An un-American 4th of July

We have spent a lot of time looking at the wall, walking the wall, and taking photos of the wall. But we hadn't gone in the palace of the wall until now. Admission to cultural things are extremely cheap. We spent about $0.50 admission fee to get into the palace. 

It was a really hot, humid 4th of July. Every day we have checked the weather since the beginning of June, the humidity has been sitting still at 100%. Miserable! However, we decided to brave the elements and check it out!

As I've said in previous posts (nearly a year a go now) the king wanted to move the capital of Korea to Suwon in the 1700's. He built the walls as defense and put the palace in this place. He was unsuccessful, the capital stayed in Seoul, but Suwon gained a great tourist attraction 300 years later. 

If Andrew were invading the palace, they would have been screwed! He is taller than the walls! 

Take your shoes off before entering!

We aren't really sure what these were because the signs were in Korean. However, we guessed either they were for storage, or maybe they were the servants sleeping quarters. 

The King's father had been essentially buried alive in a rice chest. They allowed us to climb into the rice chest and feel how tiny it was. 

... Andrew didn't fit.

For about $1.50 we were able to buy a gold coin. These are replicas of the currency Korea used to have. We then took the gold coins and were able to buy different experience around the palace. 

First we tried on Hanbok, the traditional Korean dress. The outfits we have on are King and Queen clothes. It was so hot and humid we were sweating like crazy. There were many layers to the outfits, and two Koreans had to help us put them on. The headpiece she put on me was so heavy!

Look mom, no hands!

Next, we told our name to this old man. He put our names into Korean calligraphy where he made the different characters animals and symbols.

After that we went and got to make hand-made rice paper. We were able to etch an outline of the Hwaseong wall on the paper.

We were able to try on old warrior clothes if we wanted to, but it was so hot we couldn't even imagine putting on any more clothes. However, this little tyke took up the opportunity! He was marching around so proud! 

They film a popular TV show here. Here I stand with two life-sized models of the main characters of the show. 

Work Party

Usually once or twice a term our boss will take us all out for dinner and drinks. We had just got several new employees, so he took us out as a welcoming dinner. As most of our work parties usually go, we ended up at a Noraebang (Karaoke room). 

Here are a few pictures from the night! 

Our boss has a really red face!

Tony and Kelly singing and dancing

Our boss, his wife, Grace, and Jason

Sunny, singing and dancin' to the beats

Our boss got up to sing a song, so we got on the floor to sway to pretend he was on a stage

Our boss singing a song. I love Sunny's face in this picture!

The rooms come fully equipped with tambourines! 

A sea of red

Andrew and I were sitting at home with the windows open on a random weekend evening. We were getting ready to grab some dinner and had our windows open. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, we heard screaming. Hundreds of people screaming. With worried looks, we ran outside to see what the matter was. We saw no one.  We could see no one, yet still heard screaming. 

Now, tensions were very high with North Korea and so my mind immediately went to, "Oh shit. Where are the passports... lets go!" 

--- silence ---

And then again, hundreds of people screaming. We were really worried. We were meeting up with our new coworker for dinner. He didn't have a cellphone yet, so we were communicating with him via internet. We went on to check and he said, 'Korea just scored a goal!"

Ahhh yes, the World Cup. Not being very big sports fans, Andrew and I hadn't realized the game was on. But where were all the people coming from? They had their windows open in the high rise apartments - and we couldn't see them, but could hear them all screaming at the goals! Hundreds of people all around us, even above us, were all screaming at the same time. It was a very unreal feeling. 

As we walked to the restaurant we heard random screams of joy all around us. 

For the next game, our Korean coworkers asked us if we wanted to go watch in the park after work. I asked if they would have a TV there, and she said yeah, they'll have a big screen. I figured there'd be about 20 people around a TV watching the game. Boy was I wrong! As we approached the park... we realized there were about 10,000 people sitting in the park watching the game on a projected screen. 

A lot of the people were wearing red flashing devil horns. It was hot, humid, and completely crowded. It was so humid, in fact, that it actually looks like it is raining in my photos. This was, unknown to us, what the rest of our summer was going to be like. Every day there is 100% humidity and heat indexes around 120-136*F daily. I did NOT expect that from Korea at all! 

My coworker Sunny.

Some of my female coworkers... with their guy friends.

Andrew got Devil Horns!

A sea of red flashing lights and black hair

Some of my coworkers (except the guy next to me). From Left: Andrew, Tanner, Kelly, Sunny, ? , me

Andrew showed his Wisconsin pride!

