My Name is JIN YEONG.: My parents came to Seoul!

During my severe lack in posting, my parents visited me in Seoul. They arrived on a Thursday night and stayed for 8 nights! (April 28th-May 6th) We did a bunch of touristy things while they were here which is great because I haven't actually done much of that. Now that the weather is bearable, I'm going to try to do more sightseeing in this city I now call home.

Anyway, I'll try to recap their visit briefly. Thursday, I met them at the airport and we took the Korean Air Bus (way nicer than the normal city bus I take) to their hotel near Dongguk University (Ambassador Hotel on line 3 in case anyone has visitors who need a hotel). After their longg day of traveling, we didn't do anything that night except walk around the hotel neighborhood and eat dinner..at an Italian restaurant. Apparently dad was already "sick of" rice from the 2 Korean meals he had on the airplane (womp womp). After dinner, I took a taxi home with the suitcase of stuff they brought me from home. My closet is now in much better condition (thanks mom!).

The next day (Friday), I went to school while they explored the city by foot. They walked from the hotel at Dongguk University to Myeongdong to Dongdaemun and back to the hotel again. God knows how far that actually is. When I get off work, I met them back at the hotel to take them on their first subway ride to my house. We stopped by my quaint home with some more of my clothes from home before wandering out to see the area about 5-10 minutes down the road near Korea University. We ate dinner at a mandu store in Anam and then got gelato (forgotten gem of a store).

This is getting long-winded so I'm going to try to just list. Saturday: went to Gyeongbokgung Palace/Korean Folk Museum (in the middle of downpour-they didn't think they would need an umbrella ha)/COEX/ate dinner at Uno's (yup, the chain from America). Sunday: went to the National Museum of Korea/market in Hongdae/trick art museum/ate bbq with Lisbeth. Monday: they went to Insadong/came to my school/met my co-teacher and principal/ate dinner at my co-teacher's house with her family (husband, son, mother, sister, and 2 nieces- surprise!).

Gyeonbokgung

Korean bbq dinner

Tuesday: (went to school) they went to Namsangol/met at Anguk/went to Jogeysa Temple to see the lanterns for Buddha's Birthday/met some friends at Hoegi to eat pajeon & magkeolli/went to Cafe Bene and ate some patbingsu. Wednesday: (school me) they went to Namsan Tower/met Melissa in Jongno/ate BBQ chicken (fried chicken!)/went to Yeouinaru for a night Han River Ferry ride. Thursday: went to Samseong-dong to see the Bukcon Hanok Village (traditional Korean houses in a really quiet area of Seoul)/Insadong for some souvenir shopping/ate "Korean style" Chinese food for lunch (aka jajangmyeon and jjampong)/went with mom and Lisbeth to Apgujeong where we ate her last meal in Korea at Mr. Pizza. Mom and Dad left early the next morning to catch their flight on Friday. Overall I think they got to do and see a lot of things while they were here, but I still feel like there's so much more that they didn't get to see. Hopefully they will get to come back and explore other areas of Seoul and other areas of Korea outside the city as well. I'm glad they were able to come this time to at least get a glimpse of my life here in the ROK. It's pretty great. Even though I miss everyone back home, I think now my parents can have a visual image of what I am doing and why I am here.