lunar new year

It's the Korean New Year and so I had a four-day weekend. It was such a nice break, we did and saw a lot.

On Saturday I went into Seoul with my friend Tom. We went to the 63 Building, which is on an island on the Han River. There was an awesome aquarium with penguins, sea otters, a giant sea turtle, seals, sea lions, and doctor fish, which eat the dead skin off your fingers and feet. The 63 Building also had something called Sky Art, an art gallery on the top floor with cool art and a great view of the city. Its claim to fame is that it's apparently the highest art gallery in the world.

Then we met up with Patrick and Alex, a friend from work. Her mom and aunt are visiting from Canada and we came along as she showed them around. We had dinner in a nice Italian restaurant in Seoul and wandered around the big shopping district called Myeongdong. Alex tried her best to find a place that sold boots in my size. As you can see in the pictures, there is a lot of snow in Korea right now. My feet are big by Korean standards so it's hard/on the verge of impossible to find shoes.

On Sunday I didn't do much. But Monday Tom and I went back into Seoul to meet up with the same group. We went to Namsan, which is a mountain right in the middle of the city. It had the most adorable thing, a lookout point with thousands of "love locks" attached to the chain-link fence. There are pictures in the slideshow. It was so sweet to see Patrick and Alex add their lock to all the rest. Namsan also has Seoul Tower, which is round and has a pretty cool 360 view of the city. There was a steep and scary climb up and down the mountain. After Namsan we went to Gyeongbok Palace. I didn't see the whole thing. I'll be going back when it's warmer so I can enjoy it without freezing.

Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.’

Today we all went to the Korean Folk Village, about a 20 minute bus ride outside of Dongtan. It's basically a living museum that shows how life used to be in traditional Korea. It's a huge park with too much to see and do in one day, so I'm definitely going back at least a couple more times once it's warmer. It's broken up into sections with replicas of traditional houses of the different social classes (commoners, farmers) and merchant buildings (blacksmith, potter).

It was really my favorite thing so far. I wrote earlier about how Koreans today mostly live in apartment high-rises, but this is what Korea would be like now if it weren't so overpopulated. Walking around was like going back in time and there were fun performances to watch, like the Farmers' Dance, a stunt horse show, and acrobatics. There was a traditional street market and restaurants. It was like the Renaissance Fair, only Korea instead of England.

I'm so beat. I have a feeling the next three days at work will be a bit hectic, as I have to do all my grading and make report cards. Till next time, love you all!