Episode 53: In Which DFM Gets A Rose And Koreans Start Dancing In The Street

It's been a long time since I last posted.  I've been terribly busy, so I'm sorry about the spotty updating, but faithful readers will be rewarded with what I hope is a good post today.

It turns out I had learned the name of the "mystery woman" from Episode 50.  Her name is April, I had just forgotten.  Today (Sunday) she invited me to her church with her and her family.  Her father was a former member of the Korean Navy and worked for many years as an Engineer for the Korean Air Force.  He spoke very good English, and is still an avid table tennis player.  DFM loves to hear of people remaining active after they retire.

April's father is one of the church's elders and, like April, seems to know just about everyone.  We had a long chat with the pastor, in his office, before the start of church and almost made him late.  The pastor was very friendly and asked many questions about me.  He also gave me some mushroom juice (it comes in a bottle here), which tastes a lot better than it sounds.

After the sermon, the pastor had me introduce myself to the congregation.  April came up to translate my introduction, but I surprised everyone by introducing myself entirely in Korean instead.  I got a large ovation from the entire congregation who then gave me a rose and sang a song of welcome to me.  (The congregation has at least 125 members I'd reckon.)

After church I was a mini celebrity and it seemed like everyone wanted to come and shake my hand.  I got a lot of practice saying "nice to meet you" in Korean.

After church April and I went to meet "One Piece," Pyeong-hwa, at Gyeongbokgung - another palace in Seoul.  However, it was quite busy when we got there, so we decided to walk around the outside of the wall and see the Blue House (where the President lives).  (To see a picture of the Blue House, click here.)  You're only allowed to view the Blue House from that one angle, so every shot any tourist has ever taken looks exactly the same.

At the Blue House site we ran into an interesting family from France.  From left to right is Sophie Cremezi, PR and Events Manager for the French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, her mother and father, and finally, her husband Guilhem Cremezi.  Guilhem works for a company that supplies parts to Hyundai/Kia.  He told me that he took the job so that he could travel.  Smart man.  Speaking of smart, the Cremezis know French, English, and a fair bit of Korean.

After the Cremezis departed to have lunch, April, Pyeong-hwa and I went to Insadong.

Budha's Birthday is not for another week or two, but since Budha's Birthday is on par with Christmas over in Korea, there were all sorts of opportunities to "catch the spirit."  Here we were taught how to properly drink tea, the Korean way.

I had to leave April and Pyeong-hwa for a while as I rushed over to Jamsil Stadium to watch a baseball game.  The Doosan Bears (Thom's favourite team) were hosting the Hanwa Eagles in their rather beautiful stadium.  Unfortunately, I showed up slightly late and so the tickets to the "good section" by the team's rabble rouser were all sold out.  Instead I found a seat in the equally packed right field bleachers for less than $4.  

Much like the soccer game I went to, if you want to cheer loudly you need to be sitting in the right spot.  There were pockets of cheering going on in my section, but it was nothing compared to where the "real fans," as I call them, were sitting.

I went to the game by myself, so I had no one to communicate with, but this boy in the Doosan hat and I would exchange smiles and fist pumps every time Doosan did something positive.

Sorry about the poor quality on the video.  The transfer from an .avi to .wmv file is less than perfect it must be said.

There were definitely a lot more people at this game than at my Woori Heroes game, but the cheering somehow  felt less passionate than when the Heroes fans and I screamed our lungs out for a rare base hit by our really bad team.  

To see real cheering though you have to witness Busan's Lotte Giants fans, who Yi Woojin assures me are the best fans in the league.  I'll let you judge for yourself though (click the earlier  link if you haven't already, and also try this one too).

After about two hours at the baseball game I left early and rushed back down town to catch the final hour and a half of the great Budha's Birthday Parade.  A parade is a parade is a parade, but this one lasted over four hours.  There's not much new I can really say since most people have seen a parade before, but never-the-less I have included a few of my favourite images for your viewing pleasure.

After the parade ended at 9:30 PM, a concert started.  It seemed to be a blend of Korean folk music and Korean pop music.  One of the singers was a big celebrity in Korea, and this seemed to get a great many cheers from the younger members of the audience.  

