A group of us went to The War and Women's Human Rights Museum which had an interesting layout up and down stairs, in and out of small rooms - moving from room to room with a headset describing what we saw. The main focus of the museum is the many Korean women used as "comfort women" to Japanese soldiers during world war 2. We found out that Koreans were placed all over the Asian continent to "comfort" Japanese soldiers along the way. It was very informative and shed light on something I think very few of us know about. There is a part at the end that focuses on how women are used in war all over the world and the statement "It is more dangerous to be a woman than a solider in war." really struck a cord with me. There is an outdoor seating area to reflect on the information. I found Kenneth sitting out there looking down at his shoes. I asked him if he was okay and he looked up at me and said: "I feel their pain so deeply." He's seen more in regards to this than I have, so I can imagine it hit home for him.
A review on Travelocity describes the museum perfectly: Tricky to find but worth it. We searched for a while before we found it, but it's because it's literally a museum amongst houses and apartments, just tucked away in a back street with a small sign. I kind of liked that it was amongst residences. To me it said: You will not escape this. We are woven into the fabric of this city and people in this neighbourhood will walk by us every day and remember. There are statues of a young girl with a bird on her shoulder throughout different areas of Korea that represent the comfort women. I've seen a few around Seoul and Uijeongbu.
Later, Kenneth and I headed to a soccer game which he's been wanting to go to for some time now. He has 3 teams he likes in Korea and 2 were playing a match in the area so we had to go. The set up is similar to baseball in that you can buy all types of food and drink outside the stadium and bring it in. The problem is you can't leave and come back. Somehow I was able to convince the lady at the gate to let this poor foreigner out to buy pizza and come back in.
Kenneth looooooooves soccer. He played semi-professionally while in Nigeria and misses it so much. If we walk by a child haphazardly kicking a ball around he asks me if I think it's ok for him to kick it around with him. He talks about wanting to coach soccer when we get to Canada, "I want to bring up young kids. Maybe troubled kids to get them off the street and focused on something positive."
The next day was Sunday when Kenneth and I signed up for some sort of outing with a church he goes to sometimes and I've been to once. We really like the people there, so it's always fun to go. The problem is Kenneth didn't know where we were going. It was $10 a person and we get on a bus and go somewhere. Last time you could choose which bus you went on and it took you to a fun place, depending on what you chose. We signed up without many details. Turns out we ended up at Nami Island which I've been to before and have wanted to go back to. It's actually the place I was travelling to when I met Kenneth on the subway that fateful day! The church he goes to is full of Nigerians and other Africans, a few Koreans, and some Filipinos. I was literally the ONLY white person there - and it was awesome!
On the bus they sang spiritual songs (led by a very off key woman) and then a man did some sort of story telling comedy routine which I listened to picking out small words in Pidgin English until I asked Kenneth - is this man preaching? He laughed and said no - he's doing a comedy routine about how his job is too exhausting and causing him back pain. I laughed so hard at myself!
With friend, Naomi. It sucked that it was raining.
This statue also sucks.
I love Kenneth's friends! They are all so nice and welcoming. A few days after this I
was in Kenneth's town and I saw a few of them across the street. They waved to me
and crossed the street to say hi to me.
This weekend a group of us took a 2 hour subway ride down to Suwon which is south of Seoul. I loved the city! It was so cute! It had so many cute shops and restaurants, such charm! Suwon has 2 things we wanted to see: A large fortress and the Mr. Toilet Museum. What a day!
Cool building entrance in town.
We ate at this place with the guy throwing bread in the air.
Best BLT ever!
Some of the fortress wall.
This tree is over 300 years old.
I love the detail at the palace.
Dead/alive tree?
Just some corn stalks growing as decoration!
Car free day benches!
I know I'm repeating myself but I just love a fortress
amongst a modern city!
The old fortress gate in the middle of the new city.
After the fortress we cabbed it to the Mr. Toilet Museum which is shaped like a toilet and has many toilet and poo related things. It was . . . . interesting.
Pooing in the olden days
Yep
We've all been there
There were 4 panels showing bathroom signs for each country - and most
of them were incorrect. I've never seen underwear signs for Canada.
This is an association that you can sit on.
This blog post is full of puns.
There was no answer anywhere on this building and now
I will die not knowing.
On Saturday we went into Itaewon, Seoul to watch the Mayweather/McGregor fight which I did not look at the screen for. I don't like watching people get hit! I went for the stuff afterward! I did enjoy listening to McGregor talk after and I realized the significance in that moment of watching the fight in an Irish pub.
So many cheese related places!
A bit of a scary playground - no?
Horrible pic of us but the view is nice!
We went to my favourite pizza place, went to a few bars so Jesse (who has a blog about craft beers) could try some craft beers. Altogether a good day, but long. I think we may have crammed a bit too much into the weekend.
In one month I'm off to Beijing!
Lots of love,
Alli
