South Korea! Part 1-- Seoul

Well we have quite the story to tell about our Korea trip!  I might have to split this up into several posts.  The Sunday after the open house we headed up to Jenny's early in the morning so she could take us to the airport for our supposedly 1 PM flight.  We got there around 8 and were hanging out with the kids and Jenny was making us pancakes and it was an awesome morning.  All of a sudden Billy freaks out and yells at me that we are missing our flight!!  My brain doesn't really register what is happening.  He said our flight is at 10:10, not 1, and it was 8:50 at this point and we were 45 minutes from the airport.  We thought we might be able to make it so we all ran to the car and shoved the kids in seats and zoomed down there.  There was SO MUCH TRAFFIC getting into the airport!  We might have made it if that traffic hadn't been there...but we missed our flight.  It was the most stressful morning EVER!  After lots of tears and phone calls, my mom finally got us a plan B figured out.  My mom was such an angel through the whole thing!  She missed church to help us figure it out!

We hung out at the airport until 6 when we luckily got on a standby flight to Honolulu.  From there, we got a 1 AM flight on China Air to Taipei, so we had to wait around at the airport for like 6 hours, then Taipei to Seoul after waiting around there for like 3 hours.  We arrived in Seoul at 11 AM the day after we were supposed to arrive (we arrived Tuesday instead of Monday), so we really only missed out on about 12 hours of Korea time.  It was the best case scenario for sure.  But a word from the wise, don't bother booking tickets through Travelocity, they do not help at all and don't really make anything easier for you.  It's better to just book it by yourself.  Another word from the wise, always check what time your flight is the day before :)  The flights were fine but we both felt SO gross and tired once we got into town.  The husband and wife of the family Billy baptized in Korea picked us up and we were on our way!

Stuck in traffic going into the airport...crying on the inside and soon the outside

After calming down after missing our flight.  Waiting on the floor for 6 PM to come.

Picking up our baggage in Honolulu!  Next stop-- waiting for 6 hours for our flight to Taipei.  We had to walk to the international terminal with our big bags and it was super humid so we got all sweaty.  Awesome!

On our way out of Honolulu.  We had to buy these tickets separately.

Landing in Taipei and it was super rainy...

Waiting for our flight to Seoul.  We were so tired at this point!

We made it to Korea!  The first sighting of the Kimchi squat...haha!

After getting picked up, Billy struggled through conversation in the car as his Korean came slowly back haha.  Brother Cho kept calling people Billy used to know and having him talk to them on the phone...it was super funny.  Brother and Sister Cho drove us to our hotel.  They wanted to have us come over but we just wanted to shower!  So we went to the hotel but we had an hour and a half to kill before we could check in!  So we walked around town a bit.  Billy was loving it!  He was so excited and I was kind of whiney...sorry Billy.  I was tired and it was really hot and muggy outside so I was sweating and it was bleh.  We went back to the hotel and waited to get checked in, then went up to our room.  It was the cutest little room!  We loved it.  We got cleaned up then headed out to Gwanghwamun Square, which is a spot Billy used to work as a missionary.  We went to a huge underground bookstore there and then rode a bus to the mission office and ward building for his last area.  It was so fun for him to see!  Things have changed a bit but he was still way excited.  We were bummed that everything was closed up for the evening.  We had planned on coming back again later in our trip but we never made it back :(

A little treat restaurant around the corner from our hotel :)

Walking into our hotel room

It was SO busy where we were!  I couldn't get over it.  And I also noticed how all the cars are either black, silver, or white here.  No colored cars at all.

Something super funny about the culture there is that they love shirts with random English words on them.  We thought this one was pretty funny and random.

This hat is pretty cool too

In the square.  That statue is South Korea's hero.  I can't remember his name but he beat the entire Japanese navy somehow.  The Korean people LOVE him.

 After checking out those buildings, we were both starving and exhausted so we started to head for a restaurant that Billy used to go to all the time with his missionary buddies but it was a soup place (Koreans love soup) and I was hot and tired and just wanted to lay down so we decided to order a pizza to our hotel instead :)  It was a great choice.  We ate pizza while watching a movie and fell asleep way early.  Billy built up pizza to be way better in Korea than America, but I thought it was pretty much the same.  The only thing is that they are very meticulous with their jobs, no matter how small, even a dominoes worker, so the pizza looked really even and pretty.

