Yes as the title says, I have a whole week of birthday-ness. It is after all a Dagley tradition to celebrate one's birth over an extended period of time. David is not too kin on the idea of a week long celebration but he will just have to get over it. This is one thing that won't change.
When I was young, a birthday started with a friend party, then a family dinner/ party on your birthday or close to it and since my birthday is around Memorial Weekend, we would often celebrate out at family friend's farm with their family. Don't think I was the special child, my sister got the same thing. It's really all my mom's doing. She really enjoys celebrating things, especially her children.
So my first Birthday in Korea, is actually my 26th birthday (man I am getting old). I really wanted to go to Seoul for the whole weekend. The last time we went it was still a little chilly and we only stayed for the day. A month before my birthday,I began to plan our weekend. Found a guest house to stay in, found all the places I wanted to go to and set the budget. We went for Saturday May 21 through Sunday May 22.
On Saturday it was over cast and slightly chilly. I didn't take any pictures on Saturday because of the weather. We got to Seoul at about 10 and walked from the train station to Namdaemun Market and walked around there for a while because it is rather overwhelming with all the shops and venders to really find the things you want. Always a good thing to walk through markets twice before buying. That way you know where things are and you can get the best prices. Then we attempted to find our guest house. The only problem was I forgot to write down the number and the directions they gave were pretty vague. After going to one place that was pleasantly a misktake (not a place either of us wanted to stay in), we found the Myeong-dong Guest house. Aside from the hard mattresses, I would recommend this place to anyone. The staff was very nice, it was clean and in a perfect location. After checking in, we went to the Myeong-dong shopping area. I was told by some friends about it and even though I didn't buy anything, it was still nice to window shop in a place with H & M and Forever 21. After lunch we made our way back to Namdaemun. Then we got lost and it started to rain. So we ducked in to a book store. I have been in desperate need of something to read. At times I am so bored and I have read all the things we have brought. So I bought a book, people who are well read can laugh at me when I say I bought the Sherlock Holmes vol. 2 book. But don't hate, I like the Sherlock stories, plus it's a fat book and will keep me entertained and the selection of English books in Korea isn't that well stocked in the latest/best books. After the book store we found a information center and got a map. Turns out we weren't even close to where we wanted to be. We made our way back to the market were I bought a bag, that I had been waiting for since the last time we went to Seoul. It continued to rain and after a few ill attempts to wait out the rain, we went back to the guest house and read our books. For dinner we went to Outback. This was my only regret of the weekend. Beef in Korea is super expensive for 2 reason if it's Korean beef there isn't a lot of it or it is all shipped in from New Zealand/ Australia or the USA. A dinner in the states that would cost us about $40.00 ended up being \70,000. Oh well once in a very long while it is nice to indulge in... well beef. To end the even we went back to Myeong-dong area and bought tickets to Pirates of the Caribbean 4. The movie wasn't until later so we walked around. A lot of the shopping area's in Korea are completely different at night. The venders come out and set up shop in the streets and there is always something happening. In fact we saw a person dressed up like the Kung Fu Panda. The movie was good... as always.
Sunday. We woke up early since the beds were hard and started off for our second day of adventures in Seoul. We checked out of the guest house and took our over night bag to Seoul train station and got a locker so we didn't have to walk around with it all day. The weather was perfect and I could not have asked for anything better! After the train station our first stop was Deoksugung. A little bit of information gung means palace. Since Korea has been populated for thousands of years there are many palaces around, however they all have similar styles. The Deoksugung one in particular is fairly small, however, it a newer one. Infact the king decided that the old style of palace wasn't good enough for him so he build a more modern house (which is currently being restored). So there is the old and the new with in the same palace grounds.
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| This is part of the traditional palace grounds. |
I actually really liked this palace even though it is small because it was like a garden in the middle of Seoul. Next we went to Gyeongbokgung, one of the largest palaces in Korea. This place compared to the last is very vast and expansive. No intimacy here.
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| Throne building |
Then on to Insa-dong, which is the traditional good's market and art area. By this time I was getting tired of walking even though our train didn't leave until 6:30 and it was only noon. I think we packed too many things into one day. Then add a bunch of people and it was really hard to stay at Insa-dong for very long. I liked the area and would like to go back and spend more time and look at all the art galleries but probably not over a weekend. After that we found our way to Cheonggyecheon River Walk. David want to walk along it with the possibility of finding the Shoe Market.
After walking for what seemed like 10 miles to my very tired feet, we stumbled upon the shoe market when we were attempting to find a place to rest. This place was crazy. Most of the markets we have been to, there is enough space for 3 people across but here there was only enough for 2. Add people stopping to look at shoes and all the shoes all below my normal eye level and it was very overwhelming. I wish we had found it sooner or when we go back to Seoul to do that first. They did have good deals on shoes. Mostly knock offs but still can't beat \10,000 tennis shoes. Our tired feet made the decision for us to head back to Seoul station early. We sat down on the floor and played 4 corners, which turns out fascinated all of the old men. We had one man in particular who stayed and watched us until we got up to leave.
My birthday isn't actually until May 23rd. So that's 3 days right there, but I couldn't stop celebrating until my parent's birthday package came. At school, I some times like to hind in the gym where it is quiet because the library (where my desk is) often gets loud. So on my birthday I decided to hide and get my lessons done. When I came back I found a bouquet of flowers and present. One was from a student, another was from my parents in my parent English class and one from a teacher. David's sister sent us a package, which arrived on my birthday full of gluten free goodies. Thank you Melissa!!! Then my parent's package came on Tuesday with sheets!!! I would have to say that is the best birthday present ever. Wednesday, I continued to get gifts from my parents. Then on Thursday, my parents threw me a party during our class. Even though they bought me a cake I couldn't eat, it was still very sweet of them. Which brings my birthday to a total of 5 days. Take that David!!!
I got my full Dagley birthday even in Korea. I felt so blessed. However the week ended on a sour note. First let me back up and give you a little of the back story. 2 weeks ago, I forgot my phone in my desk. I don't always notice when I don't have things because I don't use my cell phone or other things all day or until I need it. I didn't know the phone was missing until the next morning. After a week and a half I gave up and got another phone from a friend. Then last Friday, my wallet was stolen out of my bag. I didn't miss place it or forget it this time. I had my passport, alien card, atm card and other things in it, with a total of \5,000. Not even worth taking the whole wallet in my opinion. Some found my passport, alien card, atm card and other things at a bank on the hill behind the school but not the wallet. It was found in a place I have never been. So on Friday, after a great birthday week, I hated, yes hated, Korea. I wanted to leave that night. How could the school put me in the library where I have no place to lock up my things while I am in class and students are allowed to go around my desk to pick out videos. How could a student steal 2 things from me. Needless to say I was angry and took it out on everyone I came across (sorry if you were in that path). The next day things were a little better, by Sunday I wasn't as mad and by the end of Monday when I knew KNU had my things, I could laugh when the students told me to kill the person who stole from me or at least they would beat them up for me.
I have to keep remembering that it will be ok. Things like this happen every where and at least in Korea people don't steal your identity (my atm card was never used). I am blessed to have the people here who do care about my well being. I am blessed to be in Korea with my husband and to have this growing experience. Someday when I tell my children I will laugh about the whole experience but while I am in it I will take it one day at a time.
Much love.
