Dinner for Rombongan Dharma Wanita UGM @ HUFS

The first 3 hours after landing in Seoul and after a rigorous 2-hour ride by AREX and subway from Incheon International Airport to HUFS, the whole group of Dharma Wanita Persatuan UGM was welcome by a dinner by Prof. Yang Seung Yoon--a frequent visiting professor from HUFS to UGM.

With the main course of menu: Korean food--surely;

the whole guests amazingly loved the menu. Some of them are used to having Korean food back home, too in Jogjakarta.

The main menu was surely bulgogi, beef marinated barbecue with the side dish of healthy veggies typically served with Korean menu. 

After dinner, Mrs. Sudjarwadi on behalf of the whole group presented a token of gratitude or some kind of oleh-oleh from Jogjakarta as a token of friendhip.

Some chats on trivialities were also brought up to warm up the atmosphere.

In time, an exchange of friendship tokens was also held. In short, that very night, after a long journey from Japan and from the airport to the city, the whole group got a sumptuous meal before going to the in-campus residence.

Highlights of Dharma Wanita UGM's Visit to Seoul

Note: 

One-day visit to Seoul after a week-long visit to Japan seemed to be not enough, 

but..this was pretty much what we could do to make the most out of it.

---**---

First: Riding a subway would surely give a first-hand experience of what Seoulites mostly do to get round the city. As many as 4 million (more I guess) people use subways each day in Seoul and its satellite cities. That's how important subway is for a bustling city like Seoul. 

So, taking a seoul Metro would be the first choice for anyone who wants to know how this effective system of transportation works in the heart of the Korea capital.

I insisted that the guests from Dharma Wanita UGM should take this one, too. 

A bit tiring and sometimes...energy-consuming, but once again, this might give a deep impression

 of what the city has to offer.

Second: since they did not have ample time to visit most places in just one day, there was no other better way to enjoy what kind city Seoul was....but to take the 2.5 hour ride on Seoul City Tour Bus--a kind of hop-on and hop-off transportation primarily made for anyone who has not enough time to visit Seoul.

So, for only a mere 9,000 Won (a 1,000 Won discount for coming on a group more than 10)^^, we could use the best and effective time of enjoying Seoul. The bus tour would take its passengers to as many as 38 more attractions in Seoul in just one day. ^^

Third: Out of so many attractions that I could write about...I just wanted to tip this on. Changdokgung palace. This palace located right in front of the Seoul City Hall is a must-visit site should anyone wants to enjoy the cultural show at daylight. But, too bad, due to some circumstances, we could not see the show. Instead, we just visited and got around the palace.

Fourth: it seemed that going somewhere without bringing some oleh-oleh or souvenirs back home....

would be like something in vain. 

So, I took the whole group to Namdaemun market--famous as well as infamous for its vast and endless ranges of Korean brand--be it the original and the counterfeit ones. But, what makes Namdaemun famous is surely its charms in bringing in numerous Korean traditional products: ginseng, tea, etc etc etc. 

This time around: Korean souvenirs were what the whole group was looking for. 

So, a 2-hour shopping seemed to be not-enough to dig into the Korean souvenirs.

Got me to ponder: Shop till we drop (literally and figuratively).

Nice experience, I guess. Right, Ibu-ibu? ^^

KUnjungan ibu-ibu Dharma Wanita UGM

In front of HUFS Main Building

Well, I was so excitedly busy for the two and a half days (May 33 - 24) simply because as many as 15 guests from UGM visited my campus, HUFS. They were on their route home from their visit to Japan. Since they were in Japan, they might as well visit Korea. So, to make the most of effectively 2-day visit, we might as well make the best out of it. Apart from visiting campus, sure...taking a sample of what Seoul has to offer for its visitors was a must-do program for them. 

That's where I set in.

I kinda planned of what, where, when for them to see and feel the sight and sound of Seoul.

Let me jot down some of the names who visited Seoul: Mrs. Tri Murniningsih Sudjarwadi, Mrs. Endang Sukorini Astuti, Mrs. Endah Nastiti Haryanto, Mrs. Maria Fransiska Eka Diana Christi, Mrs. Bekti Supratiwi, Mrs. Safitri Endah Winarti, Mrs. Suwarni Angesti Rahayu, Mrs. Tri Atmi Wahyuni, Mrs. Marsilah Barida, Mrs. Hartini Ratna Cahayawati, Mrs. Isminarti Rusmiyati Rustam, Mrs. Christi Endang Martini, and Mrs. Yustina Titi Chrysti Saptarini.

One might wonder as to why I took the trouble of writing the whole names down^^ 

Well, this is what I called a treasure of writing what might be a historical piece in the future to come.

Japanese & Indonesian snack in One Day

I did not know what got into me...no, I mean..ok, let's put it this way. In one day, I got two different snack from two different countries. One was a snack that I did know what, but I liked it. the plastic pack said something like that shown on the picture above. It tasted sweet and it was fully covered with snowy sugar-like powder.

This is the ingredient or at least an information of what that was. I just knew that it was edible. More than that...I did not. Ok, I got this from ibu-ibu dharma wanita from UGM who visited Seoul after visiting Japan. So, on their en-route to Jakarta, they stopped over in Seoul for a 2-day visit. 

Thanks for the snack, Bu.

Another snack that I wanted to share is EMPING!!! Yest, it was emping. I've been craving for emping in Korea. And I never managed to get one anywhere.

So, when my friend, Seonhee, bought one in Uijeongbu and gave some to me, it was like a present.^^

Well, too much of it would not be healthy--so they said. But, still...a craving would only be satisfied when we got what we were craving for.......

the only solution was...to eat them all up^^