busan and gyeongju

Last weekend, we went to Busan and Gyeongju. It was TONS of fun :D

We had a six-hour bus-ride from Seoul to Busan. It took forever and the bus driver was pretty scary. I'm one of those people with steel stomachs...I can eat a meal and then go on a roller-coaster and have no problems. But for the first time in my life, I actually got a little carsick. It didn't help that I can't sleep on buses (or airplanes for that matter). We stopped off at a Korean rest stop and WOW. They really are like you see in the movies. The bathrooms are clean and there's actually a food court and convenience store at each one. There are also very sketchy souvenier/music stalls outside haha. At one of the rest stops, someone got these little walnut cakes...SO GOOD!!! I didn't get to take a picture because I thought I would get to buy some later but still...it was this soft bread filled with red bean paste and chopped walnuts. DIVINE!!! yum :D

We finally got to Busan at around midnight. We were under the impression we'd be staying at a hostel, which none of us really minded. But then we saw the place. It was like a REAL hotel...like five star. There were tons of us piled into one room (six beds, six people) but wow. Really nice.

After we put our stuff down, we went to one of the two famous beaches in Busan: Kwangannli Beach. It is SO pretty. There's this bridge that lights up in different colors and these people sell fireworks on the beach. The fireworks are kind of scary since they only pop like five feet above you (so about eleven feet up into the air) but still...the atmosphere is awesome. I almost felt like Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose" should have been playing in the back hahaha :D

After hanging out at the beach for a while, we headed to a bar. I was going to drink a bit but I didn't like the crowd that much so I sat it out. But it was still really fun with all the Korean drinking games and stuff hahaha :D I went home after a while and went to sleep yayyyyy :D

The next morning, I got up SUPER early because we had to head to Gyeongju :P I fell asleep for most of the ride there but when I woke up, we were in the countryside. One of the things I wanted to do in Korea is visit the countryside and this was a really nice chance to just see the openness of Korea. The houses were really cool...The roofs were all Korean and I can't be sure of the bottom of the house, but the overall effect was very...comforting.

It was a cloudy day to begin with so as we were driving to Gyeongju, it started to rain. It wasn't so bad at the beginning. In order to get to where we wanted to go, we started heading up a really windy road, up a mountain. It took FOREVER and a ton of people were getting motion sickness. It was pretty but yeah...There was a little kid in front of me (the director's son, sitting in the seat in front of me) and he threw up. So the whole rest of the ride consisted of everyone trying to keep their food in their stomach, dealing with the stench of his puke and the windiness of the roads.

But in the end, all worth it. We were at a temple (at the very TOP of the mountain) called Seokguram. Seokguram is actually part of the Bulguksa Buddhist temple complex but this place is at the very top. It was beautiful.

We got off the bus and clouds were beginning to gather. I think the whole temple part of the trip was better because of the rain. We all complained about it but I think the rain added to the holiness and beauty of the temple. Plus, I love Buddha :D

After seeing the temple (no pictures allowed inside :[ ), we went to the Shilla New Millennium Park and had the WORST bibimbap EVER there. YUCKKKK!!! We were then let free at the park until 4:30pm...That wasn't so bad...It was about 1pm when we finished eating, so we all thought we could head to the costume dress-up, foot spa, the brewery, and few places where Boys Before Flowers was filmed (I think I am dying from excitement about the fact that all these famous dramas have been filmed in places I've been in hahaha).

Except...ummm...everything was closed. Yeah. No costume dress-up, no brewery. The foot spa was stupid so none of us went because you just walked across rocks, and one of the drama places was closed too. UGH. Oh well, I still got to see Ji-Hoo's house from BBF, and the place where they ride the horses :D

We also, after wasting hours at the park, went to a Hwarang performance at the park. THAT was cool. It was a show with equestrian tricks and cute guys hahaha :D Very nice!!!

Now here comes my favorite part. After the park, we left for Busan and there, we were treated to something amazing.

The D'Amaris buffet.

You know how Las Vegas has those buffets that are freaking amazing? Yeah, this was EXACTLY like that except the food was amazing. The best part was definitely the crab legs (OH MY GOODNESS), and the fresh sushi :D I love desserts but theirs were okay. But EVERYTHING else made up for it. Everyone ate SO much, we could barely move. It helped when I went for drinks later hahahah. I had four shots and nothing happened! Then again, I'm a very safe drinker...I was downing the water and food at the same time. I think I drink more for the company than for the drink hahaha.

