2010 Elections in Egypt



Egyptian Military lining the highway, overlooking a neighborhood prone to protests concerning the election



Election Campaign Poster

Election Campaign Posters line the streets

This afternoon I stumbled across some interesting information about the parliamentary elections currently going on in Egypt that I would like to share. While we were in Egypt, we were in numerous situations in which we noted armed militia lining the freeway for what we was told as riot/crowd-control in case another uprising occured. On Friday, we also crossed through a square (although, when we saw the crowd we quickly walked along the outskirts of the square) that was full of men who looked like they were in the midst of organizing a large crowd, and then we had to get through several security checkpoints to walk down a street that seemed like it would usually be traversable. While in Luxor, our guide also told us that this was the first election in which women were allowed to run for office. Our Giza guide mentioned that there were fourteen different political parties and sometimes groups cared very intensely if they didn't win the seats they wanted. ...All of these experiences, knowledge nuggets, etc, are all coming together as I saw this article today and did a little digging:

1. Here's an interesting video clip from CNN, evidently many are realizing the elections are quite unfair:

2.  This is one of the headlining topics on Human Rights Watch, another organization that believes the Egyptian elections are unjust. 
3.  Women aren't just allowed to run for office (evidently they had been before), what is significant, according to this article is that over the next five years, through elections, women are supposed to hold a minimum of 12% of Parliament.  The article also notes that this is not going well. 
4.  There have in fact been riots, as are detailed by this article. 
5.  There are groups that were discriminated prior to the election, as explained in this article.
6.  People have been paid to vote, people have voted multiple, multiple times, people have been blocked from entering election stations, and election posts have closed prohibitively early...Check out the videos on this blog...

Very interesting things to think about... this certainly explains why many of the guides were very vague and cryptic when answering questions about the elections.

Pyramids, Camels, and Mosques - Oh My!

Giza Highlights

(click on the image above to view the album)

Wednesday, November 23^rd – Pyramids and Camels and Mosques!

Today was magic!  From the first glimpses of the pyramids poking out over the city buildings to the breathtaking realization of how huge they actually are as you stand in their shadows to the exhilarating duck walk we did down into the depths of the third pyramid to indulgently fun camel rides and stepping into gorgeous mosques – it was one of those days that makes the trip.  

We woke up, excited to head to Giza, grabbed breakfast and met with our guide and driver.  The seven clambered into the van and braced ourselves for another day of Cairo traffic and our forty-five minute drive to Giza.  As we drove we noticed one particularly alarming thing – when we reached an especially rough-looking area of town that was full of unfinished brick apartment style buildings (keep in mind, a tremendous amount of Cairo would qualify as “rough,” this area was moderately worse than some of the areas…we actually such much, much worse.  Anyway, as we drove through this area, we noticed men in black uniforms standing at attention on the freeway looking down into this section of town.  And it wasn’t just a few men in uniforms, it was dozens and dozens of men with transport trucks, automatic rifles, tear gas guns, shields, helmets…and in some places they were standing shoulder to shoulder.  We quickly asked our guide what was going on and he said that Egypt was in the midst of their parliamentary elections and that some groups rioted and protested when things didn’t go the way they wanted.  He said the election had been going on for ten days now.  We asked, why this area and he explained that this is the area in which protests have occurred and that during this election there have been two mosques and several churches damaged or destroyed in the area.  Our Luxor guide also told us (the next day) that this was the first parliamentary election in which women were allowed to run for office and I saw political posters for both women wearing traditional Muslim dress and women that looked like modern politicians.  All throughout the cities there were pictures of different politicians (mainly male) draped from buildings.  We were told that there are 14 different political parties and that the current leading party is the National Party, which is also the oldest party in Egypt.  The military is volunteer-based. 

On the way to Giza, the level of poverty and quality of living plummeted.  And then, as we peered at the city apartment buildings, we caught a glimpse of the pyramids jutting out over the rooftops!  By the time we pulled up to the pyramids, we could scarcely believe how immense they were!  We bought tickets to enter the third pyramid, were given the main admission tickets by our guide, and were ready to go!  We had seen the pyramids from the airplane and they had almost looked small.  As we walked to the base of the first one, the Great Pyramid, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, small was anything but the right description.  We stood in the shade of an awe-inspiring, three million stone pyramid!  We were even able to climb up the first few steps and take pictures ON the pyramid!  So cool!  During this, I was approached by several sweet Muslim girls (teenagers) who asked if they could have their picture taken with me – when I agreed they all excitedly crowded around and took picture after picture on their little cameras, showing me the results and saying “ah, fantastique!”  After this, we headed to the third pyramid and were able to take great pictures of the second and most intact one. 

And then!  We got to head down into the third pyramid!!!  Excited we had to squat and walk at a downward slant for quite a distance before were could comfortably stand again.  At the bottom, we reached a room that led to the top of the sarcophagus and actually climbed on the granite that had covered the tomb.  Further down we saw the room where his goodies for the afterlife would be and then got to go into a smaller side room that provided spaces for the pharaoh and his family to be interned – they each had little cubbies.  From there, we climbed back up and out and headed over for a more panoramic view of the pyramids and also decided we were going to go for it – we were going to ride camels!  Oh, and a fun fact?  We learned there were over 95 pyramids built by the Egyptians.  

I was worried the camel ride was going to be cheesy…but I didn’t want to have come this far and not do it…so Emily, Daniel, Michael, and I all decided to go for it – it really was fun!  I thought I would feel silly, but we headed down a sand dune into the Sahara and got a great view of the pyramids as well as excellent photos with the pyramids in our background.  It was really cool!  We didn’t see a camel spit, but we certainly got to see their crazy gullets and got to hear the ridiculous slobbery-grumbly noises they make – they were very funny.

After all of this, we got to visit the Sphinx as well!  From there our guide tried to add in a visit to a “market” which meant perfume store that took us back and tried to sell us things – thankfully Daniel stopped them mid-demonstration (it could have gone on for a very long time) and we left, worried we wouldn’t have enough time to enjoy the Citadel.

We decided to forgo lunch and to try to visit the Citadel and Mosques before eating – daring, yes, but everything closed at four.  This is the Citadel that Saladin built to protect Cairo in case the Christian Crusaders attacked Cairo as well.  It’s a really cool fortress at a pinnacle point within the city – and at the top, there is a beautiful Mosque.  So, we got to don our scarves, take off our shoes, and walk through a beautiful Mosque – the interior was very different from the ones I had visited in Bosnia.  Several of us sat down and spent a while studying the intricate artwork of the domes.  I taught Michael and Stephanie about arabesque and calligraphy.  After that, we enjoyed the city views from the edges of the Citadel and finally caved and bought lunch (around 3:30).  The remainder of our day was spent relaxing, going over pictures, working out our Luxor day trip details, and trying to grab a few hours of sleep before we left at 3:30 am for Luxor.  It really was a fantastic day – the best group day of the trip!

Navigating Cairo

Tuesday, November 23rd – Our first moments in Egypt!

Our first evening in Cairo was quite an adventure. Our bus from the airport fit all seven of us (and luggage) and quickly allowed us a crash course in Cairo driving – it’s insane. There are very few lane indications, but a good rule of thumb is that if it is a traditionally three lane road it’s a five lane road in which people do not use turn signals, but instead communicate to “make way, I’m coming through whether you like it or not” by honking. People run in between the cars to cross the street at any point they like, motorcycles zigzag amongst the cars like they’re a maze, and bicyclists do the same. Even at night not everyone uses their lights, people stop for no reason with no warning, u-turns are possible at any point and any time, and if you hit someone the driver usually honks and waves at the person. It’s truly crazy.

