The Loves in Korea

How to eat bibimbap

Happy Liberation Day, South Korea!

Couples matching outfits in South Korea

Saturday, July 22, 2017: Enjoying a scenic walk with my mom and son at Yongsan Family park. We also strolled around the pagoda garden of the National Museum of Korea.

Saturday, July 22, 2017: Visiting some of the most famous historic places in Seoul.

Saturday, July 22, 2017 During my mom's recent visit to Seoul earlier this month, we spent a day exploring some of the most famous historic places in the city. We returned to Jogyesa Buddhist temple (my favorite place in Seoul), as well as Gwanghwamun gate, General Yi Sun-Sin's and King Sejong the Great's sculptures in Gwanghwamun square, and the cultural heritage area of Insa-dong. It was a hot, humid day but we impressed ourselves with the amount of ground we covered. We also had our one month old baby with us. It was baby's first real adventure into the city! Our first stop, Jogyesa temple is a very special place. Each time Shawn and I have visited, there has been something wonderful happening. The most notable event we have experienced there has been the amazingly colorful and vibrant Lotus Lantern festival in late April. I wrote a lengthy blog post about this festival and you are welcome to scroll back to read it if you're interested. We have also happened to visit during other interesting smaller scale events. This most recent visit was no different; we witnessed a solemn procession of Buddhist monks weaving their way through a maze-like large lotus garden, punctuated by the sounds of gongs and other instruments. Mom and I also took in the fascinating sight of the three monumental golden Buddha statues inside the temple. Jogyesa is a truly special place. I always feel inspired and energized when I visit. My mom seemed to be impressed with the temple and its vivid surroundings as well. During our long walk to see the sights around Gwanghwamun square, we happened upon a cute cartoon version of the Haechi. The Haechi is an icon of the city of Seoul. He is a mythical creature described as having the combined traits of a lion, sheep and unicorn! We see examples of the Haechi all over the city when we travel. The cartoon version of him is adorably photogenic and we had fun taking our baby boy's photo with him!

Friday, July 21, 2017: the National Hangeul Museum in Yongsan

Unfortunately, most of the exhibition areas in the museum aren’t translated into English so I wasn’t able to get much out of my visit. I have definitely gotten spoiled by the other museums in Seoul, which are often entirely accessible to foreigners. I did use the English interpreted iPod tour provided by the National Hangeul Museum, but it was not very comprehensive. Still, I enjoyed the architecture of the building, the high tech exhibition spaces, and the lovely gardens on the grounds of the museum. I’ll have to return once I have better mastery of the language!

Wednesday, July 19, 2017: the Garden of Morning Calm in Gapyeong

One of the most pleasant days we had together was spent walking around the Garden of Morning Calm in Gapyeong, about one hour’s drive from Seoul. Shawn and I had visited the garden once before last fall. It was fun to see the gardens in a different season. We were also blessed with an unfavorable weather forecast, which meant the gardens were much less crowded than usual. Luckily, the forecast turned out to be wrong and we had a delightful afternoon enjoying the scenery together and taking lots of photos. The Garden of Morning Calm is paradise for nature lovers and photographers alike. Its name is a reference to a well-known moniker of Korea: the Land of Morning Calm. The garden was designed to showcase the beauty of Korean design and the country’s landscape.  There are 20 themed sections of the garden. One of our favorite sections included a traditionally-painted Korean pagoda perched on a quiet pond awash with white and pink waterlilies. The garden is also home to a splendid juniper tree that is estimated to be a thousand years old! The variety of color, texture, and fragrance in the garden is what makes it so impressive and special. We are so pleased that the photos we took that day measure up to how beautiful our surroundings were in person!

Tuesday, July 18, 2017: We are now a family of three! Earlier this summer, we welcomed our baby boy to the world! He is ready to start adventuring out with us in Korea soon. Look for more updates to our blog shortly!

Sunday, May 21, 2017: A sunny morning at the Seoul zoo

The park is absolutely enormous and it was quite a feat to walk at 9 months pregnant in the hot sun. I was very happy to learn that the zoo has a Sky Ride lift to take visitors across the park! We spent about 3 hours walking, viewing the animals, and enjoying a picnic lunch before taking the lift back to the entrance of the park. The Sky Ride is similar to a ski lift with plenty of space to hang strollers, picnic baskets and other luggage. It was a fabulous way to cool down at the end of our visit! It was a great day to be out and about.

The beautiful South Korean national anthem with translation in English

Saturday, May 20, 2017: this afternoon we attended a high energy taekwondo competition/demonstration. Taekwondo is the most popular of the martial arts in Korea. We originally attended to support some American soldiers we know who are training with Korean taekwondo instructors. However, we also highly enjoyed watching the ROK army and marine corps taekwondo teams compete!

My golf-loving husband, Shawn and I enjoyed watching the Players Championship on TV this weekend. It was exciting to witness South Korean Kim Si-Woo win the competition! We celebrated by playing a round of mini golf together on Sunday!

Saturday, May 13, 2017: Check out this video on how to make your own kimchi at home!