Namsan Tower

*These photos were taken with my little point-and-shoot canon: I forgot to put the memory card back into the nikon dslr*

On Friday the 6th of May we had an appointment with Rob Sudwick (spelling?) and Paul Thomas of the U.S. embassy here in Seoul. It was a chance for those of us interested in the foreign service or international relations to discuss what it's like to work in an embassy. It was something different to here about contemporary Korean politics rather than ancient history, but it was difficult for most of us to stay completely conscious during the Q&A. But it was nice to be able to go to a nearby Japanese bistro and get some yummy tempura udon. YUM.

The rest of the day was free time - Dr. Peterson suggested some things for us to do, but after several days of intense museum touring and site seeing he wasn't too adamant about how we spent our time. One of my peers suggested going up to Namsan (남산) Tower and in the end only myself and one of Dr. Peterson's former students/study abroaders named David (who had tagged along for the embassy Q&A) went with Junil to Namsan. By the time the taxi dropped us off nearby it was raining pretty hard. David had to go pay rent and do some other errands he had forgotten and could only describe to us how to get up to the tower. We decided to take the scenic trail up the mountain that followed an old city wall - we got about half way up when the wall and trail ended and we were in some kind of parking lot for a hotel. Ultimately we got lost by heading in the wrong direction, which we corrected by backtracking with a taxi and then taking a bus up to the base of the last steep walk up to the tower.

Finally we made it to Namsan Tower (aka. N Seoul Tower) which reminded me a lot of the Space Needle. There were shops within and about the tower and there was an admission fee to ride the elevator to the observation deck. The elevator ride featured a very interesting video presentation on the ceiling which made it feel like you were being shot into space to the distant planet of N Seoul Tower (the ride back down was the same video only coming back to earth). Once we were up in the tower, the views were pretty awesome. Granted, it was a cloudy wet day and visibility was low but it was a neat experience.

What was especially interesting were the "locks of love" on the fences surrounding the tower. The idea is that you write the name of a significant other or family members on the lock and secure it to the fence. This is to ensure an eternal relationship with those that you've indicated on the lock. The tower gift shops sell locks and special tree structures have been built for the sole purpose of being decorated in locks. Many of the locks are very cute and include messages. Even the benches were designed to force couples who sit on them to lean in to each other.

While it was a fun and interesting experience getting to and seeing Namsan Tower, it was definitely something you only need to do once. But I was glad for the chance to get to know Junil better. There's something about a shared experience that helps to build a friendship. The day ended with five of us going to a restaurant near the temple home which is owned by a member couple. I ordered 오리 매운탕 (spicy duck soup) which was a first for me. It was definitely hot and duck isn't something I've eaten a lot of, but it was tasty. After we'd finished eating, the sister (자매님) came out and starting chatting us up - and talked to us for a long time. It was great language practice, and her stories were amazing, but we were at the restaurant a LONG time haha.