On My Way To Korea

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.

Kimchi.  It’s the pride of Korea, the staple of their diet, and the blood running through their veins.  There’s even a museum in COEX dedicated solely to the pickled cabbage.

I didn’t take a whole lot of pics because, well, as interesting as everything was I wasn’t inspired very much to take many.  I did run accross these.

I saw this doll with hands soaked with Kimchi juice and immediately thought it might be fun to get a close shot showing just her hands and a further shot showing was she was doing.  In the close shot I leave it up to the viewer to create a story of what she’s doing and thinking =)

The full-sized dolls were kind enough to feed me …

And here’s me and Eunhee/은희 at the end of the walking tour:

Well, that’s it.  Now I can say I’ve been to the Kimchi museum.

Admittance Fee: 5,000원 (though I think you can get a special pass to multiple things).

It was really fun going through and seeing the scenes they had set up of people doing various ceremonies and what not.  If you’re by Lotte World, definitely drop by.

I found some interesting pottery (three pics, first was when I was saying what’s so interesting about that and the third is the moment of realization that this wasn’t normal pottery …).  It’s not just the fact of what pictured, it’s the fact that the guy has like a 5th arm … You’ll know it when you see it.

It’s been interesting, every time I’ve taken the subway very far I’ve always seen something being sold on the subway.  I couldn’t help but laugh a little when I saw a sign on the subway specifically saying not to sell or buy anything on the train.

On my way to meet an old friend I haven’t seen for three years, I found myself with an extra hour to kill next to Insadong (인사동).  After looking at the local map I decided to head over to the Gyeongbok palace (which is actually closed on Tuesdays ><).  The only thing I really got to see due to time constraints on the palace being closed was the National Palace Museum of Korea.  It was FREEZING cold which probably contributed to very few people being there.  I guess that’s one positive side of the coldness, you don’t have to fight the crowds.  I only got to see about a third of just this museum (there’s another museum, the Folk Museum) so I’m definitely going to have to come back.  Here’s some pics I took inside:

This is a training manual for the guards I believe:

I bet the 아줌마들 (ladies) used these.  And the kids complain today …

I saw that it was getting close to 1PM so I headed back towards Insadong to meet my friend Raina.  We started walking through Insadong to get lunch and came to this place:

The food was pretty good, but expensive.  It was 15,000원 per person since we got a sampler meal (a little of everything).  We left and started walking through Insadong again.  At this point, we realized that it probably wasn’t the best day to be outside.  It was definitely the coldest it’s been since I’ve been here.  So, we took every opportunity to go into souvenir shops, a coffee shop, an exhibition, and the biggest 교보 bookstore:

It looks like I’m all caught up with my pics and posts through now!

By law, if you’re in Korea for more than 90 days you are required to register and get a foreign registration card (외국인 등록증).  This card is also required to do things like get a phone, open a bank account, register on most Korean websites, etc.  Because of how important it is, I would highly suggest making getting it a first priority when you get to Korea.  I went to the Office of International Affairs (OIA) and asked where I could go to get my card and they told me the correct subway station to get off of.  I’ll forward that info and a little more to anyone that might want it.  Here’s a complete map of how to get there by subway from the SNU station and by foot from the last subway station (Ohmokgyo).

I felt very confident going on the subway by myself to immigration.  It’s extremely easy to make sure you’re going the right direction.  There’s subway maps everywhere, your T-money card is charged up so you don’t have to buy a ticket specifically for your journey, and if you have a iPhone/iPod Touch then you’ve got the whole subway system in your hands (assuming you installed one of the Seoul subway map programs).  All I had to bring to register myself was my passport, a passport photo and a copy of my official admission.  You just take a number, fill out the general form with the needed information and wait for your number to be called.  After you give the paperwork to a worker you have to run downstairs, pay 10,000원 to a person to get a stamp that says 10,000원 and return and give it to the immigration worker.  He’ll give you a receipt with the date to return and pick up your registration card and send you on your way (without your passport which you’ll pick up with the card).  It’s as easy as that!  Well, you have to get by the mobs of people selling calling cards to China outside the immigration office first … but at least they give you a free pen (which I used for the form since I don’t like to use the community pens when I don’t have to).

After going back to Ohmokgyo station I saw that I had a little bit of time left before going to the new student party and decided to walk around a little bit.  I had heard about Hi-Mart from a lot of people and saw one there so I decided to go in.  It was pretty neat, there were four floors each with its own theme.  There was a cellphone floor, a home appliance floor, a exercise machine (and maybe other stuff) floor, and a computer/TV floor.

UPDATE: It looks like you now need to have a verification of attendance to get your ARC.  I guess I was one of the last who didn’t need it.