Thursday May 15th, 2025
Thankfully today we were able to have a later start and meet at 9.30 as we were not taking the bus anywhere far. We headed for the public transportation (the bus) to get to our takwaenndo class. We all changed into the proper uniform and paired up for the class. During the hour we learned how to properly punch, kick, and most importantly the fundamental and basis of what the martial art was built upon. The class was too much fun as we tried to catch bean bags, kick pads our partner was holding, practicing our foot work, and breaking a wooden plank. I really enjoyed the fundamental practices and important value of respect of yourself and others during the practice of it. The class really built up a sweat from the exercise, no AC, and the uniforms were not breathable at all. But it was all worth it.
Once our class was finished we made our way towards lunch and city hall. Lunch was at a local K-BBQ place that specializes in pork belly. We could see the owner cutting our pieces of pork right in front of us as we were able to grill the pieces on our table, the fresh pork and different vegetable sides were delicious. As it was an all you can eat place the more pork we wanted the more they would freshly cut for us. After our lunch we had a reserved tour of the city hall where we saw the old city hall (which has been turned into a library) and the new city hall which was built in 2012 and was directly behind the old building (even having a connecting passkey). It was so nice to see how modern the city hall was and how many local people hung out and worked freely there, gave a real sense of community. The city hall area is also where the introduction ceremony for the Olympics was held as they brought in the torch.
After the city hall we went back to Myeongdong for a little more shopping and our dinner, which was also a traditional dinner with bulgogi. After the dinner me and a couple of my friends went to get massages which were only $30 and very, very relaxing. On our way back to the hotel we stopped by a cute cafe where I got a matcha cookie that hit the spot. Overall, today was very fun but very humid and sweaty yet got to see many fun things.
