week 3, part two: cat cafe, World Cup Stadium & more

HELLO! I AM FINISHING THE POSTS I WROTE BUT DID NOT COMPLETE LAST SUMMER. JUST PRETEND IT'S STILL JULY 2013 WHEN YOU'RE READING THIS. :)

On Thursday after morning language classes, my afternoon culture class took a trip to Gwanghwamun Square, where a bunch of really old and important historical stuff is located. That day we went to see the King Sejong museum. (If you don't know who he is--basically he is the most important and revered person in all of Korean history. Kind of like George Washington, times fifty. Under his rule, Korea flourished, and he is responsible for the creation of many important inventions such as rain gauges as well as the modern Korean alphabet.)

We got to watch a really silly 4D movie about General Lee Soon Shin (second most famous and revered person in Korean history) defeating the Japanese with his famous turtle boat. It was probably the least-realistic film I have ever seen in my entire life, and that includes Twilight.

Sexy 3D glasses were supplied to fully experience General Lee's triumph.

Other than that there were some nifty things to see and do.

The emperor's throne. If you took your shoes off you could sit on it.

A virtual boat-racing game. It was really hard! None of us knew how to use the oars.

After the trip was the more exciting part though, because I went with a friend of mine from the program to a cat cafe in Hongdae!

Can you even imagine the lid the US Health Department would flip if they saw this place? Ha. I love you, Korea, never change. Grant me access to kitties forever.

The owner/barista would play with the cats when she wasn't making drinks.

Korea actually has a bit of a feral cat problem (they are everywhere), so this cafe kind of serves a second function in that it takes some of those cats off the streets and gives them a loving home.

For all of you cat-haters out there, fear not. There was a puppy cafe down the street. Actually, there are many themed cafes here. For example, there is a wedding-themed cafe where you can wear a wedding dress whilst you sip your Americano. I haven't tried it yet.

On Friday, most of the other students were gone on a two-day field trip that I hadn't wanted to pay for, so in class we just played games. Some of them were listening comprehension activities, but some of them were actual, real, fun games, like gongkinori. Please click the link to see a video and explanation of the game. It's really hard, but it's so fun!! If you are ever bored out of your mind and have five small stones handy, I really recommend it. It's addictive. I am so, so bad at it, but I just can't stop playing! The pieces used are sold in every stationary shop here in Korea (and there are many) and are less than a dollar, so I really need to go get some. This game is one of my favorite things I've learned about in Korea so far!

After class let out early, I went to meet Ji-seon and her friend Eun-jong. These two have been friends longer than I have been alive, which is just weird to think about. I keep forgetting that most of the people I'm hanging out with here are usually five or more years older than I am.

We hung out at a coffee shop for a few hours and just talked about Korean and what I had learned that week. We also ate this:

It's toast. This kind of dish is very common in Korean coffee shops.

Mom, do you see that thing? How can you ask me to say goodbye to that? Can I please just stay here forever?

(I'm kidding. It was good but it actually wasn't as good as I was expecting.)

(But I do want to stay forever.)

The next day Eun-jong took me around the World Cup Stadium and the parks around that area. It was a really really good day. We did a lot of walking and I saw about a million beautiful things.

Actually, something that I really adore about Seoul is that it's this crazily inhabited area that is swarming with people and cars and buildings and concrete and all that jazz, and yet they also have an abundance of parks. And not just half-assed parks, but huge areas of land that are covered in green. And once you walk into those parks, the rest of the city falls away. You can't hear the cars or the buses anymore. It's so peaceful.

It's kind of funny though, because I suspect that a big reason for Seoul having so many parks is that it has so much trash. For example, the first park we visited, Sky Park, is literally built on an enormous pile of trash.

I can't find the picture of the steps that I took but they were huge. Not like Grand Tetons huge, but definitely way bigger than steps you'd find at, say, Ault Park.

