A Field Trip, A Hike and Olympic Park

On Friday we took our kindergartners on a field trip to Children's Grand Park.  Everyone took a lunch and we were able to spend the whole morning and early afternoon at the park.  Eric and I have been to this park ourselves before and it is a very beautiful park.  A great place to sit in the sun or shade and people watch or walk around and see the different attractions.  It's also a very large park and there was quite a bit of walking in the hot weather involved on the field trip.  For my preschool class this was not very easy but aside from our many water, rest and bathroom breaks we were able to see part of the zoo and then play on the playground after lunch. 

 It was a quite exhausting trip for some of my youngest ones

 This is my newest student, Kate, enjoying her kimbap lunch

Eric's class

This morning I decided to try out another hike.  Achasan Mountain is pretty close to our apartment and short so I went there, did a little bit of hiking and walked around Achasan Ecological Park that was also on the mountain.  Koreans are very serious about their hiking.  It doesn't matter what the weather is like they are wearing their long, specialty hiking pants, long sleeved bright colored hiking jacket, carrying their hiking sticks that look like ski poles with their specialty gloves.  Even on a 27 degree day (we are trying to learn the metric system, that's right about 80 degrees Fahrenheit) like today they were out in their long pants and long sleeves and gloves hiking up Achasan.  I'm sure I looked completely ridiculous to them in my athletic shorts, tank top and tennis shoes but even then I was still sweating.  I can only imagine how much hotter and sweatier I would have been in their clothes!  Side note: They also don't wear deodorant in Korea so I bet none of them smelled very good either!

 Hiking in Seoul can be very refreshing when you see all green!  Very different than the middle of the city!

  Achasan Ecological Park

This afternoon and evening we decided to check out a different park along the river and decided on Olympic Park.  It's a short subway ride from our apartment and it was a beautiful park.  Built for the 1988 summer Olympics that were held in Seoul, the grounds and buildings are still very well maintained and very spacious.  There was enough grassy area that we were even able to play catch with the baseball without worrying about hitting anyone.  There's a very nice path that goes all the way around the park as well as a museum about the 1988 Olympics (which we will have to go back and check out sometime).  The buildings that were built for the games have since been turned into different stadiums and concert halls for a variety of uses. 

 The Peace Gate Entrance.  It was started in December 1986 and finished in time for the Olympic Games in August 1988.

The flags from all 160 countries that participated in the 1988 Olympics (no the North Korea flag is not present).  The flags represent the countries exactly as they were in 1988, including the flags of East Germany, West Germany and the USSR.  There was a very strong message of peace and unity in the Peace Gate area of the park, specifically how some of the countries from these Olympics were now reunified (Germany) or had gained their own independence (countries of the former USSR).  Perhaps as a message of how much they long for reunification with North Korea.

As always many more pictures will be on our Shutterfly site soon!