Yesterday was an extremely intense day. I woke up around 6:30am, and we were all on busses by about 8. We went to a traditional Folk Village -- of which I have over a hundred photos. In it, buildings were set up to be like a traditional peasant's house and a traditional rich man's house, as well as various shrines, mills, performance arenas, and a Buddhist Temple. There was even an amusement park with a Viking Section (didn't go), and a Haunted House (did go, it was...alright. Really long.) Early into the trip I met my buddy(Sue) through SISS and some of her friends(Jin Tsu and Chon Ye, maybe. I probably butchered both of those), I pretty much stuck with them for the entirity of the Village.
While here we got to see a traditional music/dance performance, which was amazing -- I have a few videos of it, but they don't do it justice. The traditional outfits are all colorful, and they have various hats on their heads -- one with a few colored pompoms, like a clown, one with a giant flower, and one with large streamers. It was like something out of Dr. Seuss.
Afterwards we got to see a traditional tight-rope walker guy. Apparently what he said between crossings was hilarious, and the show was a mix of comedy/suspense. Sue translated some of it, so I can vouch it sounded pretty funny, but it's really not the same as knowing the meaning as he speaks. Oh well.
We went to a Traditional Wedding Ceremony, which was sort of interesting. The man and woman didn't really touch or get very close at all during the procession, and the whole thing was fairly short. Not my favorite part, but it was alright.
It was pretty cool hanging with Sue and her friends (and some of my friends), they were very helpful and sweet. Also, two of them speak Japanese (Better than me, Sue's major is Japanese), so I can get even more practice.
When we had some free time, we checked out the haunted house -- already noted somewhat of a dissappointment, and the Buddhist Temple. The Temple was amazing -- even the path to get there was great. We had to cross a river, and it was surrounded by woods, and the gates and buildings were all magnificent. I can't do it justice through describing it, nor do my pictures do it any justice. It was amazing.
Afterwards we went back to campus, and a fee hours later I went out with a group (Rommy, Ara, Juin, Steph) to Itaewon. Itaewon is the foreigner's district. It has pretty much everything not Korean. A lot of things were American, but the mix of countries was still rather wild. For example, there was a Turkish ice-cream vendor working the street. We ended up going to an Arabian restaurant, as it's Rommy's favorite (Rommy, Ara, and Juin led us around since they have lived here a while. Rommy and Juin for some numbere of months, Ara wasborn and raised here.) It was really good, and pretty cool. It was something of an authentic restaurant, the staff all spoke arabic and such, which was rather surprising considering the lack of foreigners I've seen before this.
Later in the night (we stopped at the dorms than left) we went out to this Night-club district near Sinchon. I really wish I knew what it was called, but I don't. I'll try to find out. It was crammed with restuarants, bars, and clubs. Extremely bright and vibrant, it was amazing. We ended up going to a bar for a few hours, and then a nightclub.
The bar was not especially interesting, but the nightclub was really cool. Thumping beat, strobe lights, a laser light show, blacklights, and fog machines were on the dance floor (and pretty much everywhere), and the bar was littered with clear monitors with LED's in them with a menu(They changed color too!) the whole thing was an awesome first clubbing experience.
A lot of interesting stuff happened in the night club, as I'm sure is standard, so I'll try to avoid getting into too much detail. However, it is of note that there were craploads of foreigners, and gay Korean guys. The first because we met a few (we ended up dining with one and her Korean friend after the club), and Steph was nearly picked up by an American In-Fighter (and some of his friends, though they also tried to pick up Ara for a while, and Juin before Rommy stepped up). The latter because I was hit on by a plethora of gay Koreans. One even danced with me for a while, and then tried to buy me a beer (There was some misunderstandings going on. At some point in the night I think he sent a friend to ask if I was gay, though I couldn't hear the guy so well and didn't know they were affilliated, so I didn't really answer. Later we found him at the bar, with the friend he sent nearby, and he sorta punched his hand in the air like we did when we were dancing. I did too, he punched a beer into the air, Rommy did too, as we thought he was just sorta doing a cheers to us for dancing with him. Then the guy ordered a beer and tried to call me over. It was all rather awkward). For the record, just about every Korean there was at least as awkward a dancer as me, if not more so. Which, to anyone who has seen me dance, certainly must be hilarious.
All-in-all, it was a pretty cool night, though I was exhausted from it. Today I should be going to the Electric Market, finally, with Steph and Zach. Tomorrow classes start, so I'll probably go out a bit less often/subsequently have less to say.
--Daniel