After our daring airport transfer, we cleared security at our hotel (which we later found out has 24 hour security with metal detectors, bag searches,…the hotel across the street even had a bomb detecting dog), checked into the hotel, and settled into our rooms. We wanted to find a restaurant for dinner – we were all hungry and excited to try new cuisine and a restaurant called “Receid”…or at least that’s what it sounded like when they said it in Arabic. We asked about getting a taxi, but Gary and I had read that they overcharge when you try to get a taxi straight from a hotel. So the hotel concierge recommended that we walk around the corner and across the bridge – much easier said than done. Cairo is a bustling city of over 32 million people and nearly all of them drive. And while it seemed immense, we learned that its square kilometers are fairly small for a city that holds that tremendous population. We soon found ourselves weaving through the crowds and attempting the unthinkable – crossing the street. In our hands we had the name of the restaurant recommendation written in Arabic. Ultimately it took multiple cab attempts, seeking the help of three different police officers, a shop keeper, and a man on the street to help us get two taxis and locate the restaurant. It was worth it though and was the best meal we had the entire time – tahini, falafel, creamy walnut chicken, fava bean dip, and more. After that we hit up a pizza place for Michael and Stephanie, found a convenience store and bought several liters of bottled water, and hailed two taxis home using the trick I had learned in Korea – when in a foreign country that uses symbols other than your traditional Roman alphabet, grab a hotel card to show your taxi driver. (I suppose that goes for any country or hotel so you can return, but when I don’t speak or write Arabic, it’s helpful to have a card that says it all for me). I also gave cards to multiple people and to Michael and Stephanie so that should they ever get separated they could explain where they needed to go.

Our taxi back was awesome – Daniel, Emily and I had a modern guy who was closer to our age and drove like he was in vice city – we had many close calls in which we were “inches from people” as Emily has since exclaimed. When we asked him if he thought it was a video game he laughed very hard and we were able to banter back and forth with him a bit. We survived our ride and spent the rest of the evening lining up our Giza tour and gear up for our trip to the pyramids!!!

Journeying onto Mycenae!

Day 4: Journeying to Mycenae

Epidaurus and Mycenae

(Click above to view the album)

We were excited to have a slightly later start and enjoyed a little more sleep, another scrumptious breakfast overlooking the acropolis, and were in the lobby by nine ready to check out more of Greece. We were promptly greeted by our guide Vassi who was warm, but very down to business/no-nonsense in her mannerisms and we soon were assured that she was not going to stop talking until we were almost back to Athens. We learned lots from her, enjoyed her stories, were sometimes lost by her side tangents, and occasionally were able to interrupt to ask questions, but really, she was an incredible wealth of information.

There are a list of tidbits that don’t necessarily go with anything else that we picked up on the Sounion tour, or on this tour to Mycenae.

Here’s a few things we’ve learned:
When someone on our Sounion tour asked about the current state of the Greek economy, this is what we learned:

-The average salary in Greece used to be 800€ a month, now it is 500€ a month.

-1 in 3 people can’t pay their bills

-1 in 10 can’t feed themselves. The gov’t is currently providing assistance, but is beginning to struggle to meet everyone’s needs.

-for a ton of fuel to heat your home, which in the winter lasts only a month, it costs 700€, so most people bundle up and do without. Lucky families sometimes use their heat 2 or so hours a day.

I also found it interesting that when our guide (for the Mycenae tour) mentioned countries like Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, FYROM, etc, she referred to them as the “ex-Yugoslavian democracies”

-During the era of Venetian dominance, which lasted over 800 years, there were times of intense Venetian-Ottoman conlifcts over Mediterranean dominance. The Ottomans hired Algerian and Tunisian pirates to sink Venetian ships, but the Venetians usually won because they hired mercenaries and boasted a fleet of over 1,000. As the Venetians won each major conflict, they steadily gained Greek isles from the Ottoman Turks, including the Cyclades and Crete. Crete and Venice have an extremely good relationship and currently Cretien ships are the only foreign ships allowed to traverse the Grand Canal of Venice.

-Pre-World War II, Athens was a city of only 150,000. Since then, it has become a city of millions. Greece is a country that has never stopped receiving refugees – it is possible that there are over 2 million refugees in Greece. One of the predominant refugee ethnicities were Albanians.

-Half of Greece’s population lives in Athens.

-85% of Greece is mountains

-In size, Greece Is slightly bigger than Alabama

Okay…back to the trip

During our drive we passed many interesting sights and stopped at several significant places.

We passed the islands and Strait of Salamis (which encloses the Bay of Eleusis, goddess of Agriculture).

Which is the site where the Athenians defeated Xerxes (the Persians beat the Spartans and then headed for Athens, the Strait of Salamis is where the Athenians defeated them using battering rams and fire). So cool!

We stopped at the Corinth Canal – which is an impressive, incredibly narrow, man-made canal that connects the Ionian and Aegean Sea. There’s even stoplights to manage the traffic.

Then we were onto Epidaurus which is famous for two key things – the medical center and the theatre. The theatre of Epidaurus is the last intact Greek theatre in the world and is has incredible acoustics. We sat at the top row and were able to hear our guide drop coins, light a match, and shred paper from the center of stage hundreds of feet below – it was amazing! The theatre also had beautifully worn marble seats and a fantastic view of the mountains. Our guide claimed that for the Greek people, by attending a play, you could learn more about life and psychology and human nature in a few hours than you could in several years of formal education.

Epidaurus also was a medical center that had many hospitals and doctors, the most famous of which was? You guessed it Hippocrates. The Greeks developed two main cures for their patients – snake venom and herbal mixtures – hence the medical symbol of a snake wrapped around a chalice (from which you would take your herbs. People traveled from all over to seek cures from the doctors of Epidaurus and would often wait several days for treatment. When diagnosed, you would be given a specific diet, exercise regimen and “potion” (medicine). They even kept a snake house to be able to administer medicine when necessary.

We also learned that when the Roman’s made Christianity the official religion of the empire, while the Greeks did convert, there were three locations that they chose to maintain. Not for pagan purposes, but because they found them to be three centers that were very precious for other reasons. Delphi was the source of wisdom, Epidaurus was the site of medicine and healing, and Olympia held the Olympics every four year united the Greek people for healthy competition. An especially harsh Roman emperor was outraged that the Greeks were still worshipping pagan locations and ordered Epidaurus to be utterly destroyed, so unfortunately there is not much left of the snake hut, hospitals, or other monuments.

From Epidaurus we charged onto Mycenae to visit the civilization of the earliest mainland Greeks – the Greeks who fought in the Trojan War! I have to say…while the Mycenaean city was smaller than I anticipated…it was pretty spectacular. I think Emily and Daniel really just saw it as a pile of rocks, but I found it truly enchanting. Not only did you have the impressive massive rocks that they believe were brought in from “Cyclops quarry,” but there was also the stunning Lion’s Gate – which is a carving that predates any other Greek sculpture by 700 years! And the Lion’s Gate carving is beautiful! Smooth, distinctive, realistic, absolutely beautiful! As we climbed up through the citadel in a spiral, it was fun to envision the walls of the homes rising up and creating a the different rooms of the fortress and to look beyond the citadel at the foundational walls of people’s homes. I should also mention that the scenary was gorgeous! There was even a set of hills that you could look at, knowing the Spartans had lived 60 kilometers over that hill. I finally managed to lag behind enough that I was able to stand at the top by myself, soaking in the view, sensing the history, and delighting in the fact that I could hear birds chirping. And then, on one of the upper levels, was the most picturesque of all the sites – a lone olive tree timelessly growing in the shadow of a majestic mountain peak.

I finally caught up with everyone and found Daniel in the fortress area. When I asked where everyone else was, he pointed to a big, cavernous black hole. ? We headed in to find them and were almost instantly thrown into complete darkness. I soon found myself inching my way into the depths of a cave, hands feeling the smooth, Mycenaean-created-water-proof-stucco-walls (Pam and Gary wanted to know why this wasn’t the type used to do their house the *first* time), toes cautiously outstretched, feeling for each step. They finally realized we were there and rounded the corner with a flashlight – and showed us a cistern, the Mycenaeans had created. After visiting the ruins, we headed to the famous tomb of Agamemnon, which was also amazingly sophisticated. The inside is a giant, 14 meter beehive, stone made tomb with an adjoining, smaller stone conic tomb that contained the actual graves. Daniel’s favorite part – it had a tremendous echo…and we embarrassed ourselves greatly playing with our echo capabilities.

After all of this we had lunch at a local restaurant, enjoyed some of the best oranges any of us have ever had in our lives – freshly picked from the orange groves that are all over, and headed back to Athens. We spent our evening walking up to a neighborhood called Psiri and eating in a more modern, hip, part of Athens for dinner. We ended our day laughing through the photos we had taken and headed to bed early to rest up before heading out for Cairo!

