Ahn-young!

Ahn-young!

For the last month, I have been trying to enjoy Korean as one of my iniatives to embrace the multilingual aspect of LEX. It also was helpful because I had the opportunity to travel to Korea. My host family had friends who had moved there for an assignment with work, but were moving back to Japan soon. Pretty much, it was their last chance to visit them while they lived in Korea and I was just lucky enough to be able to go with them. It was pretty exciting especially since I heard that I was the first intern to travel on a family vacation out of the country.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Korea was its connection to the U.S. I kept thinking how Seoul had many more younger foreigners than Tokyo, but I understood why - Tokyo is really expensive! Also, I found a lot more American companies and products on the shelf. There were just as many Dunkin Dounuts as there were Starbucks. However, Seoul is a city with a double face. Many areas are freshly developed showing the success that they have enjoyed in recent years. Others are completely falling down, but it is in some of these areas that there is the most culture. You experience just as much on market streets where there is a tarp/styrofoam/cardboard roof and half the shop is outside permenately as you do touring palaces.

A hidden food market.

We were able to see many things and are hosts made sure we got to experience all different aspects. We toured the 2 different palaces - one in Seoul and one in Suwon. We saw a UNESCO World Heritage Fortress. I ate many of the different traditional foods - "babeempa", kimchi, dog meat (it will make me stronger), and korean barbeque. We ate at a variety of different restaurants from fancy to garage-like. We shopped in hidden food markets, on souvenior streets, and in high-end retailers. We experienced a theatre event in Seoul's own Nanta! - where I was pulled from the audience to participate on stage. It was so many things and only in 4 days. I really hope I get a chance to do it again!

Dressed up in Korean Imperial costumes.