 The next day we got up early and got ready for our DMZ tour (Demilitarized Zone).  Billy headed out early and brought us back some breakfast and then we ate and headed down to the lobby where we were picked up by the tour company.  They drove us to their office for us to pay for the tour then we waited at Starbucks until it was time for us to meet on the tour bus.  The tour day was awesome!  We headed first to a museum all about the Korean War that was really interesting and I learned a lot.  Then we headed to this park that was like a peace park with lots of statues and symbols asking for peace between North and South Korea.  We had lunch here as well.  Then we headed into the DMZ which was intense.  Lots of rules about where to walk/not walk, where we were allowed to take pictures, what we were allowed to wear, etc.  It was way cool seeing North Korea!  We got to go over the border for a few minutes which was pretty awesome :)  It was such a neat tour!

Breakfast :)  I love how the juice is in little glass jars!

Hot chocolate

On the tour bus ready to go!

First stop-- Korean War Museum

There were lots of US planes there that helped with the war

Korean kids are the CUTEST!

This statue was called "The brothers" showing how families were split when Korea divided into North and South.  People had to decide what side they wanted to be on for good.  Some people never saw their families again.

Cool mural

Inside-- it was with this type of ship (the "Turtle Ship") that that famous general defeated the Japanese a long time ago

Billy getting shot in the face

I think this picture is pretty cool-- wax man raising the South Korean flag

Marching to battle

 Next stop-- Lunch time at the peace park.  It was raining a bit here.

Billy is stoked for his bulgogi (tried my best with spelling haha)

Sprite-like drink that is a big deal in Korea

My lunch-- bibimbap

These ice cream bins are EVERYWHERE in Korea.  Billy used to get ice cream from them all the time on his mission.  He really wanted to get some after lunch, so we each picked one.  He could never find his favorite one though-- the chocolate milkshake :(

All of this banners/signs/ribbons are asking for peace with North Korea

This train was around during the war and was completely covered with bullet holes and was partially destroyed by a bomb or something.  It was here to show in how much turmoil the country was at the time.

Lots of barbed wire to keep North Korea out

My weird ice cream cone

Next stop-- DMZ!  First, instruction, then a visit to the border.

There's North Korea!  Right there.

North Korean building

We got to go inside one of those blue buildings.  They are conference rooms for the United Nations.  We only got to be in there for like 3 minutes.  I took this picture out the window, that concrete slab is the border of South/North Korea.  The gravel side is South and the dirt is North.  We were on the North Korean side!

Billy with one of the South Korean soldiers

The border right behind us

 It was a long drive back-- about an hour and a half back to the place where we started.  Then we had to ride the Subway back to our hotel.  We had to quickly get ready to go over to Brother and Sister Cho's house for dinner with them and one of Billy's former Bishops on his mission.  It was interesting food for me and I felt out of place because I couldn't talk to anyone.  Eventually Brother Cho's daughter started talking to me in English because she goes to school in Utah and we had a fun conversation.  She is really funny.  It was a fun night.  The bishop and his wife drove us home.  He spoke English pretty well which was nice, but his wife didn't at all.  It is so weird to me how you can feel love for someone even though you have no idea what they are saying.  Language is so interesting!  I would strain trying to figure out patterns between what people were saying so I could start picking up things but nope-- nothing.  Ha!

Day 3 started with a walk to the temple!  Our hotel was seriously so close to it!  It was only like a half mile..  It is a beautiful temple!  I wish we made time to do a session there.  We just visited the outside this time.

Such a beautiful place.  Afterwards Billy wanted to visit Choi's Tacos, a Mexican place he used to always go to with fellow missionaries after they would go to the temple.  We ran into some missionaries on our walk there and they walked us all the way since Billy didn't remember how to get there.  One of the missionaries was from Arkansas and knew our cousin, Rifka!  Such a small world.  Billy loved talking to all the missionaries and seeing what areas they served in.  I could tell he was in heaven this whole trip, it was so fun.  It made me wish that I had the chance to go on a mission...oh well.  Someday :)

He covered his name tag in the picture so we can't remember what his name was :)

Next stop-- Gyeongbokgung Palace.  We went to the museum first, then walked around the palace.  It dates back to the 1300s I believe.  It was pretty neat!