Ah, Athens!

The Hals family in front of the Parthenon!

Poseidon's Temple at sunset

View from the edge of the Acropolis

Daniel and me posing in front of the stunning Parthenon

Today we woke up feeling fairly refreshed and excited to have had a night of sleep and enjoyed a delicious breakfast from our hotel’s rooftop – which has a spectacular view of the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus! After an early morning breakfast vote we decided that ultimately, we really did want to see the Temple of Poseidon and the coastline, so after a few attempts, I managed to dial out of our hotel and reached the tour company we were seeking and set up an afternoon tour. Our day was set: morning explorations of the Acropolis and the Ancient Agora, yummy lunch, and leave for Cape Sounion to see Poseidon’s Temple at 2.

We walked to the Acropolis and enjoyed the spectacular views of the city – it was a fairly clear, bright sunny day, and as we later discovered, we beat the crowds, because as we were leaving there were flocks of people heading up to see the Parthenon – and since it was Sunday, admission was free! (Which was actually a 16€ per person savings!) I still can’t get over how beautiful the marble is – and how much of it comprises the steps, blocks, pillars, benches, everything. It’s wonderfully smooth and cool and beautiful. We walked around the top of the Acropolis for over an hour, soaking in the spectacular views of the city, the Aegean, the olive trees, the Theatre of Dionysus, the ionic columns jutting into the blue sky, beautiful!

From there we headed down to the Ancient Agora – which had once been the civic and commercial center of Athens. We strolled through the beautifully green and lush foliage that grows around the ruins that are the fragments of the buildings that once existed and enjoyed imagining Socrates strolling through the Agora with his intrigued students at his side. After visiting the Temple of Hephaestus we headed back, meandering through markets and had a delicious lunch in the middle of Plaka that involved lots of pastas and fresh salads.

We headed back to the hotel and were soon off to Poseidon’s Temple. The views on the way were gorgeous, but the lull of our the bus and our tour guide’s voice made it difficult to stay awake and we each enjoyed a nap at some point on the heading out or returning trip. Poseidon’s Temple perches atop the Cape of Sounion, which dramatically juts out into the Aegean Sea. It was often the first major mainland sight for those coming from the islands and the Aegean Sea supposedly earned its name from King Aegean’s suicide as he hurled himself from the cliffs when he mistakenly thought his son (the minotaur slayer) had not returned home safely. The view truly was amazing, we were surrounded by water and islands and mountains and a majestic temple that omnisciently rests at this pinnacle point along the water’s edge. Beautiful.

After a long, rush-hour like (on a Sunday?) drive back, we regrouped and headed out in search of dinner. We found ourselves at a restaurant that Michael, Stephanie, and Gary have deemed “the best yet” and enjoyed another meal of Greek goodies – including! BAKLAVA! …and absolutely amazing baklava, I might add! We wrapped up our evening with a meandering, gelato stop (of course), walk back and spent the last thirty minutes looking through pictures, oohing, awing, and laughing pretty hard. Our first full day was definitely a success! Time to collapse, sleep, and gear up for another day! Tomorrow we are off to Mycenae!

Onto Athens and Cairo!

I am currently sitting in the Newark airport, several hours into our looong layover before our flight to Athens and I am breathing a big sigh of relief. My final project for my fall graduate class, several days of thoughtful lesson plans, a clean house, packed suitcases, tentative day-to-day trip plans, I made it! I am now in the midst of my husband, his parents, two younger sisters, and younger brother and am working to coordinate what everyone's "hopes" for our adventure actually are...

We will be arriving in Athens mid-day on Saturday and have lots and lots to see! So whose job is it to organize, prioritize, map, and strategize? Mine, with Daniel as my steady side kick and voice of reason-as-to-what-is-possible-with-seven-people.

Other highlights of plans? We have a day trip to Mycenae on Monday, fly to Cairo on Tuesday, and will be splitting off Thursday as Daniel and I fly to Luxor to visit the Valley of the Kings, and the rest of the Hals clan heads up to visit the city of Alexandria for the day.

We're really excited. Everyone is a little tired. Personally, I am exhausted. But, the mental break is incredibly welcome and I can't help but to break into a big wide grin everytime I envision the Parthenon gloriously watching over the city from the Acropolis. :) ...And then the smile gets even wider when I realize that I am actually going to be standing in front of the pyramids and one of the wonders of the world in just a few days!

I don't know what the internet situation is going to be, but I'll post when I can. :)
~Mrs. Hals

Our Final Days

I have to confess that I am now safely back in the United States, after an
exhausting 30+ hour journey back to my home in Florida. I have had a few days to enjoy the creature comforts of my own home as well as the happiness of being reunited with my husband. I am slowly beginning to reconnect with friends and family and am realizing – I have so so much to share with everyone! I can’t wait…okay, I can wait (it’s just two more weeks), but I’m very excited to see my new and old students and share stories with them too!

Monday 19 July 2010

The last few days were busy as always. Our final lectures at Korean University explored Korean culture, the Korean education system, and art history and were again rich, interesting lectures that enabled us to learn even more about the country’s past and present We were free the rest of Monday, so I spent the afternoon exploring the city on my own – which meant I got very lost and realized that there is no actual standardization of where North is on a map. Sounds crazy right? Seriously…on my tourist map North was up, on the subway map North was to the right, and on the map at street level North was left. Now, I understand that many other foreign cities would have no map at all…but still – the lack of standardization of North and the lack of street signs presents quite a problem when you are actually hoping to walk and find something! After a harried two hours of speed walking through the city I caved, collapsed in a cab, and returned to the hotel to get ready to meet up with Jenny’s family again.


Jenny Park, her mom, and her aunts making me feel incredibly welcome

Monday night I met with Jenny Park (my student from MCC) and her extended family and found myself warmly welcomed in the home of Jenny’s maternal grandmother and quickly surrounded by her many aunts. In no time I felt like family and spent the evening laughing and talking with Jenny and her mother, father, brother, grandmother, aunts, and cousins as we ate an absolutely delicious Korean meal. We finished the night off at a beautiful lounge that overlooked the Han River. In the midst of such a foreign, bustling city, I had made very dear friends.

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Day 14 - Changdeokgung Palace and end of the program

click on the image above to view the album

Tuesday was the last official day of the program with the Korea Foundation. The Korea Society arranged for us to have an additional day in Seoul through the Freeman Foundation (Wednesday), but our formal schedule ended Tuesday. We began the day with a trip to the Changdeokgung Palace gardens which were beautifully lush and serene. After that headed to Korea University for one last lunch, a self-guided campus tour, fill-out-the-evaluation-packet-time, and closing ceremonies. We all changed into suits/ties or dress/heels and discovered we were glad we did…the closing ceremonies were much more formal that I had anticipated. We were each recognized and given a very pretty certificate and cover emblazoned with the Korea University symbol. We soon found ourselves being ushered back onto a bus and over to the Samsung building downtown where we had a very extravagant meal to officially end the program. We got to feel like royalty one more time as we enjoyed skyline views of Seoul and watched the newly made DVD of our field trip (which we all can't wait to receive and share with our friends and families!)

Wednesday 21 July 2010

My Final Day - The Japanese Prison and the Blue House

click on the image above to view the album

One final day to make the most of Seoul…the question was could we all fight through our exhaustion to truly enjoy it? I met a few of my friends for breakfast and immediately enjoyed the pace of breakfast - if I took five extra minutes I wasn’t going to be late for anything! It was a wonderful feeling! Once we were all ready we set out for the Japanese Prison. The prison was created during the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945) and became increasingly full after the Koreans launched their rebellious March 1st independence movement in 1919. Throughout the occupation the prison was used to execute, torture, silence, and imprison the rebellious spirit of the Korean people and as we walked the grounds we could definitely sense the spirit of the people and the dark periods of oppression they had experienced.

We also wanted to see the Blue House, which is the Korean equivalent of the US White House. We walked a beautiful avenue leading up to the picturesque home which is a gigantic version of a traditional Korean home. After that we visited an English book store that was full of Korean history books (and even though I was already worried about the weight of my suitcases coming home, I found an incredibly intriguing book about North Korea and couldn’t resist). From there we branched off and I spent the afternoon wandering the Insadong market and procuring the last few gifts I needed for my family.

