Dear Friends and Family,
We headed downtown with the neighbors. I needed to pick up my grandfather's visa at the embassy; then, it was more sightseeing and more shopping before we split up for dinner. They were on their own for dinner while Mr. mouse and I met up with another cousin for dinner.
What We Saw/Did
We met up with the neighbors at the train station to ride in together. From the train station we headed downtown to the best book store in all of Korea. It's located in the basement of the Kyobo building at the Gwanghwamun station. Mr. mouse picked up some pencils. I picked up some children's folk tales that are written in both Korean and English to practice my Korean. The daughter found a couple of books for her friends including one written in French for the French teacher staying with them.
Next on the agenda was lunch. After lunch, we split up and I headed to the embassy while Mr. mouse and the neighbors headed to Gyeongbokgung, another palace located in downtown Seoul. Fortunately, it was warmer outside so it was nicer walking around than it was on Monday. It took about 10 minutes to pick up the passport with the visa. I called to ask where I should meet them. No answer. I assumed the phone was in the mom's purse so I sat down in a park to wait for their call. I figured it is a good time to contemplate options on the family drama. No good ideas popped into my head. I called several more time. No answer. Just when I was about ready to give up and head back to the book store I realized I had been calling their hotel room not their cell phone. Duh! We met up.
Apparently, I missed the dad being surrounded by a school group. I guess Caucasians are still a relative novelty in Korea. Fortunately, Mr. mouse caught some of it on video.
We were torn between going to the National Folk Museum and Seodaemun Prison. We decided on the prison and headed over by train. Seodaemun Prison is a former prison turned into a museum, ala Alcatraz. The prison is from the time of the Japanese occupation and housed anti-colonial activists. The daughter found the whole experience very disturbing. And, to be honest, I was a little freaked out as well. But, we walked through the somber buildings and vignettes and I came away with a clearer understanding of the less glamorous parts of Korea's very recent history.
With about two hours to go until we met up with my cousin for dinner, we headed back to the National Folk Museum to see if we could get in for the last hour/hour and half. No dice. So, we hung out, reading our guide books, munching on bananas and collecting ourselves before walking back to City Hall. We found a neat little book store where the mom found a great book of pictures and the daughter a nice book of Korean stories. We bought a couple of CDs. And, then we split up for dinner.
Mr. mouse and I headed back to my grandfather's place after dinner. Grandpa's up doing errands again. We turned in for the night and talked through our options. We came up with no good answers. We left a message for my brother telling him we're bringing grandpa home. Would he be available to show grandpa around? We went to sleep uneasy.
What We Ate
For breakfast, I had leftover walnut cookies and Mr. mouse had a green tea donut from Dunkin Donuts. For lunch, we went for Korean Chinese. Mr. mouse, the dad and I had the jjajangmyun, a black bean noodle dish. The mom had the jjamppong, a seafood noodle soup. And, the daughter had fried rice. We ordered a tangsooyook, a sweet and sour pork dish, to share as an appetizer.
For dinner, my cousin took us for pho, the Vietnamese beef noodle soup. We split a couple of spring rolls and an order of pineapple fried rice to round out the meal. Then, we headed to another restaurant for tea. I had a sweet potato latte which was surprisingly good. I love Korean sweet potatoes, so I might be partial.
The Family Drama
My dad called Thursday morning to say that he would come out to Korea "sometime in the future" so there was no immediate need to bring grandpa home. I had serious doubts if sometime in the future would ever materialize into a real trip. I spent a fair bit of time thinking about my options. No obvious right answer. I was leaning towards bringing my grandfather back to the States with me. Figured I'd rather make life a little harder for my parents than my grandfather. Also, they had had a chance to say no. So, I felt they deserved to learn that their decisions had consequences. Mr. mouse agreed to fly my grandfather back to Korea when he was done with his visit.
What I Learned
I learned a lot about my grandfather and my dad while visiting the prison. The prison was built in 1908 by the Japanese. Japanese occupation started in 1910, the year before my grandfather was born. The occupation lasted until my grandfather was in his mid-thirties. That's how my grandfather learned to read and speak Japanese. And, how one of his first jobs was in a Japanese department store. My dad was born in when my grandfather was 27 years old, during the occupation.
The Korean War started in 1950 while my grandfather was in his late thirties only five years after the occupation ended. It lasted until he was 42. By the time the war was over more than 80% of the public facilities and 50% of the housing had been destroyed. To put it mildly, life wasn't easy for him. Thinking about all of that during our trip to the prison made me even more reluctant to disappoint him by not taking him back with us.
