Orientation Begins

Friday the 19th was a long but awesome day! The morning began with a buffet style breakfast at the Center Mark. They had a mix of both western and Korean foods which was nice. Then I rode a Korean subway for the first time. I was really taken aback because the subway system in Seoul is incredibly clean. Additionally, there are glass sliding doors that separate the tracks from the rest of the station that only open when the subway cars open- so there's no chance of anyone falling on the tracks. I was so impressed. I'm sure it's expensive, but to me it seems so worth it for every subway to have sliding glass doors to protect the public.

Subway station!

Since I'm still so new here I find the subway confusing, but I'm told it's actually quite simple because everything is clearly marked (in Hangul and in English) and the lines are designated by different colors. And at least for now, the subway is pretty fun too. It makes me feel like I'm in a futuristic society as people rush to transfer lines and casually brace themselves without using the hanging hand-holds with headphones on and apps distracting them during their commutes. There are also little take-away restaurant stands and other shops down in the subway stations. It smells so delicious sometimes, especially when you don't have time to stop.

We took the subway to The National Museum of Korea where we had some free time to look around before meeting up with the group for orientation activities.

I found this sweet painting and know no details about it... But it's so intricate!

When we met up again for orientation we were given a run-down of program rules and regulations before watching a presentation on some of the most notable parts of Korean history. The women teaching us were awesome and they fed us traditional Korean snack and gave us free books. I picked a book about King Sejong the Great- the king who oversaw the invention of Hangul. Then we got to try on hanboks! A hanbok is the traditional Korean dress, which nowadays is generally only worn for traditional events and celebrations.

My friend Aisha and I.

They have a flowing comfortable fit- I'd wear a hanbok any day.

After the orientation and a group photo of a bunch of us foreigners wearing hanboks, we had lunch at the National Museum restaurant. It was Friday so I wanted to abstain from meat and I was really pleased to have the option of fish for lunch. The food was delicious. A light white fish with carrots, cauliflower, and mushrooms, and banchan of anchovies and kimchi, with black rice and some kind of soup.

After lunch we went on a short one-hour guided tour of the museum. The tour was one of my favorite parts of orientation. Our docent was a really interesting young woman who was obviously passionate about the art she showed us. We saw lots of Buddhist art and beautiful ceramics and she explained the different meanings of symbols and explained the artistic trends. I'm definitely going to go back and spend a lot more time at the museum since it's free entry.

This Buddhist statue reminded me a lot of the "Pensive Christ" statues I saw in Poland.

This is a ceramic celadon incense burner. The color is supposed to imitate jade.

After the tour we had free time, so a group of us decided to go to Myeong-dong, which is a huge shopping district of Seoul. None of us knew how to get there so one of our Seoul-mates, the lovely Jisoo accompanied us. Seoul-mates are interns employed by my program. In my understanding, they're local students whose job is to answer our questions and to help us learn the culture here. 

Jisoo took us wherever we wanted to go, and pointed out the best place to buy cute Korean socks (they seriously have the cutest socks here) and the best bubble tea place- Gong Cha. I can't get enough bubble tea. (Wish I could bring some back to my Grandma Beam!) Myeong-dong was extremely exciting for all of us, as it fulfilled our expectations of what Seoul would be like. It was crowded with people shopping, selling, and hanging out with friends. We saw our favorite k-pop idols on advertisements at every shop, heard k-pop blaring on the streets, walked past countless street food vendors, got handed freebies from women at skincare and cosmetic stores (which are everywhere by the way) who were trying to get us to come in and shop, and just generally freaked out when we recognized something or couldn't possibly believe we were really here.

Stores are just stacked one on top of another.

B1A4 :D

I FOUND A CATHOLIC BOOKSTORE! See Pope Francis? I talked to the sisters who ran the shop, they were so sweet.

Gong Cha!

Milk Tea, 70% sweet, Regular Ice, Perfection

SHINEE

hahaha Say what?

We headed for the subway to travel back to our hotel and then ended up looking at more shops in the subway! The subway station in Myeong-dong basically has an underground mall. I could spend so much money here....

I got dinner with some other people from my program near the Center Mark Hotel that night. Soft tofu soup and bibimbap- a dish of rice mixed with various vegetables and egg.

The soft tofu soup comes served in a hot pot so it's still boiling when it gets to the table.

A Kinder Egg from the convenience store. The toy was a little ball that fit together like a puzzle.