A TOUR OF THE DEMILITARISED ZONE

Today I went to North Korea!! Well, I mean, I was in North Korea for all of 4 minutes, and it was only inside of a building, but still. 

I’ve wanted to take a tour of the DMZ for a while since this will probably be one of my only chances to go and everything, and so I finally booked a tour of the Panmunjom for today. Panmunjom is where South and North Korea hold their talks, and it is right in the middle of the Military Demarcation Line which separates the two states. In fact, when you’re there, you can see the line that runs right through all the buildings, because it’s raised up and marked by concrete in the ground. There are a lot of rules for the tour too because you’re in a military area and the North Korean soldiers are always *~**watching**~*. When we got to the briefing room, we had to sign a paper that said that they weren’t liable if we were injured or killed while we were there. O_O And we also had to promise that we wouldn’t point to the northern side, or make any other kind of “gestures” that could make the north upset or that they could use as “propaganda” against the United Nations. 

It took about 40 minutes to an hour to get to the beginning of the Demilitarised Zone from Seoul, and on our way there we could see North Korea across the river. Interestingly, there were no trees on the North Korean side and our tour guide explained that it was because the North Korean government cut them all down so they can watch their citizens without anything obstructing their view. The only place where North Korea kept trees was where the North Korean border hits the South Korean at the Freedom Village (its real name is Daesong-dong). The Freedom Village is inside of the DMZ, and about 200-250 people live there as farmers. Because they live in such a dangerous place, they get military protection when they go outside to farm near the border and also don’t have to pay taxes. 

There’s also a similar type of village on the northern side, except that no one lives there.  Nicknamed “Propaganda Village” by South Korea and “Peace Village” by North Korea, this town (its actual name is Kijeong-dong) was built by the north to show how prosperous its citizens are, but the government never let anyone move in. The houses have no windows, lights go off at set times, and all the buildings have blue roofs to make them appear more grand. The government also deliberately built the flagpole in their village taller than the South Korean one to prove their superiority. Apparently, it’s also the third tallest flagpole in the world. The more you know.

Once our tour group arrived at the checkpoint, we had our passports and attire checked by a JSA (Joint Security Area) officer who boarded the bus. We weren’t allowed to bring anything with us when we got off the bus except for a camera, and when we took pictures we could only take them of the northern side, and never in any other direction. When we were at Panmunjom, we stood just outside of the building and could take photos of the North Korean building on the other side. There was a North Korean soldier watching us with binoculars while we were there, and our guide told us that there were likely many more soldiers watching us from inside the building as well, although no one can really be sure. On the southern side, there were ROK soldiers who stood facing north, watching the KPA soldier. Our guide also informed us that when tours from North Korea come to Panmunjom, instead of the KPA soldiers facing south to protect the visitors, they too face north in order to prevent anyone from defecting and entering South Korea. 

After we took lots and lots of photos of the outside of Panmunjom, we had the opportunity to go into one of the United Nations’ JSA buildings (the blue buildings above). The building we entered is the one used for joint UN-North Korean talks, and the whole room was filled with tables and it was rather small. But the conference table in the middle stands exactly where the demarcation line is, and a soldier stands at one end, straddling the line. Once you pass the conference table, you’re in North Korea! You can also look out the window and get a closer look at the North Korean side. The two soldiers inside never moved, but they let us take pictures with them as long as we stood in front of them and not to the side. We only got to stay in the building for about 5-10 minutes, but it was still very cool!

After going to Panmunjom, we passed by the Bridge of No Return while on the tour bus. This is where North and South Korea exchanged prisoners of war following the signing of the armistice to “end” the Korean War. However, we didn’t get to get off the bus to see the bridge because it was a military area and no civilians are allowed. Once we all got photos of the bridge, we were no longer allowed to take photos for the same reason.

And so, we said our goodbyes to the DMZ (after going to the gift shop, of course) and headed on over to Imjingak Park, the northernmost part of South Korea that a civilian can enter; hence the very tall barbed wire fence. From the park you can see the Bridge of Freedom, which crosses the Imjin River (a North Korean river than connects to the Han River which runs through Seoul) and is a former railroad bridge used by ROK soldiers returning from the north. However, this bridge is no longer used and the North has its own bridge to cross the river farther north now. Imjingak Park is often used as a memorial spot by South Korean families who have relatives in the north or if their hometown is in North Korea. They come to the park to perform ancestral rites several times a year because these rites are traditionally done in the birthplace of one’s ancestors, and since they cannot go all the way north they use this park as a substitute. Imjingak Park also has many statues and monuments to the Korean War, as well as a small amusement park and a pond shaped like the Korean peninsula. 

