District 1260 Blog

Time to go home...  Mixed emotions as we've had such an experience and Seoul is an amazing city, but four weeks is a long time to be away from family and friends.

This week has been 'full on', with a packed itinerary of cultural and vocational opportunities. We have all experienced new and exciting things this week, including a trip to the theatre to see 'Jump' a martial arts comedy which was highly entertaining and filled with loud music and acrobatic moves - fantastic!

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Well what a day! I am sitting in a somewhat seedy internet cafe surrounded by Korean gaming nerds. The only thing on their mind is the screen and game, so I am, in truth, as safe as anywhere  in here! Amanda has run off with her laptop and is at a homestay and I am home alone at the Seoul Residence so I had to come here to communicate with the uk.

Well we had another Rotary club meeting today in a posh hotel. I was reminded of some of the Korean habits while musing over another meal at the meeting.

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Here we are again, at the end of a busy day, one day closer to home and yet each day bringing a new adventure which reveals another dimension of life in Korea. Today was Buddhas birthday. We spent time at a temple where families pay homage to the great Buddha through ceremony and offering. But what birthday celebrating larks tonight! It is also the great Amandas birthday, and we have just returned from a session in a private Karaoke bar, korean style! Never seen  anything like it in the uk! After a fab birthday meal with cake, we were escorted to a sombre little place in the city where for a brief scary kimchi moment I thought I was about to be sold for a few bottles of soju. However, within moments the room was soon to be transformed into a rocking and rolling party zone with Hansung getting  the musical groove on with Amanda wailing something of a quaint love duet, and me croaking out  Careless Whispers, and Sugar Sugar. I'm sure there is a gap in the uk market for a similar venues.

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Oh what a night!  I suppose I should start with the day really, but having just returned from my 'Birthday' Party it's difficult to maintain chronological order!

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The other members of the team have already written entries about our visit to the DMZ but here is my take it on it....

'Ladies and gentlemen...no pointing, no pictures, no waving, listen to what I say, no pictures, soldiers shoot you...'

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Well here we are almost time to go home. As I type, Amanda is re sorting her luggage despairingly I sense, we have much to bring home and not a lot of luggage allowance. I am mentally packing some fond and funny memories. We have had such an amazing time here. But I am missing green England big time now.

So what have i been doing? We Rotary Conference confirmed that Korean Rotary women dress to the nines at every opportunity. I sat there not understanding much but feeling very bedraggled in my creased dress and with sweaty armpits. This has to be a low part of the trip, that we have so little time to draw breath between one activity and another, the relentless pace of needing to be somewhere, attend and 'do', and not much time to tart oneself up for the next event. However, maybe armpit smelling may be a Korean cultural habit as during one of the female singers performances at the conference the woman surely lifted her arm and bent her head to inhale. Elmi and I just glanced at one another and then  fell about laughing. The conference sideshows were interesting. I got to test an eye massaging gizmo that squeezes and pummels the surrounding eye area to releive tiredness.

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Well, having recovered from our experiences at the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday have brought us the joys of District 3640 Conference. The conference was held inside the district at the Intercontinental Hotel, Seoul.

Friday began by visiting Hansung for some last minute presentation 'practice'. You just don't know how difficult it is to translate for someone who doesn't present from a script - poor Hansung, he really did have to fine tune his English/Korean language skills!

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Our visit to the border between North and South Korea has been one of the most sobering events of this four week adventure.  We all happily made our way with the every ready Mr Nam to the tour pick up point, without really giving consideration to exctly what we were about to do and see.

We needed our passports just to be allowed to take part in the tour - this is the only day that we haven't been accompanied/hosted by our South Korean friends; they were not ALLOWED on this trip.

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Our visit to the border between North and South Korea has been one of the most sobering events of this four week adventure.  We all happily made our way with the every ready Mr Nam to the tour pick up point, without really giving consideration to exctly what we were about to do and see.

We needed our passports just to be allowed to take part in the tour - this is the only day that we haven't been accompanied/hosted by our South Korean friends; they were not ALLOWED on this trip.

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We met our tour at the Lotte Hotel at 9h50 this morning ( Thursday).   Today was  also Parents' Day in South Korea, an opportunity for children to express their love, respect and gratitude towards their parents by giving them carnations...?!  For us however, the day was focussed on getting a first hand experience of the turmoil that still exists because of the North-South divide.

The DMZ or demilitarised zone is only 1,5 hours drive north of Seoul.  It's amazing to think that while Seoul is pulsating with life and potential, two sides are staring at each other in distrust across an impenetrable barrier.  We visited a few monuments on our way to the furthest point north, one which listed the 18 reporters that gave their lives during the Korean war in order to give the truth to the world.  Two of the reporters were British and worked for The Guardian and The Times.  We also stopped off the visit Imjingak or 'Place of Nostalgia'.  This, as I'm sure you can tell from the name, is as far as any South Korean can get to the North border.  They can stand on a platform that gives a view across the Imjingang river and remember family and friends lost many years ago to barbed wire fences and heavily patrolled borders. 

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