Yeoju

My friend Morgan pointed out that the Yeoju wikipedia page is severely lacking, so while exploring today I took some pictures of the town for everyone to see. One of my biggest regrets from living in Padova, Italy was not actually taking any good photos of Padova! I think I got so used to living there that I forgot about that kind of thing. To avoid the same remorse, I decided to take some pictures of Yeoju while I still don't mind feeling like a tourist/ crazy foreigner (though I'll probably always look like a crazy foreigner, or ""waygook", to people who live here).

This the view when you leave my apartment complex. Not sure what that funky building on the right is, it might be a love motel. For those who don't know, many Koreans live at home until they're married, so if they are in need of some cuddle time with their significant other they can rent a room at a love motel (for a night or by the hour). I've heard they aren't always as sketchy as one might imagine, but a lot of them are themed!

FamilyMart is like the 7 Eleven of Korea, even though they also have 7 Elevens...it's also very curious that most big chain stores in Korea have English or pseudo-French-sounding names even though no one here really speaks any English...A for effort I guess?

 I live about a mile from the downtown, so here's a nice view from my walk today. More big girl news: I didn't even get lost!

 Up until the 1960s Korea had an agricultural economy and culture which is still very much active today. There are rice paddies everywhere around here, even next to highways! This may seem silly, and hard to tell from the picture, but they are such a lovely shade of green! I think they make the landscape look very pretty, a literal "sea of green".

Across the highway you can see more agriculture. They grow a lot of corn as well as various fruits and vegetables I think. Towards my school, which is farther from the downtown, you can see much bigger growing areas...I'm not sure if it's right to call them farms. Either way it's nice to see where my food is coming from! This might also sound strange but food here actually smells, and not in a bad way, it's just not overly sanitized like the food we eat in America. To me at least, the local vegetables I've bought here have had a little more of a distinct taste.

This is the Yeongil pavilion. It used to be an entrance way of sorts to the town office which has now been moved. It's in a park about halfway between my apartment and the main downtown area. The best part of the pavilion however is this:

After hiking up the long stairway to the pavilion I was rewarded with this view! And this one:

 

That's the opposite side of the river, my school is a bit beyond those buildings I think. 

 

Those are the stairs I went up to get to the pavilion, though it sort of looks like a flat path from this angle. Once you go down the stairs and out of the park you're pretty close to the main shopping/dining area in Yeoju.

The best thing about the river is the long running/walking path that runs along it. Finally, some good motivation to get back into shape!!

Here's a cute little street I found while shopping. I like it because those stands sell fresh tempura vegetables! Smells soooo good. you need some smell-ivision right here.

This is the pedestrian street. There are tons of shops there, and every five days is market day when the vendors fill the street with temporary kiosks. The street is lined with arches that are a bit hard to see with the glare from the sun.

I'm sure I'll post some more pictures of Yeoju when I get to know the town a little better, but perhaps for now I should help out the town's wikipedia page...