Mike's Korean Adventure!: The Dempsey's Visit Korea

Summer break 2010 has come and flown by fast! I think each time I blog the time in between gets longer and longer. Korea does not slow down. Sometimes it's hard to keep up. My family came to Seoul for 1 week during my summer break. Before this year I never thought I would travel to this part of the world, let alone have my family come and visit me while I'm here! In order to make sure they got the Korean experience I loaded the week with many things to do. Although there is a TON to in Korea my family was most interested in seeing or doing the things that I have seen over the past year. I feel like I've done most of the big things in Seoul, I probably haven't even scratched the surface of things to do/see.

On the first day I went to pick my family up at the airport. They made it! The week or so before they arrived I started to get excited, especially when I was making my list of things to do. After getting into Seoul by bus we got to the hotel. The hotel they stayed at is very close to my school and about a 15 minute walk away from my apartment (although I preferred to ride the bus or take a taxi to the hotel). When we were walking up to the hotel, I saw one of my students who lives in the apartment in the top of the building. I said hello to him and he responded with, "How could you be here?" and then continued to ride his scooter. I think he was a little shocked to see his teacher outside of school! I wouldn't be surprised if the kids thought we lived at school. Heck, we are there for almost 11 hours each day. After dropping their stuff off at the hotel and getting situated, I took my family out for the first "Korean" dinner. Although it's Japanese we'll consider it Korean just for fun. The food is called shabu shabu. Basically, each person gets their own pot and they are able to throw thinly sliced pieces of beef in the pot to cook it. Once it's cooked (20 sec. later) you take it out and put it inside of a piece of lettuce that has rice in it. You could also put garlic, kimchi, etc. in the wraps. Each meal comes with about 10 pieces of beef and lettuce wraps to create. At the end of the meal you put in some noodles and cook those. It's definitely one of my favorite dishes in Korea. I think my family liked this meal. Just like I felt my very first night in Korea (and for about the next month) their chopstick skills weren't the best, but I could tell they were getting better through out the week!

The second day I took my family to Insadong. This is an area of Seoul pretty close to where I live. It is a traditional area that has many shops selling antiques and artwork. It's also a popular spot for foreigners, where they can buy memorabilia. Insadong is a very cool area. We ended up going back the last day of their trip so they could buy some things to take home. Later in the day we went out for dinner because it was Emily's birthday. We went out to eat with her parents who were also visiting and some of her co-workers. The restaurant we went to served a spicy chicken dish that it cooked in a big pan on the table. This is another favorite food for me! I think it was a bit spicy for my family though. It did take me a few times to get used to it, even though it will can be too spicy!

Another thing we did during the week was walk around the massive outdoor/indoor shopping center, named Myeongdong. This area is very popular with Koreans and foreigners. There are many street vendors selling foods and clothing. Also, just about any clothing store is included in this shopping area. A ton of restaurants line the outside of the area. I won't hesitate to say that it's probably every Korean girl's favorite place because of all the clothes and shoes one could buy are sold here! After seeing the Myeongdong area we walked around some more and went down by a stream that runs through the city. The stream has been rebuilt within the past couple of years. It is very cool looking. At night there are lights all the way up and down the stream.

Another day, Emily and I had to get our passports from a travel agency, so we too our families to a group of palaces that were in the same area. This area is named "Gwanghamun." It's a cool area because it features modern Seoul and traditional palaces right in the same area. We may have take our Christmas card photo in front of the palace. Guess I'll have to wait and see! Another place we went to was the Korean War Memorial. I really liked the museum here and I knew my family would do. The museum tells all about Korean history, takes you through the Korean war, Vietnam war, and other operations the Korea has been involved in. Whenever important talks or speeches are given regarding North Korea they are usually given here by the President of South Korea. The week before we went here, Hillary Clinton visited the memorial.

My favorite part of week with my family was when we visited the DMZ. I had gone to the DMZ last November through with a different tour group. This time we went with the USO (US Army). This is the tour that you NEED to go on! It was a ton of fun. This tour takes you to the JSA, where you can literally step into North Korea. Before arriving at the JSA we were briefed by a few US soldiers who were leading the tour. At the JSA itself is where North and South Korea have little blue buildings side-by-side that are on the line of North/South Korea. On one side of the line is the the big North Korean building. The other side is the South Korean/US building. We went in one of the blue buildings which houses important meetings between N/South Korea. When we went in the room there were 2 South Korean guards. These guards always stand at the taekwondo "ready" pose. They are ready to kick some butt if needed. On other parts of the DMZ tour we went to the bridge of no return, which literally means that. Right as the war ended, prisoners from North and South Korea were allowed to cross the bridge back to their homeland, or stay where they were. Once they crossed they could not turned around and go back. Next, we went to an observatory which you can see into North Korea and see "Propaganda Village." Unlike the first time I came here it was a very clear day so we could see clearly into NK. After the observatory we went to the 3rd tunnel, that was found after the Korean War. A NK defector helped tip SK guards as to where a tunnel was that NK would use to infiltrate SK. The last stop on our tour was at Dorasan Station. This is the last train station in SK. Koreans stay optimistic that someday, this station will connect through NK and into Russia to become the worlds longest train route, connecting all the way to Europe.

Overall, I think my family had a wonderful time in Korea. Coming to a country like this is definitely a huge change, especially if you haven't experienced a culture like this before. We did many fun things and did things that most people don't get to do in their lifetimes (like step into North Korea). I introduced my family to some Korean foods that they did and didn't like. It's all about the experience though. I hope that they had fun adventuring half way across the world to see a culture that you would NEVER see in Iowa! I'm sure that I forgot some of the stuff that we did. But, if you have talked to my parents or sister about the trip I'm sure they have showed you tons and tons of pictures! So, if I did forget something then there's a good chance that they told you about it. Also, for as much as it usually rains on Dempsey family vacations, it only rained once when they where here, for about 10 minutes. That's pretty good luck I would say for being in the middle of rainy season! Thanks for coming to visit me!!

Here are some photos of things we did...

After leaving Indsadong and heading toward the stream (I cannot pronounce the name of the stream, it's too long!)

4-person bike at the Olympic park We don't look like tourists at all!

That's Bob. He is a North Korean guard. He literally looks through his binoculars all day. Must be boring.

Dad, the first night eating shabu shabu

outside the 3rd tunnel at the DMZ

Entrance to the palace

Inside the building that separates North/South Korea. The soldier is South Korean. Rocking the aviator glasses in his Taekwondo stance. Don't bump him on accident, he will hurt you!

Half of each blue building is in North Korea, the other half in South Korea. The big building is the back is a North Korean building. The South Korean guard on the right stands only showing half of his body, so if anything happens he is not totally exposed.