이번 문화 체험을 위해 DMZ에 갔어요. 저희가 다 가본 적이 없어서 궁굼 했었고 기대를 많이 했던 것 같아요. 아침에 용산역에서 모여서 다 같이 기차를 탔어요. 기차의 인테리어가 아주 특이했어요 – 자리에 바람개비 무늬가 있었고 천장에 풍선 무늬가 있었고 벽에 무궁화 무늬도 있었어요. 그때 기차말고 유치원 교실에 있는 느낌이 들었어요. 몇 학생들이 좀 무섭다고 했어요.
저희 처음 방문한 곳이 임진강역이었어요. 임진강역에서 군인들이 저희의 여권을 확인 했어요. 그 다음에 도라산역에 도착하고 바로 버스 타고 첫 번째 장소 도라산 평화공원에 갔어요. 가는 길에, 버스에 있는 가이드 분이 한국어로 12:50에 다시 버스 탑승해야 되라고 말씀 했었는데 영어로 설명 했을 때 12:45에 탑승 해야 된다고 했어요. 저희는 둘다 알아들어서 웃겼어요 ㅎㅎ 도라산 평화공원이 좀 평범했지만, 조용해서 좋았던 것 같아요. 학생들도 사진 찍으면서 재밌게 관광했어요.
점심 때 저희는 식당에서 간단한 점심을 먹었어요. 그 지역에서 쌀을 재배해서 식당에 가는 길에 가이드 분이 밥이 맛있다고 했었는데 식당에 도착하고 음식을 봤을때 고를 수 있는 게 별로 없어서 밥을 왜 특별히 추천 했는지 알 것 같아요.
식사한 후에 도라전망대에 갔어요. 도라전망대는 진짜의 DMZ에 있어요. 그 전에 가던 곳이 그냥 DMZ에 가까운 장소들 뿐이었더라고요. 도라전망대에서 북한을 볼 수 있습니다. 아쉽게도 날씨 별로 안 좋아서 멀리까지 못 봤는데 그래도 북한을 조금 봐서 신기했어요.
마지막으로 제3땅굴을 관광했어요. 땅굴에 들어갈 때 그리고 나올 때도 모노레일을 탔어요. 아주 느린 롤러코스터를 타는 느낌이었어요 ㅎㅎ 땅굴의 높이는 2m 밖에 안 되서 키가 작은 사람이 유리했어요. 키 큰 학생들이 숙여야 해서 불쌍해 보였어요 ㅠㅠ 좀 고생했지만 땅굴에 나온 후에 선생님들이 아이스크림을 사 주셔서 너무 행복했고 완벽한 마무리가 된 것 같아요.
On Saturday, we went on a tour of the DMZ. To get there, we first took a train from Yongsan station to Injingang station to get our passports inspected. The interior of the train was filled with bright, childish prints that made it seem like we were in a preschool than on our way to the DMZ, which gave it a strangely eerie feel if you thought about it too long.
After we got our passports checked, we went another 10 minutes to Dorasan station, where the tour began. We were taken by bus to the Dorasan Peace Park, our first stop. There was a guide on the bus that was filling up the transport time by giving us background information and pointing certain landmarks out to us. The funny thing was, when he was explaining what time we had to be back on the bus, he said 12:50 in Korean but 12:45 in English. The park was a bit bare, but it was quiet and had some nice photo spots.
Everyone was feeling hungry, and thankfully we had lunch afterwards. The lunch buffet was super simple, with just stir-fried pork as the main dish and then a couple of side dishes. On the way there, the guide said the best part of the meal was the rice, since rice is one of the staple crops grown in that region, but once we got there, I suspected he recommended it because rice was one of the few dishes there.
The next stop on the tour after we had eaten was the observatory, where you could see across the way to North Korea, which was rather interesting. The fine dust in the air stopped us from seeing very far very clearly, though. We spent a short while there and then made our way to the final stop, which was the Third Tunnel, an infiltration tunnel that was built by the North Koreans with the intent to invade South Korea. The monorail we took down into the tunnels felt a bit like a very slow rollercoaster, and for once being short came in handy since those on the smaller side didn’t have to duck as we navigated around the 2 meter high tunnels. It was an interesting and fun little experience. When we surfaced, the seonsaengnims bought us ice cream and drinks, which sealed the deal as we wrapped up our day. Overall, the general consensus seems to be that it was cool that we went, but the DMZ is not really a place that you would want to come back to.