But seriously, best buffet ever. That seafood was SO fresh and so well-cooked. Those crab legs were SO sweet. Absolutely delicious.

The next day at lunch, EAP took us to the Busan fish market. It's apparently the biggest in Asia and I LOVED it!!! My parents brought me up to appreciate literally everything that is food and so this fish market was a dream for me. Seeing all those ingredients...MMMMM....I know my mom and dad (especially him) would've gone crazy over everything we saw :D

The next step was lunch :D The people leading us everywhere, Joey and Jeff, chose our lunch for us from a local vendor. It's a really cool concept: you choose your fish, say how you want it, and then go upstairs, where they serve it to you. Plus, you're seated in the traditional Korean style :D And my favorite part of the lunch (still full from the buffet, by the way) was the nakji, which is essentially raw, squirming octopus tentacles.

SO GOOD!!!!

You have to be really careful when you eat them because the tentacles and everything are still working. I didn't chew one of them completely so one of the tentacles got stuck to the back of my tongue. My gag reflex was kicking in but thankfully, I just took another piece of nakji, ate it, and it knocked that other one down :D

Nakji tastes slightly sweet...it's a subtle sweetness and the texture isn't something that is weird. When you get the "squirter" part like I did, that has a bit of a rubbery texture but it goes down very smoothly.

After that, we headed back to Seoul :D That bus ride back was CRAZY. I think the bus driver hated us because we were always late, so he SPED us back to Seoul. It was raining and he was driving really fast. Super scary hahaha.

Anyways, since then, not much has gone on. I'm going to try and permanently straighten my hair soon...

Wait. I FINALLY got a cell-phone. And it's the COOLEST phone EVER!!! It has things I'll never need, like video-calling and being an MP3 player. But really, who doesn't like cool little gadgets? I'm totally going to give this phone to Anooj because he deserves a really cool phone after anything he's gone through hahaha

h1n1 and asia song festival

EVERYONE around me is sick. Everyone. At first, a lot of us were afraid that it was H1N1 going around but thank goodness, it isn't. I've also discovered just HOW afraid I am of that flu...I mean, people say it's just like the regular flu but there's such a stigma attached to H1N1. I've been avoiding people with face masks, steering away from people I know are sick, constantly covering my face from germs, obsessively using hand sanitizer, and downing the hot fluids (tea, soup, water) like there's no tomorrow.

It's been working, to a certain extent. I sometimes feel the headache or sore throat coming on but then viciously attack it with hot fluids. I'm seriously obsessed. I get sick really easily and it lasts a long time for me. And even though I know what's going around the international kids ISN'T H1N1, I'm still scared.

Weird. I feel mean :(

Anyways, besides worrying about actually having H1N1, I was afraid that the Asia Song Festival would be canceled because of the flu. But amazingness prevailed and the ASF went on as planned!!!

Jenny and I got there super early, at 8am and lined up in the "Tiket Exchange Place for Foreigners" line hahaha. Jenny ended up leaving the line because she had already printed her ticket out so she wasn't in that line anymore. I stood with a few other DMC Ville people and ended up getting a really cool ticket. We got VIP tickets.

I think since we were foreigners, they let us all get the VIP tickets. Can I just say I was totally NOT expecting that? I thought I would sit with Jenny, who since she printed out her ticket, had to sit in the stands. But still, pretty exciting. I wish Jenny, Naanhee, and Jennifer could have gotten VIP tickets too though :( I missed them during the concert :(

Anyways, I went from the "tiket" exchange line to the supposed VIP line but it wasn't really the VIP line. This concert was really disorganized. They kept on shuttling us from location to location and it never really made any sense as to why they did that. Finally they just sat us down right outside of the place where we would go in (yeah, doesn't make sense but hard to explain).

After taking in the odiferous scent of decaying green waste for about an hour and 45 minutes, they finally let us in. Some middle-school age girls tried to make a run for it but thankfully, the person leading our group (R13) to our seats reined them in and SENT THEM TO THE BACK OF THE LINE!!! YESSS WOOOHOOOOO!!! JUSTICE IS SERVEDDDD!!! *ahem* sorry. Momentarily transported to the age of 4, when things like that made me the happiest person on Earth lol.

But our seats were really good. Hopefully I can sketch it out...

