Korean War Memorial

Tuesday was an easy day. We tried to walk to the small "stream" which is a branch of the Han River, and runs just a few blocks east of our apartment. But, we discovered that the route is blocked by a huge busy expressway, with no apparent way to cross. So, we changed our destination en-route and went to the playground and then the Carrefour for just some milk. "Just some milk" ended up being $45 in groceries in one large bag.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we planned to see the Korean War Memorial and the Yongsan Family park. On the way, we had to stop at the Delta ticket office to get the tickets re-printed (they don't have one at the airport, you have to find this really small office in downtown Seoul). Once we finished that task, we ate at a nearby KFC for lunch, then headed to the Korea War Memorial, which is a combination War Memorial and War Museum. It was a very good museum, and we spent much longer there than we expected.

At many times during the day yesterday, we kept encountering groups of students, both in our walking to find the Delta office and at the museum. Often, these students would "HI" or "HOW ARE YOU" to us, being very friendly and eager to say something in English. Usually, I would answer back in Korean, "Annyeong Haseyo", which would be followed by many "ooohhhh" and "aaaahhhh" by the students. It was so funny by the end of the day when this had happened over and over again. Some of them would just say "HI", and others would stay a few minutes and talk with us briefly.

Young Stumblers Trying to be Soldiers 

Upon entering the museum, we were wondering what route to follow, and looked at our brochure for suggestions. Then I noticed the big arrow on the floor, clearly labeled "Moving Direction". We got a chuckle out of this Konglish, and again on some exhibits that said "Don't Go Up".

Konglish Example #1 "Moving Direction" 

Konglish Example #2 "Don't Go Up" 

All in all, a good day. After ths museum, we decided to do the park on another day, and we headed back home. We ate (or threw out) all our leftovers, plus cooked some carrots and mandu. Mrs. Stumbler tried a mandu experiment - for the record I was totally against it. In the freezer, we have both kinds of mandu - those made for boiling, and those made for frying. We were making the fried dumplings, and she wanted to see if you could fry the ones made for boiling. I was worried the Mandu Police would show up at any moment and confiscate our cooking utensils. Fortunately, we did not get caught, and the experiment was a success. The boiling-type dumplings tasted very good when fried - the only slight drawback is that they are triangular, so there are three sides to cook, as opposed to the mandu indended for frying, which only have two sides to cook. I have a feeling next time we make the boiled dumplings, she will have another experiment and try to boil the ones made for frying. I can only hope the Mandu Police will be equally asleep on the job then as well.

We wrapped up the evening by watching the second of the Pink Panther Movies, "A Shot in the Dark". I laughed so hard that I had tears running down my face. I think the neighbors must have been wondering about me. Young Stumbler #3 said she couldn't decide what was more funny - watching the movie or watching me laugh at the movie.

Today's schedule is not fixed yet, but likely we will go and see the park we missed yesterday, and tonight we will have SY and YT over for a western-style dinner Mrs. Stumbler will cook (that is, if I can find some sour cream today). Annyeong.