Treasure hunting

Back home, one way my fella and I like to spend a weekend afternoon is browsing through a flea market. I both love and hate flea markets. On the one hand there's the cool antique type items like phones and record players and piles of used books that look as though they've been nestled in an attic somewhere, gathering a little dust but in nice enough shape to move to a new home. And on the other hand there's the mounds of absolute junk that look as though they were finally chucked out of a smelly, dank basement and landed on a table five sizes too small to hold it all. I cringe away from the latter group but the former just keeps bringing me back.

So we decided to spend a Sunday checking out the Seoul Folk Flea Market and seeing what they had to offer. Unlike most flea markets which are open weekends only, the Seoul Folk Flea is open every day with the exception of two Tuesdays a month. The location is apparently fairly new which allows for tons of vendors so there is plenty to keep you occupied for a few hours. We made it there about mid-afternoon and surprisingly the crowd wasn't too bad so we took our time wandering for a while.

An antique Singer sewing machine! There's hope! Maybe this will be a flea market free of people's old shi-

... nevermind.

Though we do like to look through everything, we both have certain items in mind when searching through a flea market. He looks for video game related things- controllers, games, systems, etc.- while I hunt for old VHS tapes of Disney movies. And yes, my search actually is that specific. You know the ones I'm talking about, not just those tapes that come in the plain cardboard sleeves but the totally 90s Disney boxes that are big and plastic and white and awesome. Of course I already had a handful that we actually bought when I was growing up but after finding a few for cheap at this record/movie store by our college campus that we'd frequent, I got it into my head to track them all down.

So naturally, since we were at a flea market, I was hoping to find maybe a movie or two hidden among all the clocks and paintings and golf clubs but I didn't have high expectations... until we turned a corner and saw this:

A seriously amazing collection of VHS tapes in good if not great condition! They even had tapes of new movies that aren't even released on VHS in the US anymore. I couldn't even decide what I wanted. Sure I have almost all Disney movies in my collection now but these ones have Korean covers and the novelty of such small things never ever wears off for me. But of course I couldn't buy them all and I'd never have been able to choose so what we ended up buying instead was The Dark Knight. We love it because, well first because we are VHS nerds, but also because it's on two tapes and so you get the cover with Batman as well as the cover with the Joker and the title is written out in Korean and just looks badass. Plus it's not a bootleg or anything but in a legit Warner Brothers case and on Warner Brothers tapes. It came out to be about five bucks so it was a sweet deal too. I know I'll be back at this booth before I go home to bulk up my collection! 

Our only other purchase of the day was a lens protector cover thing for my new camera. It was way cheap and the seller was really helpful so I may return there as well to look for some other camera doodads. Though we didn't end up with much it was a pretty cool place and if you're on the look-out for something totally random it's worth checking the flea market for it. 

Afterwards we went to Cheonggyecheon, which is this area running through the city that was recently restored to be a sort of public recreation place. There's a long stream and walkways and so we sat for a bit with our feet in the water.

On our way back to Incheon we stopped off in Yongsan to check out a store in the I Park Mall that I knew Mike would appreciate. Except my attempts to make it a surprise were spoiled since there were signs for it everywhere but anyway:

Like a kid in a toy store. Literally ♥

After that we headed outside to the DVD booths and bought about 50,000 won worth of movies and TV shows. I didn't mean to get so many but the guy was really friendly and kept suggesting Korean movies and I just kept saying, "Okay, why not?". Plus he threw in an extra movie for free at the end and gave us vitamin drinks while we were waiting for them to bag it all. Those movies and shows kept us entertained for the past month so it was worth it. 

I'm pretty sure this day ended with pizza and a movie, which is always a good way to top things off. This was one of my favorite days from his visit because it felt just like the sort of way we would spend a day back home. I'm already looking forward to doing this again some Sunday next summer!

Trivia of the Day: Organized by the state owned Korea International Travel Company, Tourism in North Korea is highly controlled by the government, and as such it is not a frequently visited destination — roughly 1,500 Western tourists visit North Korea each year, along with thousands of Asians. Tourists must go on guided tours and must have their tour guides with them at all times. Photography is strictly controlled, as is interaction with the local population. Prior to 2010, tourists holding United States passports were not granted visas, except during the Arirang Festival mass games. U.S. citizens, journalists and citizens from other nations have also been given special permission to enter as members of the Korean Friendship Association and Choson Exchange. Citizens of South Korea require special permission from both governments to enter North Korea, and are typically not granted such permission for regular tourism except in special tourist areas designated for South Koreans. In April 2010, the first tourist trains from China brought visitors to North Korea for a 4-day tour. In June 2011, Chinese citizens were allowed on a self-drive tour in North Korea for the first time in history.

