Sights of Seocho

Korea has been my home now for three months, which have flown by faster than I ever thought possible. I have grown to love the area that I live in, and I wanted to tell you all about it.

Much like Chicago, the city of Seoul is divided into districts. I live in the district called Gangnam. It is below the Han River and just to the right of center, if you're looking on the map. It is an affluent area, much like downtown Chicago. Gangnam is also divided into sections, and my section is called Seocho (pronounced suh-cho). Is is predominantly a business area as opposed to residential. It is also a very quiet area to live in when it isn't rush hour (rush hour in the evening can sometimes last from 4:00-8:00).

“Joy Seocho – Light of the World” is the slogan for the city. I've asked Koreans about it, and they don't seem to understand it either. I've only every heard “light of the world” referenced in the Bible, so I'm not really sure what meaning they are attributing to it. Ah, well, the picture's cute!

I usually walk to work in the mornings because it's nice and cool out, and sometimes I walk home in the afternoons. The two above pictures are my views in the two different directions. In the first one, if you look directly to the left of the pole that says 60, you can see a very faint S.R. This is my apartment building (which is really called an office-tel because the apartments can be rented for small business). In the one below it, you can see the mountain in the center of Seoul with Namsan Tower on top. A major attraction here.

After about the third day walking, I noticed how beautifully green the grass was, and then I looked more closely and realized that it was Astroturf! Only in Korea!

Beautiful flowers line my walk. I have the privilege of enjoying the flowering bushes for nearly half my walk. The hanging baskets were just put up last week. I noticed that back home, most of these baskets are hung high enough where people can't reach them and mess with them, but here they are all directly at eye level, trusting that people will enjoy them and not vandalize them. And the magnolia trees seem to be blooming forever!

The entrance to Line 2 of the subway station is literally 100 meters from my apartment building. The Green Line (#2) is one of the most convenient lines in Seoul because it runs in a circle and connects to all the others. So nice! And my station is extremely quiet since there's not really all that much to do in Seocho, just people working. The subway stations are also the only legal way to cross the street. If you cross above, where there are no crosswalks, you are very likely to lose life or limb. I've also included a picture of the bus I take when I'm running late or just too lazy. On the left side of the picture, you can see a Korean person wearing a mask, which is quite normal. They wear them to protect themselves form pollution, but also when they're sick so as not to pollute others. You can also see the sidewalk which is divided into two sides, one for people and one for bikes and motorcycles...yes, motorcycles. All the sidewalks are also made out of bricks or cut stone instead of poured cement. It's a pretty good idea that allows people to access things below the surface and not have to chop up all the cement. But it also means you have to keep an eye out for the occasional brick that's not quite flush with the surface.

Right across from my school, an apartment complex was being built when I arrived, and now it is nearly finished. It's being built by the Mercedes Corporation (yes, the car). Their tag-line is “Mercedes, my house, my home.” I know, cheesy, right? I'm still in awe of how quickly it all went up, though I would appreciate it if they could move a little more quickly fixing the sidewalk! My estimate is that it will house at least three-thousand families. The picture after that is Express Bus Terminal. Here you can catch a bus to anywhere in Korea, much like Greyhound. It is also home to Central City, a shopping mall with a food court, bookstore, and cinema. Shinsegae, which is a seven-story department store that always makes me feel under dressed, but they have a lovely little grocery store in the basement (which, coincidentally, most department stores do...who'da thunk!?) And the Gangnam Underground Shopping Center. By underground, they do not mean secret, they literally mean under the ground. It's about as long as a two or three city blocks and you can get anything here from a cell phone to regular-sized forks to gelato. And finally, it also houses one of the subway stations for Line 3.

This strange-looking building is St. Mary's Hospital. It is quite an enormous building that I am very happy to have nearby, but hopefully, I'll never have to visit. It's quite strange to walk by and see patients sitting outside on the benches with their IV carts, smoking it up. I also found out that there are no such things as funeral homes in Korea. The funeral takes place at the hospital. How...uh...convenient? And this guy cracks me up. He works at the hospital. Here in Korea, there seems to be a parking attendant or crossing guard everywhere. They take their jobs very seriously. They are always in a suit of a very unflattering color with white gloves, the every-ready bow, and all the confidence in the world. Again...only in Korea!

This is a piece of artwork in front of the hospital that I have always admired. Right next to it is a tree that I am praying some day will have leaves.

Just two blocks from my apartment is the police headquarters (doesn't that make you feel better, Mom?), the National Supreme Court building, the National Library of Korea (which I was told I shouldn't even bother trying to get a card for), and the National Academies of Arts and Sciences. I'm surrounded by smart people! I really see it as quite a privileged to live here.

This is a fountain that I've always liked, but I can't quite figure out who it belongs to. There is no building around to claim it and no placard on the front of it, but it's nice! And below that is the type of landscaping that is seen everywhere. It's all man made, but it's quite beautiful to look at.

