War Memorial of Korea

This morning when I plugged my camera in, it did not light up. Turns out something's messed up with it, so I'm going to try to fix it as soon as possible. I'm really sorry I don't have any pictures for this post because it was such an amazing trip.

Since orientation ended yesterday I had an entire day free to explore Seoul. I decided to go somewhere that really interested me, something that wouldn't be that much fun in a group (at least to me anyway, I get kind of angry when I travel in large groups). That destination was the War Memorial of Korea. I had seen its location on the Seoul tourism website when I was looking for the cat cafe, and found it was very easily accessible by train. All I knew about it was that it had a big bronze cone statue.


When I got off the train I had no idea where this place was. It was surrounded by green area on the map, which I assumed was a park, but I had no idea where it was; everything looked like city. Luckily, I started walking in the right direction because I soon saw the top of the cone. And that green on the map wasn't park, it was Korean DoD owned land. The MP officers and the military insignia on the buildings tipped me off to that little fact.

The bronze cone was in a deep basin and surrounded by Korean soldiers and civilians all in action poses of fighting, leading, sending their sons away to war, suffering and crying. It was the Korean War Memorial. It was meant to represent how war impacts people from all walks of life. The bronze cone represented a bronze sword and the tree of life. Once I crossed the street I saw something I'd never seen before: a B-52. To the right of the monument was an outdoor exhibit of military hardware. And it was as awesome as you can imagine a huge sculpture garden, except instead of sculptures they had tanks, helicopters, airplanes and artillery. I had a huge grin on my face the entire time, the little boy who loved trucks and construction vehicles was out in full force. The coolest part was how you were allowed to sit inside some of the trucks and military vehicles, and even walk around on a decommissioned PT boat. A lot of them had big "Do Not Climb" signs on them, but all the anti-aircraft guns had stairs leading up and open seats for pictures (I'm REALLY pissed that I didn't have my camera). They had captured communist vehicles from the Chinese and North Korean armies, but my favorite part was the MiG from a defected North Korean pilot put on display as a big middle finger to the North.

Then I saw the Statue of Brothers, which you can read about here. If you're lazy, It's a statue of 2 brothers embracing. They are soldiers of each Korea's armies, showing that despite the fighting, unification is the ultimate goal. I find this interesting because in the museum and memorial they all talk about the dream of Korean unification, but at the same time the treachery and underhandedness of the North is brought up as much as possible. But I guess war is used as a means of peace. Weird, right?

Then I walked past the memorial for the Korean War. It moved me to see how they honored their dead, and then I turned the corner and saw names not written in Hangul. Then the New York State flag. They memorialized all the UN forces KIA in Korea. They took the time to memorialize each and every person who died to protect their country. That part moved me the most out of the whole museum. Not because I had expected to see it, but because I did not expect to see it. They honored not only their own dead, but the world's dead. I'm not embarrassed to say I cried at that.

When I went into the museum the first thing I saw were busts of famous war heroes. These people were immortalized for their heroism, and underneath each statue was a plaque explaining why they were immortalized.

Then I went to the Korean War exhibit which had a full timeline of the invasion, the push back to Busan, and the subsequent landing of UN forces and the whole war. They had artifacts of North Korean orders to attack, communiques from North Korea to China and Russia, and weaponry from both sides. Then there was a part about student volunteers from universities that dropped out to help fight. Korea University was, of course, on the list. My favorite part was the one dedicated to the people who fought or supported the war effort but weren't soldiers. Women, doctors, men who couldn't fight but took support roles, teenage guerrillas, and my personal favorite, the railroad workers. The railroad workers caught me totally by surprise, but the exhibit made sense. The railroad people ran the biggest supply lines and so they were HUGE targets. By constantly putting themselves in danger to keep the soldiers supplied, they helped push the communists back. I thought that was cool.