Happy June!

Tomorrow, June 6th, is Hyeonchung-il (현충일) or Memorial Day, in South Korea. During my mom's visit we went to the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan which is a both a memorial and museum and one of my absolute favorite places in Korea. The outdoor exhibition area is beautiful and has some really nice monuments as well as all sorts of military equipment. Inside there are various rooms and exhibitions covering all the different wars that South Korea has fought in. I have a huge interest in the Korean War, which my students tell me is called "625" or "625 War" here (they would say "yook-ee-oh jeonjaeng") since the war began on June 25th, and I learned a ton about it from this museum. There were wars that I didn't even know Korea was involved in until I saw some of the exhibits here and I think I have a better understanding now of their history and current relations with certain countries. If you're in Korea this is one place that I highly recommend checking out, it's well worth the visit.

The Statue of Brothers

I don't remember where I heard this from but in either an article or a documentary I remember someone discussing this statue and talking about the symbolism behind it. As the plaque says it's showing the reconciliation on the battlefield between an older, South Korean brother with his younger, North Korean brother. Notice though that they chose to make the brother from the South older and therefore depicted as much physically larger and stronger looking than his little brother from the North. The younger is practically clinging to the older, who we also see is wearing a helmet and a gun. It could be brothers reuniting or even a North Korean refugee fleeing into the safety of a South Korean soldier. 

I don't think it's surprising considering the conflict between the North and the South that the South would choose to show the Southern soldier as much stronger and the Northern soldier as weaker. But what the person discussing this statue also pointed out is that the depiction of the North Korean soldier as smaller than his Southern brother may not be entirely done for show but rather an accurate portrayal considering the malnutrition suffered in the North due to widespread food shortages. Just an interesting way of looking at it, I think. 

The Korean War Monument

We saw some groups of students on field trips and then these little pumpkins who were probably on a trip from the daycare. The outdoor exhibition is basically a kid's dream playground and we enjoyed seeing these wee'uns running around. I'll never get over the P.E. uniforms kids in Korea have to wear. They basically all look like this except in varying shades of ugliness. Believe it or not some of them are worse looking than these yellow ones.

The Monuments of Killed in Action

The Cheonan was the ship that sank in March of 2010 and caused a lot of tension on the Korean peninsula because the South was convinced that the ship was hit by a North Korean torpedo and of course North Korea claimed they had nothing to do with it. I'm pretty sure that they did find solid evidence that the torpedo came from the North but fat chance ever getting the nutsos in charge up there of admitting it. 

Turtle ship!

Item number one on my Christmas list.

There is one section of the museum with displays of various countries that South Korea has had some sort of relations with. Here was the section for Spain.

 Check out that badass Spanish armor! This Christmas list is writing itself. 

One of my favorite sections of the museum looks like a recent addition and it's all about the women in the Korean forces. Since museums like this tend to overwhelmingly focus on men who traditionally are the ones involved, it's easy to forget women's contributions and that today women are much more active in armed forces than once upon a time. Since my picture came out blurry, here is the text regarding women in the Korean War:

"The first women's unit was the Women's Voluntary Army Training Corps that was founded on September 1, 1950. One thousand and seventy four female service members of the corps participated in the war. They carried out not only administrative work but also pacification activities, interrogation prisoner of war and special missions. 1, 257 nursing officers in total also participated in the war and concentrated on the evacuation and treatment of WIA (Wound in Action)."

So the War Memorial is awesome and if you're in Seoul make sure you don't miss it!

Trivia of the Day:  Joseon (July 1392 – October 1897), was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul and the kingdom's northernmost borders were expanded to the natural boundaries at the Amnok and Duman rivers. Joseon was the last royal and later imperial dynasty of Korean history. It was the longest ruling Confucian dynasty. During its reign, Joseon consolidated its absolute rule over Korea, encouraged the entrenchment of Korean Confucian ideals and doctrines in Korean society, imported and adapted Chinese culture, and saw the height of classical Korean culture, trade, science, literature, and technology. The Joseon's rule has left a substantial legacy on the modern face of Korea; much of modern Korean etiquette, cultural norms, societal attitudes towards current issues, and even the modern Korean language and its dialects stem from the traditional thought pattern that originated from this period.