Saturday in Korea

Friday night around 10pm all those pain pills really kicked in and I passed out.  Wait, that's probably going to freak my mom out.  I didn't actually "pass out."  More like fell into a drug induced coma, I mean sleep. ;)  I thought for sure I was down for the count, but around 2am I woke up and had a hard time going back to sleep.  Around 4 the hubs and I both fell back asleep after deciding to give it one more try and we woke up for good about 6.  After we got ready the first thing we did was skype with this little guy! 

Some more pictures of our guesthouse.  This is the entrance to our room from the inside common room area.

When we leave we put a lock on those sliding doors and take the key with us.



Seeing the courtyard in the daylight!  The courtyard is also where people hang their laundry out to dry so conveniently cut from this photo were a bunch of bras and panties. ;)



Walking to breakfast.

I had to take pictures of all the cute things at Dunkin Donuts that I've never seen in the states.

You know he had to try on of the choco bananas!  It was filled with some sort of goo though, so he didn't really like it.

Ready to take on the subway!  Getting our tickets.

They are serious about their no smoking laws here!  Ha!

The subways here are clean, clean, clean!  Not at all like NYC.  

We successfully made our transfer and arrived at our destination. We were greeted by this little guy. :)  Haechi, the spirit of Seoul.  He's like the city mascot.

Just enjoying the views on our way to the bus stop.

This city is so awesome.  Seriously, where else would you find bobbleheads outside a police station?!?

Ready for our Seoul City bus tour.  It is like the tour buses in D.C.  It makes 27 different stops.  We bought a pass and were able to get on and off throughout the whole day.

Papa John's delivery!

The Korean War Memorial.  This is the one stop that we had planned to go back to and didn't quite make it.  We might try to see it today.

The Namsangol Hanok village.

Here at the folk village, I saw many things I had never seen before.  Perhaps the most note-worthy being this...

Thanks a lot Grace!  I do not remember covering this in our Korea 101 class. ;)  Seriously, what am I supposed to do with this?!  Oh good, it comes with instructions.

Which, by the way, don't tell you squat about how to actually use the toilet.  Ha!  I ended up with one of my hands on the floor...disgusting I know!  But, on the up side I didn't pee on my pants.  Clint had a big old smile on his face when I came out of the bathroom like 15 minutes after I had gone in!  "I wondered if it was taking you so long because you were having your first experience with an eastern toilet."  Oh, an experience it was.  One that he assures me would be easier without a broken ankle.

Ok, moving on to more new things.  I thought they were preparing for a sand castle building contest.  Hubby thinks they were building a ring for fighting.  Sadly, they still had not started anything by the time we left so we'll never know who was right. ;)

Traditional hanok houses.

The interior.  Does it look familiar?  This is the type of room we are staying in.

Can you spy with your little eye....the tourist? ;)

Having some street food.

Chicken for the hubs.  Fresh pineapple for me.  It was so good!

Ok, funny story about this door.  It totally tried to destroy me.  I stepped through after another person, assuming the door worked on some kind of sensor.  Well, it doesn't.  The person before me had pushed the button to open it and after allowing enough time for them to enter it was time for the door to shut.  On me.  This really happened.  I made a very loud, ridiculous entrance into this little bakery.  And my husband thought it was hilarious.  Of course.

Views from the base of Seoul Tower.

Wow, our son is out there somewhere!

Love locks!  This is a tradition here at the tower.  Couples come and leave a lock symbolizing their love.  Adoptive families have taken on the tradition as well by leaving locks too.  This was something I have been looking forward to doing!

I loved this.  Just walking around and looking at all of these locks, some that had obviously been here for a very long time.  Imagining the different love stories respresented.  I don't know, it just felt so intimate and romantic to me.  Not sure all of us felt the same way.  My husband stole the camera to take pictures of the locks with silly/inappropriate images on them.  

One of hubby's finds.

And some of mine...way better. :)

I looked long and hard to find another lock left by an adoptive family.  They were just here!  How neat!

We are saving our key for our lil' peanut.

After Seoul Tower it was on to Insadong market.  There is some serious shopping to be had here in Seoul, that's for sure!

We realized that Insadong was actually close to our guest house.  So, before hopping back on the bus we decided to drop of our bags.  This is what we looked like!  Ha!  So tired already.  We could have easily napped, but we rallied!  Got some lunch and jumped back on the bus.

Next stop Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Our timing was perfect!  We arrived just before the last changing of the guard ceremony.

Namdaemun Market!  We found just what we were looking for here right away so didn't stay too long.

On our way out, we caught a parade!

We don't know exactly what it was for...it was clearly military.  Hubby said all the different branches were represented.  And he even thought there was a small group of American troups in there as well.  They had marching bands and everything.  Very fun!

On our subway ride back "home" I told hubby that I felt like we just did everything that I hear most adoptive families do over the course of their whole stay.  He said that's because they all stay in nice hotels that they want to go back and relax in.  Ha!  I have really enjoyed our little stay in the hanok house.  Our room is tiny and we are sleeping on little mattress pads on the floor and our room does open into the common area, so it's hard to get a great night's sleep over the noise.  But, it's so quaint, and traditional, and just different!  I am so glad that we stayed here for two nights.  Love that we went "all real deal Korea" as hubby would say.  But, I will be glad to have a bed and our own bathroom beginning tonight.  There is no fan in the shared bathroom here so add that to the fact that other people could be outside waiting on me and I am just sweating bullets by the time I get out of there!  Ready for a nice long, relaxing shower. 

I thought for sure I would sleep straight through the night after our busy day.  But, I was up again at 2am and again for good at 5 this time!  While my husband is still snoozing next to me.  Grrr!  I love my sleep, so I thought for sure I would have no problem adjusting to the time change.  I can usually sleep any time of day back home. :) 

We don't have any set plans today other than moving from Bongsan to the Dragon Hill Lodge.  There are adventures to be had though!  Better wake my hubby up and start our day!!!