Then I walked through an exhibit about the Koreans fighting the Japanese when they invaded in the late 1500s. A lot of this exhibit was written in Hangul, so I could only pronounce it and look like an idiot to any Koreans looking at me read out loud in a museum. There were swords, old cannons, and some captured Samurai armor. Then the exhibit spit me out in this huge exhibit on the modern Korean defense industry. There were bullets, explosives, radios, missiles, miniature models of military hardware, a cross-sectioned jet engine, torpedoes, if the RoK military used it, it was there. It was a huge commercial for military contractors, but it was really cool to see just how many people are responsible for any nation's defense. Also, Korean Air makes their helicopters. Neat.

I then went to the downstairs of the museum. They had 3 naval replicas of ships used during the late 1500s including a "turtle boat" which had cannons on all 4 sides, and a spiked metal roof to repel boarders. Then there was another collection of busts of military heroes, but these went back for centuries to the old Korean dynasties and their ancient warriors. Makes you think about how young America really is.

The exhibit downstairs was on the military history of old Korea. They had ancient weapons and armor and a replica of an old castle. My favorite part here was the signal towers which used smoke and fire to communicate over long distances. Lord of the Rings are some dirty copycats. Korea was calling armies with that stuff long before Minas Tirith needed help fighting orcs.

Also, the bottom floor had this really bizarre kiddie playland with jumping castles and a pedal-car track. It was really unexpected, and not only because I couldn't understand the signs. There was a helicopter suspended over the whole thing, it was really funny to see this clash of innocence and the military. Weird.

I then went to the top floor, where the exhibit on the modern RoK military was. This was really cool because it talked about their actions globally since their inception. They had a big exhibit on their involvement in Vietnam, and a really interesting model of their main base of operations. It was cool to see what military construction looks like on the front-lines. Then they had uniforms of RoK forces from every engagement they've been involved in, which is mainly UN peacekeeping forces. Korean involvement in the middle east is fairly downplayed, probably because it's still going on. Then they had another exhibit about the Korean War with an exhibit for each UN nation who fought with the RoK. It was cool to see what uniforms from other countries looked like, Australia had the outback hat which was very eye catching, and the Colombian uniforms had a turtleneck which made them handsomest by far.

Then there was an exhibit on North Korean treachery, like the invasion tunnels that they dug under the DMZ. The most interesting part was the section dedicated to North Korean commando operation in 1968 to kill the president of South Korea. They got close too. I had never heard of it, and it surprised me a lot.

On the way out of the museum I walked past the Peace Clock tower. It was a bronze clock tower with 2 clocks on it. One has the exact date and time the Korean war started, the second displays the current date and time. On the ground is the third clock, which will be added and will forever display the exact date and time of Korean unification once it happens. That's going to be something to see when it finally happens.

Orientation

It's been a few days since I last blogged, but I've been extremely busy with orientation, which was amazing. Day 1 started off with an adventure to campus. We walked through a construction site detour, up a huge hill, up a huge staircase, past a temple, down a huge hill, through a hole in a gate, and then finally arrived  on campus. The building was very large with a stone exterior. Inside we signed in and met up with our KUBA, Korea University Buddy Association, buddy. It turns out mine is a lot like me. He is an international student from Washington state and he's spending the year at KU. He played football in high school and we got along really well. 

The KU higher ups told us about KU's commitment to globalization and how excited they were that we were here. Then they showed us this video that made KU look like the coolest place ever. GW looks like a steaming shitheap compared to this school. They had people doing science stuff, students at sporting events, artifacts from its history, and messages from former university presidents. Then they sang the KU fight song and it was a lot like the scene from Hunt for Red October where all the sailors sing. I have no idea what it means, but it still got me very excited for my time at KU. 

We then went to get cell phones. They had smartphones so I got the cheapest one. I got what I paid for. Alexander Graham Bell's first phone would serve me better than this brick. It uses a 20 pin charger, runs android v1 and won't sync my google account. I'm *this* close to having my parents send me my Galaxy s3 and rooting that bad boy. 

