Last Friday afternoon, November 9, was the best day of my week. I had spent all week proofreading in the textbook office, commuting to and from work each day (about an hour with walking and subway transfers), trying to get well from my cold/flu, and was just totally burned out.
When I was working at Seongbuk, Liberty and I had planned this outing for all of us teachers, but when I started working in textbooks, it looked like I wouldn't be able to go. I asked my boss, though, and I just worked longer another day that week so I could leave early on Friday to go on this adventure.
Unfortunately, everyone waited till the last minute Friday afternoon to ask things of me, so I ended up leaving work 20 minutes later than planned. I was supposed to be at the palace garden entrance at 3:30, and it was already 2:50. I RAN to the subway station, transferred at 3:17, got out at the final exit at 3:20, and RAN to the palace to meet Liberty and Sophie--the only two who were able to come that day. (Liberty is a co-teacher who was teaching me Korean, and Sophie is our school's deskworker.) I arrived precisely at 3:30, when the tour was to begin. Praise the LORD!
We all three then ran to the Secret Garden entrance, which was a ways from the regular palace entrance. We were certainly a humorous sight. The thing is, though, you can only see the Secret Garden after making special reservations and purchasing special tickets. We had done all of that, but my work had delayed us. Thankfully, Liberty was able to explain the situation to them in Korean, and they let us through after the tour had already begun.
We had booked the reservation more than a month in advance! It was the only available opening since touring the palace's gardens is so popular at this time of year. Now I know why! It is soooo beautiful! The king had this Secret Garden pathway behind the palace so that he and his family and whoever worked at the palace, I guess, could escape to nature. Wow! That's all I can say. The pictures below will give you a good idea of what we saw that afternoon. The weather was perfect.
 |
| Koreans don't like taking pictures with Westerners because they think their faces look too fat in comparison. So for this picture, Sophie made me put my head down. Silly girl. :) |
 |
| This sign read: Eternal Youth Gate Now that I've passed under it, maybe I'll live forever. ;) |
 |
| Suspicious behavior, don't you think? hehe |
 |
| The place was absolutely GORGEOUS! |
 |
| Ah, Sophie, Sophie! |
I'm so thankful for my Korean friends. They make the stresses of every day worthwhile. :)
Just beautiful! Wish we'd gone there, but we'll just have to go some other time, haha. Sorry you had to work later than you'd planned, but I'm glad you were able to join the tour anyway. Hehe, aren't Koreans funny about pictures? They would always cover their cheeks when I was in a picture with them.
ReplyDeletebeautiful garden!
ReplyDeleteThat really is beautiful. And so are your friends, whether their faces are wide or narrow by whatever standards.
ReplyDelete