The concert carried on until at least 11 PM, and at one point a mass group dance broke out in the middle of the street.  Some rather drunk old men started getting a little too vigorous in their dancing, so I decided that it was best for my safety to head home at this time and go to bed.

Episode 46: In Which DFM Visits The Biggest Church In The World And Sees A Two-Headed Turtle

I was supposed to go rock climbing with a group from the Summit climbing gym this morning, but somehow when I was setting my alarm I forgot to finish the process so my alarm did not go off.  Oh well, carpe diem and all that, right?

Seoul is home to the largest church (by membership) in the World.  There are more than 830 000 members of the Yoido Full Gospel Assembly.  Since I had a Sunday off I thought I should drop by one of its five services.

The Yoido church is so big it has its own orchestra and choir.  And if that isn't enough for you, check out the size of that organ behind the choir!

I've said before that people will sell anything in Seoul.  Here the guy in the green shirt drove up on the sidewalk, pulled out a pallet, and then started selling large packages of toilet paper.  It doesn't even phase me any more.

After leaving the church and finding my directions I decided to walk back to the subway station.  Along the way I ran into a long, slim strip of paradise in the middle of the most expensive land in Seoul - Yoido Park.  The park runs the width of Yoido Island, and is easily the greenest place in Seoul.  I wish I could have spent more time exploring it, but I had to get to the COEX Mall to see the aquarium.

 

I finally got a good picture of that Glass Tower I talked about in my previous post on the COEX Mall back in March... and whatever that other building is.

I said last time that COEX Mall is completely underground, and here you get a good idea of what that looks like.  I'm standing on the ground level here, with the trees and the road, looking down on everyone entering/exiting the mall.  To the left you can see the Bee-bee-dee Bah-bee-dee Boo sign I snapped for the other post.  I sing the song for the kids at school and they think it's a gas.  "*Squueeeel* yung-uh sung-sayng-neem knows Bee-bee-dee Bah-bee-dee Boo" is probably what they're thinking.  ("Yung-uh" is English and "sung-sayng-neem" means teacher)

The last time I went to the mall, I tried to visit the COEX Aquarium but I was too late.  Now I'm kind of glad I didn't get in before.  I have been to the 63 Seaworld Aquarium and the Busan Aquarium, but the COEX Aquarium is bigger than both of those.  It would have been a real downer if I had seen it first.

I haven't seen a tarantula in person since I was eight, so this was pretty exciting for me.  Tarantulas generally just stand around I find, and they aren't really exciting unless you have them crawling on you (like I did when I was eight, hurray) but I still enjoyed seeing this White Kneed Tarantula from Brazil.

Here's a centipede from Haiti.  I've never seen one of these before, but I hear they can be deadly.  I had trouble telling which end was the head because the centipede took turns moving both ends independently from each other.

  

One section had a bunch of different fish tanks made from interesting items you might find in the street or at home.  There were post boxes, computers, chemistry sets, dryers, refrigerators and many more items all turned into fish tanks.  Here you can see a telephone booth tank and, well, I think you know what the second picture is.

This looks really sad, but I'm pretty sure that lizard burrowed himself under the truck, and not the other way around.

Now these fish are just plain silly.

A real live two-headed turtle!  And you thought these were a myth, didn't you?  I did.

Yet still more firsts!  This is the first aquarium I've been to that had Hammerhead sharks.  This was a real treat, I tell you what.

I'll finish up with what is probably the best shark picture I've ever taken.  The sting ray below the shark was especially playful, and wherever I would go to take pictures he'd come over and perform tricks for me like flapping up against the glass or showing me his belly.  I thought it was just good luck, but when I moved to the other side of the tank he followed me over and hung around until I moved back and then he followed me again.

I was initially skeptical about the $15 entry fee, but the COEX Aquarium is easily the biggest aquarium and probably the best I've ever seen.  The only aquarium that gives it a run for its money is the Busan Aquarium, and that's only because it was located right on a beautiful beach and I was allowed to swim with the sharks.