Monday June 3rd, 2019

Good Morning! What a Woonderful First Day! I visited many places related to Jung Il-woo’s forming years.  It seemed befitting that I would start my journey at the beginning of Jung Il-woo’s life… These are the places I visited:

Hanyang University

Theater Arko  (This is where Jung Il-woo performed in the play “Beautiful Sunday.”)

Stopped at a Flower Cafe! (Unplanned)  It was so cool!

Seoul Youngdeungpo High School.

Seoul Seongnam Middle School.

Seoul Daelim Elementary School.

Korea House Performance

As I am a teacher I was very curious to see the schools in South Korea. I started my school’s tour at Hanyang University and went backwards in time…  I was afraid that they would not let me go into the schools during the school day, so I decided to leave them for the later in the afternoon… when classes would be done. It worked!

Hanyang University

My first impression:  It’s so big! Beautiful green spaces… with some great city views! THis university has the original name of Seoul back in the Joseon Dynasty: Hanyang.

I took this photo from the train as we crossed the Han river.  That tall building in the left is the “Fusion Technology Center.” It’s in the college of Engineering of Hanyang University!

This moment… coming up…made me so happy!  This is the main building, the Administration building…and there is a lion in a round green space in front called Hanyang Plaza.  The lion is the symbol of this university.

Of course I had to walk on those steps!

Remembering this moment with such delight!

Then I went to see some of the Scenic Route places…  I did 4 of them… the first and number 1 is the at the Main building… yes!  the previous building!

I needed a little snack so I entered a building that had some stores and a cafeteria… I bought a something to eat…  it tasted like glory!

I checked out the stores and ended up buying a Hanyang University notebook… !  I’ll use it for Korean… maybe a place to write all the verbs and conjugations?

Then I walked up and up stairs … 158 of them and reached Scenic Spot 2… It’s a monument dedicated to a poet called Mok-wol.  The plate says that walking those steps allows one to meditate on literature, philosophy and history.

This view… WOOw:

Il-woo break!  Here are some photos of our dear Oppa at this time…

And his graduation…

Here is Scenic Spot 3…  another great view!

And the last one, Scenic spot 8:  the amphitheater:

As I made my way back from the amphitheater, I spotted this museum and saw a short exhibit on the history of Hanyang University…

And went back to the Subway:

Want to see more including Il-woo Oppa at the university?  Go HERE!

After this I headed to the theater where he performed ‘Beautiful Sunday,’ Arko theater.  On my way there I saw a really cool looking Cafe, called Flower Cafe, so I stopped to reboot for a bit.  The design of this place was even more amazing on the inside!

Look at the jeans on the wall!  Just amazing!

The handles of the door:

It’s all in the details:

I was so impressed by this table…  we can create things that are good for our planet… not one bit of plastic on this table!

So original!  That is definitely not a Starbucks!   and then I saw this fire station:  loved that circle!

Talking about circles…I saw this beautiful manhole:

And now… here is the…

Arko Theater

This theater has two stages.  Jung Il-woo performed in the smaller one:

A flashback … ready…

 

What a sweetheart..!   DO you want to see more of his presentation “Beautiful Sunday”?  Click HERE.

After this I headed to Jangseungbaegi station on Line 7.  What a feeling knowing I would be seeing Jung Il-woo’s neighborhood: Dongjak-gu!  I used the map and directions I created and it worked well:

This is the LINK to the tour if you are interested in doing it.

The Dongjak residential neighborhood is hilly and there is a lot of red brick.  It’s a middle class neighborhood that looks like this:

Main streets look different… with the red brick gone:

Seoul Youngdeungpo High School

At first I ended up in the back of the high school… but then just walked around to the front.  This is the official name at the entrance:

I can just picture him…  well we can…shall we?  This is back in 2011 when he held his Fan Meeting here!

Let’s go further in time… shall we?

Seoul Seongnam Middle School

Him here? Yes:

What a cutie…!  That cropped hair! Ohhh!  And finally his elementary school…

Seoul Daelim Elementary School

His elementary school… oh!  How amazing it was to be there… I couldn’t really take too many photos as there were still people around and I didn’t want to look like a complete weirdo!   In these photos I played with a filter to make them look older!  🙂

Was that Jung Il-woo in his elementary school days?

 

Korea House Performance ‘Shimcheong’

The last thing I did today was presence a gorgeous Traditional Korean Show at the Korea House.  I will write a separate post about this amazing performance later…  they allowed photos and I had the great luck of getting one of the best seats in the theater… center front row!  I reserved my ticket about two weeks ago… I never thought this would happen!     I will give you just a little taste of what I saw for now… I’m so ready to go to bed…

 

 

To say I am thankful for all I experienced today… is an understatement!  If I was in love with Korean culture before… now it is a part of me! Amazing place and people, I’m so glad they endured… all that they endured, acquiring their very own colors!  They are such hard workers!  I love how their culture is now more than ever getting to be known all over the world!  I admire and respect Koreans more and more… I just wish, they could be back as one country without the threat of war.

Though this website is dedicated to my favorite Korean person Jung Il-woo, it is also my little grain of help in making your culture endure for all posterity…

Goodnight!