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| Kirby, me and Colleen aka CoCo ready for a night on the town! |
These past few days have been absolutely crazy! Actually the past few weeks have been insane. All of the Fulbrights went to Seoul last weekend for our Seoul trip and had a blast to say the least. I have a few good stories from that trip that I will save for verbal reiteration to a select few. Besides having a really good time, included in that good time was a trip to the US Ambassador’s house. It was absolutely amazing! Ambassador Stevens is such a wonderful woman and such a strong, warm presence. I was able to talk with her briefly for a few minutes before I had to eat the scrumptious buffet that was there at her house. Auntie Patty, you would have loved the art in this house; I couldn’t stop thinking about how you would love the art and the interior design! ^^
Let me back track a little bit for a moment. Forgive me I am trying to cover a lot of time in one blog posting so my mind is wandering a bit. Anyways, before we arrived at the Ambassador’s house, all the Fulbrights ventured out of the Soviet-Marble-esque Castle known as Jungwon University at an early 5:00am. Once we arrived in Seoul we freshened up a bit and then pretty much headed out to the DMZ after that in two large groups. As the second group we stopped along the way at many different memorials to fallen soldiers during the Korean War and other wars. Our tour guide was really sweet and what not. We finally arrived at the Joint Security Area which is a special area where several different countries are there protecting the border. We had to pass through many check points and then were briefed on important things before heading to take pictures of the South Korean soldiers and North Korean soldiers facing each other at the border. As we were briefed, there was also a Japanese tour group along with us so at the same time I could not only understand the English descriptions but also the Japanese. That was pretty cool.
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| Me awkwardly taking a picture |
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| North Korean soldiers and tourists. |
At the border, the South Korean soldiers are in a certain Taekwondo stance with sunglasses on to basically intimidate the North Korean soldiers. We were told that we were not allowed to communicate in any way with the North Korean soldiers, this meaning verbal and nonverbal communication. We were not allowed to go into the conference room because the North Korean tourists were there at the same time. Also, we had the rare opportunity to see the North Korean tourists come down from the other side along with North Korean soldiers. Here they were, like us, touring this “hostile” area. I really have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that such a serious and important place has been made into a tourist attraction. The kicker here is that supposedly for the tour we were on, there was a brochure with two definitely Western looking foreigners staring out of binoculars and smiling. Really? That just blows my mind. I also have trouble taking pictures with me in it at places that are quite controversial etc. For example, when I was in Hiroshima, I did not stand there, smile and throw up a good ole peace sign; how can you do that where so many lives have been taken? The same goes for the DMZ/JSA. Why in the world would you want to go into a gift shop on the South Korean side of the DMZ? To buy what? A T-Shirt that says something that downplays the situation? Or does it rather mock the situation?
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| Soldier fulfilling his mandatory military service. |
There is a film called JSA that my friend and fellow ETA Anskar has recommended I see. It is in regards to the soldiers who face each other. Apparently it chronicles two soldiers, one South Korean and one North Korean standing there and over some time, they become friends. I hear it is a tear-jerker (?) and it is an excellent piece of film. I’d say that’s next on my list. In addition, we met a soldier who was in the United States for 7 years and graduated from Johns Hopkins with a degree in Economics and Applied Mathematics. And here he was at the border doing his mandatory military service. That was one interesting conversation to say the least.... After his 2 year service he will go back to the States to pursue his graduate degree.
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| South Korean soldiers in modified Taekowndo stance staring towards North Korea. Notice that they only half expose themselves to the North Koreans. |
I will update you all soon on my host family! They are absolutely amazing!!! Time for bed. ^^ZZZZZZzzzzz……
