Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Cheongwadae - The President's House
This past Friday, Sam and I joined Saralyn (our fellow teacher), and Joy & Jen (our director's daughters) for a tour of Cheongwadae...also known as the "Blue House". The tour was completely in Korean, so Jen & Joy helped us out by translating the tour guide's information into English.
Cheongwadae is the building complex where the Korean President lives and works. The grounds were absolutely beautiful, and the buildings were pretty spectacular too! Our tour group was made up of us, about 15 older Korean adults, and 80 screaming elementary kids. My favourite moment by far was when one of the security agents who was trying to give us some tour information, pulled two of the kids out of the screaming crowd and made them stand by him. He was upset that they had been screaming and fighting with each other, so he lectured them, and then made them shake hands. The look on the little girl's face was one of pure disgust at the thought of having to touch a boy. They then gave each other the most limp, resistant handshake I have ever seen...hilarious (the security agent actually had to pull her hand out of her coat pocket, and hold it in place for the "handshake")! I couldn't help it, and burst out laughing, which probably made it MUCH worse for them!
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:
This is one of the cool statues outside of a building that is used for banquets.
Sam and I in front of some of the trees that are changing colour.
The main buildings where the President does his work (and the place that inspired the nickname, "the Blue House").
Our little group of tourists (Saralyn's in the red, and beside her is Jen and then Joy)
I loved this tree...our guide said it is 148 years old.
Cheongwadae is the building complex where the Korean President lives and works. The grounds were absolutely beautiful, and the buildings were pretty spectacular too! Our tour group was made up of us, about 15 older Korean adults, and 80 screaming elementary kids. My favourite moment by far was when one of the security agents who was trying to give us some tour information, pulled two of the kids out of the screaming crowd and made them stand by him. He was upset that they had been screaming and fighting with each other, so he lectured them, and then made them shake hands. The look on the little girl's face was one of pure disgust at the thought of having to touch a boy. They then gave each other the most limp, resistant handshake I have ever seen...hilarious (the security agent actually had to pull her hand out of her coat pocket, and hold it in place for the "handshake")! I couldn't help it, and burst out laughing, which probably made it MUCH worse for them!
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:
This is one of the cool statues outside of a building that is used for banquets.
Sam and I in front of some of the trees that are changing colour.
The main buildings where the President does his work (and the place that inspired the nickname, "the Blue House").
Our little group of tourists (Saralyn's in the red, and beside her is Jen and then Joy)
I loved this tree...our guide said it is 148 years old. # posted by Becky @ 10:54 PM 
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i love the pic of you and sam with the tree with the bright red leaves.. so beautiful.. we dont have trees like that.. they are either brown or dead.. but right now they are buried under probably a foot of snow and an inch of ice.. yuck i hate living in perpetual winter!
annie
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annie
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