we started dan's trip in south korea with a stop at a folk village with my friend hazel. but with the rainy weather there wasn't much going on so we didn't stay very long.
10.24.2010
chuseok.2010.sunday.4
walking through a damp myongdong, on our way to insadong. we stopped for lunch with hazel who brought us to a famous noodle shop where the kimchi is super spicy.
chuseok.2010.sunday.5
before the 4D movie, i stopped to look at some dvd's. . . and dan stopped to look at the hummer bikes.
chuseok.2010.monday.1
dan spent monday morning with me and my kindy students. we made traditional chuseok snacks, played a few traditional chuseok games. . . then i broke out the limbo stick, the chicken dance, and duck duck goose.
chuseok.2010.monday.3
knowing that my brother was coming for a visit, one of my elementary students brought in a gift of cactus taffy for him. sadly he was out for a walk during the elementary classes.
chuseok.2010.monday.5
dan and i had some cake and chatted. by the time i got through three complete sentences dan had devoured most of the chocolate mousse cake. when i asked if he was going to let me have any he replied, "in my defense, it was delicious."
chuseok.2010.tuesday.7
we make a pit stop. every once in a while it seemed like the rain would let up a little. little did we know. . .
chuseok.2010.tuesday.10
a nice japanese couple on holiday took our picture. they had been jumping from shelter to shelter like us, and decided to brave the rain to see the hidden garden since i had said it was so beautiful. and yes, i am completely soaked through. the umbrella was simply to keep rain off my eyes so i could see.
chuseok.2010.tuesday.15
ok, it was time to get on the train and get out of seoul. turns out, it was the largest rainfall in about 100 years. . . and shortly after we were back in ansan the trains shut down for a while. this here is a set of normal stairs we passed on the way to the train.
chuseok.2010.wednesday.1
while waiting in suwon for a taxi to get to the fortress we spotted this on one of the jumbo screens.
chuseok.2010.wednesday.3
good news. . . the fortress is free on chuseok, and i made it up to the bell this time.
bad news. . . you have to pay and be supervised in order to ring the bell.
10.23.2010
chuseok.2010.wednesday.15
so, dan and i figured that this was the guy that runs the archery bit at the fortress. like all family gathering holidays, he got sick of being around home, jumped ship and came to the range to shoot off a few arrows. he was an amazing shot.
afterward dan and i headed back home for a friendly dinner gathering.
chuseok.2010.thursday.10
it's not often that i see vandalism in south korea. but at the dmz exhibit, someone poked holes in the eyes of the north korean soldier's picture.
chuseok.2010.thursday.12
i read that there was a path to namsan tower from itaewon that started behind a museum. we found this cool building. . . and then just followed people dressed for hiking from that point.
chuseok.2010.thursday.18
so who knew. . . there's a light/ art show at the tower. . . and it involved these netting guys that were suspended throughout the area. but, we had another idea for them. . .
chuseok.2010.friday.1
dan and i started the morning at coex. a huge shopping center that also houses the kimchi museum. it was pretty empty, which was pleasant in comparison to almost everywhere else we went that day.
chuseok.2010.friday.2
we learned a lot of history about kimchi. . . we got to taste a few types. . . and we learned how amazing kimchi is for your health through these informative blurbs and cute cartoons.