First Month Shenanigans

It's official: first month in South Korea DOWN! 

It has been everything from confusing, frustrating, enchanting and exciting. Along with everything that comes with moving to a new country - anticipation mixed with anxiety - there is also that adventurous spirit that wants to see and do as much as possible during those first days. I suppose it's my way of explaining that 'honeymoon phase' of culture immersion. So of course, throughout my first week here, jet-lagged and rushing to adapt to a new routine, I was consciously trying to think of all those things I wanted to do as soon as the weekend came along. I thought I had everything laid out, and I was pretty sure I knew what to expect from this first month. But of course, as it's often the case when it comes to life, there were some unexpected surprises along the way. 

So, here's the summary of the beginning of this new chapter:

1. I'm living alone. Totally and utterly alone. 

It really didn't set it that I was going to be living in my own place for the first time in my life until I moved to a second apartment at the end of my first week here. For the most part of my life, I had lived at home with my family. And when I haven't, I've lived with roommates or a host family. My new apartment came in with a bed, a washing machine, a shower head, a refrigerator and a stove. It was during having to buy appliances, taking a desk from the neighbor's trash and setting up a clothing rack that I realized how much in control I was of my living space. And it was exciting and a little bit unnerving. How did this much time go by with me never having my own space? 

I like my little apartment. It's small and a bit ratchet, but it's mine. Totally and utterly mine. 

2. Cherry Blossom Festival at Yeouido 

Now, growing up as the anime fan that I was, am, will always be, I always  knew that cherry blossoms indicated the beginning of spring and every wonderful and magical thing that comes with it. There was always something about those cherry blossoms fly and float in such an enchanting way in those shows that made it all seem like something that could not happen in the real world. 

But thank art for imitating life. Or is it the other way around? No matter. Thank art. Thank life.

I researched the best places to go and enjoy the cherry blossoms and found out that basically, everywhere is where you can go and enjoy the cherry blossoms. They literally are everywhere, and no matter where you get to see them, their delicate way of morphing your view into something so delicate and pure is unmissable.
We went to a park lined with cherry blossom trees called Yeouido. It was crowded and filled with booths selling food, medical care and counsel(yes), art and toys. There were street performers such as dancers, comedians, magicians and singers. It definitely had the essence of a festival. One of my favorite moments were stumbling under this one musician who sat down as the sun was setting to play his guitar. There were multicolored lights under the trees, and as it got darker, they softly started to illuminate the place. So imagine this man under the cherry blossoms, playing his guitar, and the lights palpitating blue, green, red and white. There was something so surreal about the whole thing, I loved it. Plus he was a pretty good guitar player. 

3. Sandulsori Botanical Garden

One of the perks of working at my school is that every Thursday we have either a field trip or an event in school. Which means, a) I get to see some cool places for free, and b) No teaching! 

One of these trips were to a botanical garden about 30-40 minutes drive from the school. Which that on itself was a plus, because even though you're out and about chaperoning 30-35 children, the fact that you're away from the school really does something to the mood of the kids and the teachers: it's way more relaxing, I feel. The kids were excited and it was a very nice day to be outside. It was the first time I got close to a mountain while living here (and if you know me, you know that I'm all about mountains and dragons). It was so beautiful. 

The kids watching the tadpoles 

It was nice to see the kids outside the classroom setup. It was nice to get to socialize with the other teachers also, since we don't really get that chance during regular school hours. And what a place, honestly. It had all these enchanting nooks where I just wanted to get lost in. There was a small river covered with cherry blossoms that went I'm not sure where, but would definitely love to go back and explore. 

4. Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)

I had read about this place before coming to Korea. What made me want to go here was the fact that they have 20,000 LED lit roses 'planted' on their courtyard. Why wouldn't anyone want to go see that? 

It's basically this wonderland of lights and roses that could almost pass as beautifully fallen stars. It's breathtaking.

The view at night was enchanting, but I was also really pleased to explore the DDP during the day. The whole plaza is basically an art exhibit and a small historical museum. I learned a little bit about the history surrounding the Seoul wall (didn't really know that was a thing) and got to see small bits of archaeological sites around the plaza (which is always a win in my book no matter where). Walking through the corridors and hallways of the plaza itself is pretty trippy. I just had never really seen something like that before, so of course all of the visual senses were on overload. 

5. Lotte World

This was a happy accident. We were supposed to have a field trip with the school to a farm but the forecast said that it wasn't going to be a good day to be outside. So we were told that we were going to go to an amusement park instead. 

"Ah, ok, because rain in amusement parks in Korea is not a big deal. Got it."

Well, this turns out to be an indoor amusement park... which that in itself was something I didn't know existed either and was really curious to see what it was all about. Well, not only is this the biggest indoor amusement park in Korea, but it's the biggest one in the whole world. 

So, of course, because we were chaperoning little people, I was pretty limited on which rides to get on. But I did get to see a roller coaster that seemed to go through two floors. Oh, there's six floors to this place, by the way. There were also this 'hot air balloons' that went through the entire place which I would have loved to get on, they seemed pretty legit. We rode the Sinbad ride, which... we probably should have read or asked someone about it before hand because the kids were petrified through the entire thing, and I had to do the whole momma chicken with her chicks under her wings thing with three of the kids.

But anyway, it was fun. It was pretty massive and didn't really get to see all of it, so hopefully somewhere along the line I'll find myself back there. For the big people rides of course! 

6. Donggureung Royal Tombs

I really feel like this in itself deserves its own blog post. I might do that eventually in the future... This has definitely been one of the highlights of my time here. It's basically the graveyard of nine of the kings and queens of the last dynasty of Korea. And it's pretty much in the middle of the city of Guri, but once you step in, it feels like you must have driven at least an hour outside of any form of civilization. All of the tombs are surrounded by a thick forest and it really shuts down the noises of a busy street and city outside. 

While walking up to one of the tombs we got a glimpse of the city outside this little bubble of times past

The tombs were something I had never pictured before in my life. Then again, considering these were pretty major kings and queens of the very last dynasty of Korea, there is no surprise of them being so majestic. There are only a couple of hills open so that you can actually get to see the tombs closely. Most of them are off limits though, but I did read and it seems that most all tombs have the exact same set up; a mound surrounded by at least 9 statues. 

I loved this place. Although it's really well organized, it also gives the opportunity to get lost in the woods and get off the beaten path. We actually did that, and it was so much fun! But then we saw a sign that we're pretty sure meant 'Be careful of wild boar' so we decided to get out of the forest, because boars are scare. But we did get to see a doe running through one of the mounds!

Baby doe barely visible, but he's there!

So... I'm going to stop it here. It's been a busy month, and the beginning of the second is not looking any quieter so far. I'm really happy with what I've done and gotten to see so far. This city is... so not like anything I had prepared myself for it to be. And I'm loving it.