While Waiting for the Bus...

It's a cool way to wait for the bus....and 'killing time' 

but..what's the story behind this?????? 

It just happened when we were waiting for the bus at a bus stop @ Cheonan. 

Gee..the buses did not come as often as those in Seoul. The interval was unbelievably ...looooooooooong.....even when a bus arrived...it did not just stop....

which later we learned that we got to signal or waive to the bus driver that we want to take the bus!!! :-)

ㅋㅋㅋ

luckily...there was this signage that we could play along with while waiting for the bus.

Cheonan ~ Seoul: No Seats Left!!!

We got to be back to Seoul before night fell. The only way we deemed convenient was by taking the train. Not the subway since it would take us almost 3 hours. So, we decided to take the Saemaul-ho..which took us less than 2 hours. 

First, we got to catch a taxi. 

crossing over the bridge. 

and...we got to wait for almost 40 minutes for the taxi to arrive...only to realize that the place we're at...did not have any taxi passing by. 

we moved .... 

long story short...we managed to arrive at the train station only to find that no seats were available for all Seoul-bound train. So, we just took any train..and ...left us..standing..or...sitting on the floor.^^

As for Freya...

She's sitting on the long bench--which was supposed to be a table. oops. 

Crossing the Han River....63 Building.... 

telling us that we're approaching the Yongsan station: our last destination. 

The dusk...over Han River... 

Arrived @ Yongsan station when a full orchestra was performing ..what turned out to be a Christmas Carol concert. Yes, it's sort of warming up the atmosphere.

Cheonan Museum (part 1)

After we attended our friend's wedding banquet@ Cheonan, we did not just go back to Seoul. We might as well use the remaining time to explore the very venue we came to in the first place. 

Cheonan National Museum. 

We're at the front facade...well,, in some part of the museum's outdoor section. 

The Jangseung we encountered upon arriving at the museum..is the place to take a picture.

Cold? yes, sure it was. 

That's why we decided to go into the indoor part of the museum.

Our Friend, Sol's Wedding @ Cheonan

December 19, 2014. We went to Cheonan to attend our friend's wedding.

Yes..this is our first international wedding we attended to. 

Sol married to her husband from Greece. 

What a great moment it was. 

Of course, since Sol is our classmate, lots of our classmates did attend the ceremony, too. We traveled by train to Cheonan specially to meet and congratulate her in person. 

What a great moment, again..indeed.

well, getting married in Winter just worked out fine, too, afterall.

Congratulations, Sol. 

Independence Hall of Korea @ Cheonan

I deliberately put the pictures in small sized in this entry because I didn't bring my camera, so instead these were taken by my not-that-smartphone camera:)

I went to Cheonan in Chungcheong Province. 

visiting the Independence Hall of Korea (독립기념관) with my friends from Indonesia and Mongolia. 

This monument was established in 1982 and I learned that all fund was from citizens who dedicated themselves to preserve the history of Korea's struggle to Independence. 

Especially on Korea's 20th century independence against Japanese imperialism.  

The building visible here is called the Grand Hall of the Nation. I was perplexed by the magnitude of this building. I learned that it is 45 meter tall, and being dubbed as the largest tile-roof in Asia. hmmm...

okay, got a pic with our professor. and then..on the right side..I saw a replica of Sodaemun Gate which I happened to see in Seoul. 

okay, the Plaza of the Nation is so massive in size that it took us about 20 minutes to walk (well veryyy slowly) from the parking lot to this complex. 

This statue was also a symbol of March 1st Movement that initiated Korea's struggle against Japanese colonialism. 

A view from the Hall of the Nation and ..okay..I felt like being in North Korea whenever I saw that painting. Not that I've been there.:) 

Okay, now...let's go around the block and see what the outdoor exhibition had in store. 

This complex has 7 separate museums with different themes from the Old kingdoms in Korea that spanned 5,000 years of history up to the 20th century's history of independence movement.

Oh, one of my favorite is a replica of Hwangryongsa temple (황룡사) with its 9-storey wooden floors. I wish it had not been destroyed by the Mongol invaders....

the exhibition complex here is also dubbed to be the largest in Korea. 

too bad..it had to take us 2-hour long journey from Seoul to be here. 

oh, and this:well..it's a model of the Koreana Tripitaka. (am I right?) what I know is that..it's the collection of Korea's Buddhist scriptures.  

since the complex is huge like I said earlier, it'd better to take a bus!!!

Global Family Camp (part 5): Archery!!!!

Ready to get another experience for the 2nd day at the campsite. Freya and Eyra were walking along the empty--but not deserted--road in the NYC (national youth center). 

It just happened that we no cars or even people were visible at the very moment we took the picture. All I could say was that there might be thousands of people in the camp site that weekend. But, since it was such a huge camp site, we barely saw a whole pack of people within a few yards. The only time we bumped into one another or other groups was when we were having our breakfast or lunch or dinner.^^

Guess what the next activity was! It was archery. Yup, it was archery. It was so cool not all of us were so excited to participate, including the children. 

A lot of families were competing happily to shoot their arrows. Eyra,too, was no exception.

Yep, the instructor really did a good job at introducing and teaching us on how to shoot an arrow from from the seemingly light but turned-out-to-be heavy bow. 

It was 9 in the morning. Yet, it was a bit hot. But, since the archery --the one we never had before-- was so enticing, we barely felt the heat. Eyra and her Mom were preparing....

Looks so easy from this angle. The fact was....Eyra had to be helped out in stretching out her arms so as to make enough stretch of arms to shoot the arrow.

She was trying to do it on her own this time. See the target down there? I think it was about 50 meter or so

Of course I would not miss the golden chance of trying my strength as well as 'luck' in shooting the arrow through the first bow ever. After experiencing it myself, I came to a conclusion that despite the fact of its being irresistibly enchanting, archery is NOT an easy sport, every. 

Hmm, that made me think 'The Hunger Games' actors must've had rigorous training to be on that level--seen on the movie.

Our team from Iran, Korea, and Nepal were seen having their first try-outs. Even the kids were so eager to do their stunts on not-to-be-missed archery. 

** Thanks for Kyobo Life for providing us with such great experience for us.