"No, I don't know Beyonce"

Today was South Korea's Memorial Day and Dr. Yoo told us to go to Insadong for the day. After some struggle with the Metro Pass system, Pam and I managed to get on the right train. (Dr. Yoo told us most Koreans can speak English...well, they can't.) Anyways, Insadong is this artsy district with Korean crafts and art galleries and tea houses. I found Topohaus, this funky little gallery that has this redic artist that paints creepy, chubby kids eating candy. She's amazing and I want to buy her art, but it's probably a couple thousand American dollars, oh well. For lunch, Pam and I found a place that served "mandu", also known as dumplings, which are fantastically delicious. You actually have to wait for the pot they bring you to boil on this little cooker before you eat anything...something we learned the hard way.

We walked around after lunch, visited some shops, then meandered over to the Buddhist temple, Jogyesa. This temple had three massive golden Buddhas on the inside, which was pretty impressive. I wanted to buy some prayer beads and Buddha bracelets, but every thing had a special designation in Korean (I'm assuming like Peace or Happiness, so I'm going to need a Korean buddy to translate before I make a purchase). After that, we went to find out about a Templestay, where you are supposed to live at the temple for a few days to really understand the monastic lifestyle. Our "helper" hadn't spoken English in a while, so it was an adventure to try to find out how to schedule one of these things. As I explained we were staying at Yonsei University, she exclaimed "BEYONCE?", to which I had to reply, "No, I don't know Beyonce." She got really flustered, started laughing, hit her computer monitor and almost broke it. Awesome. I kind of wanted to start the "Single Ladies" dance right there to make her feel better, but I may break that one out at Club Saab, the "gangster-rap" club of Seoul...if they can handle it.

Insadong is also known for their tea houses, so Pam and I decided to have a little snackie-poo around 3. The Shin Old Tea House looked more like a Korean Buca di Beppo, but it was fun sitting next to a cage of finches. The "Five-Taste Tea" was weird, sweet, and reminded me of Kool-Aid and Vitamin Water, but it's apparently very healthy so I drank it up. The tea "cakes" that came with it were also a bit on the strange side, as Pam described, "That green one tastes like seaweed wrapped in fat." Yum.