A little more Seoul

Thanks for reading everyone! Here are some more updates about our Trip to Seoul South Korea from our little blogger!

Day 3: Wednesday 12th of September 2016

My dad had his first day of work in South Korea today. We got lunch at Mcdonald’s. I got a Mcchicken sandwich with a large fri and slushie and the flavor was strawberry lemonade. Today we caught up on up on our sleep and we went downstairs to this shopping mall that’s HUGE. Then after shopping we just stayed home and relaxed at home for about 10 minutes. Then my dad came home from work. After he got ready we went to go.

He announced that we would going to a traditional Korean restaurant for diner. So we got in a taxi and went down the street to the restaurant. We ordered two orders of chicken, and one order of boneless lamb and two Sprites for Zeke (my brother) and me. Apparently you get to cook it for yourself!! There are people that come around, but you mostly cook it yourself. My highlight today was going to the restaurant because you get to cook it yourself!! I didn’t really have a low light today.   

Day 4: Thursday 13th of September 2016

Today we went to the War Memorial Of Korea. This is a place where you get to see ships and planes that use to  fight in wars.

When you walk into the War Memorial you  see this HUGE statue of thirty eight people and soldiers. This statue is split into two parts one part on one side and the other part one the other side. In the middle of the people and soldiers there is this HUGE and when I say HUGE I mean REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HUGE spear like thing, it looked really cool. Then if you walk a little more into the park you see flags, the flags of the WORLD. Then you look up and you  see this HUMONGOUS building it looked like the White House. If you walk over to the left then you see “The Statue Of The Brothers” this pamphlet that I have beside me it states “This statue depicts a real-life story  of two brothers who fought in the Korean War on opposite sides and were accidentally reunited on the battlefield ,and symbolizes the Koreans’ wish for national peace, reconciliation, and reunification.”. But if you walked to the right of the “White House” you saw this BIG, BIG ship this is a ship that is a replica of the actual vessel that was attacked during the second Yeonpyeong Naval Battle. If you keep on going right then you see an outdoor exhibit full of planes, aircraft, missiles, machine guns, helicopters, tanks, and ships.

Today we also went to this Design Lab. This is a place where you walk around and see these AMAZING buildings! For diner we went down the stairs and went up to our favorite restaurant and they said “Sorry we are closing”. Then we went up to our second favorite restaurant and we noticed that half of their chairs were up. So we went back up to the hotel and ordered room service. My highlight today was going to The War Memorial Of Korea. My low light today was the diner thing. I Liked everything we did this Thursday so I don’t have a low light.

Jenny: Walking through this museum was really informational.  I am sure somewhere in a world history class some time I learned about the relationships between Korea, South Korea and Japan but I had never understood the magnitude of the wars.  I know we just scratched the surface of understanding.  We were happy to see lots of US military vehicles and aircraft at the museum too!

(Click arrows for a slideshow of day 4)

Day  5: Friday 14th of September 2016

Today I went to to this REALLY cool aquarium. There were all sorts of creatures. There are 14 sections in the aquarium. The first section is called “Rainbow Lounge”. This is a place where you check in,get tickets, and put your things in lockers.      

That’s all I have time to write for now. 

Jenny:  Annabelle did such a great job keeping track of our adventures.  She wanted to use my computer whenever we were back at the room.  So fun for her, but we are rethinking leaving one of our computers back in the states.  With both kids using computers for homework and gaming we may need to purchase another one in the near future.

I’ll add a little more about the aquarium since she didn’t have the chance.  It really was amazing.  To be honest, I thought it would be lame since it was in the basement of a mall.  It turns out I was wrong.  I was happy to have options of things to do while Caleb was working. I wish he would have been able to join us in the aquarium we enjoyed it so much.  They had lots of different exhibit areas some were almost like a petting zoo, the kids got to touch star fish.  In another area you could stick your finger tips into this tank and “doctor fish” would come and eat off the dead skin cells.  It was crazy.  I tried it and I couldn’t stop laughing!!!!!  There were areas with Freshwater fish of Korea and lots of huge tanks with sharks, rays, dolphins, seals and manatee.  Honestly I could have sat for house just watching them. So much fun!

(click arrows for slideshow of day 5)

Jenny: Seoul Overview

CONS:

Subway doors close much quicker and don’t open quickly if something is stuck in them.  On our first subway trip in Seoul we purchased tickets, studied the map and got ready to board the train to the place.  There was quite a crowd getting off the train at this location so we waited in line to board and began moving in when we were able. The kids were in line ahead of Caleb and I as we shuffled in the doors shut with Caleb stuck in them.  He really didn’t have much leverage to push them back open.   Since I was behind him I tried to pry them open.  After about 5 seconds or so (it seemed so long) they reopened and we were both able to board the train.  We were all a little shocked at the experience.  I feel like Caleb was like Hulk making sure the kids didn’t get sent off on the subway alone.  In case you are wondering we have had discussions with the kids about what to do if they somehow get separated from us on the subways or in stations.  I also now have noticed emergency stop buttons in the stations and subway trains.

The hotel was not really family friendly.  It was mostly for business men.  The swimming pool was for adults or children over the age of 12.  So we lied and told them the kids were 12 and 13 so we could swim one day.  It was mostly a lap swimming pool, so the kids couldn’t do cannon balls and goof around like they wanted to but the 3 of us swam laps a bit one day.

Caleb realized its hard to balance family time, vacation and work stuff on a business trip.  We had a couple days together as a family before the conference started, and we tried to fill in other things during times he could slip away the other days.  It was a good experience but a bit exhausting as well.

PROS:

We were pleasantly surprised with our visit to Seoul.  Most people were welcoming and often surprised to see Americans.  While we were at the palace grounds a group of young adults were so enamored by our children that they asked to take a selfie with them.  The kids liked feeling like movie stars!

We were often thanked by  strangers for visiting.  I am not sure if this is mostly because Seoul’s economy benefits greatly from tourism or because of the good standing relationship and alliance between America and South Korea.

When we were on the subway one time an older gentleman offered his seat to our children.  Our kids are not new to public transportation and know that they should give seating priority to elderly, or people with small children but this gentleman INSISTED they sit next to him.  During our 20 minute subway ride we found out he was absolutely intrigues by our children.  We found out he did not know much English, he didn’t hear well but from his hand gestures and smiles and some speaking he smiled and commented on how he thought it was funny that the kids were wearing shorts.  In South Korea they don’t wear shorts at this time of year.  He also mentioned that the kids had different shaped heads. LOL.  He was so happy to see American children he explaining to everyone on the train that our kids were sitting down because he asked them to. He was even offering his seat up to people so they could sit next to our kids.  It was quite humorous.

The weather was gorgeous!

Our family works well together with modified sleeping and eating arrangements.  I can’t believe all the new foods we are trying.  Although when we are at home I have found ways for us to eat mostly the same dies as we were when we were living in MN.

Over a great trip!  So happy for these travel experiences.