The Korea Chronicles: 어머니

My mom came to Korea! She left Tuesday morning her time and got here my Wednesday night. I was so excited on Wednesday, even one of the staff commented: "Mommy? Today? Incheon? You look very happy. Big smile!"

Do you know what this is a picture of??

A hotel! It was luxurious. My mother adamantly refused the jjimjilbang thing...I can't understand why, though...

While staying at this hotel, I took 2 bubble baths. With jets. Just because I could.

Because Mom's flight came into Incheon, we decided to spend a couple days exploring the area. We found the China Town:

And the Fairytale Village that neighbors China Town:

That's my 어머니 walking the streets of Korea!

Thumbelina (to be said in the creepy mouse's voice from the creepy movie...)

[This reminds me: I have tentative plans to buy a dog when I get home. And become a hermit. Not that dog-owners are hermits--these are two separate plans. Just 'cause.]

The little old man just chillin'...

We took a really long route but finally found the coast and water!

Uhh...it was kind of in a not-touristy area. Just some fisherman. And shipyards. But it was the ocean!

Korean shipyard swag.

So many fishies.

I'm like, Ew! What are these things?

We wandered (by bus) to Wolmi-do. And saw an amusement park. And more ocean!

The Incheon airport is across the water.

Mom and I had walked all day. We just wanted to find a nice meal and crash at our hotel.

Guess what?

The traditional Korean meal wasn't so nice after all... Mom especially didn't like it. I'm more used to the flavors, but I admit, they are really strange.

Oh, and that's raw beef in the dish on the left...Mom wasn't too thrilled.

The next day, I sat down to this traditional meal with a couple of natives:

Good times. (While I was posing stupidly for this picture, a random Korean photographer came up and started taking pictures of me. "Very cute!" Haha...I'm going to be so famous.)

We went to the most awesome fish market ever

The grey squid...look so...delicious...

Super foggy morning. It was really cool.

Everything was alive...for the time being.

We witnessed several of the crabs and fish fall right out of their buckets. It was really funny. I wish I could have gotten video of it.

These crabs and lobsters were huge. Look at the lady's hands for size comparison:

Little tiny fish (sardine/anchovie-like) in heap after heap...

These guys kept riding up and down the street, dropping off buckets of freshly-caught fish to sell.

Ugh...what are those intestine-looking things? One, I didn't know sea creatures came in that form. Two, who was the first person who looked at these things and decided they were edible??

Mom and I said goodbye to our nice hotel and lugged 2 large suitcases (50 lbs. each), 1 small suitcase, 1 backpack, and 2 purses on the subway to our hostel in Seoul. If you were wondering, it was awful. Especially the part where we realized the subway exit did not have an elevator. Thankfully, a strong (possibly attractive) Korean man kindly helped us up the last two flights of stairs. Thank goodness for attractive, er, I mean nice Koreans.

Fortune Hostel, Jongno

Looking down the street:

The little old woman just chillin'... (hehe, just kidding...it's Mom...)

By all means. They mean business.

Oh...speaking of hostel rules: we weren't allowed to flush toilet paper down the toilet. We had to put it in the trash can. You have no idea how many times I forgot and had to fish my toilet paper out of the toilet. I blame mom some of the time: she'd be saying something to me through the door, I'd get distracted, wipe and drop...ugh...dang it...

We didn't take a picture of our room. So just imagine a closet. The hostel owners were super nice, so that made up for any discomfort we may have had.

Tapgol Park, Insadong

A 10-story stone pagoda, built in 1467. It is so cool that they've preserved it in this way.

Just a monk dude.

Back to the pagoda:

"Mom, pose for a picture," I said. Wink, wink.

Gyeongbokdung Palace

The living quarters for concubines. How nice.

There were lots of "spirit" stairs everywhere.

This is the part where the museum guy got mad at me for taking pictures. Oops. Apparently I accidentally bumped my touch-screen camera, so I got a few more pics:

A little display on the history of kimchi. Yay.

A wedding ceremony.

I expect my future husband to present a wooden goose to me on our wedding day.

Wouldn't it be so cool to go back and time and see when these palaces were actually in use?

I tried on some old-fashioned shoes. Made of straw or twine or something.

An old-fashioned Korean classroom:

Is this not the most beautiful place ever??

And I love that it's all in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world.

I can't remember what we did the rest of this day...except we got amazing Japanese-style crepes:

We had a blueberry cheesecake one and a brownie ice cream one. Sooo yummy. Why didn't I teach English in Japan?

Demilitarization Zone and Joint Security Area

Remember that time that Mom and I went to North Korea? Yeah, that was pretty cool.

Joint Security Area, "In Front of Them All"

We had two different checkpoints where military came onto our tour bus and checked our passports.

In front of the JSA Visitor Center. This is where we had to sign waivers that we wouldn't hold anyone responsible for possible injury or death--in the event that war broke out while on the tour...

Our tour guide, Cho. She was really cute.

Looking at North Korea. North Korea.

A North Korean soldier stationed in front of their building.

Soldier on our side. Our, as in South Korea. They stand in this taekwondo stance without moving a muscle or making any facial expressions. It is meant to intimidate the North Korean guards. It kind of intimidated me, too.

So...I've been in the conference room where Kim Jong-un and Park Geun-hye meet...

That main conference table in the middle? It now has the inscription "Aubree was here" carved into it...hehe...just kiddin'.

THE LINE. I've crossed over it!

Picture taken from the bus of the Bridge of No Return:

This is the bridge where prisoners were exchanged at the end of the Korean War. It is really sad, actually, because, once crossed, those people could never return the other direction. Many families were separated and still haven't ever been able to reunite with their loved ones.

After the tour, we went to a restaurant in Paju for lunch:

Bulgogi (beef). Much better than Mom's first traditional Korean meal. [Do you just love all those little mushrooms on top? Those white things are mushrooms...they're pretty good, really chewy.]

Insadong

Mom and I went to Insadong, just a little walk from our hostel. Tons and tons of craft and souvenir shops. Plus, amazing crepes for only 3000 won!

Crepes with nutella, banana, blueberries, and corn flakes.

Some cool art in the subway station:

Some high fashion on the subway:

Can you guess what this C stands for??

Costco. Whoop whoop! A little piece of home in Korea.

The War Memorial of Korea

"Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."

There were some incredible art exhibits in the museum portraying the war. Really moving.

These three soldiers are honored and remembered for their selfless sacrifice of using themselves as human grenades in battle.

Signing the treaty...

One of my favorite parts of the memorial:

Other Stuffs

Let's just say...thank goodness for the frozen blueberries. The brown pile of...stuff? Roots or some sort of cold, chewy mushroom thingy? Yuck.

Gahh...so many tentacles, so many suction cuppies...

A beautiful sunset from my school:

Yes, I was there at sunset. Teaching. Is. A. Full. Time. Job.

Some more scenes from my school:

Fish soup and the yummy, but oddly-flavored, spinach leaf things. Mom didn't want to eat a whole lunch, so she just sat with me. And then a lunch lady came and brought her some slices of honeydew. Haha, so nice of them.