Being a dragon

We watched the "changing of the guard" ceremony.  It was way cool!

These types of funny signs are everywhere in Korea.  Love it.

Next stop-- we wanted to find this big famous market so we went to the stop where Billy thought it was and walked around and couldn't find it.  We ended up wandering around lots of different areas, looking at random shops, and then we eventually found the big, crazy market!  It was sensory overload and I loved just walking through it all!  Lots of people eating crazy things and shouting, and just tons of people!  It was crazy.  Afterward, we were pretty tired and hungry so we headed back to our hotel area, looking for food on the way.  Billy spotted a restaurant that sells Chinese noodles and pork dish that he loves so we stopped there to eat.  I was not super impressed but it was still pretty good.  Then we headed to the hotel!  We had every intention of going back out to explore but we were both zonked at like 8 PM.

Found the market!

The next day, Friday, was another day of adventure :)  We started the day with a visit to the Seoul tower.  They have lots of love lock fences, so of course we had to buy a lock and lock our love forever up there :)

Subway station

Riding the subway... you have to fight if you want a seat!

LOCKS!

Riding the cable car back down

Korea is really into their boy bands.  We thought this picture was super funny.  Just one of the girls.

After the tower we tried to get lunch at Isaac Toast, one of Billy's favorite places to eat on his mission.  It was super crowded so we decided against it and thought we'd try to find somewhere else.

We found another market!

We stopped to see one of the gates to the city, Namdemun

This is the ceiling under the bridge...so cool!

Very hungry and tired bus ride.  A couple times when we would ride buses we would accidentally fall asleep...so lulling

The subway station that we wanted after getting off the bus was closed so we were trying to figure out what to do next.  We were right next to a Lotte Mart, which is a big famous store in Korea so we stopped in there for some snacks.  Afterwards we walked to try and find another bus and then Billy saw a place that we could eat at (finally!) so we stopped for a really late lunch.  It was yummy!  We ate some dumplings called mondu which were delicious and some noodles that tasted like ramen.  (I'm still really bad at eating with chopsticks but Billy is a super pro)

Afterwards we caught a bus on our way back to our hotel and then stopped at McDonalds for some dipped cones!

We went back to our hotel to get ready for Brother Cho to pick us up again and take us to dinner with his son who is serving his Korean military service right now.  He picked us up and brought us over to their house first for some snacks.  He also wanted to give Billy and I a priesthood blessing and wanted Billy to give him and his wife one as well.  He thinks that because Billy baptized him, they have a special connection so he thought it would be really neat to do those blessings.  It was really neat but of course I couldn't understand my blessing because it was all in Korean :)  Billy blessed Brother and Sister Cho in English and I recorded it so he could email them what the blessings said.  Afterwards we headed to the military base to have dinner with their son, Chang yung.  He spoke English really well and was SO fun and nice!  I loved him!  He just got off his mission serving in Busan, which is where my Aunt and Uncle are mission presidents, so we had some things in common to talk about.  He is such a happy kid and it was really fun to spend time with him.  We couldn't take any pictures there though.  We ate some chicken wing type things that they were all eating with chop sticks!  And I was like how the heck do I do this?  So I just gave up and grabbed it with my hands...typical American.  Afterwards Brother and Sister Cho dropped us off at a Subway station so we could go to this food truck festival we read about.  It turned out to not be very awesome at all...not very many food trucks, but it was still pretty because it was along the water.  So we enjoyed ourselves there for a bit, then headed back to the hotel.

When Brother and Sister Cho picked us up they drove us past the president of Korea's house.  They call it the "Blue House" which I thought was funny since we have the White House.

Billy with Brother and Sister Cho.  They are so nice!  We love them!  (Even though I can't understand them :) )

Down by the water for the "festival"

Some cool light up trees

We stopped to watch/listen to these two singers who were really good!  It was like a mini concert.  It was really fun.

We stopped at a truck to get some waffles.  They love waffles in Korea.  They call them "wapples"

They have this lots of places in Korea-- big vats of silkworm larva...ewwwww (called bundaegee)

After we made it back to our hotel we got all packed up for our trip to Busan the next day!  I'm going to do Busan as a separate post.  Phew finally finished this one!