Lunch in the KU dining hall was great, and yet again, puts GW to shame. I got blood sausage, two kinds of kimchi, rice with seaweed, plum juice, Vienna sausage, and more rice, for less than $5. I can get used to this.

The campus tour was good, we got to see a lot of beautiful campus buildings. Their main lawn was all dead grass from the snow, but it still put U Yard to shame. U Yard looks like the Somme after an artillery barrage. The part of the tour that had the most lasting impact was THE RAMPANT DAY DRINKING. Korea's semester system is reversed, (This is their first semester, not second, hence my unnaturally long winter break), so all the incoming freshmen get together by major and get absolutely wasted together. I mean RIPPED. Asian glow is most certainly a thing, and at 2PM these kids looked sunburned. The lawn was full of people playing what looked like duck-duck goose with 2 cases, yes, cases, of 40s in the middle of the circle. Outside that circle was an EMPTY case of Soju, Korean liquor. All the bottles in the pile next to the box were empty too. Now imagine this scene 18 times around the lawn, but with even more alcohol. People were going on liquor store runs and coming back with the stuff. These freshmen were hazing themselves and loving it, it was a really bizarre situation. Needless to say, America would be a lot more fun with a 19 year drinking age and no open container laws. 

The next day was much more relaxed. We signed up for our student cards, ate lunch, and registered for any classes we missed during online registration. We then went to a PS3 room, a big room with couches and TVs where people play PS3 with friends. Then we went bowling in the area by a women's university. There were some serious cuties in that neighborhood. Bowling was fun but I am terrible at it. One of my friends could spin the ball and got a few strikes that way. It was really cool to see and made me appreciate The Big Lebowski more. Since my team lost we picked up the cab fare home; it cost a whopping $2. This may sound strange, but the best part of that outing was when we got out of the cab, the people we went with all thanked me for paying instead of gloating. It made me think of how I interact with others. Sorry for the PSA.

Our orientation group then met up for a night of drinking and eating. We first got fried chicken and beer, which was an experience. We sat down and the first thing we get is this HUGE pitcher of beer. It was at least a gallon, and it was the only drink on the table. Two huge plates of fried chicken came next, one with hot sauce the other just crispy. We were given 2 forks so we could pull the meat off the bones, which was ingenious because it made eating chicken easy, kept your hands clean, and made you feel like a cannibalistic surgeon. Then we learned the drinking games. They involved patterns, quick responses to changing motions, and a lot of yelling. They were clearly designed to exponentially increase drinking as you got more drunk. We then went to another restaurant and repeated the same process; eat and drink. This time we got Soju, which after we took shots we just poured into the pitcher to fortify the beer. Science. Since we started around 6, we finished around 1 and went back to our rooms to go to bed. Tonight's events definitely confirmed all the stories I heard about KU. This country is a lot of fun. 

Afternoon in Seoul

I apologize in advance for this terrible highlight, something messed up the formatting when I tried to include Hangul letters.

Today I had a free afternoon to go about Seoul and do some exploring. Apparently it was also graduation for KU today because there were TONS of people on the sidewalks in KU caps and gowns with flowers and their parents. It was cool to see and it surprised me how big KU really is. 

My friend Shawn and I got lunch in Anam, I got my favorite Korean dish, tteokbokki, which is rice cakes in spicy red pepper sauce, this time with scallions and onions on top. This restaurant, along with a lot of others in the neighborhood, had a window that opened onto the street so you could just get it and go. A whole serving cost a whopping $2.40. Needless to say, I will be returning there very soon.

We then got on the subway in Anam to go to a cat cafe. The subway in Korea is really cool. It's like the NYC subway in that its cars have similar layouts, but also like the DC metro because it doesn't run 24 hours and is EXTREMELY clean. The cafe was 12 stops away so we tried to read as much Korean as possible whenever we stopped at a new station.

 I was an idiot and forgot to remember where the cat cafe was, so we wandered around the Hongik University area for about an hour before Shawn finally asked for directions. The area around Hongik University is like Korean Brooklyn, lots of weird tiny shops and street craft vendors. This makes sense because Hongik is the best art school in Korea.  

