Soellal Weekend!

I've had a really amazing 4 day weekend!

On Sunday, I went with Mimi and her friend Bryn because Mimi had mentioned needing boots. They were both planning on hiking but I was just planning on checking out the boot action and then heading back home. I told Mimi I'd go hiking with her one day but I need to start off easy as I am not athletically inclined... at all.

We got off of the metro and headed to the base of the mountain. There were lots of shops leading up to the trail and Mimi and Bryn kept telling me how empty the area was compared to how it usually is because of the holiday.

I love how there are mountains EVERYWHERE here.

After realizing how late in the day it was and how long we were on the metro to get to the mountain, I was anxious to get back home because Justin told me he'd take me to Meyongdong to go shopping. So I parted ways with Mimi and Brynn and headed back in the direction of the metro to attempt my first solo transfer trip.

Mountains behind the metro

There have been a few times when I've gone a ways outside of my neighborhood and noticed rows of apartment buildings like these. It makes me realize just how populated Korea is, especially around Seoul.

Yay! Found which side of the track to be on all by myself!

Little girl in a Hanbok leaning over to see if the train is coming.

I made it back to Hongdae and stopped in at a cafe to get some food before taking a cab back home so Justin and I could go shopping.

Meyongdong is a great time. There is lots of street shopping as well as chains like Forever 21 and H&M. Justin and I parted ways once he went into H&M because I knew he was about to do work and I didn't want him to feel like I was following him around. Plus I had street shopping to do.

Bowing Hanbok-wearing robots?

When I left, it took FOREVER to get a cab to pick me up. There were so many cabs that blatantly looked at me, saw that I was a foreigner, and drove off. I began walking further and further up the road after having no luck in a spot and then repeating the cycle of not getting any cab love. At the peak of my frustration, I looked at a shop to my left and saw.............. PUPPIES! There were like 4 stores, one after the other, and my mood immediately shifted from "OMG I hate Korea, someone drive me home!" to "AHHHH PUPPIES!!!! I MUST TOUCH THEM!" I decided to walk inside of a shop once I saw a store that had dressed some of their puppies up in Hanboks. I'm not sure if I've mentioned previously what exactly a hanbok is so in case I haven't they are traditional Korean dress that is worn on holidays by men, women, children, AND THESE PUPPIES!

I love you puppy!

There was also this puppy.

But I just kept getting distracted by this little squishy puppy!

I left the puppy shop and had no problem getting a cab. I am convinced its because my attitude was radiating positive puppy vibes and I was much more appealing to cab drivers. Or maybe because I started using my left hand to hail a cab effectively covering my foreign face until the cab drivers pulled over to talk to me. Hehehe. Totally using my dark hair to my advantage. I was home by 7:30 and went to bed shortly after, exhausted from not hiking and not putting my clothes away like I was supposed to do the day before.


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Yesterday was one of my favorite days since arriving in Korea. I had done some research in the beginning of the weekend about things to do in Seoul during the holiday weekend. I ended up on a page that advertised lots of Soellal themed events at Namsangol Hanok village. I asked around if anyone wanted to join me and Mimi and Mandy said they were interested. I was super excited because cultural things are my favorite things to do when I'm in a new place and since this was a holiday weekend, I was excited to do holiday things with locals. I was especially anxious to do something cultural this weekend because if I choose to not renew my contract, this will be the only Seollal that I'm here for and I don't want to use the fact that I'm new and unfamiliar with the area as a excuse to not get out and do exciting things.

Mimi and I met up with Mandy at one of the exits from the metro. The village was a very short walk away.

Just grabbing my boob, ready to start the day.

The village looked fairly similar to the palace that Mandy and I went to a few weeks ago. In each of the different temples there were different activities. You could make a kite, a Korean spinning top, a traditional mask and there was a stage set up for performances. There was an area for rice treats like the ones that we got at school from our boss for the holiday and you could watch people make them as well as buy freshly made ones. I bought some of the kind that I like, which are brown and taste like donuts. There was an area that people were writing their wish for the new year on a piece of parchment and tying it to a post in the village as well as a museum area and gift shop. It was awesome! And now I flood you with pictures....

Kite making area

View of Namsan tower from the village.

Rice treat tent

Some of the different kinds of the rice treats. The ones I like are in the boxes in the bottom left corner with the red labels.

A man demonstrating how the treats are made.

This was an area that some young kids were using to test out the tops that they had decorated.

There were two types of tops: the ones that we are the most familiar with and a kind that you had to use this whip to keep it going. This guy was showing the young kids how its done.

New year wishes!

Writing a wish.