_________________________________________________________

-------------------------------- STAGE

_________________________________________________________

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------- FIRST FEW SECTIONS

----------------------------------------[gate]----------------------------------

---------------------------- [camera stand] ------ [me!!!]

So really, not that bad.

And I got a TON of good pictures out of it.

Lee Da Hae from Full House was one of the presenters!!! I went CRAZY when I saw her. Brian and I were joking when I first came here that I should stalk her and take pictures of her...little did I know that she would BE there! She looks super pretty in real life...gorgeous :D

OOHHH!!! Before the concert started, Rita and I went to Home Plus to grab some snacks...on the way there, we saw some guys wearing super sketch clothing. It was like they'd taken it and ripped it off of themselves in random places. It was great. I stalked them and took pictures. Love it hahaha.

I think instead of going through the concert step-by-step, I'll just post my thoughts on each act.

Show Luo (Taiwan): He was good. His performance was good as the "real" opening act of the festival. He was energetic and his dancing was pretty good. Can't say the same for his songs though...They were kind of run-of-the-mill.

2NE1 (Korea): These girls are HUGELY popular in Korea, so I was surprised that they were the second act in. They were amazing though. I'm pretty sure everyone else besides these girls lipsynced. Their energy were great and their songs??? SO CATCHY!!!! hahhaa loved it :D Marissa almost started crying when they came on stage...cute <3

Ho Ngoc Ha (Vietnam): For a model-turned-singer, I think she did well. Her songs were upbeat but not fast-paced enough for the crowd. But her singing ability is pretty good. I did enjoy her songs and was surprised that they were in English...I think I would have definitely liked them better in Vietnamese :D

K-Otic (Thailand): I actually really liked these guys. They started off with a traditional Thai dance, which wasn't what the crowd expected. I'm not sure how the crowd reacted but I LOVED that they went basic and traditional on such an international stage like this. They smoothly transitioned into the hip-hop/break-dancing routine and did it well. They're energy was great!!! They had a really international group too hahhaa...Thai, Korean, and Japanese. Loved it!!!

Ekin Cheng (Hong Kong): This guy was the oldest person performing but he definitely kept up with everyone else though lol...but seriously...what was up with that skirt???

mihimaru GT (Japan): Love. That is all...also, the girl is super cute lol.

Chris Lee (China): Her fans were all over the place, going crazy but...ummm...she wasn't that good. Her dancing was okay and her songs all sounded like rip-offs...

V6 (Japan): They were the special guests of the concert and I thought they were great. Their dancing was fresh (compared to the repetitive hip-hop) and later on, when they were on stage, it was almost like they were having a mini-dance-off with Super Junior. Cute :D

Ruslana (Ukraine): I still don't know why they invited her. She's almost too foreign for the Korean/Chinese/Japanese majority at the concert. No one knew her...No matter how much energy she had, or how crazy her songs were, no one got into it. So sad :(

Gackt (Japan): He was AMAZING!!! He has this very...alternative image and I love it. His act had some of the BEST music and he was different too. AHHHH! hahahaha

Girls Generation (Korea): SO OVERRATED!!!! I think it's really easy for a group of people to sing together. I'll give them the fact that they look good and dance well BUT if you're going to name yourself "Girl's Generation" and play to stereotypes of "sexy" women, then I probably won't like you to begin with. They were fun, but in the larger picture...ugh. Not the girl's generation I want to see for my future...if they chose that name to mean something lol.

Agnes Monica (Indonesia): She was a little weird at first. Trying too hard and all that shizznit. But then she totally made up for it when she sang "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson...like really sang it. And she's an amazing singer. I got goosebumps when she had us sing with her...all without music. Beautifully haunting.

Super Junior (Korea): Another group with TONS of people in it. I'd heard of it before through Jenny, Teresa, and Tina at Davis but this was the first time I'd actually heard their music. It's super catchy and they're good dancers. Good combination :D Not my favorites because, again, I can't tell how good of singers they are when there's 13 of them singing together, but still...entertaining.

