July 2, 2005

Thursday night I went for an hour long walk. I walked from my apartment to Seoul Land which is an amusement park here in Gwacheon. There were many different groups of people out enjoying the evening. I left as the sun was going down at 8pm and by the time I returned at 9pm it was dark. People were out running, inline skating, skateboarding, walking their dogs, or just enjoying the evening with their special someone. There is a chair lift that will take you over the river from the bottom to further up the mountain. At that time of night there was no one on the chair lift. There is also a tram car that drives from the bottom to Seoul Land and then back down again. Both of these cost money to ride. Seoul Land seems to cost roughly as much as Calaway park, though there is a price for just going into the park with no rides. I didn't see much of it from the outside, but the rides did not look very exciting. Most of the people on the road were only concerned with getting their exercise or enjoying their evening. I have no idea how busy the park is, but it seemed dead on Thursday night. I'm sure there are more exciting amusement parks in Seoul.

Friday I noticed a sore throat coming on in the morning. During the day I had to go to the Seoul Immigration Office to pick up my Alien Registration Card (I did this all by myself, it was quite scary). When I got back I spent time at the office trying to organize my thoughts for classes on Monday. However, I was feeling very homesick and so was unable to concentrate. I think the homesick came on because I didn't want to be sick in a place where I had no one to comfort me. Dan and Katherine came to the office that night and it helped to talk to them about Canadian stuff and about my fiance.

Today I went to the Korean War Memorial with two of Eun Ji's married friends that I had never met before. We had a good time wandering around and looking at the many different exhibits. Canada's many small war museums pale in comparison to the size of this place, it is absolutely huge! It records in detail the events of the Korean war and which countries participated. It also relates information concerning other wars that Korea has participated in and some history from when Korea wasn't the country it is today. Today I felt a lot less homesick than I did yesterday. I was able to talk with my parents in the morning, and this evening I spent at home with my host family. I mostly read while my host brothers played piano and drew. In Pyo, the older one is working on a Karate or Tae Kwon Do style comic book. Maybe they were ninjas, I couldn't tell.