The Park 365 Seoul

... a heart attack when I put my fleece jacket on the floor. She ran off, bemused, and came back with a shopping bag - like, will you at least put it in here? I finally relented and hung it on the coat hook at my seat. I can't imagine what would've happened if I'd have walked to the lav in my stocking feet without using the slippers they provided. I didn't risk it - I wore the slippers. The other nice thing is that the Asiana business cabin is very private. It's separated ...

... is a little man and he's very brave."

cheers of applause

"The rangers will be Brent and William!"

Assahhh

"David, Steven, Amy, Losa, Angelina, Daniel, Eric, James will all be elves!"

Yayyyy

"And Herry you'll be Gandlaf. He's a great wizard who knows powerful magic. He's a grandfather so you'll have to wear a big beard."

The class erupts into laughter and Herry sinks his head into his arms in a sad ...

... it finally set off. I had read that it was a 28 minute ride, but 10 minutes in I was only at the first stop and realized this was going to take forever. I had to put on my music and pace myself by the songs I was listening to. Its just as well that I wasn't driving because I never would have been able to stay under the speedlimit (not that anyone does in Korea). Finally, I got the phone call I'd been waiting for. He was there! About 15 minutes later ...

... reunification occurs.  There was a train that was destroyed during the war and had thousands of bullets in it.  The bridge of no return was lined with ribbons each hung by visitors saying things like "hope for reunification".  The bridge was blockaded at the end, so that nobody could pass through.  This was a place where South Koreans were allowed to enter North Korea and vice versa at one point, with no right to return.  There was also a place built for South Korean ...

The rain has gone for today. It is a little after 10 pm on Wednesday. I returned to
the hotel a little over an hour ago.

We were informed that our visit to the DMZ and related activities were cancelled for
tomorrow by the US military. The no visit status starts tomorrow. We are not sure
why - whether there are new exercises to start tomorrow, a change in
security level or ...

I'm sitting in the airport here in South Korea and I still have about an hour until I have to get on my plane, so I figured I better start blogging! I mean what else is there to do on a five hour layover so early in the morning the shops are all closed?

I left LAX at 11:30 last night after my mom dropped me off a little later than we'd planned (my fault of course.) Everything went pretty quickly though. The ...

... with them to Yeouido to see the cherry blossoms. Actually, I don't think it's much to see, but it smells so pretty! And I find out one of my new friends is from Virginia and we have some mutual friends. After some delicious bibimbap, one of the guys, James, takes us on a back-door tour of his nearby workplace... which happens to be KBS?! So we go ...

... chopped cabbage into a large bowl or basin. Take 2 cups of the salt and make a brine with 15 or so cups of water. Pour the saltwater over the cabbage, and mix well. Let this stand for at least one hour. Chop up garlic and ginger. The amount you use is up to you. I never use exact amounts...and I've always enjoyed the result, even if it sometimes comes out more gingery or garlicy or spicy than usual. The only thing you really need to make ...

Time flies in Insadong with an assortment of stores, galleries, street vendors, street musicians, traditional restaurants and traditional teahouses everywhere. It's kind of a busy little area, tucked away to one side of Seoul. With such a variety of options, you'll be sure not to go home with an empty shopping bag, or an empty stomach! sam gee street is like an indoor/outdoor shopping area, it ...

For all that it was absolutely fantastic, I had regrets about my first trip to Korea. Mostly just that there was not enough time to do everything I had wanted to do. Such is the nature of time. But I don't cope too well with regret, especially not when something can be done to rectify the situation. So, when I realised I could take a four day trip in October, all I could think of was that I had chickened out of the drinking tents, I hadn't made it to the DMZ, I didn't get to ...