I spent the latter part of my afternoon attempting to pack and hoping that I could squeeze all of my new books in…(which I did!). Our last act of the day was gathering together to enjoy one last Korean BBQ (kalbi). The next morning we all navigated to the airport on our own – LeeAnn and I were forced to acknowledge that we had an embarrassingly large amount of luggage (but we both made it!), and after a fourteen hour flight to JFK we all headed our separate ways to fly on to see our families. I flew into Orlando and was greeted by my husband at the airport – who after eighteen days of dealing with the thirteen hour time difference was definitely happy to see me. After thirty hours of travel and over a month of living out of my suitcase, I was home!!! :)

I have to admit that I was more nervous to visit Korea than I have been to visit any other country. In my defense, this was the first country I visited that had a great number of customs that were truly foreign to me. But, in the end, I found myself pretty comfortable in Korea. The country is captivating and the more I have learned about Korea the more I have felt compelled to learn even more! As I strove to learn about the history and culture of the Korean people, I was reassured that a genuine interest in someone’s country, a friendly smile, and the desire to understand, goes a very long way. The Korean people didn’t expect me to know how everything works in their country, but I often found myself comforted by the kindness of strangers when I attempted to understand how everything works. Humbleness can be a beautiful bridge to understand other cultures. I am incredibly grateful and humbled to have been given the opportunity to learn about Korea first-hand so that I could learn for myself that Korea is indeed, an impressively vibrant country full of hard-working, strong, determined, prideful people who have a wonderfully rich past and an incredibly bright future.

Hodge Podge: Hanbok and Korean Baseball

Saturday 17 July 2010 and Sunday 18 July 2010
(yes, this is a little late, but better late than never!)

Day 11 - Exploring Cultural Traditions

click the image above to view the album

Saturday began with the promise of our first free day since our intense pace had began and we all pushed through Saturday with the knowledge that Sunday was ours. We started our day with lectures at Korea University. The first was an insightful lecture on US-Korean relations that even involved a Forrest Gump reference and the second was an interesting lecture on Korea’s economics that was full of lots of facts and figures that kept you thinking.

After our lectures, we enjoyed lunch in Insadong, which is quickly becoming my favorite shopping area. It stands out from other markets because many of the goods are higher quality and are classic Korean souvenirs/gifts with an artistic slant on them. After lunch, we headed to a place called the Yoo’s Family House and learned about some different aspects of Korean culture – but it was essentially a playing-Korean-house session. We did a tea ceremony and took turns pouring for each other, we made prints from wood blocks, and then we played dress-up.

Dressing up in hanbok, traditional Korean attire, was everyone’s favorite. Imagine thirty-four adult men and women dressing in bright, colorful clothing, with thirty-four cameras being passed back and forth. It was a little nuts, but a lot of fun. My friend Leeanne and I were given bridal gowns to wear, so we had extra fancy costumes! One of my other friends, Mark, ended up in a ridiculously ornate red and gold guilded outfit that would have been one of royalty (and he was loving it!). We all had a lot of fun, took way too many pictures, and laughed at how ridiculous we all looked.

Day 12 - Korean Baseball = Awesome!

click on the image above to view the album

And then we were free for Saturday night and all day Sunday! Hoorah! I am going to admit that I crashed really hard on Sunday (please bear in mind that I’ve been going non-stop since June 21). I slept in, enjoyed a leisurely morning and afternoon, and then headed to the Korean Ballgame. I had high hopes of doing so many other things, but I could feel myself recharging as I took it easy and decided it was more important to survive the remainder of the trip.

About two thirds of us attended the Korean Baseball game, and it was another event that was one of the highlights of my trip. I am not a huge baseball fan, but the experience itself was awesome! From the second we stepped off the subway we were transported into Korean-baseball-mania. Our senses were assaulted by the fragrances of dried squid and other dried fish as we reached the top of the stairs and found ourselves on street level. We were soon weaving between stands selling various forms of seafood, beer, water, and souvenirs for the game.

Click on the links below to view videos I took from the stands:
The "Mary had a Little Lamb" cheer

Some glimpses of baseball mania

The fans were hard core and were engaged in elaborate, coordinated cheers through the entire game. To enhance their noise level, the majority of the fans used thundersticks (which I quickly bought to join in the fun). The cheers were led on each side (the Giants side and the Bears side) by four dancing cheerleaders and one male who would take turns standing on a stage and leading the crowd. There were also mascots circulating through the crowd (I was on the Doosan Bear’s side) that were not your normal mascots. I watched one of the mascots pull a thunderstick out of a spectator’s hand and hit them over the head with it. When the mascot came up to the top deck, where we were all hanging out, he was very physical and friendly with the people who tried to pose for pictures with him. One of the chants that the crowd was most into was one to the tune of “Mary had a Little Lamb” and many of the other cheers involved clapping out creative rhythms with the thundersticks. The game was a LOT of fun and to make things even better, the Bears (whose side we were sitting on) won the game!

Visiting Panmunjom and the DMZ!!!

Day 10 - the DMZ and Panmunjom (Joint Security Area)

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Friday 16 July 2010

Today was intense.

Most of us woke up feeling a little edgy this morning. People visit the DMZ nearly every day without incident. But that doesn’t mean it is safe. We were about to go to one of the most tense military locations on the planet! We were all excited, but a little on edge.

I have tried to make sure this is as accurate as possible, but I do apologize if I have made a mistake.

Once we reached Imjingak village and we looked over tall barbed wire fences into an expanse of green…we knew we were about to head into the thick of it. We were allowed to take plenty of pictures here, but soon all of the rules were going into effect. To visit the DMZ you have to pre-register with South Korea’s government (with your passport) and there’s only a few agencies to work arrange your visit through. I may be wrong, but it’s my understanding that Koreans living in the Republic of Korea (South) can only get as far as Imjingak, the northernmost town.

We had ten or fifteen minutes in the village and then headed onto the first checkpoint where they looked at the zoom on our cameras and checked our passports. Then the rules that had been shared with us started to go into effect as we headed to Panjunmon, also called the “JSA” or Joint Security Area, which is the area monitored jointly by the United States, the United Nations, and the Republic of Korea. We pulled up to the JSA and were briefed in a building at Camp Bonifas, which is named after Captain Bonifas, who was killed by North Koreans during the Axe Murder incident. Captain Bonifas and a group of men were chopping down a tree that was obstructing their view of the bridge that led to North Korea. The North Koreans came across the bridge, overwhelmed the men, and murdered Captain Bonifas. The motto of the JSA is “In Front of Them All” (meaning, they’re the first line of defense for the people living in the Southern half of Korea).

So we entered Camp Bonifas and received our briefing. These are some of the rules we had to abide (some of these were disclosed before we left, some later):

1. You must wear long pants (no jeans), a collared shirt, and closed toe shoes.
2. For the shoes it’s recommended you wear ones you can run in.
3. No gum or drinking any liquids
4. Once past the checkpoint, no standing up on the bus
5. Do not put your hands in your pocket
6. Do not wave or point at anything or anyone
7. No photographs, unless told otherwise
8. Go only where the guide allows you to go – most of the green fields contain live mines
9. Do not speak/shout to anyone (meaning N Korean soldiers, or anyone on the other side)
10. If you consumed any alcohol prior to visiting the DMZ area, you cannot participate
11. No video recorders
12. Do not touch anything in the conference room
13. You must walk in two single file lines
14. You can carry nothing but your camera with you, no case, no purse, nothing that could hold weapons and make you seem suspicious to the North Koreans – meaning you had to find a place to put your passport and money…I used my money belt.
15. You must sign the Visitor Declaration form that recognizes “the visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action.”

Wow. To top it off, in one of our previous lectures we talked about North and South relations and were reminded of the recent Cheonan incident, the two women who were hiking and were arrested, and the S Korean tourist who was shot to death by N Korean military on a beach.

