Gyeongbok Palace
Like I mentioned earlier, Angie, one of my best friends from home, came to Seoul to visit for a week. It was really fun to show her around and have her experience all the things that I love (and loathe) about Korea. In only 8 days, she got to experience quite a bit of the Korean life.
There are a lot of funny stories I could tell, but probably my favorite was when I brought Angie to school one day and had my winter camp students interview her as a speaking activity. They asked what her favorite Korean food was, and she said she really loved mandu. My students all gasped in shock and horror, because mandu is actually Chinese food. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was nice to not be the one committing cultural faux pas for once.
Other highlights from her visit:
* I introduced her to all my favorite Korean foods: mandu (which of course is actually Chinese), bibimbap, kimbap, galbi, kimchi jiggae and ramyeon, just to name a few.
* We found her the perfect purse at the Dongdaemun underground market and bartered to get it 25,000 won cheaper. I was pretty proud of that.
*We went to a hot springs spa in Icheon where we met a dinosaur who gave us free, giant chocolate bars (see pic below)
*We went to noraebang, twice :)
*We were invited to watch one of my student's bands play, which happened to be heavy metal. My student gave each of us a gifts and a letter when we showed up! I also somehow ended up singing in impromptu song with the band.
*We also visited Seoul Tower, Gyeongbok Palace, The National Folk Museum of Korea, saw the Cheonggyechoen all lit up at night, went swing dancing, saw a martial arts demonstration, went to Nanta (a live performance like "Stomp," but with kitchen utensils) sipped traditional Korean tea at a tiny tea shop in Insadong, and browsed sale racks in Myeongdong.
Hooked on Mandu!
A Friendly Dinosaur at the Spa
See the rest of the pictures here
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