Following our tour of Imjingak Park, our tour group headed to a restaurant to eat beef stew for lunch, and from the restaurant there was a nice view of the rice paddies that are so prevalent in South Korea. After lunch we climbed back onto the bus and started on our journey back to Seoul, having now experienced modern Korean history firsthand. And so concluded our time touring the DMZ!

Field Trip to Namsan

This week we had our third and final field trip for my Early Modern Korea class. For this trip we went to the area around Namsan, which means “South Mountain” in Korean and is located almost exactly in the middle of Seoul. We visited the Bank of Korea Museum, Namsangol Hanok Village, and Jangchungdan Park. 

For our first stop at the Bank of Korea Museum (한국으행 박물관), we learned about the currencies used all throughout Korea’s past and how their money has changed over the years. We visited the Bank of Korea because it was originally established by the Japanese when they first took control of the peninsula and they created a central banking system in Korea. It was really interesting to see the evolution of currency in Korea, especially over the past century when they transitioned to “modern” bills and coins. They also had some examples of North Korean bills, which instead of featuring prominent scholars or leaders, instead had drawings of common people working and looking proud of their nation to show how highly they value equality and nationalism. 

After the Bank of Korea Museum, we headed over to the Namsangol Hanok Village (남간골 한옥마을). Hanok villages are where one can see traditional Korean houses (hanok) from the Joseon era. Whereas palaces display the grandeur with which royals, government officials, and other yangban (nobles, scholars, those of the ruling class, etc.) lived, hanok villages usually show traditional houses of the common people. This particular hanok village had a few houses of people who were involved in either opposition to the Japanese rule, or those who conspired with the Japanese to force the abdication of Emperor Kojong at the end of the Great Han Empire, in addition to other dwellings which belonged to everyday families. Also, the village had traditional games which you could play, such as this one where you have long sticks with feathers at the end (they kind of look like arrows) and a container with three slots for them to go and you have to stand back and throw the “arrows” into the slots. It’s called tuho (투호) in Korean and it’s very, very difficult. Here’s an old drawing of some men playing tuho:

There was also a Taekwondo performance going on while we were there, and I managed to catch a bit of the demonstration on video:

Our last stop on the field trip was at Jangchungdan Park (장춘당 공원), where there are many statues and monuments to those who participated in different types of opposition against Japanese imperialism. The statue above is dedicated to victims of the Eulmi Sabyeon, which is the period in 1895 during which Empress Myeongseong was assassinated and many soldiers were killed fighting the Japanese. The park is also a popular place for the elderly to hang out, since there’s outdoor exercise machines, places for tuho and yutnori (another traditional Korean game), and benches to sit. Actually, there are many parks here where there are exercise machines, and they’re very popular among Korean people, especially at night. 

And with that, our field trip was over. ^_^

The Dream Concert that I attended a couple weeks ago finally aired last night, and I found myself in the video! I mean, I’m really small, and they only show me a couple of times, but still. Awesome.

Dongdaemun Night Market and Banpo Bridge

This past Friday my friends and I went to Dongdaemun to do some much-needed shopping, and we decided to check out the much lauded night market. Dongdaemun is known for its department stores, with bargain and brand-name shopping open until the wee hours of the morning. However, the area is also famous for its night market, where yellow tents line the streets across from the department stores and the stalls don’t open until 10pm and close until 5am. There’s lots of sales on everything from socks to backpacks to phone charms. When we finished shopping around 3am, the street was still lined with people and there was music playing outside the whole time. The Dongdaemun marketplace is great place to go for shopping, because it’s usually a lot cheaper than more touristy places like Myeongdong.

So the next day, after having a bit of a lie-in since we had literally spend the whole night shopping the evening before, we went to see Men in Black 3 and then walked around Edae for a little while before heading over to the Han River to see the famous rainbow bridge. The Han River runs right through the middle of Seoul and has some nice views of the city. We caught the sunset as we walked along the river to Banpo Bridge, where they have fountains all long the sides of the bridge and lights that turn the water different colors. The “show” is at 8:00 and 9:00 every night, and they play music to go along with the it too. It was really cool, and the park was filled with people as well. 