It’s tricky to explain all of the details of what happened after the briefing – it all happened pretty quickly, tensions were high, adrenaline was pumping a little, and so it’s kinda tricky to recount, but here’s the highlights:

We exited the JSA briefing area with our new UNCMAC Guest badge…that had the UN logo on it!!, and boarded a bus…only it wasn’t our bus, it was a military bus that was driven by a soldier. We now had an assigned guard standing at the front of the bus that was from the Republic of Korea. We were told to do everything he said. (The ROK guys have to be bigger than the average soldier, are chosen based on their appearance, their ability to fluently read and write in English and Korean, military performance, and must have a black belt in a martial art).

We drove for a while…suddenly the South Korean flag was waving on a pole as we caught a glimpse of the South Korean village of Taesong-dong (the South Korean village of people who didn’t want to relocate when the Military Demarcation Line was drawn). As we drove on the road there were two big blue poles that we drove between and we were told we were officially in the de-militarized zone – which they reminded us is ironically very militarized. Then, off in the distance we caught a glimpse of the red North Korean flag waving over Propaganda Village – wow! Fun fact? North Korea erected a flag pole in their propaganda village, the South Korean village put a boastingly tall flag pole (around 100 m) up, and to best them North Korea constructed the world’s tallest flag pole at 160 m in height.

We pulled up to the Freedom House and were ushered out of the bus and into two single file lines where we were march up and down some stairs and suddenly found ourselves outside again, this time facing conference row with the North Korean building mirroring on the other side. Wow!

I only saw soldiers on our side, but they looked fierce. We entered the conference room and they shut the door. We had two soldiers in there with us, one stood in the center of the room the other with his back to the door North Korean soldiers would enter. We were told touch nothing, do not go past the edge of this table, and we had a few seconds to take pictures – go! In succession there were 30-40 cameras powering up, lens caps popping off, and clicking commencing. I was technically past the Military Demarcation Line that ran through the center of the building and was standing in North Korea!

I managed to get a few pictures – I even dared to step near the edge of the table and our tour guide took our picture. And before I knew it “No more photos!” was shouted, and out of the corner of my eye I saw three North Korean soldiers goosestepping towards our building – I think I audibly gasped, felt my heart skip a few beats, and had a personal yikes moment. It was all real. I was suddenly incredibly aware that I was standing at one of the greatest military hotspots in the world. W were rushed out of the room with no explanation and lined up on the steps of the Freedom House, facing North Korea.

Suddenly, there were several North Korean soldiers between the MDL (the line) and their building and a flock of tourists came out onto the steps and started snapping many pictures of us. …Maybe that’s why we were supposed to dress nicely (long pants, no jeans, and a collared shirt generally spells out business attire). Hmm. Our guide suddenly said we could take photos and again we all started clicking away. “No photos” was commanded again and we were quickly led back through the building onto our bus. We drove around the building, and when we were driving by conference row we were again given photo permission…but it was taken away in seconds.

We had another “photos” and “no photos” moment when we pulled up to the Bridge of No Return that links N and S Korea, and is also the site of the Axe Murder Incident. As we drove through the demilitarized zone there was a beautiful flock of white birds (the DMZ is essentially a no man’s land and has become a haven for bird life since it is all undisturbed territory) and our guide again let us take pictures as the bus idled, but we had to be given permission to stand. “No photos.” We again drove within sight of the propaganda village with the gigantic red flag waving overhead. But, no photos. (I have since researched this, because I had a friend who went to the DMZ and had photos of the village. Typically when at the Freedom Building tourists are allowed to climb up a pagoda that has an observation deck and take pictures from above. We were not given this opportunity. I think it’s because of the sinking of the Cheonan a few months ago, but I have not confirmed this yet.) The tourists on the North Korean side went up to an upper level of their building and took pictures...they don't exactly have to worry about a US or ROK soldier arbitrarily shooting them.

We whizzed through the rest of the demilitarized zone, crossed a very creepy as-far-as-the-eye-can-see stretch of fencing and barbed wire, and soon found ourselves driving past the blue poles again. We pulled up to the JSA area and piled into the gift shop where we made a mad run on all of the goodies. I am very proud to say I am now the owner of a piece of the DMZ (I have barbed wire) and a few other cool things that will make my history classes even cooler. :)

They had switched out our buses while we were in the gift shop (they were very ninja with the bus switching) and we were headed back to safer areas. As exciting as it was we all breathed a sigh of relief as we passed the last barbed wire checkpoint and were allowed to take pictures again. Whew.

We had a great lunch – another meal where we got to cook our own beef on a table grill and had a free mid-afternoon in Seoul. I took a nap and accidentally ended up in a coma in which an alarm clock, two calls from the friend I was supposed to meet, and another friend banging on my door could not rouse me. Yikes. …I guess traveling since the night of June 20th is catching up with me. I'm sure the adrenaline rush didn't help either (although, I am relieved to say, this rush was not nearly as severe as the adrenaline rush I had during the bomb scare in the Israeli airport)

Today was an awesome one – I was always jealous of people who went to Berlin before the wall fell. Hopefully things will improve between North and South Korea and I will witness the reunification in my lifetime.

Historical Sites around Gyeongju, Bulguksa Temple, and Hyundai Heavy Industries

Day 8 - Historical Sites around Gyeongju and Bulguksa Temple

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Day 8: Wednesday 14 July 2010

Today will be a shorter entry. We visited many sites all around Gyeongju today, but they will be best described in the album. I am guilty of caving and going to pizza hut for lunch. I have eaten many traditional Korean meals in the past few days and needed something that tasted the way I expected to…and will confess…it tasted fantastic. We spent the afternoon at the Gyeongju Museum viewing many beautiful artifacts that were excavated from a few of the Silla tombs in the area. We also visited the Seokguram Grotto, which is the last official stop on the Silk Road! It is a cave carved into the side of the Gaya Mountains that houses a beautiful statue of Buddha, looking out over the valleys and at the Sea of Japan (which we could see from the hill!).

Because of the danger of being looted and pillaged along the Silk Road, “hotels” were set up along the mountain that were caves carved out of the sandstone. They were up on ledges and could only be reached by ladder. The idea is that you would carry all of the goods you were selling up to your room and then pull up your ladder so that no one could reach you or steal your goods. And thus, they carved out a cave and placed a Buddha inside to protect those on the Silk Route. Really cool!
From there we went to another UNESCO world heritage site that was absolutely beautiful – the Bulguksa Temple. We were even able to stick around and watch the monks sound the bell! I have a great video to share with my students when I get back!

And then, we enjoyed a yummy, yummy dinner of kalbi, or Korean BBQ in which we sat at tables of four with a grill in the middle of our table and grilled our own ribs (like the meal the Parks had shared with me). It was a great end to our evening and we all sat outside enjoying the weather, grilling out, laughing, and recounting our favorite experiences from the past few days.

Day 9 - Hyundai and Seoul

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Day 9: Thursday 15 July 2010

Today’s entry will be a quick one, so I’m combining these too. We were around Gyeongju and the surrounding area until about one o’clock today as we visited one last Silla tomb, Hyundai heavy industries, a seafood buffet, and a loooong 4-5 hour bus ride back to Seoul. Hyundai heavy industries was pretty cool. They make so much more than cars! The corporation was founded by a guy named Asan who built an incredible empire. Along with cars, Hyundai also constructs many different large freight and tanker ships, submarines, construction equipment, engines, industrial robots, power plants (electrical, nuclear, wind, and solar), offshore oil rigs, oil and gas plants, process equipments… you name it, they make it! We got to take a bus tour of the shipyard and dry docks and were blown away at the magnitude of the ships – holy cow! We also learned that the benefits for the employees are extremely good – education is free for everyone’s children and they have 18,000 apartments available to be rented by their employees.

Our tour guide (not our Hyundai guide, but the one who has been with us on the bus for many days), explained to us that in Korea everyone wants to graduate and work for the large corporations because the pay is much higher than smaller businesses, the benefits are much better, and it is the iconic job to have. She said the average Korean makes $2,300 a month, but the average Hyundai employee who has been working as a constructor for ten years makes $5,000 a month. Big difference. She says there is a major need for people in the smaller industries because everyone desires to work for the large companies (Hyundai, Samsung, LG, etc) that it’s all or nothing – some people continue on the graduate school rather than work for a small company.

