Saturday night was our friend Irene's birthday so we went to Apgujeong to a bar to have some drinks and celebrate. She's Joon's girlfriend's coworker, but we've been out a couple of times so we got invited. She was born and raised in Spain, but is Korean, and speaks perfect English, which I thought was pretty uncommon.
Sunday was Minnie's birthday, so Minnie, Suzie, Ben and I went to Itaewon to get some Bulgarian food and then some drinks afterwards. Peter didn't go because he was still in England doing a soccer clinic. Suzie got some really crazy kebabs, Minnie got some stuffed chicken, Ben got some pork, and I got some roasted vegetables with yoghurt sauce.. but we ended up sharing everything and everything was so delicious!
After dinner we got some drinks down the street at a little country house feel type bar. Ben and I had some pints of London Pride, which I've never had before but it ended up being really good (a relief from Korean beer). Out of nowhere, Nancy walked in with a group of people she went hiking with a while ago. It was so strange that we ended up at the same place, since the bar we were at was tucked in a corner past a long string of bars. After that we tried a new bar in the area called Prost. It was really nice inside, a great spot for Sunday beers. AND they had Pilsner on tap, so I couldn't resist. It brought me back to my days in Prague.
Suzie and Minnie shared a beer. Suzie poured it, and this is how it turned out:
The dress code at work has picked up, so I have been sporting some casual shirts and ties. One of my students told me my tie didn't match the other day and said it looked like I stole the tie from my dad. I told her thats exactly what I did. I told them I've never worn ties before so I had to raid my dad's closet before I got to Korea. Cecily has been jealous of how nicely I've been dressing so she tried to outdo me. She came into work in heels and a pencil skirt. She could barely make it up the stairs.
This was the week that we got our two days off on Wednesday and Thursday so a group of us from main branch and one kid from Pyeongchon went on the DMZ tour on Wednesday. The DMZ is the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. We had to leave our building at 630am which wasn't very fun but everyone was in good spirits. We went to Lotte Hotel and checked in, then took a bus to Imjingak. Our tour guide was hilarious! She spoke in broken English but still was very entertaining. The tour was made up of English people and Japanese people, so there were two different tour guides that kept taking turns talking. When it was our tour guides turn, and she was giving us a brief history, she said "I hope the Japanese can't understand my English" and proceeded to tell us how Japanese raped, pillaged and plundered Korea for 30 years. She also ended up talking about Shinee, who is the newest boy singer craze in Korea. She thinks hes really cute. She said "I know I'm old but well you never know!" We also had a North Korean refugee with us incase we had any questions. She swam across the river into China, then went all over Asia until she got into South Korea. Her parents and brother are still in North Korea. It was such a sad story, especially since she has no contact with her family anymore.
*Most pictures from the tour were given to me by Nancy, cause she takes better pictures than me. Some were also given to Cecily
Nancy took a picture of all of us around the G at Imjingak
During the Korean new year, families pay homage to their ancestors. This is where the North Korean refugees come to pay homage to their ancestors.
This bridge is called "Freedom Bridge" because it was the place that the North and South traded POW's from the Korean War.
Andrew and Greg (Fonzi) struck a pose at the temple
After Imjingak we headed into the DMZ area. At the bridge a Korean soldier came on our bus and checked out passports. There were guards with guns stationed all along the bridge. The bridge was made of a slalom type thing with objects all over the bridge to prevent anyone from driving straight across. Also, there was dynamite all over the bridge incase North Korea attacks, South Korea can blow up the bridge. There is one South Korean village inside the DMZ, since they were there before the war started. Because they live inside the DMZ, they don't have to pay taxes or join the military. They are a small group of farmers who make black ginseng. The tour guide said their average income is $90k a year!
Our next stop was Dorasan Station, which was built during the "Sunshine Policy". It is a train station that goes to Pyeongyang, the capital of North Korea. Its obviously not in use, but they hope one day after unification they will be able to freely travel between North and South. They had platforms and trains ready and everything.
There were some guards standing at the entrance. You could go onto the platform if you bought a ticket, but we didn't have much time. I felt bad for these guards because everyone on every tour took pictures with them. However, Cecily provided comic relief to most of the soldiers. Someone needs to sign her up, either for the military or a mental institute.
Nancy and I were growing impatient because our train to Pyeongyang was late
The next stop was the observation tower, where you could actually look into North Korea! It was the first time feeling that you were actually that close to North Korea. You could see factories and villages on the other side. One of the villages is a propaganda village built by the North to make it seem nice, but no one lived there for a long time. Now, some people who work at the factory are living there. The factory is given raw materials by South Korea! So they do some business together. A truck delivers supplies along the only road between the North and South. We had to stand behind a line to take pictures, and my camera didn't make it that far, but Nancy got some great ones.
In the DMZ there is the MDL (Military Demarcation Line), which is the actual line dividing the North and the South. The DMZ is made up of 2 kilometers on either side of the MDL, just for added protection. On either side of the MDL, North and South Korea have their flags flying. There was constant competition of who could make their flag higher. South Korea stopped at 100m and North Korea stopped at 160m. However, because North Korea's is so high they have to take it down during the monsoon season or it would fall over. This was the North Korean flagpole.
Here are all of us soaking up the view.
