Last night, I climbed a mountain. Okay, so it was a small mountain about a 15 minute walk from my dorm with paved trails all the way up to the top. The big mountains aren't going anywhere (@bird_esque after all, life goal # [I don't remember] = climb a mountain on every continent).
Looking out from the mountain on the night lights of Seoul.
My fellow trainees, perched on the wall on the mountaintop.
Can you see this? It's a man exercising on an elliptical machine. They have various exercise machines at the top of the mountain.Halfway up the mountain, we encountered a stage, and this:
Life goal number (51 or so?): eat squid.
Wait. That can't be right. Today we took a field trip into Jonju (about a 3-hour drive from Seoul), famous for its traditional culture and bibimbap. For dinner, the vegetarians were separated out from the rest of the group for a different fare. I mistakenly assumed that all the dishes we were served were therefore safe, and proceeded to try everything. I was mid-chew on some spicy, crispy-yet-chewy morsels when I was informed by my pescatarian table neighbor that I was chewing on squid legs.
Oh. Well, can't be helped, I suppose. A few seconds later, the fishy taste kicked in, and I had to force myself not to vomit, but force myself I did. My Leo pride rearing it's ugly head? I stopped chewing and swallowed them whole.
Status of vegetarianism: ?
Aside from eating misadventures, we took a bit of a tour of Jonju palace, briefly learned how to play traditional Korean drums, enacted a traditional wedding ceremony, and made our own traditional Korean fans (red, yellow, and blue swirled together, representing harmony between sky, earth, and humans. Our guides were in conflict over which color represented which). I'm all tradition-ed out.
Dorm-mate Trina, being overwhelmed about the drumming we're about to do (and also surprised by my sneak camera attack). By the way, we hadn't yet figured out that the drums go horizontally, not vertically. The two sides produce different sounds.
Jonju cultural center.
Decorations appearing on the outside woodwork of many traditional buildings (possibly from the Joseon dynasty).
Gate at the entrance to the palace, designed to keep devilish spirits out. They're big on ghosts here.
The interior of the first Catholic church ever built in Korea (purportedly), on the site of the spot where Catholics used to be executed for their rebellion against Confucianism. As our guide (the lady in the white gloves and hat) put it, mainstream Korea didn't like Catholicism because it didn't promote enough respect of elders.
Wait. That can't be right. Today we took a field trip into Jonju (about a 3-hour drive from Seoul), famous for its traditional culture and bibimbap. For dinner, the vegetarians were separated out from the rest of the group for a different fare. I mistakenly assumed that all the dishes we were served were therefore safe, and proceeded to try everything. I was mid-chew on some spicy, crispy-yet-chewy morsels when I was informed by my pescatarian table neighbor that I was chewing on squid legs.
Oh. Well, can't be helped, I suppose. A few seconds later, the fishy taste kicked in, and I had to force myself not to vomit, but force myself I did. My Leo pride rearing it's ugly head? I stopped chewing and swallowed them whole.
Status of vegetarianism: ?
Aside from eating misadventures, we took a bit of a tour of Jonju palace, briefly learned how to play traditional Korean drums, enacted a traditional wedding ceremony, and made our own traditional Korean fans (red, yellow, and blue swirled together, representing harmony between sky, earth, and humans. Our guides were in conflict over which color represented which). I'm all tradition-ed out.
Dorm-mate Trina, being overwhelmed about the drumming we're about to do (and also surprised by my sneak camera attack). By the way, we hadn't yet figured out that the drums go horizontally, not vertically. The two sides produce different sounds.
Jonju cultural center.
Decorations appearing on the outside woodwork of many traditional buildings (possibly from the Joseon dynasty).
Gate at the entrance to the palace, designed to keep devilish spirits out. They're big on ghosts here.
The interior of the first Catholic church ever built in Korea (purportedly), on the site of the spot where Catholics used to be executed for their rebellion against Confucianism. As our guide (the lady in the white gloves and hat) put it, mainstream Korea didn't like Catholicism because it didn't promote enough respect of elders.On the drive back to Seoul, we started watching "The Good, The Bad, The Weird" (Korean film with English subtitles), which proved to be a sexist and gory gang film, the kind that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would love (@twcwar @bird_esque @warmandbarky). To my great joy, about halfway through the drive the movie started skipping, and we switched to a DVD of JLo in concert for the remainder of the trip. Yes, plz.
Heartz to all. Hope you enjoyed the show.
Heartz to all. Hope you enjoyed the show.
3 comments:
Aaaah! I love that woodwork like a lot!
(also, omg, is twitter integrating itself too readily into our daily lives?)
re: woodwork - I know, right?
re: twitter - but the @whoever mechanism is so convenient!
In retrospect, I think like that woodwork because that one blue-green thing looks sort of like a clam vagina. A clamgina.
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