Lesley Goes to China: My Trip to the Land of KPop (part 1)

Last year, one of our students, Hatty Lee, asked Camille to watch a Korean TV show called City Hunter. Camille is a great teacher, and wants to know what her students are interested in. She figured she could watch an episode or two, just enough to be able to talk to her student about it. Camille started watching it and as usual I made fun of her for it. One year and some months later, we've both watched at least a dozen shows! Kdramas, as they are called by cool people like us, are only one season long, so its easy to watch many! Most people in China really like Korean music, tv, and fashion so becoming a fan gave us something to bond over with many of our students!

This week, the senior 3 students in China have to take the gaokao. This is the college entrance exam and can determine A LOT for their future. They only get one shot and are under immense pressure to do well! During the exam, we don't have school, so you can imagine our excitement when we decided to make a quick trip to South Korea over the break! I did feel pretty guilty, getting to travel and have fun, while our students were facing one of the most stressful moments in their lives. But, we were getting a chance to live out all of our kdrama dreams! Even more perfect is that my friend, Kate, just happens to be living in Seoul right now, working as an English teacher! I got a trip to Kpop Land and got to visit a friend! Score!

With all of that said, I'm going to keep the rest of this post really simple and just tell you what all of the pictures are!

Day 1 in Seoul, Kate was our tour guide. She took us to Gyeongbokgung Palace.

The guards aren't allowed to move.

Ta-da! We found the Palace!

The stones are markers for where all of the officials used to stand when meeting the king.

Tour guides in traditional Korean dresses, hanboks.

Inside the Palace, the king's throne.

The ceiling.

Little statues on top.

Little garden outside the Queen's quarters.

So beautiful. The Korean palace is very similar to China's Forbidden City, except that their gardens were a lot bigger. They have a deep appreciation for nature in Korea.

So many kimchi pots. Kimchi is fermented cabbage and the staple of Korean food.

The pavillion at the Palace.

Then Kate took us to a traditional village. Here you can see traditional homes, inside and out.

Haha this kid looks like she's having a great time!

The big kids wanted to do it, too! Camille, looking good!

Kate, also looking good!

Fail, epic fail! I tried to be the child, but obviously I am to big. This whole thing was a fail, really. I asked a man who didn't speak any English at all to take our picture, meaning a picture of all three of us. Instead, he took these lovely individual shots.

Maybe we are a little too tall for these houses!

Old game. Throw a stick into those containers. It was really hard.

The bed.

Kung Fu Show.

KOREAN FOOD

Kate took us to eat Korean BBQ, which was quite possibly one of the best meals I've ever had! You cook it yourself and we even sat on the floor.

This restaurant was buffet style, so you just take a plate and choose all of the raw meat you want.

In Korea, you use scissors to cut the meat.

And you take off your shoes. So fun!

A red bean pastry. We also have red bean in China, so I didn't find this too weird. Red bean paste is sweet so they use it as a dessert, the same way we us apple or blueberry as filling. Many of the Korean pastries were shaped like a fish.

Bi Bim Bap. This a rice bowl with veggies, seaweed, mushrooms, an egg, or whatever they want to throw in there. The bowl is hot, so the egg gets cooked when you stir it around.

Crazy ice cream cones.

Potato Tornado.

So many ways to eat squid.

Some kind of treat shaped like pooh. This was a thing, food shaped like pooh and stuffed pooh (like stuffed animal, but pooh). It was weird.

SHOPPING

KPop stores. There are entire stores where you can buy almost anything with your favorite star's face on it. I'm talking calendars, notebooks, keychains, pens, posters, seat cushions, cups, everything!

For the record, these were gifts for some friends back in China, those are socks! But, I'll be honest and admit that I did buy a pen of my favorite star! When in Korea...