The Good Life

Things here in Korea have been going really well lately. After dealing with a brief stint of homesickness that had me wondering if I would ever be able to last a year, I find myself extremely content. The sun has been shining, work has been easier, and I am exactly where I want to be.

Aaron and I have become quite close to our Korean co-teacher, Monica. She is a mother of two, a wild 5 year old girl named Yu-Na (spelling?) and a 9 year old son (I still have no idea what his name is). Monica and her husband Kevin (they have Korean names but since foreigners are terrible at remembering them they have adopted English names) have been very welcoming and have accepted us into their family. We were lucky enough to go to their apartment for a BBQ a few weekends ago, and we were blown away by the experience. The apartment itself was beautiful. They live on the 20th floor of a high rise in what is commonly known as the "baller suite" with roof access. Floor to ceiling windows, marble floors, and a massive kitchen were not what I expected in a high rise apartment. We had a tasty meal of BBQ meat and various side dishes. After eating we became true Koreans as we ventured into the basement of their apartment complex for ping pong and badminton.

Monica and Kevin (phone picture = poor quality)

Last weekend Aaron and I decided to branch out a bit. Instead of taking our usual bus route to the same downtown area we headed to a memorial park in a different part of the city. "In May 1980, civil demonstrations took place in Gwangju against the newly installed military government of Chun Doo-hwan resulting in hundreds of civilians being killed by the Korean Military. The demonstrations were suppressed by military forces, including elite units of the Special Operations Command. Most commentators agree that the suppression was characterized by its egregious brutality, including several incidents where military forces fired automatic weapons into crowds of unarmed demonstrators. Gwangju is sometimes called "the shrine of Korean democracy" because of this incident, which is known today as the Gwangju Democratization Movement. After civilian rule was reinstated, a national cemetery was established honoring the victims of the incident."--Wikipedia (I am out of college and too lazy to paraphrase these days).


May 18th memorial.

The park surrounding the memorial.

Memorial.

Inside the memorial.

The wall behind this statue is full of names of those who perished.

The memorial park was beautiful and we even stumbled upon a temple decorated with colored lanterns for Buddha's birthday.

Lanterns.

Buddha's birthday is coming up so shrines are sprouting up.

Temple shrine for Buddha.

Cool statues.

 Yesterday we met up with Monica's family once again (her brother and sister-in-law were in town from Seoul for the BBQ and yesterday) and headed to a bamboo forest. We stopped for Korean donuts and a photo shoot (I told you, we are becoming true Koreans) in a stunning area with a Sequoya tree avenue. After the shoot we jumped back into the car and headed to a resort to eat our picnic lunch. Usually when I think of an outdoor picnic I do not imagine Korean/Engrish pop music serenading us but I can't say I was that surprised to find it. Finally we made it to the bamboo forest (along with half of Gwangju apparently). The paths were thick with throngs of neon and high heel clad "hikers" but we did enjoy being outside for some much needed vitamin D.

Aaron's solo album cover.

Monica <3

Yu-Na, Monica's daughter.

Bamboo forest.

Some big goldfish.

My love.

 Next weekend we are going on a road trip to camp on a beach, peek at North Korea, say happy birthday to Buddha in a sea temple, and check out a penis park. I can't wait.