Motorcycle!

Guys, guys! Motorcycle!

Okay, that's Stella riding it, but we all got a turn and I was the best at it! (By virtue of being the only girl who wasn't terrified of going fast enough to have to pick up her feet.)

After Korean class we all went to the waterfront to play basketball, and one of the students (a man who works at some kind of proofreading service, and whose name I forget) brought his shiny motorcycle. He said that he had brought it to teach some of the boys to ride, but the boys were all playing basketball so he ended up with four girls to teach instead. I got it up to third gear and zoomed down the waterfront path! It was SO COOL!

Turns out I still didn't know how big Seoul is

I met Jessie for lunch at Jeongbalsan station. Turns out that's a two-hour subway ride away from home. Jeez. So I was late, but not to worry. Jessie took me out to a buffet-style restaurant before showing me all around her neighborhood.

We bussed over to a huge street market where we wandered, examining bowls of live sea creatures and observing open-air butcher shops. On the main street adjacent to the market, one of the candidates for mayor was giving a speech from the top of a campaign bus.

Next we went to a place that was either a museum or an art gallery - I'm not sure which. It was definitely about the Joseon emperors' tombs, but most of the exhibits were modern art based on the Joseon dynasty. It was all really interesting, and some of it was a little spooky. It didn't help that two attendants in black clothing were following us everywhere (I suppose they were making sure we didn't touch anything). They kept their distance, but it was still unnerving. Especially when we walked through a dark, narrow hallway draped with silk partitions while numerous grandfather clocks softly struck six (the death hour, according to Jessie), that feeling of being followed isn't really pleasant.

Finally we went to a huge park on a lake very near Jessie's apartment. It was gorgeous there. There were cute little walking and biking paths, bridges so you could completely circumnavigate the little lake, docks and islands, sports courts... I would go back if it wasn't two hours away. Yeesh.

Horrific depictions of torture = fun for the whole family?

This morning I declared today to be Twentieth Century Korean History Day.

JESUS CHRIST what a depressing idea that turned out to be.

I went to Seodaemun Prison Museum where Korean resistance fighters were imprisoned during Japanese occupation, and the Korean War Memorial near Itaewon. The prison museum was... interesting. Pictures under the cut are not for the squeamish.

Don't Panic (now where's my towel?)

This morning I woke up and got online. This was waiting for me on Skype:

Stellar: Wow Christina, have you been up on the news about the potential war within Korea? This is insane.. I hope you are updated about it because its getting a bit intense: if you don't know here is a link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/world/asia/26korea.html?hp 

Luckily, I was pre-warned, so I didn't freak out. Stellar was still online, so we got to have a talk:

Christina: Hey, this is funny. Last night Sunghun was talking to me about this stuff, asking if I had heard anything from back home, and now I see this first thing when I log on. It's pretty scary, but the general consensus in Korea is that it's mostly posturing on the part of government officials because elections are next week. Re-declaring North Korea as their "archenemy" is them trying to remind people of the constant danger, the same way Bush tried to stir up fear after 9/11.
Stellar: I know, its kind of scary though! How is everything going?
Christina: Things are fine. There are banners everywhere for the election, and little campaign cars are all over the streets blaring music and info about the candidates. It's kind of hilarious.

Stellar: LOL.. Korean style campaigning. Gotta take in the hilarious moments :)
Christina: They apparently get pretty worked up about the whole thing, so I can see the stuff with North Korea blowing over afterward (as long as Kim Jong Il doesn't decide to be a genocidal dick). I have to say, that line from the article about turning Seoul into a "sea of fire" gave me pause.
Stellar: ME TOO. I tried to translate that into Korean and I was like..oh ok it makes sense. But in English...ahem..right.
Christina: Yeah. It sounds pretty evil-dictator over-the-top. You can totally imagine some ridiculous sci-fi villian going, "If you do not bow to our demands we will turn your precious planet into a SEA OF FIRE! MWAHAHA!"
Stellar: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAA

So, yeah. The news is scary, but Seoul is still intact. Here, I will show you it!

Visa success!

Woooo! I finally found the damn travel agency, and I can pick up my passport with a shiny Chinese Visa next week.

I didn't have a specific destination in mind today, so I decided to start at Wangsimni station and go from there.

Macro Time

Um, sorry. It's raining, and I didn't want to go outside... so I wasted a day. But Kris tells me that it's the beginning of the rainy season so I'll probably have to just suck it up pretty soon.

In the meantime, please enjoy these macros that I collected from LJ:

Why, yes! I am a complete dork! Thank you for asking!

I wasn't joking

Ahahaha. Yes, I really did sleep in until noon, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day in front of my computer. But that wasn't entirely my fault, because I caught Stellar on Skype (Stellar!!!!!) and I had to catch up with her. For... three hours. Yep.

So, sorry for the lack of real bloggage. I'll try to have something more interesting tomorrow. But oh, hey! What's this I see?

It's the aquarium! Newly filled with water and fishes! The sad buckets of emptiness and failure have been replaced by triumphant flower arrangements of oceanic magnificence!

Yeah, uh... that's all I got.