Independence Movement Day (or 3.1) is a Korean holiday which celebrates the Korean independence movement against Japan during the Japanese colonization. A friend told me to visit the Independence Hall at some point so I decided that I might as well make it my last trip before school starts. The only thing that sucked (big time) was that it was raining and cold. By the time I left I couldn’t really feel my fingers. The second to last pic is a group, YGK (Youth of Great Korea), which did a quick interview with me and took a pic.
After volunteering, me and one of my friends (from the previous post about meeting the North Korean refugee friend and her boyfriend) went to the COEX aquarium (last pic is explained below):
You see that second to last pic? Doesn’t the traffic director look like a pimp?
After finishing there we went to my home subway station, SNU, and found a place to eat. I had told them I wanted to try live octopus so we found a place which had it and decided to go there. The last pic from above is me eating one of the legs while the suckers have latched onto the top of my mouth lol. We drank some 복분자 (wine made from fruit, something like a strawberry) which was pretty tasty. For the main meal we had 갈낙볶음 (Fried ribs and octopus) which was also scrumptious. Here’s the video of me first trying the octopus:
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 ):
When I first saw this sign, I thought they had misquoted the phrase “don’t worry, be happy.’ The other day when me and a friend passed by the sign he asked me if I knew what it meant and I mentioned that the English phrase is wrong. He continued to explain the pun: so (소) is Korean for cow, so this place uses that phrase as a pun to say that they’re a restaurant specializing in beef. Clever.
Now for the fail. Here’s a store which has its Korean name romanized into something which I can guarantee no foreigner will pronounce right. At least they include a sane secondary title/description. Yet another reason to learn Hangeul as quickly as you can.
). 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.
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