Indulging our Princess

Today was meant to be another "quiet" day as Tuesday is the biggy to Everland.

I've .skating, Lotte Workd, Seoul Korea

 

Amelie has been bugging us ever since the trip to Lotte World for us to take her ice skating. Today we relented. I took Amelie ice skating while Liz went to do did a little shopping in the department store and arcades attached to The conglomerate known as Lotte.

Pooh the concentration

 

Lotte claims to be one of the biggest, or is it the best of the indoor/in shopping centre ice rinks. Yes it looms impressive as the ground level of a void, making it possible to view who is on the ice from 6 stories up, hanging from the roof in a hot air ballon fairground ride. Yes the ice is very nice because a Zambone groom it carefull every 3 hours. Yes there is plenty of room for all despite being in the middle of a bustling department store at sales time. however one fact still remains true and constant t with any ice rink...... THE RENTAL SKATES ARE CRAP!!!!!!!

 

Yep they were blunt, that goes without saying. Mine were so cracked that ther was absolutely no ankle support and Amelie's had such a burr inside that they gave her a most terrible blister. we managed to cover it with several layers of band-aids, but that only lasted so loud as sweaty socks and feet allowed the plasters to slip and became ineffective. still that was after nearly 2 hours so we cannot complain too much.

 

Actually I pretty impressed with how the rink was managed. at all times there was at least one supervisor on the ice ensuring good behaviour from patrons and quickly attending to fallen skates trying to recover and stand up. They were attentive, but not intrusive. Well done Lottee.

 

Liz managed to get in a brief lone time and some personal shopping. We will try to rectify this before leaving Seoul.

 

Following skating, we headed over to Gangnam, not just to be able to say "been there, done that!". although now we can so there. Gangnam is the rah ran/South Yarra of Melbourne, the up and coming Tracy shopping spot south of the river. Having been shopped out ist Lottee, our focus switch to an interest of a more violent kind.

 

Hidden behind the facade of commercialism is the headquarters of international Taekwondo at the centre we know as Kukiwon. Since Amelie has been learning all this year, we thought she might enjoy a visits to Taekwondo Central Sed Did. At the Kukiwon stadium, a tournament facility that rivals that of the more recent "Jackie Chan" Karate kid movie, Amelie delighted in watching a lesson to a class of international black belted students.

 

However a Han ho Friend Paul Turpie and Amelie's teacher Mrs Trainor, had told us where to find Taekwondo shops close to Kukiwon. At the very first shop we tried, the owner confirmed his identity of Mr Soo and smiled broadly when we said Mr Trainor says helo and Amelie is a pupil of his Academy.

 

Kukiwon, Taekwondo Worl Headquarters, Korea

prepared for next terms Taekwondo lessons with Mrs Trainor

Amelie did well from The visit, with a new Taekwondo uniform sporting her name o pn the front hem and Taekwondo emblazoned on the back. We bought a set of shin, arm and chest protectors for future levels as well as a couple of extra pads to,practice kicks and punches. to store and transport all this booty we purchased a bag proudly denoting the Taekwondo sport and having special pockets to transport pads in too. All I can say I'd girl. You'd better stay at ift now. I think she will as Mia Christos earned her black belt just before coming to Korea and Amelie is well impressed..... and inspired. How lucky to have such a great role model.

end of a Taekwondo class, Kukiwon

 

The evening ended with a return to Dongdaemun Market and the History and Culture Park.it was great to see the building I. The last moments of day.ight and a.so gave us time to better explore the design centre. I can thouraghly recommend this area if you are looking for something a bit special other that av good at the. Arrest and upmarket over hyped fashion from the department stores. There is a refreshing level of shopping at the centre and amazingly much is accessible for tourists.

 

If you want to sense architecture every bit as confronting and exciting as Federation Square in Melbourne, but totally out does it for innovation, fluidity and dare I say style, then the Culture park is it. I thoroughly recommend any tourist factoring in a visit.

InKAS - International Korean Adoptee Service Inc

contact@inkas.org | Phone: +82-2-3148-0258 | Fax: +82-2-3148-0259

(100-070) Bok-Chang building #703 80, Sogongdong, JungKu, Seoul

 

 

 

 

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