Here's an example of what the street signs look like in Korea.

And behind my building is a street I walk on quite frequently. It is filled with more restaurants than I could ever sample in a year, coffee shops galore, P.C.-bangs and pools halls, and bars upon bars upon bars. Don't worry, it's quite a safe street. It is also home to one of my favorite places in all of Korea; Ediya. But that's worthy of it's own separate blog.

And finally, a bit of entertainment. This is something I see frequently on my walks. A grown-up and child riding together on a bike. Neither one has a helmet, and the child is riding on the rack made for carrying crates! I repeat, this is a frequent sight! So, this is Seocho; this is my home in Korea. It's a wonderful place to live, and it would be a great place to visit (hint, hint)!

Stay tuned for next week when I blog about my school.

Changdeokgung Palace

Last Tuesday was Children's Day. It's a national holiday when most places of work are closed so parents can take their children out for a day of fun. Needless to say, the schools are closed as well...except mine. After spending the morning setting up bowling pins at least one hundred times for the first graders and their fathers (yes, my school was open on Children's Day to celebrate Father's Day), I headed out to Changdeokgung Palace with Tamra and Haidee. I had been wanting to see one of the several palaces here since before I left the States and I was quite excited.

We had about an hour to kill after we found out that we can only take a guided tour, and the English version was only at a certain time. We walked back into town and stopped to admire the fish tanks that are always present in front of the restaurants. It's funny that we foreigners see these tanks and think we're at Shedd Aquarium, but the nationals walk by and think, "Mmmm, dinner." As you can see, from the picture below, delirium began to set in from the heat, so we stopped by a little shop that served ice cream. The ice cream was only two-thousand won! Please take a second to analyze the cups that our treat was served in.
And now, the palace. It was built as a secondary palace in 1405, destroyed by the Japanese in 1592, and then restored in 1610. It is unique from the other palaces in that it is built based on the topography of the land and not based on rooms set at right angles from each other. It is said that this second palace was built because the king who commissioned it, Taejong, only came into power by assassinating his half brothers and probably didn't want to live in the same place where he murdered people. Golly, the things you find out when you read the pamphlet!
This is the main gate, the largest of all the palace gates and one of the monuments that was not destroyed by the Japanese. Below is a close-up of some of the beautiful architecture. It's quite amazing when you consider that it was all designed, built, and painted by hand. No computers or power tools involved.

Above is our tour guide. Yes, the umbrella is a common accessory since white skin is a thing of beauty here (you can't find SPF less that 50). I was astounded that she was wearing all that heavy clothing and I never once saw a bead of sweat. She was quite knowledgeable and actually was a little funny by the end of our two-hour tour. I hate to admit it, but I spent more time analyzing her accent and intonations than I did listening to the facts. Below: An original 400-year-old bridge.

The above picture is the building known as Injeongjeon. It's the throne room where most official acts take place. It was built to appear as a two-story building, but it is all one large room, as you can clearly see in the picture below. The wooden floors and "modern" lighting was only added in the 20th centry.


Above: Outside the steps of the throne room was the great courtyard. These stones look like grave markings, but they actually mark the places that the officials would stand according to rank. Below: This guy is one of the gargoils guarding the steps leading up to the throne room. I just thought he was cute! I think he could be in a Disney movie.

This building above, though it's hard to tell, is the only building on the palace grounds with a blue-tiled roof, which symbolizes the king's administrative office. Sorry that it doesn't show up in the picture very well! Below is just one of the many examples of how these buildings harmonize with the natural settings around them.

I've recently started learning Hangul, which is the written language of Korean. It was created by King Sajong. Before this, many people spoke Korean but used Chinese characters to communicate in print, and only the educated could learn the characters because of the diffuculty level. King Sajong wanted to create a language that would be easy enough for anyone to learn without needing a degree. He came up with what is now celebrated as one of the most logical written languages in the world, and consequently, Korea has a literacy rate of 99%. It is said that his inspiration for the characters used in Hangul are based on typical Korean doors and windows, such as the one above. Take a second to look at some Korean writing, and I'm sure you can instantly spot the similarities.
The two shots below: No reason, just another good shot!

One of the best spots on the tour was the secret garden, or forbidden garden. It was built as a retreat for the royal family without them needing to leave the grounds. In keeping with the norm, it was built around the topography of the land and has minimal artificial landscaping. There were many different little nooks and crannies to explore. Here's a picture of Tamra and Haidee enjoying a ten-minute break at the reflecting pond in the garden. Next is one of the nooks. And below that is a coy fish swimming around while the reflecting pond is doing its job of reflecting.




