Korea Day 1

This one is hard to see and again, probably embarrassing to Chris. I am not the traditional sight see-er, I guess. I like to take pictures of things that are interesting and show culture and lifestyle. This is definitely one of those pictures. When people take pictures here, they often make the "peace" sign. The girl in white is doing just that. So funny. Chris told me that it often feels like the 80's here. He is so right. The music is  like "bubble gum"--kind of light and bubbly. Very different than that which we are used to. The songs often combine English and Korean lyrics which is also strange.

This man was cleaning a pond filled with lotus flowers and lily pads. I thought it was interesting. He is using a wire skimmer type tool. Korea seems to be so advanced in terms of technology, yet traditional in so many other ways.

Chris in front of a traditional Korean building. Not sure what it was, but thought it was beautiful. When I pictured Korea in my mind, I saw far more traditional buildings like this. It is much more Americanized with skyscrapers, etc. THere are a few buildings that have architectural simliarities to this, but those are few and far between.

These statues were similar to totem poles. They kept out evil spirits from homes. There are still several standing around the area today.

This is a casket. Koreans were once buried with the same elaboration that is given at a wedding. Brides were carried down the aisle in something similar. The mourning period was three years and often consisted of loved ones building dwellings near the buriel site.

I am so happy that I decided not to drag our children all the way over here. It was a bloody long flight. I am not sure what I was thinking it would be, but 16 hours in a single plane is enough to make me batty. The flight itself was awesome. I was going to take some pictures of the cute, little flight attendants, but opted to not look so foolish. They were truly a lovely site. Each picture perfect, porcelain skin, silk green top with cute little khaki pencil skirt. Their hair was in a bun with traditional Korean sticks holding it and they had this starched scarf around their neck that stuck out. It is hard to explain, but truly picture perfect. I swear not a hair moved that entire flight. It was amazing. I have never quite had service like this before. American attendants could take note. The second a call light was on at least 2 attendants were right there. It was kind of funny. Anyway, the food was not as good, but I guess I should have expected as much on an airplane. For lunch I tried to be adventurous and choose the Korean dish which was a rice and vegetables that you mix together with sesame oil and spicy sauce. It was edible, but just had no taste. I think it was called bibibop? Not sure how to spell it, but not my thing. I ate a few bites and called it a day. So when dinner rolled around, I played it safe or safer anyway and went with the rice and beef. Again, far from tasty, but it was edible. I, again, however, didn't each much. Oh well. My Mom had asked before I left what I was going to do to pass the time on the plane. She jokingly said, "watch movies?" knowing full well that I prefer to do other things with my time. Little did she know...each plane had its own screen with options to watch movies, tv, or play games. I did a little of everything. I think I watched three freakin movies. Not my thing, but it helped pass the time. I was doing really well. At one point they came around with hot towels, so I assumed we must be on the final leg--3 hours or so left. I looked at flight plan to find out that I had 7 hours of this hell left. I do mean hell. It was brutal. I couldn't get comfortable, so I moved around again, and again. It eventually came to the end and I had arrived. Yippee!! I was expecting Chris to be waiting by baggage, but no such luck. I exited the baggage area, where I later learned he was not allowed to go. It was so good to see his face. I have missed him. We took a long bus ride and walked foever to our hotel in Seoul where I showered and changed. We walked the streets for a bit and ate some dinner. I had italian of all things. Kind of odd I suppose, but it was good. After a long day, I went to bed. We woke in the middle of the night, so I called my Mom to check on our kiddos. It was very hard leaving. I cry periodically knowing that I am not seeing them or hearing their voices. She assured me all was well and they are doing well. It was good to hear their voices. It has only been one day, but I miss them so much. They truly are my life.
Today we got ready and went downstairs to enjoy the breakfast buffet. Chris and I love food. We love variety and trying new things. This was interesting. I took a picture of my breakfast plate. I'll post it later. THis is far from the typical American breakfast, but we pushed through. We then got a recommendation to go to the Korean Museum of Folk History--or something like that. It was a neat little village complete with a palace. We even went to the Children's museum which wasn't very big, but the kids were fun to watch. Later, we took a taxi to a shopping district, which reminded me of Chinatown in NYC. It was crazy busy and stuff everywhere. I didn't buy a thing, but found a cute little necklace for Claire that I may go back and buy. We also tried to get a new lense for my camera, but couldn't find any great deal. Now we are back at the hotel and going to take a nap.
So far, Seoul is nice. It is not a walking city as it is rather large and everything is far too spread out. I suppose the biggest barrier is the difference in the language. It is challenging to know where to go or what to see. Thankfully, we've run into some people who speak English fairly well and who've been very kind to help us. It is extremely humid here. It definitely reminds me of MA and I HATE it. Yucko!
Guess that is it.