Namsangol Traditional Garden in Seoul

We visited my in-laws and my father in law invited us to go to Namsangol Traditional Garden which is just close to his place. It's just three stops using the subway so we didn't bring any car and used the subway instead.

Namsangol has the beautiful view of Namsan Tower.

The ancient name of Namsan (Mt. Nam), a symbol of Seoul and the Korean people is Mokmyeoksan. The mountain has been called Namsan (Southern Mountain) as it is located in the South of the capital, taking advantage of Namsan's picturesque, a leisurely life in harmony with the nature as they wrote poems, draw paintings and played games.

In building Namsangol Traditional Garden, original terrain shape and pavilions and ponds were restored. Native trees and grasses were planted and the valley was built to enable natural flow of water.

Because it was holiday, there were lots of people visiting the famous garden.

It was thanksgiving day so it's not surprising to see some cameras shooting the events of that particular occasion like the YTN News, the korean news TV program.

There were also lots of traditional games prepared for the visitors.

There's also a time capsule at the South of the traditional garden. The time capsule commemorating the 600th anniversary of Seoul as the new capital. It was buried 15 meters underground on November 29th, 1994. The time capsule which is shape like the Bell of Bosingak (Belfry), contains 600 artifacts that represent the urban landscape of Seoul, the life of Korean citizens, and the society and culture of Korea. The time capsule will be unearthed on November 29, 2394.

Five authentic Hanok (Traditional Korean Houses) that were scattered in the city were moved to the northeast of the garden. To help visitors understand Korean life, furniture that reflects the status of the people who lived in these houses were place inside the buildings.

The houses showed how people lived long time ago, although there are still some people living like it in the countryside. As you can see, they burn woods to heat the floor of the houses which is called ondol.

Namsangol Traditional Garden in Seoul is also the best place to see the full moon on thanksgiving day.

Christmas in Korea

Christmas in Korea is just like a normal holiday. There's nothing special to do specially when there's no white christmas. This Christmas, it was just very cold. It didn't snow. When I asked what most of the kids did on Christmas day, some of them said they went skating, saw a movie, and most of them just stayed home playing computer or cellphone games. Too bad that it didn't snow that's why kids didn't have much fun.

In my case, I went to my mother in law on Christmas eve. We brought the ice cream cake that my sister in law gave us and had the chicken that my hubby ordered. We stayed there until almost midnight. When we arrived home, I called my family back home. It was nice to hear all their voices but I was so homesick because they were all in my dad's house except me.

We slept at 5:00a.m. and woke up at around 2:00p.m. After having some chocolate cake (our anniversary cake left over), I called my mother in law and told her to come over to my house. We dine together at 6:00p.m. (that's our lunch and my mother in law's dinner).

When my mother in law left, we slept again and woke up around 10:00 p.m. And that's how I spent my Christmas day. I was too homesick and didn't want to do anything so I just slept in order not to miss my home and my family. Eventhough my hubby was asking me to go out, I didn't want to, because it was too cold and going out is not fun anymore. I've been to many beautiful places in Korea and I think once you've seen one, it seems like you already saw everything. I even stayed in Jeju Island for almost a year and saw most of the island so I can't enjoy the nature in the mainland anymore.

Anyway, that's how I spent Christmas here in Korea and I guess most people did the same thing specially office workers who spend most of the weekdays at work and Christmas holiday is just a time for rest like a normal holiday.

Cheers to all Myeonorideul

Thanks God Chuseok is over! Today is the day when Myeonorideul or daughter-in-laws feel relieved because chuseok has passed after the long long day of Chuseok. On Chuseok day, lots of daughter-in-laws complain about the hard job they do on this special holiday. They have to prepare lots of food while the men in the family drink and make noise. I'm glad that in my hubby's family, nobody likes drinking except my brother in law and his wife so they drink together after hyeongnim does her work. But they don't drink much.

Anyway, we drove for many hours to get to my parents-in-laws house and this is the first time that they didn't do "jesa" or memorial ceremony so we were free from lots of work. We used to get up early in the morning to prepare for "jesa" and everyone must be ready to bow at 7:00a.m. but last Wednesday night, before we went to bed, my father in law said that we sleep as much as we want. And to those who don't want to have breakfast like us (me and my hubby) don't need to get up and help to prepare breakfast. Wow! Amazing!

The next day at around 9:00 a.m., I heard someone doing the dishes but I didn't get up. When everything was done, I woke up and went to the bathroom but my father in law was in the living room watching TV and he said I can sleep more. I didn't see anyone in the living except him, so I guessed everyone was still asleep so I went back to bed again and woke up at five before noon. I was too shy because I saw everyone in the living room and when they saw me, some of them headed to the kitchen and prepared for lunch so I helped them. We had beef barbecue for lunch.

After lunch, we had dessert in the living while watching tv and when the sun started to go down, my father in law invited us to go to Namsan Hanok Village and went home for dinner. Actually, he wanted to dine out but we went to some restaurants and they were closed so we just went home and had beef and rice soup for dinner. While having desserts, my hubby told my father in law that we had to go home because our dog was left alone at home. He's afraid that my dog will make noise and disturb our neighbors. My father in law didn't allow us at first but my hubby insisted him so finally before they went to bed, he allowed us to leave. And now we are now home safe. Thanks God!

As I watch the news, the traffic is bumper to bumper because people are now going home. The traffic is not as heavy as few years ago because the roads were developed a lot but still there's a traffic jam and I'm glad that we never had traffic on Chuseok or any special holiday because we are on the opposite direction.

To all Myeonoris out there, cheers! You guys did a good job! Once again, you made Chuseok very special because of your hard works.