On the Flipside: A Korean Adventure (2): Traditional Seoul: December 1st and 2nd

Well it's official, we have been living in Korea for 3 months! We still try to pack in as much as we can into our weekends and our time here.

On Saturday Dec. 1st, we went to Seoul for some sightseeing with our good friends Emily and Ryan. To start off the day, I have to mention we had Subway sandwiches for lunch which was such a treat! I didn't even know Korea had Subways, but it was a nice change to eat a real Western sandwich. After lunch, we decided to explore a more traditional area of Seoul near Anguk subway station. Our first stop was walking around Bukchon Hanok Village. "Bukchon" translates to northern village and "Hanok" means traditional house. This was an area of traditional Korean houses that date back to the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). Many of the houses were converted to restaurants, museums, and guesthouses, but many of them remain residential. It was interesting walking around the winding streets. It was funny seeing such traditional houses with Audis parked out front.

After Bukchon Hanok Village, we headed towards Chandgeokgung Palace. This palace is very close to Gyongbokgung (the other palace we visited a few weekends ago). We learned that Changdeokgung served as a secondary palace to the other one during the Joseon Dynasty and that it was built in 1405. This palace was very beautiful. I read that it is suppose to have a beautiful garden, but we unfortunately didn't have enough time to walk around it. The palace grounds are so large it would have taken several hours to walk around and see everything. We will definitely come back to visit the garden, most likely in the spring.

After the palace, we moved on to exploring the streets of Insadong, also known as the cultural district. This is an 'artsy' area with many art stores, traditional shops and markets. Ian and I spent a long time walking around the streets and alleys looking at all the artwork and shops. We sampled some tea and did a little shopping.

We met up with a few other friends and went out for delicious Greek food in Itaewon, the foreign area in Seoul. In the evening, we actually went salsa dancing in Gangnam. Yes, I know salsa in Korea? It might sound like an odd combo, but one of our friends had heard great things about the club and so a big group of us decided to try it out. Although we were on the lower end of salsa dancers, it was a lot of fun! One song we were able to dance to was none other than... Gangnam style! Yes, we danced Gangnam Style in Gangnam!

On Sunday, we were invited to my co-teacher Michelle's house for dinner. She made such a delicious meal! She told us she researched which Korean food foreigners like, and she made the top three answers. Michelle is a very warm person and I really like working with her. It was also nice meeting her two kids (aged 5 and 3) and her husband. I should say I met her husband before on my way to school. When I was walking to school last week, a man approached me and simply said "You must be Nadia!" I was a little shocked at first, but then he explained he was Michelle's husband. He knew it was me because I look foreign and I was two blocks away from school. I think that just goes to show how we live in a very Korean area opposed to Seoul, where there are many foreigners.

Here are the pictures from this weekend :)