They're kind of awkward steps, too. They're a little bit too big, so I either have to step up with the same leg every step, or I have to take really big steps if I want to alternate. For those of you who know my friend Cole, they're like Cole-sized steps. Not exactly compatible with Charlie-sized legs. :(

Although the engineering was flawed, the view was perfect. It was absolutely perfect. Every time we went up another level it got more stunning.

World Cup Stadium

While we were in in the park, I discovered some really cool things, such as these bugs:

Eun-jong said she'd never seen the red one before but since going to the park I've noticed those bugs a lot on my school's campus.

Then there were these frogs:

...actually I'm not really sure what they are. Frogs? Toads? Radioactive crickets? Who knows. You could hear them all up the path into the park, but not really once you were there.

"Sky Park"

A cute little convenience store we bought ice cream cones from

Watch for falling fruit!

Also you may recall the overabundance of "locks of love" I found at Namsan Tower during my first week. This structure, which will eventually provide support for the plants that have already begun to grow up and around it, has also fallen victim. Not quite as extreme as at Namsan, though.

Although I don't want to get obnoxious with it, I think it might actually be kind of cool to find a place where you can put a lock every year. Korean Boyfriend, hurry up and find me so we can start our anniversary tradition!!!

We also saw a lot of these little structure thingies:

There were many of them scattered throughout the park. People were sitting in them, sleeping in them, picnicking in them, etc. They're a very pleasant rest area. The one that we found was obviously the coolest, though, because it was next to this:

SUCH a cool water fountain. I want one. It's either for washing hands... or for taking a drink!

After Sky Park we wandered over to Peace Park.

I tried out the playground there. It was really fun. :) Not quite up to par with the playgrounds in Germany, but definitely still a good time.

Also in that playground I discovered the Slipperiest Slide Ever. I'm not kidding. I went from 0 to 60 in about two seconds. It was fantastic. I legitimately do not have any idea how I managed to land on my feet instead of my rear end, it was a complete miracle. I could have gone without my skirt flipping up over my head, but you know it was just kinda part of the experience.

From there we strolled over to Han River Park and just continued down the path for a while, admiring the view.

This kid's been eating his veggies.

Hibiscus, the national flower of Korea

We stopped at a convenience store to grab a snack, giving me an opportunity to document this gem:

The bikes here are so high-tech. Almost every bike that passed us on the walkway (and there were many) had music playing from speakers that had been attached one way or another.

Also, the convenience store sold ramyun (ramen), and then provided these:

I have never seen that kind of thing before. Why don't we have stuff like that? That's so convenient!

Eventually we remembered that we wanted to see the soccer museum in the World Cup Museum, so we hailed a cab and returned there. Cabs in Korea are super duper convenient, and I'm pretty sure they're cheaper than in the US. I haven't really taken enough cabs in the States to know. I am, however, 100% positive that they smell better. :)

We got to the museum only five minutes before close time, so they let us go look at the field really quickly for free. It was really nice of them!

Before we had gone to the parks we had put our stuff in a locker inside the stadium for what was basically one penny. Apparently these lockers are really common, probably because most people don't have cars they can keep all of their crap in here. One penny? For something that is so convenient?? In America those things would probably be five or ten bucks! Gotta love it when capitalism hasn't seeped into every crevice of your way of life.

Also, here I absolutely must include a word about Eun-jong's hospitality, because I have never experienced anything like it before. I have met a lot of exceptionally nice people. In fact, I was raised by two of them. Eun-jong took it to a whole new level, though. I don't think I have met anyone more generous than she was. If she thought there was even a 5% chance I wanted something, she went out of her way to make it happen. She also took the subway with me back in the direction of my house, away from hers, until we reached the station where I had to make a transfer, and then she waited with me for at least ten minutes until my train arrived before she made her way back to her own home. She also would not answer her phone while she was with me, unless it was her mother. She was just so unbelievably gracious.

Even if I took nothing else away from this trip, I would still feel fulfilled because of how much kindness she's shown me after knowing me for such a short time. I'll carry that wonderful memory with me forever. :)