Parents Visit in September

My parents came to visit me and my sister for our birthdays and where able to stay for a whole month! There is so much we did while they where here.


The first weekend they spent in Korea also happened to be a Korean holiday, Chuseok. This gave us a 5 day weekend. Our birthdays also happened to fall on this weekend. Now I don’t know much about Chuseok, but it has been described to me as a Korean Thanksgiving. I do know that everyone goes back home to be with their family and they also go visit the graves of love ones.

I wanted to go somewhere for the long weekend but everything was so expensive because it was last minute and a holiday, so I looked into going to Jeju but everything was booked. Then I looked into going to Busan, which did have hotels available but there was no way to get there because all the trains were sold out. So we stayed in Seoul at my sisters tiny apartment that my mom liked to call “el hotel de la sardinas”.

For my sister's birthday we went out to dinner and had Italian food at Garosu-gil. Garosu-gil is really close to the Seoul Express Bus Terminal and has a good variety of food. 

The following day we took the Seoul City Tour Bus for $10 that took us all over Seoul's most famous spots. The first stop was Deoksugung Palace. Here is my mom posing with the guard:

Then we stopped at Namdaemun Market, where we had delicious dumplings and lots of street food. 

Then we headed to the the Korean War Memorial Hall.

We ended the evening by going to Namsangol Traditional Korean Village. 

The next day was my birthday and we took a break from the sightseeing and went to watch a Korean play, Nanta.

The next day we continued on the City Tour bus and went to the Seoul Tower, where my sister was stung by a wasp. She still has a mark from it. 

The afternoon was spent at Insadong, which was a street filled with restaurants, shops, and vendors. We had good food, good green tea from Jeju Island, and had a really good time. 

The next day we went to Sorae Pogu Fish Market in Incheon. My sister had gone here with her co-teacher and thought we would also like it as much as she did. We ate at the the same restaurant her co-teacher took her to. We had a fish roe bibimbap, oyster bibimbap, and clam soup. Everything was amazing. My sister was right about how much we would like it. 

The next weekend we went to Busan. I loved Busan! It felt like we where in another country. The people were so nice, the scenery was beautiful, and it just had a different feel to it. My sister and I were both wishing we lived and work there. We did so much while we where there. 

The last weekend my parents were here we went to Gyeongju, a city my sister's co-teacher recommend. 

Folk Village 

Folk Village

Royal Tombs

 We also did a temple stay at Golgulsa Temple. This temple stay was very different then the one I did when I first got here. The temple stay activities were mandatory. Meaning we had to wake up at 4:00 to participate in the morning chant as well as participate in the 90 minuets of exercise. They also had various of activities lined up for the day and the schedule changed daily. The location was also not as beautiful as the last place and I did not leave with the same feeling of calm. We also did not wake up at 4:00 am because we all failed to hear the wake up call. Here are the pictures from the Temple stay:

 We also went to Seokguram Temple, which was close to the location we did the temple stay at. 

I was so sadden to see my parents leave. I was happy that my sister was here, which made the parting bearable. We where so fortunate to have a whole month with our parents. 


Now the weather is starting to change. The change was very drastic. One week it was hot and the next it was super cold. I am trying to take in the cold so that my body can get used to the temperature, but there has already been times I've thought about turning the heater on. Today was 74 degree which was quite nice; however, by the end of the month it should be 59 degrees in the day time.