So at long last we come to my final Gilman Scholarship followon project text blog.  I've told you about many different places in this part of Korea, Korean culture and history over the past few months.  Now, you might wonder, what will I do for a finale?  Something I've done over my time here has been to take pictures of anything that was interesting, odd, amusing or the like.  Hence I have over a thousand pictures I've taken over the course of a semester abroad!  Far too many to put to use for this project, so I had to whittle the choices down until I had good amount of good pictures to work with.  This final blog then will in part bring you some of the pictures that didn't make it into my other entries but will hopefully make everyone smile a bit as the holiday season nears - Christmas is this weekend, and it's the second night of Channukah!

We'll start with a couple of pictures I took during my Chuseok trip to Everland - Korea's answer to Disneyland albeit on a much smaller scale.  Firstly there's the above warning for the Rotating House attraction - basically motion and optical illusions to make it appear that you're spinning, falling, and swinging through the air.  Most of the warnings make good sense, but the first one is a good example of Engrish/Konglish - akward translations from Korean into English.  Who would have guessed that the Rotating House gave the feeling of being... in a rotating house?

Also, when I visited there were Halloween decorations up - kind of a reminder of things back home in a way even though the holiday isn't celebrated much at all in Korea.  Amongst the decorations, though, was a supiciously recognizable super hero's logo painted onto a pumpkin.  Korea is far more lenient on the use of trademarked characters/logos/whatnot than the West, but this kind of seemed out of place.  The Punisher pumpkin... the Pumpkinsher?

This picture exemplifies two things.  Firstly that I'm a terrible photographer.  Secondly the fact that often times stores and promotional events will use promo/sales girls outside to attract business.  These ladies were at a soccer themed promo event outside the World Cup stadium during the Korea vs Poland match I went to .  You can also find sales girls outside most cosmetic stores, equipped with microphones to be heard better, and willing to literally grab potential customers by the arm to get them to come into the store.  I'm not sure if they get paid on commission by how many people they get to come into the store or not, but that might explain such aggressive tactics.

Hey look, it's Spider-Man outside of a pharmacy!  Seriously, this was pretty odd to find.  Just a random Spider-Man statue on a bench as maybe a way to attract customers to a pharmacy in Cheonan.  There was another one up on the building climbing down, which was just that much more peculiar.  Actually this weirdly reminded me of home - the daily Spider-Man comic strip is an inside joke with friends.  Mainly because he just sits around and lets other super heroes deal with villains - so is this comic strip Spider-Man in Korea, taking a break from shopping?  Who knows?

This is Ben.  He has a girlfriend from China who will be going to the US to attend college soon.  Her English name is Ivy.  When we found this school uniform store bearing the same name as his girlfriend we had to take a picture.  It was just too perfect.  School uniforms are part of pretty much every student's life in Korea though, and in a city like Cheonan or Suwon you can find a half dozen shops for the uniforms within a block of each other.  At least a half dozen.  Uniforms are expensive too  - almost $300 for one - so parents sometimes buy one that's a little large so their child can grow into it.

Something I took up in Korea was taking pictures of odd or funny signs whenever I came across them.  The following are a few that I spotted in Songtan (the more relaxed and geographically closer to SCH version of Itaewon).  First, up above you can see one of the many clothing stores in Songtan which sell American style and sized garments.  You're not reading that sign wrong, it's actually called JC Penny, though it has no relation at all to the American department store.  Just kind of a weird coincidence.

So where should we go next?  How about that one place.. you know, that store?  This was arguably the single funniest name for a store I've seen in all of South Korea.  Just nice and vague.  Its merchandise was similar to a few other stores in the area but it's the name that will stick with you.

Maybe it's because they're near an American military base.  This place is another hip hop clothing store located in Songtan just past the large concentration of restaurants in the central shopping area.  So if you're needing clothes to wear while storming the beaches of Normandy, this is the place to go!  Unless you'd rather go to That Store.

Korea has plenty of coffee shops both domestic and foreign - there are Starbucks shops all over the place!  One of the Korean ones is Angel-in-us Coffee, but somehow this coffee shop just trumps them all.  Its name is certainly more divine than a mere angel after all.  Jesus Coffee is in Seoul, though I really have no idea if the coffee is as spiritual as the store's name would suggest.

Another case of liscensed charactres being used in the name or sign of a Korean business!  While there was no actual drawing of the Studio Ghibli character Totoro (from My Neighbor Totoro for the uninitiated), the influence is clear enough.  Now this raises the question over whether their bento is made from actual Totoro or faux Totoro.  Just kidding.. but still kind of funny to come across in Cheonan.