Big Bang (Korea): Ahhh...best for last :D Seriously, they came in with a bang and left with one too. They had the best songs (even if they were missing a member and another member seemed like he was sick) and were WELL worth the wait. I loved seeing G-Dragon on stage, after obsessing over his strangely cool "Heartbreaker" song...and T.O.P. really is the master :D

Overall, well worth every minute :D

blargh

homesick and frustrated with home.

love korea though...seriously, i think i'm going to live here. everything is just so amazing in terms of culture. i mean, i don't like the ahjussi's and ajumma's staring at me, but everything and everyone else is a ton of fun hahaha...and the food is great. and unlike america, people here actually give up their seats to elders. love it :D

just wish people near me didn't have swine flu...what if i get it? i know it's not that bad but i'm such a baby when i'm sick lol...

i love america too (lest i be called unamerican lol) but damn...korea has some pretty cool shizznit.

also...i wish people in general were less apathetic and more independent.

tomorrow is the asia song festival. some pretty big bands are going to be there. hopefully i'll be able to get in!!! i have a confirmation e-mail but i hope it works lol. and then itaewon on sunday. i still need to get a phone. if i can't get it then, don't know what i'm going to do lol.

edit:

...katherine heigl got a baby from korea...i wonder if they'll give me one as a "service"?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/nancy-leigh-katherine-hei_n_290380.html

note: "service" means free stuff in korea hahahaha

severance hospital volunteering

This is my second time going to see the little kids at Severance Hospital on the Yonsei campus. It's exciting and fun to teach them English but...they're so sick, as in ill.

Most of them have varying forms of cancer or another long-term illness. My first time volunteering, I helped a kid named Toby. He had scars all over his head, so I think he had brain cancer and was being treated for it. Today, I worked with a girl named Ga-ih. She was beautiful but she couldn't speak above a whisper and her legs didn't work. It's so...depressing.

And when Christina and I were walking down the hallway to get to the classroom, all the doors around us are open and you just peek in and you get this eyeful of sad, depressed, terminally-ill children. It really scares me that one day I'll show up and we'll get news that one of the kids we've gotten used to seeing won't be there anymore.

I sincerely hope I do stop seeing some of them, and I don't mean that I hope they pass away. What I mean is that if I don't see them anymore, that means that they've gone home because FINALLY, they're well enough to be at home. Can you imagine living in a hospital? All these kids are spending a huge chunk of their childhood in these walls.

I've only done this twice so far but I become so quiet after I visit them. I can't even hold regular conversations with my friends because I feel like these kids are really happy and awesome during that one hour we have with them...but after that, what do they have?

It's just really...something to think about, I guess. I've only known a few children who have had to spend time in a hospital but they've never had to LIVE there. Ah, it's just weird. I'll be fine and happy tomorrow, until next Wednesday.

But so glad I came to Korea :D At least I get to meet these awesome kids hahaa. They call me "Anne" because "Anreeka" is too hard LOL...Don't like "Anne" but I'll deal hahaha

oh dear, intense!!

wahhhh, what an intense week!!!

My Saturday was spent shopping at Hongdae. Got some cute stuff. Not that interesting haha I have a few pics of earrings and stuff but that's just me being weird hahaha.

I went to Lotte World for my birthday, which was...interesting. I was really excited because it was a really cheap ticket to get into the amusement park, but I didn't realize my pass only lasted until 5pm :( Oops haha. Another weird thing is that you have to PAY to go on certain rides. You've already paid for your tickets but you have to pay extra for these rides. LOL not cool hahaha

But once Manuela, Jenny, and I went OUTSIDE of the indoor park (but still in the amusement park haha), we had tons of fun. It was a lot more young-adult oriented, versus preschool-child oriented. Yes, I'm being ageist lol. They had these CRAZY rides that just...WOW hahaha. Explanations under the pictures lol. Manuela and Jenny were super sweet. Manuela bought this AMAZING cake (everything tastes better in Korea hahaha) and Jenny gave me a cute card hahaha.

Lotte World also has a National Folk Museum which was really, really cool. They recreated a bunch of dynasties in Korea and also recreated the lives of the common people of Korea. We were exhausted by this point but this place was AWESOME. I mean, the detail, the history, the coolness of it all...oh fudgenuts, super cool :D

But once we walked out, we found ourselves in the Lotte Department store...

Ummm...consumerism much?

During the week (Lotte World was Sunday), Jenny and I went to get our registration cards (FINALLY) and then...well, just continued with life haha. I had Korean class, a Korean film class (more on that later), Korea through ethnography class, and capitalism and democracy in Korea class.

