Brrrrrrrrr- from Bucheon!

As temperatures here continue to drop to ungodly low numbers, the residents of Bucheon bunker down inside with their floor heating and fuzzy sweaters. Some brave (or insane) souls, aka Shanna and I, venture out to do some standard touristy adventures around Seoul! We made our way to the 63 Building located right next to the Han River. My faithful followers (all thousands of you...*echo echo*) may remember me calling this building the "Golden Nugget" from one of my very first blog posts. Well now it was my chance to see what the golden nugget had in store for us on the inside! 

After messing around with the ticket kiosks conveniently all in Korean, we ended up with a ticket that would get us into all 4 main attractions of the building; The Imax theater, the Aquarium, the Art Museum, and the Wax Museum. Our first stop was the Imax show about the Grand Canyon. It really turned out to be a documentary about a guy writing a book about the Colorado River. Good, yet slightly random topic to be showing at a Korean Imax show in Seoul...As the show was all in Korean, Shanna and I got to use translating headphones (Shannas had remnants from the previous user...). I wonder if it is safe to drown the headphones in hand sanitizer before putting them on my ears? Too late now I suppose.

After feeling a bit motion sick from the 3D-on-boat camera view of white water rafting down the Colorado River, we headed to the Sky Art museum located on the top floor of the building. The whole outside of the theater allows you to see the incredible view of the entire city. Or well...it would if the clouds didn't decide to come down and say hello this particular day. The blocks of ice in the Han River were also rather depressing...

This is looking over the same park from the Rock concert in a very early blog post!

Wait...am I in Antarctica?

The Sky Art museum's exhibit was called "Europe geuhrimeuhro dawnaneun yawhey" which means "Europe picture leaving our trip"...but probably in a more logical order. Either way it involved paintings and drawings from all over different countries of Europe. I sneaked some pictures before a nice Korean security guard in a pink button down and purple sweater vest told me that pictures were not allowed.

 

Koreans like their super touristy photo opportunities. They also like their "selfies" but that is a whole nother topic...for those who are not versed in the world of "selfies" it is when you take a picture...of yourself...with your phone or camera doing generic things like buying yogurt at the grocery store or tying your shoe in the elevator. But I digress--back to the touristy photo ops

In the art museum we saw a sign for this mysterious room...

What could it be???

Oh.. a bit of floor covered in mirrors so it sort-of-kind-of-if-you-squint-your-eyes-and-stand-on-your-head looks like you are standing over the street below...

Still, a fun opportunity to take a picture despite the not-so-thrilling "Thrill Deck".

After wandering through the art museum we headed down to the wax museum a few floors below. Now, after seeing Madame Tussaud's in New York I may have had high expectations for this one...I should have known better. This wax museum had all the normal components including Michael Jackson and Gandhi (not in the same area of course though I wouldn't have been surprised). Obama was there...missing a finger, as well as a recreation of the last supper complete with scary looking wigs from a variety of time periods

Jesus isn't doing the "big arms thing"...

You could definitely tell that this was a Korean wax museum because a majority of the figures were of musical, artistic, and scholarly backgrounds. Even outside of school the kids are pressured to become the next Mozart or Einstein! As we passed children posing on piano benches with Bach and Beethoven we came upon the worst depictions of celebrities including Marilyn Monroe and Elvis.  Not sure where the wax statue creators got the pictures they used to recreate these celebrities but it might have been a blurry photo from a look alike contest in Vegas.

Tiger is that you?

There was then a haunted house section. As Shanna walked into the pitch black hallway I warned her that I was not following her in there and would be waiting patiently on the other side. Even terrible wax statues are creepy in the dark.

After seeing the last section of teddy bear..wax...statues...(oh Korea), We wandered to the last area of the building which was the Aquarium! Many of my students had been to the aquarium and rave about all the things to do and see inside. 

beautiful

Dancing for me :)

A very talented seal

The aquarium had all the usual fish and marine mammals, however it also had some unusual additions...

guinea pigs and other small rodents

otters- ok not too strange I suppose...

poor pelicans INSIDE!?

And an empty tank with a rubics cube...

 I'm not surprised anymore by the things I see here. As we were leaving the Aquarium we saw that the synchronized swimming show was going to start soon...why not stay and see what it was about right? As we were pumped up with songs like "dancing queen" and some ricky martin crowd favorites we were expecting some Olympic level underwater dance routine. Turns out it is a girl in a diving suit with a muffin to make the fish swarm around her as she bobs around the water for the crowd to take pictures of...for 30 minutes...After a knowing look to Shanna we left to meet with Katrina and Seol for some dinner in Itaewan!

you can see her flipper feet at the bottom as the fish attack the muffin in her hand

On the way to dinner we stopped into "What The Book" which is an English bookstore that delivers books for free and you can trade books with them too! I think I've found my new favorite place here...

complete with Beauty and the Beast ladders too!

 We ended up going to an arabic restaurant called "Dubai" to get our falafel and hummus fix! As we left the restaurant I shocked the owner with my one phrase of Arabic "Assalamu alaikum". I think his brain stopped working for a few seconds until he realized what he said and returned the blessing. He asked if I knew any more Arabic but nope, that's the extent of my knowledge unfortunately!

hookas in the restaurant

The night ended up having fun with a group of friends around Itaewon and Hongdae. Finally making our way to Suzie Q's to dance the night away to great music. 

just trying to pick up a truck

 
















This was a fun way to spend a Saturday in the cold weather! Looking forward to doing more touristy things in the future. Maybe once the weather turns a liiiiiittttllleee bit more forgiving. This next week at Little America I have my open class with my Texas kindergarteners. All of their parents come in and watch me give a lesson. I am not too nervous about the parents, as half of them probably have no clue what I'm saying, but just hope my students have fun after practicing the lesson multiple times throughout the week. Maybe I will throw in something new to surprise them...or maybe that is a terrible idea.

Next weekend a group of us will be headed to a chocolate festival in Seoul! So keep your eye out for the next post that should be deliciously chocolatey...I'll end with yet another incredible Korean invention...

yes those are rainboots.

Korean word of the post: 사진을 찍을 (sajeeneul jikeuhl)- take a picture

xoxoxo