First Week of Teaching, Making Friends, and Visiting the Royal Palaces

So it's been a rather long week. We began teaching this week, so I've now officially become a teacher. I have about 60 different kids to keep track of and learn names for. Some of my classes are quite loud and silly and others are really quiet and I'd love for them to speak up more, but on the whole I'm feeling fairly confident and I know at least some of the kids like me and learn from me (they're already stopping to tell me goodbye). As a joke I've told almost all my kids that Amy Teacher is from Scotland where Hogwarts is, and she used to teach there before coming to teach them. Some of them believe me, others know it's complete rubbish. We all got a laugh out it anyway. These kids need a break from intensive classes on occasion.

Earlier in the week we planned a night out for Brynn and Austin, who have since returned back from America. Brynn was loads of fun, and despite only just having met her, we already miss her.

Above: Brynn, Rebekah, Amy, and I.

On Saturday, we got up early to take a trip to two of the palaces in Seoul. There are pictures below of all that.

The first palace was Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was the bigger of the two. That's the one that attracts the most tourists. You can walk through tons of back-alleys and gates and whatnot for hours, and in the middle where one of the large towers sits is the National History Museum of Korea, featuring artifacts from all walks of life. The capital was moved to Seoul in the 1300s, and this was the palace built to house the famous King Seojong, whose picture you can see below. He's something of a hero to all Koreans, and he's famous for the creation of the Korean alphabet that made 99% of the Korean population literate in the 1400s.

While we were there, we also ended up keeping sidetracked by a film crew for a Korean television show that comes on in the mornings at 6:00am here for kids. They wanted to interview some of us, so Amy and Scott ended up under the watchful eye of the camera answering all sorts of questions about bank overdrafts and credit card debt. It was fairly amusing watching them try and answer seriously. By the time we were done, it was almost time to get a move on to the next palace, but we arrived at the gate just in time to see the changing of the guard. Amy, of course, needed a picture of herself with the guards, who are similar to those at Buckingham Palace in that they never ever smile or move except on ceremony.

The second palace, Deoksugung, was far smaller, but more entertaining, because you could actually go into the buildings, and here there were signs translated to English telling you what happened where. I think, if I had to pick, I'd prefer the smaller one. It seemed far more cozy and secluded than the bigger Gyeongboksung Palace. One of the buildings at Deoksugung had served as a prison to one of the old Queens during civil war for five years, but later became a nursery for one of the little Princesses of a later dynasty. It was also cheaper entry to this palace (approx. $1, though the other was only $3), which was nice. We wandered around that, going into the buildings (you have to take your shoes off when you do) and taking our pictures before deciding at long last to head on home.

Here are the pictures:

Deoksugung Palace main throne room. The ceiling in here was carved into the shape of dragons and painted green and gold and red.

One of the gates leading up to the main throne room in Deoksugung.

The juxtaposition of old and new in Seoul.

Amy and Rebekah at Deoksugung.

The main throne room building again.

Changing of the guard at the Gyeongbokgung Palace main gate.

One of Gyeongbokgung's walkways surrounding massive paved courtyards in the main buildings.

The perfect place in Korea for a city is between a mountain and a river. Gyeongbokgung Palace goes almost all the way to the mountain range in the distance, and Seoul is spread out before the main gate in the other direction, with high-rises and such all about. This picture is actually of Deoksugung Palace, but it was prettier.

The main lake and overlooking pagoda at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Amy, Rebekah, and Scott posing like the Koreans do for pictures.

Scott during his interview for Korean TV.

These posts used to stand at the entrances to villages to mark the village territory and to welcome visitors.

The pagoda, and below it the National History Museum of Korea.

The stone zodiac circle. We all got our pictures taken with our animal.

Me at the stone zodiac circle.

The height of the gates separating different courtyards at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Gyeongbokgung Palace first courtyard.

Gyeongbokgung Palace inner courtyards. The guy in the red and the blue Doctor Who Tardis hat is Van, who refused to smile for pictures, so I only have ones of the back of his head or him refusing to smile.

Statue of King Seojong, who inventing Hangul, the Korean alphabet. On either side of the roads are the City Hall, the U.S. embassy, and the U.K. embassy.

View from inside Gyeongbokgung Palace.

The interior of the first of Gyeongbokgung Palace's throne rooms.

The main gate to Gyeongbokgung Palace with the hills beyond.

Scott, Van, Amy, and Rebekah under the statue of King Seojong. The Korean on the statue says "Seojong Taewang".

One of the sundials near the statue, and one of a few we saw within the palaces. The Koreans used sundials starting at about the 1300s, and they were located around audience chambers so they could keep track of scheduled time.

Me in the main gate courtyard of Gyeongbokgung where the changing of the guard ceremony begins and the palace starts.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures! Sorry there were so many! Next post due next week.