I love them all. Korean class is filled with great people and awesome teachers. We all manage to have fun and learn at the same time hahaha. We have the class separated into zones too hahaha...There's a winner's corner, buffer zone, and the loser corner hehehe...I'm in the loser corner hahaha

My Korean film class is SO COOL! We watched a film called "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird." Inspired by the spaghetti Western "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" but with a Korean vibe. I really, really enjoyed it. It's really interesting because themes of the Wild West are those of having no country, no home, greed for money, colonization, violence, etc. But those themes segue really nicely into Korean history because during the time when Korea was colonized by Japan, Koreans had that atmosphere. Anger, fear, no hope, lawlessness, etc. So this film is awesome hahaha.

My other classes are pretty cool too but not much that I can speak on right now.

Aside from classes, I've been realizing just HOW much money I've been spending these past few weeks. I've taken a huge chunk out of my financial aid and it's only been a month. I'm going to get a cheap cashbook (more money to spend -.- ) to help me keep track of my finances. Manuela and Jenny both have one so I'm going to copy them hahaha.

I will hopefully get my cellphone tomorrow (more money ick)...I'm almost considering not getting one but its good for emergencies, I guess. Blegh. I prefer life without one.

...but now I move into the cool stuff.

The Yon-Kor Jun.

Oh, you think it's not that interesting. But it's much more than you expect.

See, every fall, the two biggest (read: richest) private schools in Seoul have a...yell/dance/sing/sports-off. It's seriously this huge party for two days (Friday and Saturday...Wed. and Thurs. are included but not as intense) where the two universities just face-off big time.

I've never really had school spirit...but this time??? HOLY SHIZZNIT, if Davis had rallies/etc. like this, even I would be filled with school spirit hahahhaa. I have videos but they don't capture the feeling that you got while you were there. Just seeing these MASSES of people coordinating their movements (there are choreographed dances) all to outdance the other side??? HAHAHAHA awesome. There was a baseball game on while I was there but...umm...hahaha I only paid attention when I was too tired to dance. I think that's how the majority of the students were. Most of the people didn't even seem to care whether they lost or won haha.

After leaving the Yon-Kor Jun (I couldn't go to the whole thing because I'd planned to meet up with Connie), I took the subway/train to see Connie...I love Connie. Her place is so cute too! Small, but cute. She took me to this awesome park in Guri, where she lives. She also took me to their open-air market. I'll go back one day, but only after I figure out how to say Korean numbers :( We got ripped off hahaha

As a side note, Guri also has TONS of love hotels. They look super shady hahahaha.

Pictures and videos will be up on Facebook. Too much time and effort up here :P hahaha

i was kidnapped

I really was kidnapped. I mean, I'd started school this week (I find it so weird that I still call it "school," as if I'm in elementary school, not in university...even though I still act like an elementary school kid oops haha) and it had been okay. I have this super-cool teacher (professor? lol) who is teaching a class on Korea's ethnography and it's push to become a multicultural society. That all sounds good but the catch, he says, is that the current Korean conservative government wants a multicultural society by way of assimilation, not integration. In effect, the Lee Myung-bak government wants foreigners to become Korean, not keep their own culture in Korea.

I love this type of stuff. Nerd = Anreeka.

I also have a Korean language class which is...interesting. The people in it are great but I think I annoy them with my super-swearing status and my ability to walk into every room and completely fail at life lol. But still, pretty awesome. We're the only Korean class that has two teachers and one already dislikes me because I swore after I messed up some pronunciations hahaha. Plus, the first two classrooms we've had have been broken haha. Like the air vents wouldn't work so it'd get really stuffy, which isn't conducive to a daily, 2-hour Korean language class hehe. Intense, right?

Besides that, I think everyone should come to Yonsei, just to experience one day on that crazy campus. It's literally ALL hills. During the first few days, I had to keep on going down to the bottom of the campus to get books, food, homework, etc. Oh. My. Shizznit. Walking back up those hills to get to class was such a workout. After the first day of class, my muscles were sore. But it is a nice campus overall. It reeks of money but that money, thankfully, is put to good use, as far as I can tell. I know that the Engineering department recently got over its' physical sexism and finally added female bathrooms in their building(s). Not sure if it was more than one building, but that is what I've heard.

I can't really think of anything life-changing happening during my first few days of school...I did end up going to the wrong building for one of my classes but that's about it.

But yesterday, I was kidnapped.

I know, it's pretty dramatic. I was so innocent, walking into the Education Abroad Program's (EAP) orientation for the UC kids. After they finished that (can I just say that I am really, super excited for the DMZ tour??? YESSSS I GET TO SEE NORTH KOREA!!!! hahaha...I'm so gonna get kicked out -.- ), they calmly announced to us that they were going to treat us to dinner as planned...and then take us to Namsan Tower. At night. To the top. Along with the Teddy Bear Museum.

