Gyeongbokgung Palace

In the few weeks since I arrived, I have met a few Koreans my age, most of them from contacts back in America. While hanging out with Koreans has not been as effortless as it is with the other Americans in my program, it can be refreshing to not be around the same environment.

A boss of mine in Washington introduced me to her niece via e-mail, a young woman who is now studying in Seoul. On Saturday I met her for a tour of some of the city's more famous ancient sites, not knowing that the niece knows very little English. It was an interesting few hours, but it also reminded me that when I come back in September I'm going to have many similarly basic conversations. The idea of being limited to the vocabulary of a 10-year-old is daunting, but I still had a good time on Saturday, so it can't be too bad.

Gyeongbokgung is a reconstructed palace originally built in the 14th century. The site, which could be compared to many sites in Washington or Boston in terms of national importance, was surprisingly quiet. Tourists wandered through the grounds and slipped off their shoes before touring the old royal chambers.

Describing tourist sites makes for pretty dry reading, so I just included some of my better photos.




Lunch was buckwheat noodles in a red-pepper sauce, with the bonus of chunks of ice for the hot day, (this whole week is going to be about 85 degrees).

On the way back to the subway, we walked by one of the larger roundabouts in northern Seoul. The roundabout is also apparently on the path from Seoul City Hall to the president's Blue House, (equivalent to the White House). To stop U.S. beef protests from pushing on to the House, (50,000 people marched on Saturday night), the police put bus barricades across the street and post riot police in front of them.

I wasn't able to get any great photos of the barricades, but they are basically refitted police shuttles with riot shields and metal over the windows. Korean street protests can turn violent pretty quickly, last week protestors were pulling the buses back through sheer manpower as the police advanced. Even though I live relatively close to the protests, I must admit I haven't seen any or even heard them since I have been here. I don't know how welcome a white face would be at the rallies, so I don't plan to get too close any time in the future.