Blog Number One: Seoul City Tour

                                                 

Hey Everybody! 

I decided that since Dave and I will be living in Seoul, South Korea for three years, I’d like to blog about our experiences to keep our friends and family up to date!  We arrived after a whirlwind week of guests, weddings, family reunions and movers on Saturday, July 31st, 2010.  This first post is about our first week in Seoul together.  Em flew over with us and we’ve been touring the city and exploring our new  neighborhood.  Everything is VERY crowded here, and we cannot help but smell garlic and Kimchi  in the air everywhere we go.  Our neighborhood, Itaewan, is very close to the American military base, which means that the area is very friendly to foreigners and Americans.  We have McDonalds and Taco Bell and all sorts of American restaurants and all of the ethnic food we could ever want.  Coffee shops are plenteous around here, we have several within a 2-3 minute walk of our house.  Also, we learned that people in Seoul love pastries and doughnuts.  There is a French patisserie on every corner along with the very American Dunkin’ Doughnuts! 

                                                     

              

We took a bus tour of the city and stopped at one of the ancient historical palaces.  Due to the Japanese invasions, much of the ancient buildings and architecture in Korea has been lost.  As a result, these palaces are very well-preserved and special to Koreans.  They stand in sharp contrast to the busy, modern streets and high-rise buildings surrounding them.  The ancient goes hand-in-hand with the modern in Seoul.

                                                      

In general, people in Seoul are accustomed to seeing westerners and Americans walk their streets.  However, some of the families on the city bus tour were from outside the city and the children were watching us with eyes wide open and big friendly smiles.  An elderly lady and her down-syndrome granddaughter climbed onto the bus with us.  The lady proceeded to place the girl right onto Emily’s seat with her.  Emily held her for the whole bus ride and even taught her a few English words, “ears, eyes, nose!”

 

                            

After exploring a plethora of meal options, we ate lunch at a Japanese Teriyaki restaurant.  It may have been Japanese, but they definitely included Kimchi!  Dave and I shared some peppermint tea Korean style.  One custom Korean women love that I do not intend to adopt is this: an obsession with ridiculously high, fancy, stilettos.  We hiked up to the beautiful Seoul tower one night, (a forty-five minute trek) and the women hiking around us did so in six-inch stilettos.  Podiatrists must make a fortune in this city!  I embrace my flats, and took this picture of an elderly man wearing heels…how odd.

We have enjoyed our first week immensely, made a few new friends at Seoul International Baptist Church, and love our new surroundings.  We even have bamboo growing in our little garden outside, which is why I chose bamboo for the background of this blog!