Glad you could all make it back. Another eventful weekend here in Junggye and around the city.
If you want a summary of the weekend, here it is: Eric and Julianne went back to Canada, Kelly was pick pocketed but is uninjured and got the money back, we drank with Matty Marois, and enjoyed the Lotus Lantern street festival in celebration of Buddha's birthday.
If you want details, prepare yourself for a reading headache.
Thursday night was a going away party for Eric & Julianne, headed back to Winnipeg on Saturday. They're good people and it sucks we only got to spend a week with them, but their experience was mixed and they are definitely pumped to head back to the Great White North. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.
We met the teachers that will be replacing them for only the next month, Tina & Brad I think, on Friday. Seem like good Edmontonians who will help control the Canadian power in the office. Friday night was another night of drinking in front of the GS (convenience store chain) with Andy and Eric while the girls went shopping at a night market. Also my first McDonald's experience here, where Eric and I had bacon cheeseburgers, minus the burgers. Bun, cheese, ketchup and bacon. Quite the treat....
Saturday is when the fun began. Kelly and Leah went to another market during the afternoon and I was going to meet Kel and Matty Marois from Laurier at 6 for a good ol' Waterloo reunion. Joshman was out on a weekend voyage with his girlfriend so he couldn't make it. While I was on my way into the city, a distressed Kelly called me saying that she had been the victim of a pickpocket.
(Kelly's Insert:) So Leah and I were shopping in this really cool shopping district called Myeong-dong. Shirts are as cheap as $2.00 and there are really funky little shops with a lot of one of a kind stuff. When I post my pictures, you will see how swamped the area was with people! It was actually insane. Anyway, Leah and I were walking from one store to the next, and I suspect that is when everything went down. I had opened my purse and reached into it to grab my phone and camera. I was lagging behind a bit, so I ran to catch up with Leah through the crowd and told her I felt strange, as though this guy that had tried talking to me in the store was following me or something. We made it to the next store, and as I wen to buy this adorable hat and shirt, I reached into my purse and my wallet was gone. After retracing our steps in the rain, over and over, I finally decided to head over to the local police station.
I was sitting beside a girl who had stolen lip gloss from a store and was quietly crying. The Korean people do not like when theft happens because they feel it reflects poorly on all citizens and their country, so they took my case very seriously. I had been sitting in the police station for about 20 minutes with Leah, when an undercover cop brought in a 45 year old woman, commanded her to get to her knees, handcuffed her and dumped our her purse in front of us all. Two girls had come in behind her, and it turned out that they had caught her pickpocketing them and got the police.
After spending about an hour and a half in the local police office, we were put in a cab with other girls who had been pick pocketed and taken to another police office. We had no idea where were were going because no one could speak English! This police office was where they had the criminal.
The long of the short was, they found my money but the woman had thrown my wallet in the trash and the police had looked for it after she described where she threw it and could not find it. They knew it was my money because I had Canadian, America and Korean Won in wallet. The police officers made it my decision whether or not I wanted this woman to be tortured and I obviously said no, but I told them to please let her know how terrible what she did was. I knew the Korean Police didn't take things like this lightly, and the fact she had to be sitting out in the open the entire time with all the people she stole from was just the beginning of the shame and humiliation. I had to finger print papers in order to get my money back that day, because finger printing is as powerful as a signature in Korea. Leah and I ended up being in Korean Police Stations for approximately 5 hours total that day.
Thank goodness I did not have my passport in my wallet, however I am sad to report to my Stephen Thomas crew that the wonderful wallet they bought me is gone, and to my sister Shane that the Hilary Duff ID Card she got me in NY is gone as well (along with my license, Health card, credit cards, etc.) Ah well! It is a story and I think my experience made us all aware that even though we think somewhere is safe, anything can happen and we should always be careful. I am just so grateful for how the Korean police treated us and that everything turned out okay. (Kelly Insert Over)
She eventually came out and met with me, Marois, and Cyrus the Virus (or Sober Steve depending on your mood) a coworker of Matty's from Idaho. Good times around, from what I remember, but it was definitely the most drunk I've been in the fortnight we've been here.
Sunday was a much more peaceful day, yet no less entertaining. Buddha's birthday is coming up on Thursday, so the Lotus Lantern festival was this weekend. Andy, Leah, Kelly and I hit a street festival outside Jogyesa Temple where the evening's parade would end. There were little tents set up on each side of the street celebrating the Buddhist culture. Monks from all over Asia had tents set up and were more than happy to give out literature on their way of life. We also got a 3-part series on Korean culture and history, so we can become more educated on the land. Free stuff wasn't limited to books however, as piggy banks, lanterns, pork with rice, and hugs were all received throughout the day. Those peace-loving Buddhists and their hippy agenda, giving out free hugs. Far out man!! We ate a traditional Korean dinner, hit the batting cages, then watched the parade. Gotta soak in all that culture, and Koreans love their baseball.
If you want details on the Festival itself, check out:http://english.tour2korea.com/03Sightseeing/TravelSpot/travelspot_read.asp?oid=3577&kosm=m3_8
Pictures from Thursday through Saturday can be viewed at the following link:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084192&l=8367d&id=187905622
Pictures of the parade should be up soon, but it will take me a while to sort through the multitude that were taken. Now go rest your eyes.
If you want a summary of the weekend, here it is: Eric and Julianne went back to Canada, Kelly was pick pocketed but is uninjured and got the money back, we drank with Matty Marois, and enjoyed the Lotus Lantern street festival in celebration of Buddha's birthday.
