A Day Out with Professor Chun

Today is the Korean national holiday of Chuseok, which is similar to our Thanksgiving. It is a harvest holiday where Koreans pay hommage to their ancestors and they all gather together as a family. Because of Chuseok we have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off from classes, but most professors cancel classes on Monday and Friday as well. My only class on Mondays is Religion and Culture 1 with Professor Young-Ho Chun and so he decided to invite the class to come with him as he puts it, "to experience culture". He invited the entire class, but most students went home for the holiday or had already left to travel for the week, so it was just Rosie, Professor Chun, and me!

We all met Monday afternoon in the lobby of our dorm, SK Global House. Professor Chun is a visiting professor from the Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City; he also lives in SK Global House because the top floor is made up of apartments for visiting professors. We took the city bus to Insadong which was really great because Rosie and I had never taken the city bus before. Professor Chun explained how the bus system works so now we think we'll be able to conquer it in the future. The bus system uses the same T express card that the subway uses, so we just swiped to get on. Although, the bus is slightly more expensive, the subway is 900 won and the bus is 1,000 won, which is only about 78 and 86 cents, respectively.

We got off at the Insadong stop which was only two stops away from the Blue House, which is the South Korean President's residence. Insadong was very cool. The entire main street was all vendors, crafts, traditional restaurants, and antique shops. It was fun to look at everything and Rosie and I definitely plan on returning to do some gift shopping. We stopped at this one stand that was making a traditional Korean dessert. The guys at the stand did this entire demonstration where they showed us how to make it and even poked some fun at us Americans! The dessert was made of honey wax which they sculpted and molded into a very thin, almost stringy shell, and then filled with almond paste, and others with a peanut paste. When they transformed the hard wax into the soft dessert, they exclaimed, "Since you're American this is where you'll say OH MY GAWD, JESUS CHRIST, WOWWW!" We all couldn't help but laugh, it was so funny. Professor Chun bought a pack of the delicious honey dessert and we all shared it.

We then took a taxi to the next site that Professor Chun wanted us to see, a traditional Korean temple in Insadong that is famous for its secret gardens. Unfortunately when we got there we realized it was closed in preparation for Chuseok. Professor said that he hopes we can return later on in the semester with the whole class. We then walked along the Cheonggyecheon Stream which is a big landmark in Seoul. The stream runs through the center of the city, beginning at the Blue House. Until 2005 the stream had been completely covered and paved over, and it wasn't until the mayor at the time, Lee Myung-bak decided to invest in a huge restoration project to uncover the stream. Professor Chun explained that it was a huge political gamble, but it turned out for the best because that particular mayor, Myung-bak, is now the President of South Korea! As I was reading about this project I came across an online blog which I found really interesting, also it has great pictures of the stream.
http://dianhasan.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/reinventing-the-urban-park-cheonggyecheon-stream-seoul/

We then walked around a bit more and we even got to see the old Seoul National University campus. The University has since moved to a different part of Seoul, but the SNU Medical Center still remains in that area so it was neat to see that. I have to say though, it does not even compare to Yonsei University's Medical Center, which appears to be way bigger and much more modern.

We then traveled back into the heart of Insadong, back to the marketplace and Professor Chun picked out a lovely Korean restaurant. After walking for so long we were all happy to sit down. Professor Chun asked Rosie and me what we liked and went ahead and ordered for us. He even asked if we wanted beer or Soju, but Rosie and I both declined. We all shared this big pot of Korean stew that cooks at your table. It was delicious! It had noodles, beef, radish, tofu, mushrooms, spinach, carrots, and a few other items in it. Every time our bowls were only half-way empty, Professor Chun would put more stew in our bowls! We certainly didn't go hungry, we left stuffed and extremely satisfied! Our professor treated us to dinner, which was extremely generous. During dinner we had great conversations and we got to learn so much about each other. Professor Chun is Korean born but left Korea in 1967 to go to university in the States, and he hasn't been back since. He's taught in Germany, Italy, and Kenya, and a few other locations, and he has also visited Israel multiple times. He even told us that he believes Kenya makes the best beer in the world! He was offered this position at Yonsei University and thought it'd be a great experience to come back to Korea for a few months. Most visiting professors stay for at least a year, but Professor Chun is only staying for one semester because he has a wife and daughter at home in Kansas. His daughter is a sophomore in high school.

After dinner we got back on the bus and headed back to campus. It was a really special day for many reasons. It was so nice that Professor Chun took us out, but also we got to learn so much about his life and he got to learn so much about Rosie and me.
Here's a picture of Rosie and me standing in the stream and the other is of me and Professor Chun.