Lotte World

What do you do when you really want to go to Disneyland, but it’s all the way across and ocean? Go to a rip-off of course!

Lotte World is South Korea’s equivalent of Disneyland complete with a Magic Castle. Despite lacking the magic that Disneyland possesses, Lotte World makes a fair stand and is actually a pretty great place to go for the day.

My friends and I start the day off early, arriving at the amusement park at about 9:30 in the morning. The goal was to arrive early so that we may ride all the rides before it got too crowded.

Upon entering, we are instantly greeted with an amazing site of an indoor amusement park. In front of us, huge carnival style decorations litter the sidelines, above us, balloons with people inside float through the sky.

Of course, we are all taken with a frenzy to snap our cameras away, desperate to capture this new, magical land. Instantly, mascots run up to us, desperate to have the foreigners take pictures with them.

After the mascot bombardment, we make our way to the first of the rides, as swinging ship. By American standards, the ride is nothing extreme and nothing beyond your normal swinging ship, but by Korean standards, I realized that it could be quite terrifying. My Korean friends were genuinely terrified by the ride.

Afterwards, we decided the inside was too small and ventured out to the second half of the part—the outside. Beyond a glassed in walkway and frosted doors, we are welcome the site of a giant Disney-esque castle towering above. Excited to be in what we determine to be the actual theme park, we venture around exploring the different rides.

Eventually, 3:00 p.m. rolls around and what had been a relatively quiet park suddenly turned into a bustling mass of people. Trying to make our way onto rides soon proved to be hassle, often waiting for a ride for over an hour. During these rides, we entertained ourselves by looking for the names of popular K-Pop bands scribbled upon the walls.

After dealing with the frustrations of the lines, we made our way back inside to be treated by a parade…

And soon after, an amazing cultural performance.

To say that Lotte World is Disneyland would be overstating what it is, but in reality, Lotte World is wholly unique featuring an interactive indoor and outdoor amusement part that really goes above and beyond your typically amusement park when it comes to entertaining its guest. My recommendation is that if you ever go to Korea, go to Lotte World—it’s something that simply can’t be missed. Just make sure to go in the morning ;)

Chuseok

Chuseok is the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving. Everyone leaves to go back to their hometown to visit their family as well as their ancestors’ graves. It is one of the most important holidays in Korea, and this year I was given the chance to participate in it.

I have the good fortune of having a very sweet Korean roommate who had the kindness in her heart to invite my French roommate and I to go to her hometown of Mokpo for the Chuseok holiday. This is a big honor and it was one that I took very seriously.

When you are invited into a Korean’s home, it is customary to bring a present to your host. The type of present varies in different situations, but the general rule of thumb is to get them something useful. The general gift for Chuseok is a type of rice called 송편(songpyeon), but since the trip to Mokpo was long, and we wouldn’t be meeting the parents immediately, I didn’t want to get something that would spoil. Both of my roommate’s parents love golf, so I decided to give both of them golf balls (Texas Tech themed of course!). I decided on giving the father a golf club cover and a pair of pearl earrings to the mother.

Some songpyeon.

In order to get down to Mokpo, we decided to take a bus. Also, to avoid any Chuseok traffic, we left late Thursday night, the day before the Chuseok holiday would begin. Taking the red-eye bus to Mokpo landed us there at about 3 a.m. By the time we got to the home, we were so exhausted we just plopped into bed.

The next day (after a late start of course), was a day to ourselves since my roommate’s parents weren’t home yet. We traveled around Mokpo shopping and do general “girl” things, as well as take in the sites of the beautiful ocean as well as Mokpo’s famous man-made waterfall.

After a day to just us, we found ourselves in bed at a late yet again (Korea television is quite entertaining). This ended up being bad idea.

At 9 a.m., I hear a gentle knock at the door, which is quickly opened. I pry my eyes open to see a middle aged women, my roommates mother, peeking through the door. She smiles at me,

“Good morning! Good morning!” She fully opens the door and looks at my groggy eyes. “Good morning! Hungry? You hungry? Yes?”

Still not sure what was going on, I nod my head, and her hand stretches out towards mine, and pulls me out of bed.

