Insadong

A side street in Insadong

My friend and I set out this morning to find Bukchon Hanok village, where you can see traditional Korean architecture. After getting off at the correct subway stop, we decided to walk around Insadong first, which is a souvenir shopping area. Well...we never did make it to Bukchon! Maybe next time!

Street artists

The film shoot 

Along the way, we ran into a film crew. I'm not sure whether this was for a drama, commercial, or what not, but it was fascinating to watch the director talk to the actors, etc. After stopping in numerous shops, and after spending more money than I had meant to... (hehe..yeah...) we stumbled upon the Insadong-cultural center. Here you pay 3000 won (equivalent to 3 dollars) and get to play dress up in traditional Korean clothing! (Hanbok)

Below: The pictures

Traditional umbrella hat?

Beautiful!! ^^

Saturday afternoon ramblings

I'm sitting in front of 학생문화관 (Student Union Building). As I sit on the wooden benches situated in front of the building, a soft breeze plays with escaped wisps of my hair. The air is void of humidity, and thus quite comfortable to the touch of my skin. Sunlight breaks through the branches of exotic trees enclosing me in their shadow. Because it is Saturday, there are only a few other students walking across campus. I wanted to get outside, so I came here. I miss nature. I think that is what I miss most about my life in Austria. I have found no other country in which civilization and nature are so co-existant. However, there is nature here too. You just have to look a little harder. I think I will go to the Han River again soon. The vast expanse of the river is calming.

I have only been in Korea for little more than two weeks. It seems much longer! I have already learned so much about this country, myself, and most importantly God. I am thankful for this, and can't quite imagine how much more I will learn in the next three months. But I will, for there is always more to learn! I'm realizing this even in my courses. It worked out so I could only take three courses. This is okay, since it's the minimum of credits I need to take. My courses are 19th Century British Novel, Post-Colonnial Literature, and Korean Ceramics.

My two pinch bowels on the shelf for drying.

The professor teaching the literature courses has a unique perspective on English literature, I'm enjoying his lectures a lot, because they offer a non-native English speaker's perspective on English literature, history and culture. I am finding that English literature taught in English countries can be very biased. Korean Ceramics as well, has proved to be a fascinating course. Art is something I've always done. I'm not bad at it, but neither am I great. I just DO it. I'm especially aware of this with ceramics. Clay does NOT respond to my hands the way paint does, and this IS a bit frustrating. Perhaps I will learn to mold it into the forms I imagine in my mind...I don't know, but I do know that it is fun and poses a challenge! And that is what art should be!

Close up of the dragon fly pinch bowel. There are so many dragonflies around campus. It's quite fascinating, considering they are rather rare where I come from!

At 한강 (Han River): Is fried chicken American?

Two days ago, a bunch of us Internationals and several Buddies (Korean students who help us adjust to Korean culture, etc.) went to the Han River. Somehow, I hadn't even registered that Seoul has a river, but of course it does! It makes complete sense that a city, centuries old, would have been built near a water source. Still, I wasn't quite prepared for the full effect of the river, it was HUGE! And it was beautiful (I think you say 아름다운 in Korean).

Rivers are a big part of city culture. You walk near the river, you bike near the river, you meet your friends near the river, you pick-nique near the river; Having lived in Innsbruck, near the Inn river, this culture is familiar to me, and seems to be a way of life in Seoul as well. However, the river in Tirol is a lot smaller than the Han river, and the city skyline is not quite so impressive. Here's a picture of the park we sat in.

The setting sun bathed everything in a beautiful warm light. Wish I'd had my watercolors.
However I did attempt to sketch this scene. Photo of my sketch below:

Yeah....still need to work on my sketching! It's definitely harder than watercolors! :)

Apparently the thing to do while you're enjoying the warm evening sun, is to order fried chicken and have it delivered to where you are sitting. We ordered 8 people's worth of chicken, and ate every piece of it. It was delicious! (맛있었어요! I think that's 'it was delicious' in Korean) Our order also came with plastic pick-nique blankets to sit and eat on. Very convenient! However eating over the face of some Korean celebrity was a little unsettling!^^ To illustrate:

The chicken had somewhat of a familiar taste, after all, chicken will be chicken. Yet it definitely had a non-American flair to it. So it leaves me with the question, that I would love to know the answer to: Is fried chicken American? Considering Pizza (a very American meal) is NOT American, there is a distinct possibility that friend chicken will also turn out to be from somewhere else. Maybe from S. Korea?

Most would probably say, "Who cares about food, when you're in South Korea! There's bunches of more interesting things to do!" However, I would have to reply, that I love food, and Korean food is so different, and so delicious, I think I will spend most of my time here eating! (And starting to go to the gym to make up for it!)

Here comes..beautiful (scary?)...me!!

I've been struck at how important beauty is in Korea. I took the metro yesterday, and saw at least more than three advertisements for cosmetic surgery. Why Korean women (and men) who are already so gorgeous, would want to change the way they look is beyond me!

However, I think the fundamental need for beauty is something that runs deep in this country. Why? I'm not sure...still working on that one! However it is evident in the amount of beauty and make-up stores on one block, as well as the numerous girls, one walks by, quickly glancing at a handheld mirror to fix the imaginary blemish. Unlike in the States, where one feels no qualms to walk across campus in sweatpants and sneakers, Koreans here are always fashionably dressed.

Me looking scary on a normal Sunday night!^^
(Wearing a facial mask. It really works, my skin is wonderfully soft now!^^)

Yet there is also a desire for beauty that goes beyond the physical. I wend to the University's church this morning, and was pleasantly surprised they offered translation for English speakers! The service reminded me somewhat of a traditional Presbyterian service, but still very different. Perhaps it was the unusual  (to me) looking altar, or the huge glass window. Perhaps it was the haunting music of the choir, or the stirring soloist who sang during the Offering. I don't know what it was exactly, but the one word to describe the service, that came to my mind was simply 'beautiful'.

What I liked about the service was the reverence it called forth, and the seriousness with which the congregation approached worship. And yet....I'm still working through some things! Thanks to the excellent translation I was able to understand the service, and it was stimulating. I have a lot to think about!

Sketching Marburg

Me sketching the castle. Behind a view of Marburg.

I sketched the entry gate to the castle in Marburg, during our time there two weeks ago. Today the castle belongs to the University of Marburg, but until approx. 150 years ago, it was home of the Count.

My favorite part about sketching is that it really makes me look at what I'm drawing, and I think about it.

The thoughts coursing through my mind, while drawing this sketch, were about the people who must have lived here; the Lord's who called this Schloß home.

Did they know how beautiful the surrounding hills are? Did they live in fear of attacks from neighboring Lords? Were they happy?

Too the left you can spy part of the doorway to the entrance of the inner court.

Drawing doesn't give me answers to my questions. Nor does asking the questions make my drawing better, but it does help me appreciate the beauty and richness of history.