Somewhere Across the Pond: Republic of Korea

Korea is one of the oldest civilizations in the world
Now with a rough population of 48,850,000

The statue above is who formalized the Hangul (Korean) language

The kids and I went to Korea to visit our friends Shawn, Misung and Hannah. It was fun for both of us to see how much the kids had changed in the short period since England.

Here is Iain and Hannah in front of a kids store in Osan.
We had a few days out to shop.

These are the views out of Misung's flat.
The mountains reminded me of WNC.
It was just all the apartment buildings that threw off the reminiscing...

Korea has one of the world's fastest growing
economies since the 1960s.
Science and information technology
(electronics, computers and mobile phones)
are the biggest contributors.

world's largest shipbuilder
The world's 3rd largest steel producer
the world's 4th largest oil refiner
one of the top 5 auto producers in the world (Hyundia and Kia.)

One night we had a fancy dinner our Korean style.
Misung's Mother, 2 other sisters and one of the husbands joined us,
along with Hannah's cousin.

I am not sure what everything was but it was more food than you can
imagine. And yes we did sit on the floor and ate with
metal chopsticks. Iain wasn't so brave,
good thing I packed Cheerios.

Korea has the world's 6th largest armed forces
and one of the 10th largest defense budgets in the world.
Many of these forces are concentrated near the border with the
North, near the (DMZ) demilitarized zone.
Last time Donnie was in Korea he toured the DMZ.
All South Korean males are required to serve in the military for a
period of two years. Above is one of the bars/restaurants
just off the Osan Military Base called the Blue Opera.
I am now a proud owner of a beer mug from there.
Excellent people watching here...

To say the cityscape changes at night is an understatement
- Everything becomes neon.

About 30% of the population is Christian.
However, 11 of the world's 12 largest churches are located in
Seoul! South Korea is also the 2nd largest missionary sending
nation on earth, after the US.
Somehow Western North Carolina’s bible belt seems a bit lacking.
But at night, there are neon crosses everywhere…
that was one of the biggest surprises for me.

Above is just a playground at a school that I found interesting...
nice onion domes.

Korean Folk Village

Home to numerous collections of Korean
cultural artifacts the village has been developed
to convey the wisdom and the spirits of the Korean ancestors.

“The lifestyle of Korean people, with a history extending
back more than 5,000 years, abruptly changed following
the Kabo Peasant War (1894),
the Japanese invasion of Korea (1910-1945),
& the Korean War (1950-1953).
When the Korean economy surged in the 1960s,
the Office of Cultural Properties started to value
the establishment and operation of a folk museum.
The economy, society, and culture in Korea underwent
a tremendous change in pursuit of the Saemaeul Movement
(movement for regional development),
promoted nationwide in the 1970s.
Accordingly, the Korean Folk Village was founded
in 1973, & the privatization of the Folk Village
was officially approved by the government in 1973.”

Quoted from their website

Initially 30 folk villages made up the site but an additional 282 villages were relocated and rebuilt in 2000. 168 traditional houses, Approximately 30,000 items of daily life have been collected from diverse regions and placed in each room based on their characteristics and period

What you don't see in this photo below is the group of people ALSO taking this same photo.

Then I look over and see this.

Houses relocated to and restored in the Folk Village, not only include typical houses of commoners, farmers, and noblemen from the Southern, Central, and Northern parts of Korea, including island areas, but also buildings for special purposes, such as the shrine of scholars, the provincial governor’s office, a private school, a Buddhist temple, and a shaman's house.

Kimchi anyone?

corn storage and mill

Approximately 30,000 items of daily life have been collected from diverse regions and placed in each room based on their characteristics and period, enabling visitors to conveniently see, listen and feel the apparel, food, domestic life, manufacturing technology, religious ceremonies, and folk amusement according to period.

With social, economic and cultural developments, the houses have evolved from simple shelters satisfying basic needs, such as sleeping and cooking, into complicated and diverse forms having a main wing, annex, and differentiated areas for raising cattle and storing grain. Koreans have efficiently utilized the spaces in the interior and exterior of the house to achieve their own self-sufficiency.

yes we ate a Iain size tables.

Oh look, it's Annie the superstar again.

This photo cracks me up....
none of the kids are looking at the camera.
typical....so much for my group photo!

This is a traditional Wedding ceremony.

my little man on a steeping stone bridge!

Rice patty

Temple detail

traditional dancing and music

The girls below are jumping on (basically) on an oversize sea-saw. It was fairly impressive how high they could jump and what all they could do in the air....acrobatics

Poor Annie, this warrior really wanted his photo taken with her but one look at him and she just wailed...I laughed but he felt really bad. Then I tried to have Iain take his photo with the warrior but he wanted nothing to do with him...just too scary.

Click on the photo, you'll see she wasn't happy.

ah, the Korean women trying to get the little one's attention.

3-D movies really don't have the same effect
if you do not wear the glasses

on the train....

To the arboretum!

Which backpack is mine?
Summer camp was in session.

It was a bit hot and the only hat I had was Annie's. She was sleeping so Iain was the lucky man in pink.

We made it thru the hedge maze - waited in line to ring the bell. Once it was Iain's turn he just climbed up the , walked across and went back down...forgot to ring the bell...