On Sunday, Cienna and I lent our handwriting to a group of people collecting handwriting samples for a new technology or something, and made a cool 50,000 won out of it. Then on Monday, because it was Buddah’s birthday and we didn’t have class, Anna, Cienna, and I decided to go to Hongdae to walk around. While walking there we saw Sungyeol, Myungsoo, and Dongwoo of Infinite (!), but I’ve already made a post about that amazing experience so I won’t go into any more detail on that event. But after we met them, the dog cafe we intended to go to was full, so we ended up at a cat cafe instead, and if you know me at all, you know I am not a cat person. But I got an iced hot chocolate which was delicious so the experience wasn’t that bad. Plus, I was still kind of reeling from meeting Infinite that I wasn’t too focused on the cats anyway. 

All in all, another eventful weekend! And Cienna and I are going to the DMZ this Saturday too, which I’m sure is going to be a great trip. I’m not quite sure if I’ll be able to take photos while I’m there, but if I am I’ll be sure to post them. ^_^

THE ACTUAL BEST DAY EVER

So today was amazing, and although it seemed like a miracle, or some kind of fated event, my friends and I were just really, really lucky. 

Alright so from the beginning:

Today is Buddah’s birthday, which is a national holiday in Korea, so that meant no classes! Yay! My friends and I decided to go out and do something, but didn’t really make any definite plans because Cienna was doing laundry, and I was doing homework, and we were just kind of lounging around until we decided to make some more definite plans. Well, after discussing some options, we decided to go to Hongdae to try and find this dog cafe where you go and buy a drink and you can play with all these dogs that are just wandering around and it’s supposed to fun and all that. So, we left at around 3 and decided to take the bus rather than our usual subway ride, and then proceeded to try and walk around to try and find this cafe which was supposed to be near subway exit five.

WELL, while meandering around, and almost getting lost, we were walking along this road and I see some boys sitting/standing around outside of a store. One of them had blue hair and looked oddly like Dongwoo from Infinite, but I thought I was imagining things, so I kind of did a double-take, and low and behold, there was Sungyeol and Myungsoo too! AND THEN I STARTED TO FREAK OUT. Because they smiled as we walked past as if they were trying to figure out if we knew who they were because I’m pretty sure I looked a tad bit starstruck. And then, I started to hit Cienna, and Anna turned around and realized who they were and then I think they figured out we knew them and they called us back to talk to them. !!!! The boys of Infinite called out to us and told us to come back. Us.

SO WE WENT OVER TO TALK TO THREE MEMBERS OF INFINITE. And, they were just talking to us. Sungyeol was saying that it was “their” store, which we later found out meant that it was his brother’s phone store, and they were all there to get new phones. We weren’t allowed to take photos, but we were allowed to get signatures. !! So we scrambled to find a pen, which Cienna had, and something to write on, which I happened to have brought along with me because it was where I had written down the directions to the dog cafe. And then they told us to go into the store, maybe because they didn’t want to attract attention, and so we were standing in this shop, with Sungyeol and Myungsoo and Dongwoo and they were all so handsome, and so nice, and they kept smiling at us and it was amazing. And then Sungyeol asked Anna if she knew who he was and when she said “Sungyeol” he was all excited and gave her a high-five. Also Sungyeol kept trying to talk to us in English, and his English is so cute it was insane.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*♥:･ﾟ✧

So then Myungsoo, who had the pen and notepad, put them on the counter and asked for Cienna’s name, and signed it for her and wow, he is so pretty up close. He laughed at me too, because I was kind of still freaking out a bit on the inside and his laugh is so beautiful. And then Myungsoo kind of went off to the side (and Dongwoo had disappeared somewhere) and Sungyeol picked up the pen and asked me for my name, and he spelled it differently than I do in Korean, BUT IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTER. And there’s a heart next to my name, and oh goodness, he was so nice and has the prettiest eyes. And then Anna also got Sungyeol’s signature and I just, can’t even really believe that we met them. Their manager was also taking photos of us off on the side, so maybe they’ll remember us and they’ll talk to the others about how they met these foreign fans today when they were getting phones and they’ll be talking about US! 