Some figurines inside of the Visitor's Center

Gift shop

We looked at the time and saw that it was 1:50 and since seats were filling up in the performance area, we assumed that the show started on the hour. We decided to make our way to the seats.

Some of the performers ready to take the stage.

Musicians.

Dancers.

After these dancers were finished, the Korean man sitting next to Mandy leaned over to her with a huge smile on his face and asked her did she enjoy the performance. Precious!

This woman's voice was so amazing. The songs she was singing sounded so difficult!

Two women playing long string instruments and singing.

We decided it would be a good idea to see some of the village that we hadn't seen yet and assumed that things would be less crowded during the performances. Plus I really wanted to find where the masks were! We left our seats and went off to do more wandering in the village.

Some straw shoes on display.

There was a radio station that had a truck set up in the village and I was intrigued by the white guys that were wearing headsets. Do you work for the radio station? Do you speak Korean? What's your story?

We heard these noises behind us and turned around to see little kids playing with these hula hoop looking things. They had a metal hoop and a hook that would attach to the hoop and then they would run and see how far they could walk their hoop.

Trying to help the baby. I love it!

Then it was time to actively look for the masks. I love masks from other cultures and I've started collecting them in recent years when I see them. I have two from Martinique, one from Jamaica that Kelley got me, and one of my grandma's that she got one one of her many travels so I REALLY wanted to make my own in Korea to add to my collection.

View of the back of the stage from the kite making temple.

A closer view of some performers.

At last we found the masks! They were in another temple behind where the rice treat tent was. We took off our shoes before entering and were given six different options for which mask we wanted and a packet of styrofoam-like clay that we used to decorate them. Mimi opted out of decorating but Mandy and I chose the two most recognized masks to decorate. Each mask was 3,000 won to decorate (about $2.74). LOVE the exchange rate!

The mask options. The most famous one is the one in the middle on the top and its female counterpart in the bottom left-hand corner is the second most iconic one.

An idea booklet that was on the table. The clay set only had 5 colors and additional colors could be made by mixing two or more of the colors together.

Before.

After!

Nailed it.

Mandy's hipster mask.

They love each other.

Mandy, Mimi, and me after mask making.

After leaving the mask temple we decided we were hungry and wanted to find some place to eat before heading home. On the way out of the village, we saw some kids lined up about to fly the kites that they had made.

Love the hanboks!

Leaving the village. This picture does not do the mountains in the background any justice at all.

One last picture before heading out.

Mimi buying some chestnuts outside of the village.

We headed to Insadong for dinner and this was another awesome new area I hadn't been to yet. There were lots of street shops and Mimi said that it is THE place to buy souvenirs.

I LOVE this Buddha and I kind of want to go back for it.

Mimi and Mandy bought these wooden Reflexology pieces that you rub on parts of your hands and feet for relief in different parts of your body.

????

 We had some difficulty finding a restaurant but eventually ended up finding somewhere to eat. Mimi is a vegan and has this awesome card that she printed from the internet and laminated that explains in Korean what her dietary needs are. She presents it whenever she goes out to eat. Unfortunately, the first place that we went to explained that there was no way that they could make anything without animal products in it but kindly pointed us in the direction of some place that had Bibimbap, which is a Korean dish of vegetables and rice.

When we got to the second place, we ordered some rice wine and got our Bibimbap. It normally comes with an egg so Mandy and I got the egg version and Mimi got it without the egg. It was so good!

Very excited about the rice wine. It was brought to us in a bowl with a serving spoon and then we drank it from smaller bowls.

When we first got to the restaurant, there was a guy that looked like he worked at the restaurant that was failing trying to take discreet pictures of us. Both Mimi and Mandy mentioned that since this restaurant was on a side street, they probably don't get many Westerners inside. On our way out, the both the picture taker and the guy that took our order asked if we would take a picture with them. Yes! My first "Hey, you're different and I want a picture of you" moment! The "I don't know you but I want your picture to remember you always" attitude is something that I am very much in favor of. I feel so important and Korea is doing irreversible positive things to my ego.

We had left the restaurant and were back on the main road when the picture taker came running after us and gave us three oranges. We were very appreciative and honored because oranges are a traditional gift that is given between family and friends during the new year so the fact that he would offer them to us was really awesome!

We went into a few more stores before heading our separate ways home.

I love this woman's face looking at Mandy's mask!

It really was an amazing day and I was able to buy Ambar's birthday present while we were in Insadong. I'm so happy to have gotten out and seen some of the events that were taking place for the holiday. It's so easy to find something to do in this city and getting around is proving to be just as easy. I can't wait to take advantage of more things to do in weekends to come. Hope you all like looking at these pictures! I'm still working on getting my apartment looking how I want it so look for a post about that soon.