This weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a Hanok Homestay program by.

Here is rundown of the program via their brochure.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to live in a traditional Korean house (“hanok”), now is your chance to find out. Participants in this exciting new ‘hanok stay’ program will learn how to make traditional Korean food, enjoy the chance to try on “hanbok” (traditional Korean apparel) and be treated to a guided tour of Bukchon Hanok Village. Each participant will also stay overnight with a host family in their traditional Korean-style residence, where they’ll learn even more about the local culture while also enjoying warm Korean hospitality and experiencing the unique lifestyle of hanok residents.

Don’t miss this chance for an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind cultural experience.


Tour itinerary (2 days and 1 night / Up to 20 participants)


14:00 ~ 16:00
○ Walking tour of Bukchon Hanok Village (English and Japanese narration)
@ Bukchon Hanok Village


16:00 ~ 19:00
○ Lessons on how to make Korean traditional dishes (kimchi, bulgogi etc.) – Chance to try on a hanbok; free entry to the Tteok (Rice Cake) Museum
@ Institute of Traditional Korean Food


19:00 ~ 22:00
○ Hanok stay (1 Night)
- Activities will vary depending on the host family but may include demonstrations of Korea’s traditional tea ceremony and/or calligraphy lessons
@ a Homestay House


09:00 ~ 10:00
○ Breakfast:
Western-style (toast, coffee, milk and cereal) or Korean-style (soup, rice, side dishes)
@ a Homestay House



I met M.J.–she is who you should contact if you want to participate in this homestay. See the VERY bottom of this post– and the other participants at Anguk station (orange line, exit 2) before starting the tour of the Bukchon Hanok Village.


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   This is Kwon Mu-Seok. He makes bows. 

   He told us that shooting an arrow is good for the health

   because it lowers your blood pressure.












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Door to the biggest guest house, it’s called 락고재 Rakkojae.  This is the guest house where Daniele Henney’s character in “My name is Kim SamSoon” lived! *squee*  It was sooo beautiful.  I wish I could live there!!!  If you want to live here check out their website: rkj.co.kr I warn you, it’s pretty pricey at 180,000won per night.


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Walking in the alleys.  So pretty!

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Next stop, the house of a carpenter.

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   So many tools!

   Our guide is explaining here how

   hanok houses are like legos. 

   But I think he means lincoln logs.


   You can move a hanok house easily

   because you can take it apart easily

   and rebuild it somewhere else.







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   Our guide explained that this window

   is like a moon and she is the angel

   and then he made us take pictures

   of her here. Poor girl. haha. 

 

   Turtle!  It represents the carpenter.











The streets of Seoul can be seen lined with these colorful lanterns.  They’ve been up for a bout a month celebrating Buddha’s birthday which is Friday May 21.

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Famous hanok alley in Seoul!!!  So beautiful in person!!

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Such a pretty view.

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  The house from 개인의 취향 (Personal Taste)!

  This is were Gae In lived! 

  Soo, you know what that means??   

  Lee Min Ho was here!!  *fangirl freak out moment*



  (Below) From the drama:  Look!  it’s Lee Min Ho!  ^^ hehe.


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View of the roofs of hanok houses.

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Next stop, education museum.  It had school uniforms, a classroom,   displays, and yearbooks.

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old uniforms / Modern uniforms.

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I always wanted to wear a uniform. I remember in 4th grade they had us do fake voting every week or so to learn about voting for things.  I clearly remember one of the fake votes was about getting uniforms for the school.  I wanted that vote to me real so bad.  Waking up every morning knowing EXACTLY what you’re going to wear and not having to worry about wearing something that makes you look cool would have made my life so much easier.


I like post-it notes ^^

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  3 means your grade while 2 means your class number.

  I think 1 is the smartest kids and it goes down from there. 

  At least that’s what it seems like they do in dramas.

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  Horrible picture,

  but those are two old school lunch boxes sitting on the heater

  in the classroom.













Next stop, Institute of Traditional Korean Food.

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First we got a tour of the ddeok (rice cake) museum.  All of the food is plastic.  Koreans like plastic food.  A lot of restaurants will have display cases showing the different meals using plastic food.


so much ddeok!!! / big ddeok!

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  Ingredients for making Kimchi!

  Next we went up to the 10th floor classroom. 

  We all got into hanbok and aprons and learned

  how to make bulgogi and kimchi!!




 





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We got split up into three groups. This is my groups pile of kimchi wraps.  

Kimchi was a lot easier to make than I thought it was going to me.  

The hardest part was wrapping the stuffed cabbage leaves with the outside cabbage leaf so that the stuffing didn’t fall out from in between the leaves.

We got to eat the bulgogi that we made! Yummmmmmy!


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   (Photo by Jamie)

   Me mixing the kimchi ingredients!

   Receiving the certificate of completion and goodie bag!


Group picture with the teacher!

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The participants plus the awesome people from Homestaykorea.com!
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They gave us a little bag of goodies before we left!

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   고추장 gochujang

  Gochujang is a savory and pungent fermented Korean condiment. 

  Gochujang is used in bibimbap and tteokbokki.   

  Gochujang makes dishes spicier, but also somewhat more sweet.

  (From wikipedia)







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  Ssamjang is a thick, spicy paste used with food wrapped in a

   leaf in Korean cuisine. One typically puts a leaf of sangchu (Red

   leaf lettuce) on an open hand, then places in the middle of the leaf,

   a bite-sized blob of rice, a blob of ssamjang, and a piece of meat or 

   kimchi, then wraps the leaf around the contents, puts the whole

   wrapped ball of food in one’s mouth, and eats it. (from wikipedia)

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   They gave us our kimchi!  I just tried mine…. I don’t have scissors

   to cut it, so I just ripped a piece off (messy!). I think it’s some of the

   spiciest kimchi I’ve had yet. I’ll eat it though, somehow hahaha.

   We also got a Certificate of Completion!  ^^