We are supposed to have a free evening when we arrive in Seoul tonight and I think we’re all looking forward to a few hours of shopping and leisure time – it’s been a crazy schedule during the field trip, but an absolutely amazing one.

Tomorrow….we are going to the DMZ! I am 98% excited and about 2% apprehensive…but I think the apprehensive part of me is the part that will keep me grounded in reality and will keep my wits about me tomorrow. I’m so excited about it, but cognizant that this is not the place to mess around or bend rules. I will take pictures wherever I can, but can genuinely guarantee that there will not contraband pictures.

Learning the Confucian way at Oksan Seowon and Yangdong Village

Day 7: Oksan Seowon and Yangdong

Day 7: Oksan Seowon and Yangdong Village

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Today was one of my favorite days of the trip. We did two things that I can genuinely say I would have never had the opportunity to do on my own. We began our day by visiting a Confucian Shrine-Academy called “Oksan Seowon.” To reach Oksan Seowon we had to enter the woods and step down a beautiful trail that led us over a stream to the walled-in academy in the mountains. We walked through the academy and all sat down on a large open porch to listen to Dr. Peterson’s lecture. (this means that we removed our shoes, stepped up onto the wooden porch with socks, and sat on the floor in whichever way was most comfortable). The main focus of this lecture was Korean education – we were in an academy after all. We talked about the exam system that existed in Korea for centuries and the tests that people would take to become civil servants, leaders in the military, or technical positions (lawyers, doctors, accountants, scientists, and translators). There were three levels of exams in the civil service category (which was the most difficult and seen with the greatest regard) that were at the provincial, national, and palace level. For the national civil service exam, it was only offered every 3 years (although over time, that rule was bent and it was offered more frequently) and only 33 people pass the exam every time. I hadn’t realized it was that difficult an exam! Wow!

After about an hour and a half we left the beautifully peaceful academy and headed to lunch in Yangdong Village. The village was wonderful. The village is maintaining the exterior of its facilities as it was during the Choson dynasty. The houses were all nestled in among the hills and were all tucked away down one garden path after the other. The homes had gates that led into the courtyards of beautiful thatched houses. It was just precious.

We started out with a lunch in which we sat on the floor at low tables and enjoyed a meal of rice and many of the classic dishes. From there Dr. Peterson took us on a tour of the village and led us up and down many earthen pathways and described his connection to the village. Dr. Peterson has a long running relationship in Yangdong and has been there many times, both on his own and with students. He actually brought a group of BYU students to the village to stay for six weeks. The village agreed to allow him to stay with 15-20 students in a house in the village and because they were students refused to allow them to pay any rent. On a different occasion a couple invited Dr. Peterson, his family, and sixteen students to live with them and cooked them meals for over a month…again for free. The generosity of the Korean people astounds me. He explained that they worked in the village and taught English to the village children to return the favor. But still…how amazing! The simplicity of the village, the peacefulness of the sleepy mountains all around them, and the closeness with nature was just wonderful.

After visiting many significant spots around the village we had the distinct honor of meeting with the village elder who was the 17th elder in his family. Wow. We were invited to sit on his large meeting porch (again with socks, communally of the floor all at the same level), as his wife offered us cold plum tea, watermelon slices, and homemade rice cakes. The village is very Confucian. As elder he is the leader of the people and has a duty to respect and take care of them, as they are very loyal and respectful to him as well. He openly admitted that it was a little awkward to sit in the meeting hall with all of us, because women from the village do not meet on the porch with men.

We sat mystified as Dr. Peterson translated back and forth between us. We learned that his grandfather had protested the Japanese occupation by not cutting his ponytail after the top-knot decree and refused to enter the Japanese education system. He also explained some of the finer details of some of the five Confucian relationships, discussing especially the relationship between parent and child. He outwardly claimed Confucianism is a living/practiced belief system, not a religion. And he said “democracy is not the best thing for Korea, but it is probably better than anything else.” It was all fascinating! At the end of our meeting he said he was going to go to dinner with us but we had to promise not to ask him any more questions, he explained that he finds speaking as the sole representative of his village is a very heavy burden because he feels great responsibility as the only one explaining the perspectives and beliefs of his people. Wow. I can guarantee you that we left him alone.

We enjoyed a really unique dinner at a lotus restaurant that creatively served all parts of the lotus plant and flower within the meal. The breaded seed pods that were lightly fried and then cooked in yellow curry were my favorite. It was really great food. I had had a few iffy meals at lunch and at dinner the previous night, so I was very hungry and ate unabashedly. And yes, after sitting on the floor for an hour and a half at the academy, about an hour for lunch, another hour for a lecture in the village on Korean literature, and an hour or two with the village elder, we ate dinner at the lotus restaurant on the floor. My age gave me away, because I was feeling pretty decent and everyone else was miserable. We ended the dinner with a great performance of a traditional pansoori song from one of the elder’s sons as he boldly stood in front of forty of us and sang. We boarded the bus and drove away waving vigorously add the elder and his family as they stood in modern clothing, grinning, and waving right back. It was a perfect way to end an amazing day.

A Day Delay....(Mrs. Hals needs some sleep!)

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the entire trip...so I have LOTS of pictures and lots of information to share! Today was another busy day that involved quite a few interesting stops. I am exhausted. And thus, I am officially behind.

I will post as much as I can very soon. Things to look forward to? I will tell you of my visit to a Confucian Academy in the mountains, a visit to a beautiful village that still exists as it did during the Choson dynasty, and a conversation our group had with a 17th generation village elder on his five hundred year old porch! Sounds amazing? It was!

We are spending the morning at Hyundai tomorrow, but I have four or five hours on the bus in the afternoon to nap, listen to Dr. Peterson's lectures, and work on catching up on the blog, and I fully intend on doing so!

More very soon! :)

Haeinsa, Tripitaka Koreana, and the Silla Tombs

Day 6: Monday 12 July 2010

Day 6 - Haeinsa and Silla Tombs

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If anyone has questions, please don't hesitate to ask me! I would be more than happy to work on getting an answer for you - and comments are always appreciated!

We checked out of our beautiful hotel and headed on for Haeinsa. I was especially excited about this excursion – and it did not disappoint!

Generally you have to hike up the hill as part of the process of readying yourself to enter the Buddhist Temple. Here two there are gates that protect you as you pass through them. Technically, walking up the entire mountain would be a multi-day journey, again to prepare you for your arrival on sacred grounds. Due to time constraints we actually drove up most of it, which was a little disappointing, but by doing so we witnessed the sounding of the bell that called everyone to prayer. The sounding of the fish calls all of the creatures of the seas, the cloud calls all the birds and heavens, the drum calls all the animals on earth, and the ringing of the bell temporarily relieves those in hell from anguish and calls the people to prayer.

We made it into the Haeinsa Temple complex with enough time to hear the bell sounding and then witness the prayer service. We watched the beauty of the service as one of the monks voices lilted through the courtyard that overlooked rolling green Gaya mountain range that peaked out from misty clouds. The interior of the main temple was very beautiful, but again, taking pictures would have been offensive.

We were soon led to lunch and briefed on the “rules” about how to eat among the Buddhist monks. There were two rules. One, no talking. Two, everything on your plate must be eaten. So, we approached the buffet style line (that contained a few modest dishes) and carefully placed food on our plates that we knew we would have to finish ourselves. We ate quietly, contemplatively, and reflectively. It was actually quite nice and made you reflect on how much food you truly needed. Some of us were more concerned about being able to finish all of our food than others, but we all made it!

After lunch, we visited the Tripitaka Koreana, which was something I was very excited to see! This is a collection of woodblocks that the Buddhist monks carved to create a comprehensive collection of the Buddhist documents on 81, 258 wooden blocks. The Mongols invaded in the 1200’s and burned the collection to the ground, but the monks persevered and recarved the blocks in 16 years. Thus we stood outside one of the most comprehensive collections of Buddhist documents, admiring the 700+ year old works. Pretty awesome.

