South Korea – thespecter.net

Do you know Dokdo?

Do You Know Dokdo? Written by MOON YOUNG Sung by SEO HEE

1. Dokdo/ the beautiful islands have been/ parts of Korean land
For the/ last two thousands of years./ they are Korean land
Located in/ the middle of/ East Sea we call.
They comprise/ two main isles/ East and West Islets.

Everybody/ wants to be there/’cause of the holy Sights
Everybody wants to be there/hoping to meet Seagulls.
Yes, nobody is/ greedy for them/’cause of the holy Sights.
But some people/ covet them/that is real/ nonsense!

Korea Korea/ proud to be Koreans.
I’m willing to die/ for the/ peace of /Korea.
Dokdo Dokdo/I’ll keep it for my sake.
I love I love/ Dokdo forever
I love I love/ Dokdo forever

2. Dokdo/ the peaceful islands have been/parts of Korean hearts
Since the Shilla/ King Jijung/conquered Usan Land.
Though the long/ war was over/ some ones feel no/ peace yet.
Foolish men/ start to say /silly empty talks.

Korea Korea/ proud to be Koreans.
I’m willing to die/ for the/ peace of /Korea.
Dokdo Dokdo/I’ll keep it for my sake.
I love I love/ Dokdo forever
I love I love/ Dokdo forever

Korea Korea/ proud to be Koreans.
I’m willing to die/ for the/ peace of /Korea.
Dokdo Dokdo/I’ll keep it for my sake.
I love I love/ Dokdo forever
I love I love/ Dokdo forever
I love I love/ Dokdo forever

Do you know Dokdo?

Dokdo is Korean land!

Take a speedy cruiser, my friend
from the port of Ulleung island
and glide like a silver dolphin
slicing waves with its fin.

Keep running eighty-seven kilometer around
south eastern bound,
you’ll see Dokdo looking like ocean hermit
having two-little rock summit.

Mystic rocks standing tall
steep cliffs like a wall
and many white seagulls flying
got me fascinated in my mind.

This is our beautiful Dokdo where
we got to protect with care
from some Japanese pirates
coveting like the rats.

She’s been keeping us with honesty
in the east since Shilla Dynasty
like the guardian of heirs
for fifteen hundred years.

And she has many
migratory fishes in the East sea,
and a maritime petro-resources
under the bottom of the deep sea.

Do you know Dokdo in the East Sea is Korean land
We all love Dokdo and that island is our land.
Do you know Dokdo in the East Sea is Korean land
Won’t you leave for Dokdo together with our band.

Seoul trip

We visited Seoul at the end of July. Only now have I gotten around to posting the pictures.

In Seoul, we visited the largest Buddhist temple in the area. Unfortunately, the pictures we had taken weren’t very good and the temple wasn’t much different than Beomeosa in Busan.

We also visited one of the imperial palaces, Changdeokgung, and took a tour through the palace grounds. This palace was originally built in the 15th century and has been renovated a few times throughout history. Gung is the ending that signifies a palace, so this is “Changdeok palace.”

This is the kings road to his throne. The two sides of the road are lower, and the higher(middle) section was only for the king to walk on. — This is the king's road to his throne. The two sides of the road are lower, and the higher(middle) section was only for the king to walk on.

The kings throne room — The king's throne room

This is the kings throne. Notice the picture behind it of the sun, moon, and five mountains. Its behind all the kings thrones in Korea. The sun represents the king, the moon represents the queen, and the five mountains represent five aspects of his kingdom. — This is the king's throne. Notice the picture behind it of the sun, moon, and five mountains. It's behind all the kings' thrones in Korea. The sun represents the king, the moon represents the queen, and the five mountains represent five aspects of his kingdom.

These are rooftop guardians of the throne room.

The kings living quarters. According to Confucian rules, men and women should sleep separately, so the queen had her own quarters. — The king's living quarters. According to Confucian rules, men and women should sleep separately, so the queen had her own quarters.

The remodeled interior of part of the kings quarters. Now, its just a large western-style living room. — The remodeled interior of part of the king's quarters. Now, it's just a large western-style living room.

After the kings quarters were lost in a fire (and later rebuilt), he took the opportunity to make his living quarters in the same building as the queen, and this mother of pearl couch is in the living room separating the two rooms. — After the king's quarters were lost in a fire (and later rebuilt), he took the opportunity to make his living quarters in the same building as the queen, and this mother of pearl couch is in the living room separating the two rooms.

This beautiful artwork is reserved only for temples and palaces. It was against the law for anyone else to paint a house or building in this way.

This ondol fireplace is used to heat the floors of the palace. On one end of the building is the fireplace, on the other end is the chimney. There is a gap under the floor, above which is a layer of clay which rests under the actual floor. The heat/smoke from the fire heats the gap and the clay, keeping the floor nice and warm for the winter time. It is because the heat comes from the floor in this way that Koreans do everything at floor level (eating, sleeping, pretty much everything). And thats why they take their shoes off at the door, to keep the floor - the surface they do everything on - clean. — This ondol fireplace is used to heat the floors of the palace. On one end of the building is the fireplace, on the other end is the chimney. There is a gap under the floor, above which is a layer of clay which rests under the actual floor. The heat/smoke from the fire heats the gap and the clay, keeping the floor nice and warm for the winter time. It is because the heat comes from the floor in this way that Koreans do everything at floor level (eating, sleeping, pretty much everything). And that's why they take their shoes off at the door, to keep the floor - the surface they do everything on - clean.

The kings gate to the Secret Garden. Only the king could use this gate, and only the royal family was allowed into this garden.