“Good morning! Hungry? Yes?” She says while pulling me into the living room.

My eyes instantly shoot open as I look at the table before me filled with food.

From 불고기 (Bulgogi, marinated beef), to crab, to 떡 (ddeok, rice cake), the table was filled with an incredible assortment of foods. My friends really hadn’t been joking when they said that Chuseok was a glutinous holiday.

“많이 먹어요!” “(manhi meokeoyo!, Please eat a lot!)” She says to me as she sits me down at the table.

Still in morning confusion, I can’t decide where to start with the plethora of food in front of me. My roommate’s mother grabs my plate and begins piling on the food. After the plate is nearly overflowing, she hands it back to me. I notice that she has given me a generous portion of bulgogi (many Koreans know that this is typically a foreigner’s favorite food), and I’m glad she did. I take one bit of the tender beef, and my mouth is in heaven. It was spicy yet sweet, salty and yet juicy, and ever so tender. After the bulgogi, I go for the steamed crab, which never fails to put me in a food coma.

Eventually, the rest of house wakes up, and we all eat the feast prepared for us. After the meal, we all turn my roommate’s mother and say, “잘 먹었습니다!” (“jal meokeott soopnida!” “I ate well!”

The remaining days were genuine food induced comas with one giant meal following the next. It was hard to believe that our time was up. Before we head to the train station, we all sit down and take pictures together.

“Sank you! Sank you! Come again! Have fun!” My roommate’s mother says to us as we headed to the bus station. “안녕히 가세요!” (annyeonghi gaseayo, good-bye)

“안녕히 걔세요!” (annyeonghi gyeseayo, good-bye).

We all wave our good-byes, excited and happy, yet sad that our time is already up.

To Grow a Rock

There is a saying in Asia, “Watch the rock grow.” Knowing this saying is integral to understanding the culture. For many westerners, the saying may be confusing because, after all, a rock does not grow.

Watching a rock grow means learning patience, as well as finding peace. You will learn patience by watching something that will not change, and find peace by learning patience.

There are many frustrations when it comes to moving to another country. Firstly, you are displacing yourself from something that you have known your entire life. Secondly, many of the cultures around the world are different from the one that you are used to. This usually leads to culture shock.

Culture shock comes in many different forms and affects every person differently. As much as I try to say that I am immune to culture shock, I am not. For example, I often times find myself frustrated in certain situations, a common symptom of culture shock.

Korean culture can come as a great shock to many westerners. Everything is done very last minute, and rarely is anything ever set in stone. Plans are made the day before or day of, and deadlines of contracts are almost never met. For instance, as I mentioned earlier in this blog, I was informed 1 week before I came to Korea that I had nowhere to live. In the west, this delay of notification would be unacceptable, but in Korea, it’s the norm, there is nothing wrong with informing someone of something last minute, even if it’s as important as telling someone that they have nowhere to live.

Other frustrations come from the general lack of organization. I had great difficulty registering for classes because everything was full and they weren’t letting any exchange students (who are the last to register) into any full classes like they previously had. I realized that when I got upset over this, that things change—nothing will every stay the same.

I fully realized that when I had to go to the immigration office to apply for my alien registration card. Having been through the process once before, I made sure that I had all the proper forms with me, the exact same forms that I had brought with me the time before. After waiting in line for 2 ½ hours, I approached the desk only for the receptionist to tell me that one of my forms was wrong and that for a D-2 visa (student visa), a Certificate of Admission was no longer the proper form, and I now had to have a Certificate of Enrollment. “Sorry,” she said. “Just come back another time.” This meant that I would have to come back, miss my classes again, and wait in yet another long line. I wanted to cry, but one must learn patience to accept things as they are.

If something doesn’t happen in just the way you want it to, like you don’t get the classes that you want, or you’re frustrated that you have to walk everywhere. Stop. Take a moment. Find a rock and watch it grow.

Know that nothing will go as expected. Be prepared for what will or will not happen. Don’t get frustrated when things don’t go as planned. Learn to be fluid. Like a plant in a stream—bend with the current of the water.