The cafe was fun but at the same time kinda weird. First thing, we had to take off our shoes and wear flip flops. We then had to put our jackets into cubbies so the cats wouldn't damage them by marking them (an actual warning). Then, when we walked in, the place smelled A LOT like cat pee. Strong cat pee. This was because none of the male cats were neutered, and there were like, 45 cats in this one place. Admission was less than 8 dollars and it came with a coffee or iced tea. For the amount of fun, it was totally worth it. Cats kept jumping on my shoulders and smelling my hair. It was pretty cute. A lot of Korean women were taking pictures of the huge white guy with a cat on his back. It turns out this wasn't even the same cat cafe we saw on the internet, so we'll have to return and go to that one.

On the way back to our dorms we found this place that sold big balls of ice cream cone covered in chocolate that you then put in a bag and hit with a hammer. We got one and were pleasantly surprised.

I can't wait to see even more of this city.

Arriving in Korea

It finally happened, I'm in Korea!

The flight went really well. My seat buddies were my classmate from GW and this really cool Texan who ran a Dunkin' Donuts' factory. He told us stories about hunting, bad girlfriends, alcohol-fueled adventures, and even started smoking his e-cig right on the plane. He was on the way to the Philippines to party for 2 weeks with his buddies. He's gonna get super fucked up.

At the airport I boarded the shuttle to KU which took about an hour. My dorm is on a huge hill, more like a mountain, near the main campus and downtown Anam, the neighborhood where KU is. There are a ton of bars, karaoke rooms and food places in town that I look forward to speaking broken Korean in once I look up restaurant vocabulary. It really makes me wish I could have taken an intro course at GW.

My first meal in Korea was super stereotypical : McDonalds. I went with my friend Shawn and we ran into another one of our classmates there. The Bulgogi burger is fantastic, but they don't have a dollar menu. However, 24/7 McDelivery. Step up your game, America.

We went to a bar afterwards with some other exchange students. Smoking indoors is allowed in Korea, and man do people chain smoke like crazy. These two girls split a pack of menthols at our table. I don't mind cigarette smoke, but my clothes are gonna stink.

This bar is full of exchange kids from all over the world. We met some people from England, Spain, Japan, Russia, Hungary, and some other Americans. It's also dirt cheap because they have insane happy hour deals.

I can already tell this semester is going to be great.

Last Day in America

Today's my last day and I'm really nervous for my flight. It hasn't really hit me that I board a 14 hour flight in the morning, and I'm not looking forward to that watershed moment.

My friend Alix is staying with me because we're flying over together, which is nice. We're seat buddies and should keep each other company during our Benadryl induced comas on this flight.

The last meal was bread canoe, a meat stuffed loaf of Italian bread. It's tradition in my house and judging by my size, it makes total sense.

This blog will become more interesting when I get to Korea.

Fried Chicken

It's my second to last night in the US and I decided I wanted the best wings in town: Candlelight Inn. They cook their wings fresh instead of frozen, and the difference is HUGE. People who think Buffalo Wild Wings is quality are high off their asses.

Korean fried chicken is spicy as hell, I got some in K-town with friends and the staff must have loved watching these white boys dying from heat. I hope I'm not as cheap when I finally get over to Korea.

Tomorrow's the day to finish packing and cleaning, then all I have to do is try to sleep.


I can't wait.

Packing

I leave for Korea on Saturday. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm going to the North, and man, that joke never gets old. 

Packing sucks because I have to bring all my clothing to Korea as it's gonna be impossible for me and my Sasquatch body to buy clothing over there, and the weight limit for my luggage is pretty rough.

I'm excited to finally head over because being stuck at home lost its charm about a month ago. One can only do nothing for so long before going entirely stir crazy. To top it all off, I have 14 and a half hours of confinement in an airplane to really hammer home that confinement. 

At least the in-flight meal is supposed to be Korean.