Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting - I believe I can speak for all of us when I say we've been having a lot of fun the past few days :). Anyways, this post is going to cover what our group did this past Sunday.
Early in the morning, we headed out to Coex Mall, a very large mall within Seoul. There, we first visited the Kimchi Field Museum inside the mall. It was pretty surprising to find out there was a museum placed within a mall, and albeit small, there was still much to see and learn. In particular, the museum contained a great variety of kimchi, along with displays and items that depicted the history and tradition of kimchi in Korea. If you did not know, kimchi has deep cultural ties to Korea and is loved by the community (in 2010, when there was a cabbage shortage, newspapers deemed it a "national tragedy" because there would be less kimchi). A cool interactive part of the museum included a tasting area, where one could try different types of kimchi.
After checking out the museum, our group had time to explore the mall. The mall had a large variety, and it was interesting seeing everything, however I felt some of the prices were too high compared to what you could find at night market shops. Therefore I didn't buy much, but still enjoyed exploring the mall. One thing to note is that Korea tends to be a bit more stylish than Americans in their everyday clothing, so many of the stores contain more expensive, fashionable items.
When we were done at the mall, we traveled via subway to our next destination, a human rights workshop hosted by an English-speaking group. A professor spoke for most of the workshop, inviting people to respond at various points and overall there was a good discussion. In particular, the discussion covered the discrimination women face in society and also the idea of "security or human rights?" Overall, the workshop was a bit overwhelming (essentially a 3-hour lecture with a 10 minute break in the middle), but it was still interesting to observe.
Our final event of the day included volunteering with a group in Seoul. The focus was aiding the homeless in Seoul, and so our group of 10 along with 10 other Seoulites all chipped in 10,000 won (~$10) and bought a large amount of food to create little dinner bags. Each bag included a banana, bread, another type of bread, and soy milk. After packing all the bags together, we headed out on to the streets and subway underpasses to hand out the food. It was a very interesting experience, and revealed to me a part of Seoul I had never experience before. While it was saddening to see the people in the state they were, I was also glad we were able to help and I really appreciated the work the volunteer group we were with does (they do this every week, along with other events). I believe everyone else liked the experience and felt accomplished also; by the end of the night, we were able to feed 160 of the homeless.
After that experience, we all headed back to our rooms to rest. Overall, the day was jam-packed but very interesting; we got to see many parts of Seoul we had never seen before.
Thanks for reading :).
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