Plastic surgery is very big in South Korea - I've mentioned in my video blog just how many girls I've seen with an eye patch indicating eye surgery.  That's the most common procedure but not the only one that's popular in Korea.  You can find ads like this one everywhere in Korea, including on the subway!  It's a sign of just how much a part of the culture it is when you see plastic surgeon ads on public transportation, shopping carts and billboards.  Not one of my favorite things about Korea either.  I really think a lot of the before pictures you see in these ads are actually better than the after ones.

Ah, the order ring from Kimbap Nara.  You get these devices when you order something at the common lunchtime destination, and it vibrates when your order is ready.  They come in green and red, but there's no difference in speed or function between them.  While you're waiting you can grab water and side dishes, but it usually doesn't take very long to get your food at Kimbap Nara.  If you're a regular and your friends are too, then you might get one of the rings for the whole group since the staff knows you so well.

The Chinese primary school in Myeongdong, a district of Seoul famous for shopping, Japanese tourists and a Catholic cathedral.  It's apparently a Taiwanese operation rather than mainland China - you see the white sun on a blue disc there?  Nationalist symbol.  My friend from Taiwan said that if Chinese students saw this combination they'd get pretty annoyed by it (the whole People's Republic of China vs Republic of China thing).  I found it interesting that they used the old symbol but don't know much more about this place.

Like I've also mentioned in my videos and this blog, Christianity is pretty big in Korea.  Catholicisim doesn't have the following that Protestantism does, but there's still a good number of Catholics here.  Near Myeongdong Cathedral you can find some obviously Catholic stores like this one with the Virgin Mary and Jesus above its sign.  Christian supply and book stores aren't super common in Korea but in any major city you're bound to find one.

In the War Memorial of Korea there's a hall of heroes that leads to the inner war museum.  Busts of a good number of heroes of the Republic of Korea can be found here with descriptions of their exploits in defense of the South.  Many are from the Korean War and many are recipients of the Order of Taeguk, the South Korean equivalent to the Medal of Honor.  It's fascinating to read their stories and look at faces of men who in many cases gave their lives up for the Republic.  Once again the War Memorial of Korea is really worth a visit and is very easy to find.

In other news it's been really cold in Sinchang lately.  So much so that while there is no snow most of the time the water in the back gate's pond is frozen solid.  Not just a thin layer of ice, this stuff is very thick!  You can throw a rock at it full force and not even crack the ice when it's especially cold (some Korean guys we know actually did this).  So while it's clear to walk most of the time you should be careful when walking down the stairs on campus at Soonchunhyang, since they're liable to be slippery.

Finally I'd like to take the time to thank a couple of Koreans who made life in their country a good deal easier than it otherwise would have been.  Many of the Korean people I've met during this semester have been helpful, polite and welcoming.  These two have been especially helpful to me, though.

First there's my roommate Jacob, who arrived a week into the semester - initially I hadn't thought I would have a roommate.  But I'm very glad that he decided to return from Australia after all.  Jacob has been incredibly helpful whenever I needed assistance - he helped me get a ticket for the soccer game (letting me borrow his ID card to pick it up, since we reserved it using that number), provided suggestions on places to see, helped me with Korean language skills and more.  Yet he never expected anything in return.  He's even helping me by calling a taxi on Friday so that I don't have to attempt to do so myself.  I visited his hometown and attended a Christian (not Catholic) service there with him before enjoying samgyupsal for dinner.  Beyond that, he's been very interesting to talk to about Korean culture and social issues, and became a good friend.  I'm going to miss talking with him, and am sure he'll do well in his final semester and beyond.  Thanks for everything Jacob!  And good luck when you come to America for your study abroad program in 2012!

Then there's Imo, the lovely lady who runs the laundry service in the Global Village.  Beyond providing this service as well as dry cleaning and presumably repairs, Imo has been a joy to visit with.  She's always incredibly polite and welcoming, and every time I visited with laundry we had a little conversation.  Whether it was about exams, soccer, dinner or something else, it was a great way to practice my Korean.  And you can't help but smile when you go to see her.  Thanks so much for everything you do, Imo!  I'll miss you, and hope you have a wonderful year in 2012!

So that's it for my Gilman Scholarship followon project.  Hope it's been an interesting read for everyone out there in the USA and beyond!  My final reflections on this semester abroad in Korea will be in my final video blog update, which should be up on Friday Korean time.  While I'm still uncertain about my future post-Bachelor's degree (like where I'll end up teaching exactly), it was definitely worth the chance to come here.  It was cool to see another country and culture in person and to experience living here if only for a few months.  If you ever have the chance to go out and do something like this, do it!  You may not have the chance again for a long time, so seize the opportunity when you have it. That's all for this blog, see everyone back in Oregon and at Portland State University really soon!  And big thanks again to the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for the help in making this study abroad experience a reality!

You can email any comments, feedback, or questions to: HangukMartyn@yahoo.com

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