After the Observation Tower we went to the "3rd Tunnel". So far, South Korea has found 4 tunnels that North Korea has dug from the North into the South. Each tunnel is around 4 kilometers long, because it has to go from the North side of the DMZ to the South side. They said if the North decided to use one of the tunnels, it would only take 45 minutes to send like 30,000 troops and weapons from the North to the South. We got actually go down into the tunnel and walk along it! It was so neat. I forget how far into the DMZ the tunnel went, but it was pretty far. We had to bend down while walking through it because it was so small. You could see the dynamite marks where the North Koreans blew away the tunnel. I think it was something like 300m underground. The North Koreans had to dig tunnels because the whole DMZ was littered with thousands of land mines. We were warned that if we go off track and into the woods there was a good chance that we'd get blown up, so none of us went.
This was a really cool statue. On the inside of the ball was the Korean Peninsula. On one side, North Korea was indented and South Korea was pushed out. On the other side was the opposite. So hypothetically if you could push them together they would fit and make a perfect ball.
At the tunnel there was a souvenir shop where I bought some North Korean wine.
After the tunnel we headed to get some lunch. Lunch was included with the tour. We had some really good Bulgogi. There was also a serve yourself side dish bar, which makes the best restaurants cause you can just keep filling up your sides without having to call someone over. It was so delicious!
After lunch we went to Camp Bonifas, where we got debriefed on what to do for our next adventure. Camp Bonifas was named after a US Army guy who got axed by North Korean soldiers, but I'll explain more later. We had to sign a piece of paper that said we weren't going to do anything to provoke the North Korean soldiers or give them anything to use as propaganda against the West. It also said we wouldn't demand compensation if anything were to happen to us at JSA, which is the Joint Security Area at Panmunjeom. This area was the most intense part of the tour. It the actual border line between the North and the South, where people can meet for diplomatic reasons. When you walk out, you see South Korean guards in Taekwondo positions, scattered in all different directions in case anything would happen. On the other side was the North Korean building, but they only had one guard.
We had to wear these United Nations Command badges while in the JSA. South Korea didn't have a leader at the time they made the DMZ, so they weren't at the meeting. Consequently, the UN has the rights to South Korea's side of the DMZ.
The concrete slab in between the two buildings is the MDL, the line between the North and South. We were allowed to go into the building on the left, which splits the line, and is where the meetings are held. Inside the building they had microphones on the table and everything was monitored 24/7. Inside the building, we were actually allowed to cross over into North Korea! Here's me officially in North Korea
This guy was guarding the door into the North Korean side. He was trained to whoop anyones ass who tried to pass him, even if they are a little child. To be a Korean at JSA is one of the highest honors. They have to be a certain height, a certain weight, and speak at least one other language.
When we went back out of the building, we had to line up into two lines. Then we got to take pictures of the North Korean side. For some reason we were never allowed to take pictures of the South Korean side. But if you look closely at the picture above you'll see the North Korean soldier. He stood there with binoculars and watched us. He also took a picture of us. The US Army guy who escorted us said he takes pictures of every tour group that comes through.
Cecily, who obviously wasn't paying attention at the debriefing, started pointing at the guard. She got yelled at by the South Korean guards.. it was pretty intense.
Heres the story of Bonifas.. There are checkpoints along the road at the JSA. There was a giant poplar tree in between two South Korean checkpoints, so the Bonifas guy went to go cut it down. However, the North Korean soldiers took his ax off of him and axed him to death. This is the tree stump of the poplar tree.
This is the Bridge of No Return. When the Korean peninsula was split, citizens were given the chance to cross from North to South or South to North. Once you crossed, you were never allowed back.
After the tour we decided to go shopping. I needed new smart clothes for my new style. We met a Swedish kid named David on the tour and he came with us. He is studying in Japan but is visiting South Korea. Almost everything I wanted to buy didn't fit me, and it was the largest size they had. I don't understand how Korean's are so tiny. Never in my life was I unable to fit into clothes, let alone the whole store. The guy actually came up to me at one of the stores and told me to stop trying things on cause nothing was going to fit me. Cecily had the same problem in the women's section. But Alan is tiny and fit into everything. I did end up getting some things though. Oh well, after shopping we got some street food. A hot dog deep friend in french fries. It was so great! Also, I bought this hat because Nancy thought it looked cute.
The guy on the left is David
My purchases. Two sweaters, a shirt, a hat, and two ties. Literally, everything that fit me in all the stores. I actually just tried on the white sweater and it didn't even hit my waist. And I couldn't fit my arms into the sleeves. And I can't take it back because they cut the tags off at the store so I'll just give it to Alan.
After shopping, Nancy Alan Cecily and I went to get some Dakgalbi, which is just chicken, rice cakes and vegetables fried in a big pan.
On Thursday Cecily and I went to a cooking class. We made Ttuekbaeki Bulgogi. It only costs $10 and they have all the ingredients ready for you, and even wash the dishes! It's great. Our chef was some Japanese man.
Cecily was a better cutter than I was.
The chef said our soup looked fantastic!
The finished product. We also made a spinach side dish.
Cecily and I were not only the first ones to finish eating, we were the only ones who finished every spec of food in front of us, in true food lovers fashion.
It was such a nice day out so we went to the Han river to chill in the sun and have some beers. There was an old man asleep on one of the benches. I was so jealous. He looked so comfortable. Cecily creeped up to him and took a picture. I didn't want to look like a creepy foreigner so I stepped away. She also snuck a picture of me.
The sun was setting over Olympic stadium, signaling our time to leave.
That night we went to Cass Bar and filled out our NCAA brackets. It was brought to my attention that everyone thinks I'm a grandpa. Cecily said I would be the best grandpa because I'd already have 40 years experience. Oh well, like father like son.
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