Cheers!
mouse
We headed downtown with the neighbors. I needed to pick up my grandfather's visa at the embassy; then, it was more sightseeing and more shopping before we split up for dinner. They were on their own for dinner while Mr. mouse and I met up with another cousin for dinner.
What We Saw/Did
We met up with the neighbors at the train station to ride in together. From the train station we headed downtown to the best book store in all of Korea. It's located in the basement of the Kyobo building at the Gwanghwamun station. Mr. mouse picked up some pencils. I picked up some children's folk tales that are written in both Korean and English to practice my Korean. The daughter found a couple of books for her friends including one written in French for the French teacher staying with them.
Next on the agenda was lunch. After lunch, we split up and I headed to the embassy while Mr. mouse and the neighbors headed to Gyeongbokgung, another palace located in downtown Seoul. Fortunately, it was warmer outside so it was nicer walking around than it was on Monday. It took about 10 minutes to pick up the passport with the visa. I called to ask where I should meet them. No answer. I assumed the phone was in the mom's purse so I sat down in a park to wait for their call. I figured it is a good time to contemplate options on the family drama. No good ideas popped into my head. I called several more time. No answer. Just when I was about ready to give up and head back to the book store I realized I had been calling their hotel room not their cell phone. Duh! We met up.
Apparently, I missed the dad being surrounded by a school group. I guess Caucasians are still a relative novelty in Korea. Fortunately, Mr. mouse caught some of it on video.
We were torn between going to the National Folk Museum and Seodaemun Prison. We decided on the prison and headed over by train. Seodaemun Prison is a former prison turned into a museum, ala Alcatraz. The prison is from the time of the Japanese occupation and housed anti-colonial activists. The daughter found the whole experience very disturbing. And, to be honest, I was a little freaked out as well. But, we walked through the somber buildings and vignettes and I came away with a clearer understanding of the less glamorous parts of Korea's very recent history.
With about two hours to go until we met up with my cousin for dinner, we headed back to the National Folk Museum to see if we could get in for the last hour/hour and half. No dice. So, we hung out, reading our guide books, munching on bananas and collecting ourselves before walking back to City Hall. We found a neat little book store where the mom found a great book of pictures and the daughter a nice book of Korean stories. We bought a couple of CDs. And, then we split up for dinner.
Mr. mouse and I headed back to my grandfather's place after dinner. Grandpa's up doing errands again. We turned in for the night and talked through our options. We came up with no good answers. We left a message for my brother telling him we're bringing grandpa home. Would he be available to show grandpa around? We went to sleep uneasy.
What We Ate
For breakfast, I had leftover walnut cookies and Mr. mouse had a green tea donut from Dunkin Donuts. For lunch, we went for Korean Chinese. Mr. mouse, the dad and I had the jjajangmyun, a black bean noodle dish. The mom had the jjamppong, a seafood noodle soup. And, the daughter had fried rice. We ordered a tangsooyook, a sweet and sour pork dish, to share as an appetizer.
For dinner, my cousin took us for pho, the Vietnamese beef noodle soup. We split a couple of spring rolls and an order of pineapple fried rice to round out the meal. Then, we headed to another restaurant for tea. I had a sweet potato latte which was surprisingly good. I love Korean sweet potatoes, so I might be partial.
The Family Drama
My dad called Thursday morning to say that he would come out to Korea "sometime in the future" so there was no immediate need to bring grandpa home. I had serious doubts if sometime in the future would ever materialize into a real trip. I spent a fair bit of time thinking about my options. No obvious right answer. I was leaning towards bringing my grandfather back to the States with me. Figured I'd rather make life a little harder for my parents than my grandfather. Also, they had had a chance to say no. So, I felt they deserved to learn that their decisions had consequences. Mr. mouse agreed to fly my grandfather back to Korea when he was done with his visit.
What I Learned
I learned a lot about my grandfather and my dad while visiting the prison. The prison was built in 1908 by the Japanese. Japanese occupation started in 1910, the year before my grandfather was born. The occupation lasted until my grandfather was in his mid-thirties. That's how my grandfather learned to read and speak Japanese. And, how one of his first jobs was in a Japanese department store. My dad was born in when my grandfather was 27 years old, during the occupation.
The Korean War started in 1950 while my grandfather was in his late thirties only five years after the occupation ended. It lasted until he was 42. By the time the war was over more than 80% of the public facilities and 50% of the housing had been destroyed. To put it mildly, life wasn't easy for him. Thinking about all of that during our trip to the prison made me even more reluctant to disappoint him by not taking him back with us.
Cheers!
mouse
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