I just got back from a rip-roaring trip in Seoul.
We took part in a mandatory field trip to Seoul on Saturday, where we spent some time in Myeongdong (a shopping district) and then went to see a famous Korean performance,
Cookin' Nanta! It's a food-themed percussion act, centred around the story of 3 Korean chefs who are tasked to prepare multiple dishes for a wedding. They are pressured by the nepotistic addition of their boss's nephew to their team and their deadline of "shicks o'clock!" The show features lots of slapstick, comedy, romance, audience participation, martial arts, acrobatics, and delicious food (they started frying up some delicious smelling vegetables and it was right before lunch :( we were so hungry)
Let me tell you, it was a
fantastic show. One was prohibited from filming or taking photos in the audience, but there are some videos on YouTube about it.
Cookin' Nanta! (skip ahead to the 2:05 mark to see clips of the performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_vQVgVoR3Y&feature=related
If you ever have a chance to see it, go take it! It doesn't matter if you don't speak Korean either, there's very little talking during the show and it's easy enough to put the pieces together anyway.
After the performance, we headed back into Myeongdong for lunch, where I ate at a Japanese curry place with someone from Mississauga (I ordered level 3 out of 10 levels of spiciness, and my mouth and innards were absolutely engulfed :S)
To finish the field trip, they drove us all in buses up to Namsan tower, on the top of a big hill in Seoul. However, it was a logistical fail because they weren't going to pay for us to go up the tower anyway. Therefore, it would have been nicer to just let us leave from Myeongdong instead of making us trudge down a huge hill in the rain.
I made my way to my hotel so I could check in and stash my bag for the evening. I took a shower too, since the opportunity presented itself. Then, I was relaxing in my bunk when some more guests came in.
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| My bunk. Notice the wood floor. |
The new patrons were.... shameful to be honest. This hotel is close to the university district (read: clubs and bars) and the new guests (they sounded American) were very eager to get to partying. The filthy way they were talking and carrying on was repulsive, to be honest :(
Don't worry, this'll come up again later.
Anyway, I left the hotel and went to COEX mall to see what all the fuss is about. It's the largest underground mall in Asia. Apparently, there's a giant bookstore there that also carries some English books. Since I didn't bring anything to read, I really wanted to get something for the train.
After spending some time at COEX, I came back to the hotel, took another shower, and went to bed. I put in some earplugs, since I knew the other guests would be coming back drunk.
3:00am - The other guests arrived, started making a ruckus, and played music pretty loudly.
5:00am - One of the guests was going around to different bunks asking people to have sex with him. No joke. It wasn't a veiled question either, he was grotesquely graphic. I knew there was a girl (not from their party) in the bunk behind mine, and she refused him when he asked. Thankfully he didn't get pushy or something like that. When he came to my bunk, I acted asleep. I could tell he opened the curtain a little bit to peek inside, but he went away when (I'm assuming) he saw I was a male. No wonder foreigners get a bad reputation here! Some deserve it!
9:00am, Sunday - I got ready for the day and checked out of the hotel. The clerk apologized for what went on last night.
I got on the subway and headed towards the Yoido area. On my way to where I was going, I passed the National Assembly of Korea:
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| Streets lined with Taegugki |
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| And gardens filled with Mugunghwa |
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This is the National Assembly. There are guards posted outside (they are fulfilling their military service duty)
so I asked to take the photo. |
Then I arrived at my destination:
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| THE Yoido Full Gospel Church! |
I went to the 11am service, and was whisked to the foreigners section by a small army of well trained ushers (who wear uniforms by the way....). They give you a headset and you can plug it in and receive interpretation in several languages.
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| I chose English. |
There were several native Koreans sitting among the foreigners section, which I thought was a little strange, since there were plenty of non-foreigner/native seats still available. No biggie though. There was a group of Filipinos that I happened to be sitting among.
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| Nice worship team! |
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| This is a shot of prayer time. |
It's quite a service. Lots of multiple translations of stuff, which is nice to see. The worship team sang for awhile, then the choir sang a little, then they did some scripture reading, and then they showed a video of a Korean woman who had gone to Kenya as a missionary. She spent her life building a school in Kenya, and died there as well. The video was a tribute to her life and the work in Kenya.
- Cultural note: Koreans seem to love all clapping together. My mother would be in 7th heaven here!
After the video, there was a prayer time. Praying Korean-style involves everyone praying out loud at once. Most people swayed. It was moving (no pun intended).
The sermon wasn't very meaty, but he hit some very important points.