Umm.

This kidnapping was not appreciated. Granted, going to the top on the tower at night for FREE was freaking awesome (The views!!! THE VIEWS!!! ALL OF SEOUL!!! LIT UP!!!) but...but...I DIDN'T HAVE MY CAMERA!!!! How could you plan this and not tell us BEFOREHAND??? WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO LOVE PICTURES???

I think I was more mad than excited.

I also couldn't take pictures of the dinner they took us to, which was also pretty cool because it was the dinner traditionally served to king of Korea.

Yeah. I'm pretty upset. The ONE meal like that but I couldn't even take pictures of it???? I mean, I can only guess how much that meal cost per person.

Don't get me wrong -- I totally appreciate the sentiment of treating all 65 of us kids to dinner and a free trip to the tower, but if they had just TOLD us beforehand, I would have brought my camera and actually had pictures to post up on this entry. SO SAD!!!!

Because I don't think I'll be able to post up pics of that royal dinner...ever :(

But I'm going back because I can't leave the tower like that. And for all you Korean drama fans, I totally went into the cable car where Jun-pyo and Jan-di get stuck HAHAHA...and I saw the vending machine where they get there coffee from. Only problem? It STANK there. There was this bathroom a few feet from the machine that...ugh. Disgusting haha. But we did go in the cable car haha. That was super fun, especially when too many of us went to the front and it pitched forward hehe.

Anyways, plan for today is to hit Dongdaemun and go shopping. It's going to be super-fun :D I need CLOTHES!!! haha

Hopefully I'll have pictures to show for that hahaha

EDIT: Stole my roomie Jenny's pics from the Namsan Tower because her pics are freaking AMAZING!!!!

hahaha I told her to take this picture <3

Also, the Namsan Tower is really, really geared towards couples. Here you can see what we mean...

This is ONE part of a huge part of the Namsan fence. This whole place is FILLED with locks people have attached, with messages, etc. inscribed on them. We were kind of joking about it because a few people put...umm...bicycle locks on hahaha. We were saying, "You bring your date here and to show that person just how strong your love is, you say to them, 'I love you so much that I brought a lock that we can attach to the fence. It's the strongest lock, the one that can represent our love best. A bike lock.'" LOL love it <3

gyeongbukgong

Oh.My.Shizznit.

This palace is amazing. I've posted a TON of pictures on Facebook, so that's pretty much all you need to know. I'll post a few of my favorites here and explain the palace a bit but overall...wow, you all just need to come to this place to see it.

Here's my take on it and why it's so fabulous:

I've grown up with European castles as the mold for royalty and privilege. I've traveled to Europe since I was a little kid and I've grown up expect European castles to be the mold, the norm. I'm obviously Indian but you don't hear much about Indian palaces until you're older and you learn about it yourself...parts of my family also went so that's how I learned so much about a few palaces...I'm sure I would have learned about them if I went to school in a country that actually taught world history as WORLD history (not the history of the world in it's roots and relations with America)...but I didn't.

Anyways, I've always loved looking at palaces and stuff because of the architecture (if it wasn't for the number's involved, I would have become an architect haha) but this was just awesome. I mean, I've never seen anything like this before. You see the fake versions all over the U.S. but never the detail, the history, the intensity that you get here. TV doesn't do this justice. Pictures don't do this justice. And we didn't even get a tour guide. I can only imagine how awesome that would have been.

Shoot.

Also, the food. We had bibimbap, which is like the staple meal of Korea. Quick, tasty, healthy. I had a spin on it called hwe dup bap, which is essentially raw fish with all the bibimbap fixings. It was delicious. Amazing. Just fresh veggies. They didn't do anything to them. One of the most refreshing, filling, amazing things I've tasted in my life. So nice and spicy too :D

Kimchi Pork Bibimbap

Hwe dup bap, which was my dish. Super good :D Mommy!!! LET'S EAT THIS!!! Daddy's coming to Korea, so I'll take him to eat this hahaha

One last thing to point out: King Sejong, who had this palace built (I think), had the lotus pond and tower built for his wife. How sweet :D And who can forget Shah Jahan and the Taj Mahal? I just say this because I can't remember a specific instance of a king being nice to his wife in Europe and building something awesome for them...any ideas?