Two weekends ago, the history nerd inside of me decided it would be interesting to check out Sodaemun Prison. Constructed in 1907, while Korea was under Japanese occupation, the prison was built to house Korean nationalists, freedom fighters, or anyone who spoke out against or was considered a threat to Japanese rule in Korea. The prison was a pretty rough place as most prisoners were brutally interrogated and tortured. Over 400 people were executed in 37 years that the Japanese controlled the prison. When Japanese occupation ended in 1945, the prison was used by the Korean government until they built a new prison in Uiwang in 1987 (the new prison is actually about 5 minutes away from where I live). The Korean Government decided to restore the prison, and turn it into a "history hall." The prison, as well as the area that surrounds it (which has been turned into Independence Park), serve as a memorial to those who fought for Korean independence. Here are some pictures I took of the prison and the park.
The building on the left was the execution building. The tree next to it is called the Wailing Tree...
For executions, prisoners were made to sit on chairs with a rope around their neck. When the lever was pulled the prisoner was hung, and the chair and the body would fall through the hole to an underground tunnel. The guards didn't want to carry the bodies through the prison, and create a scene, so they would bring them out through the tunnel. You can see a picture of the entrance to the tunnel below.
Torture room
Screaming woman...they actually had sound effects, but they were all in Korean so I couldn't understand. Actually, the majority of the exhibits at the museum were in Korean, so most of the information I got came from the English visitor's brochure.
Back in the day, when Chinese diplomats came to Seoul, they would enter the city through this gate. They were then brought to the building in the second picture to be entertained.
memorials for those who were martyred during the independence movement
Other Noteable stuff....
Korean Hair Cut
After I visited the park, I went to an area called Hongdae to get my hair did. I had been putting it off for a long time, but my highlights were starting to grow out and it was starting to look bad. The reason I had put it off was because I figured that when I re-colored my hair in Korea I was going to have to get rid of my blonde (I had been warned that it is a bad idea to try blonde in Korea because obviously, most stylists don't have much experience coloring it) However, one of my friends reccomended a salon in Hongdae because the woman who owns it was trained in London, and the majority of her customers are foreigners. So I decided to give it a try. I must say, the Korean system for cutting and coloring hair is so much more efficient than at home. This is because, with the exception of the the actual cutting part, there was always 2 women working on my hair (3 when they were putting in the foils). So it went twice as fast. It was great.
Lunar New Year and Seaweed
Lunar New Year, the biggest Korean holiday was February 14th. As a New Year's gift, one of my student's parents gave me a huge box of seaweed (or "kim" in Korean). This may sound a little funny, but seaweed is a very popular food here, and a staple in the Korean diet. When I first got here, I hated it...but it's grown on me. Which is probably a good thing because I have enough to last me for the rest of the time I'm in Korea. Here is a picture of the seaweed, and some of the candy I got from other students.
In the past I've talked about how you often see poor English grammar or translations in Korea. Not a day goes by where I don't see someone wearing some article of clothing with a saying that makes no sense. These always make me laugh. Sometimes, you can tell the shirt is supposed to be about a particular city, or sports team. But the makers of the these clothes don't check their facts. For example, there is an Art Museum in Saint Louis...but I'm not sure where they got "HOLLY THE SAINT LOUIS ART." There is also an NFL team called the STEELERS. However, their colors are black and yellow, and last time I checked they aren't playing their games in Columbia.
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