Week 6 in Korea: Sept. 3-10

Week 6: Deoksugung palace, Galbi stew in Insadong, Lotte Tower, and Open House

Week 6 flew by. It seems like something was happening every single day. The big event was a Saturday tour of several places in downtown Seoul, sponsored by the school and led by the band instructor. 

The photo above is from the throne room/palace at Deoksugung, which is one of five palace complexes in Seoul. This one is a smaller palace right across the street from City Hall. It was used as a palace from 1593 until 1919 (the Japanese occupation messed up all of the palaces). During the period of the Japanese annexation (which effectively ended the Joseon dynasty) the palace and grounds became a public park. It has been restored to some extent but is only about one third the size of the original complex. 

The palaces (and temples) from the Joseon dynasty all have this similar pattern of adornment with the green layers covered by vibrant floral decorations, dragons, waves, and mountains. This form of decoration is called Dancheong (link to Wikipedia page). It was used to designate and preserve important places. The colors have meanings, as do the symbols, but I have not learned them all yet. I just get captivated by the beauty and the symmetry. Most of the examples here are photographed from the throne room and the large meeting hall right behind the throne room. There is also a photo (below right) of the residence of the last king. It is a much simpler style. 

The photo below left is the throne inside the big throne room. It was not possible to go inside that room but the throne took up about 20% of the floor space. The ceiling was quite high and 

there were golden dragons carved and painted into the center of the ceiling. The ceiling was very ornate. I know I am going to enjoy learning about all of the symbols and stories associated with the art and families of the Joseon rulers. I usually try to go to a museum first to learn about all of this kind of background. I will make it a point to go to the National Museum this month. 

On the same downtown tour, we went to Insadong for lunch (photos of Galbi soup below) and we ended at Lotte Tower, which is just north of the school. You can see Lotte tower in my photo above right. It gets beautifully lit up at night. Nimmi and I had gone to Garak International market the night before the school trip (by metro) and I got this photo of the tower after we finished dinner and shopping. But when the school trip visited Lotte it was during the bright, sunny afternoon. There are several minutes of footage of the views from the top of the tower in this week's video. 

I did NOT take video footage of us eating this amazing Galbi soup lunch. It would have been untenable to try to film it because there is so much going on. The table is completely covered in dishes. There was rice and mandu (these potstickers were as big as a fist). There was banchan, there was broth and water to drink, and then there was the soup (below). 

This soup is a beef broth with green onions in it and the main (delicious) feature is beef short ribs that are cooked right in the soup. In order to get the meat on a spoon though, you have to use some tongs to hold up the bone, then use a pair of kitchen shears to cut the meat off the bone and let it drop into the soup. Then you use a spoon to eat the soup. It was ridiculously tasty. 

The school paid for this amazing lunch for us. Each person got their own bowl of soup and then we shared the potstickers and a serving of braised short ribs (above right). I should have taken a photo of the table after we were all done eating this feast. It was quite a contrast. Big piles of bones were all we left behind. 

Insadong has a lot of great places to shop for locally made treasures (some ceramics, lacquered boxes, hats, tourist items). I had about 30 minutes between lunch and heading to Lotte Tower to browse the shops. It was fun to see what kinds of treasures they had there. 

The photo above right is the exterior of the Galbi soup restaurant. About three doors down was a hat shop. I snagged a couple of nice visors there. 

The photo above left is a view from the top of Lotte tower over the Han river with Namsan tower in the background. This view was my favorite of all of the sights I managed to see from the 555 meter tall tower. They finished building it in 2017 and it is the tallest building in Seoul, the 6th tallest building in the world, and one of the few tall buildings that doesn't try to cheat and get the height credit with a big spire. I brought home a refrigerator magnet from the tower. It in"spire"d me. 

Three other things of note that took place this week: 

1) We got our Alien Registration Cards! I can now shop on the Korean version of Amazon (called Coupang). I am looking forward to that. 

2) We had Open House on Thursday night! I met a few parents. They told us to dress up in our best outfit because the parents would be dressed up and would expect it of us. I felt overdressed, honestly, but I suppose that is the better direction. 

3) I bought a shopping cart! Nimmi and I found this one at Garak market and used it to bring treasures home on the metro. This was a big score for me. 

Several people have commented that I am never in my own photos and videos. This is something I appreciate about being the storyteller. I think my Open House selfie was decent enough to post. I realized after taking it that I should have had my back to the classroom so people could see it too. 

The photo below left is one Nimmi took of me with my new shopping cart. It was SOOOO much easier to get things home this way rather than carrying bags. She had to help me over stairs in the metro. But Nimmi had skin in the game. All of her bags of grains and spices were in the cart. 

The last photo was taken at a store in Lotte Tower Mall. The store sells Miyazaki film character items. The giant Totoro doll in the window was a magnet for selfie-seekers. I had to wait in line to get a picture of the big guy all by himself. I could not figure out how to get him home, so he is still there. 

That is all the news that is fit to print this week! I hope your short week (due to Labor Day) was full of good things. The video is a little bit long this week (close to 20 minutes) but here is the link: 

https://youtu.be/mZkoPWVWxZo

Until next week!