ROK

Trip Start Dec 26, 2007
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Flag of Korea Rep.  ,
Saturday, March 1, 2008

Back in Seoul , I was able to see some more sights on the days off that I had during the English camps. My cousin Levi, who is an officer in the Army, just got stationed in Korea and we were able to meet up and see a few things together. The first thing we did was book a tour to the Demilarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ is an area that runs about 2 km to the north and to the south of the border between the communist North and the capitalist South Korea and acts as a buffer area. This border was the one designated between the two countries at the "end" of the Korean war in 1953. I say "end" because technically the two countries are still at war. A treaty was never signed, only a cease fire agreement. This border is near where the original boundary was created to divide Korea at the end of WWII . The allied countries divide Korea into zones of influence at the end of WWII just like that had done in Europe with Germany with the USSR in charge of the north and the UN in charge of the south. The original division of Korea was along the 38th parallel. This is where the boundary existed until North Korea , in an attempt to overun the government in the south and re-unite Korea under one government again, attacked in 1950 and drove UN forces all the way back to a small area in the south where Busan is. A counter attack by the UN drove the North Koreans all the way back up into North Korea and as far back as China . At this point, China joined the war, helped to drive the UN forces back and fighting ended up in a stalemate where the current border is today. Levi and me "in" North Korea
Levi and me "in" North Korea
 Of course I wasn't alive for much of the Cold War but this border is a clear reminder of what it must have been like. Anytime something was built on the South Korean side of the border (i.e. a building or flag), North Korea would quickly answer but building the same thing but only bigger. From one observation point, you can see a huge (328ft.) South Korean flag waving in the air, but if you look on the North Korean side you can see one even larger (525 ft. and weighing 600 lbs.) that was put up as a response. The "village" that can be seen in the North Korean side (known as Peace village in the North and Propoganda village in the South) is said to have no inhabitants but rather large empty buildings that were put there in response to South Korea being allowed to have a village in DMZ in the South. All of this migh sound silly or petty but this, ladies and gentlemen, is the world we live in. Needless to say, the DMZ was definitely worth seeing and one of the most intriguing things I have ever seen/experienced in my life. And to top it all off, there was some sort of "glitch in the system" and we ended up getting the entire tour for free.

Other than the DMZ, Levi and I also went around and saw a couple of the palaces around Seoul . There are several to see and it would take several days to be able to see them all. The specific ones that we saw were Gyeongbok and Chandeok palaces. (see the pics)
W
hen we weren't at the school teaching and had a little time off, we were mostly hanging out in downtown Seoul. DMZ
DMZ
 We became regulars of Hongdae near Hongik University. We found a couple of nice bars there to hang out in. While wondering around one night, we actually came across a hip hop club. We decided to check it out but weren't nearly prepared for what we were about to see. After following the music down a set of stairs illuminated by the glow of neon lights that reveal all of the stains that you never knew you had on the cool black shirt, we finally came to one of the strangest things I have ever seen. The room was about 30 feet wide and about 50 feet deep. There was a projector at the front of the room showing all of the latest American hip hop videos and the dance floor was crowded with Korean university students decked out in their latest FuBu, Rockawear, throw back jerseys, NY and LA hats, and Timberland boots. They were not dancing with one another but rather all lined up and facing the music video at the front of the room and imitating all of the moves that were being shown. It was as if we had just walked in to a Korean training facility for hip hop videos. No one was hardly even talking. They were all fixated on what the next step would be in "Soulja Boi" or "Cupid Shuffle". It was just weird and kind of creeped me out. Didn't hang around there too long.

Back on the mountain at TLBU, the kids kept coming up with new ways to make me want to pull my hair out one minute and laugh until it hurt the next. One day while grading journals, one of the kids brought his journal up to me, looked me straight in the eye, and coughed right in my face without even flinching to cover his mouth. DMZ
DMZ
 I even got a little bit of his saliva right on my face. Then he just stared at me. While playing a game where you try to make other people laugh without laughing yourself, two boys started acting like they were making out but took it a little to far for comfort. We had to stop that game but not before one of the girls, trying to hold back her laugh, blew some pretty disgusting snot bubbles. And of course, probably my all time favorite... A couple of days after the last camp had started, I was constantly having to tell the kids to stop speaking Korean and speak English. While playing a game, I told them that if I heard them speaking Korean one more time, that we would all sit down, be quiet and do busy work. No more than 5 seconds later, one of the little boys blurts something out in Korean. I of course, was appalled that someone would do that after I just told them not to. I stopped the game and told everyone to sit down. "Why do you guys continue to keep speaking Korean!?" I raised my voice in the best angry tone that I could muster. One cute little girl with glasses slowly raised her hand and lifted her eyes up to look at me as if she was a little puppy dog about to get whipped. I thought to myself, "What question could she possibly have at a time like this?" "Yes?" I ask her curious to as to what she has to say. Then she said in a little scared voice, "Because we're Korean." HA HA HA I almost died. Touche! I couldn't help but smile. The only thing that I could think to say in reply was, "Yes, that's right but right now you're at English camp." Lesson to be learned, never ask kids rhetorical questions. They'll make you look like an idiot 99 percent of the time
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