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| Trying to get out of the parking lot. |
After church I walked around Yoido for a little bit. This is the financial centre of Seoul, I've heard. Apparently KOSPI is around here. I looked for it but could not find it. As well, I walked by a Shinhan office building (that's my bank here) and it was cordoned off and there were buses of police officers around. Hopefully my bank isn't going under or something like that :P
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| Namsan Tower in the background |
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| Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and Kookmin bank |
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My next stop was the Seodaemun Prison facility, which is kind of a weird thing to do after being in a holy church. You see, Seodaemun Prison was built by the Japanese during the occupation of Korea. It was used to torture and imprison those who spoke out against the Japanese regime and is thus a very important site for Korean nationalism. After the Japanese surrendered at the end of WWII, the prison was turned over to the Koreans who used it for a little bit and gave it a name change. Afterwards, it was decommissioned and made into a memorial (the surrounding site is now called Seodaemun Peace Park).
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| This is a layout of the facility. |
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| The Japanese actually had multiple political prisons in Korea. This poster claimed that the "Whole country was like a prison!" |
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| This map shows multiple locations where there were democracy uprisings. |
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| Shackles. |
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| This poster talks about how the Koreans would resort to violence against prominent Japanese individuals or pro-Japanese Koreans in order to assert independence. Tit for tat. |
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| I can't remember why I took this photo. |
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| This is sort of like the Korean Joan of Arc. She was imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison, where she was tortured (this is important) and eventually killed. She's famous because she was very young (I think only 19), so it's a big deal that the Japanese would torture someone so young. |
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| This exhibit shows photos and names of all who were processed through Seodaemun Prison. Over 3000 I believe. |
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| This is the main hall, the torture rooms are downstairs. I didn't take any pictures of the torture rooms because it's simply wrong. |
Now, while I was touring this place and looking at mannequins being held upside down in pools of water or being kept in solitary confinement, or being locked up in spike boxes, I noticed the surprising number of
children looking at these same exhibits. There's two things to note here:
- Is this to educate children early about the crimes committed against Koreans by the Japanese, and to therefore instill a victim mentality or to educate children about the need for forgiveness?
- Where is the discerning parent? These displays were blatantly graphic. They even played screaming sounds over speakers for effect.
Update: Someone suggested that parents could also be bringing their children to the museum in a form of cultural discipline. In other words, parents would be teaching their children about these atrocities, so that they wouldn't be committed again in the future. Very smart!
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| A girl poses in front of Taegugki |
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| Do you see that box thing carved into the mountain? I wonder if there's missiles in the mountains here ;) |
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| This statue is heading to the place behind that wall. The execution room. There's a secret tunnel behind here so the Japanese could remove the bodies in secret. |
There's a sign around here that says you aren't allowed to take photos of the execution room, but I did anyway :P I don't think I'm going to post the photo though, it doesn't feel right.
The room is setup sort of like a court room, with a bench on a raised section on one end of the room. In the middle there is a 3 walled booth with black curtains that could be drawn to close it off. In the booth there is a noose and a wooden stool with a trap door below. Behind the booth is a lever. You get the idea.
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| This poplar is called the Wailing tree because prisoners would grab onto it in despair on their way to the execution room. |
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| This is the exercise yard. I'm standing on the platform the officers would have used in order to keep an eye on everyone. The walls are designed so prisoners could not talk with each other. |
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| Architecture tells a story! I thought it was very interesting the way the prison was constructed, with Asian elements (look at the roof tiles and corners) contrasted with more western building styles (brick and symmetry). I would love to know why the Japanese chose to build the prison in this style. |
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| A writeup about the location. |
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| I'm pretty sure this mugunghwa plant is in the shape of the Korean peninsula. |
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| Declaration of Independence monument. |
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| Independence gate. Notice Namsan Tower in the lower left background. |
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| Don't know who this is. |
In my opinion, going to Seodaemun Prison is a must if you really want to experience firsthand the conflict between the Japanese and the Koreans. Especially when you keep in mind that this only happened within the last 100 years! I was glad I went.
After the prison complex, I went to
Itaewon, which is a foreigner's district in Seoul. Lots of multiculturalism here. I ate at Subway, and it was one of the best meals I've had in Korea so far (I love sandwiches, but it's hard to find good ones here).
I stopped at "What the Book" which is an English language bookstore in Itaewon. They sell lots of used books for very decent prices (books are
expensive! in Korea). I picked up some good reads.
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| This poster in the metro advertises the county (Damyang) where I'll be teaching in September! |
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| Waiting at Seoul station to go back to Jochiwon. |
If you love train videos, this is a typical
mugunghwa class train:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0-gz3KwGmk
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Miscellaneous cultural note: I saw my first Honda car today! That makes 1 Honda and 1 Nissan so far. I can imagine it would be pretty unpopular to purchase a Japanese car here....
Update:
- I wrote about that girl who got appendicitis. I found out more about the story. She had gone to the doctor before coming to Korea (everyone had to get a medical check to be accepted into the program) and he had misdiagnosed her. So, when she came to Korea and fell ill, she went to the doctor again, where she got another misdiagnosis. Then, her appendix ruptured and she went back to the hospital and they removed it. Now, the reason TaLK isn't paying for her medical bills is because technically this is a pre-existing condition. That's pretty lame if you ask me, but either way she's already gone home.
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