We enjoyed the nice long walk down the mountain as we wound through the peaceful forest path that ran along side a beautiful babbling brook. Our next stops were sights that were of historical relevance to the beginnings of the Silla Dynasty, which historians claim lasted from 57 BCE – 918 CE. It was originally one of four dominant kingdoms, but later unified the peninsula in 668 CE under its authority. Our first site was the site of an old well that was claimed to be the place where the Bak Hyeokgoese, the first Silla King, was discovered. We also visited Orung which means “five tombs” and houses most of the first five Silla Kings. Last, we went to another well site where Alyonyjong, the woman who became the first king’s wife, was supposedly found.

Dinner was a classic Korean table dinner where we sat on the floor and ate a meal from the many different dishes on the table which ranged from potatoes, mushrooms, kim chi, shark, and whole fish that stared you in the eye. My pictures don’t truly do justice to the beautiful sights of the Gaya Mountains that I soaked in as a stood at the steps of the Haeinsa temple, but hopefully you will enjoy them just the same. It was a wonderful day - I could spend hours standing at the steps of the temple soaking in the beauty of the Gaya mountains as they slip in and out of fog.

Field Trip! King Sejong's Tomb and Cheongju

Day 5: Sunday 11 July 2010

Day 5: King Sejong's Tomb and the Cheongju Printing Museum

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Our field trip starts today! We are taking a five day field trip to explore some of the historical sites around the rest of the Southern peninsula. Today we started out with a two-ish hour drive to see King Sejong’s Royal Tomb. When we got there Dr. Peterson explained that when entering tombs or other holy sites there are three paths. The central path is usually raised, or more ornate, and is designated for the spirits. Thus, as a humble person you enter on the right and walk the path on the right side to enter and then walk the path on the left side when you exit. You also pass through several gates on the way that guard against. As you pass through the gates, you are preparing yourself to be on sacred ground.

When we reached the tomb, there were stone statues of men, rams, and tigers all guarding the tomb, as well as a stone altar to offer the spirit food. King Sejong was the leader of the Choson dynasty who created the hangul alphabet for the common man. Before this point Koreans used Chinese characters, but the amount of time needed to thoroughly learn all of them meant that only scholars and elite were literate. King Sejong wanted to created a way of communicating that would be open to all. He also greatly encouraged scientific research and development and there are many useful inventions from this time that were either created by King Sejon himself or were constructed with the help of his patronage.

After we left the tomb, we headed to a different city for lunch which was a very traditional dish, chicken ginseng soup. Each of us received a bowl full of still boiling liquid with a small baby chicken that had been stuffed with rice, dates, chestnuts, and ginseng, and then boiled for hours. It was delicious. We had a few spare minutes after lunch and walked through some really neat shops and markets.

Then we headed to the Cheongju Printing Museum where the world’s first moveable type printing press was created in 1377, seventy-eight years prior to Gutenberg. We learned how the monks made the character stamps with beeswax, clay slurry, and bronze. The only Cheongju printing press left is currently in France. It’s a point of contention, but the French claim they bought it and have the receipt.

After exploring the process and the museum, we were led to the “experience room” to make our own books. Which sounds like fun, right? It wasn’t. It was neat to take paper and get an ink rubbing from a woodprint and it was fun to decorate our covers by rubbing them on woodboards with wax…but…there was a very specific way they wanted us to do everything. This was not an open, friendly crafts project. If we messed up they took the book/material out of our hand, impatiently did it for us, and handed it right back. If it wasn’t perfect it was not okay. And we soon found ourselves trapped, trying to perfectly compile our book so that we could get out of there. We made paper too – but I messed up a tiny bit when I did it myself and the woman scraped my work off, threw it back in the water and then did it for me…but made me “help” as she did everything for me. I was bummed because I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, but was really not.

Once we were done the bus took us to our hotel and we actually had tome time to crash – I took a thirty minute nap!! We enjoyed a great buffet dinner and were free. I walked around town with some other teachers – and called it a night! Another great day!

Korea's National Museum and Miso

Day 4: Saturday 10 July 2010

Day 4: Nat'l Museum and Miso

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We started off our day with two lectures at Korea University. The first was about the demography of Korea. The country has urbanized quickly. 80% of Korea’s population was once living in the countryside, in a matter of decades, 80% of Korea’s population now lives in the cities. Thus, apartments are a sign of success and wealth as opposed to a rural house. There are some interesting trends in Korea, such as the dip in the fertility rate in Korea. As of 2005, the fertility rate dropped to 1.08, the lowest rate in the world (except for HongKong and Taiwan). There was a decrease from 6.2 to 1.08 from 1960 to 2005. Why? Because the emphasis on education and attending university has heightened and been applied to women as well, so women are waiting longer to have children and are having less children. There’s less space for children in apartments and the amount of money Korean families pour into education and extra classes for their students is astronomical, so less is more.

There is also a traditional preference for boys that has not left society yet. The preference of boys was further enabled and caused further gender imbalance by the ability to determine gender with ultrasound. This causes a surplus of men who want wives, but girls want to marry city boys, where life is easier, not marry farmers. To find enough females to marry the men, Korea is going to have to open to international marriages; nearly 50% in the countryside are international marriages; in the urban environment around 11%; 25% of marriages in the country are international marriages. For the farmers, many are using agencies to find girls in Thailand or the Philippines to bring to Korea and marry.

We also had a lecture on Modern Korea that was given by a very dynamic professor who had a lot of inside stories. After that was ate a quick lunch and were headed to the National Museum of Korea where we were briefed by the museum director himself. We learned about the history of the museum and how the artifacts were collected. Then we were provided with a tour of the museum and were able to see the famous Silla crown, several beautiful Buddha statues, and many other beautiful statues, pots, etc.

We ate a delicious dinner in the museum. It was a very traditional Korean dish in which you have several different vegetables in a large bowl, you add in rice, the other dishes on your tray, and red chili paste. You mix them all together and yummy!

We spent an hour wandering around a little section of Seoul before the show started and ran into a fish restaurant alley. One shop after the other offered different types of fish. Almost all the shops had fish aquariums in the window to advertise. Puffer fishes, eels, you name it.

The theatre production, Miso, was very good! A young girl falls in love with a boy who is called up to the military. While he’s away a local magistrate is infatuated with the young girl and asks her to be with him. She turns him down and he locks her in prison. Her true love comes and breaks her out of jail and they have a beautiful wedding. There wasn’t any talking, but lots of music, a singing narrator, and lots of dancing. My favorite scenes? There is an awesome drum song where a very involved rhythm created with 10 or 15 people drumming at different tempos to create a really cool song. My other favorite scene would be the man tassels – there were four guys who wore hats with tassels that had a six foot white ribbon attached that by gently nodding their head would swirl around like the ribbons in rhythmic gymnastics. …They even did them in a coordinated way all in time together. It was pretty cool. The costumes were all traditional Korean clothes that were very bright and colorful. At the end of the show, the actors and actresses all climbed up the stairs of the theatre and led everyone out to the courtyard where they did another dance and then posed with us to give us a chance to take pictures with the performers.

We are all in the midst of packing because we head on our field trip tomorrow! Everything is awesome so far! :)

Korea University Seminars, Teaching at Daeil High School, and a Home Visit!

Day 3: Friday, 9 July 2010

Day 3: Korea University and Daeil High School!

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We met very early this morning to head to Korea University and were really quite a comical site. We are all dressed professionally for our university seminars and also for our guest teaching sessions this afternoon. But, we are also all hauling all of our presents, trinkets, teaching materials, etc in various travel bags for our epically long day. We also have gift bags/wrapped presents that we are carrying for the family that will be hosting us tonight.

Korea University is beautiful! Really, absolutely beautiful. The campus reminds me of Duke if the stones were a different color. Korea University is one of the “SKY” universities. These are the three dream universities for Korean students; SNU is the best. (Seoul National University). The two rival contenders after that are KU and YU; Korea University and Yonsei University (So S-K-Y…get it?). Annually 870,000 students apply to these three schools, 15,000 attend. To be accepted the most crucial element of your application is an extremely high pressure content based test that they say is most easily translated as “Korea SAT”. A university student told me today that each question you miss on the test could be the difference between getting into a really great school or a not so great school, and to miss five questions or more would be a disaster. Pressure is incredibly high.

