5/15/11: The First Day

Not surprisingly, jetlag and tight travel schedules combined to make me fall behind on posting right from the start, so I apologize if the chronology of these first few catch-up posts is a bit confusing. The posts are written according to the dates I’ve put in the titles, not according to the dates they were actually posted.
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We arrived in Seoul yesterday afternoon after a 14-hour flight with Korean Air. The flight was surprisingly comfortable, with the most leg-room I’ve ever seen in economy class, but we were all extremely tired by the time we got to the Lotte City Hotel in Gongdeok-dong. Of course, thanks to our internal clocks, we nevertheless woke up bright and early today (5:30am).



A peaceful path at Ewha, on the way to the language center.

Around mid-morning, we took a shuttle to Ewha Womans University to see the campus where I’ll be studying later this summer. The Ewha campus is famously beautiful, and I think it lived up to our expectations. It was very peaceful and refreshing to walk around; it probably was especially quiet because it was a Sunday morning. The flowerbeds were all in full bloom as well along the main walkways. Although we didn’t make it all the way around the whole campus, we did find the building where the Ewha Language Center is based. Conveniently, Severance Hospital (where I’ll be receiving allergy treatments) is literally right across the street from the ELC building.

Just across from the Ewha main gate, we popped into a FamilyMart (a ubiquitous chain convenience store) to buy T-money cards for the subway. (It turns out that you can also use T-money to buy snacks and drinks at FamilyMart.) We then headed to Changdeok Palace (창덕궁) for a tour of the secret garden (비원), also known as the rear garden (후원). I'll have a separate post about Changdeok Palace so that I can better do it justice with plenty of captioned photos. For now, here's a teaser ;)

According to the tour guide, this is Korea's (and maybe the
world's?) only pavilion with a double, hexagonal roof.

After Changdeok Palace, we took the subway to meet my future home-stay host. She drove us to her apartment in Eungbong-dong, Seongdong-gu, where she lives with her husband and 16-year-old daughter (who I think may actually be 14 or 15 by American counting; Koreans often count age from conception, and sometimes also add a year on January 1^st instead of on one’s actual birthday). She also has an older daughter studying abroad in an American high school. The family lives in an 18^th floor apartment with a truly spectacular view of the Han River – I was amazed when I stepped into their living room! Thanks to my host’s generosity, I was able to drop off my violin and a small extra bag for safekeeping so I won’t have to lug them around while touring the country. My host also lent us two Korean cellphones – I’m so happy to be able to text in Hangeul ^_^.



In the evening, we went to Korea House (한국의집) for dinner. Korea House, which features traditional Joseon architecture, was originally the private home of a famous Joseon scholar-politician, Bak Paeng-Nyeon. Nowadays, it is a popular tourist destination because it offers traditional meals followed by a performance of traditional Korean music and dances. In classic Korean fashion, meal was quite elaborate, with a large variety of small dishes. The music and dance performance showcased several traditions, but unfortunately we were all so jetlagged that we kept nodding off throughout the whole thing – except for during the pungmul (풍물) performance, in which the handheld gongs kept us wide awake. The intricate patterns created by the long ribbon attached to the sangmo (상모) headdress were also fascinating to watch.