Thursdays with Mommy

Thursday was the first "real" day mom had in Jinju and as we were leaving on Friday, she wanted to see the only "famous" thing in Jinju - the castle. We got up early and had some frosted flakes, took showers and got ready for the day. I needed to get some cash, so we took the long way and I showed mom my school. There was also the small daily market which is basically a bunch of old ladies sitting on the side of the road with veggies and fish in front of them.

Outside of my school

Laundry drying on the side of the road - very common

Market

First we rode the local bus to the intercity bus station to try to find the exact times for the bus to Busan for Friday morning. Once we got there I remember that was the bus station where everything is in Korean, so it was basically a wasted trip.

Street next to the bus stop

Jinju Siemens - in case Holly wants to come here too

Then I told mom she could pick between getting real lunch or going to Jinju castle because I needed to be back in time for work that afternoon. She picked the castle, but when we got close, she started getting fussy and needed food. There wasn’t a sandwich shop nearby, so we went to the basement of Emart where there is a food court. I wasn’t sure then how to order most of the food that they display in a large case (but I think I know what you’re supposed to do now). So she got a really hot coffee from one place and then a cheeseburger from McDonalds.

Then we walked to the castle. I had been to the museum before, but hadn’t really walked the grounds. We stayed between 1 and 2 hours. There were lots of kids around on field trips and mom kept videoing them because she thought they were cute. There are multiple temples (2 of which I know the names of), 3-4 shrines (again 2 of which I know what they're for) and random other things. Plus it's right next to the river and is basically a large park. We took lots of pictures, here are the better ones:

Changyeolsa shrine - memorial tablets for 39 patriots

Chokseong-Nu pavilions - one of 4 noted ancient pavilions in Korea. Built in 1365 as a military command center and rebuilt in 1960 after it was burned in the Korean war.

Mom and General Kim Shi-min who held off the Japanese in the Hideyoshi Invasions in 1592. Although 8 months later the Japanese came back and basically destroyed Jinju.

Kids at the castle. There were more pictures, but my computer won't let me upload them and I don't feel like trying to do it. They are wearing school uniforms (the get 2 uniforms - a Catholic school looing one, and sweatsuits).

Masked lady. Lots of people in Korea wear masks to protect themselves from dust, germs etc. All the women over 40 wear hats and/or visors too. Mom thinks the masks are hilarious. And I think she secretly wants a visor.

A gate guard. This is where you would get off your horse unless you were a general or someone important.

Mom in a tree.

View of Nam River from castle grounds

Not sure what this is a shrine to, but it's big and on a raised platform

Korea says knock it off with the vices...at least in the park

Small temple, not sure what this one is for or called

Then I went to work and got off 2 classes early because none of the kids from those 2 classes showed up because they are all studying for this big national test. Then we met up with Liezle and Ally and had dalkgalbi because I don’t think it is spicy unless you add a lot of paste which you can tell them not to add too much of. She didn’t care for the ice radish soup either. She took one bite of the chicken and was like this is way too hot and glared at me then ate it anyways.

Finally got a picture of them pouring the water

She did like the soju and cider though but thought the beer was gross. After we ate, the waiter came over and gave us these little cakes - that hasn't happened to me before. I think it was because we were the last people there and also white.

Little cakes - white cake with strawberry cream icing. We also got super cute baby forks to eat them.

Then we went to sleep because we were getting up early the next morning. Still to come: JeJu island, Busan, more Jinju and Seoul (which hasn't actually happened yet).