After walking through the garden, we took a little jaunt through the woods. The guide told us that at the end of the tour, we were going to see a tree that was over 750 years old. To my surprise, it was a juniper! For those who don't know, when my last name, Kataja, is translated into English, it means juniper. Seriously, I can find the Finnish in everything! (Stop rolling your eyes, Tamra!) So here's Kataja with the kataja.
And here's the end of palace tour. Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday, Buddha!

Wow, it's been a really long time! For those of you who are regularly checking for updates, I'm really sorry! I'll try not to go this long without blogging again!

So, why the title? Why, it's Buddha's birthday, of course! The actual day of celebration is May 2^nd, along with my dad, but the festivities have been going on for a while. Almost 50% of Koreans are Buddhist, so it's a national holiday here (yet another holiday that falls on the weekend, so no day off work). The birthday is traditionally celebrated for the entire month of April by hanging lanterns in the streets. Then there is a major celebration, called the Lotus Lantern Festival, which I'll explain more below.

A few weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity to walk the Cheonggyecheon Stream with some friends. This is a stream that I should have explained a long time ago when I went to the museum for it, but I've been waiting on a piece of pottery, which I may never receive, before I did that blog, so I will probably post about that at a later date. Anyway, the stream was decorated with large lanterns in all sorts of designs. There were lanterns lining the middle of the stream, lanterns hovering above the walkways, and even a laser light show. Just before descending into the stream area, a photographer asked to take our picture with one of the lanterns. We were all walking over but he was pointing at me and another girl. I looked to the friend who could speak Korean, and she said that he only wanted the tall foreigners! Poor Tamra!!! But without my short friend, I would not have this lovely memory!

Here's a couple of the mouth of the stream, and some of the lanterns.

Tamra with the dragon, the laser light show (quite impressive, I must say!), and one of Tamra and I in the middle of the river, just after Tamra almost fell in...twice!

The rest of the group petered out after about fifteen minutes and decided to get get drinks. I, for one, had come to walk the stream, and by George, I was going to walk the stream! Thankfully, I had Tamra to keep me company. It was a lovely walk. After a while, we decided to go back up to street level just to see where we were. We happened upon a large open market of eateries. There were meats and foods encased in tubings that I have never seen and hope to never see again. The smell was quite overwhelming. Here's just “taste” of the carnage.

This past weekend was the Lotus Lantern Festival. Both the flower and the lanterns represent Buddhism. On the weekend before his birthday, many different areas have festivals and parades that are full of both of these symbols. I wish I knew more about this particular religion so I could enlighten you (oh, that's a terrible joke), but I really don't know much. I had mixed feelings about even being there, but it was an experience that I didn't want to miss.

The festival that I went to on Sunday with Tamra was held in Insadong and was the official Seoul festival. The streets were lined with booths and Buddhists. You could make a lantern, string up some prayer beads, weave a straw mat, or make a traditional painting. You can even get your shakra rubbed...whatever that means. And, of course, there was the ever-present festival stage with the traditional Korean performers. These drummers were by far the best I've seen yet.

We soon found ourselves outside the entrance to Jogyesa Temple. I didn't expect to see what I saw. The ceilings were lined with hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of lanterns. It was quite the sight. We followed the sound of music and found an extremely jovial crowd dancing and singing the traditional Korean song and dance. The hats reminded me of a certain Mexican cookie. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

For that last shot, I had gone up on a stage where I saw other people standing and figured it was a great place for a picture. What I saw when I turned around took my breath away. Behind me was the temple itself, and inside the temple were three enormous Buddha statues. It's difficult to put into words all the emotions that rushed through me at one time. At first, I was overtaken by the enormity of it all. Then my heart was saddened as I saw the people filing in and out of the building, kneeling, praying, and making sacrifices to a god that will never hear a word they utter. Even as I had Tamra take my picture there for the sake of posterity, I was unsure whether to smile, given what I was feeling in that situation. But then I remembered that I serve a God who is living and active in Korea and in my life. He will show me how to reach these people...so I smiled.

The final event of the day was the Lotus Lantern Parade. It had to be held at night because, well, you can't really see a lantern lit up during the day! We had scored what we thought was an amazing spot on the route. That is, until cell-phone girl and rent-a-cop took their places in the most inconvenient places possible. Now don't get me wrong, they didn't rain on our parade (ooh, sorry, another pun), it actually gave us quite a great amount of entertainment, but unfortunately, none of my shots turned out well because the police officer's vest is reflective and ruined the lighting. But the officer himself was such a cutie! He was like a little seven-year-old in a Halloween costume because he had such a baby-face and was smiling all the time! Cell-phone girl spent the evening taking pictures and video on her cheap cell phone. This wouldn't have been so bad if she had not also spent the evening maneuvering herself from behind us to beside us to in front of us. But I digress. The parade was still quite beautiful in parts. A little heart-breaking in others. I leave you with these last few pictures.