So then we said goodbye, and Sungyeol gave me my notepad back and said that he loved us and I told him that we loved them too, and Anna gave him a heart sign, and we walked out and then that was it. It was all kind of surreal and I couldn’t even think while it was happening. Like, when does that ever happen?? And Sungyeol and Myungsoo were so tall and tan, and Dongwoo gave me a funny face when we were walking towards him and I was trying to find out if my eyes were playing tricks on me. AND I REALLY CAN’T BELIEVE THAT THIS HAPPENED. THIS WAS SO PERFECT. 

EVERLAND

My birthday was this past Thursday, and Korea made my twentieth birthday a lot of fun! ^_^  

On Thursday morning, I ate seaweed soup (미역국 or Miyeok Guk), which is traditionally what is eaten on your birthday in Korea becuase it’s supposed to improve your health. People also often eat it when they’re pregnant or the night before a big exam at school. It’s exactly that it sounds like, too: seaweed in a vegetable broth with a tiny amount of garlic added. It wasn’t half bad!

After classes, my friends and I went to place in Edae called Jammy Cake, where you can decorate your own cake and it’s something I wish we had in America since it was a lot of fun. You choose what kind of icing you want, and put on all the decorations yourself and it’s just so cool. Decorating was also very nerve-wracking since we didn’t want to mess it up, but I think it came out better than expected and it was delicious to boot! After making the cake, we went to eat in the gardens at Ehwa University, and while we were there John Park was having an outdoor concert, so we got to eat cake and listen to John Park and have fun birthday times. 

We also decided to go to Everland, the largest amusement park in Korea, on Saturday for my birthday weekend. Everland was really, really cool!! There were four areas in the park: American Adventure, European Adventure, Magic Land, and the Global Fair. It kind of looked liked a much smaller version of Disney World, and there was even an Alice in Wonderland parade going on as we walked around. The length of the line definitely reminded me of Disney World, too. >_< The rides were a lot of fun, and although there were a lot of people in the park, we still got to do a lot of things. There was one roller coaster called the T-Express which was amazing and definitely one of the best roller coasters I’ve ever been on. It had a 77-degree drop and it was the best ride in the whole of Everland. As you wait in line to go on the T-Express, it takes you inside the roller coaster too, so that was pretty cool as well. It took us over two hours to get to Everland by subway, bus, and shuttle, but it was certainly worth it. It was a successful birthday weekend! :D

AKARAKA and the Dream Concert

In Korea, the three big universities each have their own concert/festival week after midterms in May, and Yonsei’s is called AKARAKA. The name has no meaning, so I really don’t know why they call it that, but it’s definitely the most fun you can have at a college festival. Starting Wednesday, there’s tents set up along the main road of the campus, with each club or department selling drinks and foods for fundraising, and there’s also three stages spread out along the street where student bands perform. Some clubs also have games that you can play, too! I ‘played’ this one where you throw water balloons at peoples’ faces behind screens, and they let me stand really close although I’m not really sure why; they just kept shouting ‘Service!’ (which is what they call free things, or anything that’s kind of just given to you as an extra ‘gift’) at me and telling me to get closer, so I did and it was fun fun fun! During the festival days my friend Squeenie also participated in a singing competition among the international students and she came in fourth place!

The biggest day of the AKARAKA festival is of course the concert on Friday night. It’s really really really hard to get tickets, and you have to go with your group or club, since those are who the tickets are given out to. I went with the Mentors’ Club, whose members look after the international students while they’re here at Yonsei. The concert was awesome. They get big-name groups to come, but they are never announced beforehand so you just have to wait and hope before the concert starts. This year, it was Psy (!), Kim Jang Hoon, Kim Tae Woo, Leessang (!), and TaeTiSeo. Everyone knew the words to all the songs and sang along and it was awesome. The concert started at 6 and ended around 9, but after the whole amphitheater did the Yonsei cheers. It’s kind of overwhelming when you first experience something like AKARAKA, because that kind of togetherness and community and love for a school isn’t really found in America. The cheers are amazing and it’s really cool so see that many people all shouting and dancing in support of their school. AKARAKA was a lot of fun. Here’s a short video I took of Leessang doing ‘I Turned Off the TV’ and also a video of one of the cheers we did:

The day after AKARAKA, I went to the Dream Concert! The Dream Concert is a big charity concert they have here in Seoul at the World Cup Stadium, where about 20 different artists perform and it’s all awesome. The fan clubs are all very organized and you buy a ticket according to which group you like the most out of the ones in the lineup. I was most excited to see Beast, so I sat with my friends in the Beast section, which was also good because it was right in the middle and in the first floor! However, because there’s also a standing section and the stage is all the way across the stadium, we weren’t really all that close. And they made me take off my light-up bow because people behind me couldn’t see since I’m so tall. :( But it was still fun and I got to see lots of people I never would have been able to see otherwise so I’m glad I got to go! ❀(ﾉ◕‿◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧.❀

Field Trip to Jeongdong

For this week’s field trip in my Early Modern Korea class, we saw some of the buildings from the short-lived Great Han Empire. Our first stop was at the location of the Alter of Heaven, although only the building next to the original alter is still standing, as the actual alter was burned down during the Japanese colonization. The alter is very reminiscent of those found in China, because the king at the time, Kojong, upgraded his status to emperor and changed the name of the country from Joseon to Great Han Empire in order to assert their independence from China, Japan, and other Western countries. As the emperor, Kojong was the new ‘direct line to heaven’ and this was the reason for the construction of the Alter of Heaven (원구단). The doorway to the site was meant for much shorter people, as you may see in the photo above.

After the Alter of Heaven, we headed to Deoksu Palace (덕수궁), where Kojong lived as emperor for a few years. The buildings in here were very interesting because you can see the transition the country was undergoing just in the buildings on the site. There were traditional Korean buildings (now with dragon statues and paintings to symbolize Kojong’s higher status) mixed with more “Western” buildings. Korea was in the process of adopting more Western customs and ideas, and the structures represented this progression. Following the palace, we went to Jungmyeon Hall (중면전) where Kojong spent some time as well. This building is also very Western, with brick and columns instead of wood and mud. Inside, there was also an old Korean flag, where the swirl in the middle is more swirly (heh) and the the trigrams on the sides are blue instead of black.

Our last stop was the old Russian Legation (구 러시아 공가관), of which now only the tallest tower is left standing following much of the destruction of Seoul during the Korean War. The Russian Legation is where Kojong fled to from Deoksu Palace when the Japanese colonized and staged a coup of the Korean government. 

We only have one field trip left for this class before the semester ends, and I’m really enjoying them. I just love history so much and it’s great that we can actually go to all these places we read and discuss about in class. Yay for experiencing history!

It’s Visit Korea Year (for the third year in a row), and here’s the new commercial telling Koreans to say hello to foreigners. Featuring Big Bang and a dancing King Sejong!

INCHEON’S CHINATOWN

Yesterday Cienna and I went to Incheon to do research on foreign influence in Korea, and we walked around Chinatown for a bit. There’s a big statue of Confucius there, placed at the top of a set of very large steps. The steps are what we had mainly gone to Incheon for: the steps were built on the dividing line between the Japanese concession in 1883 and the Qing (Chinese) concession in 1884. The steps also feature statues of lamps on either side, with each designed to look like lamps from either China or Japan, depending on which half they are placed. The Confucius statue was donated by the Qing dynasty and stands on the Chinese half of the steps. 

Although there wasn’t much else to do in Incheon since it was hard to get to the main part of the city using public transportation, Chinatown was pretty cool and there were lots of nice shops selling trinkets and restaurants selling jjajangmyeon. Jjajangmyeon was actually created in Incheon itself over 100 years ago during the time of the Japanese colonization, and is a hybrid of a traditional Chinese dish and Korean ingredients. Some people also call it “black noodles” because that pretty much exactly what it looks like.

I hope that another time I can go back and see the rest of the city, too. 

This week was the recording of my official debut on Korean television. Previously, only the side of my face (in line for EXO’s showcase) and the back of my head (during SHINee’s Music Core performance) had been seen, but now I have been an MC for a Korean program. Yes, I opened a Korean music program this past weekend and the show will be airing on Tuesday. I know what you’re all thinking: “Why was she an MC?” “Why would anyone choose Caitlyn?” While I’d like to say that it is because of my flawless appearance, impressive height, and commanding speaking voice… I actually just volunteered. 

