A Very American Thanksgiving- In Korea!

For Thanksgiving the whole group got together and we had our own version of a very American Thanksgiving here in Korea!  We all chipped in to rent an apartment to have our dinner at.  We needed the use of a fully stocked kitchen to cook everything, and SK Global House isn't the most festive of locations.  The apartment belonged to an older Korean couple who went to the States to visit their daughter for the holiday.

Jim and Rosie did almost all of the cooking.  They made delicious stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and many other things.  With the money that we all contributed, we bought many "American" items like dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc. from the American base, as well as an American grocery store that's in Itaewon.  Also, we ordered our turkey from the American Base.  I even made a cheesecake, which despite the doubts of some particular family members, came out great!

I went with my friend Steve to pick up the turkey and the pumpkin pies at the U.S. Army base in Itaewon, Yongsan Garrison.  It was very cool seeing the base.  We had to show our alien registration cards and get checked in.  We ordered the food from the hotel that's on the base.  It was a very nice hotel, very Western looking, with a beautiful lobby and restaurant inside.  It was nice not to be the minority for a little while; we were surrounded by fellow Americans.

When the turkey came it out it was a lot smaller than Steve and I were expecting, we were a little nervous at first, but it ended up being the perfect amount for everybody.  We were 14 people total and we did an excellent job of demolishing all the food, no leftovers for us!  As we ate we all went around and said what were thankful for.  I said I was thankful for my amazing family encouraging me and affording me this excellent opportunity.

Later on in the evening we watched the movie "It's a Wonderful Life".  We all stayed the night since the apartment was still ours until the next day.  The next morning we made scrambled eggs, pancakes, and banana bread, continuing with the American theme.  Around 11:30 we snapped into gear because realized we had to be out of the apartment by noon and we still had a lot of cleaning to do.  We got it all done though, and after a million dishes (the apartment did not have a dishwasher!), many remade beds, and a thorough vacuuming, we checked out of "Hotel Nice-Korean-Couple".

It was a lot of fun spending Thanksgiving with all of my study abroad friends, and it was so much fun organizing our own little American holiday.  I definitely missed Thanksgiving with the family though, and it made me a bit more excited to go home.

Our delicious Thanksgiving dinner made by Rosie and Jim

Jim carving the turkey

So Long, Gyeongju

It was our last day in Gyeongju and Andrew and I decided to rent bicycles to get around town.  This way we could finish up seeing everything we had wanted to without having to worry about the less-than-accurate bus schedule.  Kara had gotten up early and headed back to Seoul already because she had to tutor later in the day.

Andrew and I grabbed breakfast and then headed into town.  We once again returned to the park with the burial mounds, but this time we actually bought tickets so that we could go inside one of them.  The park was beautiful.  It was so peaceful, and as I've previously mentioned the colorful leaves were just amazing.  Being in a city for so long made me forget how much I enjoy the foliage.

Entering the park, so beautiful!

The mound was very neat.  We walked inside and it was set up like a museum, there were a few artifacts and exhibits that we could read about, and of course, the actual burial of one of the kings.  We left the park and headed towards the tourist complex to rent bikes.

We set off for a different part of town that we had not yet been to.  Our first stop was the Poseokjeong, which is a small park and garden featuring rocks placed in the shape of an abalone.  The Poseokjeong is also part of a small waterway and it's said the be the place of an ancient Shilla villa.  After walking around the park we decided to bike around the village.  We "off-roaded" a bit and biked down a cement path through some farmland.  It was a lot of fun and a very relaxing way to spend our last day.  We headed through some of the villages a bit and it really surprised me how rural some of these homes still were.  It's astounding that Seoul, a city so huge, complex, and developed is only a few hours from this part of the country that seems to be years behind.

The Poseokjeong, shaped like an abalone

The village was very pretty and it was nice to be out of the city for awhile.  We stumbled on a huge Buddha sculpture and decided to take a closer look at it.  It appeared to be simply part of somebody's backyard, but as we cautiously approached, nobody stopped us.  This Buddha was so big that we couldn't help but want to climb up on it.  The only thing I could think of was that it'd be cool to sit in Buddha's lap!  So quickly, Andrew climbed up and I snapped a few pictures, and then I climbed up and he did the same.  Mission accomplished.

Big Buddha and me!

Tired, a little stinky, and very hungry, we headed back to town to get lunch, grab our things, and get going.  We had a delicious lunch of soybean porridge.  I had mine with brown sugar and rice cake and Andrew had his with noodles.  We said goodbye to our hosts at Sa Rang Chae and then walked to the bus station.  Unfortunately, the earliest bus available wasn't until 6pm, but we didn't mind waiting.  The bad news was that the normal 4 hour trip turned into a 6 hour trip because of all the traffic heading into the city.  It was a bummer getting back into Seoul so late, but stopping for some midnight Korean BBQ before heading back to SK Global House definitely put Andrew and me in a better mood!

Saying goodbye to our wonderful hosts at Sa Rang Chae 

Day 2 in Gyeongju

The next day in Gyeongju we woke up and had some breakfast in the kitchen/common room which was adjacent to our "family room".  We helped ourselves to eggs and toast and we got to meet some of the other guests that were staying at Sa Rang Chae.  There were other people from different parts of Korea, the States, and from Europe.

The Bulguksa Temple is one of the most well-known temples in Korea and it was only a short bus ride from our hostel so we knew we had to see it.  South Korea has ranked it number one on the list of most historic and scenic sites in Korea, and it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The temple was beautiful!  The sun was shining and it was warm out, we had a great time just walking around the park, through the different parts of the temple, and taking lots of pictures.  We were lucky to get to see the amazing fall foliage because in Seoul the leaves were already gone.

Loving the fall foliage at the Bulguksa Temple

In front of the Seokgatap, a beautiful 13-century old pagoda inside the temple

Another famous site is the Seokguram Grotto.  This was only a few miles away from the temple and we took a shuttle up to the top of the mountain where the grotto was located.  Unfortunately, the opening was blocked by plexi-glass, but the stone carved Buddha inside was beautiful.  We took pictures and then headed back towards the shuttle.

The view from the top of the mountain where the grotto was.

When we got back into the main part of the city, we had lunch at a delicious "juk" restaurant.  Juk is the Korean word for the famous porridge that is served here in the winter time.  My all-time favorite Korean food is "hobakjuk" which is pumpkin porridge.

We headed back towards the guesthouse but stopped first at a park that was filled with mound burials of the old kings.  We walked around the area for bit enjoying the scenery and taking in the friendliness of the historic town; we realized that we had just missed a pumpkin carving contest!  There were beautifully carved pumpkins all over the park.  Located in the same area is the Cheomseongdae, which is the oldest surviving astrological observatory in East Asia.  Although not as big as I was expecting, it was still really neat.

In front of the Cheomseongdae Observatory

That night back at the hostel we ordered McDonald's for dinner.  We hated being "such Americans" but we were too tired to head back out and in Korea you can get anything delivered!  Chinese was our first choice, but they stopped delivering at 8.  I gotta say though, a burger and fries was not a bad way to end the evening.