Heart and Seoul

A couple dozen social studies teachers met for the first time at JFK airport and bonded over the fourteen hour flight to Seoul. Our mission:  to complete a certification course in Korean Studies at Korea University and create lesson plans and presentations to bring back to the United States to share with our students and other educators.  These fellowships were funded by the Korea Society, an organization to promote Korean culture and, in particular, wants American students to know the history of their country - which they feel has been somewhat overlooked.

Our first day in Seoul was spent orienting ourselves to the city:  learning to take the metro (about 1000 Korean won per ride - that's about a dollar), exploring old town, and eating our first Korean meal.  First we visited the ancient wall of the city.  The photo is of King Sejong, a 15th century ruler who was a visionary and benevolent neo-Confucian.  He also invented the Korean Hangul alphabet, which helped democratize the country as it allowed the lower classes to have access to literature and to communicate with government officials (previously Korea had used the over-complicated Chinese alphabet which only the very wealthy had the time and resources to learn).

Next we were tantalized by seeing the outside of Changdeokgung Palace, the 400 year old domicile of Korean royalty until the last king's death in 1926.  Today there was no time to explore the interior of the palace, so we made a mental note to ourselves to return on our free day.  Then our Korea Society leader took us to the Koran Folk Museum.  Again, time constraints kept us from seeing this very well curated museum as we would like, but it did give us the basic scope of Korean handicrafts, farming, and writing over the centuries, as well as a musical performance outside.

After walking through a neighborhood adjacent to the palace, which managed to be quaint and trendy all at the same time, we had lunch at a tiny traditional restaurant with one very harassed Korean lady doing the cooking, serving, and bussing of tables.  I finally ate kimchi after reading about it forever and it's good!  We also had bibimbap, which is a national dish of mixed rice, vegetables, and seaweed.  Excellent. 

We returned to our hotel in the afternoon and I explored the neighborhood a little on my own and changed some money into Korean won before napping.  Then attended a lovely welcome banquet hosted by the Korea Society and hand drinks in the lounge with a few of the fellows before heading to bed.