On My Way To Korea

Am I crazy, or do you think this could be the USA? Although they mentioned what countries the other little news blurbs were in, they said ’some country’ for this one (어느 한 나라). See for yourself and decide:

Today I went down to 안산 (Ansan) to do some volunteer work with the 새터민 쉼터 (an online community for North Korean refugees) for some of the kids that don’t have any parents.  We ate some food, talked, played some games, and just had a lot of fun in general.

One of the ladies who organized this event talked a little bit about her life in North Korea.  She served in the North Korean military and became at least a captain (I forget how long she served, it was at least 10 years).  At some point before leaving Korea she lived on the streets for five years.  She mentioned carrying a baby for two years but didn’t mention what happened (although I can guess ).  The kids of course also either don’t know how their parents are doing or know that they already passed away.  On top of that they have to adjust to the school system here, often pushing them behind.  I can’t begin to imagine how hard all of their lives must have been.

Anyways, here’s some pics (including one pice of me with a green tongue stained by North Korean candy and some delicious North Korean rice-tofu called 두부밥 ):

After we finished I went a couple of places with a friend and even tried live octopus!

I saw this on the front page of reddit today. For those that don’t know what it is, it’s a social news website where the users submit and vote on things they like (so things people think are interesting usually get to the front page). Anyways, here’s the original submission and comments and here’s the video:

While I was watching some DPRK TV (yeah … really exhilarating, I know.  I hope that’s not illegal here … if it is, I heard it from a friend ) I noticed something interesting during the weather report.  When they were talking about weather they never shows a division between North and South Korea.  Here’s one pic:

On the same news broadcast I saw the news report showing video of the kids being given “gifts of love” from Kim Jong-Il (not in person).  They were flying around in a helicopter which doesn’t seem like the most efficient way to do it (though I guess it makes good press).

Another random observation, you know all those North Korean posters?  Well, each broadcast includes a few of those kinds of phrases (usually praising Kim Jong-Il).  Yeah, right in the middle of the news.

Disclaimer: Please don’t ask me on or offline for any extra details about North Korean refugees.  Thank you.  I will only post minimal information and only things I get consent to post.

I got to meet a friend when she came up to Seoul last weekend and we had a great time!  She’s a North Korean refugee (새터민 / 탈북자) so I felt like I had a great opportunity to get to know someone who has weathered a lot to get to where they are today.  Many of us deal with where to go when we graduate from high school or where to get a job, but I can’t even begin to understand what North Korean refugees have gone through.  Sometimes when people go through that, they take the opportunity to learn from it and make the most of what they have and succeed.  I think she is one of them who will succeed in whatever she’ll do in the future.

While I was waiting for her to come when we were going to first meet, I decided to walk around and I found a protest outside.  They opposed 이명박, the current president of South Korea, but I don’t know too much other than that.  Here’s two pics I took there:

Anyways, when we met we decided to go grab a bite to eat at a Korean resturaunt.  We both had some sort of meat and mushroom soup which was EXTREMELY delicious.  She told me a really funny story about when she went to the DMZ and yelled at the North Korean soldier saying ‘야 이 나픈놈아!’ or something along those lines.  She said her boyfriend was terrified and thought they’d be immediately shot lol.

After we had a cup of coffee, we decided to go to a movie, 의형제/Brother, which is about a South Korean agent (소강호/So Kang-ho, star of 괴물/The Host) who hunted North Korean spies and then became a bounty hunter.  In the beginning you find out that one of the North Korean spies is doing everything to help his wife and girl who are still back in North Korea.  The protagonist hunts him until he develops a relationship and sees him as a little brother.  Here’s the trailer:

It was my first experience seeing a movie in a Korean movie theater so I would have to say it was an enjoyable one =).

When we arrived at the theater, we had to wait 2 hours to see the next showing so we decided to just browse around the 용산 (Yongsan) area.  The last time I went to Yongsan I felt like I didn’t find the good market, so I really wanted to go to the ‘good’ place (선인프라자 / Sunin Plaza).  We headed over there and I got a adapter for my phone which is a combo power-plug and headphone jack so I just had to bring one adapter with me on my phone.

After the movie, she took me to a neat street by 종각 station that was extremely busy.  After walking a little bit we decided to go into one restaurant and had 낙지 닭칼비 (octopus and chicken ribs) and OH MAN was it good.  Seriously, I’ll go back there in a heart beat.  The price was really good too, like 7,000원 per person.  Here’s a pic of us with the food:

Here we talked a little bit more about North Korea.  She asked me about what I thought about the country and in short I told her that I felt sorry for those that had to live under Kim Jong-Il’s reign.  She told me that she’s looking forward to helping others who leave the country and helping people get over the propaganda they’ve been fed their entire lives.  I think that’s a very noble goal and I hope she’s able to fulfill that.  In the short term there’s always volunteering opportunities here in South Korea.  I’ll be attending one such event this Saturday which I’ll probably give some commentary on (though I’ll most likely not be able to take pictures).  I was able to find a monthly volunteering opportunity thanks to a commenter who pointed me the right direction, so thank you!

Here’s me drinking the remaining bits of the 막국수 (I think that was the name):

Well, that’s it!  We had a wonderful day and I’m really glad I got to meet her.