Hangook Minseokcheon (Korean Folk Village)

We had the chance to visit the Korean Folk Village. It is a really interesting place. It is a living history museum with houses from different areas and periods, and demonstrations of all sorts of different types of arts, crafts, foods and agriculture that were typical of Korean villages. It was great to see the more traditional aspects of Korea.

Sarah is standing in front of a group of jangseung, or Korean totem poles. These carved poles are set near the entry to a village to scare away evil spirits and bad luck. Layden is tying a prayer to a lattice work of ropes strung over a cairn of stones.

This little Korean boy (left), maybe about 4 years old, is standing next to a group of kimchee jars. In the late summer the Korean women prepare kimchee - cabbage with red peppers and brine- and put them in these jars. The jars are buried and the kimchee ferments. This preserves the cabbage and helps to prevent scurvy during the winter months. Kimchee is a staple at just about every meal. On the right is a traditional thatch-roof farm house, being prepared for the winter. There is corn hung to dry (and peppers too, but not in this picture). The large green things are some sort of really big cucumber- when we asked we were told "is pickle." Under the front porch area is the beginnings of the winter wood pile. The floors of traditional houses are raised to accomodate the clever and effective heating system. The kitchen area is at one end of the house and a flue system draws the heat from the stove under the floors to a chimney at the other end. It is a rather efficient system.

This is a house and also a shelter for animals - sort of half and half. The farmer is sweeping cobwebs off the eaves and bugs off the drying corn with a traditional brush broom.

Here is a video of a portion of the "Farmers Dance" which was very noisy and quite athletic and really colorful. We were particularly impressed with the men that kept the ribbons on their hats twirling at a furious pace while walking, leaping and never losing their balance.

On the left is a man who makes rope and mats. He is sitting in the middle of a large mat that he has started. On the right is a fan maker. Here he is splitting wood to make the handles for fans. Later he adds the thin spines and then the paper. We noticed that with just a few exceptions, the trade or craft and the living space shared the same structure.

The men on the left are blacksmiths who are making spoons and chopsticks out of brass - A LOT of hard hammer work! The man on the right is making paper. Rice and wood pulp (we think) form the basis of the paper.

This woman is spinning cotton. She is wearing traditional Korean dress known as hanbok. This woman represents the middle class. Her hanbok is silk (though even for her class, daily chores were done in a simpler cotton hanbok) and she has a fine wooden chest with brass fittings. You will notice that she, like many of the other workers, is sitting on the floor. While western-style furniture is becoming more common, many Koreans still sit on the floor for most activities. In the winter this is the warmest place to be and in the summer the raised floor provides some protection from bugs and dirt.

On the left is a model of one style of tile roof. Sarah is fascinated with the traditional architecture and all its many styles. On the right is the beautifully painted eave of a building. This elaborate decoration was used on temples, shrines, public buildings, and houses of the upper classes. The colors are quite vibrant and the designs very intricate.

There was lots more to see and do here than we could possibly show, but we thought that we would leave you with this very impressive acrobat. He was amazing - especially when you consider that he was in his 60's!

The North and ...

It has been a busy couple of weeks and none of it has shown up on the blog. Sarah has mostly been unpacking, which really isn't much at all to write about. But, we did get a chance at a few days in Seoul on the Yongsan base. In addition to picking up our car ( driving in Korea is quite an adventure and someday, when we get up the courage to try it again we will tell you about it), Layden had a conference which included a tour to the DMZ which is on th 38th parallel and is the boundary between North and South Korea.

The DMZ tour was part of the conference. The Korean War ended with an armistice which is still in effect today. The flags of the countries (above) represent those engaged in keeping the armistice. Denmark has one soldier here still who works on the northwest boundary of the 38th parallel. We met him in Yongsan when we first arrived and he was a lonely guy. He and Layden need to link up again.... The DMZ tour is unlike any other tour. It is definitely not a touristy spot (though it has a souvenir shop). Lots of guards and surveillance cameras from both North and South. One of the interesting things (I was not allowed to photograph this) was the tunnel that had been discovered by the South Koreans which was hundreds of feet deep and pretty much went from the North to the South Military boundaries in order to give the North an easy access into the South. A North Korean who defected alerted the South Koreans about the tunnel in 1977. Other tunnels were located. The most recent was 2002-- but too many new surveillance technologies exist to keep these secret anymore so the North has stopped digging. Too bad I couldn't take a picture of the tunnel.

I am standing in the Armistice Building next to a South Korean guard who stands in Tae Kwon Do ready pose for his entire shift. Half of the building is in South Korea and half is in North Korea. He stands on the center line and I stand on the North Korean side. This is the only legal way most Americans can visit North Korea.

This is the outside of the Armistice Building with the South Korean guard in the foreground and the North Korean guard on the boundary line. The South Koreans stand half-concealed by the building and in tae kwon do pose on purpose-- to make for a smaller target and to intimidate their northern counterparts.

Try this pose for five minutes. Imagine holding it for hours on a guard shift! Both the North and the South believe the Korean Penninsula will one day reunite. It is only a matter of who will govern it.

This sculpture represents the passion of the people to reunite peacefully.

Oktoberfest... Right here in the middle of Seoul!

While we were in Seoul there was an Oktoberfest celebration on post. Since it was held in the hotel where we were staying we decided to go - especially since we heard that the chefs and the sausage had been flown in from Germany. When we first walked in to the big fest tent we were struck with a wave of nostalgia for Germany - the smell of the sausage and the beer, the flags, and even the fest tables were just what we expected. We did so enjoy our time in that lovely country, and we were there for so long that in many ways it feels like home. However, our reverie for the "old country" was rather quickly dispelled by a few oddities such as...

Right costume but... there is just something a little odd about a Korean in a drindl.

The traditional "oompah" band was the 8th Army band, many of them in leiderhosen.

But the food really was very authentic and it was quite a fun atmosphere with good cheer (and beer) in abundance.

City of Seoul and the radio tower at night. Coming in the next blog - a visit to the Korean Folk Village in Suwan.