The Engagement Ring

This past November I made up my mind to make one of the most important purchases of my life; an engagement ring for Soojeong.  I have known since the day I met her that I wanted to marry her someday, and after having been dating her for nearly 3 years as of last November, I decided that I would propose to her in 2013.  Most of you probably know that I have a fascination for jewelry.  I think a mixture of Tolkien's writings and watching Disney's Robinhood when I was little helped to feed my love of things made of gold, silver, and gemstones. I have bought Soojeong a number of things over the years and always enjoyed going out to see what I could find for her.

One day when Soojeong and I were walking around one of our favorite areas of Seoul, she made me make a promise to her.  I had no idea as to what I was promising, but after a guilt trip of, "you don't trust me enough to know that I wouldn't make you promise something absurd?" I relented and made the promise.  That promise, it turns out, was to keep below one thousand dollars if I ever bought her a ring.  I love my frugal fiancee. With boundaries set, I set out to find a ring that she would like for less than the thousand dollar limit.  

Soojeong's brother-in-law Joe had used the company Blue Nile to buy his engagement ring, so I headed to their website to custom make a ring of my own.  Soojeong really likes emerald cut diamonds, so that is what I decided to do.  Long story short, after a lot of research, picking the diamond size and specifications myself, and many consultation phone calls later, I finally had a ring that came up eight dollars below the limit.  Joe really helped me by allowing them to send the ring to his address on the military base in Seoul since Blue Nile doesn't ship to Korea.  I got the ring from Joe and hit it for over two months.  I proposed to Soojeong on our trip to Japan in February.  I will post all of the Japan pictures and proposal story in another post.

Seoul Lantern Festival: A Few Shots

I was fortunate this year to finally make it to the Seoul Lantern Festival that is held every year in downtown Seoul.  The lanterns, from what I can tell, are made of a metal frame and covered with traditional paper.  They display them in on platforms in the middle of the Cheonggyecheon Stream that runs through the heart of city.  Soojeong, Goeun, Seth, Lucy, and I all went together. 

         

Seo-oreung and Seosamreung: Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty

Last year, Soojeong's father took us out of the hustle and bustle of the city to see some of the royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. We visited the sites of Seo-oreung and Seosamreung on a cool fall day and set out exploring and admiring the ancient architecture. There is just something unique and interesting to me about cemetaries and tombs in Korea and Japan. It may be macabre, but the types of graves and the feel in the air is different. Maybe it is the ancientness of the tombs themselves, or the old statues and mounds that make them up, but something creates an atmosphere that is hard to describe.

 Both locations we visited were beautiful and quite expansive. There were various tombs for people anyone from princes, princesses, concubines, and a king and queen. The weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed walking among the fall leaves as we made our way from tomb to tomb. It is amazing how much wildlife is just outside the city. There were nuthatches, chickadees, magpies, and lots of squirrels. At one site we were even able to gather our favorite leaves and have them laminated by some volunteers near the entrance. It was a fun day trip and I hope to explore there again sometime in the future.