If you want details, prepare yourself for a reading headache.
Thursday night was a going away party for Eric & Julianne, headed back to Winnipeg on Saturday. They're good people and it sucks we only got to spend a week with them, but their experience was mixed and they are definitely pumped to head back to the Great White North. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.
We met the teachers that will be replacing them for only the next month, Tina & Brad I think, on Friday. Seem like good Edmontonians who will help control the Canadian power in the office. Friday night was another night of drinking in front of the GS (convenience store chain) with Andy and Eric while the girls went shopping at a night market. Also my first McDonald's experience here, where Eric and I had bacon cheeseburgers, minus the burgers. Bun, cheese, ketchup and bacon. Quite the treat....
Saturday is when the fun began. Kelly and Leah went to another market during the afternoon and I was going to meet Kel and Matty Marois from Laurier at 6 for a good ol' Waterloo reunion. Joshman was out on a weekend voyage with his girlfriend so he couldn't make it. While I was on my way into the city, a distressed Kelly called me saying that she had been the victim of a pickpocket.
(Kelly's Insert:) So Leah and I were shopping in this really cool shopping district called Myeong-dong. Shirts are as cheap as $2.00 and there are really funky little shops with a lot of one of a kind stuff. When I post my pictures, you will see how swamped the area was with people! It was actually insane. Anyway, Leah and I were walking from one store to the next, and I suspect that is when everything went down. I had opened my purse and reached into it to grab my phone and camera. I was lagging behind a bit, so I ran to catch up with Leah through the crowd and told her I felt strange, as though this guy that had tried talking to me in the store was following me or something. We made it to the next store, and as I wen to buy this adorable hat and shirt, I reached into my purse and my wallet was gone. After retracing our steps in the rain, over and over, I finally decided to head over to the local police station.
I was sitting beside a girl who had stolen lip gloss from a store and was quietly crying. The Korean people do not like when theft happens because they feel it reflects poorly on all citizens and their country, so they took my case very seriously. I had been sitting in the police station for about 20 minutes with Leah, when an undercover cop brought in a 45 year old woman, commanded her to get to her knees, handcuffed her and dumped our her purse in front of us all. Two girls had come in behind her, and it turned out that they had caught her pickpocketing them and got the police.
After spending about an hour and a half in the local police office, we were put in a cab with other girls who had been pick pocketed and taken to another police office. We had no idea where were were going because no one could speak English! This police office was where they had the criminal.
The long of the short was, they found my money but the woman had thrown my wallet in the trash and the police had looked for it after she described where she threw it and could not find it. They knew it was my money because I had Canadian, America and Korean Won in wallet. The police officers made it my decision whether or not I wanted this woman to be tortured and I obviously said no, but I told them to please let her know how terrible what she did was. I knew the Korean Police didn't take things like this lightly, and the fact she had to be sitting out in the open the entire time with all the people she stole from was just the beginning of the shame and humiliation. I had to finger print papers in order to get my money back that day, because finger printing is as powerful as a signature in Korea. Leah and I ended up being in Korean Police Stations for approximately 5 hours total that day.
Thank goodness I did not have my passport in my wallet, however I am sad to report to my Stephen Thomas crew that the wonderful wallet they bought me is gone, and to my sister Shane that the Hilary Duff ID Card she got me in NY is gone as well (along with my license, Health card, credit cards, etc.) Ah well! It is a story and I think my experience made us all aware that even though we think somewhere is safe, anything can happen and we should always be careful. I am just so grateful for how the Korean police treated us and that everything turned out okay. (Kelly Insert Over)
She eventually came out and met with me, Marois, and Cyrus the Virus (or Sober Steve depending on your mood) a coworker of Matty's from Idaho. Good times around, from what I remember, but it was definitely the most drunk I've been in the fortnight we've been here.
Sunday was a much more peaceful day, yet no less entertaining. Buddha's birthday is coming up on Thursday, so the Lotus Lantern festival was this weekend. Andy, Leah, Kelly and I hit a street festival outside Jogyesa Temple where the evening's parade would end. There were little tents set up on each side of the street celebrating the Buddhist culture. Monks from all over Asia had tents set up and were more than happy to give out literature on their way of life. We also got a 3-part series on Korean culture and history, so we can become more educated on the land. Free stuff wasn't limited to books however, as piggy banks, lanterns, pork with rice, and hugs were all received throughout the day. Those peace-loving Buddhists and their hippy agenda, giving out free hugs. Far out man!! We ate a traditional Korean dinner, hit the batting cages, then watched the parade. Gotta soak in all that culture, and Koreans love their baseball.
If you want details on the Festival itself, check out:http://english.tour2korea.com/03Sightseeing/TravelSpot/travelspot_read.asp?oid=3577&kosm=m3_8
Pictures from Thursday through Saturday can be viewed at the following link:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084192&l=8367d&id=187905622
Pictures of the parade should be up soon, but it will take me a while to sort through the multitude that were taken. Now go rest your eyes.
1 comment:
Hi Kelly, its Nathan I like the pictures of the inflatables. I wish that I could be with you now. Please send more inflatable photos. i also want to know all about your visit to the tranny bar. did hubby go in drag or dress as usual. did you wear your wig? don't you just dig all those small asian guys. they barely have to dress up they look so much like a woman.
Post a Comment