Day 17- "Suicide is painless..."

So, today I went out with the girls that I met the night before- SE and Juanita (Austrailian) and I joined their party of ten to make it eleven. Of the group, I was the only American and the only white male (SE and Juanita are also white). The rest of the group was a mixture of other countries from Asia- there were three or so people from Taiwan, a few Korean and a few Indonesians. It was cool. We all spoke four or so kinds of English, but we could all understand each other (mostly).

We started off the morning by going to GyoungBok Palace, which was used in the 1800s, if what I am told is correct. The majority of the pictures will be posted on facebook, but I think I'll show a few pictures here as well. It was really cool and I wish I knew more of Korean history and architecture (Kat?) to fully understand the significance of everything that was around me. However, I was able to appreciate the beauty of the palace in general.

In between this, we went to the Korean Folk Museum, but I wish to end with this so I'll skip it for the time being.

After that, we headed off to Insadong, which is a huge shopping area- mostly outside with a few street shops for indoors. It was very cool...lots of tiny little things that I would like to buy and I ended up buying an item or two here. The identity is a secret for obvious reasons (it's for someone who I know will read it here, that means you, J. Snow).

Then we grabbed some dinner, Popeye's fried chicken which was fantastic after a long day of walking and I went back to my dorm. It was interesting being the only American in the group. The others seemed interested or at the very least amused at my novelty, and especially at the conversations between Juanita and me (comparing countries). I don't know why I feel so much more comfortable in a group of non-Americans than among my fellow countrymen. But it just works better that way. Perhaps it's just the latest in all of my mental disorders.

Now, back to the folk museum bit. We walked into the folk museum and the exhibit that was especially featured was the Korean War (60 years). It felt a bit emotional as well as a tinge awkward to walk into a foreign museum and see the effects of the war by proxy that the US was involved in. It felt weird- I had goosebumps the entire time I was in the exhibit and I never got over the slightly uneasy feeling that I had inside of me the entire time I was around items related to the war. I'm not certain why that was. Guilt for the US being involved in the proxy war even though the Republic of Korea wanted our help? Feelings of being overwhelmed of the total cluster that the war was? I'm not certain the reason (most likely both to varying degrees), but it was a powerful exhibit for me to say the very least. And one that will stay with me for a very long time.

I took a number of pictures of the exhibit, the quality of which is varying due to the lack of flash. But...I just want to end with some of the pictures (the rest will be up later), possibly a slight explaination for those that need it.




This was an enlistment application. The red stuff? Blood. Human blood.

Other US military gear.




What was used as roofing tiles for Koreans during the war. Yes, that does read Coca-Cola.



Now, this was probably the most powerful sight of all for me personally. I didn't really see at first what they were and just saw bins full of paper. After one goes through the exhibit, one can write letters of condolence in paper provided and put it in a bin for Military, Navy or Air Force. Though it is hard to tell with this shot, the part of the bins that have letters are packed. It was really a moving sight to see.

They remember. Why don't we?


-Reven