My friends and I won tickets to be part of the studio audience of a new music show called Simply K-Pop on the English channel Arirang this past Wednesday. As we were waiting around outside, one of the producers for the show came up to our group, as we were some of the only foreigners there and the program is conducted in English, and asked if two of us wanted to be MCs for the opening of the show. No one else seemed to be keen on doing it, so I volunteered and I was recorded and everything! I practised a lot so as not to forget my lines, all two of my lines, and it was awesome. I mean, I don’t know how it looked on camera, but I hope it was. If a video ever surfaces online, I’ll post it so everyone can see. I was also in the audience for the show, and because the host, Led Apple’s HanByul (who has a beautiful Australian accent), sat among the audience members, you might be able to see me in the back of the video since I’m in the third row. Yay! I’m going to be so famous in Korea now! ❀(ﾉ◕‿◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧.❀

The recording was also a lot of fun! I recognized about half of the people who were there, and HanByul was a very funny host and kept dancing and singing along to the performances on the side. We had gone to the recording to see EXO, but they were mean and only let EXO fan club members in for their performance and people who won tickets to the show saw everyone else after them. :/ But we did see EXO waving to us from their van again! 

I’m going to Incheon this weekend to do some research for a midterm paper, and it’ll be my first time outside of Seoul, except, ya know, when I flew into Incheon Airport upon arrival. But didn’t really see the city so it doesn’t count! And then also later in the week I have my second field trip for my Early Modern Korea class, and hopefully I will manage to get tickets for AKARAKA on Friday too! Saturday is the Dream Concert as well, so I’ve got a packed schedule for the next week. 

Observations on Seoul 

1. Motorcyclists - They can go anywhere they want, whenever they want, disobeying all traffic laws as well as common decency laws. They will drive on the sidewalk, they will drive through red lights, they will cut off cars trying to turn, and I’m pretty sure I would never ever want to drive in Seoul because of them.
   
   
2. Movie tickets - If you want to go to the movies in Korea, be sure to buy your tickets in advance. If you get there right before the movie starts, I can almost guarantee you that you will have a terrible seat. When you buy movie tickets, your seats are assigned so it’s good to get to the theater at least 30 minutes before the movie starts to buy them. Also, they have most of the ‘blockbusters’ that they show in America, just with Korean subtitles, so we can see movies here at just about the same time as they come out in the US, sometimes before (as was the case with ‘The Avengers’). 
   
   
3. Public transportation - The public transportation in Seoul is pretty much the best I’ve ever been on. Although the buses are not fun (there’s hardly ever any seats and they drive very quickly), they’re faster than the ones in DC. In the metro, there’s an animated screen that tells you the location of the next train, and music that plays  when the train is approaching. There’s also doors that open exactly where the train car stops, so there’s no guessing about where you should be standing, or running along the platform to get to a door before the train starts moving again. The T-Money card system, which is like a re-loadable metro card, is also not just limited to cards: you can get them as phone charms in the shapes of cartoon characters, and some newer phones even have a chip in the back so your phone is essentially your T-Money card. Awesome.
   
   
4. Tablet phones - Although there are some who disagree with me due to the larger size of the phones, I think tablet phones are the coolest thing ever. They may be a little bit bigger than other phones, but they have huge screens, and with 4G and WiFi access everywhere, people stream live television onto their phones in great quality even on the metro. And the screens are just so big! I haven’t used one myself, but if they come to the US, they’re definitely something I wanna try.
   
   
5. Cleanliness - People here are very, very neat. They eat pizza with a knife and fork, unwrap their hamburger as they eat it instead of unwrapping it all before you dig in, and even though there are hardly any garbage cans on the street there is never any visible trash. And as most people know, Koreans always take their shoes off when entering a house, and also some restaurants where the customers sit on the floor. I would nominate Seoul if there was ever a contest for which world city has the cleanest sidewalks.

CAITLYN, CIENNA, AND ANNA’S SENSATIONAL ZOO ADVENTURE

This weekend we went to the zoo! And I brought my camera! And we wore animal ears!

The zoo was a lot of fun, and not only did we get animal ears, but we also saw a dolphin show, and rode a sky lift! The zoo was huuuuuuuuuge, and there were four paths to take around the zoo, each with an estimated time of 2 hours for completion. I didn’t actually film that much because all the animals were so exciting and I forgot, but I did take some footage, so you learn about some of the things we saw/learned while we were at the Seoul Zoo. It was such a nice day out, and the zoo was so cheap (only 3,000 won!!), and we learned lots of Korean animal names.