You @ Seoul


Today was our first full day in Seoul. We began the day with a journey through the Seoul subway system to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This was the main royal palace for the Emperors of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty.

Afterwards, the group went to have lunch in a Korean restaurant. We ate “Korean style” which is seated on cushions on the floor around low tables. We enjoyed pork dumplings and cold noodle soup (and kimchi of course).
After lunch we toured the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art which has a large collection of traditional Korean art such as Paintings and Calligraphy, Ceramics, Metal works and Buddhist Art. I loved the Celadon Pottery and the Buddhist Paintings and Buddhist Sculptures the most!
The day ended with a opening session dinner at the Korean Restaurant, Daejangeum were we had an opportunity to meet the educators from Australia and New Zealand. There are over 40 of us so the table was the longest I ever sat at! And the food was amazing! Exotic eats of the evening-octopus and jellyfish cucumber wrap. Yum!

Today we had our last full day of seminars on Korean film and Korean society. The popularity of Korean popular culture around the world is called Hallyu (The Korean Wave). Korean dramas and films have won worldwide recognition for their artistic values. Today we watched the 1999 independent film, My Heart. It was a moving film on the hardships faced by a woman and the people in her life in 1920-1940 Korea.

In the afternoon we all headed to the part of Seoul that still retain several of the old neighborhoods, where Koreans still live in a more traditional dwelling, reflective of the homes of the aristocracy during the Joseon Dynasty period. Their we learned Korean calligraphy, participated in a tea ceremony and enjoyed dressing up in Joseon period traditional dress.