Thursday, April 28, 2011
Korean Changing of the Guard
It's one thing to view a foreign culture, but it's a completely different experience when you take part of a foreign culture. Charles and I had the opportunity today to participate in the changing of the guard ceremony at the Duksoo Goong Palace in Seoul. It was a blast! As we came out of Dunken Donuts, which by the way had some amazing Korean donuts, Charles and I were asked by a Korean lady to participate in the Changing of the Guard ceremony that happens every day. Needless to say we did. We got to wear the traditional dress and Charles got to bang the ceremonial drum. What an awesome day!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Secret to Jet Lag
April 26, 2011
I always wondered what people were talking about when they talked about jet lag. My first adventure with this was when I went to England on my mission. That flight, we flew during the night and landed in the morning. After that, we ended up just sitting around most of the day while attending different meetings in the MTC. This time around, it's different. I am currently sitting in an apartment in Seoul, Korea. I've only been here for a couple of days and surprisingly I have very little to no jet lag left. When I arrived here Sunday afternoon, I was dead tired. Still, however, I kept myself awake until later that evening. I automatically stopped thinking about what time it was back home and just worried about what time it is here. A nice big traditional Korean meal also helped me have more energy to make it to the end of that night.
The following morning, Charles and I went for a jog around 6:30. We decided that it would be best and most adventurous if we were to just go wherever and get lost, so that's what we did. We ended up jogging through a nice neighborhood that seemed relatively average to us. Later we found out that it was one of the nicest neighborhoods in Seoul, and was the current residence of two of Korea's former presidents. Sizes of houses are all relative. After making it through the neighborhood, we sojourned up a hill that was covered in trees. It was quite peaceful and on top we could see the city in all different directions. It was then that we realized that we were in Asia. As we looked past the old man doing Tai Chi in the woods on top of this hill, we could see the skyscrapers all around us, acting like man made mountains. It was quite the view. Because of this morning exercise, Charles and I had much more energy than those who traveled with us. It was an almost instant recovery from jet lag and now I've been able to have much more energy than normal to enjoy the views.
I always wondered what people were talking about when they talked about jet lag. My first adventure with this was when I went to England on my mission. That flight, we flew during the night and landed in the morning. After that, we ended up just sitting around most of the day while attending different meetings in the MTC. This time around, it's different. I am currently sitting in an apartment in Seoul, Korea. I've only been here for a couple of days and surprisingly I have very little to no jet lag left. When I arrived here Sunday afternoon, I was dead tired. Still, however, I kept myself awake until later that evening. I automatically stopped thinking about what time it was back home and just worried about what time it is here. A nice big traditional Korean meal also helped me have more energy to make it to the end of that night.
The following morning, Charles and I went for a jog around 6:30. We decided that it would be best and most adventurous if we were to just go wherever and get lost, so that's what we did. We ended up jogging through a nice neighborhood that seemed relatively average to us. Later we found out that it was one of the nicest neighborhoods in Seoul, and was the current residence of two of Korea's former presidents. Sizes of houses are all relative. After making it through the neighborhood, we sojourned up a hill that was covered in trees. It was quite peaceful and on top we could see the city in all different directions. It was then that we realized that we were in Asia. As we looked past the old man doing Tai Chi in the woods on top of this hill, we could see the skyscrapers all around us, acting like man made mountains. It was quite the view. Because of this morning exercise, Charles and I had much more energy than those who traveled with us. It was an almost instant recovery from jet lag and now I've been able to have much more energy than normal to enjoy the views.
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