Our work group that went together: Kelly, Lainy, Me, Sunny, Andrew, Tanner

South Korean flags

Even the dogs were ready for the game!

Go pack go!

One of my students came in to class wearing a Packers shirt. I tried really hard to explain to him that this was a sports team from where I was from. He had no clue what I was talking about (English isn't his strong suit) but he agreed to a picture!

Elections

There was an election for office at the beginning of the June. For about a month or so leading up to the election, we saw a lot of campaigning. There would be massive advertisements hung all over buildings, people driving with loud speakers on their car - saying things. And our ever favorite... the dancing music cars! I had my camera with me when we ran into almost somewhat of an election dancing music car battle out side the Home Plus. It wasn't uncommon to see one or two of these just driving in the streets... but here there was a long line of them, and they were all competing with their blaring music and bright lights. (Each of the different lit up cars is in support of a different candidate.)

Hwaseong at Night

One night after work we went with our new co-worker to the Hwaseong. I have been wanting to go take pictures of it at night, so I was excited to jump at the opportunity. Because we live close, we decided to walk to the fortress and back. While on the journey my tripod broke miserably so many of my photos were blurry. Oh well! 

Andrew and Tanner.

Tanner climbing the wall.

an archery hole

traditional mixed with modern architecture

archery hole

archery hole

I couldn't keep my tripod straight! This was seconds before it fell to pieces and I lost some of the screws somewhere on the walk.

Andrew and Tanner watch the city below

Andrew and I on the side of the main gate

the modern city seen through a traditional archery hole

Sorry!

Alright, so I've failed. Miserably. The more comfortable we get in Korea the less odd things seem. It feels weird to write about what I ate for dinner when it has become more of a norm than Western food. Korea feels normal to us now. We don't find things nearly as odd as we did when we first came. I have to keep reminding myself that these things are not normal. These pieces of our everyday lives are not what we are used to and will not be there when we go home. These are the things that I should be writing home about.

As summer goes, we have been extremely busy. With added summer classes... travel plans... and my picture pile going into the several thousands... it has been easier to ignore my blog and keep on with the adventure. Well that stops now. I am going to do it. I am going to update you on our lives in the couple of months that I have failed to report. I will be dedicating this week to several updates. Starting now... with a list of things that we have found completely and utterly normal in the last year... that I need to keep reminding myself are not normal to me.

Public bathrooms are hard to find, which is hard to believe considering the high-rises are every two inches. When you do find a bathroom, there is no guarantee of the cleanliness of the bathroom. It is not entirely shocking if the bathroom has no sink, but rather a hose coming out of the wall. Female urinals are highly common and toilet paper is not. If you are very lucky there will be one roll of toilet paper at the entrance for the whole bathroom. So if you go to the stall and forget toilet paper... you will have to drip-dry. Most public bathrooms, however, don't supply toilet paper. I always carry some in my purse with me for this reason. If you eat at a restaurant in the same building as the public toilet, you can usually get some toilet paper at the door of the restaurant on your way to the toilet. This can be embarrassing if you have a Number Two coming and now the whole restaurant just saw you mummy-hands the TP. 

There are no gender-biased colors. Even older men and grandpas will wear hot pink shirts with rainbow umbrellas and a glittery cellphone, and no one turns their heads.

Koreans do not use a top sheet. All sheet packs only include a fitted sheet for the mattress.

Popsicles and ice cream bars are sold individually, rather than in boxes. Prices range from $0.30-$0.70 per ice cream treat.

Corn can be found in nearly every food. Corn is in sandwiches, coleslaws, side dishes, and even on cheese pizza.

Fresh produce from grocery stores is not cleaned prior to purchase. The first time I was shopping for carrots, I found a pile of muddy looking orange things and had to take a closer look to realize they were carrots still covered in mud. Apples are also not polished and are individually saran wrapped.

Service is awesome. If you are at a restaurant and you are being a good customer (ordering a lot of food or booze) they will bring you "service" which is basically just free stuff. Sometimes we get our soda for free, or extra vegetables for free. Nights out drinking we have been given appetizers for free. As they bring you your free item, they set it on the table and say "service".

There are also service items in grocery stores. Things are taped to products. For example, on a box of cereal there may be cereal bowls taped to a box. We have bought cereal boxes with a wide variety of free items attached including, but not limited to: cereal bowls, spoons, cereal fresh bag sealers, coffee, highlighters, crayons, garment bags, a Smirnoff hat, and a fleece blanket. In fact we usually don't buy cereal anymore unless there is some free crap taped to it.