Matt's Visit

Alright, I have been meaning to post this one for awhile, but it's taken some time to put together. But as a consolation.. this one is SUPER long. So, enjoy!

So for the record -- it was almost a month ago, eek! -- Matt's visit was wonderful. I continue to be so grateful to him for coming. Not only was it good to see family for the first time in six months (wow!) my brother and I generally have a lot of fun together, and I'm always up for that!

On the first Friday of his visit SLP had the day off, so we decided to visit the Korean Folk Village in Suwon. Minus the fact that it took FOREVER to get there (Seriously, Suwon folk: how do you manage getting to Seoul every weekend?) we had a great time. It wasn't very crowded so we had free reign to tour the homes etc. I finally got to see a complete traditional drum show after 9 months of living here - so I was pretty stoked about that. It's pretty easy to run across a drum show here ... if you hang around any of the temples, or near City Hall you're likely to see a group of volunteer performers drummin' away. But I had yet to set any of the hardcore drumming acrobats that were at the folk village. These guys have what remind me of ribbon dancers on their hats, and beat on the Korean equivalent of a tambourine. "But Erica-Teacher! Why must they be so ornately decorated and mobile?" you ask. Only because they FLIP IN THE AIR WHILST DRUMMING! ... Yeah. I'm a fan. And I was really happy to finally get to see them.

Matt outside what would have been his house - the Scholar's living area.

Can you say "whip lash" anyone?

My sad attempt at catching them mid- barrel turn.

We watched the see-saw acrobats too. -- another type of traditional Korean performance.

On our way back to Seoul we stopped and I introduced Matt to my favorite Korean street food: Teok Bokki (dock-bow-key). It's korean rice cakes smothered in spicy red chile paste sauce and other goodness. Really - it's yummy!


If you're not in Korea, I don't know if you've heard about it. But South Koreans are freaking out about the looming possibility of importing US beef. I know it's made international news, but between the Presidential Election and blood curdling gas prices, it's not exactly a front page story. Basically - Koreans are convinced for various misguided reasons that if they eat US beef their brains will turn into sponges and they will die. There has been a number of HUGE protests over it downtown the past few months - one of which Matt and I stumbled upon.

Protestors in front of Deoksugung Palace

My Hangeul skills are not up to par.. I think this says someone's name... Ahn Ha .. ?

Matt and I at the Cheonggyecheon

On Sunday we were going to visit Seoul Forrest, but it was raining. So we opted to see Kung Fu Panda with Mullen! I laughed because I was trying to be a good tour guide and pack Matt's trip with lots of events or whatnot, but we ended up falling into my typical routine anyway. Plus, Kung Fu Panda was an awesome movie - so I'm glad we saw it.

Matt was able to visit my school one day, and then ended up coming along on our field trip to the War Museum the next week. As far as Mars and Libra class are concerned, Matt is a rockstar .. or maybe more appropriately: a giant, red-faced monster of rockstar status. haha. I loved watching my students give my big brother a hard time though - it was really funny!

Since 'time off' is an alien concept to most workers in Korea, I couldn't really get out of work when Matt came. For the most part he bummed around Seoul during the day - and then we found something to do when I got home from work. I took him to Insadong and showed him where I bought everyone's Christmas presents. We went to Rocky Mountain Tavern and watched the (pitiful) NBA finals. And we ate a lot of kimchi mandu.

Seoul Tower ... near Insadong.

This is a popular shopping market in Insadong. It's less cheesy and touristy than many of the other stores... there are a lot of small shops full of Jewelery and a few finer souvenirs.

On Thursday Matt and I hit up a Korean baseball game with Andrea and my coworker Sarah. Really, Korean baseball games deserve a post of their own, but let's just say Korean Baseball fans are passionate, to say the least, and the game -despite the less than superb baserunning and defensive skills- was a lot of fun! They have cheerleaders and a kind of super-leader-dancing man that leads the fans in cheers for the entire game. I'm not kidding! They don't stop cheering together for a single at bat. It reminded me of the student section at some crazy NCAA college football game.

At the baseball game. Doosan Beas vs Lotte Giants... Think Blue! haha

Not even the rain delay could stop these fans!

On Friday I got my classes covered and Matt and I walked the 'Between the Palaces' walk that's in my lonely planet guide. ... the walk turned out to be not what we expected, but it was still nice. It was in this artsy part of town near the Blue House where there are a ton of shops, restaurants and galleries. We had an expensive but delicious lunch and visited the Owl Museum! Note to Seoulites everywhere: The Owl Museum is not so much an Owl Museum as a room in the back of some lady's house where she keeps her collection of over 2,500 owl statues (and other kinds of memorabilia). I got a kick out of it. Matt was creeped out. haha. I took Matt on a tour of Gyeonbokgung Palace (which I already wrote about) and then we went back to Insadong to pick up some souvenirs.

Kickin' it at Wangsimni

Matt pretending to sleep on the subway. Silly waegook.

*yuuhhhm*

At the Owl Museum!!!
I want to do this with my grandmother's collection of elephants.

I like how you can see the throne room reflected in our glasses.

Matt and me each standing in the Queen's doorway - apparently to eternal youth and beauty.

The sun got in Matt's eyes, haha.

All in all it was a great visit. My friends and coworkers and *especially* my students were very glad to meet Matt! haha. And I guess I felt lucky to have him visit. :)