School and Prison

This week seemed to be almost a blow-off at work. We came back Wednesday, and Thursday we had a birthday party in the morning for September, and then it was Friday already. Quite a pleasant week actually.

I went to Bosan (not to be confused with Busan), which is a few stops north of me on the subway to see Camp Casey, the closest American military base to Uijeongbu. Of course I wasn't allowed in, and really stayed a bit away from the main entrance, but it was interesting to see.

And then today I went to Seodaemun Prison. I had actually planned to go to the Namsangol Hanok Village, but it was raining quite a bit, and the village is mostly outside. James went with me to the prison, which was sobering and semi-impressive, though the manequins in the various cells were partially macabre and partially bad wax figures. There were no pictures allowed in most of the areas, but I did get one of the entrance to the execution building, which is the same picture my guide has.

I have to say we would have stayed longer if there hadn't been some sort of field trip where there were hundreds of children running wild around the place (literally), and rather disturbing the somber mood of the place (I mentioned to James that my mom would have had a fit if she'd seen these kids running and laughing through the prison halls, and I had to force myself not to clothesline some of them).

Tonight we're going to the opening of some club in Itaewon (foreigner's haven), so I've actually got to go get ready for it now.