it was way back in november 2002 that i made my first trip to seoul. at the time i was working for july films, and we were making a trailer for the animated film we had been working on, my little world. i came with mike nguyen, the director of the film, and natalie, whose mom ran the animation studio we were going to make the trailer at.

we were supposed to only be here for two weeks, but luckily there were some computer problems getting us set up, so we got to stay for a month. obviously i had a great time, or else i wouldn't be back here now. although we traveled around seoul a bit, we spent most of our time right in one spot near where we worked and lived. actually, we stayed in an office-tel (basically an office that had a few adjoining bedrooms) that was right next to the building where the animation studio was.

today i finally got a chance to do what i've been wanting do ever since i got here, go back and retrace my steps from two years ago. i never actually knew what neighborhood it was in, although i knew roughly that it was in the southwestern section of seoul. after checking the map closely, i was able to find it pretty easily. unfortunately it's not that close to any subway stops, but since it wasn't too cold today, i just rode to 신대방삼거리 (sindaebangsamgeori) and walked from there.

especially mike and natalie will enjoy these pictures, i think.

halfway through the time we were there they ripped up half of it for some reason, which made getting home a bit tricky. glad to see it's back to normal.

we went here straight from the airport. it was really good, we got to eat there maybe three or four times while we were here. this is the place where i ate raw cow's liver, and i liked it!

for some reason i was really happy to see that this place was still here. we went here practically every day, it really became part of our daily routine. usually we'd go there after lunch, a lot of my little world discussions took place there. mike and natalie, next time you're here in korea, we'll have to go back there together!

i only really walked around in this park once or twice, but it felt really good to walk through it again. there were lots of people out, many playing one of the many sports available there. others were young couples out walking with their young ones, and there were a good deal of older folks walking to get some exercise.

the whole time i was walking around the park, i could hear drums and other music in the distance, so i decided to try to get a closer look.

this was the highlight of the day, it turned out it was just a bunch of people gathered and playing music. clearly they were part of some kind of club or something, but it wasn't too official. someone had brought snacks. they just stood around kind of having a jam session. more than anything i enjoyed the expressions on their faces as the played, they were really enthusiastic, just having fun.