Adventures in North Korean Country;

So, I have to apologize. I have been really, really bad about updating this thing, despite my best intentions. I meant to update ages ago about my school placement information (which I will share in my next post!) but all of my news just piled up on top of each other and I didn't even know where to start.

So, instead I'm going to talk about today, which was quite........ eventful. = ) I ended up going to the DMZ*! (*short info session for anyone who does not know what DMZ means: DeMilitarized Zone. As I'm sure you all know, N. and S. Korea are still at war--stalemate, whatever--and the DMZ is the location of must of the fighting between the two sides during the Korean War. Today, the DMZ is a stretch of picturesque mountainous territory that both N. and S. Korea have ownership to. Here is more info if you want to know even more.)

Thanks to the generosity of the Hwacheon City Council (a town located about 45 minutes from where I am in Chuncheon), we were sponsored for our trip today and therefore didn't have to pay anything. = ) The perks of connections. Don't think we got an entirely free ride, though..... Upon boarding the bus at 9 am this morning, we were informed by one of our coordinators that we were expected to make an appearance at.......... the local Tomato festival, being held in the town next to Hwacheon. And we were supposed to meet the major. We laughed at hearing this, thinking, Whatever, Korea has festivals for everything, why the heck not.

So upon arriving at the Tomato Festival (and seeing the people dressed up in tomato costumes and so on), we were all handed official promo t-shirts. Once again, we though, Okay, free t-shirt, yay! We did as we were told--put on the shirts, get off the bus and wait over here--and were trying to avoid getting watergunned by the people in Halloween costumes (don't ask, I don't know either), when it turned out that we were being lined up to be in the festival parade.

So yes. Instead of just checking out the festival like we thought we were going to, we participated! I have now been in a tomato festival parade. It was really fun, actually. We made good friends with the guys in traditional Korean girls clothing (once again, I don't know), who were very smiley and not at all embarrassed to be seen wearing blush and lipstick in daylight. While marching in a parade. Oh, Korea. After being trotted around for a while (I have a feeling that I am going to be treated like a pet white monkey for the next year ^^;), we were given a stack of free tomatoes and sent on our way. The tomatoes were delicious, too--I never thought that eating them like an apple could be so yummy.

After that mini-adventure, it was off to the land of Serious Business, i.e. the DMZ. One cannot get into the DMZ without passing through about 3 military security points, so suffice to say I saw my fair share of soldiers today. DMZ land looks a lot like northern Gangwon-do in general, except there are less people and a lot more trees. With the exception of soldiers and one North Korean village, no one lives in the DMZ. There are an awful lot of minefields still hanging around, so it's far far too dangerous to walk through. Not to mention you'll just get gunned down anyways if you try to "go off the path." I'm sure this might sound a little intense, but given the natural beauty of the area (imagine the mountains without human civilization for 50+ years) and the supreme quiet that hangs over the DMZ, it actually seems more peaceful than most places I've been to in Korea thus far. Of course, that is not true at all, but it does make for an interesting place to visit.

When were in the DMZ, we were taken to a viewpoint lookout tower, where we could......... almost see into North Korea. I could make out North Korean territory, including the Star Peaked Mountains (called something else in Korean) that Kim Il Sung refused to ever succeed to S. Korea. The soldiers who worked at this lookout tower were younger than us and quite jovial overall--you wouldn't think that they live on the threshold of a possible war zone. Maybe they were just excited to meet so many dorky American tourists at once.

After all that excitement, it was nearly 3 pm and we still hadn't eaten yet (although with the extreme heat of today, I almost didn't want to), so we stopped for a Korean lunch of rice with side dishes, as per usual. The soup and the fish were very excellent, though. The best part about the meal was that they give us iced cinnamon tea at the end. So refreshing. We were supposed to originally go to the Peace Dam before heading back, but sadly we had no time--I suppose next trip I'll have to visit the dam S. Korea built to prevent N. Korea from trying to flood them. Happy times. (I love the use of "peace" in the name.)

I'm sure this entry is a bit wordy and dry without any pictures, but sadly it was tough to take pictures in the DMZ. You're really not supposed to. I'll post what few pictures I have soon, once I steal some ones of the Tomato festival, as well!

In other news, did anyone want the Olympic Opening Ceremony yesterday? One of the good things about living in Korea is that I'm only an hour ahead of China, so I got to watch the whole thing last night! We had to go to a bar, as our dorm has no television, but in a way, that made the experience even better--it was fun to ooh and aah at the spectacle along with the Koreans. We also ran into a Chinese girl who's currently living in Korea, and had her join in on our fun. She was so psyched, and her excitement was contagious for the rest of us. = ) I hope I get to watch some gymnastics soon!! My favourite part, obviously.