For us, the honor of attending lectures at KU is amazing. We pulled up to the campus and our jaws dropped, it was beautiful. Then, we entered the International Studies Hall and were shown to our seminar room, and again, we were very impressed. The seminar room that we were assigned was a beautiful, formal conference room with long tables, individual mics, and executive chairs. We also were given a packet full of books, lecture notes, pens, a name tag, and a formal placard to identify us at our seat. We were then told that we would be the only people in the room over the next two weeks, so our work area is our own. Very awesome!

We had a lecture with a very dynamic, expressive professor named Mikyung Chang that was entitled “Easy Korean.” I regret to inform you that Korean is not easy. …Not at all. There are 28 characters, but it is based on sounds. …Only you combine the characters to combine sounds. Consonants can’t be alone. You can combine up to three different characters and then have to throw the phonetic sounds together. …It’s very difficult. My name basically has to be Beh-tuh Hallsah…or something like that. You can check the picture for what it actually looks like. I had to get some help. Luckily she ended the lecture with lessons on how to say some basic, essential phrases. I still have a fear of butchering them, but I am going to continue to try to get it right!

Our next lecture was on North-South Korean relations. There were a few nuggets I found especially intriguing. According to Dr. Seongwhun, North Koreans make about 50 dollars a month and 40,000 people are working to provide for 200,000 people. The total population of North Korea is unknown. The South Korean government actually provides assistance for infants and children in North Korea in terms of milk/formula and medical support (like anti-malarial medication, vaccinations, etc). Industrial workers receive basic living goods as payment; rice coupons, clothes coupon, etc. and one of the benefits of being an industrial worker is that in some of the factories you have a better chance of getting a regular warm, regular shower (at work after their shift). North Korea does not have air conditioning in the summer or heat in the winter. These were just a few things, but were some that I thought you might find especially interesting. We also discussed possibilities of unification, which the professor said he believes is feasible in time, especially because he believes North Koreans are becoming more globally aware, which makes them more aware of the disparity between the quality of life in North and South Korea and more likely to demand change.

When we pulled up to the school and there was a full out banner welcoming us as honored guests at Daeil Foreign Language High School and my stomach sunk just a little bit as I had the thought, what have I gotten myself into? The nerves started kicking in. We took the elevator and were greeted by students holding signs to individually greet all 35 of us! How awesome! Then, we were told that these were the students were from the classes we would be momentarily teaching and that this was also the student who would be taking us to their homes!

Our classroom experience went very well. We were very warmly greeted by a group of energetic students and dove in! I had two MCC foam bees that went to the two students who won the map challenge we posed. That broke the ice. After that we put them in groups and my partner and I gave out our gifts. Greg had brightly colored bracelets with a note and a pin (like the one Obama wears) and I passed out the postcards my students brought in this spring. The postcards each had messages on them from my students. The Korea students were very excited! The postcards were a huge hit and I used them as a conversation piece for a while, as I shared different things about Florida and got them to speak up and participate. I asked them if anyone had special locations on their postcards and used that to cue my transition to the Kennedy Space Center. I polled the students on what they knew about NASA, shared some fun facts with them, and talked about what kinds of food astronauts eat and then I got to share my freeze-dried ice cream with them – they loved it! The kids were very excited and enthusiastic. My partner Greg then dove in and did a quick lesson on Einstein and his quest as a historian to discover whether Einstein had lived in Greg’s home in NJ or not. (He did!)

The class period was over before we knew it and soon we found ourselves heading to a gift giving ceremony and then met with a teacher from the high school and had the opportunity to pepper him with questions. When we asked about discipline, while he said it is not normally an issue, he informed us that they use corporal punishment. He also explained that to become a teacher you have to pass a government exam to be a public teacher.

After that we met up with our students and they took us home. Taeyeon was very shy at first, but opened up quickly. She showed me her room and pictures and continually asked me questions – especially about my travels. Her mom was very very sweet and her dad worked for Samsung and was very gracious as well. They lived in a Samsung apartment with a beautiful view of the Han River. Dinner was excellent - beef, romaine leaves, hot noodles, kim (seaweed) which you would wrap with rice, and other delicious dishes. I was so flattered that they had gone through so much trouble! They even had a gift for me, a beautiful Korean mirror set. The mirror is supposed to reflect hope of a beautiful life, or something along those lines, I think some of the meaning was lost in translation. I gave them a Wynton Marsalis CD, a favorite of mine and my husband – I really hope they like it!

To end the evening, we went for a walk along the Han River in a beautiful public park. There were many families strolling through the park and young couples picnicking on blankets in the grass. It was a perfect end to the day as Taeyeon, her mother, and myself walked and talked about travel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, marriage, the strength of Korean women, and many other things. They dropped me back at the hotel and many of us (teachers) gathered in the lobby to relax and share our experiences. We all had fantastic times! It really was an incredible experience – the Kims welcomed me so warmly. I was truly touched.

My beginning days as a Korea Society Summer Fellow

The past three days have been amazing and I can only imagine what is in store for the next thirteen! They went easy on us for the two days they considered jet-lag days, but we are now in the midst of an unrelenting schedule that has us booked from sun-up past sun-down. We have quite an adventure ahead of us! The Korea Foundation and Korea University have also rolled out the red carpet for us – we truly are receiving the royal treatment!


Day 1: Wednesday 7 July 2010

Day 1: The Korean War Memorial

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Tuesday morning, I woke up early, and checked out of the hotel. The Park family insisted on helping me navigate the city and make it to meet up with the teacher’s program. Before I knew it we were in the lobby and I was amongst a number of teachers who were all weary from a long trans-Pacific flight. We were mixed in with teachers from both group 1 and group 2 and headed over to the Korean War Memorial. They only had a limited number of seats on the bus, so group one and a few volunteers (myself included) took the subway. **I should note that spending a day with the Parks really gave me an edge…I had a subway pass already, I have seen many shopping areas, I have a lot of inside information about cultural practices from the conversations I’ve had with Jenny…it’s been helpful! : )

We arrived at the Korean War Memorial and were given about thirty minutes to walk around and check things out. I had enough time to walk the grounds and view many of the monuments and historical vehicles, but did not have enough time to explore the museum. As someone who is intrigued by modern history, I have put it on my to-do list and hope to return to the museum in my free time. The monuments were stunning. I am always interested in what symbolism has been incorporated into a monument. One of the statues was a large bronze statue of two brothers embracing each other. The brothers had fought on opposing sides and their faces are wrought with emotion. They are standing on top of a dome that is separated with very jagged edges to symbolize the current separation of the peninsula, but also the hope that they can become reunited at a later date.

There were many rows of military vehicles and weapons to check out including B-52 bombers, Korean fighter planes, US cargo planes, many different tanks and weapons, ships, and my favorite – the missiles. After running around in the sun trying to make every second count I was relieved to collapse in a chair in the auditorium for our first guest speaker. We were extremely fortunate to be graced with the presence of General Paik Sun Yup who was one of the generals leading the Republic of Korea’s military during the Korean War. Even as an elderly gentleman of ninety, he passionately described his version of the war. It is always extremely interesting to listen to different people’s interpretations of events, and this was no different. His lecture style was interesting and was different from the US story-based lecture style. It was such an incredible honor to hear his story!

The remainder of our day was spent getting lunch at a local department store food court. We were mesmerized by the extravagance and multitude of choices in the food court. Afterward, we were deemed free and were able to rest, explore, etc. We each crashed in our own way and prepared for our next adventure.

 
Day 2: Thursday, 8 July 2010

Day 2: The National Folk Museum

For day two, we headed to the National Folk Museum and were given time to explore the grounds and museum on our own. After having read a detailed book on Korean life and culture, I really enjoyed the life and culture section of the museum that confirmed the different facts I had read and gave me the opportunity to see pictures or artifacts from the rituals and ceremonies I had read about. I was really drawn to the beauty of the Korean craftwork.

After this, we headed to Insadong, a local shopping area, for lunch and shopping. We really enjoyed our wanderings – this shopping area has a little more artsy feel and many of the goods were more customized and tailored. We grabbed a cab with enough time to clean up and prepare for our orientation dinner. At the dinner, we were briefed on the mission of the Korea Foundation, the sponsor of our program and served a beautiful dinner. Again, we were flattered and felt very warmly welcomed!
And then we received our schedule for day three…and braced ourselves.