The princes living quarters

This is the largest pond in the gardens; behind it is the palace library.

Notice the three gates in front of the library (a big one and two tiny green ones on each side). Only the king was allowed to go through the middle gate. Everyone else had to go through the tiny green gates, which were intentionally made so small that you have to bow to walk through them. Only the king was allowed to walk upright through the gate.

This gate is supposed to keep you from aging if you walk through it. Its one of those long live the king kind of things. — This gate is supposed to keep you from aging if you walk through it. It's one of those "long live the king" kind of things.

This house was built for the king by the prince as a gift. The king had a tough reign, so the son built it as the kings getaway. Notice that its not painted with the colors of a palace; the prince did this on purpose, saying that in this house the king is just a regular person, without the pressures of a ruler.

A rose of sharon, the nation flower of Korea — A rose of sharon, the national flower of Korea

We also spent some time in Insadong, a tourist-centered area.

Here’s the only picture we took:

The alleyway to a vegetarian restaurant that we found in Insadong.

We also went on what was described as a “shaman walk” up into a mountainside where there is a temple and various shrines.

These are some rocks on a mountain behind a Buddhist temple that are supposedly shaped like a monk meditating. I think that shamanists worship there, too.

Heres another view of Seoul — Here's another view of Seoul and the temple

We also did some shopping in Seoul, but we don’t have any pictures of that, as it was really cramped and a picture wouldn’t really reveal anything about the experience. Hopefully, this weekend we will be going to Gyeongju, but if we don’t we will go eventually, and I will write about some of our other or future adventures.

Bizarre Korean beliefs and urban legends

1. Fan death – To me, this is the most hilarious urban legend that I’ve encountered. Apparently, a number of years ago, a man in very poor health was sleeping in a 90+ degree room with the windows closed and had a fan blowing on him, and the fan, in combination with his poor health and alcohol-induced state, caused him to dehydrate and get hypothermia, killing him. Conventional conclusion: don’t go to sleep drunk, dehydrated, and in poor health while the room is ridiculously hot and lacks proper ventilation. The Korean conclusion: fans and air conditioners, when used in an enclosed room, will somehow remove the air from the room and cause you to suffocate. The explanations can vary, like the device “sucking out” the oxygen, the device “chopping” the oxygen up, or pushing the oxygen down to the floor and leaving you nothing to breath. Fans that you can purchase at all of the retailers here have shut-off timers on them that the manufacturers, government, and doctors strongly suggest for you to use so that you do not die from the fan. Everyone in the country, with few exceptions, believes in this and will not accept any notion to the contrary. Korean doctors and academics have researched and documented this “phenomenon” while doctors and academics from around the world have researched and documented how it is not the case and how ridiculous this Korean belief is. Read more on Wikipedia.

2. Never write a name in red ink because it will cause the person to die. The justification goes like this: red is the color of blood – blood’s appearance is a sign of death – conclusion: writing a name in red will cause someone to die. The children, and the teachers even more-so, are terrified of having a name written in red.

3. Your blood type has a direct correlation to the type of personality you have, or will have, and other various things about your life and lifestyle. Never mind things like genetics, environment, and life experiences – it’s your blood type.

4. The season you are born in determines how tall you will grow. Again, never mind genetics and environment, it all has to do with the season you were born in. There has been substantial research in this field by Korean experts, and every time they find a population that doesn’t follow the trends that they expect to find they will simply label it an anomaly and entirely insignificant.

I’ve landed in Korea!

I landed in Busan, South Korea last night. The flights getting here were interesting, particularly being shepherded through additional security in Tokyo while in a rush to our next flight. The manager of the recruitment agency picked us up at the airport and drove us to the hotel.

The hotel is essentially a block away from the school, around the corner down a small street. It’s a “love motel” – the kind typically reserved for affairs. It is an extremely nice little hotel, though, and apparently love motels are some of the best cheap hotels in the country. When we arrived at the hotel, I accidentally put my arm around Brandi in the presence of the recruitment manager, which public displays of affection are a faux paux here, but I don’t believe that he noticed.

The hotel room has an entry for taking off your shoes and provides sandals for use in the bathroom. The electronic devices are all very integrated; attached to the room key is a card that is put in a slot in the entry to turn on the power in the room, and the remote for the television also controls the air conditioning. There’s a water cooler, since the tap water isn’t potable. The bathroom is very nice; it has a drain in the middle of the bathroom for the shower, which is closed-in toward the top but allows water to pass under the glass.

For breakfast this morning, we bought little pastries from the nearby market. We went to the school before lunch and met with some of the staff and other teachers, and then three of the teachers took us out to lunch. The school is on the second and third floors of a large corner building, and the facilities are very modern and brightly colored. It looks like a very fun and positive environment, and all of the people we met were friendly.

For lunch, we ate at this little restaurant near the food market; I had bibimbap(a hot rice, noodle, vegetable and egg dish) and Brandi had gimbap(kind of like Sushi). The meal for all five of us cost 13,000W, which is about $10.

We just got back from shopping at HomePlus, a Tesco-owned multi-floor department and grocery store. We were surprised to find a lot of familiar U.S. products, but the store as a whole was more expensive than the local market vendors when it came to most things we saw.

Most people know a few words of English, and in general everyone has been very polite. It’s weird to be unable to communicate, and to be an outsider in a very homogenous culture.Â I definitely feel like we stick out, and that everyone around us knows it.

Tonight, two of the teachers are going to bring us to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner and show us around a little. They’re also going to help us get subway cards, since the subway runs right by the school and it will be our primary way of getting around.

A video should be forthcoming, so that you can actually see Busan.