Adventures in Korea: Happy Suwon

This weekend was pretty fun. I went out Friday night with some friends. We started at a small house party and ended up at a WA bar until well after 5am.
It was a fun night and it felt good to have a few too many and meet lots of new people.
Saturday I spent the day recovering in my apartment with all the necessities: liters and liters of water, snacks and a few movies.

Yesterday I went to Suwon with my friend (and coworker) Whitney.
It's about half an hour by bus from where I live in Yongin city and is home to Hwaseong Fortress. The history behind this 'walled city' is not actually that old (for Korean standards) and in 1997 was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Basically, the fortress was constructed by King Jeongjo (1776-1800) in honor of his deceased father, Sado Seja.
As the story goes, Sado had been designated the crown prince but fell into some trouble with the law and became a victim of a court conspiracy. He was found guilty and unjustly condemned to be sealed to a rice chest and left to die.
In an attempt to appease his late father's soul, King Jeongko built this 5.7 km fortress which still stands today.
It's pretty impressive and the views are great along most of the wall.
Suwon city itself spreads both inside and outside the wall - sort of an interesting mix between new and old Korea.
We basically took the afternoon and walked along the wall enjoying the fall colors. The city of Suwon is also a nice change from the 'humdrum of Yongin and the bustle of Seoul.
It's small enough to not be too loud, yet is large enough to have a great couple of markets which offer a ton of shopping.

Today at work I got some good news. I was given the head teacher position at my school.
Basically a little bit more responsibility and a little bit more money (hooray for the money!).
I am looking forward to the challenge and the possibility to have a little bit more say in how things are done.

Anyways, enjoy the photos.

Ciao
Colleen