incredible that these soldier who hate each other have to face off everyday with nothing to stand in between them. If you get a chance take a look at the picture of the North Korean flag that flies just across the border that has a dry weight of 600 lbs!

Well I wish I could extend my vacation longer but someones gotta teach these kids English. Hope all of you are doing well and I'd love to hear from all of you.

~Sunny

PS: Check out this hilarious video of Korean cuisine.